The Diplomatic Pouch

Player Analysis for Spring of 1909 in describe

Austria

Army Bulgaria SUPPORT Fleet Constantinople.
	Gaurding against T.

Army Bohemia SUPPORT Army Silesia -> Munich.
Army Tyrolia SUPPORT Army Silesia -> Munich.
Army Silesia -> Munich.
	Attempting to retake mun, although there's a good chance it won't
succeed.

Fleet Constantinople SUPPORT Russian Army Armenia -> Ankara.
	Attempt to take ank for R, although I don't expect this to
succeed.  There are ways to finish off T for sure, but at this stage I'm
hedging my bets.

Army Rumania HOLD.
	Defense.

Army Vienna HOLD.
	It might be better to try and take mun with tyr or boh, then move
vie up.	 But again, I'm hedging my bets on Russia by leaving units
behind.  Althouh, I'm not double bouncing in gal to show more trust
toward R.


Russia
	I'm a bit more optimistic that he won't attack me, but as I've
said I'm being careful by leaving units in rum and vie.	 Also, I'm
supporting arm-ank at R request.  This means AIR can be foiled by T with
bla-con (cutting my support) and ank-smy (bouncing Italy).  Better moves
would be something like con s sev-bla, sev-bla, eas-smy or con/arm s
eas-smy.  But Neither R or Italy suggested such moves.  In terms of
centers, I've pretty much got all I will in the short run out of AIR vs T
(unless I stab either R or Italy), so I don't mind not advancing on T.
This way, I limit R's growth just in case he proves hostile.  If R is
friendly, then we can finish off T.
	It's possible he's waiting to spring the big lie - establishing
an honest reputation in order to launch a big stab.	 But then again, he
doesn't need to lie to put me in a bad spot.  EGR have enough armies to
put the squeeze on me.  If R attacks me, I'm in trouble whether he does
it by an open declaration of war or a stab, so I continue to play for an
allinace with him.


Turkey
	I won't aid him outright, since R and Italy are more important to
me than he his.  But I've told him RA moves, and what I presume will be
Italy's move (eas-smy) so he can hold out since I'm not confident that IR
will stay friendly with me.
	I hope I don't end up outsmarting myself.  It may turn out that R
needs to take ank to adequetely fight E, and this way R may not take ank
until 1910.


Italy
    He does talk much, so I'm not sure about him.	It does appear
he's still butting heads with E, although I've seen enough of E in action
to be wary still.


Germany
	Hostile as ever.  Now EG is clsoe to setting up a stalemate line
in mun-ber if they choose to do so.	 I don't think E will eliminate G
right away so long as G's armies may be used to block the mun-ber line.


England
	His position is is getting better.	Italy can't get into mao.  If
EG take ber, then have the armies to block anything an ber-mun.  That
leaves a northern attack by R as the only chance at breaking E, and that
may not be feasible before long the way things are going.
    He still want me to take on Italy with him.  But as before, I'm
wary of leaving him as the only major naval power.


France
	No communication.  I hope IF are talking to coordinate against E.

England

	More and more I'm seeing that getting a solo win will be nigh
impossible.	 I'd have to say that I have a 10% chance of winning as
things stand, and that might be overly hopeful.
    The problem is Russia.  He is not interested in attacking
Austria, but is interested in attacking Germany and Turkey.  He maintains
that he thinks that Austria will stab Italy, when both Austria and I know
that will never happen because it would make an English solo almost
unavoidable.
    What it seems like then, is that this will be a three-way draw.
Thankfully, my strong strategic position will get me a spot.  It seems to
me that Austria and Italy will stay together:  Austria won't stab Italy
for the reasons detailed above, and an Italian stab of Austria is hard to
imagine.  The odd man out, it seems, will be Russia, and if it comes to
that then I have no problems with eliminating him.	He's been a help,
somewhat, but I've had to give him centres to keep him happy and he
doesn't seem to like any ideas that I have.  I'll keep working however.
	Diplomatically:

	Russia:	 Numerous messages going back and forth, all of which
infuriate me to some extent.  Says that he'll be supporting Austria into
Munich.
    Austria:  Some harmless and entertaining mails, mainly focusing
on how we're strategic rivals now and that him stabbing Italy would make
things too easy for me.	 I'm not expecting Austria to make any mistakes
in this game, since he's very good, and so my plans revolve around
getting another nation to make a mistake and hurt Austria.	The Tsar is
not listening.
	Germany:  Many many messages sent detailing the set of orders that we
would hopefully enact this turn.  He didn't really send me much
confirmation, but I'm fairly certain that he'll help me out further.
Basically, since Russia is helping Austria into Munich, we're just camping
out.  I did ask him to support the French army in Marseilles, for reasons
which I'll detail...
    France:  Asked for help into Spain with his A Mar and offered a
puppet alliance.  There's no need to promise him something that's
unrealistic, but an alliance where he helps me and I keep him alive is
not too much of a stretch.  He said that he will order the support.
    Turkey:  Said hello, and wondered what he was ordering.  Said he
didn't want to tell me;  no surprise there.  (Gosh I'm a snoop.)
    Italy:  Reprimanded him for trying to convoy troops to Spain last
turn, and he didn't find it worthwhile to respond.  Really quite a bad
move, convoying to Spain.  He was trying for a power play, obviously, but
now he's in somewhat of a bind.

    Tactically:

    A Gascony and F Portugal S F MAt-Spa(sc):  This puts three units
on Spain, and as I'm expecting French support as well, this move should
succeed.  Might even be a bit of overkill, but that never stopped me
before.	 Putting the fleet in Spain is obvious, as the big fight with
Italy will be on the seas and I'll need all the fleets on I can get.
    F Eng Channel-MAt:  This moves covers the MAt and sets up a
strong naval position around Iberia.  I really don't need the fleet in
Eng anymore, and since I'm expecting a build - which would be a fleet -
the Eng position will soon be replaced.
    A Kiel S German A Mun:  Just keeping Germany in place this turn
against the Russian-Austrian attack that I know is coming.
    A Holland S A Kiel:  A very very boring order, but I don't want to
piss off Germany this turn, as it is Spring.  Next turn, I can move to
Belgium if need be.	 (I think this is the order I made...)
	A Picardy-Brest:  I don't want to move to Burgundy, as the German
A Bur is supposed to be supporting the French in Marseilles, but I didn't
want to stay in Picardy and I didn't want to upset Germany this turn.
Therefore, I move to Brest, from where I can do two things:  one,
convoy to North Africa to put pressure on Tunis and two, move to Paris in
the Fall.  This is also a pretty boring order, but it must be done.
    F Nth Holds:  I want to keep this unit in place but there's
really nothing it can do, and so I just sit around in my boats.
	F Bal-Ber:	I advised Russia of this move, but he never got back
to me to complain.	The point of this order is to cut the support of the
Russian army in Ber for the Austrian attack on Munich.	I calculated that
if Germany holds with Mun and supports with Ruhr and I help with A Kiel,
he would need either support from A Bur or the cutting of A Ber's support
to defend against an RA attack.  Since I needed Germany to support France
in Marseilles, the solution was this move.  I am confident that Russia
will get over this move, as I told him that I didn't want Germany knocked
out of Munich - at least not in the Spring - and that I don't want
Austria to be helped at all.  Since I was honest here, I'm not worried
about Russia getting hostile.

	So, all in all a pretty boring set of orders to follow a pretty
boring turn.  Not many people talking out there, and the game is really
low on energy.	I don't know who's at fault here, but I can only write
back if they write me.
	Let's see what happens.

    Lord Sheringham 
    
    ----------------------------------------
    
    No one's burning up the wires around here.  I've only gotten one
message since the results processed.  This leads me to think that 1)
they're all coming after me or 2) no one's around.  I will go with the
latter, as I find the first possibility to be scary and therefore not
worth considering.
    I bring this up because I will need an extension of my own pretty
soon.  I'm leaving for grad school at NYU on Friday, August 23rd, and I
need some time to get an account up there.	Once set up, I'll be able to
continue as normal, I hope.  I should be able to get an account by
September 5th at the latest, and if you could move the deadline back to
then - and maybe some grace to boot - I would appreciate it.
    I have your email address also and will contact you (somehow) if
things don't go to plan.

	Grant Flowers
	(soon to be [email protected] ????)
		

France

No analysis submitted

Germany

No analysis submitted

Italy

No analysis submitted

Russia

No analysis submitted

Turkey

[Also sent to Austria]

It's not too late to help me out here! The Italian will want to attack me
with a strength of two on Smyrna. The only way to stop him is to bounce
him with an attack with the strength of two!
So, I am moving A Ank - Smy, F Bla - Ank. The only way for me to not get
totally anhilated this turn is for you to support my attack on Smyrna.

Do you really want to see Italy and Russia both gain centers?

p.s. This will also serve as the justification of my moves to the Master.
My intent is to stay alive against increasingly impossible odds.

The Sultan of Swat

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Last updated on Sat, Sept 27, 1997.