Since I wasn't in the game for long, I'll keep the EOG brief.
First off, Congrats to Turkey. I will always think that the conscripted members of my former army were the true driving force behind your victory. :-}
I have played Austria MANY times over the past few years and have grown tired of the usual AR and AG alliance. I thought I'd try something new this game: AT. I had attempted this once before, but that game stalled due to a downed judge. This game seemed like a great experiment.
I immediately contacted the Sultan and began setting up Russia for a quick fall. My spy went to Turkey so I would have all the info on who was trying to recruit him against me. This spy turned out to be quite worthless!
Things went great for the first 2 years. Turkey and I grew, Russia was being forced back, and Italy was leaving me alone. I figured Turkey and I would run rampant and sew this game up quickly. However, it was at this point that the Sultan decided not to shoot up thrugh Russia, but to stab me instead.
A perfectly timed stab, as well. I was moving hard aginst Germany and Russia, and had no way to protect my Southern flank. I was dead inside of 2 years.
I made a classic blunder. I threw all my faith in Turkey's loyalty. Diplomacy is not a game of friendships, it is a game of distrutful alliances. I knew this, but ignored the facts anyway.
My main reason for trusting Turkey outright was that if I didn't, then the AT alliance could not work. In order for us both to grow without stepping on each other, I was forced to move to Germany. Turkey saw this opportunity, and before damaging Russia to the point of "no forgiveness", changed sides and wiped me out. Nice play!
As for whether I should have kept my spies or not, I agree with England. I lost the game, I had no reason to spy on anyone. So be it. If you want to keep using your spies, stay alive!
Master Bob: I liked this variant very much. However, with the current spy rules, the spies are rendered almost powerless. I believe the spies should be able to read messages throughout ALL phases of the game. There is too much of a window for press to pass through right now.
Good game to all of you. Hopefully I'll get the chnce to play with/against you in the future.
Michael Hoffman
(Was I "Yankol" in this game? It's been so long, I've forgotten :-})
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