February
2017
By Douglas Kent 911
Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX 75149
Email: diplomacyworld@yahoo.com or dougray30@yahoo.com
On the web at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/. Also be sure to visit the official Diplomacy
World website which can be found at http://www.diplomacyworld.net.
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Welcome
to the latest issue of Eternal Sunshine, as we continue to run down to a
fold. I wrote up a little thing on
online dating which I’ll likely include to buffer all the Peeriblah
in this issue. Larry seems to want to
get as much as he can in these pages before the zine ends. See you in March.
A Vague and Confused
Essay About Online Dating
I know this essay will be a bit
rambling. More rambling than most of the
stuff I put in here. That’s okay. I just wanted to vent.
The point of this essay is just to try and
explain that I don't understand the rules of the game so I don't see how I can
play. I don't pretend to be anyone else; I'm myself. I am open and honest. I
disclose fully the major objections someone might have to a relationship with
me (at the top of the list would be I haven't filed for divorce yet, and I
spent time in Federal prison over 10 years ago for a non-violent crime).
I am very introspective. I understand my
feelings and my experiences and my fears. I express them well. I listen and pay
attention to what the other person says. And I REMEMBER what they say. I'm not
into one night stands or hook-ups.
In response, I get a lot of positive
reaction from some women. They love having a man who will talk about feelings,
and understands how important it is to avoid invalidating the feelings of
someone else. They express great happiness in venting to someone who doesn't
think every complaint or story or problem is an invitation for me to fix it; I
know the difference. I know listening and understanding and showing that I
truly DO understand is crucial. And I ask questions, so I can understand
better. I am engaged in the conversations.
Most of the women I talk to on these sites
have been through painful relationships. Men cheated on them. Men lied to them.
Sometimes men hurt them physically. They were taken for granted, ignored,
stolen from...or they have simply never found someone who makes them feel
treasured and special. I try to be that person, not just because they want it
but because that's the kind of person I am. When I can afford to be I am
generous: with my time, my emotions, my love, and if possible with money or
small gifts.
Quite often I listen to a woman tell me
about a previous relationship, and she explains to me some of the things she is
especially sensitive to because of those experiences. Perhaps they need special
treatment because of a lack of trust. Maybe they don't want to be asked
questions about where they have been or what they are doing. Certain words that
otherwise seem innocent might have a great deal of negative weight in their
mind or heart. I accept that. I don't pick and choose the parts of someone to
leave and try to change the rest. I accept someone in whole, or I move on.
But I don't understand why I express my own
insecurities, which are a product of MY past relationships, I so often am told
"sorry, insecurity is a turn off." It's as if they want me to be
myself, show myself, make myself vulnerable in every way, EXCEPT when it comes
to the fact that I don't ever feel like the most desirable or eye-catching or
interesting person in a room. Sometimes I need a woman to be a little obvious
about her attraction to me; otherwise I might mistake it for just being
friendly (which seems to be the opposite of many men, who think if you don't
stab them with a pen knife you want to have sex with them).
Yes, I don't have the greatest self-image.
But I remain a work in progress, and this is just about the MOST positive I
have been about myself in 30 years. It still isn't good enough.
…which is why I feel like I don't
understand the rules of the game. And that's why I believe I'm simply going to
quit trying to play. If something magical falls in my lap one day, I hope I
notice and grab hold. But I don't think I can spend time and energy and emotion
looking any longer. The pain and the disappointment FAR outweigh the rest.
I suppose I've had more than my share of
love in one lifetime. Just because it always blows up in my face doesn't mean
it was a failure all along...even if the last year or two of each were nothing
but lies and deceit. My turn is over; time to let other people have theirs.
And as a quick postscript, I’ve decided it
is better not to be understood than it is to be misunderstood. By that I mean I find it much easier to deal
with a person who simply doesn’t “get” me (yet) than someone who THINKS they
do. The latter takes their
misunderstanding and then uses that perception to explain my words and actions,
read between the lines when nothing is written there, and basically try to tell
me what I’m thinking and feeling but be completely off the mark. And then, when I to counter their statements
with my actual position I am accused of pushing away or not being ready or any
of a long list of self-fulfilling prophecies.
It becomes tiresome quickly, and all I’m left with is the response of “see,
I knew this was coming.”
XENOGOGIC Winter
2017
By Larry Peery
WORLD WAR III: YES, IT CAN HAPPEN HERE AND YES, IT CAN
HAPPEN NOW.
FIVE HOT SPOTS IN A WORLD OF GLOBAL WARMING
OK, it’s time to bite the bullet and consider where and when WWIII might happen.
For months and in at least one case over a year I’ve been studying what I consider to be the most probable and possible locations for the beginning of the next World War. Note that I’m not talking about the Cold War II that some think is going on right now but a real fighting war. As for when it might start, dare I suggest it already has?
I’ve picked five hot spots where such a conflict could happen and, in at least some cases, it has already started.
KOREA
BLACK SEA, TURKEY, SYRIA AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
SOUTH CHINA SEA
THE SUWALKI GAP
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., WASHINGTON, DC
In thinking about this I’ve looked at geographical factors, demographics, historical events, economic situations, as well as current and projected military capabilities among other things. I’ve considered but avoided making judgments on domestic political, international diplomatic and ideological elements because they are so susceptible to subjective analysis. I’ve also tried to avoid type-casting either individual leaders or stereo-typing entire national populations. One thing I’ve learned is that you can’t predict or anticipate how the “crazy factor” will effect a leader or how “mob psychology” will effect crowds gathered in public places, whether they are Tiananmen Square, the Washington Mall or the internet.
KOREA
I believe Korea is the most probable starting place for WWIII. It has been a battleground since the beginning of time as it sought to become a single nation. Today it is surrounded by three large neighbors who all have, at one time or another, tried to control, if not outright annex, it. Today, the peninsula is divided in two parts, North and South, with the North controlling two-thirds of the land and one-third of the population, and the South controlling one-third of the land and two-thirds of the population. These two sides, one poor and one prosperous, sit on either side of a two hundred-plus mile armistice line with a million men and tens of thousands of weapons just a few miles apart. It is tinder box waiting to explode.
Unfortunately, there are many lit matches close to that tinder. The North is quantitatively and qualitatively improving its nuclear force regardless of external pressures. The South is deploying a THAAD defense system that might work against the Northern missiles but which is surely upsetting the Chinese and Russians. Not as well-known is a major expansion at Camp Humphreys in central South Korea which will move an entire US Army division and the joint USA/ROK command structure to a single, convenient target site for those missiles. Ironically, this sitting duck target will cost in the area of USD 13.4B paid for by South Korea. At the same time, the US is finally finishing construction of a new aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, this time a moving duck, which will also cost about USD 13.4B paid for by the USA.
BLACK SEA, SYRIA, TURKEY, AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN
For several months I’ve been watching the comings and goings of the US and Russian navies in the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean and the domestic turmoil within Syria and Turkey as autocratic rulers (MDS or Modern Day Sultans as I like to call them.) duke it out The war, because that is what it is, in Syria and the war, because that is also what it is, in Turkey have been well-covered in the international media. Syria is in ruins. Turkey is in chaos. Both are also tinder boxes waiting to explode beyond their borders.
Less attention has been paid in the media to what’s going on in the Black Sea but military professionals have watched with growing alarm the increasingly tense and close confrontations between US and Russian naval forces. NATO, with the US Navy at the forefront, has pretty much decided to establish a permanent presence in the Black Sea as part of its effort to support Ukraine. That concerns the Russians but even more concerning to them is a little noted recent event in which Turkey, the treaty-given guardian of the Dardanelles and Bosporus Strait (a treaty of which Russia is a signatory by the way), shut down the passage to Russian naval forces. Even more disturbing would be a closing of that passage to Russian commercial shipping. The reason for that is simple. Novorossiysk is a major commercial port on the east side of the Black Sea from which most of Russia’s grain and oil are exported to foreign markets through, you guessed it, the Bosporus. To protect themselves the Russian navy has added new surface warships and has announced it will be building six new advanced conventional –powered subs to its Black Sea fleet.
The international media gave considerable publicity to the recent cruise of a Russian aircraft carrier battle group to the Eastern Mediterranean from its home base on the Barents Sea. The western press laughed at the smoking, old Russian carrier and the fact that it lost two of its planes in the first two weeks it participated in the Syrian conflict. Now the Russian fleet is heading home and, as I write this, is preparing to re-enter the English Channel with an honor guard of NATO warships. It might have seemed like a futile gesture on the part of the Russians to undertake this adventurous cruise which, at first, reminded me of the Russian’s Baltic Fleet dashing (over a period months) to take part in the Russo-Japanese War which ended in a disastrous defeat in just thirty minutes at the Battle of Tsushima Strait. However, the Russians, for their loss of two planes, gained much from their effort: a “showing the flag” cruise of considerable propaganda value; training of personnel and testing of equipment under real combat conditions; a new major base for their naval forces in Syria; and, perhaps most importantly, a boost in their effort to gain more of the pie in the division of the shrinking Russian military budget. Not bad.
So, in summary, the situation in this area is bad and the trends are getting worse. Not good.
SOUTH CHINA SEA
It’s hard not to see the continuous press reports coming out of China, the USA, and the various countries that border on the SCS. As much as anything I think it’s a fascination that the Chinese could and did build all those little coral island aircraft carriers that individually don’t amount to much but collectively which fulfill multiple purposes: they show they will have a permanent presence in the area; they put themselves in the middle of one of the world’s most important trade routes, they tweak the nose of the US Navy; and, most importantly, they secure the southern approaches to their new SLBM base at Sanya Bay on Hainan Island. How important is that last one? Imagine if one morning the US Navy woke up to find four Russian bases on four little islets in the Strait of Juan de Fuca or Salish Sea? Could it happen? With the history of USA-Canadian disputes over the boundary and the local Indians to stir the pot it just might happen. Not likely, but to the US Navy SLBM base at Kitsap, the mere possibility of such a threat must rank right up there with the high tides that virtually shut down the operations at the base.
The situation is bad enough that even the small countries in the area are starting to take an interest in it and beef up their naval forces. Almost every one of them has ordered new submarines and patrol aircraft for use in the area. Billions of dollars that could better be used at home are pouring into the coffers of sub builders in Korea, Japan, Sweden, Germany and France. Oh, did I mention the Russians?
SUWALKI GAP
It took me years of effort to finally get people to pay attention to the importance of Hainan Island and Sanya Bay. Now with that battle won I’m turning to a new priority target, the Suwalki Gap. If you’re not familiar with it check it out on wiki, Google maps and YouTube videos. As you can see it’s a small strip of land measuring about 30-35 miles wide and 70-200 miles long (depending on how much of the border you include) in northeast Poland that connects the Russian territory of Kaliningrad and Byleorussia. To the south is Poland and to the north is Lithuania. Suwalki and Augustow are the two main towns and all the roads in the area go through one or the other of them. There are no railroads, I think, and it’s mostly a flat land of pine tree forests and small lakes.
Historically it has been a pathway for German, Russian and Polish armies advancing and retreating in turn. Today the area has regained the strategic importance it lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. Without the buffer zone provided by the WTO and USSR Russia feels insecure and, frankly, I probably would too if I were a Russian. And that little enclave of Kaliningrad, how a formal part of Russia, is surrounded by the three Baltic Republics and Poland. Always a strong Soviet base the Russians have continued to pour their latest and best equipment and personnel into Kaliningrad, making its weaker neighbors more and more insecure.
In an effort to prop them up NATO shifted more of its multi-national forces into the area creating some weird basing situations. Today the entire region is dotted with bits and pieces of NATO units scattered about: a company or battalion here, a few fighters there, an AWACS patrol plane here, and a destroyer or frigate there. Most recently the USA army has moved an entire brigade to the area via Germany and Poland. It will be split up into various battalion size pieces scattered throughout NATO Eastern Europe. The idea is that their presence will deter the Russians from attacking their neighbors because that trip-wire would draw the USA into the conflict in a big way. Frankly, I don’t think that’s going to work.
SIXTEEN HUNDRED PENNSYLVANIA AVE., WASHINGTON, DC
For years I thought if a major war happened involving the USA it would start in the Pentagon, probably by accident. Since the last election I’ve come to the conclusion that a major war involving the USA is more likely to start in the White House, probably not by design or accident, but through bad decision-making or sheer stupidity. The same kind of bad decision-making that caused WW II, the Vietnam War and any number of wars in the Near and Middle East. The same kind of stupidity that started WWI and some of the Arab-Israeli Wars.
In my view the root cause of all this probable potential possibility for a WWIII in near time lies with one simple trend that is prevalent in all these areas and all their players. I’m referring to the breakdown in the separation of powers between the diplomats and the military and the decline of strong leadership able to use both wisely. Both the peacekeepers and the warfighters have become mercenaries fighting for their own gain. As Madeleine Albright so infamously asked Clinton Powell during the 1990s Bosnian conflict,” What's the point of having this superb military that you're always talking about if we can't use it?” Today the question is not what but where and when?
A
Response from Baron Powell….
Larry,
A
disclaimer up front... I was a
commissioned officer in the US Army for twenty years. I served as a logistician with primary
responsibilities in supply, services, maintenance, and planning. After ten years away from the Army, I came
back as a Department of the Army civilian.
I still hold this position today.
My experience with the service tells me that it has many of the problems
you would expect to find in a large, in this case extremely large, government
agency. One really does not have to dig
very hard to find instances of stifling bureaucracy, waste, fraud, cronyism,
incompetence, corruption, and a host of ills with which critics associate the
military. At the same time, it is
obvious that the military has its share of absolutely brilliant people, genuine
patriots, innovators, problem solvers, reformers, and efficient
organizations. In short, if you are
looking for problems, you can find them in the military and if you are looking
for something to rally behind, you find that in the military too.
My
own attitude towards the military shows my ambivalence. I often find myself highly critical of
military culture, trends, decisions, and practices. At the same time, I find my first reaction is
to bristle when someone starts blasting the military, particularly someone who
has no real experience with it. Please
know that I understand that you do have experience and that I do not believe
you are "blasting the military" at all. In fact, I appreciated your mention of the
conversation between Madeleine Albright and Colin [sic] Powell, as it paints
the latter in a favorable light, at least in my mind. I do, however, detect your cynicism. It is no doubt well justified. Certainly the current world situation is
precarious enough to give us all pause.
Now
that I have given you my preamble, I will get to the bottom line: trying to
predict where WWIII will start is an exercise in pessimism. “This could lead to this could lead to this…”
scenarios almost always sound alarmist to me.
If I am honest, however, I will confess my pessimism when it comes to
human nature. I do not believe in Gene
Roddenberry’s ideas of human evolution and utopia. I tend to view humanity as more of a cancer
which will someday consume Terra. Humans
being humans, I feel we can count on another great war occurring. Given the nature of today's weapons, we can
almost certainly guarantee that the next great war
will be destructive to a magnitude that will make all the horrors of the
world's past conflicts pale in comparison.
Any
one of the scenarios you came up with could be the match that lights the
fuse. I tend to view the area
surrounding the Black Sea as the most dangerous currently with the area that
used to be the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as number two, but with so many
"good" choices, it is hard to narrow the selection down to only
one. The key in my mind is looking at
those nations that want to change the status quo the most. It is this aspect that makes me believe North
Korea is not the number one hot spot, though we certainly cannot dismiss it as
long as the mercurial Kim Jong-un pulls the strings. Instead, it seems to me that Russia is the
most dangerous nation at this time.
Russia most certainly wants the status quo to change. For all of its saber rattling, I am less
sanguine about China.
Curiously,
I think Trump's election "might" mitigate the risk of a conflict
between Russia and the United States.
For as long as Trump remains a fan of Putin and his leadership style, I
think he is unlikely to favor involving the US in a war with Russia should the
Russians strive to "take back that which was once ours." Sadly, Trump too often displays the
temperament and judgement of a
adolescent. Indeed, Trump himself seems
to embrace the role of provocateur.
Should Putin misplay his hand so that Trump feels personally slighted,
then who knows if Trump will show restraint.
His seeming willingness to use our nuclear arsenal as a first resort genuinely
alarms me.
I
know little about Trumps selection for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. I will
have to learn more quickly. My initial
impressions of Trump's selection for National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn,
are not favorable at all. I am putting
considerable faith in James Mattis, the new Secretary
of Defense. My hope is that he is the
next George Marshall, not the next Robert McNamara.
We
do indeed live in interesting times. My
hope, as grim as it sounds, is that I am not longer around when the Dooms Day
Clock hits midnight.
THE POLTAVA OPENING: A WALK THROUGH dip&DIP
By Larry Peery
The legendary “Poltava Opening” came about in one of my first postal Diplomacy games back in 1966. I was playing France. For some reason Russia upset me in the Winter 1900 negotiations and press, so I announced in a press release to all the players that it was my intention to attack Russia.
Gales of laughter greeted that announcement.
Then, in the Fall of 1901, I picked up three supply
centers: Spain, Portugal and Belgium. Suddenly I was the biggest power on the
board. Still no one was overly concerned at first, until in Winter
1901 I built three armies.
That got some attention, especially from Germany
I immediately wrote long (yes, even in those days peeriblah
tended to be overly verbose) letters (real letters, we had no internet, email
or computers, etc. in those days) to England, Germany, Italy and Austria that
carefully laid out my plan to attack Russia!
God knows what they said to each other but the replies I got were agreeable,
although it took a bit of persuading to get Germany and Austria to go along
with my plan.
I proposed to them that they allow me to move through Munich, in the spring of
course, and then Silesia, at the same time I would be moving via Tyrolia and Bohemia into Galicia. From there I would attack
the Ukraine. Along the way I would be supporting them (Germany and Austria) in
their attacks on Warsaw and Rumania. More importantly I would guarantee the
peace between them. All I asked for was a clear shot at Moscow.
So how did it go?
Swimmingly. While England and Turkey watched in
horror, my armies moved east until I had a string of armies that occupied
Munich, Tyrolia, Bohemia, Galicia and the Ukraine. It
was time for Operation Poltava.
I don’t know if it was Germany or Austria that got cold feet but they couldn’t
accept the idea that I would do as I had said in my press (A very novel concept
in 1960s Diplomacy.) and, as my orders showed afterwards, that’s
precisely what I did.
Simultaneously I was attacked on three sides by Italy, Austria, Russia and
Germany. I had three units, or was it four, annihilated in one turn.
I was dead meat.
Still, it wasn’t a total loss, just a peericratic
defeat. Within a year France was gone as I made no effort to prevent England
from picking up my centers as best she could.
When the game ended a few years later, England was the winner and the Poltava
Opening was a hobby legend and my reputation as “the worst player in hobby
history” was born.
No openings at present.
Diplomacy,
“Milk and Trash”, 2015A, F 10
Austria (Jack McHugh
– jwmchughjr “of” gmail.com): A Armenia Hold, A Bohemia - Munich (*Fails*),
F
Eastern Mediterranean Supports F Ionian Sea, A Rumania – Bulgaria, A
Sevastopol - Galicia (*Fails*),
A
Silesia Supports A Bohemia – Munich, A Smyrna Hold, A
Trieste Supports A Venice,
A Tyrolia Supports A Bohemia - Munich.
England (Mark Firth
– mogcate “of” me.com): Retreat A Armenia - Syria… F Denmark
Hold, F Holland Hold,
A
Norway Hold, F Rome Supports F Tyrrhenian Sea, A Syria - Smyrna
(*Fails*), F Tunis - Ionian Sea (*Fails*),
F
Tuscany Supports F Rome, F Tyrrhenian Sea Supports F Tunis - Ionian Sea,
F
Western Mediterranean - Spain(sc).
Germany (Jim Burgess – jfburgess “of”
gmail.com): A Burgundy Supports A
Munich,
F
Gulf of Bothnia - St Petersburg(sc)
(*Bounce*), A Kiel – Berlin, A Marseilles - Piedmont (*Fails*),
A
Munich Supports A Kiel - Berlin (*Cut*), A Piedmont - Venice
(*Fails*), A Prussia – Livonia,
A
Ruhr Supports A Munich.
Italy (John Biehl – jerbil “of” shaw.ca): NMR! F Apulia Hold, F Ionian Sea Hold, F Naples Hold, A Venice Hold.
Russia (Kevin Wilson
– ckevinw “of” comcast.net): A Moscow - St Petersburg
(*Bounce*),
A Warsaw - Prussia.
Deadline
for W 10/S 11 is February 27th at 7am my time
Supply Center Chart
Austria: Ankara,
Budapest, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Rumania, Serbia,
Sevastopol, Smyrna, Trieste, Vienna=10, Build 1
England:
Brest, Denmark, Edinburgh,
Holland, Liverpool, London, Norway, Rome,
Spain, Tunis=10, Build
1
Germany:
Belgium, Berlin, Kiel,
Marseilles, Munich, Paris, Portugal, St Petersburg, Sweden=9, Build 1
Italy:
Greece, Naples,
Venice=3, Remove 1
Russia:
Moscow, Warsaw=2, Even
PRESS
BERLIN to ROME: You have to send
orders in, or we just think it is Flap Jack writing press....
BOOB to FLAP JACK: Maybe you should
write your ally instead of writing useless press, but we know Doug prefers
press and NMRs.
BOOB to FLAP JACK'S
BLACK PRESS:
You really were entertaining, I think even John will have to admit that Pope Fluvius resembles that remark!
GERMANY to ENGLAND: I'm not sure
whether I hope there are more NMRs or not. It's pretty pathetic when Flap
Jack is the one paying attention!!
Black
Press Gunboat, “Noah’s Titanic”, 2015Arb32, End Game
A/F/G/I
Draw in F 1910
David
Latimer (Austria): An odd game but rather pleased to draw as Austria. Especially having fought with all 4 of my neighbours! Did make
up with Italy to our mutual benefit (had to ignore a lot of ignorant sniping!).
Thanks to Doug for running Dip games in ES. Cheerio...
Harold Zarr (Germany): Beginning a “gunboat” game is
always a matter of guessing and hoping that your initial strategy plays
out. To be honest, I think that I prefer
them to regular Diplomacy games. In
beginning this game, I decided to try a strategy that I had never used
previously, going after Russia. My hope
that either Austria or Turkey (or both) would see my moves as an opportunity to
attack Russia, and that they could do the “heavy lifting” of tying down Russian
units while I picked up the easy supply centers and positioned my units for the
next few turns.
I got lucky in that France moved completely away from my border
and headed to the south, and England moved into the English Channel, signaling
to me that I might just get very lucky and England and France would go to
war. I immediately decided to do nothing
against France, as that would tie English units down as they headed south, and
that France would (hopefully) see me as an ally. It would also give me a prime opportunity to
take both Belgium and Holland, and possibly Norway as well.
Italy moved to Tyrolia, but I hoped for
a war between Italy and Austria, giving me a nearly completely free hand. But that was not to be, as Italy tried to
take Munich, which I successfully bounced.
An understandable move on his part as he no doubt
expected me to try for Warsaw.
Turkey moved against Russia and England moved into Belgium and
against France. Good so far, but I made
the mistake of leaving Silesia and heading south into Bohemia. That was a very poor move on my part. My move to Silesia really upset Russia and he
decided to go after me with all guns blazing.
In the next year I grabbed Sweden from Russia while he lost Romania to
Turkey. Italy took Trieste and appeared
to go to war with Austria while England and France focused their attention on
each other. So far, luck was with me as
Russia lost all his builds, and I had no threats from the west or south.
Turkey overplayed his hand against Russia and left his southern
flank wide open for an assault from Italy Austria. He should have easily seen that coming giving
that Italy was moving all his fleets to the east. As a result, he was unable to hold them off
and his home territories began to fall to Italy. A timely NMR by Russia did nothing to help
his cause, and while he screamed for help against me, Turkey continued to
attack him from the south, along with an opportunistic England stealing St.
Petersburg as well. To be honest, Russia
was absolutely correct to be worried about me, but I was merely using him (as
he correctly pointed out) to position myself for a subsequent assault on
England.
Still, looking at the situation from the perspective of Turkey and
England, it made sense for them to take Russia’s supply centers as they needed
builds to fight their own wars. These wars, merely helped me as they prevented any of the other
powers from concentrating on me when I was in no position to resist them had
they combined their forces against me.
But with England and France at war, and Italy and Austria focusing on
Turkey, and Turkey focused on Russia, I was sitting pretty in pretty good
shape. If nothing else, reading the
press from Russia was quite entertaining!
Russia fell completely apart by the end of 1903 and I was in
position to attack England with three fleets bordering the North Sea. France had driven England out of Brest, and I
picked up Belgium as well, giving me another build of a fleet.
I had hoped that France would see me as an ally, not a threat and
would cooperate in the destruction of England and attack Italy as well, who was
in no position to resist an attack from the west, but it was not to be. France decided to attack both Germany and
Italy at the same time, leaving his west coast wide-open to England. An unbelievable blunder
that almost upset my plans.
France was able to take Munich in the spring (which did him no good),
and was pushed out by me in the fall so that I did not lose any supply
centers. Italy built armies to hold him
off and began moving fleets to the west.
I started my assault on England and with four fleets to his three
(one of which had to stay in the west to protect Liverpool),
I had both position and numbers on my side.
Now, it was just a matter of time before England fell. I kept hoping that Italy and Austria would go
to war, but despite many times when Italy took supply centers from Austria he
never seemed to get upset about it. I
tried on numerous occasions to get Austria to attack Italy and indicated that I
would ally with him, all to no avail.
That was one of the great mysteries of the game to me. With Russia, Turkey, Austria and Italy still
fighting each other, it gave me the time I needed to take on England to obtain
new supply centers for armies.
If France has focused his attention on either (or both) England
and Italy, he could have grown at their expense. I was willing to support France into
Liverpool, but he never seemed to understand what I was trying to do to support
him. France never seemed to have any
kind of coherent policy that I could follow.
I tried, both through the press and by my actions, to demonstrate that I
would not attack him, but he never seemed to get the hint. That was as big a puzzle to me as the
relationship between Italy and Austria.
Italy meanwhile, took up Russia’s chant against me, and did all that he could to get Austria to attack me. Italy was out of position to attack me, so he
did all he could to goad Austria or France into doing it for him. Fortunately for me, until Austria could
eliminate Turkey in Russia, I had some time to complete my conquest of
England. If only France would have moved
his armies away from my border, I could have transferred units to the east to
attack Austria and go after Warsaw and/or Vienna.
As England fell, I tried to get France to attack Italy, but he
would not do it. I probably could have,
and should have looking back, launched a preemptive attack against Austria in
1907 and it probably would have succeeded, particularly with Italy taking
Bulgaria from Austria, but I hoped that this assault by Italy would finally get
Austria to attack Italy. But it never
happened and to this day, I can’t understand why. I should have pressed home my assault on
Austria in 1907, but my failure to do so probably cost me the win in the game.
France, as feckless as ever, even began to help England a little
bit, but it was too little, too late to save England and over the next couple
of years I eliminated England from the game.
That was even more satisfying than seeing Russia get carved up and
eliminated years earlier. My greatest
hope at this point was that Austria and Italy would finally go to war, at which
point I would be in position to both hold off Austria in the east, and launch a
full scale assault on France in the west.
Getting to eighteen centers would have been difficult, but I thought
that I could get all five of Frances centers with the units that I had, and
with a little luck could pick up one more from either Austria or Italy.
The only problem was that Italy had moved enough units into the
west that if I did launch the attack, Italy would benefit almost as much as I
would, and I could expect France to throw whatever centers he could to
Italy. Not a good outcome so far as I could see.
Austria still refused to attack Italy, and was now finally moving
sufficient units to the west that at best, I could construct only a stalemate
line. This would have been the prime
time for Italy to hit France, yet now he refused to do so, even though he would
have easily gained Spain and Marseilles, and possibly even broken out into the
Atlantic. Yet he never did, which was
another inexplicable thing to me.
At the end, I voted for the draw but did not expect it to pass, so
I was completely surprised when it did.
All in all, surviving as the “first among equals” is not so bad,
although it is not quite as sweet as a win.
I am pretty sure that Jack Garret played as Italy (his favorite country)
and think he figured out that I played Germany (my favorite). For some reason that I do not know, Jack has
had in for me in every game we have played for quite a few years. Perhaps now, with this game (and I fear this
hobby) seeming to close down, I will find out why. If not, well, it really won’t matter I guess.
The one thing that I really enjoyed in this game was the
press. I spent a fair amount of time
writing up the press that I submitted, and I tried to let my “creative juices”
flow as much as I could. I also tried to
use it to send messages to other countries, but in that, I was not as
successful as I had hoped. Press from
Austria was virtually non-existent and only Italy tried to match me in the
press communications, but he fell quite a bit short. I do hope that the other players (including
Russia) appreciated the time I spent putting my press reports together.
Looking back, luck definitely played a factor in the game, and for
a long time Italy, France and England were my best allies all due to their
moves in the game. I was able to profit
by their actions at little risk to myself, and that is as fortunate set of
circumstances that a player often hopes for, but so seldom receives. Many thanks to Doug for
performing as GM for the game. It
is a true loss to the hobby that he will be closing down Eternal Sunshine. I will miss it greatly.
By Almost
Popular Demand
The goal is to pick something that fits the
category and will be the "second most popular" answer. You score
points based on the number of entries that match yours. For example, if the
category is "Cats" and the responses were 7 for Persian, 3 for Calico
and 1 for Siamese, everyone who said Persian would get 7 points, Calico 3 and
the lone Siamese would score 1 point. However, the most popular answer in each
category scores zero points! The
cumulative total over 10 rounds will determine the overall winner. Anyone may
enter at any point, starting with an equivalent point total of the lowest
cumulative score from the previous round. If a person misses a round, they'll
receive the minimum score from the round added to their cumulative total. In
each round you may specify one of your answers as your Joker answer. Your
score for this answer will be doubled.
In other words, if you apply your Joker to category 3 on a given turn,
and 4 other people give the same answer as you, you get 10 points instead of
5. Players who fail to submit a Joker for any
specific turn will have their Joker automatically applied to the first category.
And, if you want to submit some commentary with your answers, feel free
to. The game will consist of 10 rounds,
with the 10th round being worth double points. A prize will be awarded to the winner. Research is permitted, but
cooperation or collusion between players is not!
Round 9 Categories
1. A
“spaghetti”
Western.
2. A member of U2.
3. Something associated
with camping.
4. Another term for
testicle.
5. A book by Kurt
Vonnegut, Jr.
Allison Kent kicks butt with a high score of 18 (out of
a possible score of 20). Dane Maslen strikes
out and gets 0, which also kills the NMRing players.
Comments By Category
Spaghetti
Western –
Richard Martin “one of my all time favorites.” Andy Lischett “After
picking my own answers I asked Carol, so this doesn't bode well for being
second favorite.” Mark Firth “Fiddled
around with loads but just went with my favourite.”
U2 – Richard Martin “going
counter-counter-intuitive on this one and picking the most likely answer.” Rick Desper
“Bassist - because I didn't want to pick Bono (too obvious) or The Edge
(obvious alternative).” Andy Lischett “The only one I've heard of is Bono, so I had to
look up another. I don't like looking up answers but since I may still have a
chance to win I've got to try.” Mark Firth “Bah! Picked as also the name
of an ex-Leeds soccer player.”
Camping – Brendan Whyte “Rain.
(tempted to say Kenneth Williams (oooh,
Matron!)).” Richard
Martin “did you hear about the fire at the campground? the heat was in tents.”
Mark Firth “First thought, bizarrely.”
Testicle – Melinda Holley “Mr.
Happy (seriously, I HAVE heard this reference *facepalm*).” Richard Martin “again with the counter-counter-intuitive.” Mark Firth “Yorkshire.”
Vonnegut – Richard Martin “three
times with the most popular likely guess. maybe it's a
charm.” Mark Firth “Researched - Hugo
nominee.”
Round 10 Categories – DOUBLE POINTS
For this round you may NOT use the same
answer in more than one category. Each
answer must be different.
1. A vowel.
2. A different vowel.
3. A different vowel.
4. A different vowel.
5. A different vowel.
Deadline for Round 10 of By
Almost Popular Demand is February 27th 2017 at 7am my time.
General Deadline for
the Next Issue of Eternal Sunshine: February
27th, 2017 at 7:00am my time. That’s a Monday!! Hope to See You Then!
