Perdita Logs

Spring 2005 Results.
Britain (Jim Hill) F Wal-Irish Sea (*bounce*)	Egypt (Suzi Holyoake) A Kaz - Irn A Arm - Ada A Ada - Ana A Izm - Ist F Ist - AEG A Bul s A Izm - Ist A Alg - Lib (*bounce*) F LBN s A Alg - Lib F Lib - Tun (*bounce*) A Gre - Apu F ION c A Gre - Apu F ADR s A Gre - Apu F Nap - Tyr (*bounce*)
France (Mike Smith) F SAO Hold F Bor - Nav A Par Hold A Lyo Support A Swi Hold A Swi Support A Aus Hold A Mar - Pie A Pie - Tus A Aus Support A Ven - Cro A Ven - Cro F Tyr support F Tun Hold (*cut*) F Gol - Lig F Tun Hold A Wsa - Lib (*bounce*) A Bar - Alg (*bounce*) F WME Convoy A Bar - Alg A Rom - Nap (*bounce*) A Mil Support A Aus Hold	Germany (Hippie) F ENG - IRI (*bounce*) F Lon - Wal (*bounce*) F Cly - Liv F Gda s A War - Lit A War - Lit F BHM c A Ham - Lat F BAL c A Ham - Lat A StP s A Ham - Lat A Ham - Lat (*bounce*) A Bel Hold A Fra s A Mun hold A Ruh s A Mun Hold A Mun s A Sax hold A Sax s A Cze hold A Cze s A Kra hold A Kra s A Pru - War A Pru - War A Ber - Pru A Gor - Mos (*bounce*)
Italy (John Fouhy) A Cro-Ven (*dislodged*)	Poland (Drew Buddie) R.I.P. 2004
Russia (Ross A Chapman) R.I.P. 2002	Spain (Jason Gool) R.I.P. 2002
Turkey (David Ashton) R.I.P. 1998	Ukraine (Piers Forrest) A Ser H A Rum S A Ser A Hun H A Ank H F WBS S A Ank F EBS S A Ank F Geo S A Ank A Vol S A CRP - Mos A Bie S A Mos-Lat A Pod S A Bie A Mos - Lat (*bounce*) A CRP - Mos (*bounce*)

The Italian unit in Croatia retreats to Bosnia.

Preceding the autumn move, Suzi sent the following missive to the fallen power of Italy.

John...

Fancy making a play for Croatia... I could support you in from ADR sea:

1. This would attempt to be a lesson to the French for their treatment of you
2. It would mean (if it succeeded) that you would still be in the game (and therefore that you would outlast Britain)
3. The French won't be expecting it

What d'you say?

Suzi

Autumn 2005 Results.
Britain (Jim Hill) F Wal - Lon (*bounce*)	Egypt (Suzi Holyoake) A Irn s A Ada A Ada hold A Ana - Izm A Bul s A Ist (*cut*, *dislodged*) A Ist s A Bul (*cut*, *dislodged*) F AEG - ION F ION - MAL F LBN s F ION - MAL F Lib - Tun (*bounce*) A Alg - Mor F Nap - Tyr (*bounce*) A Apu - Rom (*bounce*) F ADR s ITALIAN A Bos - Cro
France (Mike Smith) A Cro Hold A Aus Support A Cro Hold A Mil Support A Tus - Ven A Tus - Ven A Pie - Nap (*bounce*) F Tyr Convoy A Pie - Nap F Lig Convoy A Pie - Nap A Rom Support A Pie Nap (*cut*) F WME Support F Tun Hold F Tun Hold A WSA - Lib (*bounce*) F SAO Hold F Nav Hold A Bar - Auv A Par Hold A Lyo Support A Swi Hold A Swi Support A Aus Hold	Germany (Hippie) F Liv Hold F ENG - Lon (*bounce*) F Lon - NTH F BHM c A Ham - Swe A Ham - Swe F BAL c A Pru - Lat A Pru - Lat A Bel hold A Ruh s A Mun hold A Mun s A Fra - Sax A Fra - Sax A Sax - Cze A Cze - Slo A Kra s A Lit - Bie A War s A Lit - Bie A Lit - Bie (*bounce*) A StP s Gor - Mos A Gor - Mos (*bounce*) F Gda - Lit (*bounce*)
Italy (John Fouhy) A Bos - Cro (*bounce*)	Poland (Drew Buddie) R.I.P. 2004
Russia (Ross A Chapman) R.I.P. 2002	Spain (Jason Gool) R.I.P. 2002
Turkey (David Ashton) R.I.P. 1998	Ukraine (Piers Forrest) A Bie H A Pod S A Bie H A CRP S A Bie H A Mos S A Bie H (*cut*) A Vol S A Mos A Hun S A Ser A Ser S A Rum-Bul A Rum-Bul F WBS S A Ank-Ist A Ank-Ist F EBS-Ank F Geo S F EBS-Ank

The Egyptian army in Istanbul has no retreats possible and is disbanded.

The following table summarises the changing SC situation - this is not always the same as the number of adjusts!

The following table contains a game summary, broken down by power.

The NMR/Late score are for the current player.

Dropouts:
No players have yet dropped out of this game. Though Ydris (Turkey), Ross (Russia), Drew (Poland), Jason (Spain), Jim (England) and John (Italy) have been eliminated.

The following table contains a game summary, broken down by SC. Sc's are grouped roughly according to geographical area.

            Start End
      SC       95 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11
----Africa----------------------------------------------------------
         Libya  .  E  E  E  I  I  I  E  E  E  E  E
       Morocco  .  B  S  S  S  S  S  S  F  F  F  E
       Tunisia  .  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  E  E  F  F
---Britain----------------------------------------------------------
     Edinburgh  B  B  B  B  B  B  B  B  B  G  G  G
     Gibraltar  B  B  B  S  S  S  F  F  F  F  F  F
     Liverpool  B  B  B  B  B  B  B  G  G  B  B  G
        London  B  B  B  G  G  G  B  B  G  G  G  G
-Central Europe-----------------------------------------------------
       Austria  .  I  I  I  I  G  G  G  G  F  F  F
      Bulgaria  .  T  T  I  I  I  I  U  U  U  E  U
       Croatia  .  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  F
Czechoslovakia  .  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  G  G  G
        Greece  .  T  T  I  I  I  I  E  E  G  E  E
       Hungary  .  U  U  U  I  I  I  I  U  U  U  U
       Rumania  .  U  U  U  I  U  I  U  U  U  U  U
        Serbia  .  .  I  I  I  I  I  I  E  E  E  U
----Egypt-----------------------------------------------------------
    Alexandria  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
         Aswan  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
         Cairo  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
----France----------------------------------------------------------
      Bordeaux  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
          Lyon  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
    Marseilles  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
         Paris  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
---Germany----------------------------------------------------------
        Berlin  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G
     Frankfurt  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G
       Hamburg  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G
        Munich  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G
----Italy-----------------------------------------------------------
         Milan  I  I  I  I  I  I  F  F  F  F  F  F
        Naples  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  E  E  E  E
          Rome  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  F  F  F
        Venice  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  I  F  F  F
--Middle East-------------------------------------------------------
          Iran  .  T  T  T  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
        Israel  .  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
  Saudi Arabia  .  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
----Poland----------------------------------------------------------
        Gdansk  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  G  G
        Krakow  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  G  G  G
        Warsaw  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  P  G  G
----Russia----------------------------------------------------------
         Gorky  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  U  U  G  G
        Moscow  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  P  U  U  U
      Murmansk  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  G  G  G  G  G
        Rostov  R  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U
St. Petersburg  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  R  P  G  G  G
-SovSatellite-------------------------------------------------------
   Bielorussia  .  P  P  P  R  R  U  P  P  P  U  U
       Georgia  .  T  R  R  R  R  U  U  U  U  U  U
     Lithuania  .  P  P  P  P  R  P  P  P  G  G  G
--Scandinavia-------------------------------------------------------
       Denmark  .  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G
        Norway  .  B  B  B  B  B  G  G  G  G  G  G
        Sweden  .  R  R  P  P  P  G  G  G  G  G  G
----Spain-----------------------------------------------------------
     Barcelona  S  S  S  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
        Madrid  S  S  S  S  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
       Seville  S  S  B  B  S  F  S  F  F  F  F  F
----Turkey----------------------------------------------------------
         Adana  T  T  T  T  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
        Ankara  T  T  T  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U
      Istanbul  T  T  T  I  I  I  E  E  E  E  E  U
        Izmair  T  T  T  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E  E
---Ukraine----------------------------------------------------------
          Kiev  U  U  U  P  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U
       Kharkov  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U
        Odessa  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U
    Sevastipol  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U  U
-West Europe--------------------------------------------------------
       Belgium  .  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  B  B  G  G
       Holland  .  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G  G
       Ireland  .  B  B  B  B  B  G  G  G  G  G  G
        Monaco  .  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
      Portugal  .  S  S  B  B  F  F  F  F  F  F  F
   Switzerland  .  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  F  I  F  F

Ukraine builds armies in Kiel and Kharkov.

Italy supplies this end of game statement:

In many ways this game represents a few failed experiments.. Italy started in a position with a lot of potential for supply centre gain - having 5 neutral SCs 2 moves from a home centre. It was this - and the fact that I wasn't particularly vulnerable to any nations - that made me put Italy first in my SC choices.

Everything went very well at the start.. I got in and grabbed a number of Balkan SCs, as well as Tunisia. Then, with Piers and Suzi, we put the squeeze on Turkey, knocking him out early (sorry, Ydris :-) ). Somehow, I came off better there than I expected (getting Istanbul, IIRC, when I thought Piers would claim it).

After that is where things started to fall apart.. I then lead the SC count by around 6ish - considering the early stage of the game, and even granted that Modern has more centres than standard, a sizable lead. This evidently made Germany and France nervous (despite the fact that I had no plans to move on Germany in the forseeable future - my short and medium term goals were the Balkans, Turkey, Egypt, and then possibly Ukraine, or Spain). And Piers was coming under presure from Poland, and forced to weaken his defences against me.

So I proposed my alliance with Suzi be extended to move on Piers. In retrospect, this was a good idea. Piers had promised that if I took advantage of his weakened state, he would do his best to convince Hippie and Mikey to invade me. I called his bluff.

Unfortunately, I had also been reading the various strategy guides Murky had pointed out. The advice was clear: If Egypt is not shut down soon, she can be incredibly hard to root out, and cause a lot of trouble. As such, I decided to stab Suzi aswell. I had naval superiority - I backed myself to make quick gains, and keep her on the back foot long enough to shut her down and bring in reinforcements. As was seen, I failed. Suzi lost to the stab, but broke back, and Piers convinced Hippie and Mikey to move on me. From being allied with two neighbours and at peace with the other two, I had gone to being at war with all four in the space of a few turns. I think the operative word is "oops".

Was the strategy guide right? Undoubtedly. If I had continued with Suzi against Piers, and if France and Germany had gone and beat up each other isntead, I would have been moving NE and Suzi N - I would have cut her off either completely or mostly. A stab would have been almost inevitable. On the other hand, I would probably still be alive today, on (I hope) moderately good terms with F/G, and able to try and diplome my way out of it. :-)

At this stage, I didn't rate my chances well. Suzi had no incentive to stop invading me, so I would have been forced to defend against her for all I was worth. Maybe F/G would have been content to leave me alone after taking a centre or two, but I would have lost two of my home centres, and they had no real incentive to stop at that either. If I wasn't defending well, why not increase your holdings?

So I decided to go for broke.. I attempted to blackmail three of the currently-remaining players. :-) My basic line was: Turkey is dead. Spain is almost dead. France has only one Mediterranean port. I am the only power capable of stopping Egypt from complete dominance of the Mediterranean region. But if you continue to attack me, any disbands will come out of the line holding back Egypt. You won't be able to break through fast enough to prevent her growing veyr large, and you will find winning very difficult when that happens.

Murky has recently told me he thought it was a good idea at the time, so I mustn't've been completely mad. :-) I did think that he'd have been better off telling France and Germany directly, rather than relying upon Piers too put his own spin on things. Of course, I didn't say THAT to John at any time as it may have given him ideas.

Anyway, that didn't work either. U/F/G apparently decided they didn't like this, and the best thing to do was to concentrate as hard as they could on breaking my defences and grabbing as much as possible before Egypt got any.

From this stage, I was basically only reacting, and trying to slow them down as best as possible. (but I did do what I said I would :-) )

So it's up to you to prove me right, Suzi. :-)

(but it looks as though Hippie is on for his first (I think?) afpdip win.. he's very well placed in the north to fall on Mikey..especially with most of France's fleets battling Egypt.)

.. and here's the British end of game statement:

Well, here is the British end of game statement. There's not a lot to say really. My major problems were twofold. Firstly, I got dragged into the Spanish war and didn't produce enough naval power to keep that going. It would probably have been possible to hang on if the second problem hadn't arisen, but in future, if I played Britain in this version again, I think I would forget Gibraltar and try to expand north rather than south.

The second problem was much more severe. I had a hazy recollection of the rules regarding convoys, and I had thought that if a fleet was ordered to convoy then it's power wasn't added to any battle that it was involved in (I was in Sweden at the time and didn't have access to my copy of the rules and a Swedish copy would have been no use :) ). This was the first game I had played in years and I fell foul of not obeying the Golden Rule--If you're not sure...ask. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the minions of Herr Hippie landed on British soil. Had I been concentrating on the North and had my units there, I might have been able to repell the attack, but since my strength was divided in two areas I had little chance.

The only chance I did have was for Mike to turn on Hippie earlier, and I think that while I was hanging in there (Hippie eventually needed three units to kill off my last unit) Mike's had his best chance to strike. I must say that I enjoyed the game immensely, even though it was a rearguard battle for the second half of my participation. I do think it's important to try and stay in the game as long as possible, even with a lost cause, since to turn up your toes does spoil the game for the remaining players. It's one of the great things about afpdip that everyone wants to stay in the game. Well, I look forward to making a slightly more victorious end of game statement in the future,