Hello there! What's your general plan for this game? My inclination when I play Austria is to piss off as few people as possible, so I don't plan on making any overtly aggressive moves this turn. Hi Austria. Nice to meet you, and looking forward to playing as your neighbor. 

Hmmmm, I hate playing as Italy. I rarely succeed. Frankly, I’ve recently tried early attacks on Austria, as Italy, AND IT KEEPS TURNING OUT POORLY. I’d really like to play this one as a tight-knit Central Trio if you have any appetite for that. Not sure if I should set up a Lepanto or go west, but I’d be happy to hear your thoughts on it. That sounds good to me. I think probably what would work best is if you and Germany go west while Turkey and I contain and/or eat Russia, then once I've picked up some Russian dots and gotten some good position, you split your fleets to help me take Turkey and help Germany take England. I like that. Let me talk it over with Germany. I’m not sure whether Germany is keen on attacking France. Perhaps you and I should focus on Turkey? Yeah, honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think it'll just be easier to wipe turkey off the map really quickly. I've done it in tourneys a few times before and it just makes everything simpler. 👌 So I’ll open as a standard Lepanto. Sounds good. Nice start!

Really glad to see Turkey open north, and glad to see that you were true to your word with me. I feel like we’re in a really strong position to control the East!

What are you thinking? Yep! Good start, now we've just gotta follow through properly. So, do I just convoy my army to Tunis?

Also, do you want me to bounce you in Trieste? Sure, Trieste bounce is a good idea. And yeah, standard Lepanto with the convoy. So...how shall we go about this? I’m kind of thinking that you and I should eat some Turkey. That's exactly what I'm thinking. I'm going to send Greece into the Aegean, you send Ionian into Eastern Med. Okay. Cool! Do you mind if I take Greece this year while you take Bulgaria? That will keep us even, and should be guaranteed. I can just convoy an army to Greece in Spring while you move to Aegean, and I can support you to Bulgaria in the Fall. This also means you don’t have to rotate your armies all the way to Greece, which will allow you to mobilize against Russia faster when the time comes. 

Thoughts? Any thoughts on this idea? I am going to send my fleet over to Eastern Med and we can work this out next turn. Sorry about that, today got a little nuts. Figuring it out next turn is probably the best call, once we see what's worked and what hasn't. Okay, thank you for being true to your word. 

I think we’re in great shape. My major concern on the board right now is E/F, which is likely going to take down Germany quickly and become a major force. 

It is really important to me to get a build here so that I can try to keep France in check a bit. Will you agree that You get Bulgaria, I get Greece, and we can move forward with both of us at 5?

I really think that the two of us can dominate this game if we keep working together. Yep, I'm just fine with that. Great!

I will convoy Tunis to Greece. If you can support that move, that would be great. And it looks like you’ll have no problem supporting Greece to Bulgaria. I'll have a more direct response once the retreats are all resolved and I'm not extrapolating what the board state will probably be, but that seems eminently doable. How’s it looking over there? Looking solid! I don't think we actually need to coordinate all that much, we're in a really good position. Just to be clear, should I expect Greece will be open? Yep, it will be. I'll want it back eventually, but for now it's yours. You, sir, are a terrific ally. This was more than you needed to do, but makes me feel like this is really a long term thing! Thank you. We can do great things together, long term. I figured a down-payment now against that great future would be worth it. Plus, you ever try digging out a talented Italy as Austria? It's a pain in the fuckin neck! :P 🤗 Yeah, let’s just work together. Should be a good one for both of us. What should I build? I’m pretty undecided and would be willing to let you choose. I think probably a fleet will serve you best, in terms of flexibility. We've got Turkey, he's doomed by numbers, so you want to start thinking France. 👌 Okay, how would you like to approach this turn? I’m at your disposal. I think what we do is, AEG convoys GRE-SMY with support from EAS while BUL taps CON That's just an initial thought, though - if you have a better idea I'm all ears My concern there is that Arm doesn’t have much to do other than support Smyrna, and I don’t know if we want to rely on Russia helping. I think he has a serious incentive to prevent us from succeeding too quickly against Turkey. Very good point. Perhaps you tap SMY with EAS and I use AEG to support BUL-CON, with the intention of then doing the convoy in the fall? What do you think of Aegean support Bul to Con while I cut support in Smy? That is guaranteed so long as Russia does not support Con back to Bul (unlikely), and we don’t have to tell Russia the complete plan. Yes, we xposted, but we are thinking the same way. Well it appears our messages passed each other in the internet's series of tubes, but, great minds, etc etc Good. Consider it done. I’m thinking about sending an army over to Piedmont to keep France honest. Do you think that is a good idea or a terrible idea? I just want to avoid a stampede over Germany, and I feel like forcing him to use an army in Marseilles to bounce with me is worth dedicating one army from me. But I don’t want to antagonize I’ve him either. I keep going back and forth about it. What do you think? I think probably we give France one season to see what they do. England build F LON and France built F BRE, which is something we should keep an eye on before moving. Okay. If he does say anything to you about moving towards me, would you please let me know? I feel like he’s in an awfully strong position, and it makes me nervous. You'll be the first to know. Man, isn't this game simpler when you're being honest? 👍 France says they're getting radio silence from England, which is probably good news for us. Russia says you're trying to get him to attack me, heh That sounds like the kind of thing Russia would say. 

I have generally told Russia that I am not close with you and I’d be willing to attack you, but I’ve never “tried to get him to attack you. That is a complete 👎. 

Our alliance seems to be the one trusting alliance in the game. Everyone is going to try to break us up. We need to prevent it. That's about what I figured. Wanted to let you know it was being tried. Also, England is extremely unhappy with France. Yeah, sounds like England is attacking France. That’s good for us. We seem to be the only alliance that has its act together. Which can mean only profit for us, as long as we stick together. Word. 

Listen, I’m an alliance player. That’s how I’ve always been. I think it’s the only way to play. I don’t like to shift around. I like a close working relationship with a partner. That’s what we have, and that’s what I plan to stick with as long as you’ll have me. 'til death or end of beta do us part, then 😛 That said, I don’t want anyone else to know that. So if people ask, I’ll tell them that I’d be happy to attack you. Oh naturally, I'll bullshit the hell outta everyone else. Sooooooooo. Tyrolia? Test You don’t like it? I figured it was the same as Venice. If I wanted to attack you, I could have just moved to Trieste any time. 

My purpose in Tyrolia is to keep Munich black. I’m just going to support Munich holding. I don’t want Germany to get trampled. I'd have preferred a heads-up, is all. So, we going with the same plan? I convoy Greece over to Smyrna? Sorry — I’ve been slammed all day. Just looking at this again now. Okay, I’m so sorry. I got distracted again. Yes! I will order GRE to SMY, EAS S GRE to SMY, TYR S MUN holding. 

Will you allow me a build this turn or do you plan on retaking Greece now? Sounds good to me. Any word on Greece?

Basically, if I get a build this turn I can turn around and smash France. If I don’t, that will be a more tepid attack. I've got no need to immediately take it, since I'm picking up Con. Okay. Thank you. 😊 Hey, by the way, I am going to be candid here: I have thought about attacking you. I really have. But I have recently arrived at the conclusion that this would be a poor path forward. I’m not going to do it. 

I’ll move on France now. That will give you the peace of mind to know that my units will be occupied and far from you. Glad to hear, yep! Let’s just keep right on working together, and press our advantage b I suggest you move Alb to Ser and prepare to attack Russia in Spring. You can have Ank, but I really do think it makes sense that I keep Greece. Ending up with 2 centers from Turkey/Balkans seems fair, with you getting everything else, yes? Yeah, I think I can live with that. Sorry it took me a moment to respond, it's the MLB home run derby tonight Well that, I can understand. Look, like I said, I was wavering a bit, especially during the long weekend. But, I’ve taken a close look, and I just think that this alliance has unique staying power. I really do. We both have room to grow. Now that England attacked France, there isn’t really anyone who can stop us. This can work long term, and work well. I wholeheartedly agree. Neither of us benefits from attacking the other. So, This one seems easy. I’ll support you to Ankara, and you are guaranteed either Ankara or Rumania:

Con - Ank
Smy S Con - Ank
Age - Con
EAS S Smy holding
Ven - Pie
Tyr S Mun holding
TYS - LYO
Tun - WES
Ser - Rum
Bul S Ser - Rum
Bud S Ser - Rum
Vie - Gal

Sound right? I had already entered every single one of those orders, except for AEG-CON, which is in now. It's nice being on the same page, isn't it? 👍 I kind of figured. It’s a pretty straight-forward move for both of us, and likely gains for both of us. This alliance is in a really healthy place. So, I assume you're going to support Ank to hold? Also, fyi, I'm in transit to SkyCon out in Montana, so I might not be the most communicative gent this weekend. Hi Austria. I apologize for the delay. Quite a busy day for me yesterday. 

I have no problem supporting Ank to hold. I also want to say — looks like that support ensures you get two builds. My own attack on France is not quite so successful. Do you mind if I borrow Trieste this turn to stay even with you and keep my momentum going west. I’ll place another fleet with it, which further locks me in moving away from you. I think that’s actually quite good for you, but I know some players get prickly about home centers. A dot is a dot is a dot. It's better for the long term health of the alliance, and I'm still building one. More importantly, your best/easiest route to growth still lies in France, not with me, so I don't see you having a ton of incentive to go after me. Go for it. OMG. 😮 You are my favorite ally of all time. This just happened. You just past the threshold. It used to be this guy who was playing France to my England. Funny dude. Great stories. But he never sacrificed a home center in the interest of parity. 

You are a rare gem. Do you think 17-17 is an okay result for a beta test? I feel like I can’t stab you now. So I’d like to simply crush the board with you. I've never said no to 17/17, lol What's your planned build? F Nap. Sound good? Yeah, Naples makes it look like we might actually be fighting, go for it. Well, I hope you had a nice weekend. Do you think we have much to discuss here? Is there anything you’d like me to do with my three eastern units? Do you want me to pretend to fight you, or shall I just move away or hold still? I don’t really have any idea what I should be doing. My weekend was great! I placed 8th at SkyCon, which was a disproportionately talented tourney, so I'm feeling quite good about myself. I'd like your army in Smyrna to support my move from Ankara to Armenia, but other than that, I see no point in pretending to fight each other, so I figure you might as well move stuff west to take care of your new main front. Okay, that works for me. Do you want me to move Eastern Med to Aegean? If your move to Armenia works (likely), you may want to use my fleet to bounce with you at Con to keep The Russian fleet out. But totally up to you. I don’t care either way. Right now I've just got my fleet in Con tapping Black, so it'll probably stay full. Get the fleet where it can help with France. Thoughts on where we go from here? My units are at your disposal. I think the best way to take Rum would look like this:
Bul - Rum
Ser and Bud S Bul - Rum
Con - Bul (EC)
Arm and Smy bounce in Ank
Tyr and Gal bounce in Vienna
 (Anticipating that Black Sea will likely move to Bul to cut support) Everything still okay? I like it, yeah, let's do that. Folks are trying to pry us apart, but their arguments aren't making a ton of sense. Yeah, I’m getting the same treatment. 

If we stay together, we win together. Argh! I KNEW Black Sea would try for Bulgaria!!! Shoot! My wife says I am bossy and uniquely inflexible. I don’t want you to feel that way too! How shall we approach this next turn? I think we need to put in a good set of orders here to turn the tide against Russia. Here's what I've got right now: 
A Arm - Sev
F BLA - Con
A Bud S Gal - Rum
A Gal - Rum
A Rum - Bul
A Ser S Rum - Bul I figure if you bounce me in Con, that piffs the Russian fleet. Yeah, not bad. The danger is in Rumania. Are you thinking Gal - Ukr, Bud - Rum? Shall I order Tyr - Vie?

I think that is likely best as it keeps Russia out of your centers for sure, and it should easy to support me out in the Fall once Russia has one less unit. Yep, that seems like the best course of action. So look, I’m at your disposal in the east. I think the best bet may be for you to support me from Vienna to Galicia, but I’m willing to do something else if you like something else better. Frankly, if I were you, I’d be worried about a stab from Italy here. 🤭 But I’m not going to do that. You e been extremely good to me. And it would be a very bad time for me to begin a war in the east while all my units are west. So you’re stuck with me as an ally. Yep, that all checks out, and I was thinking Vie-Gal was the best call, so let's make that happen. Well that is damn annoying. I’m surprised he tried for Vienna — would have thought he would go for Rumania. I do think that we can guarantee you Sev this year, which should finally crack this nut. Yeah. I'd also like to address the center imbalance a bit more directly - as you pick up dots in the west, I'd like to start picking Greece, Vienna, and Ankara back up. Er, Smyrna, not Ankara. Totally agree. Yes, we need to take that in swiftly. Let’s see what the builds look like and make a plan. Hi Austria — So, this is a big turn for us. I am absolutely committed to getting you a build. I wish we could get you more than one, but unfortunately the fact that you lost Vienna last turn makes that impossible. 

So, it seems to me that the most important way to get you a build is to take Galicia in Spring. I don’t care if I move there, or you move there, but we need to make some room around Budapest so that you can build there. Yeah, I'd appreciate your support from Bud-Gal. Maybe something like this:
Bud - Gal
Vie S Bud - Gal
Rum - Sev
BLS S Rum - Sev
Arm S Rum - Sev
Bul - Rum
Ser - Bud

If the move to Gal does not work, and you don’t get Sev, then in Fall you can order Bud - Tri while Vie and Ser bounce in Bud to ensure you get a build. Oh yeah that looks better than what I had in mind. Let's roll with that. 👍 One tweak: I am worried that Russia could take Rumania with the move set I proposed. You can prevent that by having Serbia support Bul - Rum. I think that’s better than Ser - Bud, and it makes sense because you want Bud open after the Fall anyway. That should mean that you won’t lose any ground this turn, and you’ll likely take Sev. Oh yeah, good tweak, makes sense. So ordered. Hey — man, Russia keeps guessing correctly. I am sincerely sorry that that move did not work. 

Thoughts on what to do this turn? I wish England or Germany would pick off a Russia. Center in the north, but they seem content to let Russia put up his road block. Use Tyrolia to tap Bohemia, Vienna supports Budapest to Galicia, and Rumania taps Ukraine. Unless Bohemia goes to Vienna, that guarantees a move to Galicia. Also, for my comfort, do you mind if I pick Trieste back up? I like that. I was thinking that you would move Bud back to Tri, but this is much better. It keeps forward momentum. And yes, you should take back Tri now. That will make builds easier as we move forward. Also, actually, I don't have anything for Bulgaria to do, and you're guaranteed two dots this turn. Can I take Greece back too? I can bank a build for the future regardless of what happens, and you stay even. You don't really need a build right now. Hmmm. I’m cool with you taking Trieste. I’m not sure that taking Greece now is the right move. 

In the West, I will take Liverpool, but not Portugal. I need to use my Spanish fleet to support MAO so that I can convoy an army to Liverpool. And I’m just in no hurry to take out France. So if you take Greece, you would be taking an Italian unit off the board and not building one yourself. Also, seems like there is plenty of risk that Russia could try for Rumania. Why not use Bulg to support Rum, while having Rum and BLS Support Arm to Sev? All that said, if you feel like you need to take two from me this turn in order to keep working with me, I can live with that. The alliance is much more important to me than the dot. I'll take another look at it and get back to you. Oh man. I’m getting a lot of hate mail out west. Not fun. I think Germany has a pretty low opinion of me, and it sounds like she and Russia are developing a bit of a romance. 

I am totally cool with you taking back Trieste this turn, and I am thankful that you loaned it to me in the first place. But I’d prefer if you wait to take Greece until you can actually use the build. It would make things quite a bit tougher for me if I have to take a unit off the board especially if we don’t get an extra unit in the east to compensate. Yeah, if you're not picking up Portugal, then I'll let Greece be. Argh. I blew it!

I’m sorry. You were a terrific ally. I misread the board and thought that I had a clear solo run. England basically told me that he was going to help me solo, so I felt like I ought to just go for it. He bamboozled me, and for me to stab you. It was a mistake. My sincerest apologies. I mean, I'm gonna have to fight you for at least a little bit. We'll see what happens. Yeah, I get that. It makes me sick because it’s likely that you’ll just get squeezed between me and Russia. Fighting me is not really a path toward viability for you, and that’s my fault. 

I’m sorry this happened. I really am. I misjudged the situation and I fear I’ve ruined both our games. If you can stick around and insist on getting some of the fruits of smashing me and not letting Russia get them all, that would be justice. Oh, I'm definitely sticking around, and if you want to make it easier for me to pick up some dots, that'd go a long way to making me more viable and more inclined to resume the alliance. Good. I’m game for a draw if you guys want to wrap it up here. I'd take a draw. Sounds like Germany is the holdout. I’m so mad at myself for taking the bait last turn. I had both Russia and England urging me to go for a solo, and it was just stupid of me to believe them. 

I’m going to try to leave both Tri and Bud open to you this turn. All yours. Sent to Germany, England, Austria, Russia: So, England, Germany, Russia, y’all played a great turn last turn. You got me to stab my long-time ally and you ended our pretty excellent 7-year run as an alliance. Russia told me he was with me if I stab Austria. England told me he wanted me to solo so long as I would “teach him” and help his along to second place. Then y’all pulled the rug out from under me. It was clever and effective. (End Part 1) (Part 2)
At this stage, my excitement about the game has diminished quite a bit. And of course I’m happy to play on and take my lumps for falling for “Hey, I really want you to solo, just help me place second,” but if you guys just want to call it a five-way draw among us and grab a beer together, while reviewing the statistics, that’s really my preference. 

I am outnumbered and I obviously can’t solo. And I’m sure some of you in the north are eager to send everyone else flying my way, but I expect Russia and England to be careful, and so I’m not sure there is much room to move forward without simply tipping the board to Germany’s favor. 

I propose that we draw and hug it out.🤗 I believe everyone is in for the draw. I've got it set, and I'm set for early adjudication. Do you think this game is going to draw? So, did you veto the draw?