Hello Russia!  I’m curious as to how you like to play this game?  I’m often a big fan of the A/R alliance: Turkey is a great initial target, Germany second, with Italy coming next after that for me and England next for you.  Lots of possibilities!  Any thoughts? Greeings Austria!

I agree the old Jug is a little obvious, I do believe that A/R is a lot more flexible for both of us ! 

How do you envision a 1901? We could bounce in Gal, as that’s a fairly safe way to maintain those two units in a rearguard position, for starters.  Then there’s Turkey: if I can convince them that you’re going north so that they can move quickly with their fleets with me (ie Ank-Con) then you could just *take* BLA, which would speed up this whole endeavor right away.  If we don’t think they’ll do that (or you don’t want to lie in 01), you two could just bounce there and go to Mos-Ukr while I go to Ser, then in the Fall you could either take Rum with the fleet (so you can force BLA), or else I support you into Rum from Ukr while going for BLA again.  Of course, Italy goes Trl and Ven right out of the gate, I won’t be as useful an ally to you ;p Any thoughts on 1901 moves?  Germany and Italy both seem content to play cautiously (so they say: the Anschluss "hold in Munich" from Germany, and "how about a Lepanto?" from Italy), and Turkey is making friendly sounds but nothing concrete.  You feeling like the typical "3 units south" approach, so we can pick apart Turkey? I don't seen any obvious E/G fighting right out of the gate to give you an easy opening into Scandanavia (as cool as that would be - A/R alliances where R gets in the west early can do some fun things...) Agreed on the bounce in Gal. Yeah if you can convince turkey to move F to Con that would be great! Are you worried that Italy will disrupt you this spring? Italian 1901 moves are a wildcard.  I think they want to take it cautious, which means I’d have a tiny bit of breathing room, but if you were Italy and wanted to dive into Austria, wouldn’t you tell them you wanted to move cautiously, too? ;p Yeah fair, what are your 1901 plans then? Going for Serbia and keeping Trip defended might be the way to go then? Wow the west looks way more fun than what we’re all doing! Ha how's that? England gets into the channel with the aggressive convoy from Wales option, Germany puts two on Bur, and France weirdly decides to launch an army into the east.  Things will move fast over there. Of course we could slow things down for them if it starts to look out of hand.  And we (you, especially) need to watch a nascent E/G alliance.  I’m sure we’ll be able to do some fun stuff too 🙂  We should talk to France so they don’t crumble too quickly. Wait dumby question im used to playdip. Why does the board show some people's spring moves and not others Yeah that Germany/English alliance is looking pretty formidable. Looks like we do have An anti-Turkish Italy which could be useful. We need France to give E/G a fight. It'd be nice for us to get Sweden, but im looking pretty outgunned to the North. The board shows me everyone’s moves, did you go back a season to see the moves, or are you only looking at the current position? I see the board now, It just showed me everyones moves but Turkeys and mine it was weird That is definitely odd! At least you have no worries about an English army in Nwy, right next to StP.  How did you want to play Rum?  Tell Turkey you’re supporting your fleet into there, and if they stab you by taking BLA in the fall, you’ll build F Sev in the winter to force them right back out?  Totally valid defensive threat, and maybe convinces them to leave Ank where it is? Yeah that would be a good play! Are you going for the second build in Greece, not sure how that will play out with Italy and Turkey. I'm debating whether or not to go for Sweden or send my fleet South I’m definitely going for Gre: Italy can’t guarantee a build without taking Tunis, which keeps Ion from being involved in Gre in any direction.  Turkey may not feel like letting me have Gre... but I can support myself in, so they can’t really stop it either. Yeah you need Greece, agreed. What if I tell Turkey that I will sup their bulgarian army into rum, which will then free up your army in serbia to actaully support me into rum. Then your albanian fleet gets greece for free Do you think Turkey will believe that?  We could try, but I’d hate to go for Gre unsupported and have Turkey decide at the last minute the they don’t trust you, or want to keep me from getting Gre.  Let’s sound them out and see whether we can tell what they’re likely to do, and go from there? Sounds good Supporting you into Rum will show my hand as your ally, but that has to happen at some point.  If I do that, do I have your assurance that in exchange, next season you'll do: Rum S Ser-Bul, so we can squeeze them back into their homeland?  We'll need that to succeed in Spring so that in case they get into Aeg they can't stop it for the fall. Hey so let me know what you think about fall plans, when you get a chance- although I imagine you’re hopefully having much more fun doing some New Year’s party or something 🙂 Looks like we only have 13 hrs until adjudication- quick timetable on this game, I guess! In case you’re out partying and only read this while I’m asleep: if your good with my offer (I support you into Rum now, you support Ser-Bul next season), then it’s a deal.  Also: since you didn’t ask for any particular plans in the War/Vie/Gal/Boh/Sil region, I’m going to assume a “bounce-enforced-DMZ” of Gal is still in effect, and we can do that again. If you’re planning instead on poking at Germany to remind them to be nice about Swe, I can instead cover Trieste.  I could see how F Bal + A Pru could wreck havoc on a German position where their fleet has landed way up in Sweden. Kie + Ber + Den sitting kinda wide open.  Just let me know, or else we can stick with another bounce for now. Yeah sounds good so that's a yes for "I get you Rum, you help support me into Bul next season",  and "let's stay off of Germany's doorstep for now, fight one war at a time", yeah? 🙂 and I *assume* you meant you want support for Ukr-Rum, since you're doing Sev-Bla to keep Turkey out, right?  Because you didn't actually say which unit you were sending to Rum... would be very sad to order a support for the wrong unit, y'know? Yeah I’m not going to poke Germany. Sup my army, in moving into BlA with my fleet. You’ll get bul next season 👍🏻 cool. that's what I had ordered already, but glad to confirm. wow, I'm glad I picked you to work with, and not Turkey.  I really hate picking allies who can't get their orders in! As a consequence, you can build Sev and force Arm in spring and crush Bul at the same time, and in fall 02, bul-con ensures that Con S Ank is cut, and Bla S Arm-Ank succeeds and the turk ends '02 on 2 dots. Seems like you made a bit of a mis-order on War-Gal, though - that wasn't intentional, was it?  I didn't want to *be* in Gal, I just wanted it empty.  I can try to get out of your way there... but its going to be a bit crowded after the builds. Oh yeah sorry about that I don't know what went wrong, yeah I guess try to evacuate that unit so it can actually be useful to us. Trying to decide whether to build north or south rn... Want to plan a german offensive? It looks like we have a lot of free units that could attack them two fronted war?  Do we maybe want to pin down Turkey so they're unable to become a threat first, pick up one more build from them each?  Plan for that: build in Sev, then do F Bla S Sev-Arm in spring, and F Bla S Sev-Ank in fall.  Meanwhile, Rum+Gre S Ser-Bul in spring, and in fall, I hit Bul-Con to cut their support, so that Ank is unsupported in the fall, and we get both Bul+Ank in one year.  One build for each of us, Turkey's down to 2 centers and can't cause much trouble (even behind us), and we can turn our attention more easily on Germany?  We could use our rearguard units to push up on the German line now, but to actually break through, requires a ton of force: we really need Trl+Boh+Sil+Pru to ensure we crack Mun+Ber, unless they leave themselves totally undefended.  Even just 2 armies back there and it's slow going, and they can pull Hol-Kie to fill in another support in one move.  I'm game, but it seems maybe a year early? Oh I didn’t see they build a fleet in Berlin... this means they’ll force Swe and put pressure on StP- unless you can convince them to work with you against England instead.  Once the push fleets like that, they’ll be way out of position and yeah we can crack them.  Maybe we can afford to push sooner... we should consider some tactics... I could perhaps be convinced. So in theory, if we did the whole "AIR-head" alliance, we *could* blitz westward all at once now: Vie-Boh, Gal-Sil, War-Pru, Ven-Trl.  All three of us go after germany now, and in the fall, we make supported attacks on both Munich and Berlin.  One has to fall, and if they aren't careful in spring, both could in the same year.  The problem with that kind of plan is it requires tons of trust for you, me and Italy.  You have to trust me to not dive right in to Warsaw as you walk out, Italy has to trust leaving their entire homeland totally undefended, and I have to launch a two front war where my two allies could just coordinate instead walking Ven-Tri + Tun-Ion-Alb while you do War-Gal as I'm getting out of the way.  Fun kind of things to do when trust has been built, but I don't know y'all one bit, yet. 🙂 so since I'm not sure I want to commit to jumping all over Germany just yet, I want to make sure you don't stress about my "bored" armies: my orders will involvee Vie H, Gal-Bud, as well as the Gre S Ser-Bul while you do Rum S Ser-Bul as well, ok?  Italy will have a unit F Eas after this move, and will be convoying the army over to peel apart Smy and help you into Arm to take Ank.  If you want to leave Gal open for now, we can keep it as a DMZ so you don't need to worry about Ukr or anything like that.  Unless you have any other concrete plans you'd prefer to do, that is. Yeah I am totally on board for your proposal that gets us one build each this round from turkey. i was juts saying we should start moving into Germany's territory, without making a full attack yet. Gal-Boh and Vie-Tyr could set us up for that next turn. As for working with Italy, that is an option but how much have you been talking with them so far? Yeah any ideas to the north for retaining StP? Yeah sounds good to me. How will gal move to budapest since theres an army already there? Also how have negotaitions with italy gone? Do they expect Smy? or Con? Gal-Bud, Bud-Ser, Ser-Bul, Gre S Ser-Bul.  The latter succeeds as long as you hold up your end of the bargain and order Rum S Ser-Bul.  You mis-order that, or "forget", and I am not able to get out of your way in Gal. :p RE: Con/Smy/Ank: I've talked to Italy, and they're going for Smy, and will support me into Con, and if you need it (you won't, by then) I'll support you into Ank.  A nice 3-way split of Turkey. Ofc Im not looking to break our alliance anytime soon XD. A dual win is very possible for us... RE: StP.  That's tricky.  If you send War north to help you hold it (which it will, for a year or two, until they bring all three of those fleets to bear at once), you're using the army which we'd want to be useful in Sil/Pru.  As long as you cover StP now, they can't take it from you this year.  They get Swe this year, and spring of next year they move into position, and then finally in fall they have 2-3 units in position to take StP.  By then we should be able to make them think twice about that, either by backing up StP with some army strength, or else losing it temporarily while we push against Mun+Ber on land. To your second point im not entirely sure about 2 builds for you, one for me, and one for italy (long term that is). Could I have Con and then give you smy next year? That would leave me with 1 more army the you, but that seems fair since im a lot more spread RE: StP, yeah ill keep negotiating with E/G and if i can't get anywhere with them ill go for the protect StP at all costs> I think I might be able to play one against the other though Long term, we don’t need Italy, no.  In fact we can probably just take Smy from them the very year after they get it: if Turkey is dead and Italy has lots of fleets, they’ll be going after France, which only strengthens E/G further which we don’t want. But as for current plans, we already splitting equally: I supported you into Rum (wasn’t needed, but I ordered it and that told Turkey I was their enemy, that cost me something), so you agreed to one season’s worth of support for me to get Bul: an even trade.  Then I’ll make sure to keep tapping Con each season to cut support for Ank, which gets you that one, which would mean a fair trade after that is Con for me, which I won’t need your support for, just your permission that I can take it for myself and we’re still good.  Italy taking Smy on their own helps both of us, because it gets rid of a unit which can support Con or Ank.  Once this stuff is done, however, I’m open to giving you Smy, especially if we’re both moving against Germany and splitting Mun/Ber for the two of us. But if you see it differently, let me know. Diplomacy is the name of the game, and it’s not a compromise unless everyone is equally  unhappy 😉 Fair  but the one thing for us to consider is if I get to builds this year I can put them to the north and two fleets would be the perfect support for out German invasion in the following year A fleet in the north would be *awesome*, yes.  If it looks like we have a chance at making sure that happens, I’m definitely interested in trying to help that become a reality.  That totally opens up stalemate lines which otherwise get locked down. Looks like Turkey has to choose this next season: block Arm, or Syr.  Can’t do both. I’ll be in Aeg to make sure Turkey cracks open totally next year.  I’m moving my armies a little south as well, to help them from worrying you 🙂 And yeah, you’re going to need two builds from Turkey sooner rather than later.  That should be doable pretty quickly. In fact, I’m a bit worried about your western border already.  If you want to watch your back, and send that Rumanian army through the Gal DMZ so that you have two units covering War (in case Germany thinks about: Mun-Sil + Bal C Kie-Pri - yikes!), I’m cool with that if it’s just passing through for defensive reasons. Yeah that is a little worrying. Should I just sup my Sev army inot Arm again? If you want to ensure you own Ank at the end of next year, I think you need to do that supported attack again, yes.  If you're worried about Germany and want to redeploy west, that's fine too, but it'll make it slower to get you a Turkish build. If I were you, I'd send the Rumanian army to cover your western flank and keep hammering at Turkey so you can get builds (first Ank next year, then like we discussed, you can have Smy: we'll have to steal it from Italy, which may mean I need to stab them, and if I do that, I won't be able to simultaneously fight against Germany as much with you, but we can figure that out when we get to it) Maybe Turkey forgot to order again... then they’ll lose all three of their units next season (and we’ll be able to get you Ank and Smy *both* next year).  Make sure your orders are submitted just in case! Awesome: the Turk chose to defend Syria not Arm.  Attacks on Con and Smy ensure you get Ank in spring.  Good to see England backed off in the north, nice diplomatic work on your part 🙂 hey things look pretty straightforward in the south: we both do supported attacks on Ank + Con, and Smy can only support one.  The other is destroyed in Spring.  Then in fall, whoever got in supports the other attack, and we get one build each next year. Sounds good I plan on moving in on ank. what are your orders for bul and greece? Moving ser-trip coould set up a free build from italy this turn as well. Also any ideas on keepung france around a little longer. Germand  and England don't seem that close Also, I've heard intel that Germany is moving on us now. I suggest Vie-Boh and bringing your other units north would help us have the perfect counterattack for the following year when we get reinforcements Yeah, moving two units back to Vie and Boh, now, and I would frankly be very worried, if I were you, of this: F Bal C Kie-Lvn, Ber-Pru, Mun-Sil.  That would crack War in one season and put huge pressure Mos. But if Germany does that, I’ll be ready to put pressure on them in Boh at least. are you going to cover against Germany too? Nice save, in the north! And if Turkey messes up in the fall, you get both builds from Ank and Smy in one year.  Plus I’m covering your butt by moving to Boh so that Mun won’t go to Sil, so you’re looking pretty good! I’m going to need that build from Con this year, to get a second fleet: England is coming! Yeah, Im glad I got the bounce to the north or i'd be in real trouble. Wait I don't think turkey even has to make a mistake. If I sup you into con from BLA than that prevents con from suping SMY from my two pronged attack from ank and arm If Turkey orders con-ank, that cuts support of Ank s arm-smy.  If you attack the other way, arm s Ank-smy, you’ll get into smy, but con-Ank will recapture Ank. If you do Bla s Ank, Ank s arm-smy, you keep Ank but again con-Ank cuts support for your attack on smy. However: Aeg s Arm-Smy, Bla s Bul-Con *is* guaranteed, now that I look closer!  They have no fleets to cut either support now, so if we do that, then all three Turkish centers drop this turn! I missed that in my earlier analysis, thanks for making me dig into it again! Can you take a look and make sure I’m reading the tactics on that correctly? Yeah that's right! We should have the turk out of the game in the winter. You have my support from BLA into Con which guarantees your build, but to guarantee mine could you sup army in Arm into Smy with your AEG fleet? Bc otherwise Turkey has a shot of surviving if he cuts support from ank Aeg S Arm-Smy and Bul-Con are both already ordered 🙂 You should make sure to leave both StP and Mos open for your two builds.  I’m building F Tri (I’ll need it in the Mediterranean). Are you building a northern fleet now while you have a chance? F Tri for me, A Mos for you, so F StP(sc) to back up your other fleet and keep England happy, or F StP(nc) to get one out up top before you get bottled in? Sounds about right You decide on whether you'll do south coast, or north?  Looks like you've managed to avoid war with England up until now, so probably south coast? Yeah prob either south coast or army. Im thinking an army could be good since I already have one fleet there yeah an army can sneak around in Nwy/Fin easier too. I've played this game a long time, and I don't remember the last time I saw an A/R alliance with both Austria and Russia building fleets in 1903.  That is the sign of an extremely well-functioning alliance for primarily land-based powers. 🙂 Hell yeah man were doing well! How should we coordinate the German offensive this year? I am going to support France into Munich.  You should push them back to Prussia, right?  I have a little concern that if they go into Sil, we will have a hole in our line - Galicia.  What should we do about that?  Either I can go there, or you can convoy an army from turkey up to Rum, and go into Gal the season after that.  Either way, one of us should transit through Gal towards the front lines. We can drain our units out of Turkey at the same rate, so we both are safe over there, and get our units where we can make use of them. Okay sounds good ill pull the  ank army to fill the hole. Would it be valuable to pull that Con army up into the fold? Also I love the support france into Mun play. As for ejecting Germnays foothold in Lvn, I think I march from Moscow right? I will definitely bring Con out of  there, but do you mind if it waits a season, so that we evacuate Turkey at the same rate? You’ve got 2 units there now, and I’ve got 1. After this season it’ll be one each, and we can pull them out at the same time?  Just helps us both worry less about any asymmetry. Mos-Lvn, StP and War supports the move, GoB-Bal cuts the possibility of Bal s Lvn, seems like the right set of northern moves? Re: Turkey- if you want to move faster, we could: I could move my con out now if you are moving both your armies out: Ank-Rum and smy-arm? So actually I’m not going to stress about Turkey: I’ll trust you and move con-Bul and I suggest you move smy-arm to get that into play as well.  I think I need to go to Gal in case Germany goes to Sil and also retreats lvn-pru- you’ll need extra support to hold War if Germany has pru + sil and can cut Lvn with their fleet. I can shuffle Gal out of your way so you can get Rum in place to support your own unit, unless you want me to keep Gal there for now?  You could bring your other army around, and move Rum-Ukr?  Either way, if you want to do Rum-Gal, let me know and I will move out of the way. What are your thoughts?  Seems like a key season for coordination. I think Ill move Rum-Gal if your cool shuffling. I'll start moving Smy into the fold as well. Want to move Greece to Ion so we have another fleet in the Med? Since were still bringing units up, I think I will prob not be making any offensives up north unless you have any ideas? Yep I'll get Gal out of the way and let you get up there to support yourself in the push toward Berlin.  As for moves, Bot-Bal, War S Lvn-Pru, Lvn-Pru might succeed if I ask France (who owes me a favor) to tap Sil?  Or you could counter attack next season after you have Gal in place. Yeah lets push Germany out of Pru. Ask France to tap Berlin though bc you can tap Sil with Boh. Then we can disband Pru if im looking at this right I am probably moving Aeg-Ion to hold England off, yes.  And good point re: Sil/Ber.  I'm feeling a little exposed in the Balkans, though.  I may need to cover my butt those southern armies - I would hate for our alliance to fall apart because you noticed shiny dots sitting undefended! Yeah likewise. I mean to be fair as long as we don't stab each other I think we have the dual win in the bag at this point, which kinda of discourages betrayal. What are you thinking as far as covering rn? To be fair I'm relatively exposed too Well if I'm leaving Aeg, you'll have no worries about Smy, but I'm looking at Bul and Ser.  Hey maybe if you're not doing anything with Bla this season, we could do Gre-Bul, Bla-Bul(ec), and we'd bounce.  My dot would be safe, and we'd keep the good position we're in, and I wouldn't be any closer to Rum, so you'd still be safe in leaving it for Gal. I'm not sure about Ser.  I guess I won't worry about it, because if you stabbed me for it, you'd have an army sitting all alone in the middle of my territory, and would not last long. Agreed on the bounce. Although that wont work next season bc I will convoy that last army into the fold. Should I also ask France for the cut, or would it be more effective to leave that to you? we can work out a different bounce if we need it, or maybe we will be just less entangled and won't need to worry about it then. I asked them already. and reminded them that their help here is ensuring that their enemy has to enemies pushing on them hard.  Plus, I don't think Mun is under threat right now. France is tapping Berlin, so I’ll tap Sil and you tap Bal and you should be able to crush Pru! So, some thoughts on strategy, beyond small tactics: we can keep Italy working with us for another year, but I think if we want to push forward, we need yet another fleet each.  I could take two dots off of Italy next year, keep one build for myself and one you could take from me in Con.  The real key for us, long term, is to get into Bur, Ruh, and fleets in the north you forgot to bounce me in Bul!  Not the end of the world, but I didn't want to be in Bul.  We may need to put off killing Italy for a little while - they're gaining position against England, and the more tied up in the south that England is, the less ability they have to help you out Germany against you in the north.  Have you thought of offering to support them into Sweden?  It would be amazing for us if G/E started fighting... You might want to move your Ank army up too Mos, instead of Gal, btw: if you can cover StP with an army, it would free up that fleet to dig in against Den/Swe/Kie/Ber. Yeah sounds good Ill move that ank army up to cover mos/stp. Ill ask england if they want support into Swe. So should we wait on attacking Italy this year or not? Im not partial either way, but I agree that once we do you should give me some of your builds in the back as you gain from italy. That way i can have some new fleets to make gains to the north I indeed thinking on holding off on attacking Italy this year, because they are likely to make progress against England.  And yes, if we’re not getting you builds in Germany and I *am* getting builds in Italy, we need you building in the Atlantic, which I can’t do, for sure!  Similarly, if I can break through in France and need builds and you’re getting some in Germany - you’d do the same for me! 🙂 Spring: Boh-Mun (cut their use of that for support), Tri S Vie-Trl, Vie-Trl, Bul-Gre.  You do War S Gal-Sil, Gal-Sil, Pru S Bal-Ber.  This *forces* Germany to do Kie S Ber or else Berlin falls in Spring.  If they do hold Berlin for spring, they lose it in the fall, because Sil can be the mover while Bal cuts Kiel and Pru supports the move, uncuttably.  Fall we possibly also have the option of asking Italy to do Mar-Bur which cuts that support, and then Trl+Boh+Sil to take Mun.  Or that can wait for the next season.  Looking pretty good! Any thoughts for moves?  Running out of time, let's not lose momentum! Sounds good! Yeah ill take Sil, threaten Ber, and bring that ank unit north. Alright well Berlin fell quicker than expected. I'm thinking of moving the sev army into Mos, which should allow me to send my StP fleet to Bot. I think a quick seizure of Scandinavia will prevent Britain from saving Germany from our ground invasion. That's why i think i should move my Berlin fleet back out to BAL, and replace it with my prussian army (supported by sil just to make sure). then I can move warsaw into prussia to cover that territory. I think this line of play is in our best inetrsts but I wanted to run it by you to see if you think either of those moves into the baltic sea seemed to risky Lvn is critical yes.  And Mos.  Berlin is trickier: we can retake the typically hard to capture Munich now with: Ber-Kie, Mar-Bur, Sil+Boh+Trl work together to force Mun If they knew how to play this game, they’d see that coming and do this: Kie s Mun-Ber, Swe-Bal.  that would evaporate Ber in exchange for losing Mun.  But to avoid losing the fleet you could shuffle Pru out of the way to leave it open for a retreat space.  Or, let them evaporate it, and rebuild F StP(*NC*) which would totally screw them With a mos, f stp(nc), they are so sunk in Scandinavia So we could put your Sil army in Munich if you’d like and then Berlin is still easy next year. Yeah I think that’s best: get you Munich for the north coast build, save Pru as a retreat space as well: Pru-Sil to get out of the way in case Ber has to retreat and Bal is taken France is on board to do Mar-Bur.  So we can get you Munich (and if Germany isn't very smart, you'll have both Munich *and* Berlin) I’ve already put in orders for Boh and Trl S Sil-Mun Sounds good! arggggg!  I told you to do F StP-Lvn, not GoB.  Now you can't build in StP - if you'd gone to Lvn, you'd have fleets in Ber + Lvn + StP, and more easily able to protect against England who will bee convoying an army to Nwy next season (if they have any brains at all) other than supporting Munich, do need anything from me this season?  I have ideas about the North, but I'll let you ask if you want any advice 😉 (but I can't help myself: StP -> Fin is unlikely to be blocked, and then you can do A War S Mos-Lvn, A Mos-Lvn, A Sev-Mos, A Sil S Ber.  What do you think?  Too safe?  Better to make some risks?) In the south, I'm just putting myself in position to replace Italy's units while England floods into the Med.  If you can't get a foothold in Scandanavia, England will be leading this board in 1910... Ok thanks I think ill do that, sorry for not responding my messages havnt been sending for the last week Oh nice!  StP open for F StP(nc)!!! So England is totally overcommitted in the south, and yet cannot break my stalemate line (I don't think they understand that though).  Your new northern fleet is going to be a pain in their butt, keeping them pinned down protecting Nwy.  I have a plan to get you another northern unit, but it requires being clever: you move Bla-Bul, and I use my two new armies to dislodge you from there, and you retreat off the board and rebuild up in StP (maybe south coast, this time, so you have 3 fleets against Germany's 2, and you can capture Bal and break through their lines to capture Den or Kie?).  Other than that, the only option is hoping you guess cleverly and/or E/G screw up.  Getting you an extra unit up there seems the most efficient, and your F Bla isn't doing us much good anymore. Sounds good ill move Bla-Bul. Should I attempt the Fin sup Stp into NWY? I thought about Fin+StP, but then I remembered about coasts: Fin *can't* support an attack on Nwy: it's a fleet, and can only support an attack on a province it could itself move to, so that support is invalid 😦 so I'd instead go for GoB, which would force Swe S Bal, and allow you to instead do GoB c Lvn-Fin, and then you *do* have a unit which can support an attack on Nwy. Oh hey, I forgot - Mun/Ber.  Just want support or are you shuffling units around for better placement? Because if you wanted, you could do Mun-Ber, Ber-Pru, Sil-Mun, and I can support Sil-Mun to make sure you keep it, but you'd have a spring risk you'd lose Ber, and need to recapture in the fall... But if I don't hear from you, I'll assume you just want support for Munich. Sounds good ill grab BOT, and I think i will go for the grand shuffle. So please support sil-mun two supports ordered for Sil-Mun. Although, looking at the way Germany plays:  Munich is less likely to be attacked than Berlin.  If you wanted, you could just leave it open for a season and do Sil S Mun-Ber.  Then when Germany does Bal S Kie-Ber, you’ll both bounce but you’ll have shuffled Ber safely back to Pru.  Then in the fall, you can do Pru + Mun S Sil-Ber, and it’s 3 vs 2 you get in with the army, and can concentrate the fleets on the Swe/Fin area.  I’ll support whichever you choose though. It’s your risk, your choice Ok, I'm doing Rum-Bul, Ser S Rum-Bul to get rid of that southern fleet and if you can retake Ber, rebuild.  I think you can crush Berlin: Pru + Sil S Mun-Ber, Bot-Bal cuts off their retreat.  The only way they guess their way out of it is to explicitly run away from Ber: Ber-Bal, Swe S Ber-Bal, which would be weird.  Their fleet getting crushed would really screw them though.  You'd wreak havoc on Kie/Den/Swe if they only had one fleet.  The other guess you could do is Sil S Mun-Ber, Pru S Gob-Bal.  If they try to run away and you do that, again: their fleet is crushed.  So I guess you now have a 50/50 guess at totally wrecking the german fleet! 🙂 Ummm... please try to at least put in provisional orders next time.  Kinda wrecks the game for you allies when you NMR :/ And do remember to disband F Bul instead of retreating... the rest of our northern line depends on those units existing where they are... Of course part of this is my fault!  Apparently my order change to put in double support for Mun didn’t go through- it saved the version where I supported Sil-Mun :/ Yeah apologies for that one, I will not miss another step If you do GoB s Pru-Bal, War-Pru , Sil s War-Pru and they work, Germany will be pretty toast Let me know what you want Boh + Trl to do. You can clearly retake Mun or Ber. Im sending pru to bal and war to prussia, so probably cant take ber or mun this season Ok, sounds good.  Make sure to use GoB to support Pru-Bal, in that case! Ah I would be pretty mad about the stab but I did kind deserve it with that missed set of orders last year. Are you splitting with Germany or England? If it's both ill prob just surrender We could probably end the game as a 3-way tie EGA at the end of the year.  Sorry about the stab... I had gotten kinda bogged down and we were running out of time.  In a non- time limited game I would’ve been more patient (our A/R position was still better) Did England say stupid shit to piss you off? I’d have thought you’d disband the fleets and slam into me to “punish my stab”?  Not that I’m complaining!  If you care, I’m happy to support your last unit or two to survive the game at the end, so that England can’t have the satisfaction of eliminating you... Ha no, my thought process after a stab is more survival than revenge. Yeah that would be sick, which unit(s) do you want to keep alive? they can't take A Mos without my help, if either you or I are in Warsaw. so depending on how we get there, if it turns out you have both, great.  If it turns out that I have War (and Sev/Ukr underneath) I'll be supporting you in Mos (and hoping you use that unit to support War) I’m supporting Lvn-War and also tapping Silesia, if you want War back for your last move!