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Austria: Removes 1 unit
France: Removes 1 unit
Russia: Builds 2 units
Turkey: Builds 1 unit
Message from England to France
Erik -
Two responses for the price of one:
> I don't see how I could possibly trust you to work with me
I 100% understand this sentiment. I would no doubt feel the same in your
shoes.
But I am not in your shoes, I am in my own, and I would encourage you to
look at the map as I see it - my fleet in MAO is useless against you, and
ENG is vacant. We can decide how we want to play it, we have choices, but
as a practical matter I *can't* attack you. So you are angry at me, good
lord you should be. But you do not have to *trust* me right now - that can
come later - right now you only have to trust that I will do the sensible
thing and line up against the leader.
> I mean, really, why should I work with you? You've
> proven that you carry grudges an inordinate amount of time,
Hm. Ok, I admit it.
> you're easily manipulated by other nations,
Well, I resent "easily." But I'll admit I've been manipulated here, by
Eric.
> you're willing to ignore a serious solo
> threat for your own personal gain,
Part and parcel with being manipulated by Eric. This is where you and I
have each been victimized.
> and you are not able to resist grabbing
> my centers no matter what the long-term cost.
I repent! This one I won't do anymore!
> Hey, I know I placed a fleet
> in Iri for a little opportunistic bloodletting,
Yes, and in your first presses afterward you also lied about it. You live
in a glass house, as do we all.
> but when I saw that it was
> a bad move in the long-term, I pulled way back.
You set an example I intend to follow.
> I do not believe you are
> capable of doing the same. You are clearly going to be a threat to me for
> as long as I remain in the game.
Do you really think I'm some kind of sicko who would rather play to
eliminate you, than try to survive? I deny this charge.
> Because of you, I've lost two centers, lost any chance of peace with the
> Italian and I look like a fool in front of all the other powers.
Andy does not want "peace," he wants what's in his best interest. He will
have a tough time pressing against you, and soon enough circumstances will
force him to turn around.
> Frankly,
> at this point, I think Eric pretty much deserves the solo, and I'm still
> angry enough to do what I can to hand it to him -- my chances of even
> drawing are gone, thanks to your moves. Maybe I'll change my mind in the
> next few days.
I hope so. Think about it - it is pretty early to start talking about
throwing the game, I think.
> Vacate Bel and/or Hol, and I might change my mind. That's about the only
> thing I can think of at this point.
I intend to work with you and/or Germany to pin back the Russian. That is
priority #1. I have none - zero - attachment to any particular dot, but
before we get into tactics, let's see the builds.
> I'll still listen to your reasoning, though, so feel free to try to
> convince me otherwise.
I'm working on it.
On to letter #2:
> Since we clearly have much discussion, I should tell you that I will be
> retreating to Pic. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll keep it there (I
> have a disband coming), but since you're pretty high on my sh*tlist right
> now, I'd like to keep my options open. Just thought I'd warn you ahead of
> time.
You don't have to! I *asked* you to keep that army! I am aware I am on
your shotlist - the * is for o, right? - but as dangerous as that army is,
I *want* you to have it, because it will be crucial for stopping the R(g).
I think Tony might want to work with us but that's something we will have
to think about carefully, as he is a cunning little sh*t.
> Enjoy the lump of coal I've had special delivered to your stocking ;).
Good lord. Another one?!
I want to conclude by quoting myself - this is from the first press I sent
you today:
> Message from BHarris@StAttorney.org as England to France in 'c2':
>
> Erik -
> [major snip]
>
> Ben
>
> p.s. Retreat the army - do not disband it - we will need it to deal with
> the German centers. And I say this, absolutely aware that you could use it
> to hurt me. But there is a higher cause right now, and that is, that we
> play well, and not embarass ourselves any further in front of the gallery.
As you can see, I am prepared to take risks to work with you, even after I
have every reason to be afraid of your counter-stroke. Because we do not
play to lose.
Ben
Message from Russia to all
I'd like to add my best wishes to those that others have sent around.
--- Eric
P.S. Sorry this is coming so late, but it was a busy day. I had to organize
all the animal entrails, clean out the sacrificial pit, get my horns buffed
-- it was just non-stop crazy.
Message from England to France
Erik -
I'm not sure what your playing experience with Andy is, but he seems to
think you may commit suicide rather than play to succeed. Which *I* think
is odd, considering the game is still young and there is much that can
happen.
Merry Christmas, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Ben
Message from England to France
Erik -
Concerning your removal, I have no strong feelings one way or the other,
but one thing I thought you may want to consider is that your southern army
is a *serious* deterrent to Andy and also is your most advanced unit, being
the only unit between the two of us anywhere near the "East." So, get rid
of it if you want, but I'd gently suggest keeping it.
Again, look at the map - I have no attack against you anymore and it's time
(for me) to settle down and play smart.
Ben
Message from England to France
Erik -
You should know that now, after years of encouraging me to attack *you*,
Andy is asking me to push north to try to contain Russia. Now, as I told
you, that's what I wanted to do anyway, but when I hear it from *Andy*, what
it means to me is, Andy sees the danger Russia poses as a solo threat as a
*bigger* danger than he sees you against him.
Now, I agree with Andy, and I intend to follow his advice, unless you decide
to counterattack me, which would I think just be ugly, because with only a
small amount of encouragement from me Russia can claim all the German
centers, HOL, EDI, and who knows what else. I do not want to go out as a
suiciding Brit - it's not in my nature. *But* the good news is, if I get to
suicide for someone else's solo once, on this grand stage, I won't have to
do it again for awhile, because my reputation will precede me.
Anyway I do not think I will have to do it, as my sense from your last press
was that you would like to try to work with me again; perhaps you agree with
me that tactically I can't really attack you anymore, and I have every
reason to want to push north. Plus it will be a long time before you could
claim any of my dots anyway.
So! I am looking forward to hearing from you, and continuing to expect the
best for our resurrected EF.
Ben
Message from Master to all
Players,
I've extended the deadline per a player's request.
Greg, GM
C2
Message from France to Russia
Eric:
So. Any recommendations here? I thought I could buy English time by
supporting Kiel so I could make some gains against Andy, but clearly I
misjudged him. He claims to have been badly manipulated by you, so kudos
to you for your success in that arena.
I'm kind of torn right now -- I need to make gains down south, but all
external forces are making me be defensive and head back north. Since you
seem willing to take on England rather directly now, perhaps it's okay to
do that. Frankly, I was feeling a little isolated before.
Erik
Message from France to England
Ben:
God all your pleading, consoling messages, and I am certainly receptive to
them. I just got back from vacation in NH where I had more limited access
than I thought, so I'll re-read them and get back to you before I make my
build choices.
Erik
Message from England to France
Erik -
> God all your pleading, consoling messages, and I am certainly receptive to
> them.
Good! I tried everything I could think of, with the exception of crass
bribery, which I am also prepared to do, in the form of Belgium. Which I
will gladly offer, as I think I implied (maybe said) already - I just
wanted to be clear about it.
> I just got back from vacation in NH where I had more limited access
> than I thought, so I'll re-read them and get back to you before I make my
> build choices.
In New Hampshire you were lucky to have indoor plumbing.
I am looking forward to your response, but as you can see, we have plenty
of time.
Welcome back.
Ben
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
I'm ages behind in press in this game. Very pleased with the extension.
The short note I'll send now is that Germany seems to be focused on revenge
against England (he's angry that England allowed me the freedom to attack
his (Germany's) home centers). I've broached the idea of having him help
you take Bel in exchange for you helping (or letting) him take Hol in the
Fall, and he seems willing. Now, working with Tony is dicey at best, but
the last two seasons he's actually gone through with moves that he promised
to me, so I think he'd be willing to do this. If you are interested, I
think that's the best way to go forward.
I have to say I was majorly disappointed to see Jason give Gre to Andy. It
was a COMPLETE surprise to me. I've been trying to convince him it was a
bad idea, but the damage is done for you for the short term. I hoped to see
England go down one, Andy go down one, and we could press for a three way
(FTR) or we could try to squeeze out Jason for a two way. Unfortunately,
Jason was worried about making sure that Andy could slow you down rather
than trying to set up a good position for himself.
If you like the Bel/Hol idea, it gets you the ability to pick up a build in
the north (which, admittedly might be lost if F MAO takes Por, Spa or Bre)
while still leaving you the ability to push at Andy, or at least trying to
hold a line. Jason tells me he is considering taking back Gre. If he does
that, then Andy will be less of a threat.
The overall difficulty is who to defend against. If Jason takes Gre, then
you might be able to focus north. But given that Jason misled me last
season, I don't know that you want to count on my info about him. I will
also look and see if I can't give some advice about disbands. But I haven't
looked at the map much since the moves, and I just got in from 4 hours of
driving in bad weather, so I need to get off the computer and let the blood
back into my rear.
More later,
--- Eric
Message from Russia to France
Erik,
Not like I'm Mr. Communication this season, but I'm interested in your
response to my last message. What did you think of the cooperate-with-Tony
suggestion I sent before? Even if you disbanded A Ruh I think it would work,
right?
--- Eric
Message from France to Russia
Erik,
Not like I'm Mr. Communication this season, but I'm interested in your
response to my last message. What did you think of the
cooperate-with-Tony
suggestion I sent before? Even if you disbanded A Ruh I think it would
work,
right?
--- Eric
11th hour, but what does it matter at this point, eh? And I can't
disband Ruhr, so that's a non-issue.
I think the idea of working with Tony has a lot of merit, and I will
certainly be more active in my communication with him this coming phase.
For now, the disband is coming down to a coin toss ...
Talk to you tomorrow,
Erik
Message from France to England
Ben:
Regardless of what I end up disbanding, you should be aware than I am
indeed still willing to work with you. You will excuse caution on my
part, but I think history demands that I not turn a blind eye to you for
a little while without a very good cause.
We can talk more when discussions for the next phase begin.
Erik
Message from France to Italy
I think you'll find my answer to your questions in my actions this
phase.
Erik
Message from Italy to France
> I think you'll find my answer to your questions in my actions this
> phase.
I guess thats fair.
Hopefully you arent attacking me.
Andy
Austria: REMOVE Fleet Albania
France: REMOVE Army Piedmont
Russia: BUILD Army St Petersburg
Russia: BUILD Army Warsaw
Turkey: BUILD Army Constantinople
Centers
Austria: 2
England: 5
France: 5
Germany: 2
Italy: 5
Russia: 9
Turkey: 6
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