Pearl Gourami - EGS

Game Started: 7th November 2005
Game Ended: 25th May 2006
Result: Russia won!

Country	Player	Performance
Austria-Hungary	Martyn Webster	Eliminated
England	Stephen Mawson	Survived
France	Gavin Nochomovitz	Eliminated
Germany	Jens Forsgård	Survived
Italy	Carl Hanich	Survived
Russia	Brian Koon	Won
Turkey	Jan Willem Omlo	Survived

Austria-Hungary

Well I can't comment on most of the game, since I saw most of it through a microscope, however here is my limited perception of things.

1901
I started with an open mind as far as strategy, and made standard moves in all directions to make contact with all neighbours and establish the perception of being a presence in the area. In the first turns, Russia and Turkey seemed to be at odds over Rum already, and both seemed to be friendly to me (obviously each hoping to get me on side) and Italy was being very passive. I decided to try a fast attack on Italy with 3 units, while leaving 2 units at home for appearances. I hoped to gain an early 6th centre and maintain an active interest in the Balkans to keep Russia and Turkey from resolving their differences and coordinating an attack against Austria.

1902
The attack in Italy went well for 1 year and I had Italy in a weak position having, ready to make some gains. Unfortunately, despite taking Ven, Russia and Turkey decided to combine for the standard attack on Austria, and I missed giving a retreat location in spring, leaving my home centres completely open for the Autumn.

1903-1904
I tried for a while to hold off R/T and push on to finish off Italy, but he defended well and the R/T juggernaut rolled on taking all of my home area, and leaving me with only a few units.

1905 - 1906
By this time, the game was lost for me, and probably for Italy since a strengthened Turkey (presumably with extra fleets now) was almost certain to take out him out too. The only relevant idea I could find to do with my last unit was to run to France, and either take Mar to survive or at least warn France that a R/T juggernaut was coming. As it happened, France appeared busy with an English attack and I took Mar. My following orders were designed to alert France and England to the presence of Turkey in Ven - the implication being that Italy and Austria were both done for and a strong Turkish fleet was coming. as it happened, France seemed to be almost eliminated by England by that time, and I'm not sure if England got the message. Having completed that mission, I decided to tour the board as long as I could hold a SC in an Autumn. I managed to sneak into Bur and then Mun, taking that off Germany who I never saw again (presumably also eliminated).

1907-1908
It was obvious now that the game had advanced to a stage where England dominated the North and R/T dominated the East, with a likely E/W to N/W line evolving. My assumption is that England was somewhat smaller than R/T, but coordination issues between R/T or a backstab among R/T would mean that it was a pretty even E/R/T game. Since R/T had been responsible for my demise, I decided to do what I could to support England against Russia and managed to take Ber with England's support, losing Mun behind me. The return attack on Mun was mainly designed to break any support that Mun may be offering to take Kie, since Ber was obviously lost and I had no likely retreat options that were SC's. Sure enough, no SC left in A08 and eliminated at last.

Overall, it was a bit of a disappointing result for me. If R/T had left it one more year to attack, I would have had an extra army at home and could have taken all 4 Italian SCs. I had built fleets in order to attack Italy effectively, making it even harder to defend the inland SCs. I think Russia was not as committed to the attack as Turkey and may have stood back and let A/T fight it out if the contest was more even. As it was, Russia could not leave such easy spoils to Turkey and Austria was never going to survive for long with R/T attacking and Italy seriously upset with me as well!

I am looking forward to seeing the whole picture!

My apologies to France & Germany for messing them around in order to prolong my "death-march" around Europe. My best wished to England in defeating the Eastern hoard!

Thanks to Ally for undertaking what must be a painstaking task to produce individual results for each remaining power. It was fun, but (as I have said before) I think blinded gunboat doesn't work as well as blinded standard diplomacy could. IMHO, the main thing that gives gunboat some depth as a game is the analysis of the entire board to implement a diplomatic strategy with limited communication options. The blinded format removes the world-view, and makes it even more difficult to formulate strategy and to communicate diplomatically. The blinded full diplomacy variant on the other hand enhances the game, in that the powers not only have to negotiate diplomatically, but have to negotiate to obtain information and can use misinformation as a weapon too. I would love to play in one of those games one day.

Regards,
Martyn Webster

England

This was a very interesting game. I thought for the longest time that I was doing great and possibly winning only to find out that I wasn't and didn't.

Starting Out 1901 - 1903

Deciding to try and secure Scandinavia and then take on France I initially moved headed north. This strategy seemed to be working well as I made early gains and was able start working on an attack on France much more quickly than I had expected. Resistance from Russia and Germany in the north was very light, which made me wonder what might be going on elsewhere. France also had not opted to attack me right from the off, and while I couldn't see what was happening further afield I was confident that I'd made a good start.

After three turns I'd managed to slip a unit into Mao, which France then helpfully dislodged to Bre giving me my first toe hold on French soil. By this time I was feeling pretty secure, six centres and no sign so far of much resistance other than from France. The only slight worry I had was about Germany as I couldn't see much of his territory and had no idea what his forces were doing.

Expanding and Contracting (A War on Two Fronts) 1904 – 1906

Having made what I considered an decent start I pressed onwards against France in the south while intending to hold in the north. Unfortunately I then found to my cost that Russia must have been doing pretty well elsewhere as bunch of Russia units started appearing in the east to threaten my Scandinavian holdings.

This disappointing sight was countered by further progress against France, I'd pretty quickly managed to get hold of both Bel and Spa and this encouraged me to think that I could reinforce against Russia while slowly advancing against France.

Things didn't quite work out to plan as France had rather more centres than I anticipated and thus put up more resistance than I expected. I decided I'd have to focus on one battlefront in order to make any progress and France still looked the better option. So I disbanded my units in Scandinavia in order to keep my chances of beating France intact. I'd also managed to get an army onto the main continent so despite that fact that it had taken me three years to effectively pick up one further centre I was still relatively optimistic. As long as Russia didn't launch an attack on me from Nwy I was hoping be able to rebuild and maybe look to take those lost centres back later on.

By the end of this part of the game I'd come into contact with at least one unit from each country bar Turkey. I couldn't judge how Italy and Austria were doing, but it looked like Germany had taken a battering as most of the Lowlands countries had been in Frances hands before they passed into mine.

On the Defensive 1907 - 1909

As the game passed the half way point I was still hopeful of coming out on top, although that looked like much harder work than I had appeared to be in the early days.

I continued to press my attack on an increasing beleaguered looking France, whilst hoping that Russia would be occupied long enough elsewhere to let me finish off France before having to confront them again.

This however was where Italy entered the picture and my pleasing image of being able to carve up the rest of France an then steadily push eastwards along a single front dissolved. I got quickly sucked into a stand-off over the Iberian centres, I could hold what I'd got but couldn't advance, which the rest of my fleets were busy trying in vain to take either Kie or Den from the Russian units that had flooded into that area.

By the end of this period I could see that I could be in trouble. Italy had eventually forced me out of Spa and because of this I'd not been able to deal with the soul remaining French army. The only bright spot was that I'd finally made some progress against Russia taking both Kie and Den to get me the army build I needed to take Frances last centre. I'd got an lot of Russia units facing me in the north-east and Italy assaulting me from the south. If I could just cling on to what I'd currently got I'd be able to stabilise my line, but would I be given the time to do so.

Last Turns 1910 – 1911

The game was moving into the last few turns and while I hadn't completely given up on a win yet, I draw seemed like the best I was likely to achieve now. I knew I wasn't going to be able to protect both Kie and Den from Russia, but if Italy didn't had any more units to commit against me I might just be able to take Paris and then hold Russia while I tried to press Italy back.

Things started off well enough, I held on against Russia and Italy while manoeuvring my new army into position to take Paris. Then everything started to go wrong. I took Paris while Russia as I expected annihilated my fleet in Den, then another Italian appeared in Naf and I could see my position was going to collapse at both ends.

I managed to outguess Italy and Russia in the spring of the last turn to slip units into Spa and Den even while I was being driven out of other places. But I knew this was only temporary and so it proved Russia bulldozed me out of Den again and Italy easily retook Spa.

I was actually somewhat relieved to find that the game then ended in a Russian victory. If only because I knew that another turn would have seen me at least one and probably two more centres. I was also surprised to find that I finished second on the centre count, all be it way behind Russia, as I'd expected Italy to have been stronger given the attack he'd launched on me.

The Opposition

Given the game format it's harder than usual to sum up how I thought people had played, simple because I saw so much less of what was going on baring my own moves.

Russia
First off I'd like to congratulate them on a fine game win. From the narrow view I had of their play they thoroughly deserve the win, every move in the north against me appeared well thought out and they never gave me any kind of opening to counter attack. Well done.

France
I'd also like to congratulate France on a well played if somewhat unfortunate game. Your dogged resistance in the face of my sea borne assault took a very long time to break down, and I'm only sorry that I had to eliminate you from the game.

Italy
I hardly saw any of your play so it's difficult to really comment, apart from saying that your attack on my in the south of France late in the game really caused me to come unstuck. Apart from the defeat to Russia in Scandinavia I'd been progressing steadily (if slowly thanks to France) and the sudden view of those Green fleets moving into the western med was a real shock and the last thing I'd hoped to see.

I'm looking forward to seeing your EGS so I can see how you faired before I encountered you.

Germany
As with Italy I really didn't see much of what you were doing at all. Apart from the odd unit here and there early on, your initial game was a complete mystery to me. I can only assume that considering the somewhat weakened state you looked to be in when I was finally in a position to see your homelands that both France and Russia launched an early assault and you never really got a chance to recover from that.

Again like Italy I'm looking forward to seeing your EGS to discover what happened.

Austria
I only saw a couple of your armies all game, so I have no idea what happened in the Balkans, other than it must have gone badly for you since you'd been eliminated by the end. I was pleased that I managed to correctly support you against Russia, and disappointed that that co-operation wasn't able to lead to anything.

Turkey
I never even got close to reaching your part of the world so there's really nothing I can say, other than to hope that you enjoyed your game.

Finally I'd like to thank Ally for running such a great Dip variant, and putting up with all my nearly but not quite late turn orders.

Stephen Mawson

France

I was very interested in the idea of blinded diplomacy, and Ally told me he was running a game, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Things were going well at the start until a combined German/English attack started in S02. From there things just went from bad to worse. I still consider myself an amateur at best of all things diplomacy, so it's great to play with some committed blokes. Thanks to Ally for GMing. I really appreciate the due date reminders as I very rarely send in orders right off the bat. Thanks to all players who made this happen, and maybe I will see you in a game in the future.

Gavin Nochomovitz

Germany

Der Kaisers EGS

Even though I like playing Germany I found it very hard to get somewhere in this game, maybe just because my start wasn't the best. The good thing with being a central power in a blinded game is that you on avarage can see more of the other powers movement, the bad thing is, as usual, that you can be attacked from all directions. Without having played in a blinded game before, and with no intentions on making a blitzkrieg in any direction, I ended up with very standard opening: Kie - Den, Ber - Kie, Mun H. The mistake I made was loosing sight on my eastern front. For A01 I figured I had to concentrate in one direction and I wanted to go north, but with France in Bur I already had an issue there. I prayed that there wouldn't be any Tsar-underdog coming in, but boy was I wrong. For A01 I gained Hol and Den - but lost Berlin to Russia. Already then it felt as this would only be a long, slow goodbye. In 02 France seemed to be my freind, but Russia had a pretty solid line against me. I could manage to hold him back, but I think France pretty soon spotted my weakness and moved in. I don't know if Russia and France ever saw eachothers units in Germany at this time, but until A05 it was like a rat and cat game. If it would have been only gunboat, or only blinded, I'd probably have been eliminated by then. Maybe I was just saved by an English stab on France (I'm guessing here) but I recovered some and actually tried an offense against Russia in S06. With France moving in on me again (maybe just to not be eliminated?) I soon found myself with two units inside Russia, no good ways to go, and a complete lost of control over Germany. From 08 and forward my two units had moved down to Austria, with what I understood was to upcoming winner, Russia, on my east, and an Italian who I couldn't cooperate much with, on my left.
At least I didn't die.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience I caused with some late orders och this late EGS. I really like this kinds of variants, and I'm grateful I got the chance to play in a combined blind and gunboat game, I don't know for sure but there can't have been mane games like this played before?

A big thanks to Ally for setting up the game and doing all the hard work!

And congratulations to Russia, well palyed.

Jens Wilhelm Forsgård

Italy

An absolutely brilliant game; it had me trying to deduce what everybody else was up to the whole time. I will hopefully be able to play this variant again some day and maybe gain a better result! Thanks to Ally who invited me to play this game and who spent many hours each week with the complicated adjudication after jogging his six miles.

This was my second gunboat game as Italy. Again I try and build an alliance with Austria and try the Lepanto. I make it again to EMS by S02. This time though Austria comes for me. I have to spend half the game doing nothing but defend against Austria with my three units.

In the second half of the game I claw my way back and just when I feel that I am gaining traction and have a chance, Russia wins. I had thought that Germany and Turkey were a lot stronger than they actually were, so I went west which unfortunately probably assisted Russia a bit as well.

When Austria built a fleet in Tri in A01, it should have sent out stronger warning bells for me. But I continued on with the Lepanto in S02, only to see Austria head aggressively west and take Ven off me in A02. The Turks were upset with me in EMS, and forced me out although I was going anyway as I had to defend against Austria.

I managed to hold out, as Austria no doubt was getting attacked by most probably Russia. In A05, Turkey replaced Austria in ION but I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

In 1906 things started going my way. In the spring, Turkey heads back east and I slip into ION and I move into WMS which really improves my sight. I see the English in Spa and Turkey in Gre, Alb, and AEG. I also notice that Ven is unoccupied so I sneak into it in the autumn and get back to 4 centres. I then see Russia for the first time as they are in Tri! At this point I conclude (wrongly in hindsight) that Turkey should hold out against Russia but not get too strong to start attacking me. I will then decide to leave my eastern front relatively unprotected and move three units west in a quest to gain a few centres. I decide to review my strategy if were to gain say Mar, Spa, and Por to get to say 7 centres. At this point, I would probably keep 5 units heading north to France and England and use two units to start attacking Russia in Tri. All new builds would have been used on the eastern front and to head north to Germany through Tyr linking up with my two armies in France.

But obviously things didn’t proceed as well as I would have hoped. I managed to get Mar off Austria (my 5th centre which probably finished Austria off) in 1908 and build another fleet so I now had three fleets and an army against England. (I never saw France and I assume he was the first casualty). In 1909, I gain Spa and get to 6 centres which was my peak.

I built another army and moved that west as well. Had Turkey managed to hold out against Russia for two more years, I would have had a chance I think. Por would have fallen to me in S12 and I had the numbers to force Bre and Par. From there I could have launched an offensive against Russia though Bur, Tyr and assisted the Turks against Russia in Austria. But of course, England may have brought units west against me which would have allowed Russia to gain more centres in the north. I probably unwittingly contributed to Russia’s win by not allowing England to devote sufficient units against Russia, but with England on the south coast of Spa, I thought that if I didn’t take out England, Rom and Nap would have been in danger.

In any event, an intriguing game. Thanks again Ally and good luck with the jogging. I too jog and don’t smoke! Looking forward to seeing the maps for all the seasons and seeing who my competitors were.

Carl Hanich

Russia

First off Id like to say thanks to Ally for running a great game. Adjudicating a Blind game is not easy. My hats off to you!

I really enjoyed the game. I have played several gunboat games and was unsuccessful in winning any of those, so coming into this game I was just out for fun and not to win.

This game was pretty long, and in the process of it I switched from one email to another, so I don't have all the past adjudications.

England: You fought bravely, I question how Austria knew to support you one season into Kiel, seemed like a shot in the dark by him. I am guessing you really didnt know how much of a threat I was until you saw the game had ended. Id imagine more of your forces would have been in the north to stop me. Looks like you took out France pretty well.

Germany: We played for the whole game. I outguessed you on a couple of occasions, and you made the right call at the right time to abandon germany and took up hold in austria. You caused alot of headaches for me. Esxpecially when you were in warsaw and i had to cover my homelands. I had at one point like 15 supply centres but only 12 units because I couldnt build.

Turkey: We had a good start to the RT, but I saw my opportunity to stab you and took it. There was a point you had a 5 vs 4 advantage on me in the south but were unable to capitialize, eventually I sent enough units south to deal with you.

I am really looking forward to seeing how every country moved for the game, hope Ally opens that up for all of us to see.

Ally, if your going to run another Blinded game, Gunboat or regular(id like to try regular out) just shoot me an email. Ill do the same for you.

Thanks
Brian Koon

Turkey

First of all I'd like to thank Ally for taking on the job of GMing this incredibly time-consuming game. I have loads of respect for the time he puts in this hobby and for the professionalism in which he manages his games.

Well, Turkey it was. I've kept all adjudications and all my comments, so I'll list it one season at a time. I have no idea how to play this game, but I do know Turkey has its advantages and disadvantages. The greatest disadvantage is that I will not know what happens on the rest of the board if I don't break out quickly. So let's attack Russia.

Spring 1901:
Looking at an Austrian army in Serbia (Pity it wasn't Rumania), and Russia & me bounced. Well, let's move to Con, so I can secure Bul should I get Austrian help into Rumania.

Fall 1901:
Well, at least no builds in the south from Russia, but an Austrian fleet in Greece is not too good. So I'll settle for the build in Smyrna and set out to befriend Russia instead, because I smell an AI-alliance.

Spring 1902:
Aha, so no AI-alliance, as Italy tries for a Lepanto (glad I built F Smy) and Austria bounces in the Ionean. But an Italian in EMS, annoying! Meanwhile helping Russia into Rumania.

Fall 1902:
Okey, time to get anti-Italian and support Austria into the Ionean. Italy wants back as well it seems, and Russia wants my help against Austria. Things are looking great!

Spring 1903:
Killing the Italian EMS-fleet with NRP. Russia does support me into Serbia, and there's a second Austrian fleet???

Fall 1903:
Convoying A Syr to Bul, and building F Con so I can at least see the Black. Because all those scary black areas make me nervous. Austria's in the Ionean, but Russia's still on my side. A silent Juggernaut, cool!

Spring 1904:
Killing Greece and seeing a Russian fleet in Rumania. Is that good news or bad news? At least I'm moving forward.

Fall 1904:
Gaining Greece, at 6 centers now, and ready to take on the Ionean! And still no Russian in the Black!

Spring 1905:
Safety move to Ankara as I want to see Armenia, and Russia helps me into Triest, while I position to take the Ionean.

Fall 1905:
Ouch! I mention a possible loss of Bul and Tri to a Russian stab, but am still shocked to see Russia in Bulgaria.

Spring 1906:
Supporting myself into Con, so I can face the expected Russian fleet in the Black. And indeed, Russia turns on his faithful Turkish ally, not a good sign! He seems strong enough in the rest of Europe to now turn on me.

Fall 1906:
I kill off the Russian fleet in Bulgaria and set myself to a long battle to stop Russia.

Spring 1907:
Ouch, in my enthousiasm to take the Black Sea I forget about Armenia. Smyrna is lost :-(

Fall 1907:
I lose Smyrna, as expected, but manage to keep the area around Bulgaria relatively safe and am ready to retake Smyrna from the Russian infidel.

Spring 1908:
I wonder why there aren't any more Russian units deployed down south. I tell Ally that I expect him to be eaten from above, but as it turns out I was wrong.

Fall 1908:
Take a center, but am not able to build it.

Spring 1909:
Ai, the feared second Russian fleet is back. Now let's gamble, else I'm lost.

Fall 1909:
Ouch! Misguessed, and heavily! I expected Russia to try Arm-Smy, and a triple attack on Bulgaria, making sure he gets a center. I was planning on countering this by being in Ankara and building an army in Smyrna. But instead he does the suboptimal moves of taking on Ankara and Constantinople. No wait, in retrospect he doesn't know whether I have a fleet in Greece and/or Aegean, so in his vision this might even be better. Ah well, now it's over for me, except for fighting for survival.

Spring 1910:
Retake Bulgaria, but I still face many Russian units. I am already looking over my shoulder at the Ionean for survival.

Fall 1910:
Down to 2, so sorry Italy, but I'll step into your waters for a bit.

Spring 1911:
I tell Ally I hope this game ends quickly, because it sure looks bad for me. But I suddenlyt stand in the Ionean and not an Italian unit in sight, and empty green Naples and Tunis.

Fall 1911:
I decide on Tunis and trying to keep Greece, but it's no longer necessary as Russia takes his 18th and wins.

On the players:

Russia:
Well played and congratulations! You did a couple of goodtimed switches down south and must've done the same up north. Though if I had protected myself better in F1909... But I guess that's blinded for you.

Austria:
Good moves into the Ionean, sorry I got to you, but Russia seemed to be able to help me more. Which he did, but only to his own good :-)

Italy:
Hardly ever saw you, except for that one time in the EMS and a couple of times in the Ionean. Thanx for leaving some centers for my survival.

England, France & Germany:
Never saw you, never knew what you did, hope you enjoyed yourself.

Turkey:
Difficult country to play in Blinded, but I guess I was too fastforward. I should've kept a bit more units at home, but I got greedy and Russia stepped in at exactly the right time. For him that is...

Cool game, and thanx again Ally!

Cheers,
JW

GM

I'm sure I've said this before but no harm saying it again. When submitting your orders some of you do write brief notes to me about what you think is going on. As I do know what is happening & you don't, the giggles I've had is a lot. I'm not going to say which person gave me the biggest laugh but something I'm going to say is that it was fun watching the lonely Austrian army wondering around Europe.

I do keep stats & have created a table which shows Medals. Your names are within it.

As you might know Pearl Gourami is the fourth Blinded Gunboat I've organised & out of those four games they have been won with the winning country being different in each game. Do you think that the next three I run means that Austria, Italy & Turkey will win a respective game?

If you want to see the other games, click on Games.

As for future games you know I'm now training for hopefully next year's London Marathon & as a result I'm cutting back games I'm involved with. That being said I might get one going in autumn.

In closing I'm pleased to know you've all enjoyed it & I'll see you on the boards.

Ally

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