I hate playing Turkey in standard variant games. It's options are so limited and, with smart people playing Italy and Austria, it is usually bottled up in the corner with no place to go. In modern, however, Turkey has (in my opinion) a much more interesting opening position, and that is why I requested it.
I started off on very good terms with both Egypt and Ukraine, and either one would have suited very well as a strong ally. Unfortunately, keeping both of them as allies would have been very unwise, as had they decided to team up against me, Turkey soup would have been relatively easy to prepare. Ukraine was growing much faster than I was, so Egypt was the recipient of my first stab.
I was planning to stay with Ukraine all the way through the game and end with a 2-way draw. I tend to be leery of such arrangements when the winning condition is just 1 more than half of all centers, but since eight extra centers were required to win this game, I felt confident that a mutual deal could be reached. Indeed, the Ukraine-Turkey steamroller seemed at least as effective as legendary Russia-Turkey steamrollers in the standard variant.
In that comparison, however, Ukraine in "modern" has one major drawback -- it cannot build fleets on the north coast. Therefore, when Russia was eliminated, Britain had an easy time walking into the Scandinavian centers and threatening the Murmansk/St.Petersburg area.
The game had settled down to the game of "Cleanup" about which Italy was complaining when I managaed to get 4 builds and Ukraine got none. I thought long and hard before stabbing Ukraine because I calculated that UBF would be able to set up a stalemate line, but I decided to give it a try anyway. UBF were successful in setting up a line which could have worked had the right set of orders been given, but I was lucky in that nobody remembered to support Barcelona. After that, it was just a matter of systematically pushing forward for the win.
I had a lot of fun playing this game (regardless of the fact that I won, although that certainly didn't hurt). I didn't particularly appreciate some of the personal attacks or excessive whining that occured during the midgame, but I guess that comes with the territory (I do, however, appreciate any apologies which followed said attacks). Commendations to Egypt, Britain, and Ukraine for their impressive play and to France, Britain, and Ukraine for staying with the game all the way to the end. Also to Brian, who helped us all through judge crashes and unforced abandonments and such like. It's been a pleasure gaming with you all, and I hope to see you all again in future games.
-- the Turkey (Turkey in "lie2me")
Congrats to Turkey as well as to the other players who stuck it out or stepped in to help finish the game.
Britain
Master: Dr. Brian M. Burkhart [email protected]
Britain: Michael Fonte [email protected]
Egypt: Jay Obermark [email protected]
from S2000M: Mark Kennedy [email protected]
from F2001M: Jeff Behan [email protected]
France: Paul Robins [email protected]
from F2002B: Matthew R. Schwab [email protected]
Germany: Jason D. Ludlow [email protected]
from S1997R: Paul Houldridge [email protected]
Italy: Markus Klein [email protected]
from F1998M: Robert Shepard [email protected]
from S2002M: Luca Varani [email protected]
Poland: Deb Ghosh [email protected]
from F1996B: Joseph W. Carl Jr [email protected]
Russia: Petar Mimica [email protected]
Spain: Mark Sawicki [email protected]
Turkey: Christopher Hack [email protected]
Ukraine: Stephen Paltiel [email protected]
from F2001R: Robert Shepard [email protected]
from F2001B: Stephen Paltiel [email protected]
Historical Supply Center Summary
--------------------------------
Mor Nap Mil Cro Gre Ist Ank Isr Ale Lib Irn Kha Kie Rum Aus Kra Gda Bie
Year Tun Rom Ven Ser Bul Izm Ada Cai Asw Sau Geo Sev Ode Hun Cze War Lit Mos
1994 . . I I I I . . . . T T T T . E E E . . . . U U U U . . . . P P P . . R
1995 B I I I I I I . T T T T T T E E E E E E . T U U U U U . G . P P P P P U
1996 B I I I F I I . T T T T T T E E E E E E T T U U U U U U I P P P P P U U
1997 B E I I F I I T T T T T T T T E E E E T T T U U U U U U I P U U P P U U
1998 B E I I I I T T T T T T T T T T E E E T T T U U U U U U I U U U U U U U
1999 B T T I I T T T T T T T T T T T E E E T T T U U U U U U U U U U U U U U
2000 B T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T E T T T T U U U U U U U U U U U U U U
2001 B T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U T U U T U T U U U U U U U
2002 T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U T T T U U U U U U U U
2003 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U U U U
2004 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U U U U
2005 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U U U U
2006 T T T T F T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U U U U U B U U
2007 T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T U T U B B T T
Historical Supply Center Summary (cont)
---------------------------------------
Gor Stp Nor Swe Ber Mun Bel Mon Lyo Bor Liv Lon Sve Mad
Year Ros Mur Den Ham Fra Hol Swi Mar Par Ire Edi Gib Bar Por
1994 R R R R . . . G G G G . . . . F F F F . B B B B S S S .
1995 R U R R B G R G G G F G B F F F F F F B B B B S S S S S
1996 R U R R B G R G G G F G B F F F F F F B B B B S S S S S
1997 U U R R B B R G G G F B B F F S F F F B B B B S S S S S
1998 U U R R B B B G G G F B B F F S F F F B B B B S S S S B
1999 U U U U B B R B U G F B B F F F F F S B B B B S S S S B
2000 U U U U R B B B U G I B B F F F F F F B B B B S S F S B
2001 U T U U B B B B U U I B B F F F F F F B B B B S B F F B
2002 U T U U B B B B U U I B B F F F F F F B B B B B B F F B
2003 U T U U B B B B U U U B B F F F F F F B B B B B B F F B
2004 U T U U B B B B U U U B B F F F F F F B B B B B B T F B
2005 U T U U B B B B U U U B B F F F F F F B B B B B B T T B
2006 U T U U B B B B B B U B B F F T F F F B B B B T B T T B
2007 T T U T B B B B B B U B B F T T B F F B B B B T T T T T
History of Supply Center Counts
-------------------------------
Power 1994 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 Player
Britain 4 7 7 9 11 11 11 13 13 13 Michael Fonte
Egypt 3 6 6 5 4 3 \ Jay Obermark
1 \ Mark Kennedy
Jeff Behan
France 4 7 8 7 6 6 7 8 8 \ Paul Robins
9 Matthew R. Schwab
Germany 4 6 5 \ Jason D. Ludlow
3 3 1 1 Paul Houldridge
Italy 4 6 6 5 \ Markus Klein
5 2 1 1 \ Robert Shepard
1 Luca Varani
Poland 3 5 5 \ Deb Ghosh
3 Joseph W. Carl Jr
Russia 5 4 4 3 2 1 1 Petar Mimica
Spain 3 5 5 6 5 5 3 1 Mark Sawicki
Turkey 4 7 8 11 13 16 20 25* 28 28 Christopher Hack
Ukraine 4 7 9 12 15 19 19 \ Stephen Paltiel
16 \ Robert Shepard
14 14* Stephen Paltiel
Index: 14 37 42 50 63 81 94 111 121 123
Power 2004 '05 '06 '07 Player
Britain 13 13 15 15 Michael Fonte
France 8 7 6 3 Matthew R. Schwab
Turkey 29 30 32 42 Christopher Hack
Ukraine 14* 14* 11 4 Stephen Paltiel
Index: 127 131 140 201
* = 1 unused build.
Index is the sum of squares of the number of supply centers divided by the
number of players. It is a measure of how far the game has progressed.
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