Spring 1910 – yup, that’s what I thought

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Developments: the other players’ builds are as I expected

Orders: easy choices this turn

Well, I came up with these moves in about 30 seconds (I’m not exaggerating) since I had already planned them out on the last turn. Here they are, in the order I figured them out:

• The army at Edinburgh move to Liverpool.
• The fleet at London move to Wales.
• The fleet at English Channel support move to Wales from London.
  • This is all very obvious since I have a plan to finish off England. I could execute this plan by moving either fleet to Wales, but I’m going to move the London Fleet because that will:
    • Communicate the least hostility to Russia, who I am still trying to keep as an ally (a fleet in Wales is far, far away from him, but one in London could backfill North Sea); and
    • Give me the option of moving into Mid-Atlantic Ocean on the Autumn move, which may or may not work but is great for me if it does.
• The army at Kiel move to Denmark.
• The fleet at North Sea support move to Denmark from Kiel.
  • I want to guard Denmark, but I also need to free up Kiel for a fleet build. It’s still possible for Russia to defeat this move if he moves Norway to North Sea (cancelling support) and Sweden to Denmark (bounce), but 1) there’s nothing I can do about that 2) it seems unlikely 3) at least it means he didn’t move to Baltic Sea.
  • If Russia causes my move to fail (again, there’s only 1 way that can happen), I’ll have to reconsider my plan about building 2 fleets at the end of this year.
• The army at Gascony move to Burgundy.
• The army at Brest move to Gascony.
  • I need to vacate Brest – there’s no point in being there except to guard Brest, and that’s not under any threat this turn. It seems pointless to convoy another army onto Great Britain when England is about to be finished off anyways. It’s already trouble enough that I will have to convoy out the army that’s already there.
  • Moving Gascony to Burgundy plugs up that hole in my line against Italy, and back-filling with Brest sets up a wall Italy can’t penetrate. I can also use Burgundy to defend Munich next turn or to backfill Munich if I move Munich out somewhere.
  • This also keeps my armies in position for a possible attack on Italy at a later time. Italy will probably hold his armies against an attack from me, but if I get a fleet into Mid-Atlantic Ocean then I might be able to break through anyways.
    • If I play nice with Italy for a bit and he pulls units away to fight Austria, I might be able to take Italy‘s western centers by surprise.
• The army at Berlin move to Silesia.
• The army at Munich support move to Silesia from Berlin.
  • Since Berlin is under no threat, I might as well try to move my unit forward a bit.
  • If Russia doesn’t move to Prussia or Baltic Sea, then Berlin will be clear for a build.
  • If Russia moves to Silesia, then I’ll probably be glad I kept him out.
  • I don’t have much else for Munich to do; a move into Tyrolia will likely accomplish nothing (except maybe communicate hostility to Austria) and it probably is unnecessary to support my army’s move into Burgundy (why would Italy move to Burgundy and bounce me…?).
  • The only thing that seems bad about this move into Silesia is that Russia could interpret the move as hostile, since it does put my army near his home center and Austria isn’t in Silesia. But hopefully Russia understands this move to be defensive, to be my trying to build a wall against Austria or something, or politely guard against Russia after he lunged for Denmark last turn.
    • At this point, I’m plotting to launch a war against Russia next year so I don’t care that much if I spook Russia a little. There’s not much Russia can do about me even if he is spooked by this move because the worst Russia can do to me would be on this turn, not the Autumn turn.
    • Specifically, what I need is for Russia not to move into Prussia, Baltic Sea, or make my move in Denmark fail. I already tried to make that as likely as possible by building an army in Berlin instead of a fleet. If Russia does any of those things, my spooking him by making a supported move into Silesia is unimportant because it happens simultaneously with Russia‘s most hostile possible moves anyways.

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