Martin’s Game: Final Thoughts6 min read

Martin’s Game—Table of Contents
Introduction
1901, 1902, 1903, 1904
1905, 1906, 1907, 1908
1909, 1910, 1911, 1912
1913, 1914, 1915, 1916
Final Thoughts

So, I won the game, semi-unexpectedly.

But, it does not end there. I am not doing this journal justice if I do not finish it with a final, end-of-game statement on myself and also how I feel about each power generally.

As for myself…

For myself as England, I recall noting that convoying my first army is easy, but any further armies after that will be made difficult:

1. Other powers can easily defend the target province directly;
2. Support coming from my first army will likely be cut;
3. At least one fleet will have to be used to defend my first army; and
4. Since a body of water usually borders more than one province, my other fleets will likely be out of position to offer any support or even do any convoys.

Indeed, this was exactly what happened to me in the early game: my army in Belgium was stranded and constantly required defence from the North Sea. If my army slipped into a new space it was quickly pushed back, and it apparently could not give any support for other attacks. This was probably what kept me from making any progress against France early on, where I only managed to take Brest but eventually lost it. I did not have the sufficient firepower to attack other centers if I was trying to defend my lone army.

To create the breakthrough, I had to be patient to rotate my fleets around so that France is basically surrounded by them. Only then could I convoy an army all the way to Gascony, and do a pincer strike with another convoy to Belgium.

From my experience in this game, I believe that one of the keys to playing England well is to not focus on direct attacks all the time, but instead to create and utilize space.^[1]I seek your indulgence for me to slip in some shameless German football promotion: Thomas Müller’s conception of the “raumdeuter”, the “interpreter of space”—read more here! To do this, England needs to make extensive use of her naval superiority. After all, the real British Empire did set a two-power standard and made it into law! Use your fleets to control and restrain your opponent’s armies, and make (unexpected) convoys behind enemy lines. In fact, most centres on the map are coastal centres, so the importance and utility of fleets should not be underestimated.

As for the other powers…

France

France made the right guess at the very beginning to leave Brest open, but made the wrong build choice of an army. I am pretty sure the game would be very different had France build a second fleet. Still, the French defences were very strong, and it was hard to gain an edge in a 1v1 without German intervention. Plus, I wasted time focusing Brest where French armies were swarming around. The turning point was when it suddenly dawned on me that so many of the French centres are on the coast…when I am England, why am I not playing to my strength? I shifted focus to play a fleet game, especially since France only had one, and then made the right guess at Spain. Once I secured Spain and Portugal, I was able to take Marseilles too, force some disbands, convoy two more armies and eventually take France down. Apparently I will echo Brother Bored’s observation that France is a strong gunboat power, especially in terms of its resilience in defence. I mean, as I said, I was only fighting a France with a wrong mixture of units and it already took me years.

Germany

To be completely honest, I never understood Germany’s Silesia opening, leaving Germany with only one build. Silesia did nothing except antagonize Russia, and Germany could not even seriously threaten Warsaw. Indeed, Russia was totally antagonized and that led the two of them entangled in a bitter fight till the very end. That was disappointing at first because I had to take on France alone. Then Germany realized who was next so Germany moved those armies such that I could not take Germany by surprise. Germany actually managed to hold the line for two years, making my extra units tied up and useless, until Germany lost Holland and the German position crumbled. It was good for me that Russia still had control of Scandinavia so that Russia could constantly harass Germany.

Russia

Good old Russia, the guy who has been doing all the “dirty work” that I cannot do myself! The Russian managed to tie up Germany, Austria, and Turkey for the entire game and still survived which is quite incredible (even if I am not sure what the Russian was trying to accomplish). Although the Russian kept Germany from helping me against France, at least it means the German fleets had to stay in Scandinavia, and because of that I did not have to worry about losing control of North Sea for the whole game. I was not sure what the Russian was thinking upon seeing France and then Germany falling. Did the Russian know of my solo run? Did the Russian even care? I mean, Russia was with me literally till the end, even when I was already at 14 centres. The Russian’s rogue fleet helped keep Austria busy too, and helped a lot. Frankly speaking, without Russia playing this way I could imagine my road to solo being much harder.

P.S.: I expressed my surprise to Russia’s allegiance in the game chat afterwards, to which he replied “crap mentality and all that. If I’m gonna lose, I’d rather it be to you.” It is a bit disappointing as the player was throwing the game to me. It almost makes me feel like my win was somehow cheated. But nah, a win is a win—so even if I will not take too much credit, I refuse to under-credit myself.

Austria

Austria was doing fine all the way, steadily expanding and taking centres, probably with the benefit of Italy’s misplay as well. At one time when I was tied down with France, I had to worry of a potential Austrian solo run (that was likely to happen if Austria took over Germany before I could crack France). Plus the Austrian took Tunis so soon and had three fleets in the Med. All these made me plan for setting up a potential stalemate line and even protect Marseilles. Thanks to Russia’s harassment though, especially the rogue fleet in the Med, Austria could not fully commit against me, and the Austrian somehow could not crack Turkey (which was a relief to me). Indeed, Russia and Turkey were such a problem for the Austrian up until the end that Austria did have enough units to stop me.

Turkey

Turkey probably believed in the juggernaut, or at least Turkey hoped to pull it off with Russia. I kind of feel bad for the Turk when both Austria and Russia attacked; it’s hard to change someone’s mind in gunboat. Probably because of this, Turkey sought revenge on Russia as soon as the chance came and took Sevastopol. It certainly feels good to take revenge, but strategically it was a bad move because thereafter Russia kept ordering Mos – Sev even if both Russia and Turkey knew it was not going to work. That cut a lot of support on Rumania, which might have let those players roll over Austria eventually. For myself it was good of course; as England I definitely want the 3-way skirmish to go on for as long as possible, and indeed it went on till the point that Austria could not hope to stop me.

Martin’s Game—Table of Contents
Introduction
1901, 1902, 1903, 1904
1905, 1906, 1907, 1908
1909, 1910, 1911, 1912
1913, 1914, 1915, 1916
Final Thoughts