TopGunBoat Journal—Table of Contents
Introduction | Spring 1901 | Fall 1901
Winter 1902 | Spring 1902 | Fall 1902
Winter 1903 | Spring 1903 | Fall 1903
Winter 1904 | Spring 1904 | Fall 1904
Winter 1905 | Spring 1905 | Fall 1905
Winter 1906 | Spring 1906 | Fall 1906
Winter 1907 | Spring 1907 | Fall 1907
Winter 1908 | Spring 1908 | Fall 1908
Winter/Spring 1909 | Fall 1909
Winter/Spring 1910 | Fall 1910
Winter/Spring 1911 | Fall 1911
1912 | Conclusion | End of Game
After Russia’s northern surge, let’s see how all the players react…
Fall 1902 Adjudication
England
F ska – den
F stp/nc H (*dislodged*)
A nor – swe (*bounce*)
F nth S
F ska – den
France
A sil – mun (*bounce*)
A gas S
A par – bur
F mao – eng
A pie – tyr
A par – bur
A pic S
A par – bur (*cut*)
Germany
A ruh – bur (*bounce*)
A bel – pic
(*bounce*)
F den – swe
(*bounce, dislodged*)
A ber C
England A nor – swi
A mun S
A ruh – bur (*cut*)
Russia
A lvn – stp
A mos – war
F bot S
A lvn – stp
F rum H
(*dislodged*)
A fin – nor
(*bounce*)
Italy
A apu S
A ven
A ven C
Austria A bud – rum
F ion – eas
F tys – ion
Austria
A vie – tri
A ser – rum
F gre – bul/sc (*bounce*)
A tri – ser
A bud S
A ser – rum
Turkey
A bul S
Russia F rum (*cut*)
A smy C Italy A ven – tri
F con S
A bul
F eas – aeg
GM Observations
France is in an excellent position. England is attacking Germany. France has an army in Silesia and Tyrolia. Yes, France will have to disband, but France is in the English Channel and will be able to either re-take Munich or take Belgium next year (or possibly both).
England is in a good position. England picked up Denmark, but with a fleet instead of an army. England gets a build and can go after more of Scandinavia but has a very strong France next door. England has to be very careful about making France too powerful too quickly (which may have already happened).
Germany doesn’t have much of a chance now. Russia is putting up a good fight in the north but not getting much out of it (actually, it hurt Russia because Rumania is lost and now will have to disband). Germany should have helped Russia in Spring 1902. Instead, Germany may be the first casualty in this game.
Austria couldn’t resist taking Rumania. Russia hoped it wouldn’t happen, but it did. Italy moved in for a Lepanto and now AI will probably really pick up steam (even as Austria doesn’t fully trust Italy).
It’s truly hard to have allies in gunboat. I was discussing gunboat strategy with Reid a few weeks ago and he explained to me that most players in gunboat will take the easiest center for them to take right now. That happened this fall: England took Denmark (indefensible, and I don’t think I realized it as I looked at the board—I thought England would go for Sweden instead) and Austria took Rumania (even though Russia had done almost everything possible to signal an alliance with Austria, at least from my point-of-view).
Player Journals
England
A very interesting position for me this season.
Russia moved all out to retake StP so I am no longer able to guarantee taking one of Sweden and StP. I have to out-guess the Russian to do so. So, this season, will Russia defend Warsaw from the Rogue French army? If he does, it opens the door for me to make gains up North.
I don’t think France wants to upset another country, so I am guessing he will support a move to Tyrolia to further pressure on Germany. If Russia has that same thought process he will attempt to take Sweden and StP.
Since I can’t assuredly take one of Sweden and StP, I have elected to force
Denmark this season. This goes against my original plan. I had not planned on committing against one of the Western Powers for several years. It does however get me a needed build this year. It also keeps Germany even so they can’t build a second fleet.
My hope is France will see that as a signal to keep the pressure on Germany. My fear is France will move against my homeland in S03. So, I will likely need to build an army at home to keep him from walking into one of my centers. This was actually one of the biggest deciding factors in taking Denmark. If I don’t build at home this year, I am wide open to France and will likely never recover.
Because I am taking Denmark, I am risking Russia getting both Sweden AND keeping StP. If he sends 2 units at each. Either way he can’t build a Northern fleet.
I sure could use some help from Austria or Turkey in pressuring Russia, but they likely will let Russia keep me stalled out up North. Interesting move from Austria in committing to a Russian alliance (by not moving to Galicia) and attacking Turkey. Looks like all three Eastern Powers will not be changing much in the near future – opening the door for an successful E/F alliance.
France
I expect that both Italy and England allow me to enter Tyr and ENG.
My builds have given them a clear signal of my intentions.
Germany
My entire game now depends on England allying with me rather than attacking me. We’ll know after this turn because he can take DEN. I’ll signal an alliance to England this turn but it may be too late. If it is, I’ll throw everything at France.
Russia
F has retreated MUN – SIL as I expected and feared. But, inexplicably, E took StP with his fleet rather than his army.
If I didn’t feel I had to cover Warsaw, I would take a shot at Sweden with both A FIN and F GOB as well a shot at re-taking StP. So, instead, I will just re-take the home centre.
F RUM is just hanging there. Can I count on the Turk to support me in place again? I am ordering it to hold so as to antagonize neither A or T.
Italy
So Russia has supported Bulgaria while at the same time throwing everything north and letting A take Rumania by force. [1]GM Note—This is actually incorrect; Turkey supported Rumania with Bulgaria, but Russia ordered Rumania to hold. I assume Italy thought this based on the way it appears on the map without reading the orders. I rather worry that A won’t do it, but this seems too good a chance to encircle Turkey. France should drop a unit this year—maybe the fleet if I’m lucky.
Austria
Wow, what an interesting set of moves!
Russia has managed to support Turkey in BUL,[2]GM Note—It appears Austria made the same mistake reading the map as Italy did. which is certainly not pro-Austria. But then he has moved away from my borders leaving Russia exposed! OK, he can regain StP, but why indicate to me that he supports Turkey.
I cannot let the R/T juggernaut get friendly when I have a chance to strike. If Turkey goes pro-Russia before I make a move, then I am history. Sorry Russia, Austria is about to strike.
My pro-Russian resolve has been destroyed by RUM supporting Turkey in BUL. I am fickle!
England should hopefully help by weakening Russia.
France and Italy’s moves are also interesting.
France moves to PIE, but then withdraws their army to SIL rather than BOH or TYR (good news for me). What are they up to? Did Italy anticipate this and move TUN-APU just in case. I am trying to work all this out! What is Italy’s next move? Where are they headed?
So, the moves:
gre-bul
ser-rum
bud s ser-rum
tri-ser
vie-gal
This is the only way I guarantee an SC gain – and a good one.
My real dilemma is the VIE army. A move to TRI guarantees my safety, but looks bad to Italy. A move to GAL is better for my Russian front, is peaceful to Italy and should be safe really (unless Italy is a genius).
I will have a further dilemma in the Winter though when I decide where to build!
(I may yet change my mind on VIE before the deadline – if so I will write a supplementary)
Supplementary entry: Decided in the company to go safe i.e. VIE-TRI and not VIE-GAL.
Turkey
I guessed right: Austria tried for BUL.
Austria and Italy made moves that bewildered me. Austria bounced himself in GAL when he would be expected to have moved there with support. If he had done so, he could have taken RUM in the Fall. Italy effectively wasted a move by convoying his army to TUN and then convoying it back to APU. Does Italy even have a plan or strategy? Fortunately, France’s move to PIE means that if Italy was planning to send forces east to attack me then he will probably need to rethink that plan.
For the Fall move, I will send my fleet in EAS to AEG in the hope that I can put some pressure on Austria.
My army in SMY has nothing to do, so I could use that unit to send a message to other players. For example, SMY C VEN-TRI or SMY C PIE-ROM. I decided that SMY C VEN-TRI had little downside, and getting Italy to turn on Austria would be good for me.
Fall 1902 Retreat Adjudication
England: F stp/nc disband
Germany: F den – kie
Russia: F rum NMR, DISBAND
Fall 1902 Retreat Journal Entry
England posted an entry during this retreat phase.
England
Overall I am pleased with the results from last season. I am so thankful that Germany moved to Sweden or I would have taken Sweden and lost Norway.
France’s move to English Channel is no surprise as he needs it to break through against Germany. I do hope he is willing to vacate it soon and not use it as a springboard to attack me when he feels like it.
I am taking an opportunity to try to make peace with Russia. Since I took Denmark with Skag, I have less pressure on Sweden. I am going to disband StP and build it back at home instead of retreating to Barents. In Barents, the only thing it can do is apply pressure on StP which I can’t take anyway. Hopefully Russia will see my vacating Skag and my disbanding StP as an opportunity for us to focus on his South where he just lost Rumania. Russia is down a piece and might see this as OK to remove a Northern unit. I can always shift to capture Sweden and StP later
My next decision will be to figure out what to build. I want to leave a defensive unit to protect my back door from France walking into Liverpool (or dropping an army in Wales or London) while still setting up for an attack on more German centers in the Fall.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | GM Note—This is actually incorrect; Turkey supported Rumania with Bulgaria, but Russia ordered Rumania to hold. I assume Italy thought this based on the way it appears on the map without reading the orders. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | GM Note—It appears Austria made the same mistake reading the map as Italy did. |
Wow, both Austria and Italy misread Russia’s move, and the former attacked Russia as a result?! That’s gotta sting for Russia.
In fairness, though, I’ve never found the BOUNCED map particularly easy to read.
Indeed, I think that is one of the great revelations in this game that normally wouldn’t be known by anyone. I agree, the way the orders show up on the map would make it easy to assume that. For me, I always read the orders as well on any website because I think they are hard to follow on any map.