Portugal
I never got past 2SCs in this game, and I was only on 2 for one year before being stabbed and going back to one again. Even so, I think I was probably one of the most influential players in the game, before 1907 at least.
Pre-Game
I drew Portugal, which, although it has reasonable stats, disappointed me. It's a very protective position, yes, but the way I see it you need to conquer Spain in order to start expanding, and I wanted to form an alliance.
I had a choice; either accept a rather appealing offer from Marseilles of support to Spain then go it alone, or join an alliance. I decided to go for the latter, fearing that the former, on a PMO game, would make me a target for large alliances.
I joined and named the SWA, and saw four major other alliances forming; the NTA (leader seemed to be Norway), the AHE (Leader Budapest) and the GAA (Leader Con). The NTA was the closest but the GAA were in a brilliant position.
1901
I couldn't really do much but talk, so talk I did; in fact, I was probably the biggest spammer in the game. However, my talking did lead to something good; I unnerved Holland so that none of the NTA got into the North Sea in the Spring. However, things weren't looking good for us either. London bounced Brest in the Channel (very annoying) and Paris stopped moving after Spring '01. Meanwhile, the GAA were the only ones to get off to a good start, which was making me fear them even more.
Seeing Paris about to NMR in Autumn and the NTA about to get into the North Sea, I lost faith in the SWA and asked to join the NTA, reverting to my original plan of capturing Iberia. However, my move to Spain evidently didn't save, which turned out to be very lucky for me.
1902
Denmark stabbed Sweden! Brilliant! That was just the distraction the SWA needed to get one over on the NTA. However, the SWA still weren't looking good with an abandoned Parisian unit in Bur, so I decided to leave them anyway, realizing that, if we wanted to stop the GAA in the south, Spain and I would need some peace in the north. And so, the DISU was formed.
However, another factor came into play. Someone picked up Paris and refused to communicate.
I was still debating on whether to go for the whole Iberia plan or stay allied to Spain, but this gave me the opportunity to stab him and take it whilst playing it as a defensive measure. Unfortunately, I didn't think through it well and I forgot about Liverpool.
The Spring move went well for the GAA. Not so for me. My plan of grabbing Spain fell apart when Liverpool got into MAO. I had to get back to Port; if he got in there, I'd never get him out. But what if he went straight to Spain? Then he would gain the SC and I'd be stuck...
Amazingly, Liverpool gave me a way out of this. He offered to support Spain back to Spain, calling me a traitor to my alliance and hoping to get Spain to support him to Port next go. Spain accepted in words, but not in actions, keeping Rome alive, stalling Liv and letting me get back my honour in the alliance by moving back to Port.
Meanwhile, I also did what I think was the most influential thing in the game; I managed to convince the GAA that Con was about to backstab them, and through this, forced Con to backstab to keep himself alive. Goodbye, GAA.
1903
The Con backstab had the board in uproar, and I took advantage of it to offer the remaining GAA an alliance. This meant that Spain and I could concentrate on taking out Liv. Tunis and Rome joined in, and Liverpool was quickly driven to Marseilles, taking a centre off Paris in the process.
The GAA/DISU alliance brought about a huge force which stayed as the only major alliance for the rest of the game; the GOAT. This alliance was, in my opinion, doomed to fail - it was too big - but as leader of it, I didn't say anything to that effect. I tried to use it to keep Turkey out of the hands of one owner, keep everyone in the Med busy and, mainly, to make myself look very powerful. I had to create an illusion of power that would stop people stabbing each other and growing large, as they would grow much faster than I would. I did that by saying that if anyone stabbed they would be ganged up on, and it appeared to work.
Rest of the Game
Tunis became disillusioned, but due to Naple's stab he was very weak, so he was easy to kill off. Naples had actually grown very powerful through his stab, so I had to find a way to explain it away, which worked, probably because everyone had got so bored of reading my messages that they only skim-read it and missed the contradictions. I knew I had to be cautious of Naples from then on though.
Greece's stab of Bulgaria I also had to explain away, as he was too powerful to lose. He made that easier though, by giving reasons and expressing an interest to stay in the GOAT.
Sevastopol's 'Chaosnaught' alliance came as a shock to me, as I saw that the GOAT wouldn't be able to stand up to it. Luckily, Warsaw stopped that by stabbing Sev, but not before he had helped Con take out Ankara. We had a protective line around Turkey, so Con couldn't break free, but it demoralized the GOAT a lot to see such a leading figure go.
I handed over to a sitter, and when I came back I was surprised to find that I now had two SCs. I was worried that Naples, a stabber, had been let into MAO, but I reckoned that there were only a few turns until Berlin went and then the draw could be forced.
This turned out to be the end of the line for Rome, as Naples stabbed just two turns before Berlin went, and with me in the Channel I decided to try to use my original friendship with the DISU members to keep me alive. London agreed to let me migrate to his home, but he moved to Yorkshire, which seemed to me a sure sign he would bounce me. So I tried to appeal to Naples, and it worked; he supported me back to Brest.
Naple's final stab, as Berlin went, worried me immensely, as I knew it would be easy for London, Norway, Naples, Venice and Greece to take the small powers out, so I tried to turned Venice against Naples, unsuccessfully. With nothing else I could do, I waited for London to arrive and hoped he would put in a draw vote before anyone withdrew one.
And sure enough, he did.
If the game had continued, I would have been a goner, so thanks to everyone for drawing :D
I would like to hear what anybody else thought of my part in the game. I know pretty much everyone hated my long messages, but were they effective? Did I come across as an alliance leader?
Anyhow, GG, all!