EOG FOR RUSSIA

Great game. I was on the edge of my chair the entire time! Love the large map and all the neutrals, which really gives you a lot of options. This is fast becoming one of my favorite variants.

901-904: The Golden Age - I opened with a balanced approach, splitting my forces between the west and the east, which isn't something I tactically like to do, but as Russia, I wanted to be active in breaking up any Denmark/Germany alliance, while still maintaining the tricky Black Sea border with Byzantium and Khazaria. Other than that, with so many potential frenemies in Denmark, Germany, Byzantium, and Khazaria, I figured I'd just see who was cool and roll with them. After all, who needs more enefrenenems...

Despite the early emergence of "the BEA," a.k.a. the Byzantium/Egypt/Arabia alliance, I was surprisingly left to my own devices. Everybody was also really cool. Too cool. In fact, everyone seemed to be on the up and up, which made for some tough choices. Ultimately, I decided to work with Byzantium myself, as well as with Turan. Then, well, let's just say Khazaria went down faster than the Falkland Islands Army! Meanwhile, in the west, Germany and I came together vs. Denmark. What I feared might be a strong France/Germany alliance quickly fell apart as France crossed... believe it or not... the Maginot Line! This had the added benefit of Germany having to abandon his share of Denmark in order to defend himself and, at the same time, cementing a made-for prime-time ally in France. As I landed in Jorvik, Britain, I thought I might be looking at a solo.

905-909: The Age of Reason - This was the tricky area. I needed to be careful to keep the right allies, but I also knew I had to keep the momentum rolling if I wanted to have any shot at soloing in such a large variant with so many personalities. I cemented an alliance with France and by '05 France and I had rolled through Denmark and Germany. We had even arranged to trade Jorvik for Denmark, allowing us each to consolidate our forces on separate sides of the North Sea. With the west under control and a firm western treaty in place, my focus switched to the east. I had been able to occupy the BEA, which had been steadily growing, by alerting both Turan and India to the threat of the BEA's "eastern wall." To hold up my end of the deal, I moved on Byzantium.

I had expected to take a couple of Byzantium's northern holdings but to get caught in a dogfight with him and Egypt. This in turn could allow another power to open a front against me, but things went better than expected. By the end of '06 I surprisingly found myself in position to seize the Byzantine heartland. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, nor the extra units, I took my gains and snowballed them into Turan, which I had in truth secretly coveted, since Turan is such a complete terror in this variant. Shortly afterward, India and I reached a deal that would greatly reduce the length of time it would take to knock-out Turan, who had grown rather large (with our help) by this point. But India's rush for the unguarded Turani centers never panned out. Nevertheless, I held out hope and I was rewarded when India decided to go ahead with the sprint to the empty Turani centers a few seasons later. By Fall of '09, Byzantium was eliminated and Turan was on the ropes, and my chance to solo was still alive.

910-914: The Age of Enlightenment - While things were going really well for me, amazingly, France had been doing even better. With Spain expediently falling to him, as well as a slice of Byzantium, and North Africa, he had managed to basically catch me. This was a double-edged sword in that the alliance with France helped me to expand vastly, while at the same time allowing France to take just enough centers to either prevent me from soloing, and to have a shot at the solo himself. I felt I had to at least take a peak and see if the solo was available, but my chances were dashed pretty quickly when I saw that I wouldn't have the momentum to overrun India with any kind of timeliness. France, India, and Srivijaya would ultimately stop me if I tried.

So, with 55 out of 109 centers needed to solo, France and I agreed to work towards the three-way draw. India seemed the best fit for a 3rd, particularly with Srivijaya's seeming lack of interest in working with France or I, but after helping India for a few seasons and seeing no cooperation in return, as well as being blocked out of Africa by him, I was being walled off with nowhere to expand to in the endgame. This led to my decision against holding everything back at the Khazar Sea while India and France would be eliminating Srivijaya, but I also had concerns about India's ability to stop a French solo without Srivijaya's forces and position.

With a little luck and hard work, I thought I could make maybe 45 centers if I made a run for it. But even that would be if everything fell right, and I'd also obviously piss everyone off and run the risk of being pushed way back in a huge balance-of-power shift in response to my solo attempt, something which could also work to France's advantage. So, in the end, the four-way draw seemed like the best option. But it was a very good game every step of the way and I very much enjoyed playing with France, Denmark, India, Turan, the Khazarias, Germany, Byzantium, Arabia, Axum, the Wagadus, Egypt, Sriijaya, Spain, and China--good show everyone!