wanna try one PE ? I'd like Eng.

We'll play a set, one each as England and Turkey.

gameID=6441
gameID=6442

So yeah, these are the English openings I've seen:

"D-Day": Lon -> Bre/Pic, ECH C Lon -> Bre/Pic, NTH -> Nwy

The goal here seems to be to get a very strong force in France early. F NTH moves over to grab St. Petersburg the first year to slow down the Turks from advancing in that direction, since it's hard to spare two armies to go north to Scandinavia for the first few years. Key acquisitions are Marseilles and Spain in A02; reinforced by a newly-built F Lvp/Lon, the English can put heavy pressure on the western Med in 1903. Germany gets taken at the end once builds permit a stream of armies.

PE - I often play a much different English opening that has worked very well for me, but next time we play I may have to shuffle the cards a bit ... seems to me this is the smartest:

NTH C Edi to Nwy; ECH to MAO then fall NWY to ST Pete, NTH to Den, MAO to SPA (SC) ....

the Turkish opening you posted is really the only one to employ

Dharmy has been playing the one you're calling the smartest here... granted, misfired a bit on the first try, but we drew 17-17 (and truthfully he should have won). I'm holding up alright against it as Turkey right now, but it's a tricky one.

My favorite is:

Lon( -> NTH) -> Hol -> Kie
NTH C Hol -> Kie; -> Nwy
ECH -> MAO -> Spa(sc)

Build A Edi, A Lvp, F Lon.

Continuation consists of fall convoys to Belgium and Denmark, grabbing Tunisia, and then advancing Kiel to Munich then either Tyrolia or Silesia depending on where the Turk has focused. The initial army serves as a vital pressure point against Turkish expansion. 1902 builds include another Edinburgh army; you then proceed to walk through Scandinavia with 2 armies, and at a later point (03/04 builds) a fleet in Edinburgh reinforces to grab St. Petersburg. Otherwise you then go grab all of France in 1903 then mad dash east into Germany and Italy.

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I haven't adopted a favorite opening strategy for Turkey yet, but England is:

F Nth convoy A Lon - Holland, F Nth - Den
A Lon - Holland - Kiel
F Eng - MAO - Spain SC

Fleet in Denmark takes Sweden, then to GoB to position for a St Pete grab. Army grabs Kiel, Berlin, and Munich to preserve your half of any stalemate line, F Spain takes Tunis to bounce and delay Turkish forays into Italy to buy you time in the Med.

It's the mid-game in this variant that still leaves me a little perplex ;))

The opening Rancher, Dharmy et al are using for England seems unbeatable assuming no mistakes from the English side. Turkey has to win virtually every guess in the Med to get to Tunisia and otherwise diverts too many armies from the German front in order to retain control of the Russian front.

yep, I have won a number of games for England using it, but will admit to having flubbed up some for inattention

IMHO, as Eng. you can leave paris/brest for last.
... not sure hw to win with Turk though...
(more shots at PE? (Open! sesame...!))

I opened 2 games, same old "A. . . " password.

( & BTW'... I opened two of the weirdest games of other variants!!!)