[Spoilers]Rowain of Italy

[Rowain]

Italy wants to assure the world of its peacefull intention.

We have no interest in foreign Supportcenters or in war and prefer the way of Diplomacy to reach our goals.

[Rowain]

So I got Italy the one country with the worst record of all 7.

But i still prefer it over Austria.

One advantage/disadvantage that I might have to any of the other players is that I have not participated in any of the Civ-pbems/pitbos games so nobody has a read on my diplo in advance.

[Rowain]

A first round of messages has been sent. Given how early it is there were no clear plans outlined. Simple talking about the geopolitical situation and what alliances might or might not make sense.

In short: Agreement with france that there is no need for italo-french wars during the first 3 years.
Understanding with England to keep the lines of communications open and look for opportunities of future cooperation. The same with germany. A weird message from Austria.
And surprisingly a lot of silence from rego's russia (well given the timezones maybe not that surprising).

My wishes would be: Eng-Ger-Fra having alot of infighting and Russia moving vs Austria and working with me.

My fear: english-french alliance that continous to move east and gets help from Turkey or Austria.

[Rowain]

A lot more talking but stil with relative little content.

One long chat with uberfish who compares the early talks with the first day of WW-games. But we do agree that neither one of us gains anything by attacking the other.

And a chat with Lewwyn who shoots down any ideas of the Lepanto-opening so all thats left is just the usual move to Tunis.

[Rowain]

I have just sent an e-mail to Nakor and informed him that I will send an Army into Piemont. Now I'm waiting for his reaction.

[Rowain]

The above mentioned note did get Nakor quite agitated

Why did I make the move? Simple his constant nagging me about the Lepanto oppening. He even once offered to support an attack against Munich if I move into Tyrol.
Everything he said would have the effect that my west(the border to him) is unprotected and in case of the the move into Tyrol I would trash any relationship with Germany and Austria.
Stubborn as I am I decided to make it clear that he is better off without advicing me how to move

I had no knowledge about scooters attack. I did the public announcement (I told scooter and uber my plan too) to tip the balance into antifrance if those 2 were still not sure how to move and to get some reactions = informations.

Funny thing is: Had he simply bounced in PIE and bounced in BUR he would have a far better position and get 2 Centers for sure.

[Rowain]

It is now spring 1903 and the situation is rather bad. Thanks to the fleet builds in winter 01 done by England and Turkey the east resolves faster than the west.

Additional the fast crumbling of Turkey leaves the Austrian Armies with too much time on hand. Oh and why did scooter buid an Army in LVP

I expect to get invaded by either west(scooter) or east(Lewwyn) soon. Maybe even a combined effort. I just hope I can survive longer than France and Turkey .

[Mardoc]

2 builds is serious progress . Do you still expect to be invaded by scooter to take back your gains, or are you finally allied with him?

[Rowain]

Hi Mardoc .

For the moment I believe that scooter will stay honest but fact remains that if ENG+GER want they can prevent 1 or even both builds.

Oh and you are never surefire allied with somone in Diplomacy. I'm sure Amelia believed to be allied with Russia at some time and look how much good it did for her.

[Rowain]

Nice turn this fall 1903
Scooter wanted to backstab me but got stabbed himself by Germany.

It also shows the risk of stabbing. Stabbing a friend while getting stabbed by another friend leaves one very lonely.

Now the disbands and builds will be interesting to see.

And all this did make the wires hum so many posts in my inbox and a lengthy chat with Lewwyn about the future (which looks to be dominated by Germany and Austria)