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SnowFire
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New York City, NY
Jan 1970
time: 00:15
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Asakura EOG (a bit late, but oh well)
Looking at the rules for Sengoku, I noticed two things that quite affected my choice of power. First of all, there was the no draw rule, and that in event of stalemate largest # of SCs would win. Secondly, stalemate lines looked really easy to set up. Thus, I decided that a center power would be an excellent choice for this map. Maybe things would be a bit more dangerous, but it would be unlikely that I would get stalemate lined up, and I’d have a better shot at soloing (which is all that matters).
My initial plan from looking at the map was an easy stab on Oda by marching into reasonably early. However, the only person who was at all communicative to me in Diplomacy was HDS in Oda, and having an ally is quite important, so I soon changed my tune. Plus, it would always be possible for me to stab him later. As I thought about it, an Oda-Asakura alliance seemed better and better. The east would be really easy to seal off: Mino already acted as a protective barrier, as if it was already an army on our side and could be supported to hold. Oda’s Mikawa was a natural fortress as well. And Echizen would not be hard to hold, completing a short 3-territory wall against Eastern expansion. Plus, Mino was dangerous to our alliance since it touched all of our home centers, and this was an easy way to keep both our flank secure and the alliance trustworthy- having one or the other of our armies there would only keep both parties nervous. In any case, with the east secure, we’d both be free to turn west and move down the line and slaughter Chosokabe, Mori, and Shimazu who’d surely all be fighting each other too much to resist us well. HDS seemed dead-set against the honorless Chosokabe dogs anyway, and I chalked it up to some pre-existing knowledge of each other. The east could do whatever, there were enough SC’s in the center and west to win with once we stabbed each other anyway, and keeping the east locked up would not be a problem.
Anyway, I still think that the central alliance could have worked great, had it actually been done. Uesugi would have ran into a brick wall by the time he was large enough to head west, and Shimazu wouldn’t be powerful enough to take on both of us at the same time (although he might have been able to play kingmaker in terms of turning one of us against the other- but even still, he’d still be a minor partner, and whomever he got on his side would still be much bigger than him by the end of that war).
But that’s not what happened. As we know, HDS probably had an alliance with Chosokabe from the start, hence explaining the highly anti-C rhetoric I heard. I knew things were fishy when he recommended obviously suboptimal moves with regards to Kii (moves that would not assuredly hold it if Chosokabe attacked), but the real clincher was when he decided that he wanted Mori after all. At that point I knew I had probably been betrayed. I probably should have just refused all support, but at this point (and heck, still now to some extent) in terms of the game, what would it have gained me? Sure, I could have moved against Oda as well, but we were still too small and too equally matched. We would be locked in a death embrace that would be ended when the rampaging forces of the east and west came and wiped us both out. I was ultimately doomed if he really was moving against me, so I might as well go on the slim hope it wasn’t a stab or that he could be turned around via the previous argument about how well an alliance would work. So, because I spent 2 turns sitting around waiting for Oda to do his part of the alliance, Oda had the advantage when he stabbed me, but it was for naught. I stuck up the best defense that I could, and sure enough, the grappling powers of Oda and Asakura were wiped out as the east and west collapsed in on the center*.
Anyway, this was an enjoyable game, but sadly enough in line with my recent string of games. After a string of strong performances in some games (Alien Dip, Amatsu, Mayhem, Grey Dip to a lesser extent…), I’ve been crippled with the almost complete inability to get myself a semi-reliable ally (either getting buried by an overwhelming force with no allies (Domination or San Andreas) or else brutally stabbed (Tourney Game A, this game, SAS, Titans), and with the exception of SAS I saw the stab coming too, for naught). Don’t know if I need to shower more or what, but hopefully this is just temporary. We’ll see (note: this is not a whine. I’m not asking for help or pity in future games, merely noting a trend which I shall have to extinguish with my icy wrath).
Good luck to all for the rest of the game. Except Chosokabe. 
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29-10-2001 22:56
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