Yeah I completely agree. Hat's off to Italy. Convincing someone you're on the same side in that position, and getting them to commit? You'd have a easier time selling snowcones in a blizzard.

You may be right, but on the other hand Italy has a lot of momentum and that German army in Tyrolia is pretty spicy. Ger can't win much on their own over there, but I can see them saying "I help you take Vie if you help me take Mar," and that might be enough foothold to push Russia back.

More electricity in the west as France is lucky to only lose one home SC. You have to wonder what they were thinking leaving all three SCs hanging, but unlike Aus, they start with room to expand and they're using it. Are they in a good position? Absolutely not. Can we count them out? Don't bet on it

A lot of buzz around Germany and Russia, and for good reason. Next year though I think Italy's the one to watch. Now that Austria is hemmed in we may see a sacrifice play in favor of their ally, and that's bad news for Turkey and Russia

Really interesting first year. Damn shame about Austria - a minor blunder and a coin toss and they may as well be out of the game. This is why they say Aus is the hardest - they're really well-positioned in the mid-to-late game but you gotta play with laser precision at the start.

Who said anything about a convoy? You can take SCs with fleets just as well as with armies, and with the fall of Italy they could definitely build enough fleets to dominate the Mediterranean. It would take time, and you'd be counting on Russia to hold the line, but it's a winning strategy.

That's it exactly. Turkey fumbling the bag.

I think that's fair. Although it's also not clear to me that there was a treaty. Either way Turkey shouldn't have pushed north without a way to pressure France.

Girl they did Not. 34 SCs divides into 12 11 11. Turkey has 12, France has 12, who's giving one up? And that's not even counting the remains of England and Italy, and are Russia getting a piece of that? No. They were hoping for a Turkish draw, and Turkey made it clear that wasn't happening.

And yeah, Russia's absolutely giving up, but they didn't have a path to victory anyway. This way they get to choose who wins. They have the power. I don't know if I'd do the same thing, but I can't fault them.

I don't think Russia ever backstabbed Turkey. They fought, sure, but the most aggressive Russia got amounted to retaking their home SC. They could have kept pushing south after 1911. They didn't.

This isn't just Russia taking their ball and going home, this is Turkey fumbling the bag. If you're not in a position to hold off your biggest rival, you can't backstab the one who is. RIP Turkey. You're a great tactician but this ain't chess, it's Diplomacy.