Austria	Brendan Whyte (out, Fall 1461)	5th Place
Florence	Steve Koehler (out, Fall 1466)	4th Place
France	Pasquale Giovine	1st Place
Milan	Lee McConnell (dropped, Summer 1457), Andy York (out, Fall 1459)	6th Place
Naples	Mike Scott	2nd Place
Papacy	Bob Robles (out, Fall 1457)	8th Place
Turks	Dennis Cain (out, Fall 1459)	6th Place
Venice	Ward Narhi	3rd Place

Statements

Pasquale Giovine (France): Final comments of the King of Italy,

Zinedine the First, called "Tete Dur".

I wish to thank Chris for the GMing.

Incredible to say, I won while the principal candidate arrived third due to his thoughtless behavior during the conclusion of the very long war of position between us, also with some forgotten ducats of loans free to take in this last turn.

About the game, I don't remember very well the beginning of it. Any way I made a no belligerence pact with Florence that worked very well, in fact I was able to consolidate my conquer of Sardinia and Corsica and to attack Milan with the help of Austria and Venice; instead Florence, after the destruction of Papacy, began a war with Naples all along the game until few turn ago without no advantage for him.

After the disappearance of Milan, Austria, Papacy and Turks, Venice and I began the real war for the victory and Venice had many occasions to destroy my resistance in the North, but he never plunged the hit. After some initial won battles, he always stopped the attacks, so I was able to convince Naples to join me against him; moreover Venice attacked Naples in the South and therefore I could easily convince him that the enemy was Venice.

And Venice had fear to win, with 20 cities he left Naples to survive instead to finish him.

Good for me that in these last years was able to penetrate in venetian provinces and conclude the unification of Italy under the French flag.

Thanks to all again!

Mike Scott (Naples): Quite an interesting game! I really enjoyed this one. Course I always enjoy Gunboat games, but this one had lot's of twists and turns.

I decided to go somewhat slower then I normally do, tho I moved north against the Pope which went somewhat OK, tho France stuck his unit into Rome unexpectedly. Later as the Pope folded, I was hoping that Florence would leave me alone as I saw possibilities with taking Tunis, which I did while Venice took out the rest of the Turk areas, and some where about here Venice also took out Austria.

However I did move against Florence, and some minor moves against France. Then Florence got back at me, taking some areas away, which it took a few turns and lots of luck to move him back out. A few turns later Venice and France joined to squeeze Florence.

And then Venice really attacked me, and only the help of France in both attacking Venice and in helping me kept me in the game. As I started a slow comeback, Venice hit a bad snag, and with France attacking him relentlessly, Venice attempted to get to the Win but France, with my minor moves, stopped that. The we were making good progress - and France really made to much - so he went ahead and took the win.

As always, I always voted against Draws. Sorry to Venice, but I like to see Wins.

Thanks Chris, this one took quite a while, a 2001 game finishing six calender years later. and sixteen game years. To many breaks in season is the only thing I didn't like.

Looking forward to see who was who, and to play again.

Ward Narhi (Venice): In short, I screwed up big time in this game. I started out nicely, trying to not make enemies with anyone. I kind of lucked out in that Turkey picked a fight with me despite my asking him not to. The luck was nobody really came in to help Turkey out as I crushed him. Next Austria fell to me. After that I was in a bit of a quandary. I had a solid ally in the south in Naples but he limited my growth. I had a slightly antagonistic guy in France stymieing my growth in the north. I *should* have attacked France but I figured had I done that Naples would stab me anyway in order to stop my growth. In retrospect, this was a terrible mistake to attack my long term ally, Naples. I did not think he would remain my ally when I went for the win. One deciding factor in attacking Naples was that I could conquer Turkey which seemed smart at the time. The other was that I saw Naples as a larger threat to my supremacy than France at the time. Naples was the second largest power IMO.

The rest of the game was me trying to counter the France/Naples alliance against me. I kind of waffled between throwing everything I had at Naples one year and then trying the same against France the next. Nothing worked. I tried diploming my way out, noting repeatedly that France was getting far too strong and could go for the win. Naples seemed to take my betrayal too seriously to reconsider his single minded attack on me. In the end, I was right when France stabbed Naples for the easy win. Congrats to France but I wish Naples had not just given you the victory and joined me to make you work for it.

Chris Hassler (GM): This has been the longest running game I have ever had in S.O.B. It started in May of 2001, so it was nearly 5 and a half years long. For all that, the players were remarkably consistent. Only one player dropped – Lee McConnell – and I think that may have been for reasons beyond his control. In any event, well played all, and congratulations to Pasquale.