published initially in “The briefing” of the 4 july 2025 “Top Deutsches Marks”

After 10 hours of travel and an unplanned visit to almost half of all big Dutch train stations due to Deutsche Bahn cancellations, Jelte and I finally arrived at Regensburg Hbf at 16:10, on the day before the official start of RegensCon.

Having concluded that we'd better relax a tiny bit before the guided tour around the city - after all, I'd only had about 3 hours of sleep due to the heat - we decided to meet up with our only other Dutch companion Rene at a bar nearby. Meeting the others was fun and, especially since I'm very new to the hobby, breaking the ice with some board games the night before the first round was a very good time.

My main goal coming out of Spring 1901 was to take the initiative in the West. I asked Robert to help me into Belgium in exchange for going into Irish sea, in order to blow up the English position as quickly as possible. He would get two English centers to my one.

Some years and one janissary deal later and the West was pretty much settled as far as I was concerned. Now another problem: The imminent Wintergreen rolling across the East.

We both sent an army down to Venice to attempt to threaten Italy into attacking Russia, which Luca declined. Tabby turned on her ally, which gave my fleets an unopposed walk into the Mediterranean. Robert and I steadily went into the last year of the board with a 9/10 center count. I was sure Robert was going to stab Robin for Norway, so I proposed he try to walk into Trieste and Vienna, with me backfilling Venice to make it an equal 11/11 board top. He declined Norway, and I got a very comfortable 11-center top. A score of 20 put me 6 points ahead in the tournament.

The night before these games, I had mentioned being a big fan of loaning Italy Trieste in 01. As my luck would have it, Robin (now Italy) happened to be a part of this conversation. He asked for Trieste, Spyros' Russian fleet in Rumania meant I didn't have much to worry about at the home front anyways, so why not give it to him. After 1902 I had made a vague attempt at attacking Germany, got stuck in the Balkans and was completely dependent on my allies for my position. The board wasn’t looking great for me.

In fall 1903, with Robin withdrawing his support from the 'attack' on Munich to focus on his own fronts and with Spyros bogged down in Turkey, I asked Robin for Trieste back. He asked me to hold off on taking it for a year, so I decided to just walk into Venice. Only managed to get two of his centers, but that was enough. I let my Russian ally Spyros take Turkey, and with Italy now scattered across the Med and with Russia still fighting I decided to try and lock my position down as much as possible. I missed a tactic that would result in me taking Munich, and tried to appease France until he would attack England and Germany. This ended up being a mistake, but it didn't need to be fatal. I was able to turn on France and work with Spyros to secure his board top and secure my own survival. We had wanted to share a board top but Spyros, seeing me have a chance at both Munich and Naples, decided to bounce me out of a previously agreed center swap in Rumania in fall 1907. No hard feelings, I'd have done the same. 4th place, 6 centers, 1 point of lead left.

Turkey is usually my favourite power, so going into the last round I immediately had a good feeling. In spring, Francesco and I agreed on an AT where I would commit to anti-Russia hard in Fall '01.

Then, Francesco supported René's fleet into Rumania, Spyros let René into Norway and Luca let Rene into Sweden. Suddenly, I was looking at a 12 center Austria-Russia with a build in Sevastopol, and no Italy anywhere remotely close. Francesco stabbed Italy and, after I lost Bulgaria, I decided to attempt to retake it with a convoy from Armenia. Francesco didn't support Bulgaria, and suddenly, I had a foot in the door. Despite taking Bulgaria from him, I decided to ask Francesco one last time for support into Rumania. Third time's the charm, right?

This ended up being the right call, and with some creative center swapping the AT steamed towards Sevastopol. Francesco told me: “You can either stab now and get two or three centers, or you can work with me and gain four or more”. Unfortunately for him, the time had come for me to secure my win. I only needed 13 points, and his open centers alone were more than enough. The orders were being read aloud and… I had put down a convoy from Arm-Bul instead of Ank-Bul. I would lose Serbia to a correct Austrian attack, and my position in the Balkans would crumble. In a desperate bid for survival I offered my neighbors to support them wherever in Austria they needed to be, and Austronaut asked me for Trieste. “That's only possible if you support me to Trieste from Venice first” I said, 30 seconds before the deadline. I forgot about it by the end of writing phase. During adjudication, suddenly, the Italian order “Vienna supports: Serbia to Trieste” was called out. Serbia was mine, Francesco had to disband one more unit. Looks like being nice to Italy this game paid off.

The rest of the game was just support holding in the Balkans and slowly taking Greece. With a 9-center board top, I gained 22 points, securing a Best France, Best Turkey, and a First place. Not bad for a second tournament ever.

• Regensburg 2025