Italy for Sale

Well three long years have passed, and while I always enjoy Bill's photo shop posts, it's been some time since another nation stirred the pot of controversy.

The game has been dramatically different from the last incarnation of itself, and tensions are high.

In the West:

France's apathy, stupidity, and surprising lack of involvment has skewed the balance of power as the situation in the west appears to be settling along stalemate lines. Germany grabbed a lion's share of the centers, with Italy coming in second and England dominating the coasts with only a paltry number of centers to show for their complicity.

In the East:

Germany and Russia continue their pressure, at first indirect, but now very overt, against the Dual Monarchy. Bill, last game's winner, has already survived past the point many of us had predicted for him. Turkey was carved up after a single turn destroyed two of her units and a back door convoy ended hope for the viability of her survival.

In the north:

A tension hangs over the baltic as Russia, Germany and England seem to have settled into a stalemate over the scandanavian supply centers.

With the "Tri-partide pact" having completed it's term (Germany violating it early) and Italy and Austria remaining cooperative, we have reached an impass in this game.

Which leads me to the reason for the title of this post:

At no point, despite all my scheming and talk to the contrary did I attack an ally's supply center, or support someone else's units in an attack against them. Geographically I am in a position to aid several different people. I have been, for this game at least, a dependable and trustworthy ally for 6 turns(mostly). And I am looking for another deal. With whom remains to be seen. And so, like the Joker in "The Dark Knight" I am "holding auditions" Any attack on me is either, costly for the parties involved, with little gained, or impossible due to obstacles of geography and the positions of my units. This means that I am the ally of choice for several people who have been courting me. I can, with the right friend(s) tip the game in a new direction.

And so I am putting Italy up for sale. In the Sicilian tradition, we'll see who can make the best case. This is open to everyone, and the winner will be clear based on my moves in the spring of this upcoming year. Don't send me private emails, I want your case to be public. You should be offering both a short term and long term description of what you feel our cooperation would make the board look like and the benefits for both of us. Bias, stereotypes and hatred may be included in your post. Feel free to bad mouth and trash talk other players.

Let's see who has the best plan for the future....

Post away, and may the most convicing litigator win.

As Obama would say "change, change, change.....change.....changity change change."