Western Walls

There was a time when the discussion of stalemate lines, and indeed the actual admission that they existed was paramount to some great scandalous disclosure that would doom the hobby to extinction for they would stop people from winning and reduce the dynamics of the play. These days, players are far more casual about stalemate lines, yet the actual understanding of them still remains a tactical failing in most players. At the recent World DipCon in Canberra (2002) I found myself playing in a series of four games in which western stalemate lines were a dominant factor in the diplomacy of the games. I was also very surprised at the lack of understanding of them, and I heard the following comments from players of southern powers:

"We are in the Mid-Atlantic; no one can stop us now."
"We have taken Munich, so all of Germany and France will fall shortly."
"We have an army in Gascony! We rule the west."

All of these excited players were very wrong, and because they didn't know they were wrong, they insisted on banging their heads against the western walls waiting for the miracle misorder or the sudden inspiration that never came that there are many walls in the west and that some of them do not need Gascony or Munich or the Mid-Atlantic.

The key in all these less-than-seventeen-center stalemate lines is alliance play and the interaction with other hostile alliances. It is not necessary to lock up seventeen centers to force a diplomatic stalemate if the other side is unwilling or unable to attack each other for a solo.

There are more lines than those listed below. These use "passive orders" as their basis. That is, orders that can be perpetual in being HOLDs and supports. There is another series of stalemate situations, which are based on "dynamic orders," a series of moves designed to cut supports or to deny a province from being used as a shuttle pad to move units along the coasts or some such breaking move.

This article will illustrate some of the fallacies of the above original comments when you look at the western lines between the two classic stalemate lines of the Lazy Six and the Classic West-East line.

All of these have the same requirement: no one is behind you (or your alliance) and no one able to build behind you that is hostile. In most cases this means that France must either be allied or must have been eliminated, or at least that the port of Brest must have been taken away from him and held behind the line. Kiel and Berlin impose the same restrictions on German involvement, and, as shown in each line below, the port of St. Petersburg must be closed to prevent the possibility of a Russian build.

(Note that for simplicity's sake, only English units are shown in the maps below. Obviously, it is much more common for many of the lines shown to be built by a combination of two or more allied powers.)

The Lazy Six (6 units cover 8 centers)

F NAt S F Mid F Mid Holds F Por S Mid A Den Holds A Nwy S StP F StP Hold

This requires that France and Germany be out of it and that there are no hostile fleets behind the line that now protects the centers of Edi, Lon, Lvp, Por, Den, Nwy, Swe and StP.

This also allows for two extra units to be used to cause trouble in Northern Germany or on the coast of France.

The Classic West-East Line (13 units cover 17 centers)

This is the most commonly referred to stalemate line and the most feared because it is a solo stopper both ways.

F NAt S Mid F Mid Holds F Por S Spain F Spain sc Holds A Gas S A Mar A Mar Holds A Bur S Mun A Mun Holds A Ruh S Mun A Ber Holds F Bal S Ber F Nwy S StP A StP Holds

Centers held: Edi, Lon, Lvp, Par, Mar, Bre, Kie, Mun, Ber, StP, Nwy, Swe, Den, Hol, Bel, Spa, Port

This line is so feared these days that it is also very rarely ever done, which is why so many games end early. In fact in some 35 years of tournament play I have been in exactly one of these statlemate lines, in the western side of a 17-17 draw.

Notice that you still have four units left with which to get creative. It is the very nature of those four units that makes for the classic line to fail when there is a coalition trying to establish it. Think of it this way: in an alliance that has built the line, in one or more of the players' backs there is one or more extra units running around loose, looking for a weak emotional moment to pounce on some ally's home centers.

No Middle Ground -- The Loss of the Mid -- The Brest-NAt Line (13 units protect 14 centers)

So there you are in the process of forming your western wall and the bad guys push a fleet out to the Mid-Atlantic, is all lost? "Hell no, we won’t go!"

F NAt Holds F Iri Holds F Eng Holds A Bre S A Gas A Bur S A Gas A Ruh S A Mun A Kie S A Mun A Gas Holds A Mun Holds A Ber Holds F Bal S Ber F Nwy S StP A StP Holds

Centers covered: Edi, Lon, Lvp, Bre, Par, Mun, Kie, Ber, Stp, Nwy, Swe, Den, Hol Bel

This also has a nice symmetry in that there are 2 units left to wonder around. Which if there are two players in the west can have a nice stand off at some place like the North Sea.

Out of Gas -- The Loss of Gascony and the Mid -- Burgundian Keystone (13 units hold 14 centers)

They have broken through to Gascony also? How sad. For them.

F NAt Holds F Iri Holds F Eng S Bre A Bre S Par A Par S Bur A Bur Holds A Ruh S A Mun A Kie S A Mun A Mun Holds A Ber Holds F Bal S Ber F Nwy S StP A StP Holds

Centers covered: Edi, Lon, Lvp, Bre, Par, Mun, Kie, Ber, Stp, Nwy, Swe, Den, Hol Bel

The Northern Permutations -- Only Munich is lost, are we? -- The Beerless Line (13 units hold 16 centers)

The most common "crossing" point of the East-West line is at Munich and often with a great deal of celebration and anticipation. Most of which is from too much drinking of beer and we hope the following line will give them something to whine about:

F NAt S Mid F Mid Holds F Por S Spain F Spain sc Holds A Gas S A Mar A Mar Holds A Bur Holds A Ruh Holds A Kie S Ber A Ber Holds F Bal S Ber F Nwy S StP A StP Holds

Centers held: Edi, Lon, Lvp, Par, Mar, Bre, Kie, Ber, StP, Nwy, Swe, Den, Hol, Bel, Spa, Port

Munich and Berlin taken? Oh my! -- DeGaulle Line (Who needs Germany? -- 12 units cover 15 centers)

F NAt S Mid F Mid Holds F Por S Spain F Spain sc Holds A Gas S Mar A Mar Holds A Bur Holds A Ruh Holds A Kie Holds F Bal S Kie F Nwy S StP A StP holds

Centers held: Edi, Lon, Lvp, Par, Mar, Bre, StP, Nwy, Swe, Den, Hol, Bel, Port

Burgundy, Munich, and Berlin all taken! Getting close! The Kiel Keystone (10 units cover 10 centers)

F NAt S Mid F Mid Holds F Por S Mid A Den S A Kie F Bal S A Kie A Kie Holds A Hol holds F Nth S Hol F Nwy S StP A StP holds

Centers held: Edi, Lon, Lvp, Kie, StP, Nwy, Swe, Den, Hol, Por.

So, clearly, there are plenty of self-sustaining stalemate lines which do not require either Munich, Burgundy or the Mid-Atlantic. The question for your inquiring minds remains: is there one where the enemy has all three places?
 

  Edi Birsan
(edi@mgames.com)