Alright, so its time for my final comment about Italy's Nations Cup 2016. I will further comment on the semifinals and final I guess but won't be as detailed and judging as about my own team obviously.
CongratulationsFirst of all, I would like to thank the following members of the ITA team which actually took part and showed interest in the competition. Unfortunately they are only about half of the members that I enrolled in the team
.
Un sentito Grazie a Frank, Mkunz98, Gyo, Kleist, Tarquinius, Wildkeeper, Orso, Filippo, Stefano and, though joining late, Marcus. To these players I extend my gratitude and compliments. I am really proud of you guys, you kept the Italian flag high amidst all difficulties. Without you, no Italian team would have been possible. To those I did not mention I say that they could have shown way more interest, otherwise I dont see the point of why they accepted my offer of a place in the team in the first place. A wasted opportunity for playing together and feeling part of a team.
On the Choice of Cuirassiers.It is a hotly debated issue whether cuirassiers are stronger than hussars or viceversa. It is clear that both classes can be led to victory as shown by Poland and France, yet it seems that in the last period the balance would tip more in the hussars' favour. I have got some ideas as to why this may be and in hindsight I think that I overestimated cuirassiers a little bit, though I still think they are very strong. At least, by playing heavy I forced the 'naturally' individualist Italian players (
) to try and play more like a team. Superated the initial difficulties, I believe the team improved visibly in esprit de corp and of this I rejoice.
On the whole, playing as cuirassiers was a really nice experience for me and my men (I hope) and a worthy decision to be made. I sincerely doubt we would have done better with hussars. We even lost in friendly against CZESLO as hussars
After a couple matches even the most traditionally 'hussar-like' player of our team, Frank, showed remarkable heavy cav skills in the match against Poland. There he clucthed an entire round alone and afterwards he fought with me as we clutched another point against 6-7 Poles.
On the whole Cavalry Nations CupI would like to thank the organisers, referees and all participants that made this Cup possible. Thank you all! It was a very nice experience and it was awesome to see new nations take the field. Good job Czechoslovakia and Russia for making it in this cup!
Our group was a tough one and the gap between our team and the Uk/French one is too wide. Applying the materialist, deterministic conception of history of Montesquieu, I would say that 'it is not chance that rules the world. There are general causes, moral and physical, which act in every monarchy, elevating it, maintaining it or hurling it to the ground.' (
Considerations on the causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline, 1734). Paraphrasing monarchy with National team, moral causes with total number of hours spent on Cav Gf and physical causes with quality of connection I would say that his analysis fits Cavalry Tournaments pretty well
Anyway, I congratulate the four semifinalists. They were probably the best of their teams, together with Spain who beat the first team in Group A but didn't qualify (would be nice to see the qualifying system, it would be more transparent
) Every victory is not to be taken for granted: concentration and hard work is required each time.
That said, I think an interesting idea for the future would be to have historical tournaments where players would play for the nations of 1815 according to which nation the place they were born in belonged to in 1815. There would be Prussia, Austria-hungary and Russia. The case of Poland would be very interesting as its players would scatter among the latter three powers. It would be nice to see how the balance of power (cavalry skill) would thus shift, since in the current situation it is pretty clear that France enjoys a pretty large preponderance. In 1815 setup, France while still be as strong as now (ok French players from Nice/Savoie would play for Sardinia-Piedmont but I dont think that would be a nation anyway), it would face much tougher opponents, which after World War One were shattered into a myriad of smaller nations states in East-Central Europe which both in 20th century history and in-game now are a bit of a cakewalk (except from Poland) for their other European opponents.
That's it from Captain Piccolomini of the Italian team for now. May honour and strength be with you, reader and fighter.
