Ulster (james) vs Lithuania (empError)
&
Grenada (dannyray) vs Nicaea (IceQueen)

The game in the south was kinda balanced. I helped Ice a bit by taking and holding a fort in Austria. Although Holland, Flanders, Normandy and Lux developed on their own, I quite easily pushed james back, and took his cap in turn 32. He might have had more strength with +2 Brittany, but danny took that. James could improve on his moves, though. This game might have been a lot more exciting with the teams reversed.

Ulster (empError) vs Lithuania (Xuul)
&
Grenada (dannyray) vs Crete? (OTTO-Katalog)

At the start, the west seemed fine, and lead in the score. Soon, however, both eastern players took over big time. Danny wanted to concede almost before we started fighting. We played on a bit, though, and I agreed to concede in turn 29, as we were way back in population, culture, and lands.

Ulster (Andres) - Aquitaine (LNO)
vs
Muscovy (ghost) - Nicaea (HST)

Even starts, but Andres proved to be very new at the game.. Having 30k for a long time, and then building to 60k before advancing cap.. He had only UK, while losing Scotland now and then. Ghost was killing him. I got some good luck in south.. And expanded into Germany, as Andres didn't touch the coast. I had quickly many advanced, but so had ghost and HST. And to make it better, HST had good control over Africa. Battles were about Norway/Sweden, Poland, Dalmatia/Venetia and Tunis. As time went by, i grew stronger and stronger, while Andres didn't advance more than Ulster and England. I could take Ghost and HST alone in turn 40, and overgrew them by far. Game ended by me totally Destroying ghost (Except 1 or 2 lands) in turn 53.

Ulster (dannyray) vs Muscovy (Xuul)
&
Aquitaine (kalle) vs Nicaea (empError)

I thought my start was pretty bad, but I recovered. Xuul seemed to have some problems with Crimea and other neutral lands, and didn't expand much in the beginning. Danny quickly took Germany, and kalle had the luxury of +2 in Genoa, Corsica, and Algiers.

Soon, Xuul started pushing danny back. He had to confront kalle too, around Helvetica/Austria, as large armies in Venetia were very costly for me. Xuul took over Germany, and kalle tried to help out, but Xuul's pressure stayed on, while the battle in the south seemed quite balanced.

West conceded, turn 48.

Ulster (Oz) vs Lithuania (Sitting_Bull)
&
Provence (Spinner) vs Nicaea (empError)

Sitting_Bull had a good start. But he missed a winter early in the game, which cost him his armies in Bohemia and an Austrian fort. Oz quickly seemed at least as strong, and unexpectedly, Sitting_Bull left. I think west would have won anyway, as I was holding on to a fort in Napoli, but this was quite expensive in troop maintenance, and I think Spinner (Adrien) was trying to hurt me that way. Prov is quite strong anyway.

Disappointing end, though.

Ulster (empError) vs Lithuania (Oz)
&
Grenada (Lion) vs Crete (Xuul)

Starts were pretty even, although I stayed just a little behind. Throughout the game, Lion kept apace with Xuul. Oz soon got the better of me, and took a good lead when some of his elite troops cut through my defenses at Sweden and Norway, to demolish the advancement in +2 Scotland in the last turn. After that, I had to buy advancement there, and had trouble raising enough forces for the major armies Oz sent through Scandinavia 2-3 times. Oz took over Germany, and west conceded.

Ulster (Madman) vs Lithuania (Madman)
&
Castile (Rex) vs Nicaea (empError)

Lithuania is stronger than Ulster, and Castile is a lot worse than Grenada, so east had better starting positions. We had much better starts too, certainly compared to Rex, whose expansion was slow. Then I also had +2s in Napoli and Dalmatia, and Rex got trapped by forts in France, Genoa, and Tunis, all around him, all with 2 or 3 armies in there, which further prevented a fast expansion. Rex wanted to quit from early in the game, but Madman didn't, so we played on until turn 27/28, when west finally conceded. It was never a game, really.

I don't think Castile is a lot worse than Grenada.
It is closer to Burgundy and France which makes it easier to spread culture in the N.
However 2 steps from Tangiers is a disadvantage.

Flanders (IceQueen) & Castile (empError)
vs.
Ukraine (airmidlein/IzzleKizzle) & Tunis (james)

Airmidlein left the game early, around turn 8 or so. Probably kicked out, as he logged in later. Izzle took over, but could not prevent Ice from ruling in the north. In the south, I kept pace with james, and I also took the lead there. Once I had 5 armies in Algiers, vs 1 in Tunis, but I sent only 4 in, thinking that'd be enough, and saving one for a potential counterstrike. The attack killed the defending army, but didn't take Tunis. However, west was much stronger, and east conceded in turn 30.

Ulster (Xuul) vs Lithuania (Sargon/dd)
&
Aragon (Oz) vs Nicaea (empError)

Xuul was stronger than Sargon, but I got an advantage over Oz. Sargon had to leave, and dd replaced him. Dd fought very well, and Xuul didn't seem able to force a decision soon. This gave me the time to try and push Oz back. With Xuul attacking me in Central Europe, this happened only very gradually, and mainly in Africa. Oz did develop his lands to 100k, while I went over 70k only in my African lands. This made dd decide that we could never win the game soon, so he gave up, and west won.

The above match was a rematch of this one:

Ulster (empError) vs Muscovy (Oz)
&
Aragon (Sargon) vs Nicaea (Xuul)

East had good lands, and my way to Scandinavia was blocked by 5 neutral armies starting in Scotland. Brittany and Normandy built armies, further hampering my expansion. Sargon didn't fare well versus Xuul either, and in turn 21 west decided the cause was lost. According to the eastern players, the game was already over in turn 1, because of their good lands.

The attach.

Ulster (jenny) vs Lithuania (dannyray)
&
Grenada (empError) vs Natolia (IzzleKizzle)

East went off for a smashing start, helped by some developed lands at the start. The border between east and west lay at Burgundy-Helvetica, and running from north to south over the map at that position. I could recover from Izzle's furious start, but jenny stayed in trouble, and I didn't have much spare power to help out. So in turn 34, west conceded.

Northumberland (Xerxes) vs Muscovy (Gratis)
&
Grenada (Lion) vs Macedonia (empError)

I had a good start, and expanded quickly. Besides having a good starting land, I was blessed with +2s in Bulgaria, Napoli, and Sicilia. Gratis had +2s in Bohemia and Brandenburg, too. Lion's start was much worse, so west considered re-starting early in the game, but we played on.

Due to skirmishes between Xerxes and me in central Europe, Gratis got at least equal in strength to Xerxes, while I kept the lead in south, particularly when I took the African lands.

With pressure on west ever-increasing, west conceded in turn 46.

Ulster (Gratis) vs. Muscovy (Adrien)
&
Aragon (empError) vs. Crete (Adriano)

Adrien's start was better than Gratis's. Adriano's expansion was surprisingly good, the best of all, despite playing with Crete. Adrien seemed stronger than Gratis, pushing him out of Germany. Adriano was quick to develop and advance Macedonia, and soon took Tunis from me. I defended the western part of the map for a while, while developing, and then pushed forward, mainly through Rome-Napoli, thereby threatening the supply lines to both Tunis and Dalmatia. I think the relatively long-distance fighting for Crete worked in Adriano's disadvantage. By pushing forward at Austria-Hungary, Adrien's supplies to Germany were threatened, so that the scores in the north evened up. Gratis could take Germany, while pressure on Macedonia/Dalmatia increased, and I took Africa. In turn 59/60, east conceded.

Ulster (IceQueen) vs. Ukraine (empError)
&
Aquitaine (dannyray) vs. Nicaea (hst/godsent)

IceQueen rapidly pushed into Germany and Sweden, taking a fort in Bohemia before I got to it. The situation looked a little worrying for me, then. Hst was doing well against danny, considering his starting position, but he was replaced by godsent. My situation improved, and the northern battles shifted to Germany and Sweden, while I could afford to help out godsent a bit, by taking Venetia and Helvetica. The game could go either way at that point, it seemed. But danny was growing his population, and had a lot of money to spend, and soon he pushed forward, threatening Macedonia, and later Poland. My strength was diminished considerably, to about IceQueen's strength, while godsent was gradually pushed back. In turn 60, east conceded.

the attach...

Eire (IceQueen) vs. Crimea (empError)
&
Algiers (james) vs. Cyprus (Simme/IzzleKizzle/ghost)

Ice's early expansion was hampered by a fort in Scotland. Adrien (Simme) quickly felt bored, maybe because of something james whispered, and left the game. IzzleKizzle substituted, and soon was replaced by ghost.

Hanover was something like 60k developed very soon, and Ice got there first. A fort in Brandenburg helped to threaten it, and after a while Hanover became contested territory. Down south, ghost got stronger and stronger, and Ice moved down all the way to Roma to help james. Despite these efforts, ghost remained at least equally strong as james, and I slowly got the upper hand in the north.
I got control of Germany, and got to England once in winter, turn 52, I think.
In turn 53/54, west decided to concede.

Wales (empError) vs Crimea (Ghost)
&
Morocco (jenny) vs Egypt (Master)

This map seemed west-favoured, as Morocco was close to Spain, and Wales is closer to central Europe than Crimea. In addition, there were many +s in France.

The southern combatants rushed towards Tunis, where Master soon got control. Ghost had a good start. I had good lands, but they revolted terribly often (I think I lost about 6 or 7 lands to revolts, only once because I had no troops there). Ghost lost many troops on a fort I held in Hanover. In a certain winter, ghost managed to get Holland, which made the 38 troops in Hanover very expensive. But ghost also often was short of money, because of his long-distance fighting at Norway, and also in Germany. More than once, he was short of money. In the south, master was getting the better of jenny, and in turn 40/41, west conceded.

Ulster (King_Kent) vs. Lithuania (Resistante)
&
Gascony (empError) vs. Greece (Adriano/LNO)

East's progress was much faster than west's. LNO soon controlled most of Italy, and Resistante gained control over Germany and Scandinavia. LNO's population soon matched those of Kent and me together. After some skirmishes, west conceded in turn 29/30.