Diplomacy, the board game - Page 9

Spring 1901
So right off the bat, everyone sends off messages of greeting. Germany wants a DMZ in Burgundy and Rhur. I quickly agree because my initial plan is the Iberian Indecision, which involves moving my armies to Spain and Portugal and my fleet into the Atlantic, where it can be used as an attack on England or Italy. The plan is for a German alliance.

I want Germany’s allegiance to remain with me, not me and Austria, so I tip Austria off as to our DMZ. The Germany army in Munich moves to Rhur/Bur almost always with a small chance to the Austria territories. I’m incredibly surprised when Austria reveals that he has a DMZ with Germany as well. If Germany intends to honor both our agreements, he can only move to one of his own territories or stand. That seems unlikely so my inclination is that Germany is bullshitting me and plans to invade Burgundy, or at least make a move on Belgium from Rhur without me having a say. Could I really complain about him moving to a German spot? I decide no, and he shouldn’t complain about me moving to Burgundy as a defensive move, fully expecting to bounce there. I decide to not bounce after all and instead support the move from Marseilles, which can move to Spain in A1901. Adding to my suspicions is that Turkey informs me that Germany intends to take both Belgium and Holland this year (probably inferring from my suspicions sent to Austria), which he can’t do without breaking our DMZ.

Expecting Germany-Austria to be working together, I help put together the Russian-Turkish alliance that both of them wanted but neither was sure about. I’m on the other side of the world so both freely confide in me.

The last player unaccounted for is Cube (England). I message him on IRC and get him on, and he finalizes his moves in 10 minutes! I can’t even believe he read all his messages in that amount of time, and if he didn’t notice the game was running for hours, I doubt he looked up any strategy. I seriously consider moving F-Brest to the English Channel to bounce with him, but it would look very bad if he didn’t move there. Since he didn’t spend any time, I figure he’s not allied with anyone and can be turned to my cause next turn, even if he moves to the channel. Germany and Italy are much more worrisome.

I probably plugged in every normal French opening and scratched it before going with the Vineyard, a slightly weird semi-defensive move that doesn’t commit me to anything. I actually went to bed, lied there for 20 minutes or so, and then got up and changed my moves, haha.

Autumn 1901
Germany’s desire to have DMZs with half the players finally makes sense, and he actually meant all of them! He isn’t happy about my move into Burgundy, but that’s fine. His moves make absolutely no sense to me, and Russia is in a panic. Russia seems to be concerned about my status because of the English move into the Channel as well.
Unfortunately for Germany, his opening is so weird that I look it up online. There’s actually an article detailing the whole thing…. Oops!

I decide that Germany leaving himself open is too good to ignore, and England can’t do much to me with his opening. At worst, he takes Brest and I have to wrestle it away from him in 1902. I send a few long messages to England planning out our alliance. Obviously I want him to partially fail by bouncing in Holland, but I do mention that it’d be safer for him to move into Norway instead.
I message Germany and tell him that I want an alliance, we divvy up England, drink some wine together, etc. All I want from him now is to move his army from Kiel to Holland. Conveniently enough, that’s the move his strategy involves anyway. I’m such an easy ally to work with.
On the Russian front, I give him Germany’s moves and the best response. He ultimately decides not to risk moving off Warsaw, but he does take Sweden. I was hoping he wouldn’t trust me and would leave Sweden open. Falcynn’s claim that he’s seen this German opening twice is hard to believe, but he goes along with it anyway. This is going to make England’s life difficult in Scandinavia, especially with an army built in St. Petersburg.

I consider sandbagging myself by moving back into Brest with either the fleet or army in order to protect myself from an English stab. Also, I’m concerned that having 6 centers in 1902 is going to paint a target on my head. Ultimately, I decide to go for broke and move into Spain, Portugal, and Munich.

Winter 1902
Hahahahah! Germany did the Centrifuge exactly as predicted. Unfortunately the German-Austria anti-Russian alliance blew up in their faces too hard and Turkey took Greece. Italy, Germany, and Austria are all up shit creek and Russia-Turkey is scary. England played ball perfectly at least, but Russia positioned himself too well into Scandinavia.

I’m the last one to pick my new units, and I go for fleets in the two coastal territories. I can tell England they’re for Italy and Italy they’re for England. Suckers. What are they going to do about it?

Spring 1902
England is being very unreliable and it looks like he’s going to get bogged down pretty hard with Germany and Russia both. I think it might be good to stab him sooner rather than later, especially if Russia swoops in to take a piece of Germany. England’s fleet in London makes no sense and he can’t justify where it’s going to go.

I’m considering destroying Italy as well, but that would place me in direct contention with Turkey. I think I’m better off with Italy and Austria holding back the Juggernaut and getting my 18 centers from England, Germany, and Russia.

Everyone ends their turns pretty fast and I don’t think I’m going to have any luck negotiating with England or Germany to change their moves. I move my fleets around so that I can attack England or Italy, and I vacate Munich to provide more tactical options in the Fall.
I end my turn with my fingers crossed.

Autumn 1902
England fucks me in the channel once again, which wasn’t surprising. I held my fleet in Brest because I didn’t want to tip my hand, but I did seriously consider bouncing with him there. He might have understood if I had chosen to do so, but I went for the diplomatic play, which was probably stupid because of how far diplomacy has broken down between England, Germany, and I. It’s all my fault of course. England claims that he needs the channel to defend Belgium and that he’ll be there one more turn only. Yeah, he’s telling the truth because he’ll be in Picardy or Brest instead.

My goal is to take Belgium and give up Munich, and I decide on this set of moves:
F MAO-IRI, F Bre-ENG, F Spa-MAO, A Gas-Bre, A Bur-Bel, A Ruhr S Bur-Bel
Seems like a good plan if England tries something like taking Norway, Denmark, or supporting Germany. However, I’m worried that England is just going to sit tight for a turn and get a build from Holland before making a move. I can’t take Belgium if he does, and I’m giving away Munich. This leaves me with two other options:

1. Ask Germany to cut support with A Kiel-Holland and take Munich with A Berlin. If he betrays me, he’ll probably also tell England about the plan, but it’s possible that he wouldn’t and I could miraculously take Belgium without his help.
2. Support a bounce into Munich. If England tries to cut my support, he’s taking a 50/50 guess. I’ll be in good shape if he guesses wrong, and I won’t be in any worse shape if he guesses right than if I tried for Belgium and failed. I’d kick myself a lot for missing the opportunity in Belgium though.

Finally, if I believe he’s not moving out of the channel, I should move F Bre-Pic so my army in Gascony can occupy Brest. If England adopts a 100% defense, all 6 of my units will border him. He’ll have 5 units, but the ones in Holland and the North Sea won’t be in very good position, and if he doesn’t place the 5th in Liverpool, he’ll concede it to me in 1903. Germany will still only have 3 units and they won’t be threatening me either. I’m probably giving the game to Russia by doing this because Turkey is in no position to backstab.
Locked and loaded.

Winter 1903
Well, shit. England, in a moment of insanity, didn’t support Belgium from Holland and held instead. For my own mental well-being, I’m just going to pretend that didn’t happen. I could have Belgium right now and he’d only have 4 units instead of 5. Russia took Norway as expected, but also picked up Budapest. Italy picked up 2 centers and Austria’s down to 2, one of which is war-torn Serbia and completely surrounded.

Spring 1903
Do I go for broke in England or attempt to patch things up? Italy made 2 fleets on his western coast, and Austria’s fleet is probably going to help him retake the Ionian from Turkey. I’m pretty sure Italy is eyeing Spain, Portugal, and Marseilles, and I’m going to be hard pressed to properly defend them with a full scale attack on England underway. Germany hasn’t been on since Fall 02 ended, and he’s probably pissed that he didn’t get Munich. He threatened to give the game to Russia if I didn’t cooperate too. If only I had taken Belgium and given him Munich…. Oh well, it’s his fault for not being online. Logging in twice a day isn’t conducive to keeping an alliance going.
My initial plan is to convoy Brest to Wales and do a 3 way attack on Belgium. He’ll probably defend it, but he didn’t last turn! Germany might even agree to cut Holland for me, but England can still defend from the North Sea. F MAO can cover Spain and A Bur can cover Marseilles from Italy if needed, and he’s going to need at least 2 turns to get into position. Hopefully I’ve gained a center from attacking England by then to drop a fleet in Marseilles.

The remaining question is whether I try to convoy into Wales to set up an attack next turn or convoy straight into Liverpool and hope he moves to bounce in Wales. I go for the latter.

Autumn 1903
England covered both Wales and Liverpool by vacating the channel, which is interesting. Germany and/or Russia probably coached him into that move, but it’s all right. There was a huge mess in Belgium and Ruhr that resolved in my favor, although Germany took Munich back. I was hoping to be able to dangle it in front of him this turn, but considering Russia’s moves into German territory, it’s probably for the better. Austria’s all but dead and Turkey grabbed a Russian territory.
I really screwed up moving into the Irish Sea last year. I had considered the North Atlantic Ocean instead, which would have worked out so much better. I could have told England that I was moving there to assault Russia and he might not have made the fleet at Liverpool at all. C’est la vie. Now Russia wants to help me take back Munich so Germany’s Scandinavia defense will be worse. He doesn’t actually need my help if he thinks Germany is going to do a self-standoff; he can just support German A Mun-Ber and I’ll keep Munich unoccupied.

I thought up the best way Germany and England can screw me. Liverpool – Irish Sea, Wales – English Channel, Holland – Belgium, North Sea support Holland – Belgium. Then Germany can cut defensive support from Munich safely and Kiel can take the vacated Holland. Germany just has to hope Russia attacks Munich and I don’t play along. Should I try to defend this somewhat remote possibility? Yes, it makes sense. Even if I bounce with an unsupported move into the English Channel, I may pick up an extra unit from taking Munich back. At worst, I end up with fleets in the North Atlantic and Mid Atlantic with an army in Gascony that can be convoyed into England. I can’t lose Belgium this way either. It will suck if he supports his move into the channel, but I find that unlikely. I’m not counting on Russia supporting me into Munich either; in fact, we’ll all probably be better off if he doesn’t.

On second thought, screw playing it safe. If Germany cuts Burgundy and I lose Belgium, so be it. Hopefully I take the channel, keep Belgium, and Russia supports Germany’s Munich to Berlin. That’d give me another build for an army in Brest, and I can land 2 armies on England next turn and go for the throat next Fall. If Germany takes Holland and unsuccessfully tries to bounce with Russia in Berlin from Munich, it would be even better. I’m going with that just because it’d be awesome if it happened. Playing it safe isn’t going to win me the game at this point, and “safe” would piss Germany off anyway.

Spring 1904
England did what I thought he’d do with Wales and Liverpool, but once again his other moves made little sense. Germany could have taken Holland but chose to be extra safe. Russia didn’t go through with our plan, which is fine because I told him I wasn’t doing it anyway. Austria got wiped out, but that was to be expected. Turkey continues to play an excellent game.

No diplomacy to be done now, just trying to roll England over. I think it’s likely that he’ll try to dislodge me from the channel, but then I can retreat to London unless he covers it from the North Sea. If not, hopefully I’ll have 2 armies landed on his shores. I don’t think he can stop me from taking at least one of his centers. Turkey looks like he’s going to stab Russia finally, which will take some pressure off us. Not enough pressure to let Italy sail west I hope. That army in Gascony should have made him think twice about Iberia being easy pickings, but it’s going to be in Clyde in the Fall. If I don’t get another build next year, I could be in real trouble.

Autumn 1904
Wow, England and Russia teamed up against Germany. Fucking Cube. On the bright side, I landed both my armies in England and he has absolutely no way to stop me from taking Liverpool and London or Edinburgh and London. I may as well go for all 3 centers by hoping he moves F Liverpool – Wales to potentially cut support. Turkey moved to backstab Russia (obviously), but Russia moved to counter well. I don’t think Turkey can penetrate into Russia – he’s got too many fleets, and now Italy has those locked down too. Russia’s got this game so easily now.

Spring 1906
Likely moves: A Mos-StP, F Swe S Norway Holds, F Denmark S Kiel Holds, 3 way attack on Munich

How to screw him: Support hold Munich from Bur and Ruhr (unbreakable)
Maybe he’ll support Vie-Tyr and forego the attack on Munich until it’s guaranteed to succeed in the Fall.

Can have Germany support Pie-Tyr in that case, but can’t defend Venice. Might be worth the risk only single supporting a move into the Ionian with Italy.

For the north, German F Hol-Hel, A Bel-Hol, F North Sea – SKA, F Norwegian Sea – North Sea, F Brest – ENG. Then hit Denmark and Kiel in the Fall.

Pre-game:
Throughout this game I would rarely ever intentionally made a bald faced lie except for one thing. This is the first diplomacy game I've ever played. Well technically second, but my first game was over email and that went inactive after the first turn. So everything I told everyone about me having played this game before or having seen certain moves before, were complete lies.
Anyways, to hide my noobness I spent most of this pre-game reading up strategies and tactics online which gave me a decent idea of how a standard game should open. Based on this info I figured I'd be able to rationalize any outside-of-the-box moves.
Diplomatically only two major things happened during this period. First, Turkey started talking to me about an alliance to crush Austria (an alliance commonly known as "The Juggernaut") which I agreed to. We figured we could hide our intentions from everyone else by forcing a stand off in the black sea, a move that's usually standard in a juggernaut, but it's also very common in Turk-Russian conflicts.
Then there was France, since he was far from me at the time I told him that I figured he could be the one guy I could just BS to about the game without having much consequence. While this was mostly true, I also thought that it'd be easier to spread rumors through the different countries by way of France. During our talks I also told him about how I was annoyed because I was originally supposed to play France and how I read that France is the only country that can take three centers in the first year and still come out ahead. This was actually completely true and I had no ulterior motives in telling him this, although I think that this conversation actually paved the way for everything that would happen later.
Also, Germany and I agreed to leave Silesia a DMZ, which was no problem for me since I had no motivations to enter there yet.

After Spring 1901:
First moves are set. Everything is going as planned between Turkey and I. Austria sends me a message saying "Austria doesn't approve" in reference to my move into Galicia, I figured he wouldn't like that, but I send him a note saying that I'm just making standard moves to get a feel for the game, which in a way I pretty much was. I wasn't dead set on an alliance with Turkey, but things seemed to be going fine.
Germany makes a pretty unorthodox move that just happens to fit into an article I was reading during the pre-game. His opening paves the way for a strategy known as "The Centrifuge" an elaborate strategy that essentially sets Germany up to convoy the shit out of me. I had set this article aside thinking that I would use this strategy if I got Germany next game. I started talking to Germany about his aggressive behavior towards me, and he was saying how he was just making safe non-threatening moves to get a feel from everyone, which is how the article outlined you should act if questioned (although the strategy is primarily a gunboat strategy meaning that there shouldn't be any communication at all).
Through my talks with England (mostly bs'ing) he told me that Austria and Germany were getting ready to steamroll me. I figure "whatever, I can take them".

After Fall 1901:
Everything is going fine down in the Balkans. Turkey captured Greece despite his doubts, and I get Rumania. In the North I get Sweden and I notice Germany continuing with The Centrifuge, with one minor problem for him. France took my advice of taking three centers in the first year, but instead of going for Belgium as is common with that strategy, he takes Munich!
Obviously I'm just ecstatic at this turn of events. By losing Munich, Germany doesn't get the two builds that are required for him to continue with his strategy. At this point I've pretty much written off Germany as a non-threat at this point. With my two builds I make two armies, one in St. Petersburg, and one in Moscow.

After Spring 1902:
I move Moscow into Ukraine to support my advances in the Balkans, while I move my army in StP into Finland. England at this point had been talking about me giving him Scandinavia in return for support into Germany. I'm pretty much set against that plan, but I don't want to piss him off yet so I moved into Finland instead of going straight for Norway until I can convince him that I need Scandinavia more than him.
Nothing else to note here. The Juggernaut is running on full steam as predicted, and my efforts in the North are going fine. Besides my talks with England there's nothing big in terms of communication except Italy and Austria trying to turn me against Turkey. I figure Turkey won't have any reason to turn on me until Austria goes down so I'm not worried.

After Fall 1902:
I take Norway after convincing England that I just need the extra build for this year, and I take Budapest as well in the south. Nothing unpredicted yet. I get word from France that he's pissed now because he thought England was getting ready to stab him and began his advance towards Britain. He probably figured that England and Germany would ally up against him. Throughout the game these three powers will never hold an alliance for longer than a year it seems, which in my opinion is the reason none of them ever made any large gains in the early stages of the game. At the very least when I would talk to them it would seem as if they were constantly preparing to stab one another.
Italy is still trying to turn me against Turkey, and I think Austria's about given up. By losing both Trieste and Budapest, Austria is forced to disband in Vienna with his army in Serbia having already been forcefully disbanded.
I build a fleet in St. Petersburg on the south coast, and an army in Warsaw again.

After Spring 1903:
I let Turkey hold Rumania temporarily in order to take Serbia in the Fall, still trusting my instinct that he won't stab me until Austria is dead. I move into Vienna to help land a killing blow if I can hold it for the Fall.
I negotiate with France into letting me help him support Burgundy into Munich which he agrees to at first. England also tells me that he's ready to take Norway for himself now, which I (stupidly) oblige to. Although before moves are finalized France tells me that he won't be moving into Munich, so I scramble moving all of my orders around, and in that moment I decide "fuck England" and hold my army in Norway.

After Fall 1903:
My trust in Turkey was well placed as he moves out of Rumania as expected, while managing to take Serbia and Trieste. I still hold Vienna as I hoped, and Germany gets an extra unit due to his liberation of Munich from last turn which he still holds. England is kept out of Norway, but I negotiate with him into letting me support him into Denmark, which he accepts.

After Spring 1904:
England gets Denmark and I take Berlin, I'm pretty happy. Except Turkey begins to move against me via moving a fleet into the Black Sea and an army into Armenia.
After a lot of communications, Turkey decides that his units are needed in the south to protect against Italy. To make sure he isn't bluffing I still set my units to attack Serbia and the Black Sea, which wouldn't hurt him at all unless he moved against me (even then it'd only make a minor dent against his advance).
I talk to England about supporting me into Kiel, but he doesn't respond until midnight telling me that he's going to move his fleet in Denmark into Kiel, apparently not realizing that he'd be giving up Denmark completely by doing so since you don't gain a center unless you hold it during the Fall. Unfortunately England told me that his orders are finalized and that he'd be going to sleep and wouldn't wake up until after the dead line. I figure that this actually works for me, I support him into Kiel while taking Denmark for myself (better off giving it to me than Germany )

After Fall 1904:
Turkey actually went and retreated his units like he said he would. I'm relieved because this was the opportune time for Turkey to attack and he backed out. By not attacking me now he's pretty much given up on attacking me ever (at least this is what I was thinking at the time).
In the North, I take Denmark as I figured, while England gets Kiel, but loses Holland. I know for sure now that France will be my main opposition in the North as England and Germany are pretty much out.
I make plans to attack Turkey since I figure that I won't be making the same mistake as him. I don't plan to make my intentions obvious this next turn, but preparations are underway. With Italy attacking it'll only be a matter of a turn or two until I find the perfect moment to strike. I realize that my best move would've been to support, building a fleet there would've made things a lot easier, but that can't be helped, I needed some insurance.
I build in Warsaw and Moscow, going for a safer build hoping that these armies can help me push in either direction depending on how the other countries build. I also started playing around with jDip around this time. I plan out a few scenarios with Turkey continuing to attack me, all of them either end with me eventually overwhelming Turkey or both of us at a stalemate. While I obviously can't go through every single scenario, I'm pretty confident in my position.

After Spring 1905:
After seeing the way France has moved, I've decided to retire all of my ambitions of conquest in the Ottoman Empire and instead choose to pour my resources into cutting France's expansion. I try to make amends with Turkey, give some coaching to England, and make negotiations with Italy into helping me stop France (which he declines...pompous bastard).
I also see that France is set up perfectly to stab Germany while still maintaining an offensive against me and Italy. I try to warn Germany along with a few other countries in the hopes that by denying France any German lands, I can stall his advancement long enough to set up a strong enough wall on my territories to force a draw.
Really regretting that I supported England into Denmark. I should just told him to fuck off and go back to Britain. If I would've done that then France might not have gotten so strong, England would still have some influence, and I would've been able to take Germany myself, albeit a few turns longer than I would've liked.

Year of 1906:
France becomes a threat to me as he tells me that he's going for the win rather than just simply hoping for a draw. England says that he's given up and will do whatever I want him to. My alliance with Turkey has been reestablished and we agree to work out a draw next turn and that if France doesn't take it this upcoming year or in the next year, then we'd work at wiping out Italy and France. I figure I can hold France out from the North long enough for Turkey to wipe Italy out (which he estimates will take 3 years or longer). Once Italy is gone we should have a straight path to France.

Year of 1907:
France tells me that he shares my interest in ending this game quickly and agrees to a draw once we wipe Germany and England out, which we do. I start the vote for the draw and it passes. Game over, with me in "first place" with 13 centers