Anyone play Diplomacy?

The playable powers are (as listed above):
- England (actually UK but the designers called it England - E)
- France (F)
- Germany (G)
- Russia (R)
- Austria-Hungary (A or AH)
- Italy (I)
- Turkey (T)

Sorry but there are no USA or Belgium as playable powers in Standard Diplomacy.

You can conquer Belgium though, specially if you play France, Germany or England.

As I said before, all players should PM me with:
- An email adress (not compulsory but highly recommended, else you can only diplomate through PMs when you visit the forum)
- A list of prefered powers (again not necessary but, if you don't have preferences, you probably end with the less wanted country).

The first 7 candidates to PM me with those requirements will start the game. If we have 14 players we could play two simultaneous games but, anyhow, I'll  keep  the  late candidates as observers (posting them the adjudications too) and they could replace any player that fails to submit orders (I have still to figure out how to regulate this but I will also post the "house rules" for this game later on).

So far I count 5 players:
- Zagros (the only one to have submitted email and preferences so far)
- Hugostr
- The General
- Emperor Barbarossa
- Poirot

Did I skip anyone?

We need then at least two more.

As soon as I have notice from the first 7 players I will open a new topic exclussively for the game and will email you all as well, with the adresses of all players, GM and observers. If several players have asked for the same preferential countries, it will be solved randomly. I suggest you send full ordered lists of countries as in the following example:
1. Italy
2. Austria-Hungary
3. Germany
4. Turkey
5. England
6. Russia
7. France

That way I can try to give you your 1st preference, if this can't be, the second, etc.

I will go if you promise to give me the absolute silliest country available. 

With Poirot we have 4 confirmed plus 2 (Hugostr and Tobodai) without confirmation yet. We would need at least one more.

So far preferences are not coincidental, so you may all get your first option.

One question: should we have a quick game or a full game (that can last up to a year)? The "quick game" would still be pretty long: about 5 months if everything goes ok (though, obviously, you can be the odd man out and be elimnated in a few weeks - that's a risk that we all must accept).

If we play the short version what do you prefer:

1. A 10 years' game (20 seasons/turns)
2. A predetermined number of centers, like 12

Would you agree that non-winning powers that reach a minmum of SCs (9?) would achieve a "minor" or "partial victory" when the game reachs its end? This is not very usual but I think it has some justification if the game is not won by the rule of controlling half+1 of the board. In a normal full game, if one power has 12 SCs and another has 9 or 10, they are still pretty balanced and any of the two has about the same chances to achieve the final victory of 18.

Well, post your opinions on this, please. If I recieve no opinions, I will decide the 12 centers victory, with minor victories for those that have at least 9 SCs (my favorite option).

Originally posted by Maju Originally posted by Tobodai I will go if you promise to give me the absolute silliest country available. You are encouraged to send a set of preferences in your confirmation PM (to me), along with an email adress (to conduct diplomacy, recieve the adjudications, send your orders from a "validated" adress, etc.) If you want my advise, I would say the "silliest" (and also the most difficult) may be Italy. Of the others, I think that the three western powers, France, England and Germany, are kind of more "serious" and solid options (but all them have their pros and cons). Eastern powers instead, due to the difficulties of the Balcanic conflict ar more likely to suffer silly happenings. Still the game is pretty well balanced, so all have their options: a "bad" country in good hands can do very well and vice versa. I think you will like the game due to its crude realpolitikal nature: alliances are important but only one can win (though I may soften the victory conditions in order to have a shorter game), so stabbing in the adequate time and form is also important. }

Give him Italy, and watch how this devil wins the game!

Aren't you playing Maju? Or does not the game master play?

Ottoman empire (Turkey) is my favourite btw.

Edited by Zagros

Shouldn't be, I've never played before at all.

This instruction is a bit far away, so I will repeat it:
To confirm your place, PM Maju and include your email address and a list of the countries in order of preference.

That will secure your place in the game.

Confirmed so far:

• Zagros
• Emperor Barbarossa
  
• Thegeneral
• Poirot
  
• Hugoestr
• Pikeshot1600

Tobodai, Mixcoatl or whoever PMs me first will get the 7th place. If I get 2 notes in +/- the same time, I can place both, as Hugoestr has said that he prefers to be an observer (because he fears he will beat the rest too easily - that's something still to prove anyhow).

Once I have the 7 players I will start a new topic for the training game (this should take about 1 week) and then another one for he true game. I will assign the powers following your preferences (I can't beleive it: no conflicts in the preferences so far! ) and will give you also a different power (your second or third preference) for the training game (so the training doesn't interfere with the real game).

Originally posted by Zagros Aren't you playing Maju? Or does not the game master play?

Normally the game master doesn't play, specially in PBEM games: I will be seeing all your orders, so it wouldn't be fair.

In face-to-face games though the GM can be one of the players (the orders would be deposited in a box or hat and nobody would see them before all are in). I've seen once one PBEM game in which the GM actually played but it requires lots of trust and is not anything usual.

Anyhow, I will be happy GMing this one and maybe, if we gather enough enthusiasts, we can start another one later on and Hugoestr could GM instead (and I would play then).

Originally posted by Zagros Ottoman empire (Turkey) is my favourite btw.

Noticed.

Originally posted by Mixcoatl I'd like to play, but I've only played it once, and am not very comfortable with the rules. Is that a problem?

Not actually: most of the players will be novice and, for that reason, we will be having a training mini-game of one game-year (two regular turns plus the winter phase) with very short turns to learn the basics before starting the true game. So please PM me with an email adress and your preferences and we can start with the training.

Tobodai, Mixcoatl or whoever PMs me first will get the 7th place. If I get 2 notes in +/- the same time, I can place both, as Hugoestr has said that he prefers to be an observer (because he fears he will beat the rest too easily - that's something still to prove anyhow).

I wish I could be that confident of my playing skills.

My reluctance to play is more because it give the appearence of unfairness.

I also remember how in my first game the person who won was a person who had played it just one time before. While we newbies were making mistake after mistake--based on our weak understanding of the rules--, he went on to easily win the game

I am just a poor player who loves this game. If my playing will help others to love the game too, so be it.

Originally posted by Thegeneral So modest, will you have that attitude when you march into neighboring countries?

You know I wouldn't have the heart to do such a thing. I will play with the same timidity that I display in our intellectual forum.