Sorry for the Break

It's been a while since I posted here. That wasn't intentional.

March in the UK has been a 'bad weather' month. Well ,OK, there's really no such thing as bad weather, I know, but the 'Beast from the East' early in the month was certainly harsh, if not bad.

Harsher for me, too.

This wasn't me (I don't have the x-rays), but it could have been. I was hit by a skidding car, which was skidding on the icy road, and my femur was broken. I spent a number of weeks in hospital, having to drop from my game on Playdiplomacy, and not being able to access my blog.

Along with my leg went my phone. Not internet connection, then, for weeks.

So, my break from the game and this blog was something that couldn't really be helped. Painful but physically on the mend. The Diplomacy game, though, goes down as a surrender on my record. *sigh*

Comments

How to Play Diplomacy (part 1): Introduction

Diplomacy is a complicated game. Now, there's an understatement! However, when learning how to play it, there is one source which can't be ignored: the creator of the game, Allan B Calhamer. Allan B Calhamer (7 Dec 1931 - 25 Feb 2013) https://haroonriaz.files.wordpress.com/ Having had a break from the blog for a while, thinking about what I wanted to write next and recovering properly from a broken femur, I have decided to come back with a series of articles on playing Diplomacy , but playing it properly. Rather than tips, hints, strategy discussions, etc (there're plenty of those elsewhere on the blog), this is about playing the game the way it was meant to be played. Now, I'll readily admit that this is my opinion. There is always going to be discussion about the way the game ought to be played. I don't claim there's a definitive answer to every aspect of the game, and the way you play is - or should be - somewhat defined by the context in which a ...

Overview of Opening Strategy

There is a lot written about opening strategy in Diplomacy. This isn't, perhaps, surprising; the start of a game is when it can be lost, although not won. https://salesbenchmarkindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/StrategyTactic_Chart.png Never come across this? Where've you been? The Diplomacy Archive has a section devoted to opening strategy ; each power has it's own section on the Archive, featuring named openings . Richard Sharp's book, The Game of Diplomacy , discusses openings, again under each power's chapter. There are discussions about openings in Playdiplomacy's forum, in the Strategy section . And there's a Wordpress blog devoted to Diplomacy Openings . As you might expect, Wikipedia discusses Diplomacy. WikiBooks has Diplomacy , which has some sketchy ideas. However, as good as some of these pieces and articles are, they tend to miss the most important aspect about a good opening strategy: the diplomacy. Know Your Enemy It ...

Two Fallacies

On the Playdiplomacy forum there are a number of topics about how Diplomacy should be played. There is often no agreement, and neither should there be. Diplomacy is played by people with different takes. Providing the rules of the game are followed, everything's good. Well, to some extent. https://darkjedibrotherhood.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/assets/assets/000/000/678/original/keep-calm-and-play-the-game-10.png?1407803848 Personally, I think some of the philosophies behind how players act in a game are flawed. There is enough guidance out there, from the rules of the Diplomacy to articles by the game's creator Allan B Calhamer , to show how the game ought to be played. The Rules "Object of the Game As soon as one Great Power controls 18 supply centers, it is considered to have gained control of Europe. The player representing that Great Power is the winner. However, players can end the game by agreement before a winner is determined. In this case...

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