Across the Board

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. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/ Philosophies If you read anything Calhamer wrote, it seems clear that he had a certain way of playing in mind. Play to solo; if you can't solo, play to prevent any other player from soloing. The objective is to win - to solo - and the secondary objective is to draw, to prevent that other winning; nothing else matters. Stab when you have to; maintain an alliance only so long as it's useful, and keep in mind that 'useful' means until the alliance is preventing you from winning. I call this philosophy  Calhamerism . And yet, for a number of reasons, other philosophies have developed, all of which vary from the origins of the game. I will examine the varieties of philosophies in another series of posts, but it is worth summaris

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. https://bdn-data.s3.amazonaws.com/ What can you get away with in Diplomacy ? The article The Coast of Moscow  (published in Diplomacy World 74 , 1995) gives an idea about how you can sway a game. The article itself is a lot of nonsense; it describes a game where Russia built a fleet in Moscow! However, it is useful in showing how 'cheating' can be achieved, and how persuasion works. Nonsense In the article, Calhamer reports that Russia ordered a build for Moscow. However, the build was of a fleet. Let's take a look at a map. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/02/a1/61/02a161065c2c65eb352e9e63bf057f83.jpg Unfortunately, most game maps won't feature the 'coast' in question (see quote below) simply because the far eastern edge of the board is usually s

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. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/ There is, arguably, no reason to discuss Calhamer's article  On the Play of Postal Diplomacy  (first published in Graustark, Oct 1966). Almost as strongly, his article  Introduction to Diplomacy  (first published in  Modern Board Games,  1975, by Games and Puzzles Publications), may be more than a little unnecessary (except to the absolute newby). However, these two articles mention aspects of Diplomacy that frustrate some players - being deceitful. As such, it is worth mentioning what Calhamer wrote in them on this subject. Two   Philosophies There are two philosophies that are the same in the way they affect play in Diplomacy, in that they have the same objective, effectively. I usually lump them together for this reason, but I will