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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 ...
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Across the Board

Across the Board is a blog about playing the game Diplomacy online. A representation of the Diplomacy board at the start of the game. The game of Diplomacy is a game of deception. It is based in the pre-WWI era; each of the seven players, representing seven major powers, compete to dominate Europe. It is won when one player owns the majority of the supply centres on the board. Well, that's about as simple an explanation as can be expressed. What I haven't talked about is the skills required: persuasion, manipulation of players, strategy, and honesty and deceit in (approximately) equal measures. It's a highly skilled game with (generally) simple rules. It isn't a war game, although it looks like one and the pieces are military units, armies and fleets. It's a game about diplomacy, about getting your opponents to help you win. Yes, "about getting your opponents to help you win". You read that right. You're facing six other players,...
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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*
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