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How to Play Diplomacy (part 5): Excuses

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...
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How to Play Diplomacy (part 6): Conclusions

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...
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The Black Sea Theatre (part 1): Introduction

When thinking about the Diplomacy board you may think of dividing it into zones. A traditional division is to split the board into two parts: the Northern (or Western) Triangle, featuring England, France and Germany, and the Southern (Eastern) Triangle of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. This isn't a clean division. Italy doesn't really fit into either Triangle, and only gets involved depending on how she opens. Russia sits on the dividing line and can't afford to ignore the north or the south. There's nothing wrong with this consideration; it is useful to focus your attention. And, if you are considering long-term strategy knowing the stalemate lines that split the board is an advantage. Personally, though, I prefer to narrow down the areas of the board and consider the possibilities there. I therefore have a number of ' theatres ' that I consider, and the Black Sea Theatre is one of them. The Black Sea Zone The first thing to mention ...
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