The Embassy

This is a sticky one, frankly.  If you want to win a game of Diplomacy what isn't allowed?  Some of the stuff that isn't allowed should be obvious and I've discussed much of it in previous posts in this series.  That leaves things that you can do to win that are questionable and, in the final analysis, come down to personal choice. How far are you prepared to go to win at Diplomacy ?  That is probably what defines whether you think something is "gamesmanship" or not, and whether you think it is acceptable. Slow Play Some players in the online game are what I call Pussycats .  They want to play as quickly as possible and they want to move the game on.  Some will hassle through Public Press.  "Has everyone finalised yet?" "Who hasn't finalised?" "Come on - FINALISE!!!" Now this, itself, is something that becomes annoying.  If you join a game with certain deadlines, you need to expect to play to those deadlines.  If you...

I thought it might be fun to have a look at some types of player you're likely to come across when playing  Diplomacy .  Well, OK, it's not all fun in this series... but I'll do my best. Yes, stubborn players are frustrating.  Equally frustrating are those players who seem to be insane.  These tend to be the players who play erratically.  They do make for an interesting game, though. The Hippo I didn't know this until comparatively recently, but the hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive animals on the planet - certainly one of the most unpredictable and probably the most dangerous.  You - maybe it's just me - think of them as being gentle giants, wallowing peacefully in African rivers.  Nope; when roused you'd better be about half a mile away. In Diplomacy  a Hippo is a player who is aggressively acquisitive and opportunistic.  "See a centre, grab a centre," is her motto.  It doesn't matter who the SC is stolen from, a...