The Embassy

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of  Diplomacy.   This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. "Woohoo!" yells the uninitiated. "I got Russia! Four units!" Ah, yes.  The only power on the board that starts with an extra unit.  Russia has two armies and two fleets.  Unique.  As a more experienced player will tell you (and it doesn't take that much more experience) she also has a loooooooong frontier to worry about, one that places her in both the northern and southern arenas.  And this isn't quite the advantage it seems. Having said that, Russia often does well.  She has a decent win ratio, after all.  She needs to be played by someone who knows what they're doing with her, but when this happens, she is...

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of  Diplomacy.   This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. The witch in the east.  England and Turkey are often know as the "Witch of the East" and the "Witch of the West" respectively.  They are both incredibly difficult to eliminate, which earns them this sobriquet.  With England, of course, it's because she's surrounded by sea spaces and will - or should - have a number of fleets on the board to protect her.  With Turkey it is that she's always slow to break down.  Even with a Gobbler triple alliance (A/I/R) it takes time. One of the reasons for this is Turkey's position as a corner power.  You can't get in behind her... literally in this case. Turkey's most vulnera...

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of  Diplomacy.   This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. Austria-Hungary is the third and last of the central powers.  She is a tough power to play.  She has three immediate neighbours, and Turkey just the other side of the Balkans.  She's cut off from England and France, and therefore has to ensure that she isn't attacked by more than one power at a time. Austria has to be played aggressively if she is to do well, but aggressively-defensively... which makes no sense, I know.  Her problem is that, if she ignores her defence, she is easily swamped but, if she doesn't attack, she is slowly swamped.  It's a fine balance. There is, of course, the Venice/Trieste issue to deal...

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of  Diplomacy.   This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. OK, I admit - Germany looks strange in light-blue... Like Italy (and Austria, but I haven't written that post yet) Germany is a central power.  However, unlike Italy (and Austria) it has a number of advantages. Germany borders three neutral SCs: Denmark, Holland and Belgium.  Unless something unusual goes on, or she decides to forego one of them, Germany can have an almost guaranteed two builds in 1901. This is somewhat lessened as advantage in that she has five immediate neighbours (again, I'm stretching the point to include Italy).  This means that she has a lot of communicating to do in 1901.  If she can persua...

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of  Diplomacy.   This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. So here we are in Italy, the weakest power in Diplomacy?   Sorry, I was thinking of the song "Lonesome for a Place I Know" by Everything But The Girl. Italy has a hard time in Dip.  She's a central power, which is always difficult, having opponents around her.  And, if you look at the board, you can see there's not much Italy can do about it... superficially, at least. France to the west, Austria to the east, Germany to the north.  Turkey waiting to send fleets through the Mediterranean.  Tough. Italy does have the advantage of having an absolutely guaranteed build in 1901.  She is the only power ...

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of Diplomacy.  This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. England - not Britain, or even the UK, mainly due, I suspect, to the ignorance of the fact that a significant proportion of the UK population are distinctly unimpressed with being called English - is a tricky power to play well . If you take a look at her position on the board, you can see that she is described as a corner power. Her immediate neighbours are France, Germany and (stretching a point) Russia.  These are the powers she comes into contact with at the start of the game. The unique thing about England is that she has two fleets and one army at the start.  This isn't really that surprising as, to get into contact wi...

In this series, I'm going to take a brief look at the seven powers in the game of  Diplomacy.   This will be not much more than a brief introduction to each power, looking at their position on the board, their neighbours and the pros and cons of playing them.  More detailed strategy will follow in future posts. France is often called a corner power, although it isn't really in the corner of the map.  I prefer to call it an edge power but I'm not going to argue semantics. If you draw France, then you ought to be hoping to do well.  She can quickly get into two SCs, and may grab three at the start of the game (if she's lucky... or unlucky depending on your viewpoint).  She has only three other powers that she needs to communicate with in depth, although there really isn't any power that she can afford to short change when talking. France has two potential weak spots that need a lot of negotiation over, however: Burgundy and the ...