1900: The great statesmen of Europe, sitting in their wood panelled studies and offices, could look across their maps at an intricate web of alliances which had kept the peace for 50 years. Success breeds contempt, however: little did they know as they reached for the port, that they were sleepwalking into the greatest conflict mankind had ever known.*

Seven great powers divided the continent between them:
Britain, whose naval prowess was not often matched on land;
France, whose attempt at supremacy under Napoleon had foundered a century before,
Russia, the bear looming in the East
The Ottomans, often condescended towards, but a threat nevertheless
Italy, newly unified and untested,
Germany, likewise a young nation, but one founded on Prussian militarism
Austria-Hungary, a fractured empire of diverse peoples.

What alliances would form between them? What crosses would be doubled? Who would emerge as the dominant powers after the funds finally fell silent? Only time would tell.


* Maybe not including the rise of the Mongolians

I'm going to post updates in this thread for any kibbitzers but please observe the following:

No strategy talk itt
The nations are anonymous, no outing allocations.


Players:
IamNotaWerewolf
Dr Zeus
FeedMyKids
Apoc
Bolt
kokiri/Eleanor 60
IRaiseTooMuch

First blood:

Autumn 1901. The Balkans in disarray, borders breached in the West, fleets under sail.

Those 2 maps are the same.

At least someone passed the test

lmao

I'm excited for the reveal of who is who.

I have my suspicions about France!

Best not to discuss until post

Summer 1902, It's war from coast to coast to coast.

Winter 1902. A military attaché rushed into the room, falling over his words as he started his report: "fresh news from the front, sir" he said, looking up the most senior man of a cluster sat around a map spread out across the table. "Treachery! The borders have been breached, a sneak attack in the night, troops scattered across the territory and supply lines shattered beyond repair." "Very good, corporal", the general replied, "is that the sneak attack we planned for, or has our own double cross itself been crossed?"

Has peace been declared?

It's been a tumultuous period, the fog of war has made it hard for the generals to get the orders through, but I'm seeing something on the wires. Details incoming.

The Sultan sipped at his coffee, the rim of his cup glinting gold in the late afternoon sunlight. "Ho ho", he laughed, "the Italians are livid - they should have understood that no nation can trust another in this game of supremacy. Now we and Russia will sweep West and teach these arrogant Europeans the true meaning of power. My janissaries are the greatest warriors in the world."

A courier entered, silently handing a sheaf of reports to one of the attendant generals.

"Now, what news of the war in the Balkans? Have we taken Greece yet?", the Sultan asked.

Leafing through the reports, the General muttered to himself, "what is this.. Surely not..."

"Speak up man, what news!"

"My apologies your grandeur, but what I'm reading can scarcely be possible. We are retreating in the face of a combined Russian/Italian force, and the border guards report being overrun by Cossacks in the East."

"Perfidy, treachery, we shall not stand for this outrage. Fetch the maps and meet me in the telegraph room. We shall make these insolent Russians pay".

enjoying following this, knew I wouldn't have time to play properly

good to see austria getting ****ed over as always, hard luck whoever randed them

I'm supporting #teambritannia obv

FRANCE has entered civil disorder.

Please return to the game so we can move it along. You only have one valid move anyway (retreat to Gas).


If anyone would like to replace into France's slot please post below.

No idea what year it is. It's been a hard couple of months in the trenches.

Your write-ups were the best part!

The war was resolved peacefully, in light of the coronavirus the world came together to use their resources to find a vaccine!

In all seriousness, if anyone is ever considering playing this game, realize it is cut throat and ruthless. It is a fun game for a certain personality type, but I’d guess for most people it’s just too much. That probably sounds stupid if you haven’t played it, but trust me. Unless you like lying, and being paranoid about being lied to, it is awful. Everyone thinks “well it’s just a game, it doesn’t matter” but it becomes much more.

The strategy/tactics element are quite fun. I would guess 10 percent of people have the stomach for the diplomacy side of it, I am not one of them. But I enjoyed the mechanics for sure, and had a fun time while working with Italy (I am Russia). I am happy we ended it in a draw. Thx everyone for the game. Even though I’m never playing again, it doesn’t mean I didn’t have an enjoyable month making new bonds and thinking over all the permutations of tactics, so I’m not regretful that I played!

The biggest mechanical flaw (to me) is that there is no rule about if winning with someone else is just as good as winning alone. Leaving it subjective means there is no clear answer. It wouldn’t be that fun if 3 people immediately agreed to take everyone else out, and then draw (they would be unstoppable. So the other 4 people wasted their time.) but to win, you have to work with someone and betray them, and that’s more likely to work the more that they trust you, so that is awful since the goal is to make them trust you then betray them.

The ambiguity and the fact that there’s no official rule on it etc makes it both interesting but also, to me, awful.

It is highly fun to partner up with someone early that you click with and work on your moves together though.

Wait, so what happened?

Definitely simultaneously a feature and a bug. Just like in real life you never really know what your opponent cares about, and its not done in a rigid way like some other games (i.e. mission cards). One of the reasons I'd put diplomacy in a category of its own.

Sorry for making people play a game they hated!

Russia completely owned me (Turkey) - convinced me to make an unprovoked attack on Italy, then also arranged me in the back in a way that astonished me (despite the fact I'd been paranoid about a Russia Italy pact) AND somehow leaving me more pissed off with Italy

Sorry if I wasn’t clear kokiri, I didn’t hate the game and appreciate you hosting! I enjoyed the whole thing until the last move, it was strategically and tactically fascinating and I spent way too much time thinking about it (in a good way haha). After the draw was agreed, I saw you can see how many messages people sent... I sent 800 apparently and I am long winded in general, so I probably sent over 10,000 words lol.

I explained my reasoning in the post game for my move on you but if you didn’t see it it was basically if I went with you I was sure Italy would join the German/English alliance to stop us (otherwise we would be unstoppable). Whereas, if I joined Italy, Germany/England couldn’t help you and Italy and I could (hopefully) beat England/Germany. Also if you stayed in Baltic and we were going for a joint win you could easily stab me at the end. It’s hard for Russia to trust turkey when they’re in Baltic. Your thoughts about Austria and Italy in the beginning of the game were def the same as mine and your moves obviously showed intent to go for Italy so I trusted you... I just thought from a positional standpoint Italy was better than you as an alliance for me since you would be cornered and Italy would not, so that’s why I went with them.

No hard feelings I hope