Let's see, where did I leave off... Oh, yes, I was getting my ass kicked, by every single person in game two, including Barn3tt, that's right, how could I have forgotten?!
So, I went back to my room and sulked for a good hour or so. I had planned to meet a guy I went to high school with around 4pm for coffee, but even after sulking for over an hour it was only about 2pm and I had lots of time to kill, so I gave him a call and we met for lunch. While waiting for Jeff, I ran into Starbucks and bumped into a guy from the tournament, who also obviously didn't do so well in game two, so we shared a few war stories. Well, his stories paled in comparison to mine, but we both got a good laugh at our own expense and we parted ways.
It was nice to get a break for the action, even though I hadn't had much action yet. I arrived back at the tourney about 15 minutes before we started up again and asked Turkey and Italy/Barn3tt how the game turned out. They were both really nice guys and we chatted about how England wouldn't kill off Germany since they were buddies and that's when Barn3tt and I discovered we both played on webdip, but we didn't ask who each other was, Barn3tt did say he mainly played live games and since I never really play live games we sort of left it at that.
So, time for game three! Going into it, I was pretty confident I'd do well in this game, mainly because I had a 1:15pm city-league basketball game the next day so I'd need to get up at 6:30am for the ~6 hour drive home, game three was sure to last well past midnight for me, I was on a roll.
I reached into the hat, trying not to think of any country, and out came another white army. The tournament director said that if we get a repeat country we are free to swap, but if nobody wants to, tough, we'd just have to figure it out. The next guy picked Turkey, he was one of the tournament directors that was Germany in my game two, and he was Turkey in game one, so asked if anyone wanted to swap. I'm not a big fan of Turkey, but I was glad to swap! As soon as I gave him Russia, someone got Austria and asked to swap, so the tourney director, Nathan, took Austria.
In my first two games, Turkey and Italy teamed up in both. In this game, I was Turkey. Italy was the guy I had been hanging out with before game three, along with Barn3tt, the new guy that was Turkey in game two and allied with Barn3tt/Italy, and he was a cool guy, so we obviously talked about another I/T alliance in the pregame. I chatted with Austria, who had seen me get destroyed in game two, and who knew about my game one debacle, so when I told Austria/Nathan that all I wanted was to make it to 1905, he assured me he would help me do that much. A side note, there were only 20 people for the third game, so one person had to play two games so we could fill three boards. That person was Nathan, Austria in my game three. So, guess who Russia was... No, not Time Clock Italy, it was the guy I ran into at Starbucks who was a very friendly guy and we made quick plans! The Russian started out by saying the game was set up for a Jugg, because Nathan/Austria was playing two boards and Italy was a noob. Suppose I am a bit of a Boy Scout because I thought it was a bit rude to take advantage of a guy who volunteered to play two boards as well as to zero in on a noob, but after my first two games, I just ignored those arguments and discussed the R/T. Russia said Nathan would want to kill Italy because Italy, the noob, was actually in contention for winning the tourney. Anyway, goal number one was to kill off Austria, so Russia and I talke Italy into joining us to blitz Austria.
Due to my wealth of experience and expert play, I managed to secure Bulgaria in 1901, which did make most people on the board very nervous, but with my silver tongue I was able to convince them they need not fear me. Suckers!!
Actually, the first few years were pretty boring, as Turkey. Russia kept claiming to want to kill Austria, but also that we needed to prop Austria up to insure Italy didn't grow beyond five units. Russia subtly lied to me a number of seasons in a row, doing such things as telling me to dislodge his fleet in Rum so he could rebuild an army, yet mysteriously Austria would support hold Rum unbeknownst to Russia and that Austria made a lucky guess to mess up the "obvious" R/T plan to get rid of the Russian fleet. The Austrian played his part well, having to split his time on two boards, didn't seem like he had much time to plot with Russia, but they were just buddies and could plan quickly. Anyway, Italy and I tried to work with Russia to kill Austria, yet Austria never got below four units and somehow kept maintaining year after year.
In fall of 1904, I think, Austria finally got in a position to actually take Greece from me, and knock me down to four units, while Russia had attacked Armenia with an army. Russia assured me that he would go back to Sev while he encouraged me to cover both Ank and Smy if I did not trust him, which I clearly did not, but being the ignorant dumbass I am, I decided to trust him a little and only cover Smy, hope Arm would go back to Sev, and use Bul to support Black Sea to Rum since it was nearly certain I would lose Greece to Austria. Luckily for me, Rum hit Bul without support to help Austria take Greece, so I got Rum! Arm attacked Smy, not Ank, so I maintained my five units even with losing Greece, taking Rum from Russia. Russia was pleased to see that I had finally lied to him after he had been lying to me repeatedly, suppose it eased his conscious a bit, and I congratulated Russia on us finally destroying that fleet of his, we were all having a good time even with all the lies going around, which was a welcome change in attitude from game one with Time Clock Italy and that Asshole Russian that came after me straight away.
The next spring saw Arm go to Ank, and I evicted him in the fall, and Russia destroyed that army. That was coupled with England stabbing Russia in the north, so Russia's game was about over, Russia even told me that if Austria wanted to help me take Sev that I should do it, which was a cool gesture. Austria had taken control of the southeast, as far as who was calling all the shots, and I was fairly safe in my corner with five units. This is were things got a little sketchy. Austria, clearly out of pity, and me being a total charity case after my first two games, came up with a big plan to convoy Bul to Venice to knock down Italy. I felt bad that I sucked so bad at F2F that people adjusted their play for me to have a little fun, but I was happy to accept the charity given the circumstances, pathetic I know, but oh well. We did that, I got a build, then I made a move on Sev to get up to six units. By that time it was about midnight and people wanted to wrap things up. Austria and I clearly had the southeast stalemate position within our grasp and the game should have been a four-way with us and E/F. England refused to include Austria in the draw, said he'd agree to a three-way with me and France, excluding Austria. Austria wanted to wrap up the tourney and was glad to comply, so we voted for a three-way draw that included me.
Game three was pretty boring, at least from a story-telling perspective, but it was nice to end on a positive experience, especially after the first two games. The overwhelming majority of the guys there were really nice and fun to play diplomacy with, but as I should have expected, there were a couple people I'd just as soon never see again. OH, speaking of, Time Clock Italy was in the process of getting eliminated in his game three, about 20 feet from my table, and we could all here him saying that the two people taking him out were stupid, that this was the worst game he's ever been a part of and if those two continued to attack him he'd never play in Seattle again. I could not help but shout out across the room that those to should absolutely continue to attack Time Clock Italy, that the offer of him never playing in Seattle again was far too good to pass up! ;-)
The game Hello my Brothers 3
(to discuss). 
)
)
)
)