Yeah siren that was the game where you were my number 1 and then you stabbed me shittily and then pw and I immediately killed. I'm surprised you don't remember I would have thought it was a bit of a life lesson

Hey! i'm willing to jump in and fight any and all of you in a game! set one up and i will amaze you with my ever growing skill and prowess!

I also actually was planning to stick with ssorren until he built an army in Moscow, which convinced me that if I didn't stab him, he was going to stab me.

I also wanted to work with ssorenn, but he seemed much more concerned with pissing the two of you off than doing anything I wanted to.

@uclabb. I do remember. I chose wrong. I do admit that. #fuckwiggles

So basically, uclabb didn't convince me to stab you, I did that all by myself. And I probably had a better solo shot without stabbing you, but I interpreted your builds wrong.

#ssorennisabetterallythanuclabb

Yes. Wiggles comes back. I chose you and you fucked me It was a close decision though. Moscow was intended to try to placate both of you.

Peter. We had some great planning discussions though.

Excerpts of quality press in that game from players ssorenn listed among the best he's ever played:

"Then it's in. I'll be on again before end of phase if therre's anything else but Im alreaddy kinda drnk and gettinn drunker so it may not be helpful. Entered support sober thoug so you knoww its god"

"At this point, my men are convinced that Russian girls do not actually exist. Perhaps the English and Germans have already carried them all off.

We're supposed to be eliminating people? Maybe that's what I've been doing wrong all these years."

ghug and I had the best press that game. Most of it was about Russian girls and pizza.

What game did you send that press in ghug??

@JECE: The "hall of fame" just lists people who have lots of WebDip points. It is not a reliable indicator of skill.

How have I played with (at least) 4 of goldie's list and PW only played with 2? What?

When I'm picking gunboat tactics in our World Cup games, I definitely start off by asking peterwiggin what tactics he thinks are best.

And then you do the opposite of what he says? :D

Yes, actually. It's a remarkably effective way to succeed in gunboat.

I bet.

Let's have. #FUCKGHUG game. But no GHUG

If we all make moves like GHUG, we can all suck together

you suck pretty good all by yourself soren, come gimmie another suck!

Of course, you have to love the way that Hellenic Riot plays, especially tactically. A few fascinating situations arose in this game in which Hellenic Riot was Italy:

http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=146977#gamePanel

Doug7878, who was Austria, apparently reneged on support of an attack in conjunction with France against Italy in 1903, a decision that the French player, redhouse1938 had some derogatory things to say about. Interestingly, I actually think that it was probably an outstanding decision on his part. That whole sequence took care of four or five birds with one stone for Austria.

Austria subsequently made, in 1907, a move that I think was a colossal mistake in agreeing to support Italy into Munich. He got out of the game with a draw though.

Out of curiosity what makes you you think supporting Italy into Munich was a colossal mistake? I'm struggling to see a better option...

Really? That is interesting. I find it to be a very poor move for three central reasons.

1.) Munich was not an essential component of any stalemate line against England, so there was really no pressing need to pick up that center.

2.) Doug had Hellenic Riot in the position that he really wants him to be in. HR is tied down in a conflict in the west from which his growth potential is very limited, he will be occupied across his front with the English threat after the demise of the French and from which he cannot extricate himself easily. HR had enough units, but no more, which is right about where Doug wanted him. Giving HR more units by feeding him a center, with essentially no gain in that position, makes little sense to me.

3.) It puts Italian units into a position between Doug and the stalemate line, which consequently makes him much less essential in the future and makes him far easier to take out of a draw.

I haven't contributed to this thread because I don't have enough experience playing the best players to have an informed view of who are the best players.
But I've been interested in the problems / opportunities that Italy presents for it's player. So I had a look at that game.
Now clearly many of us rate Hellenic Riot as a dab hand at the Diplomacy caper, a skilled.and cunning wizard indeed. So I look at the game, I see the perils constantly beseiging Italy and just how hard HR has to work, the bold and inspired moves he pulls out of his voluminous bag of tricks time and time again. After all that slogging away how many sc's does he control..five, just five.
I compare this to the easy, armchair like ride the player with England has by comparison yes he plays well, but look at how many sc's he controls at the draw..yes, no doubt he's an excellent player.
When I look at effort put in and reward received, I have little doubts about my views on the relative merits of the two countries.

I have to express my confusion as to why, of all my games to analyse, you picked a random one I barely remember from about 2 years ago...

Recap - webDippers receiving more than one mention in this post...
Number of Mentions #Wins Win%
Hanged Man 8 14 23%
MadMarx 7 30 22%
uclabb 7 27 22%
VillageIdiot 6 16 28%
Babak 6 27 18%
TheWizard 5 24 24%
peterwiggin 5 26 16%
Cachimbo 4 8 22%
Julien 3 9 24%
Dejan0707 3 8 23%
gantz 3 24 22%
djbent 3 15 18%
Hellenic Riot 3 35 17%
Valis2501 3 32 7%
anlari 2 45 30%
Sh@dow 2 19 28%
MKECharlie 2 9 24%
Octavious 2 17 15%
A_Tin_Can 2 14 14%
Tasnica 2 10 13%
Lando Calrissian 2 122 9%
ghug 2 17 9%
Crazyter 2 6 6%
JEccles 2 6 5%
rdrivera2005 2 14 5%

Sorry its a mess. I copied a table to the forum, and the spaces were eliminated along with the "The" from The Hanged Man, who got the most votes.

Anyway, a great list of talented Diplomacy players for sure.

@Hellenic Riot
I spectated that game, so I remember it.

"@Hellenic Riot
I spectated that game, so I remember it."

Spectating games wasn't an option until April 21st, 2015, after that game was over. So I'm afraid I have to call bullshit.

It was possible to watch a game without spectating. I imagine that's what he meant.