I am very please to say I won. Although I suspect my success owes a lot to luck. I played Germany and picked up three SCs in the first year. France went into CD early on, and England and I carved up the pieces. I got the better of England, removed him from France and captured London. Where upon England announced in the global chat that he intended to quit. Russia and Italy were equally strong and I got worried that they would turn on me, while I was finishing England off. But then I had a brain wave and convinced England to stay in the game, but this time to team with me. I pretty held him hostage as I owned London and kept my fleets in the English Channel and North Sea. After that he did whatever I asked him (he didn't really have a choice). The extra units allowed me to march quickly in an eastern direction over Europe. I then stabbed England and took Edinburgh and Liverpool, for two reasons: I needed the extra manpower on the continent, and I was getting worried that England (who was growing in strength) might get too ambitious. But I didn't his other SCs - even though I could have because he was still useful to me. He continued to go along with my plans, and I won and England came second.
One thing about the game that does bother me (or did, I am not sure). The guilt! I felt so bad taking England hostage and then stabbing him. I told him what I intended to do before I did it, and we had quite a discussion (live) about it, where he tried to convince me not to. I felt so guilty that I almost stopped playing. I lied to the other players too. I could have won earlier than I did simply by finishing England off but I played on, allowing him to capture SCs with my support - just to alleviate my guilty feelings.
This is a great game - but I have to learn to deal with the moral side.

You should have seen a game I played a while back. I was Turkey, and I allied with Italy early on. I managed to hit Italy with a nasty 2-center stab early on, when Austria was finished and Russia on the chopping block, but Italy convinced me not to go any further. I agreed, and we became a strong alliance from that point forward. Unfortunately, due to some bad play on my part we let the opposing English team prevent us from going 17-17 by establishing the Gibraltar chokepoint and also forming a good line at St. Petersburg. So I had no choice but to stab my ally for the win. (Well, I could have three-way drawn, but I did not want to include that Limey bastard in the draw)

I felt so horrible about it.

http://phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=4855

That is the game in question, if you want to look at the moves or whatnot.

Sure you did Katsarephat! Bastard! lol...jk. :p It was a good move. You earned that win.

Spyman, congrats on your first win...and your first stab. What a good way to break your Diplomacy cherry, eh? ;)

I too felt horrible about my first stab...it just felt awkward trying to dupe someone. It gets easier though. You'll have it done to you one day, so you'll see how the other side feels.

My first Dip game was on this site a little less than a year ago. My fantasy football team was in the gutter so I decided to I needed another hobby to fill the void...I've been hooked ever since. :)

My FF team is 3 -0 though now. :)

And actually, now that I look at the link, I remember the beginning of that game. I felt bad on my first stab, but my stab on Austria was as ruthless as I'd ever gotten to date. I sold him on the Key and reneged. So, if you're reading this Austria, I do apologize...and I felt bad about it for what it's worth.

Yeah, that was all kinds of an awful stab. Usually if I'm Austria I wouldn't go for the Key for that reason... =)

Yep, have stabbed hundreds - and still feel bad about it every time. Very rarely it would be someone who 'deserves it' :)
I guess we're all pricks when the opportunity arises :)

Thanks for sharing that game Katsarephat. Similar in way to my situation, stab followed by an alliance with the stabbed.
I'll like the way you can view an entire game's history on this site. They should introduce that to the facebook version.
But yes regards feeling bad: I really did nearly stop playing altogether (which would have meant going into CD in four games). I was thinking to myself, the strategy and tactics, fine. But the psychological part of the game - too much to handle. I'm getting used to it (I think).

I am glad that you enjoyed your experience in Play By eMail (PBeM).
However if you want an intense rush then try the game in a Face to Face(FtF) tournament.
There are plenty around and you find them listed here:
http://www.diplom.org/Face/cons/index.php
There are also FtF groups all over the world and if you are interested let me know...
EdiBirsan at astound dot net

Strictly speaking it wasn't quite my very first game, as I did play a few times when I was in school (in the 1980s lol). But we never had seven players. But I remembered thinking that it was a great game. I bought the board game about eight years ago, but it has never been played - not once (nobody to play with). I cut the pieces out the little plastic pockets for the first time a week ago so that I could try out a few different moves in my php facebook game.
I would like to try face to face. I'll have to see whether anyone plays in Melbourne, Australia,.
Thanks for the link Edi.

kestas lives in australia...melbourne ?

loads of Australians on this site i think

Kestas is in the west coast of Australia,
You can get contacts for Australia at the DAANZ web site
http://daanz.org.au/

Hey spyman, I'm in Melbourne. There is a face to face tournament coming up end of November, date not final yet:"The Don Challenge cup". Come along, meet some really evil people.
So is Kestas in Perth?

Wow, I didn't know Kestas was Australian! I live in Melbourne by the way, but not sure if I have the time right now for a face to face game (although I could always be convinced I guess if the was enough beer...)

Thanks Caviare. I'll look it up.