There was the time I sent both of my armies to Iberia as France in 1901, one by convoy, and somehow convinced England that we were cool. Then I stabbed, and soon had all of England.

in the experimental opening series hosted by bo we had a few really crazy ones. of course, that was the point, so i don't know if that counts, but it's still funny to see england and germany working together to get just one build - a german army in brest. (game 3) all the games were cancelled, but are archived here: http://tinyurl.com/lqrjp8s

I wouldn't call it ridiculous (though some might), but my opening as Russia was certainly unorthodox in gameID=145683.

I remember that game exploding onto the forum! What factors caused you to make that opening?

Since I read about it, I always wanted to try it out, and the diplomatic conditions were right both with the Turkey/Austria situation and (especially) the Germany situation that I could.

To be clear: it's not _because_ of the unusual opening that I soloed, but since "ridiculous opening and later success" was the topic, I thought it appropriate to mention.

There was a recent game of noobs from my office who I have been exposing to Diplomacy. Italy misordered his convoy to Tunis in spring 1901 and made it to 1 of the 4 in the draw.
gameID=149986

Bonus points for a crazy opening if it succeeded in gunboat.

I once saw Czech go F nap to tys to wms to Mao to iri to lvp in order abd succeed on each move. Don't remember how he finished the game.

The experimental opening games that kas talked about could probably give you some ideas if you looked through them. It's hard to say whether or not they would guarantee success but a couple of crazy alliances that grew (E/G had a giant convoy chain in one game that was amazing iirc) could have wreaked havoc in most scenarios.

@MKECharlie - i would have said that was a standard russian (northern) opening, though the moscow army has a shot at taking norway and you went to finland instead to open stp up for a build... The convoy to sweden is sweet but once you try northern openings (and throw your main force inot the egnland-germany-russian triangle, while letting the italy-austria-turkey triangle do it's own thing) you will come across this idea pretty soon. And while i think it is an under-used / unpopular option here, it is far from ludicrous.

I like english openings where you bounce edi and lon in yorkshire, and then plead ignorance and that 'you're only a girl' waiting for a knight in shining to come save you...

I actually did that exact same opening as MKECharlie in my first Diplomacy game ever, but that was more due to inexperience then bold play. I did go on to win the game though.

Yeah, "uncommon around here" is a better way to talk about it.

Ok, how is this for uncommon?http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=15345#gamePanel

Yup, pretty uncommon.

There is so much to love about that opening. Also, it really goes to show how powerful it is to cross the stalemate line early.

I must admit, most of my unconventional openings don't end up so well...

You had a really fun Austria. Albania-Ionian-Aegean in 1902 is great.

Not exactly a success story, but I once played a fairly solid gunboat game as France after bouncing all three of my units in Gascony on the first turn. I held out for a long time until finally getting eliminated in 1914.