First game was a lot of fun. You should go if you're in the area.

I'll be there! ssorenn you're coming right?

I will fly out for a weekend one of these days.

I'll be there!

Do you guys get anything going during the week, ever?

Oh I get something going basically every day of the week.

As far as Diplomacy games, not yet, but all anyone needs do is ask and I'll make it happen. Most everyone is either in school or a real-person job however.

The Chicago weasels, have bar games during the week. Start at 6-630 till around 11-1130. This is why I ask

I'm playing next week with Jimthegrey

Say Hi for me! (not that I know him)
We might not have critical mass for weekday games yet, but that's certainly a goal.

There is a bar down the street in Central Square (Tavern in the Square) which hosts both Magic The Gathering and General Board Gaming nights so there's precedent.

I think I've played with you before Randy. I definitely played with a Randy from Boston. You were Austria and I was Turkey. I probably should have stabbed you for the solo, but your sparkly eyes technique was so on point so I settled for the draw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erkpm6QggrU

abge was Germany! I really should play more F2F. That was fun

I remember you, uclabb. It wasn't until the ride home on the T that I realized you were from webDIp.

Uclabb, if i fly out to Boston, will you make an appearance?

Randy won the two F2F tournaments I've ever been in (2014 Boroughs and 2015 TempleCon). He's got the sparkly eyes technique down pat I'd say.

I'm hoping his warm smile and rugged good looks will have less power here on webDip. But you never know.

I live in the area but it is my daughter's birthday so i can come..please keep me informed of future opportunities

UClabb, I'm sure I'd remember you if I met you, but I'm afraid I don't recall that specific game. I'm sure you made the right decision in not stabbing me, though ;-).

I'll be there!

Starts in 8 hours!!
I should get some sleep!!!
HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

If we're lucking @webDiplomacy will live-tweet it

Pro tip: try to sleep at the table after stabbing in our life so they can't question you about it. for a more advanced technique, actually be sleeping rather than just pretending.

#advancedTactics #negotiationAvoidance #hashtagsOnWebdiplomacy #nextLevelStrats #camelCase

Have fun guys

Brief EOG:

Not an amazing game, not a disappointing game, but some disappointing play kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. I'll discuss later.

Anyway, Valis and I were Russia and England, respectively, with Captain1234 as France, a very strong Germany, a BF/GF combo as A/T, and a relatively new Italy. I started off by betraying a three way anti-France opening by pursuing an aggressive anti-German opening with Valis. It ultimately didn't work out, but it left me in an excellent position to pick which side I wanted after G/I went after France and Valis was left with a strongly metagamed alliance in A/T.

I ultimately stuck with France as my ally and needed to balance my own growth as well as keeping Valis alive as a check on the growth of A/T. A few sneaky moves against Germany and I was sitting pretty at 9 centers, but got a bit greedy and Valis made me pay, albeit only to keep Germany around at one center for an extra turn. Eventually, the game broke down to E/F vs. A/T and Russia as the wild card.

This is where the game kind of broke down for me. Since A/T were boyfriend/girlfriend, it put a serious damper on their respective diplomatic abilities, with Austria refusing to stab Turkey. Turkey, to her credit, eventually attacked Austria, at which point he became very vengeful (and a bit childish) and decided to end the fight with France to spite his girlfriend while at the same time having France do his bidding against me.

Ultimately, France and I arrived at a bit of a stalemate-of-sorts, with each of us at 9 centers, Valis at 5, and A/T preparing for a quiet and awkward ride home after the game. I proposed a draw to put the game out of its misery and it passed on the first try. End result: 5 way draw.

I'm quite happy with how I played - I was in the rare position of weighing two strong options with no clear early enemies as England and I think going after Germany was the right call. I had a point in the mid-game when I got big fairly quickly and might have been construed as a solo threat after I grabbed St. Pete and Sweden from Valis, but I quickly ran out of steam and hung around at 9 centers for a few years before the draw.

I agree with everything 2WL said.

My original plan for an anti-German alliance with France as Russia, fell through quickly when it was clear that Austria/Turkey were duo-playing and that Germany was willing to let me into Sweden so no point in antagonizing him. From there I worked constantly with England and reminded him of how essential I was not to let the game end before he could even reach 6 centers if Russia were to fall to the A/T. Austria made multiple misorders and T had barely played the game before so after 3 years I still hadn't lost UKR/SEV/WAR God knows how. Eventually with the EF getting too big they said they'd stop attacking me and move west.

The whole game I made sure to slowly concede centers to England in order to keep France/Germany busy and A/T worried.

I have nothing to say about Italy because he refused to diplome, communicate, or matter. But that happens sometimes when a new player plays Italy.

At one point England gets cheeky and although I tell him he can take STP, he takes it with an army and not a fleet despite my protests. I throw everything North to make it known I'm making a concession on my terms, not actually letting him win or failing to defend myself, and he gets the message and eventually reverts to
F FIN s STP(nc), STP(nc) H
which allows me to dig a bit deeper into Germany to fuel my southern defense.

In 1904 I explain to Turkey that to not play for the win and not to stab is to ruin the game. I might have oversold my emotional and intellectual distress a bit, but I wasn't that far off the mark. It was not a natural alliance. I make sure Turkey isn't allowed to talk to anyone else the entire phase and confine them to the kitchen with me constantly talking and checking their orders. Even when Germany demands to talk to me, I play it off as a conference and demand that anything he can say to me he can say in front of Turkey, to make it seem like Turkey can't leave even more still. I get them to stay with me the entire negotiation phase and outline the stab. Of course due to their newness they can't follow it up at all with proper strategy/builds/tactics, and I can't afford to baby-sit their moves as I make sure neither England nor France solo, so Austria is able to both comeback while throwing centers to France. But at this point one problem is replaced with a more manageable more natural problem.

At this point, England couldn't get farther into Russia, would have to give up the fight with France to get further into my/France's Germany, and won't solo faster than an Austria throwing to France in vindication. I still get to play somewhat of an arbiter between all the parties and explain to France that if they got to double-digits I'd stop allowing the Austrian throw and England and I together could still take them down.

Final result:
5 way A/E/F/R/T draw. With 7/9/9/5/4 centers respectively *I believe

Anytime Italy is incompetent and refuses to even lie much less Diplome, with a pre-made A/T and a competent England, Russia is going to have a bad time. I still made myself look, or at least seem, essential to all parties and got into a merciful draw.

I didn't let people negotiate during retreats/builds so my job was done.

"This is where the game kind of broke down for me. Since A/T were boyfriend/girlfriend, it put a serious damper on their respective diplomatic abilities, with Austria refusing to stab Turkey. Turkey, to her credit, eventually attacked Austria, at which point he became very vengeful (and a bit childish) and decided to end the fight with France to spite his girlfriend while at the same time having France do his bidding against me."

This is why I don't play Diplomacy with my girlfriend. Well, that and she just doesn't like the game.

This is why I don't have a girlfriend.

That's the official story and I'm sticking to it.

Because you don't want to limit the pool of available Diplomacy players?

Something like that?

That's very generous of you : )