Good Wayne

Diplomacy

Well, I issued my final orders in the Diplomacy game.

I believe that I'm the first person eliminated from the game at this point. Which is fine with me. I royally screwed up from the word go. Plus, I had the additional handicap of playing Italy.

My first major mistake was not reading the rule thoroughly. The game is about controlling territories with supply centers and I missed that. Not to mention that the map I was using didn't have the little dots to make me wonder why. Instead, controlled territories were the color of your nation (mine was green). So when the game started, I thought it was like Risk. You move into open territories and capture them to add to your count.

It wasn't. Instead, I left my supply centers undefended in a vain attempt to control as much territory as possible. And that let Austria in. From there it was a slippery slope down as I never had enough troops to completely dislodge him from the country.

I tried making alliances but no one was close enough to help Italy. At least no one that I completely trusted, that is.

My second major mistake was putting my faith in France as an ally. I was even willing to concede territory for his support. It was my only hope to stay in the game and force Austria out. But during a crucial mission to retake part of the homeland he stabbed me in the back, causing me to loose a supply center and a key unit.

After that failure, I was doomed. There were a few movements and I tried to say afloat by at least bouncing Austria's armies from territories, but I was really just rearranging deckchairs.

So the final blow has come. Austria actually has screwed up and left a supply center open, but I'm not taking it. Because it's pointless.

If there's any hope left, it's the hope that Austria will smash and enslave the vile, backstabbing French.

In fairness to M. D'LeFrance, might we not acknowledge the fact that his abondonment of your cause occurred only after several years of vino-soaked Italian missteps and strategic blunders? In fact, I believe the culminating folly was an Italian army attempting to support a nonexistent attack ... in light of this might not the French Council's move to sever relations appear prudent rather than gauche?

I stand by my assessment of the situation.

France was explicitly warned against taking Tunis as it represented my only lifeline in case of failure. They took it anyway and, while the screw in orders was my own failure to double-check them, I would have been safe to try again if they had stuck to the agreement.

Nope. They are backstabbing, untrustworthy, scum.

They smell too.