Well Scott of Denmark looks under the tree this morning to find...a
solo! Though it's not a surprise to anyone at this point, Scott has
finally assimilated his 14th center and thus achieved a very well
deserved solo victory. Congratulations to Scott!

I also want to recognize the sustained efforts of all our other players;
Max of Canada finishes in 2nd place with 9 centers while Jerry of the
USA, Kevin of Norway, and Michael of Russia all tie for 3rd place with 1
center. I find it especially impressive that Jerry and Kevin were able
to survive for so long with one unit, and of course special thanks goes
to Michael for stepping in as a replacement.

As you all know, this was the first playtest of Arctic Diplomacy, and I
thought it went very well. The game definitely slowed down towards the
end, both in terms of on-board action and of progression in real-time,
the latter of which was mostly my fault and for which I apologize
greatly. That said, I learned a lot about the variant from the
playtest, and definitely plan to make some changes for the next
go-round. I will send another email soon (probably tomorrow) listing
all the potential changes and would love it if you all could comment on
any or all of their potential effects in your EOG statements. So once
you all have had a look at that, please do send and EOG commenting not
only on how this game in particular went, but also on the variant as a
whole.

Again thanks for a great playtest, and congrats to Scott for the
well-deserved solo!

Matt

Adjudication:

Canada:
F Anchorage - Seward Peninsula
A Baffin Island Supports A Queen Elizabeth Islands
A Barrow Supports F Anchorage - Seward Peninsula
A Churchill Supports A Baffin Island
A Queen Elizabeth Islands Hold
A Seward Peninsula - Kamchatka
F West Bering Sea - Chukchi Sea
A Yellowknife - Victoria Island

Denmark:
A Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge - Arctic Wasteland
F Barents Sea Convoys A Torshavn - Ural Mountains
F Kara Sea - Laptev Sea
F Labrador Sea Supports A Northwest Greenland
A Northwest Greenland Supports A Yermak Plateau - Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge
F Norwegian Sea Convoys A Torshavn - Ural Mountains
F Nuuk Supports F Labrador Sea
A Pevek Supports A Yakutsk
A Torshavn - Ural Mountains
A Trans-Siberian Railroad - Magadan (*Fails*)
F White Sea Convoys A Torshavn - Ural Mountains
A Yakutsk Supports A Pevek
A Yermak Plateau - Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge

Norway:
F Archangel Hold

Russia:
A Magadan Hold

USA:
F Chukchi Sea - Beaufort Sea