Well, that was fun for a while, tedious at times, and mostly interesting.

I've been around the Diplomacy board for a long time, face-to-face, a few mail games, and rounds of email (of which I've been in more than a few recently, and mostly in spurts of activity.

Obviously I dared to choose Florence for the obvious connections. I've studied Machiavelli, put together a few game concepts, and respect the man as a writer/commentator/political analyst. But then, I don't quote him all that often.

Definite differences between this game and Dip, and this game and the board game. The lack of 'other' options than pure diplomacy definitely changes things up. The reliance on the board seems vastly unbalanced, yet strangely enough I lucked into some early success, and Venice played well in the endgame (as it were, because once Garry turned on me and turned the tide, it was rather obvious where it was headed.)

I did have disappointment in the decided lack of communcation. As Mr. Wolf said, there was leniency in the playtest aspect, and because of that, I think we all strayed from routine. I'm thinking that turned into a decided indifference to give-and-take at the tipping point, but that's my perspective.

Start of game was really intense, and seems to be the most fascinating aspect of the board. Papacy/Florence/Naples is just crazy in the setup. Unfortunately, our dear friend Brutus decided to role-play, and I do admit that was hard to handle. However it did allow for some double-dealing with Nathan, and then a "I can't believe the opportunity" moment when I saw five centers open and a major stab of my Napolitan ally ensued.

(As an aside, I did get harsh in tone and words with Brutus. No major regrets, but my main point is that a game is a game, and if someone chooses to be a pompous .... well, a pompous character, when everyone else is playing the game and not playing a character, there comes a time when you begin to grate on nerves, and not enhance the enjoyability of the game. At that point, elimination is the goal. Sorry.)

Well, to be honest, Nathan specifically alerted me to how badly things were going with Turkey, and not exactly studying the entirety of the board, I leapt at the info, realizing that I could more than cripple Naples and would have to race Turkey for centers down south regardless. Strangely enough, there was no coordination between myself and Max, but we vanquished Naples nonetheless.

Was it wrong? Well, in hindsight, without a solid border north and without the proper array of forces, and a laxadaisical effort, it didn't turn out well! Also, taking the center lead with that massive gain, especially at that point of the game, and not enforcing a strategy doomed me.

I went for balance, and with the chaos builds and the impossibility of holding back builds and the lack of restrictions on it meant taking a guess. As I foolishly indicated to Garry, I was horribly out of position. (Yeah, I learnt well from what I did earlier with Naples!)

Lack of garrison changes offered no help for me. Also that sea zone spacing really caused strategy issues for me (as well as my two year misreading of adjacency) as I felt the need to see the TS zone, but overcommitted forces and yet was unable to maintain it.

The north seemed interesting enough. I sided with France early, trying to keep a balance weight against what seemed to be a Milan eager to ally with everyone. I mentioned to Nick that the concept of promising other peoples centers for alliance purposes never makes sense. I had a distrust of Milan early, and was eager to work with Venice and France to force him out.

Of course, I was in no way prepared to defend against Venice, and foolishly though I had another turn or two to deal with it.

From there, battling Turkey kept me busy, and there were way too many stabs with Mark and no way to muster the naval forces in the West. I found it odd that Venice/Turkey worked the truce in the East, but it was obviously working and forced me to the draw before I got gobbled up for good.

I will say that the earlier draw proposals were insulting, and definitely would say that a legit offer a month ago would have ended the game accordingly.

Best to all, and I look forward to gaming with you guys in the future.

And special thanks to The White Wolf for running this playtest. I know I had my memory issues, deadline misses and other assorted annoyances like most others.

--Joe Babinsack