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I have enjoyed playing Diplomacy as a Hobby for several years now and have played every country on the board at least once. Most with little success; but I have taken the Solo Victory with both Turkey and Germany once before. I have made some early attempts to create a persona (i.e. Cardinal Weaselbut or Kaiser Von Hindenburg or the like), but my antics in character often were met with dislike or outright hostility which often got me eliminated just out of need to get rid of the "weirdo". So, now days I just play as myself.

At the start of this game, I negotiated in good faith with England, France and Russia; obviously trying to obtain the best deal possible. Both France and Russia offered me little more than, "Leave me alone and I will leave you alone. Oh and by the way, I want you to let me take (Belgium/Sweden)". England on the other hand offered an extensive plan as to how and why we should work together. The plan was that England would eliminate France, with minor assistance from Germany; while Germany eliminated Russia with minor assistance from England. For the minor assistance that Germany was to supply England, Germany would get Paris. For the minor assistance England was to supply Germany, England would get St Petersburg. In addition, England was to build no armies above what he started with, and Germany was to build no fleets above what we started with. This seemed like a very decent plan to me, I could take the land locked provinces and have very little worry that England would turn on me. Or at the very least, have adequate indication that something is up when England built a new Army. I had intended to open with a very conservative set of orders; however, England talked me into being bolder by moving to occupy Burgundy . . . And we were off.

I have to admit that after the first two seasons, I reconsidered my need for England as an ally. England's inability to occupy the English Channel, a critical sea zone for England's assault on France, and France's demonstrated competency, leaving Marseilles unoccupied despite German proximity to occupy it, were big factors in this decision. However, what finally made the decision for me was England's request for yet more German assistance against France without any talk of more compensation. At this point, I had already given Belgium to England so that he could have a foot hold on the Continent. England's rhetoric ceased to put any kind of consideration into when Germany would be allowed to occupy Belgium as agreed upon in our initial negotiations. It seemed that England's inability to occupy the English Channel meant that England would now be keeping Belgium. Add to the fact that England now wants more support with the fact that I had just upset Russia by denying Joao the occupation of Sweden, and you can see where I found England's original deal going very sour. Therefore, I began trying to gain France's trust.

At the same time, on my eastern front; Italy, Russia, and Turkey moved quickly in unison to eliminate Austria. Trapped between trying to deal with England and France, I did not have the units available to make any effort to distract Russia from gaining his piece of the Austrian pie in Budapest and Vienna until the deed was done.

With the elimination of Austria, it seemed only too obvious that a Russian/Turkish Juggernaut existed, despite repeated assurances from Turkey that he and Russia were not allies . . . just not adversarial. (Um, is there any sizable difference?). I immediately started to work with Italy to slow down the Juggernaut. But, Italy only had 5 units and my attentions were split between the East and the West so that I also only had 4 to 5 units against Russia/Turkey's combined 13 to 14; we were out numbered. We needed help. We needed England and France to drop their differences and recognize that the bigger threat right now was the Juggernaut. So, I worked out a way that France could back away from England and assist Italy against Turkey while England backed away from France and could assist me against Russia . . . or so I thought. England went for it and paid the price when France took advantage of his foreknowledge of our intended moves to move in for a killing blow against England.

I admit, I was disappointed that France couldn't see the bigger threat; but often times, such is life. Unfortunately at this point, England decided that since he was loosing his home supply centers to France, he needed any resources that he could get to remain at his current size; even if those resources belonged to an "ally". So, now I had England eating away at my western front, a very angry Russia on my eastern front, and no way to stop the Juggernaut. My only saving grace was that I had made some significant ground against Russia, while Turkey was making significant ground against Italy. So, it seemed the only way to stop the Juggernaut was to break it up. d I proceeded to drive a wedge between the non-aggressive, non-allies of the non-existing Juggernaut. I dropped all aggression against Russia and pointed out that Turkey was the biggest threat to winning the game and the only way he could do it was through Russia. Since Italy was all but gone at this point, and I had England to deal with on my western front, only Russia had the capability to do anything about Turkey's aggression. Russia was only too happy to have Germany as an ally instead of an adversary and quickly agreed. With the Russian non-aggression agreement in hand, I ordered all units to return to my home centers with the intention of seeing England eliminated.

With England and Italy eliminated, France was able to refocus and see that Turkey was now definitely the largest threat to taking the solo victory; and so, an alliance between France, Germany and Russia was forged to stop Turkey. Unfortunately, by this time, I had already tried on several occasions to get France to see things my way; France used the advantage of knowing my intentions to go his own way, making additional gains and leaving me holding an empty bag. Right from the beginning, I suspect that France was only in it because all of Germany's units were in position against him. The only way France might take the solo instead was to get Germany redeployed against Turkey; hence, the French/German/Russian Alliance was to his advantage . . . for a time. Since, I had no clear advantage against France either, it was to my advantage also . . . for a time.

In the Spring of 1908 is when things shifted again. Still harboring the knowledge that France was waiting for an opportunity; I seized upon an opportunity of my own and attacked France. At this point France was poised to take Venice away from Turkey (given a little help from Germany); however, with my misgivings, I could see where one or two more units would give France the strength he needed to hold off Turkey and resume attacking Germany. So, rather than help give France the ability to eliminate me . . . I joined with Turkey. My philosophy here was; it is better to be a survivor of a Turkish solo than to be eliminated by France. I had no doubt that if I stayed in an alliance with France, I would not survive to see the end of the game.

To my chagrin and despite repeated offers to give him the solo victory, Turkey insisted that we try for a German/Turkish draw. The final throws of the game was all about building Germany and reducing France so that a German/Turkish draw would be accepted by all. Given the history between France and Germany, it seemed to me that France would accept a draw that included Germany only after it was obvious that he was powerless to stop it. I felt this point came at the same time that Turkey decided to put everyone out of their misery by ending the game with a Turkish Solo. I have to admit, I was a little shocked by the decision and the fact that I was not informed before he did it. But, then again, my only intention by joining Turkey was to survive. I had began to hope for more given Turkey's repeated instance that we go for the German/Turkish draw and therefore a little disappointed; but, I achieved my end-game objective of surviving.

I wish to extend my thanks to Rene for GM'ing an excellent game. I enjoyed it completely and will look forward to other games GM'ed by him. I enjoyed the back and forth negotiations with everyone that played in this game and look forward to our next game together. I hope we can find ourselves allies in the future.

Best,
Darryl (Germany)