As you have likely figured out from the subject, or perhaps just how the negotiations have gone, the DIAS has passed. The British Isles are at peace, and the Heptarchy has become the... Hexarchy? That sounds particularly witchy. I felt, as GMs probably do when there's a six-way draw, that the game probably had more room to run. I know things bogged down and hit stalemates as alliances coalesced quickly, but it really looked like Scotland and Ireland could run away with the win given a few more years of action. A few things really surprised me this game, namely how Ireland, having the upper hand over Scotland and a free capture of Aberdeen, chose to make peace with the Scots and turn south. Northumbria was involved in that in some way, I'm sure. Speaking of, I want to thank Finlay for participating in his first PBEM game. You went up against some veterans of the hobby here, and as we all know, Diplomacy can be unforgiving of errors and mistakes.
I think the most exciting turn was the first, and if I had to predict the outcome based solely on that turn, it would not look like this. That turn saw an Anglican home center taken by the Mercians, who gained three dots to jump out to a quick lead! I thought we would see a completely different path for this game, but Anglia came back and Mercia lost momentum after Cornwall switched. And those were the two key alliances that drove this game: Anglia-Cornwall and Ireland-Scotland. I would be interested to see what happens if we tried this board again. And during the match I discovered two things which will need to be changed on the board. First is rather superficial: King's Lynn only became the King's after the English Reformation, and given the time period should actually be called Bishop's Lynn. The second is far more meaningful and would have changed the early game significantly: Northumbria's fleet should begin in Sunderland, not Lancaster, thus giving Ireland a sure build from Isle of Mann and giving Northumbria a say in the North Sea and the same access to Flanders that is also provided to Anglia, Mercia, & Scotland.
So thank you to all of you for participating in this game and spending half a year with me. This game started on January 8th and now comes to its close on July 1st (July 2nd for Kiwi Dan), just about six months later, and I appreciate your time and patience! The final SC count and adjudication follows, and I do look forward to any End Of Game reports from you, and I hope to never again have to deal with the constant parade of problems with the .dpy and .dpw files.Â
1. Anglia - 8, Draw
1. Scotland - 8, Draw
3. Wales - 7, Draw
4. Cornwall - 6, Draw
4. Ireland - 6, Draw
6. Mercia - 3, Draw
7. Northumbria - 0, Eliminated 655 |
