Winter 1901 Results

The builds are all in; here's the updated map:


Moves for Spring 1902 are due Sunday at midnight.

1901 - An Illustrated History

TOM PREPARES A GRACEFUL EXIT

Despite not losing any home centers, and the fact that he once before stared down death as Austria-Hungary and wound up in second place, AND the fact that he would appear to have an ally in Italy, Tom is convinced that he is stillborn. Tom, do not go gentle into that good night...

MY, WHAT BIG ARMIES YOU HAVE, GRANDMA!

All the better to invade you with, my dear.

Fall 1901 Results

First off, let me thank you all for submitting on time. Clearly the Sunday night time is working well for all of you. Keep it up so I don't have to take out the hammer :-)

For me, the highlight of this turn is France's order, "Burgundy to Belgium with support." Perhaps Damian doesn't understand what support means. More likely, he was betrayed by one of his (apparently less than trustworthy) neighbors. Whatever the cause, he now finds himself in a sticky situation with the Italians in Piedmont, the British in the Channel, and the Germans on his Alsacian border.

In the East, a juggernaut continues to develop. As the Italians toy playfully with the Germans and the French, one begins to wonder: Will Matt and Owen unite to aid the Austrians before Tom's domain falls behind the Iron Curtain? Or will they bicker as the rising tide in the East laps at their shores? Only time will tell.

The results:


And the moves:


There are no retreats. Builds will be due Tuesday at midnight.

Adjustments:
Austria: 3 supply centers, 3 units. No units to build or remove.
England: 3 supply centers, 3 units. No units to build or remove.
France: 4 supply centers, 3 units. 1 unit may be built.
Germany: 5 supply centers, 3 units. 2 units may be built.
Italy: 4 supply centers, 3 units. 1 unit may be built.
Russia: 6 supply centers, 4 units. 2 units may be built.
Turkey: 4 supply centers, 3 units. 1 unit may be built.

A concession.

For the sake of "normalcy" and not screwing up the dynamics of the game for those that are participating. My units will continue to move. But like passing a kidney stone I can't say I'll gather a great deal of satisfaction from it. Anyone nearby is welcome to send an offer or request for what they will do, but I can't promise I'll read it or respond.

Asking me to grow some balls huh? To Russia, Turkey and Italy, do us all a favor and don't fucking puss out and start gnawing at each other before you finish me off. Get the shit done so I can stop paying attention for another 5 months.

For the record Matt, I have yet to recieve an email from you. I'm not sure if that's an error somehow on my part or what. If so I apologize.

God Speed folks, have fun.

The River of Tears

Cry for me, bitches: I'm Italy.  I was cluster-fucked by the designer of this game before the round even began.  Am I whining?  NO!  I'm conspiring to destroy ever last one of you and I will until my last fleet is smashed on the rocks of Gibraltar or my last army destroyed in the frozen streets of St. Petersberg.

Tom: Dust yourself off, grow some balls, RETURN MY EMAILS OFFERING TO HELP YOU,  and assist me in the destruction of whoever our enemy is this turn, until I decide to betray you, unless I already have.

Matt

My Observations

I was surprised to receive this email today....

Tony,

Tom was stabbed on the first turn (if that's possible) and has vented some frustrations over the issue and basically decided to cede defeat. Do you have any interest in taking over Austria for him so they game can proceed more normally? He is far from finished (obviously).

Check the blog.

-Josh

Now, I did look at the map. And why the fuck would I want to join now. With 2 of Austria's home centers in peril in the first turn with no allies and the risk of never gaining a new center until Austria is eliminated from the map, why should Tom or myself play? And besides, I didn't see Tom say "I Quit". No, it was more along the lines of "Fuck all you all". And so, I agree with Tom. May Austria, Italy and the rest fall quickly at the hands of Russia and Turkey. Go Juggernaut, Go!

The Juggernaut

Given a choice between meeting the juggernaut head on and pouting like a little girl, Tom makes his decision.

That's all folks

Once again, my job, and prior commitments have screwed me for the duration of the game however short that may be. No one decided to give me a chance and it makes me wonder why I waste my time participating. I am holding until displaced. It may fuck up the dynamics of the game but at this point why should I give a fuck. I have no chance of lasting more than a few turns.


Have a great time folks, may the best person win.

-Tom

Spring 1901 Results

The first turn is now complete, and some alliances are already beginning to gel. In the East, Austria opened with the Balkan Gambit . . . a gambit which may prove foolish, given the signs of a nascient juggernaut. Meanwhile, Italy's Obriani opening suggests that Tom will have his hands full if he wishes to avoid another early exit.

In the West things are much quieter, with a fairly standard collection of opening moves. Germany's Bliztkreig may be a sign of an alliance with England and a truce with Russia; only time will tell.

Here are the results:


These are the moves that led us here:


There are no retreats. Moves for Fall 1901 will be due next Sunday at midnight.

Tom's birthday party

In a few months, we'll all be sure about one thing: he didn't wish not to lose at Diplomacy.

Moves Due Next Sunday

Due to the Easter holiday this weekend (and many people travelling for Spring Breaks and such) moves for Spring 1901 will now be due at midnight on Sunday, April 19th. That gives you an extra week to decide who to ally with, who to pretend to ally with, and who to not even bother pretending to ally with (I recommend Owen).

Happy negotiating!

May the Best Man or Elf Win

Best of luck to all of you in the ensuing competition. I'm sure it won't be long before one of you is bludgeoned into a pulp by someone you once called "friend." In that light, I'm providing a link the Diplomacy Openings Libary, a valuable index to the myriad opening move possibilities:
http://www.diplom.org/Online/Openings/interactive.html

It's a great way to figure out what you should do, and also to figure out exactly what your opponents may be thinking.

Game Info and The Draw

Here is the map for the start of the game (should look familiar). A few notes:

• Check your spam filters and make sure YouBigFatTraitor AT live DOT com is a safe sender. If you don't already have one mail from me check your junk mail folder.
• Setup an RSS feed of this blog.
• Friday as a due date wasn't working so well. Moves for Spring 1901 will be Sunday at Midnight (that means noon on Monday for you, Craig).

Now, the draw:
Austria- Tom
England- Bill
France- Damian
Germany- Owen
Italy- Matt
Russia- Leo
Turkey- Craig

a new game

You've all made the terrible mistake of agreeing to make me moderator for the next game, so let's get it started. Please e-mail me ASAP if you are interested in managing a power. I will draw on Wednesday.

A few small changes will be in place:

• Game-related e-mails should be sent to youbigfattraitor at live dot com
• I will try to reduce the amount of outgoing e-mail from the moderator. Please check the website regularly! I recommend you set up an RSS feed from the website.

Let's get it started!

Landrey Cheats Death!

Lets end this...as quickly as possible.

I agree to an immediate draw.  Lets just end this game as quickly as possible.  It has grown stale and unenjoyable for all parties, unless I have mistaken the tones in everyones posts.  Lets start again, when things are more interesting and backstabbing more inevitable.  As for myself, I will sit the next one out, I've got a lot of stuff going on right now, hence I'm no longer processing, and I've passed it on to Damian.  Any parties that wish to grind on can do so without my participation.  Effective immediately, Damain will be the steward of Germany until the games ends or someone overruns the last of my centers.  Enjoy.

Draw or no draw

There seems to be a clear lack of interest in the game at this point. Some call for a draw some call for more blood first. Some of us are very busy at the moment, others are not. And then some of us are pretty angry over the situation. We should all figure out what is going to happen, with all the talk of working out the draw some of us were unclear over if we were submitting orders this week or not. I agreed to the draw with the terms of my only ally, Germany, as I know Italy and Austria agreed to the draw in their own terms. Lets here everyones thoughts now.

From Beyond the Pale

When do we discuss carving up Germany's only slightly-plumper-than-France's emaciated carcass? It seems like the runts of the remaining litter are calling the shots and bickering over their own scraps like they are big dogs.

Reality Check

OK

Obviously, I've got an axe to grind, and might be a slight bit upset. Understandable.

But, have Germany and England received friendly overtures from Italy and Austria-Hungary, agreeing to my destruction? If the answer is "yes," stop reading, and consider me screwed and shamefaced. If the answer is "no," read on.

Germany, England, guys, consider for a minute that, despite your arrogant demands, this game might still be going on. France, Austria-Hungary and Italy  have all, by now, submitted moves. The game is still going. They are not capitulating to your pathetic terms. 

You haven't submitted? It's Saturday morning? Oh no! Too bad. Guess the proper entry for Germany and England is "no order received all unites hold." (what? me? bitter? no!). Damian is moving. Great. Have we received advanced notice? NO.  We are still submitting on time, and so should all of you. This game is ongoing. France is not dead, Italy and Austria-Hungary have not caved to the terms that I must be offed. We are still playing. 

Process the moves (or lack thereof) or agree to end the game with all parties declaring a truce, including France.

That would be a peace we can all agree on.

Le Marquis

The status of things

I'm not sure if we are supposed to submit moves for this week, but I see that Italy and Austria already have. I have been very busy this week, I am moving to a new apartment this weekend, so I have not had the time to respond to any of the posts. I agree with killing France off first, then seeing what to do after that.
However, I have to be in work ass early tomorrow and then grab the uhaul truck and move my stuff so I have absolutely no time to process anything until maybe Sunday night. That is also if I can get the internet to work at the new place, I have to mess with having wireless internet again and installin an old card onto my computer to see if it even works. If anyone has an objection with holding off on ending France for a few more days let me know, I apologize for posting this last minute but it has been a very crazy week for me. Not to mention the feeling that everyone has lost interest in this game.

A peace we can all agree on.

Since Germany is the most evil of all nations and nothing good has ever come from trusting me, it is natural to question my every action and suggestion.  And naturally France won't be too happy with the idea of being carved up like a turkey.  So maybe I can sweeten the deal.  Lets just give all of France to Italy.  If the 4 of us can agree to it, we can be done with this game and we can roast little Leo's head on a spit in a week or two at most.  Let me know if your interested.

Further Rudimentary Lessons In Math

Not so fast, scumbag.

I may be a militarily marginal player in the game at this point, and one who spaced on his orders last week to boot, but I have my mental faculties yet intact, as I aim to demonstrate.

You ask for my two centers. One for you, one for your best bud, Damian. Aren't you dear friends, so intent on sharing evenly. Except, as we've already seen, anything you possess, Damian will soon command. So, let's do some basic math, shall we?

Germany controls four (4) centers.

England controls twelve (12) centers.

France controls two (2) centers.

Give one to England, and one to Germany, and soon 5 + 13 (or, if you prefer, 4 + 12 + 2) = 18.

Last time I heard, that was kind of a magic number in this game. Something seems to happen when someone gets 18 centers. I can't remember what.

The war for Marseilles is on.

Le Marquis