(also, wrong forum, I know. Honest Mistake. Would appreciate someone moving it to the debriefing room
)
I have always found Diplomacy games to be by far the most tense, enjoyable and damn close to the last second. This game, on the AKE group Diplomacy DedCon, was all of these things.
I got stuck with Russia, not the ideal superpower for a Diplo game in my opinion.
Defcon 5:
As usual, I don't place my units now, as I always choose to wait til defcon 4. Unfortunately I am almost instantly kicked out of the alliance; not the best start, although it meant that my eventual enemies would have to find my silo positions the hard way.
Defcon 4: I persuade Europe and Africa to join me and the battle lines are finally drawn up; the Russian-lead Eastern bloc, or 'The Reds', and the Asian-American Greens.
I go for a standard Moscow defence, with all my installations surrounding my glorious capital. Handily, my European neighbours pass on intelligence regarding the installations of all our enemies.
Defcon 3:
In other parts of the world, namely the Atlantic Ocean, a full-scale naval engagement encompasses the thoughts and forces of Europe and the Americas, and the African Navy sends the Greens' Indian Fleet into the graveyard of the deep, although not without sustaining heavy losses of her own. I on the other hand have very little to do - I have placed all of the Russian Navy (except a small Coastal Defence Picket near Moscow), at the Bering Strait, ready to turn Tokyo and Seoul into small lumps of glass, and spend Defcon 3 doing little more than hunting a few subs, the majority of the Asian Fleet being either far out of my range near Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh, or at the bottom of the aforementioned Indian Ocean Deathzone.
Defcon 2.
The Battle of the Atlantic proves entirely inconclusive, with all four involved fleets returning to base to lick their wounds. I begin to launch bombers from my carriers for the purpose of destroying North East Asia, where silos have been concentrated.
Defcon 1.
The first person to break the nuclear deadlock is America, laying waste to the African silos with a huge bomber wave. Kinshasa and other major African cities were then pulverised, catapulting Africa to the bottom of the scoreboard. At the same time, the Russian Fleet Air Arm made mincemeat of the Asian defence, flattening a couple of silos and RADAR stations, and destroying a good deal of Asians. Coupled with the destruction of unprotected India by the desparate actions of the rogue African Air Force, only four powers were left in it. Unfortunately, a single lucky and randomly aimed bomber nuke from an anobymous aircraft slipped past the EU-Russian Missile Defence Grid and left Leningrad in ruins, putting me down in 4th place, with almost my entire strategic missile reserve yet to be used. From then, it was a case of attrition, with no major losses from the four powers (except the Bering Fleet, which finally went to the bottom of the icy sea after a brave battle against a numerically superior multinational fleet) and the two underdogs were pummeled until there was nothing left. After everything finally opened up again, with Europe and her seemingly infallible defence grid staying on top when she claimed New York and four US silos, and managed to get one nuke through to Mexico City, the scores stood as follows:
Europe: 100
South America: 83
Russia: 69
USA: 68
With it looking increasingly unlikely that SA would pierce the defences of Europe, there was only one alternative that could get me victory. I took my opportunity when Europe suggested a joint launch on South America. When he returned from planning a meticulous assault on the Green Peril, he was surprised to say the least that he had no installations left at all, and promptly ragequitted when all his major cities ceased to exist, courtesy of a South American bombing raid that was probably surprised to have no resistance from Europe at all.
With 20 minutes to go and a large margin to catch up on, I unleashed my silos on South America, aiming for the remnant of Mexico City, Lima, various smaller cities, and the biggest prize of them all, Sao Paulo. Unfortunately, all of the Sao Paulo nukes were immediately shot down, and with fifty four seconds to go the atomic firestorm smashed into Lima, leaving every citizen dead or extremely lonely.
The final score?
Russia: 69
South America 70
A more detailed perusal of the stats reveal I lost by a couple of hundred thousand citizens.
You win some, you lose some.
