DIPLOMACY: PRESS IS HALF THE BATTLE / Backstabbr / Avalon Hill / Military Board Game
256Many DIPLOMACY players believe that your tactical ability is foremost in victories for this game. I would argue that at least 50% of the game is how well you play the chat boards and the press. If you don't communicate, you die. If you communicate poorly or at the wrong time, you die. If you press your luck too much, pun intended, you die. You get the point. There is a find balance in how to use press.
In this video, I break down a game that shifted based entirely on how players worked communicated. I show key press that changed alliances, and highlight different ways that players use the press. This was a really fun game in which I spent more time writing, than I did moving pieces.
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AUCTION:
ROCEDURE
1. Each player has 180 points to spend on bids for all of the powers in your game
2. You must spend at least one point on every power in your game and no more than 150 on any one specific power
3. You must only bid in whole numbers, no fractions or decimals are allowed
4. You must spend all 180 of your points and will be asked by the GM to re-submit if your total is less or more than 180
5. Players may change their bids up until the moment the GM has received the bid from the last player, after which bids may not be changed
6. The GM will then review the bids of all players and identify the most points spent on any particular power
7. If only one player has the high bid on the highest bid power that player is assigned that power for the game and removed from the bidding
8. In the event of a tie bid, where two or more players have bid the same high amount on the same power, the GM will randomly determine which player receives the disputed power
9. The process continues until every player in the game has won a power
10. Players not interested in bidding may express "no preference". In this case they will receive 20 allocated to each power
11. Players are forbidden to discuss their bidding, strategy, or even if they are simply choosing "no preference", with any of the other players in the game. By design this process is intended to be completely blind and force the player to deeply consider risk and reward
EXAMPLE (nb these examples are based on the original 100 points amongst 7 countries)
In a game of Standard Diplomacy, Joe very badly wants to play Russia. To have the maximum chance at securing Russia, Joe assigns his 100 points as follows:
Russia - 80 Austria - 4 England - 4 France - 3 Germany - 3 Italy - 3 Turkey - 3
As long as no other player submits this precise bid, Joe will get Russia. If one or more other players submit this precise bid, Joe will have a chance to get Russia, but he also has a chance to get stuck with a leftover power at the very end.
EXAMPLE
Jane has played Austria, Germany and Italy each three times in Standard Diplomacy but has only played each of the other four powers either never or once. If Jane knows one thing, it's that she doesn't want to get stuck with one of her three old standbys. So, Jane decides to bid her 100 points like this:
England - 25 France - 24 Russia - 24 Turkey - 24 Austria - 1 Germany - 1 Italy - 1
Jane is a little worried because she figures that a lot of other players will only bid one on the rarely popular Austria or Italy, but she is optimistic that with 24 or 25 points on four different powers one of them will slip through the cracks to her.
EXAMPLE
Jerry doesn't want to play Italy in his upcoming game of Standard Diplomacy. Bottom line. No way, no how. He can bid one on Italy but a lot of other people will probably do that, too. He thinks he needs to get creative. England and Russia are the two most popular powers so he is going to just give them one point, too. That gives him 97 points to spend on four powers. Thinking about which of them he likes best he decides to bid his 100 points like this:
Turkey - 51 France - 16 Austria - 15 Germany - 15 England - 1 Italy - 1 Russia - 1
EXAMPLE
Harvey doesn't care who he plays in the new game of Standard Diplomacy. What's up with this crazy bidding anyway? "No preference," he writes to the GM. So the GM assigns his points based on the prescribed formula:
100 points, divided by 7 powers in Standard Diplomacy and rounded down to the nearest whole number is 14. so Harvey's bids are:
Austria - 14 England - 14 France - 14 Germany - 14 Italy - 14 Russia - 14 Turkey - 14
Music: www.bensound.com
This classic game of pure negotiation has taken many forms over the years.
The first The Avalon Hill Game Co version has perhaps the widest release, but Avalon Hill Games, Inc. re-released the game in 1999, complete with a colorful new map and metal pieces. In 2008, Avalon Hill released a 50th anniversary edition with a new map and cardboard pieces representing the armies and navies.