Since 2005
Fun traditions and fierce competition In the Chicagoland Area
An online resource for Diplomacy Strategies
using Sum of Squares Scoring
facts about us
Our Diplomacy league is the most active in North America. We average more than two league games per month in addition to Tournament play. We score all of our games using the Sum of Squares scoring system, and each player's best three scores count toward the season standings. We are known for our fierce competition, strong traditions, upstanding character and trustworthiness, and the propensity for Turkey to open to Armenia.
Weasels
Games Played
Solos
Times Turkey Opened to Armenia
Moot XI Results
Moot XI is in the books! Mike French, a traveling Weasel from St. Louis, took the title with a composite score of 114.876. Mike's tournament included a solo as Austria in Round 1, only the 2nd Austrian solo in tournament history and 20th overall (only the ninth in tournaments that were not also World Diplomacy Championships). Mike's solo was especially remarkable in that it was accomplished with no fleets (believe your eyes by clicking here).
Finishing in second place was Eric Grinnell, who made a spirited charge in the final round, closing the gap to under 4 points with 1 year to play. Third place was taken by Alpha Weasel θ John Gramila (winner of Weasel Moot VIII).
THE WISE OLD WEASEL -- ITALY
June, the start of sundress/ wedding season, is fittingly named after the Roman goddess Juno. Juno was the goddess of marriage, but really, she was the goddess of jealousy. She’d stroll out of her Mount Olympus high rise, see all these nymphs (in the classical sense) in their sundresses holding hands with their boyfriends (or her husband Zeus/ Jupiter), and be filled with envy. That envy inspired her to turn people into cows, start wars, or send literal Furies after her enemies. Really, there are only two kinds of stories in Roman Mythology: ones where Juno aggressively seeks vengeance, and ones where she does not.
Passive Juno allowed the continent we push blocks around to be named after her husband’s slam piece.
Aggressive Juno orchestrated the fall of Troy.
You know what they say about Italians- they learn best from their mothers. This, Weasels, is where we share our wisdom.
THE WISE OLD WEASEL: ITALY
A disappointed, passive Juno surveying her four center Italy, about to be squeezed in 1908.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME- YOUR ITALIAN OVERVIEW
Now like Juno, Italy doesn’t have to be constantly aggressive, but it must be jealous. Italy’s great challenge is getting stuck on 4 centers, home and Tunis, until the end of time. In fact, Italy only gets out of the gate, which our stats department defines as reaching 7 centers, in 33% of games, worst of the seven powers. But a strong Italy, with its variety of weapons and targets, brings havoc across Europe.
Italy is uniquely positioned between the theatres and at the edge of the stalemate line, if you count Tunis. Early game involves a fun variety of openings and establishment in one theatre, midgame requires a strategic maintenance of tempo and unit mix, the end game a vast kaleidoscope of solo possibilities.
YOUR ITALIAN INSPIRATION-HISTORY'S MOST FAMOUS STAB
THE SECTION WHERE WE PUBLICLY ASK FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS, AT TIMES BY NAME
Drop a comment for how you best (or least best) play Italy. Brandon and Jim both had some solid results last year they could perhaps speak to. I find that Chris Kelly often does well on the boot, consistently hitting 7+ as the Italian. Perhaps Bull Weasel and Turkey superfan Matt “the Sundstrom” Sundstrom could share some thoughts on how Italy can best annoy Turkey, its biggest threat? Not to forget subprime Weasel John Gramila soloed with Italy at the 2016 WDC.
Hit the jump for stats department report on Italy, best club results, and Jake’s most recommended Italian articles.
Your dues-paying Weasels
Say hello to your dues-paying members for Season 12. It's not too late to join the list and earn a $5 discount for this weekend's Weasel Moot and eligibility for Season 12 awards. You can pay your dues--$25, $10 for students--right here. Dues pay for the website, our Meetup site, the annual club and Royale awards, and more. We appreciate your support!
Honor among Weasels
If we've learned anything from 343 games of Windy City Weasels Diplomacy, it's that there is no honor among Weasels and that no good deed goes unpunished. Yet time and time again, those lessons must be relearned the hard way. Wednesday night at the Red Lion, it was the player who hosted the very first Weasels tilt nearly 12 years ago who flunked out of the club's School of Hard Knocks.
We managed seven years in Game No. 343, played at the Red Lion on Flag Day. The game ended by time limit in the following center counts.
THE WEEKLY WEASEL STAYS THE HELL OUT OF MALIBU
Moot is two weeks away from today at DIVERSEY BOWL #themootabides. But before that, we here at the Weekly Weasel need your help!
IS THIS YOUR HOMEWORK, LARRY?
I need your help, folks, to help me help you. One of our goals here as Weasels is developing championship players. I am working on developing some worksheets/ tools to help players self-evaluate their games. Ideally, I’ll post these right after Moot, when all but one of us is wondering why we didn’t win the tournament / why we suck at diplomacy.
But to improve the quality of the resources (and that no one takes one look and says “that’s just like your opinion, man”), I would love to hear from you. What are the keys to getting better at diplomacy? Where do you players get tripped up? What are key growth areas/ signs of growth? Reach out to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your thoughts.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and recos.
OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE NOT A GOLFER
Because you’ll be playing diplomacy at Weasel Moot two weeks from RIGHT NOW! 4 rounds with one drop round, so it’s okay if the bar eats you and you have to mark it zero, dude. The moot will abide starting 6/23---sign up here.
The English Patience
Q: How many Trottas does it take to coordinate schedules?
A: Apparently more than three.
Game No. 342, played last night at Seven on the swanky New East Side, started more than 70 minutes late, due largely to miscommunication among the Brothers Trotta. As it turned out, the game got Jake, who had planned to drop by a game in progress after an evening meeting with clients, instead of Ian and their dad, Ray, although Ray did stop by even later to kibitz and watch basketball. (And he seems interested in returning to the table soon. Perhaps at Weasel Moot, June 23-25 at Diversey River Bowl...)
Who's a Cozy Bear?
If we were to compare Russian board-tops to Russian state-sponsored hacking groups, then Bryan Pravel's game Wednesday night at the Red Lion was more Cozy Bear than Fancy Bear. Yes, he led wire to wire, and yes, he was nattily dressed in a sharp blue blazer, but he never seemed like he was in control of the game.
When Fancy Bear hacks you, he wants you to know it. For Cozy Bear, hacking you is good enough. Despite losing Rumania and Sevastopol and being under siege in the south for most of the game, Pravel quietly topped Game No. 341, which ended by time limit after the Fall 1906 turn in the following center counts:
Weasel Moot XI
Click here for live tournament results.
The 11th edition of the Windy City Weasels' signature tournament, the Weasel Moot, will take place June 23-25.
Where to go
Weasel Moot XI will be held at the Diversey River Bowl, located at 2211 W. Diversey Ave. (map), in the West Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. We'll have the bar/restaurant to ourselves all weekend.
How to get there
For those driving, the River Bowl is just off the Diversey exit on I-90/94 and has a free parking lot. For those taking public transport, the 76 bus runs directly from the Diversey brown line stop. For those sailing, the alley is right on the north branch of the Chicago River. For those flying, there is a helipad on the roof.
Den of Records
This article is the closest thing we have to a Hall of Fame, or a Den of Records, to keep with the Weasel theme.
League Play:
Game No. 5, March 12, 2006: Marc Peters, Turkey
Game No. 8, August 12, 2006: Christian Kline, England
Game No. 15, January 6, 2007: Jim O'Kelley, England
Game No. 17, February 10, 2007: Eric Brown, Turkey
Game No. 77, October 25, 2009: Adam Berey, Russia
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