You can’t blame Carlos Otero if his first impression was that Diplomacy was a piece of cake. He learned the game way back in September in our second game of the season, and he promptly topped the board.
Reality quickly set in, however. In his next five games, he was eliminated three times and managed a total of seven supply centers. But in Game No. 189 played yesterday at Dan Burgess’ home in Downers Grove, the Venezuelan native who was naturalized in March once again had his cake and ate it, too. The game ended by draw vote in Spring 1907 with Otero’s England topping at 10 centers. The final center counts were:
England (Carlos Otero): 10; 39.683 points.
France (Dan Burgess): 6; 14.286 points.
Germany (Mike Morrison): 6; 14.286 points.
Italy (Aash Anand): 0; 0.000 points.
Russia (Erik Bergquist): 0; 0.000 points.
Turkey (Tony Prokes): 8; 25.397 points.
Check out the supply center chart here. Hopefully the players will share their thoughts on the game.
Next up for the Weasels is the season-ending Weasel Pyle at Eric Brown’s home in Wayne on Saturday. Play begins at 11 a.m. We’re expecting three boards, with a shot at four.
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I had to play and drew France. With Carlos as England I knew I would have a trusty ally, so we partnered right away. Russia (Erik) opened to Prussia, and before Fall 1901 Germany (Mike) was asking if he could have Holland. I told him After nicely opening to Picardy I was hoping for Belgium while Carlos could go into Holland. “Prussia is your problem, not ours” was my reply to the Holland request. But I then acceded on the condition that he build no fleets the entire game without consulting me and Carlos.
Then the Western Triple began in earnest. (Russia took Berlin, growing to 7 after 1901, while Germany’s army that opened to Tyrolia made it to Vienna.) I built F Mar after having landed in Spain(sc) and then put all my eggs into the Med. Things went swimmingly well — Carlos and Mike pushed back Erik’s Russian position, and Tony Prokes as Turkey enjoyed the circumstances and grew at the expense of Matt Sundstrom (Austria).
I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game, though the Triple did fall apart around 1904. A few failed draw votes took place in 1905 and 1906, and finally as 1907 started we decided to end the game. My ubiquitous neighbor Chris Albert came over halfway through the game and conducted the draw votes for us. He is still leery of playing again but I think I can get him to try another time.
After the game we enjoyed the break in the weather, as the heat wave finally ended, so we sat outside smoking and drinking beer and enjoying the evening. A great time was had by all.
One of the better western triples ever. It became a quadruple ever so briefly. I’m proud to have been a part of any quad and especially this one.
Congratulations Carlos. Thank you Tony and Mike.
Most thanks to Dan. Always a pleasure to be at his house.
Ha yes, I forgot about that part. Matt was down to one unit around Spring 1904? And we enlisted him to join us against Erik, Tony, and Aash. I christened our union the “Midwestern Quadruple”. Great fun.