Myth Chaser Nate Cockerill nearly found the fabled Board of the Valkyries last Thursday at the Red Lion in Lincoln Square. While he fell short of the all-female board, Nate set a Weasel record by persuading three members of the fairer sex to join us for a game of Diplomacy.
Game No. 226 got off to a late start due to a no-show. Fortunately, Nate was able to coax a third woman to the table to salvage the evening. Due to the late start, the players managed only four game-years. The game ended after the Fall 1904 turn in the following center counts:
Austria (Don Glass): 0; 0.000 points.
England (Nathan Cockerill): 3; 3.913 points.
France (Amber Bree): 8; 27.826 points.
Germany (Keith Ammann): 6; 15.652 points.
Italy (Courtney Stahl): 2; 1.739 points.
Russia (David St. John):6; 15.652 points.
Turkey (Bree Oliver): 9; 35.217 points.
Stahl had played once before and agreed to do so again to be our emergency seventh. Bree and Oliver were playing for the first time. Bree was no stranger to the game, as she’s been watching us play for a few years now. She’s our regular server at the Lion. Oliver planned to audit the game but was pressed into service when a player cancelled the night before.
"They both seemed hooked," Cockerill said. "Bree [Oliver] wants to play again in December."
"The women were pretty treacherous," he added.
Tell us something we don’t know.
Check out the supply center chart here.
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Oliver came out right away as Turkey to my Russia offering an alliance, and I gladly took her up on it given how I read the personality of our Italy, Stahl. Neither of my early allies disappointed, as we took out Austria in 1902 with a strong three country attack.
I couldn’t quite manage to outplay Cockerill in Scandanavia (no surprise there, feisty devil), but as Germany stayed neutral towards me and France came down to mix it up with Italy in the Med, the R/T Steamroller was able to find its way to 8 centers each at the end of 1904. I was happy to end here, but no one ever seems to want to call a draw when I’m sitting on 30+ points. One of these games I’ll pick up centers my final game year and maybe a top.
This is when the treacherous Oliver put the screws to me…the very same turn that I had arranged a stab with Italy against her, I decided at the last minute that the way in which I had tried to set her up was just too mean a thing to do to a new player. Little did I know that she had already hung me out to dry by failing to cut a support she had agreed to cut!
Her 9 centers were well earned. Congrats, Newb. I won’t hesitate next time to pull the trigger on a really good stab!
This was a fun night that almost wasn’t. We had a no show and I was hard pressed to find a 7th player. Courtney Stahl of the Red Lion agreed to play Italy.
She was waiting on the entire restaurant by herself mind you. So giver her props next time you see her.
I was England yet again with Amber Bree of the Lion as well in her first game as France. I had given her a lesson previously in the week and she borrowed the rule book to peruse as well. In Germany Keith Amann was stationed there and we agreed upon what I thought was western triple. Though Amber failed in supporting me into into Belgium and instead bounced me.
Feigning a mistake she apologized. It took me half a season more to realize she and Keith were colluding to not outright attack me but to not work with me. After a back and forth with Russia I tried to get him onboard for a German attack and he went against me . So at this point I started moving to give Amber dots and threw it all at Russia.
Bree Oliver I gave I gave some tactical advice to but she pretty much took to the game immediately and made sure she topped the board in the last round. I hope these new players will return sometime this season.