Nelson Flynn’s road back to the Diplomacy hobby has been a rocky one. It started last year when he stumbled upon the infamous Grantland article. That read rekindled fond memories from the 1970s of playing the game at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey and then at Field Station Berlin.
"We used to love talking about the game in Berlin," Flynn says. "’I’m moving an army to Ruhr.’ We knew the Russians and the East Germans were listening."
A few years later, while studying law at Northwestern in Chicago, he dabbled in the postal hobby. But then came a career as a bond lawyer in Wisconsin, and the Dip hobby was largely forgotten…until the Grantland article.
He started Googling Diplomacy, found the Weasels, and eagerly signed up for Weasel Moot. In three games, he was eliminated in 1903, 1906 and 1904. Welcome back, Mr. Flynn.
After that beating, I figured we had seen the last of him, but a month later, he came back for the Weasel Pyle…and was knocked out in 1904. Once again, I figured that would be it. Then a couple of weeks ago, he contacted us to say that he was coming to CODCon and that he wanted to tune up by playing in today’s game in Downers Grove.
When the game is in your blood, it’s in your blood.
Today, Flynn’s resilience and persistence were finally rewarded. He played a great game as Germany to top his first board with the Weasels. Game No. 265 ended by draw vote during the Fall 1910 turn in the following center counts:
Austria (Amanda Baumgartner): 6; 14.400 points.
England (Kevin O’Kelley): 0; 0.000 points.
France (Scott Soren; Dan Burgess in Spring 1908): 4; 0.000 points.
Germany (Nelson Flynn): 10; 40.000 points.
Italy (Matt Sundstrom): 7; 19.600 points.
Russia (Chris Cantine): 7; 19.600 points.
Turkey (Jim O’Kelley): 0; 0.000 points.
Check out the supply center chart here. Perhaps the players will share their thoughts. It was a fun game with lots of back and forth across the board.
Next up is another Red Wednesday game next week. Help us make two boards.
