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'Doge' by Leo Colovini and 'Peanuts' by Heinz Meister
Games night....... 12th December ‘Diplomacy’ and ‘Lost Cities’ by Reiner Knitzia
Unusually Spiller has cried off. He is double-booked. Dicken arrives at Kendall’s armed with beer and Spicy Pringles and a Ragnar Christmas card. A generous offering on an evening where the two old adversaries will be going head to head. But that’s for later. Meanwhile there’s to be a brief look at Kendall’s birthday present from the summer (courtesy of wife Sandi). Nothing less than ‘Diplomacy’. The beginning of the rise and fall of Avalon Hill and a teenage obsession (not to be confused with Debbie Harry) for both Kendall and Dicken. Timothy (Kendall’s son) is immediately taken with the board, the components and the atmosphere – but then he is due for bed, so tough!
The only real hope of playing the great game these days is for a Ragnaring of the rules to allow more speed and less writing of orders. There is a 2 player set-up for the game, so following that Dicken plays Britain, France and Russia whilst Kendall is Germany, Austria and Turkey. Italy is neutral. A turn order is created by drawing countries randomly and play gets underway. Dicken prods a British fleet into the North Sea, Kendall’s Germans occupy Holland etc. Each country gets to do one action only and then the cycle starts again. Support is indicated by a counter, matching the country being supported being placed under the supporting army / fleet. Otherwise the game is pretty much the same as ever.
The first year (2 complete turns) comes to an end, reinforcements are placed and a second year begins. So far the familiar patterns are coming out well and amidst the carnage of 1914 Europe, there is a relative harmony. The second year doesn’t go so well. It’s soon obvious that both Russia and Germany are completely without hope, being throttled by two adversaries each. Without the secret orders there is little chance of playing a blinding move to stave off disaster. In addition the tensions created by secrecy are gone.
The game is aborted. Why anyone thought a 2 player ‘Diplomacy’could work is a moot point, but ignoring that there are suggestions for the drawing board to consider. Most notable is the idea of rolling a dice to determine the number of actions to be carried out per player in each phase of the cycle. Whether any of this would actually speed up the game is to be discovered. Game-testing with Paul and Liz is considered, but then again...... speed ?!?
And so to ‘Lost Cities’ – ‘a game that does work’, quotes Dicken eloquently enough. After the briefest of reminders of the number of cards needed, the value of bonus points etc. play commences. And this is how it goes ......
- Dicken wins game 1 – Kendall moans about his cards
- Dicken wins game 2 – Kendall moans about his cards
- Dicken wins game 3 – Kendall moans about his cards
- Dicken suggests making game 4 the last of the evening
- Kendall wins game 4 – and suggests making it first to 5 wins
- Kendall wins game 5 – Dicken moans about his cards
- Dicken wins game 6 – both players playing in all five suits (amazing!)
- Kendall wins game 7 – Kendall in just three long suits
- Kendall wins game 8 – Kendall in just three long suits, Dicken moans
- Kendall wins game 9 - Dicken moans .... graciously enough
Good stuff. Great game. How does he do it? Something to do with having to make decisions that inevitably mean shafting yourself later on. And that gives the game lots of tension from start to finish. And, recalling from many moons ago .... that’s what ‘Diplomacy’ has too.
Just time to agree to see ‘The Return of the King’ with the kids before Christmas and then Dicken is gone into the night.
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