My Friends play Diplomacy: Italy

Alright this is the 4th edition in this series and it is time to take on the player who soared the highest and crashed the hardest. That would be Italy. No one player did more to win the game for themselves than Italy did. They also do the most to lose the game. It was not a pretty sight when things started to turn for them. Well we are going to dig in and find the reasons why things worked and what was the ultimate downfall for Italy.

Italy opens and gets a good break by having Austria not do anything. Oddly one friend forgot the game was starting and apparently did not check his phone. This both helps and hurts Italy because it removed any conflict with Austria but also removes one of Italy's best potential ally. We'll see how this goes for Italy. There is no conflict with France both went there separate ways keeping Pie unoccupied.

Great first year for Italy, grab Tun, and Tri so having two builds to start and a great to being a major power in this game. France and Germany both seem to be occupied in the North which is nice. The concern would be Turkey Russia teaming up because without Austria as the front line buffer it would be hard to stop them. The opening of them not going to BLA would be a worry but Russia taking an extra army North means it is not as troubling as it could have been.

The two fleet build is interesting. Now the moves here do not make the most sense. I am not sure how moving to Apu helps, same with going Rom to VEN instead of Tys since you want an Army in Pie not the fleet. I like the bounce in Ser, really messed with Turkey's plans. The move to Tyr puts them in a good situation to grab a build in the next year. Controlling the ION is a strong hold could put them in a position to make a quick move on Turkey.

The moves this year are why I did not understand why the moves with the fleets. He could have accomplished the same end results in the spring and now could be putting additional pressure on Turkey by moving to EAS and either Nap or Tys to ION. It would have given him control in the South and the only worry would be the French fleet that really needs to get North before England rolls them. At least he continues the elimination of Austria as he grabs Vie.

It seems like Italy and Russia tried to get on the same page. I think I would have convoyed Tun to Alb to position myself to take on Turkey better on the internal countries. The deciding factor is who Russia sides with. Turkey probably has the advantage since there is the established relationship but Italy in the short term has more to offer. Still the game is shaping up nicely.

This it the turn that shows that Turkey has no clue what they are doing and really opened the door for Italy. Italy was able to convince Russia to take it's deal which helped them to grab Ser. Italy is being hurt by France being an dumb, they should have went to either Spa with Mar or Wes. This turn broke really well for them as both Turkey and France should fall rather quickly leaving them with the ability to start to pressure the other players.

Now they have the game in the palm of their hands. With some quick moves of their fleets they should be able to claim two thirds of Turkey and Mar and Spa in the next two years. That momentum may be enough to send them to victory since it is unlikely the other players will have noticed Italy has 2 possibly 3 centers across the likely stalemate line and England would be unable to hold back the armies. I think they are in a really strong position here.

Almost all I said about Italy I take back. I think the move was Ion to AEG and have Russia take Conp preferably from Con and use Gre to support Ser to Con with Russian agreement, its fair both get 1 but I am not sure what the diplomacy to reach this point was so that might have gone against another deal. The other side of the map is the issue, yes France is playing poorly and it makes sense to try and elminate them but it makes no sense to let England take the extra Center. This was a great time to reach out to France and say Listen I will support Mar H, if you take your fleet to MAO and disband Mar in the build phrase. My moves would have then been Tun to Wes and Tus to LVO and try to let France cause Choas while preventing England from getting to strong.

I think Italy realizes what they should have done the last time and now moves in position against England. If they were already in the right spot they could continue to bounce England from Mar while trying to get to Mao themselves. Why go to MAO in this situation instead of capturing Spain? It's simple once Italy has the fleet in Mao Spa and Por cannot be held by England so the likely result is Endland bounces with it's fleet in Por and they can get support from the English fleet in Bre (if they followed the plan I outlined above the last year which should allow for the quick fall of England and possible France returning to some power. All that being said in the next year grab Spa, Por and Mar. The builds this year should have come from the South in Turkey and seriously why not just support ION to AEG from Greece, it would have been the same board. Yeah, this is just dumb, bad play.

Did Italy seriously do the same thing with Gre and AEG. How do you make the same mistake twice? I think I would have used Wes to take Spa, but that isn't the biggest deal, I understand what he is thinking using Lyo. It would let him go to MAO last year if he wanted to.

Italy still can't figure out how to get to AEG, this is basically a comedy. He could be waltzing to victory but he can't make a really simple move. Grabbing Mar is nice and he has a the makings of a pretty solid wall if he wants. A fleet in Naf would close things off for England. He still has a chance to win but he throw away the major advantage he had.

Well that is the end of France and Turkey and any advantage Italy built has been equalized. It will really matter on the turn against Russia but it is a lot harder now that Russia has all of Turkey. It will be interesting to see when they do it and if they can get in position to make a major stab while weakening Germany.





Okay, I get what they are trying to do, put the death knell on Germany but they already have two across the only stalemate line that would come up. They can play defensive and just take on Russia and win the game. I do like them being bold through so I can't fault it.

Well this is not great but it is okay. It would have been nice to see Italy and Russia position themselves better to take out Germany, as I am assuming that is the plan. Could I be wrong yes, but if it is not, than this was a horrible turn.




Setting up the alliance to take on Germany, if last year was a fail this one is a major success. I would have like to position myself, if I was Italy to take more of Russia, mainly part of Turkey but that is unlikely this turn without throwing up red flags to Russia. I don't know what they are thinking but part of it has to be after destroying Germany I need to be able to get Russia. The West seems to be the standard back and forth as the past few years. It be nice to have 1 more fleet to seal it off from England but should be able to hold them off. 

This was almost a game winning turn. If they would have supported Mar with Pie they could have won this game pretty easily. The Army in Mun could have been used to get into France and drive England out before they could do much damage with their fleets. Build two fleets and 1 army and boom England cannot get past anymore. Losing Mar does not allow support to SPA or Bur. I guess the focus was so much on Mun he failed to realize the advantage having MAR would be. This is a horrible move.



I would have built two fleets to take the battle England and hold the line against Russia and Germany. Let Germany or Russia beat each other back and move around to grab Turkey while playing England to a stalemate. That is clearly not the plan. I am not sure why the retreat was not to Kie, but that is a question for another day.

I don't want to keep pointing to past mistakes but if they still had MAR, England would not have been able to take Spa. All the problems are from that mistake. I do like that everything Italy does is aggressive. They are playing to win, but without unsound tactics that is a good way to lose. They can turn it around and by conning Russia again they are showing they have some cards left to play.



Personally here I probably would have taken Tun and tried to go to Wes with support from Lyo and moved ION to Tun. It would have bounced everything but I was expecting England to use Wes again to Support Naf to Tun and I want to get rid of that fleet and combined with the move to Tys it would have dislodged the unit and put Italy back in the drivers seat. If England did the same moves it would have made certain Italy did not lose a center to England this turn. In the Turkey part of the game I would have moved Rum to Bul and Bul to AEG, expectation I would lose Rum this turn so I need to position myself to take Con this year to cancel it out. Bul would have bounced and retreated into Ser. Italy is probably in a better position for them here since the next move of my plan would rely on a lot of luck and reading the players style throughout the game. I think I likely would have done AEG to SMY, Ser to Bul, Bud to Rum, Vie to Bud, but without looking at the map, I can't be sure. The goal would be to stay neutral with Russia this year.

Taking ION to EAS? that is not a good idea, did they forget about the English fleets? I have no clue what they were thinking. Taking Rum back is nice but I am surprised that after Russia was so aggressive the turn before they laid off this year. That ION is a game losing move. I have not clue what they were thinking. 


I take back what I said about the last turn. This is filled with game losing turns I am not even sure I understand what they were trying to accomplish, besides protect center. It is like exact repeat of the last spring except England is more powerful and they have no answers. A ION fleet could have solved a lot of questions shame it is gone to Turkey to take a center that should have been Italy's 5 years ago!

Um, last turn it was protect Nap at all cost and this time you don't even bother with it. Bounce it with Rom and ION. Of all the major mistakes made this is the most obvious. I mean Italy made some crafty moves in this game, it is surprising they made so many bonehead moves as well.




At this point Italy is in major trouble. Really they are just playing things out unless Germany turns on England. Now that they lost Naples there is little chance they can hold England off unless England makes a mistake.

Yep England is going to pick them apart now while they let Russia take some spots back. They could sniff Russia out and just fold to England but every thing seems like a panic move the last 3 turns so I think they are ready to meet their fate under the English rule.





That England mistake is still possible and they are showing it by going after Adu, I don't understand why Italy keeps displacing Russia into an Italy controlled center. It has happen like 3 times and it just keeps give Russia life. Gal is not doing anything it should either push to UKR or protect BUD. I know the problem is Germany but at this point you need to convince them to balance out England and you can eliminate Russia for a three way tie, best hope.

Really stupid move going Rum to UKR, I am at a lost for words, I see no way this makes sense.



Italy is still really dumb but they can't win now. Even if Germany turned that might just be enough for them to solo instead of England who is making mistakes but mistakes that extend the game not lose it to Italy based on the difference in strength now.

Just hide out in Syr, yep that seems exactly like this player. What's the point they gave up already.

So many whys for Italy doing this game and I think this is the last one. Why not support Rum and Sev holds? IT's not like you can actually do anything at this point.

Yep, Italy is done. It was fun watching you play. It may not have been smart play but it certainly was entertaining.


The only question is Germany or England. Germany can and should win from this layout. Italy and Russia are just waiting to be eliminated, fitting they both lose at the same time since it was a lot of them not getting on the same page.

It surprises me every time I can't believe Germany just gave England the game.
For Italy they made some bonehead moves but they played to win. That cannot be said about everyone in the game. That is admirable even when it is misguided. They had some good moves but the bad ones where just too much to overcome. Watching them play is fun because it does have some elements of chaos to it.