What is war gaming about?

[FramFramson]

Never played Diplomacy but always wanted to. A friend who had played and said it was brilliant refused to play it with us 'incase it got out of hand'. That obviously made us want to play it even more. Another very tense and very stressful game is Twilight Struggle. Absolutely loved that.

Diplomacy is so, so good.

Important note for new players: Playing as Austria-Hungary is hard mode.

[Jabba]

A group of us used to play Diplomacy at school during lunchtimes with our history teacher, great game. Agree, if you got a reputation as a backstabber you didn't last long. Russia was also a pig of a country to play as IIRC.

[SteveBurt]

Austria-Hungary either goes out early or does well.
Turkey and England often survive the game but can get boxed in. Turkey in particular can be hard to break out form the corner.
Russia can win very quickly against disorganised opponents, but can also go down fast.
France is probably the easiest country to play, as it has Iberia to itself.
Germany is tricky but once it gets going can avoid most of the stalemate lines.
If you win with Italy, you are doing very well; only ever managed it once.
In order to win you also need to know where the stalemate lines on the map are, so that you can breach them before the remaining players unite to block you.

[FramFramson]

Also, the Balkans are about as much of a quagmire in Diplomacy as they are in real life... 

[Captain Blood]

Played it many many times. Was quite successful at it. Sad to admit it suits my character 
Not a game to make friends and influence people though, since it should really be called ‘Treachery’ not ‘Diplomacy’.
But totally agree - a game of pure skill and strategy, not a dice or any other random element in sight.And yes, the corner nations of England and Turkey are easiest to play, and can win well. Austria-Hungary has it the hardest in my experience, then Italy. I’ve played many games where Russia, Germany or France have won though.
But it’s a long old undertaking to give it the time it needs for striking deals and planning your stabs. And it really does need the full 7 players. The dynamic is much the poorer for playing with only 5 or 6.

Right, I really must organise another game. Haven’t played for a few years. A couple of my regular board gaming friends actually refuse to play it. They find it too stressful and upsetting 

[Elk101]

I think the player numbers was another reason we didn't play it, not enough of us. I take it it's not a Friday night BLAM game then?

[Hu Rhu]

I take it it's not a Friday night BLAM game then?

It could be. 

[Sir_Theo]

I played a few games of Diplomacy through the WebDiplomacy website. Works really well.

[Antonio J Carrasco]

I stopped playing Diplomacy (and Machiavelli!). I am unable to take well betrayal, even in a game. Neither I am able to betray someone with who I have reached an agreement. I suck at this game. Badly. And on top of that, I always became angry. So I decided, a couple of decades ago (yeah, it has been that long!) to stop playing Diplomacy. I don't regret it.

[Marine0846]

I never have played the game.
I have very few gaming friends.
Want to keep the ones I have.

[syrinx0]

I have not played Diplomacy for over 30 years. Had a group in 8th grade and the beginning of high school that played it frequently. Brutal sessions. Same group played chess constantly at school.  Sadly we broke up due to family moves over time.  Never had as much fun playing diplomacy with other groups - they tend to take it personally for some reason.  My current gaming group never plays diplomacy.  I think we are too laid back to get into it now.

[has.been]

I too haven't played Diplomacy for years (about 50!)
Post A level exams we were allowed board games. I forked out the unheard of high price of
50 shillings (£2.50) when you could get Monopoly etc for under 10 shillings (50p)

The Diplomacy time had to be reduced to a maximum of 5 minutes, even then we rarely got a full result, and used to total up the provinces of the allied camps. One game led to the total equalling
more than the number of provinces on the board. Only then did we discover that for over four hours of play the Germans had convinced BOTH big alliances that he was a loyal member. We had to give him the honours of the day. He was a Diplomat.
(Definition of a Diplomat = Someone who can tell you to, 'Go to Hell !' in such a way that you actually look forward to the journey)

[N.C.S.E]

Only then did we discover that for over four hours of play the Germans had convinced BOTH big alliances that he was a loyal member. We had to give him the honours of the day. He was a Diplomat.

I imagine that fellow has had a tremendously successful career in public life! 

[Condottiere]

Seriously though, given that the most common wargame bar none (Chess) has no dice, I think with enough cunning it is entirely possible...

As for the OP, I have no idea...

Dice Chess...

I've got a pair of CHESS=IZER™ Dice...

Has someone already mentioned Chess Boxing? One night in Bangkok...

[levied troop]

No dice?  Well cards would substitute but if you want to take away ‘random’ completely wasn’t there a committee-style game using argument/counter argument ie “I will win this melee because I gave my men a rousing speech beforehand, they have two-handed weapons and they’ve had three Weetabix for breakfast”.

Mega-games don’t always use dice either.