Seeing as it’s half-term, I didn’t have any youth club to run this evening. So the usual suspects gathered at Ally’s and out came the Diplomacy board! I was hoping I’d get to play a country away from the Balkans, as that area is a nightmare. Alas, I drew Austria-Hungary out of the bag! So much for avoiding the Balkans. Anyway, I made tentative alliances with Italy, Turkey and Russia, and a pact of mutual interest with Germany. I watched to see how each country developed its policies, and strengthened and broke alliances as was necessary. Before I knew it, I’d carved up Turkey between Italy and myself, and shared Russia with England and Germany. I’m not sure who was the more crafty of the players, but Germany and England made an interesting alliance for the others to contend with! As with all games of Diplomacy I’ve ever played, we never actually finished it, but there was ample interest in the mechanics of the game, and in the interactions of the players, that this didn’t matter. The state of play at the close of play left three main powers, England, Germany and Austria-Hungary vying for domination. There’s more to some people than meets the eye!