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Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

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Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#11

Post by tomgp »

regus wrote: post #6

I’ve always wanted to play this, however a few things hold me back. Experience has thought me that it is very difficult to wrangle a lot of people to play complicated games. Simple party games are easy, but the moment you try to explain anything complicated to a large group all their eyes glaze over. Then there is the issue of the extreme play length. The people in my play group will complain if something takes an ho…

When I've played it I've played it with my DnD group and playing it as roleplay can take the sting out of a lot of that. But yeah, it can be tough. Twilight Imperium can have a lot of the same diplomacy fun but feels less edgy -- the downside being it's quite a bit more complex.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#13

Post by jefftk »

My favorite way to play is one move a week, and getting together in person for half an hour before and after the moves. It's hard to set aside enough time to run the game straight through in one sitting, and as people keep getting kicked out it's awkward socially.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#14

Post by monocasa »

We played this in college, but with a couple twists. We had probably 30 people playing separated into the seven teams. Each week, we'd execute one round of orders on Friday evening followed by drinks.

Really upped the intrigue as the time scales better matched real diplomacy. Plus the distinction of having to balance internal and external politics better matches real life diplomatic tradeoffs. "What you're saying makes sense, but I'm not sure I can sell that to our ruling council" was something you'd hear a lot. Teams also got really into their countries going so far as basically cosplaying at the end. There was also enough people playing that we were able to keep a regular cadence; it didn't really matter if even a whole team couldn't make it one Friday because they'd get a whole week to get their next orders in. The actual execution was more ceremony than where the main mechanics of the game occurred.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#15

Post by dang »

If curious, past threads:

The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18159770 - Oct 2018 (71 comments)

Backstabbr: A modern web interface for the classic board game Diplomacy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8468378 - Oct 2014 (63 comments)

The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7913183 - June 2014 (153 comments)

Others?

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#16

Post by NikolaeVarius »

regus wrote: post #6

I’ve always wanted to play this, however a few things hold me back. Experience has thought me that it is very difficult to wrangle a lot of people to play complicated games. Simple party games are easy, but the moment you try to explain anything complicated to a large group all their eyes glaze over. Then there is the issue of the extreme play length. The people in my play group will complain if something takes an ho…

This is the kind of game you play in TableTop groups, not with some random friends at an arbitrary time.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#17

Post by snarf21 »

regus wrote: post #6

I’ve always wanted to play this, however a few things hold me back. Experience has thought me that it is very difficult to wrangle a lot of people to play complicated games. Simple party games are easy, but the moment you try to explain anything complicated to a large group all their eyes glaze over. Then there is the issue of the extreme play length. The people in my play group will complain if something takes an ho…

Reach out to me, I've designed a card based version that plays 3-6 and about 15 minutes per player. It is super solid but I'd always love more feedback.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#18

Post by snarf21 »

andrewzah wrote: post #3

I wish I had known about this game in college. Getting 7 adults together for 8+ hours is nearly impossible now. I got to play this with 7 people exactly once. It was amazing.

Reach out to me, I've designed a card based version that plays 3-6 and about 15 minutes per player. It is super solid but I'd always love more feedback.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#19

Post by BucketsMcG »

We got a game of this going in work once. Once.

We played in teams of two, so that at least one partner would have time to meet with the other players for negotiations. The moves took place last thing on a Friday, so you had all week to do your scheming. Then we'd all grab a beer and gather round the board to watch the skulduggery.

About two thirds of the way through it came out that one team had bribed another with actual cash money before the first turn had even been played. This news didn't go down at all well (although I was quite relieved as we were taking a pounding and had resorted to employing Nixon's "madman theory" in an attempt to buy ourselves some breathing space).

We decided we'd best abandon the game before we came to blows.

10/10 can't recommend enough.

Re: Diplomacy: The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds (2014)

#20

Post by michaelmior »

monocasa wrote: post #14

We played this in college, but with a couple twists. We had probably 30 people playing separated into the seven teams. Each week, we'd execute one round of orders on Friday evening followed by drinks. Really upped the intrigue as the time scales better matched real diplomacy. Plus the distinction of having to balance internal and external politics better matches real life diplomatic tradeoffs. "What you're saying mak…

In grad school we did something fairly similar when a new faculty member suggested it as a team building exercise...I'm not sure how well it worked :)
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