It was purely by chance that I happened to stumble across the news of the As the Grand Poobah of the Diplomacy hobby, and the Lead Editor of Diplomacy World, I carry power within the gaming community undreamed of in most lands. I can crush an enemy with a wave of my hand…players line up outside my door with promises of allegiance in order to gain my favor or, if in any way possible, to ally with me in a game of Diplomacy. Of course, for someone to be my ally is akin to being a slave or servant; in Diplomacy jargon, a toady. Jack McHugh, our new DW Variant Editor, is my Chief Toady and Head Muckety Muck, and he is in charge of maintaining my stables of lesser toadies, from each smaller hobby group, all over the globe.

So, you'd think that with all this awesome power, and the legions of zombies who follow my every command, that I'd get a free copy of the new Diplomacy set, just released by Avalon Hill owned by Wizards of the Coast (who is then owned by Hasbro). Maybe even a case of sets, with which I could hatch nefarious schemes and - like a young Bobby Fischer - play fifty simultaneous games, being victorious in all of them? You think I'd have a shipment from Avalon Hill waiting at my door the same day the game hit the shelves. To quote the late great John Belushi: but nooooooooooooooooooooooo!

So screw it, I bought myself a few. And now I'll try to give you the details on what you can expect if you do the same.

The Box: Typical gaming quality, nothing special but a nice job nonetheless. Appealing design, featuring a wood-paneled room, complete with hunting trophies, cigars, brandy snifters, and three diplomats conferring in the corner. I also appreciate the prominent display of the Avalon Hill name, for us old timers who always associate Diplomacy with AH (or GDW if you go back that far). The bottom of the box features the same photo as the Diplomacy ad we ran in DW last issue, which includes the cardboard playing pieces. Overall it feels sturdy, and not especially prone to the corner-tears many boxes suffer.

Components: When you open the box you find five items. At the bottom is simply a one-piece parts tray designed simply to keep your pieces from slipping under everything into the true box bottom. The raised edge of the tray makes the other components fit snugly to the box top, which is another nice feature, as it will help avoid the top being crushed if something sits on top of it.

Next are the rulebook, and the board, both to be discussed later. You have a 20-page pad of conference maps, which are simply smaller representations of the board itself. It's always nice to have extras, and not only do you get 20, they are printed on both sides, so you have 40 in total. This way if somebody takes it upon themselves to mark one up in pen, you're not screwed when it comes time to play again. I haven't tried it, but it appears that light pencil should erase without damaging the printing.

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