A Special Christmas Edition of the Briefing! 🎁🔔🎄

A Merry Christmas from Your Friends at the Briefing

Stabbing Bells

Dashing through the board,
Crushing all my foes,
Causing much discord,
And treading on their toes.

This is not a dream,
Since grabbing lots of dots,
And making bad guys scream,
Is giving me the hots.

Oh! Stabbing bells, stabbing bells,
Clang with howls of pain.
Watch and learn as I triumph,
And crush you all again!

I wish that this were true,
It's definitely not.
I feel a sense of doom,
Since neighbours won't be bought.

I know I want to be a
Mighty Dip hotshot,
But when you're stuck with Austria,
Then hope is all you've got.

Oh! Austria, Austria,
You know when you're screwed.
You can deal with one neighbour,
But not with three or two.

Originally Published in the Diplomatic Pouch

Gather around friends to hear a tale that has never been forgotten by those who lived it. It was the Season 1 finals of the Nexus server. Over 130 players had competed in this tournament and now the top seven players were locked in a battle for the crown.

It was Spring 05, and the board had settled into a face off of two alliances: Germany/France and Russia/Italy. Both were working feverishly to eliminate the corner powers.

All was calm that Christmas Eve. I as France had been urging Italy to backstab his ally Russia. My hope was to keep my ally Germany from losing Munich and break up I/R. The deadline was close and in the last 5 minutes, Italy wrote back and said, "No deal; I'm too loyal." The moves resolved and this happened...

He had completely played me. Russia just so happened to be an Italian, and later he recounted how he had gone to Mass that evening and woke up to a crippling stab from his ally. Here's hoping that your games were not quite as fatal.

Merry Christmas!

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