I tried the Scatter Theory once

In an Empire1v1 as the Confederacy, I started the game with F Tennessee. Pretty sure the Union player was thinking "WTF!?"... When it went into Lake Michigan from Chicago I think he got it.

@Gopher- well I have been known to do certain "crazy" things on occasion :p
@Airborne- what exactly is the Scatter Theory?

Ever seen a successful Keystone Lepanto?

whats a keystone lepanto?

specially lined?

I pulled one off way back.

The single handedly best move I have ever pulled off was Smyrna-Denmark supported by Sweden. The following move I supported Austria into Berlin eliminating Germany from the game.

Sadly the following year Austria stabbed me and pulled off the win. Well sorta, we were planning a 2 way draw, but then I support held Paris from Austria's attack to thank him for convoying my unit to Denmark even though I had taken Spain from him the turn before that. Austria responded by taking St Petes and Rumania off me and went for the solo and won.

the pulled one off was refering to keystone lepanto

well I asked the question now I'm confused :P, what exactly is the Scatter Theory and a Keystone Lepanto?

Key Lepanto involves Austria allowing Italy to go A Ven to Tri and then A Tri to Ser to set up a better line on Turkey. I've tried it, but it's too tempting to betray Austria.

My last stab in a 4 or more player variant (3 player variants permit stabbing since 2 on 1 is unfair and uninteresing) was as Italy in a key lepanto.

The Lepanto worked, I was in Serbia and Aegean in the fall of 1901, but then Turkey offered me support into Greece and I took it.

http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/resources/strategy/articles/scatter.htm

Ahh, I have heard of that and was actually reading about that in an article a day or two ago, they just didn't call it that lol, they just said it was a variation on the lepanto

and the Scatter Theory does sound like an interesting concept
I only bring all this up because I might very well be slipping into insanity, over the past few days my mind has been creating an abomination in the name diplomacy lol

I've managed a sucessful Key Lepanto as Austria on another site - Italy and I drew 2-way. It was a norank game though, so there was less incentive to stab.

Yes I've tried it too; it's risky for Austria but it's really fun.
If it works.
Austria is in Italy's hands in the opening moves.
Moreover you must be sure that the fall_01 italian TRI-SER won't be stopped from the turkish bulgarian unit,
or the build_01 phase comes to be somewhat embarassing...

Not to be pedantic, but it's "Key" Lepanto, not "Keystone." The Key Lepanto is named after a Diplomacy player named Jeff Key, who (allegedly) first conceived of the move (more likely, first claimed ownership of it). When I read "Keystone Lepanto," I suppose it fits, because you'd have to be drunk on cheap beer ever to try it, but let's get the etymology right here, folks!

Anyway, the two "riskiest" openings I can remember doing recently were the Oktoberfest and the Slingshot.

Oktoberfest: Italy takes Munich and Tunisia in A01. Position post-builds is A Mun, A Tyl, F Rom, F Nap, F Tun. Next turn sees Italy attempt to put its units in Burgundy, Piedmont, Western Med, Tyrrhenian Sea and Tuscany; if executed right, Italy seizes Marseilles to recover from the loss of Munich, and essentially has doomed France from 1902 on.

The Slingshot is a Juggernaut form by which Turkey and Russia arrange to destroy the Russian fleet in Armenia in A01; Russia opens to Armenia, Ukraine and Sevastopol, Turkey opens to Bulgaria, Black Sea and Ankara, and then as Russia supports itself to Rumania, Turkey supports itself to Armenia. Russia retreats the fleet off the board, and if all goes well Russia has a +3. Turkey then convoys Armenia to Bulgaria as Bulgaria moves to, I dunno, Serbia or Greece. The plan involves Serbia, with Rumanian support and Austrian goofing up, but obviously that's not foolproof. Done right, though, it can be.

@PE- hmm, I take Germany signs off on the Munich move, or do you risk greatly angering him to do this?
and as for Lepantos (doesn't matter which kind), they are probably my favorite Italian strategy if pulled off correctly

As long as we're talking Lepanto, I've always been interested in trying the Blue Water Lepanto (Austrian): http://www.diplom.org/Zine/W1999A/Hand/bwl.html

I've tried to force it once, but the Italian went to CD before it could be fully enacted. :-/

Pulled off the Blue Water as Austria recently, but it required a very patient Italy who ended up not getting their fifth unit until the end of 1903.

Recently, I've tried to go all army builds in several games. It's more effective than you'd think, even on boards with a lot of sea spaces.

I dont like the Blue Water Lepanto that much...its too much based on the Russian and Turkish doing nothing :))

Oktoberfest is a variant of Rocky Lepanto, right? germany takes holland and denmark, and maybe belguim if he can manage it (so he gets the three centers without everyone else seeing him as a huge threatening leader) and then you have the option to retreat that army to either burgundy (And invade france) or silesia to punch russia up (which sits well with austria if you are facing a juggernaut) alternatively you can turn it into a stab of austria by retreating to boh...

The best i've ever pulled off was taking out france as russia before fighting germany... managed to weaken both england and france enough that they were both virtually wiped out before me and germany came to blows... (i had an exclave of three units and three supply centers in western europe almost completely cut off from the rest of russia)

re: Oktoberfest

You can choose as to whether to have Germany sanction the plan or not. It *can* make sense because the key component is Italy getting a third southern fleet, but it can probably be sold pretty easily as "Okay, obviously continuing against you is really dumb - How about you use your army in Ruhr/Belgium to support me to Burgundy and just take Munich back?"

I suppose it could be a variation on the Rocky Lepanto, except you'd have to give up the Lepanto ghost in A01 by moving your second army to Venice in prep for the S02 attack into Piedmont. I think it's better to have the second army in Tyrolia in A01 because it gives you more options than Venice.

re: Blue Water

Terrible opening. The plain old conventional Lepanto with Austria getting Greece is so much more effectively. Assuming A-I can even have the high level of trust needed to pull it off (by no means guaranteed), Turkey can and should easily counter this by moving Ank -> Con in A01 and building F Smy. With *no* threat to Bulgaria whatsoever, it's just entirely too easy to counter.

My favorite variant is the Sev-Con Shuffle. The theory behind it is similar to the "Slingshot" Juggernaut mentioned above, but it focuses on getting the Russian Fleet into the Med.

Turkey opens to Armenia and Con, and then moves to Aegean and Sev in Fall.

Russia goes to Black Sea, Ukraine and either Sev or Galicia, with the idea of supporting themselves into Rumania in Fall. Black Sea goes into Con, which would allow it to move into Aegean in '02.

Obviously, this involves a lot of trust, but the gains in tempo can be well worth it.

anyone ever try a William and Mary, otherwise known as the Flemish Sealion?

I won a game as England once after opening with a Yorkshire Pudding.

well, my wife and I both attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA (class of '89) but that is as close as I get

Smart move 2ndWhiteLine. Most people incorrectly hold back the Yorkshire Pudding for the end game, thinking its a desert because of the 'pudding' reference. The smart Dip player knows it should be served up in autumn's opening. Just don't forget to also include the 'Pint of Bitter' in spring or it can go to hell pretty quick.