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- Verified Buyer
The Gibson Games Diplomacy Board Game is the very best version of this classic board game and should be used as the standard version for all to play...It has a high quality, high visibility board with colorful solid plastic pieces ..This game is for hardcore board gamers and it can take 5 to 8 hours to play ,easily ..But the game can also be paused and continued for another day just as easily , just take a picture of the board and the last orders given by each country and save them for the next week or day and the game can start where it left off..Some people even play the game by email...Once you understand the game and play it a few times it becomes addictive..This is NOT a game of luck or chance, there are no random cards or dice rolls used in this game ,this is a game of pure skill and perhaps some ruthlessness and deception .And yes , you may lose friends playing this game.The design is great. Physical plastic pieces, easy visibility, etc. This is the reason I bought it.Quality is poor, the box is difficult to open, the board is thick, but the map that's glued to the board is easy to separate from the cardboard if you're not careful folding it up.In the future, when I'm more familiar with the game I'll probably be buying a different version. The cardboard pieces for the units in other versions might be preferable so you could stick them on the board with tack and hang up the board somewhere to finish the game later.I am not here to review the gameplay, if you want that kind of review look at the reviews of Avalon Hill's diplomacy.The reason I got this version rather than the Avalon Hill version is because I wanted colorful plastic pieces, rather than cardboard pieces. The plastic pieces are are good. The board is good but feels slightly flimsier compared to our risk board for example. The box itself and the plastic inside that keeps everything in place is not made very well compared to most games, so that would be my only complaint.I was hoping to find some smaller maps and paper to write orders on, which I think come with other versions of the game, but don't come with this version. In the box you will find: the plastic which holds everything in place, the pieces, the rule book, and the board.This is by far the best board game I have ever played! The tactics, the negotiations, the backstabbing made this the most fun game I have played in my life! The only reason I’m not giving this product a full 5 stars is the quality of the board itself. After a few games the middle of the board started peeling and I’m worried that the condition of it will worsen. I might have to order another copy just for the board even though I just paid 40 bucks and have only played about 3 games. Other that I would recommend this game to anybody.I own three different versions of Diplomacy boards and this is the best Diplomacy board game version on the market by far. People are throwing their money away by spending money on the other versions when this one gives you actual plastic pieces as army / fleet, is properly color coded and easy for new players to understand.The bright colors on this board makes you WANT to play this game, as opposed to the other versions where the colors are dull. Honestly this is THE BEST version out there in the market so there is no reason to get the other ones.Great classic game with tactile pieces. I was considering buying the cheaper version with the cardboard cut outs, but I decided on this and am very happy with the outcome. The pieces and the board are great colors, my only complaint is that some of the writing on the map can be difficult to read if not under a light. No paper for writing orders is provided in this version, but a useful instruction manual is included. Overall, I highly recommend this game for anyone who can find people to play it with; it's truly a lot of funNice set. Cool old timey board design with mid-century illustrations. Could have used some extra maps for diplomacy sessions, but that's easily overcome. Plastic pieces, but they are totally fine. Arrived way earlier than expected!Literally not enough game pieces to play the game with 7 people. Bonus! No pieces to track if you've taken a supply center so no in game way to show who owns what.I've bought some mistakes before - but a new game in wrap without enough pieces to play said game is the new high (low?) of errors.This review is for the quality of the materials only - and not for the game as a game.Gibsons Games seem to be the cheap and cheerful type (see their version of 221b Baker Street Sherlock Holmes for another example) and their version of Diplomacy is no exception.The materials are cheap and so is the price of the game - that seems fair enough.Positive:Gibsons Games make some affordable games.Negative:The board - being so cheap - has very bad warping and bending, straight out of the box. From the table-top to the top of the warped board is almost 15mm (photos attached)With such a warp the pieces tend to not stay where they are placed! But by placing a flat and heavy weight on top of the board for a day or two hopefully the warp will become flatter.The colours are cheerful but maybe a bit too childish for such a game, but presumably this helps to keep the cost down.The Board is classic to this game but a bit childish again - there is a newer version of Diplomacy with more muted and appropriate colours but let down by having cardboard playing pieces! This Gibsons game with it's plastic pieces is preferable, personally.Overall I am happy with this purchase - provided that the board-warp is lessened.I admit I'd never heard of this game until stumbling upon a review by chance a couple of years ago. That's probably a good thing, as otherwise my youth would have been even more misspent!The wonderful concept whereby there are no dice but everyone moves where he/she wants means that there is no luck involved - apart from which Great Power you are allocated to represent at the beginning. It reminds me a bit of chess but, whereas chess is a solitary game, in which you pit your wits against a single opponent, Diplomacy is a very social one, where it is important to speak to all the other players. The trouble is, instead of having just one opponent trying to outwit you, you have six! It's also a little like Risk (mainly because it's about conquering territory) but without the lottery of dice rolling. When you add the elements of suspense, intrigue and sheer horror when the 'ally' you've been helping for six years stabs you in the back it makes a wonderful game.Another positive thing mentioned by others is the educational value of this game. Not only is it a great way of developing your diplomatic skills, it can give younger players a basic idea of the power struggles between the European empires in the years leading up to the First World War. In fact, it's very clever how each Great Power in the game really does mirror its real-life counterpart. For example, England, the only island power, is strong defensively but is predominantly naval-based and finds it difficult to get armies onto the continent. Germany and Austria, however, are more land-based but have the problem of being in the middle and consequently surrounded by potential enemies.Like some others though, I'm baffled by the occasional negative comments, so this will hopefully help potential customers:It's too long. Yes, it's long game, but you don't have to play it at one sitting. I play it with my family and we simply take a photo of the board with a phone, as a record of where the pieces were, and carry on at a later date. Easy.The rules are complicated. The basic rules are actually quite simple. There are just a few technicalities that can arise occasionally that require a deeper understanding of the rules but these can be resolved by a simple Google search, which inevitably leads to the solution on one of the many Diplomacy-related websites. Once you've played Diplomacy a few times you'll pick up the more tricky bits. My daughter has been playing it since the age of nine, so it's not exactly rocket science.You need a lot of players. This is true - to appreciate the game at its best a full house of six or seven makes a perfect game. However, it's possible to play with less players, as each simply takes control of two Powers instead of one.The pieces are made of cardboard. No they aren't! Whoever posted that must have bought the current US version of Diplomacy which does, unfortunately, have cardboard pieces. This UK version by Gibson's Games has plastic playing pieces - bullets for armies and ships for fleets.There are also some other differences between the two versions:The colours of some Powers vary - England is dark blue in US, pink in UK - Russia is white in US, mauve in UK - Austro-Hungary is red in US, brown in UKThe game boards are different - the US one is more detailed, with terrain included, whereas the UK version is more of a coloured political map, with retro illustrations.The US rule book is more detailed and includes handy diagrams and examples. However, it's readily available to download online as a pdf, so you could just buy the cheaper UK game and print off a copy of the US rule book for nothing.The US version includes Supply Centre markers. These are handy, particularly for new players, to record who controls each territory. It's a shame that they aren't included in the UK version. However, it's very easy to make your own, if you want them, by printing photos of the imperial flags onto thin card and punching them out with a 1cm punch.I hope this is helpful and encourages more people to buy this fantastic game.It's all fine, except for the fact that they only give you eight armies and eight fleets in the set!!You don't have to know much about Diplomacy to know you win the game by getting 18 supply centres. So you literally CANNOT win the game without running out of pieces...I know you can just use the colour of one of the dead empires once your own colour runs out, but come on... This seems like they have not covered the basics... They're just little pieces of mass-produced coloured plastic. Why couldn't they just have given us double the pieces?Everything else in the box is fine.Fun and highly competitive game, shame that very few people actually appreciate its complexityGot this game as a present. After reading some lower star ratings I am surprised by the reasoning. Yes it does take a bit to understand the rules but not hours and hours. It is a fun game to play and can be left for a while before turning back to it. The only thing is it says it is the only game where luck plays no part. Well it does not with the exception of where you start, as some starting points are definitely better than others.
