ITALY

Italy has the mythical reputation of being the poorest performer in Diplomacy. One article I found on the web even opened with the following sentence “By most means of statistical analysis, Italy is the weakest power on the Diplomacy board”. The author didn’t give any kind of statistical evidence to prove his claim. And it are such “out-of-the-blue” claims, often found in Diploamcy articles that got me interested in Diplomacy statistics in the first place.

The facts: Italy is when taking all three Positive Results (Win, Draw, Survival) the best performing country of the seven. Italy has the lowest elimination rate and is joined leader (with Russia and France) when it comes down to Victories. So, don’t buy any more crap from sweet talking Italian leaders about being a poor and weak pizza delivery boy who just wants to sit on the fence. They are not weak and poor and they certainly don’t want to sit around. In fact, they are as devious as a Maffia Godfather and as strong as Cato’s armies when they destroyed Carthago.

What are the openings used by our green boot wearing commanders to get such fine results?

	Lepanto		Key Lepanto		Tyrolian Attack		Other Openings		Total
Win	3	10 %	4	15 %	0	0 %	0	0 %	7	6 %
Draw	11	35 %	11	41 %	5	38 %	13	28 %	40	34 %
Survival	10	32 %	6	22 %	4	31 %	18	38 %	38	32 %
Elimination	7	23 %	6	22 %	4	31 %	16	34 %	33	28 %
Total	31	100 %	27	100 %	13	100 %	47	100 %	118	100 %

Not much has changed since the 2003 update. The Key Lepanto is closing its gap with the Lepanto. The Key Lepanto when played properly results in an Italian army in Serbia by the end of 1901. In only 4 of the games the Key Lepanto was used, there were Italians in Serbia at the end of 1901. None of them getting a Solo at the end.

None of the 6 Italian 1901 attacks on the West got a positive result in the end.

	2003		2005
	Positive Results	Popularity	Positive Results	Popularity
Lepanto	57 %	30 %	77 %	26 %
Key Lepanto	72 %	19 %	78 %	23 %
Tyrolian Attack	86 %	13 %	69 %	11 %
Italian Average	62 %		72 %
Total Average	58 %		65 %

A very impressive top three. Still wondering if there are any Italian openings doing even better? Yes there are two, both variants of the classical Lepanto.

Bubbling Under	2003		2005
	Positive Results	Popularity	Positive Results	Popularity
Lepanto/Tyr var	100 %	4 %	80 %	4 %
Lepanto/Ven var	88 %	7 %	100 %	7 %
Italian Average	62 %		72 %

Italy and France being the countries with the most Solos. Seven each. How did it all happened?

Italy Solo
Name Game	Eagle Points	Name Player	Ita opening	Aus opening	Fra opening	Tur opening	Builds 1901	Leader A03
Darwin	7.00	Alfred Rodriguez	Lepanto	BG/Gal	Maginot	Bosph/Smy	1	6-EFI
Elshaug	9.00	Lasse Kaihlavirta	Key Lep	BG/Tri	Maginot	Bosph/Arm	1	7-Rus
I would stay	7.00	Nick Gibbons	Key Lep	Sarro Gambit	Burgundy	Rus Att	2	8-Ita
Live Wembley	7.50	Brian Koon	Lepanto	Hed/Houseboat	Maginot	Rus Att	1	6-Fra/Ger
Saltwater	8.33	Ric Simmons	Key Lep	BG/Gal	Houseboat	Rus Def	1	7-EGI
Shogun	13.25	Timbo Sweeney	Key Lep	BG/Gal	Eng Def/Gas	Bosph/Smy	1	8-Rus
Urusai	9.25	Ally Bain	Lepanto	SouthHedge	Maginot	Bosph/Smy	1	9-Ger

Italy got one build in 92 games (78 %). Only once Italy didn’t build a fleet. Yes, you guessed right. Timbo in Shogun was the one who build in army in Venice.

Tunis with a fleet or an army, isn’t really an issue: 2 x army, 2 x fleet, 2x Fleet to the East.

What seems to be relevant is the fact that in only three Italian Solos one of the other powers build a fleet at the borders of the Meditarenean, more or less giving away the Meditarenean to the Italians.

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This page was last updated March 29, 2005