L

Land Space: A division of the board in Diplomacy that can only be occupied by an army (but see COASTAL SPACE).

Laurence’s Law: “In any game of Diplomacy, a mistake has already been made.” Wait – we haven’t adjudicated Spring 1901, yet! Yes, a mistake has already been made (in my view along the lines of: “I’m England; I must attack France!”).

LDA: Abbreviation of LIMITED DURATION ALLIANCE.

League: A series of scored games, often more than is featured in a Tournament, played out over a longer period of time than a Tournament.

Lepanto Opening, The: This is an Austro-Italian, anti-Turkish, opening which aims to get an Italian army into Syria as early as possible to undermine Turkey’s defence. Devised by Diplominati Edi Birsan, it involves Italy opening with A Ven H, A Rom-Apu, F Nap-ION; Austria order F Tri-Alb, A Bud-Ser, with A(Vie) either holding, following-up to Budapest, or moving to Galicia. In Fall 1901, Italy orders F ION C Apu-Tun, allowing them to build a second fleet. Italy orders A Ser S Alb-Gre. In Spring 1902, Italy orders F ION-EMS and F Nap-ION; Austria attempts to take the Aegean (F Gre-AEG), which may bounce with a Turkish fleet, but it’s comparatively unimportant. These moves open to way for F ION C Tun-Syr, F EMS C Tun-Syr; with an army in Syria, the A/I alliance now has the upper hand over Turkey.

Lexicon of Diplomacy, The: Forerunner of the Diplomacy A-Z, and hence THE DIPTIONARY. My name’s better.

Lie: Anything said in a game of Diplomacy. Well, no, not really. At least, it shouldn’t be. Diplomacy is about trust and relationships. Not lies. Still, often unavoidable.

Light bulb: How many Dip players does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but they don’t trust any of the others to hold the chair for them.

Light bulb moment: When you realise that you gave the wrong player your trust to hold the chair.

Limited Duration Alliance (LDA): Some alliances last the whole game *sigh*. Others last as long as it takes one player to stab the other. An LDA has a set limit to it: a certain game year; an SC limit; a target is reached, etc. Silly idea.

Little Casino: Deception but only inside the game (as opposed to BIG CASINO which involves deception outside the game).

Live game: On Playdiplomacy, a game of Diplomacy played online in which the deadlines meet those as published in the rules: fifteen minute Orders Phase, five minutes for Retreats and Winter. Games will last for a minimum of three hours and game length can be chosen. Players can also choose to end a game once the game length has ended by either selecting to move to a regular EXTENDED DEADLINE game or for the game to finish at that point; the latter results in a DIAS draw. Relies on players being onsite and active for the duration of the game (or until they’re eliminated, anyway). Notoriously hard type of game to organise with seven players!

Locked-out unit: Any unit which can’t play any significant role in a set of orders.

Lone Wolf: A player who plays Diplomacy without using alliances to any great extent, using a minimal level of communication, except to cause mistrust between players.

Long-term strategic mistake: A mistake that proves to be an error towards the end of the game. Um… examples are hard to come by but, I suppose, trusting that “Carebear”..?

Loop: When you want to move from A-B but the unit in B is likely to move to A, both with equal support, you can convoy. This is a loop.