M

Majority of units on the board: One-time victory criterion. Not very useful. Imagine reaching 18 SCs and not being able to build that 18th unit? Or losing a game because you had to disband a unit and this left a player on 17 SCs while the rest of the board could only muster 16?

Maltese Falcon: A rule used on Playdiplomacy that was aimed at handling the online equivalent of a FLYING DUTCHMAN or dealing with a bug in the programming. The online version might happen if a bug prevented the correct removal of a unit, meaning that a player had more units on the board than they should have. If a different error was made following a bug, the same principle was applied. The principle was that, if the error was not seen or acted upon until after another deadline, given that players’ orders had been revealed, then the error would remain in place until it was corrected by game play. The philosophy behind this was that, once a player’s orders had been revealed, so had their intentions, and although the game might be rolled back and corrected, the knowledge of what players had done couldn’t be. I’ve named the rule after the country in which the company that owned Playdip was situated (Malta) and the falcon which, being a bird, can fly, like the ‘Dutchman’ of FTF Diplomacy (and much more effectively than any Netherlander I’ve known!).

ManorCon: At one time, one of the two big Dip Cons in the UK.

Map errors: There are a number of errors on the Diplomacy board (well, the original, I’m not sure about the later ones). Perhaps the most infuriating for some are the names: England for Britain is a big one; Rumania instead of Romania (Rome could be called Lazio, I suppose); and Gulf of Lyons (like Marseille, Lyon doesn’t have an ‘S’ at the end) – it should be the Gulf of Lion (or Lions).

Maritime Triple alliance: An alliance featuring England, Italy and Turkey, the three powers most likely to fight a maritime (sea-based) campaign.

Mark Berch Report, The: Any name for a boring, none Diplomacy related space-filler in a Dipzine. Named after Mark Berch, a Diplominati who was, apparently, sincerely interested in what the weather was like when people wrote to/for him.

Medal of Diplomacy: A spoof set of awards. Gold – Get your stab in first. Silver – Cover your ass. Bronze – Smile at your neighbours (or be very pleasant to them if you’re playing Remotely).

Mediterranean Triple: Alliance featuring France, Italy and Turkey.

Medium: The method used to play Diplomacy. In-person: FTF, vFTF; Remote: PBM (Play-by-Mail or Postal), PBEM (email), PBF (Play-by-Forum or any other forum-like play), Extended Deadline (XD or online – using Dip sites), and App Dipomacy (which is all-but gone). See also FORMAT.

Meet: A get-together of Diplomacy players to, well, play Diplomacy. Might be part of a convention, tournament, or league, or simply a place to play a game or two, and maybe even teach the game.

Megadip: A rather boring game within the Hobby where some people are more interested in worrying about who has what role, who is friendly with whom, and the state of feuds than they are about the Hobby itself.

Merry-Go-Round: The rotation of three units, swapping spaces, eg F ENG-Bre, F Bre-MAO, F MAO-ENG.

Metagame: Anything that is outside of a game that affects the game. Scoring a game can affect the way players play the game, for instance.

Metagaming: Playing in a way that brings something from outside a game into the game; eg playing as a team, cross-game play, continually allying with the same player.

Mid-game: The part of a game of Diplomacy which isn’t the EARLY GAME or the ENDGAME. And that’s the best definition you’ll get. I tend to define it as when a power is eliminated or reduced enough to have no significant role, and the allies that forced this situation now have to consider what they’re going to do; in other words, when an area of the board is resolved. This means that one area of the board might enter the Mid-game while the other is still at odds.

Ministab: A stab should really be Machiavellian: “If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.” A ministab is when a small move – pinching one SC, for example – is played in the hopes that the ally is not going to launch a counter-attack.

Misdirection: Not out-and-out lying but giving the impression that you’ll do something you don’t actually do. Might prevent the other player from being able to label you a liar, but really doesn’t hide the fact that they won’t trust you again (or shouldn’t – you never know).

Mistake: Any form of error, obviously. However, there is a category list for different types of mistake: Dumb Mistake, Tactical Mistake, Short-term Strategic Mistake, and Long-term Strategic Mistake (all have been defined in the appropriate pages). This was formulated by a PBEM player, Robert Rehbold (and should probably be called ‘Rehbolds’).

Modern Borders Opening, The: Andrew Goff’s opening in which Austria cedes Trieste to Italy in return for the security and strength of an Austro-Italian alliance.

Move (order): An instruction given to a playing piece in Diplomacy: the piece attempts to move from the space it occupies to a neighbouring space or, if combined to a Convoy order, to cross a sea space to another land space.

Movement: The action of a unit ordered to Move.

Movement Phase (1): Alternative name for the Diplomacy Phase.

Movement Phase (2): When a separate phase is included, an alternative name for the Adjudication Phase.

MS: Abbreviation for Mutually Supports.

Multi-Accounting: Using more than one online account in a single game.

Mutually Supports: An order whereby two units can be ordered to support each other to hold. Instead of writing A Mun S Ruh H, A Ruh S Mun H the player would write A(Mun) MS A(Ruh).

Mutual Puppet: When two players hand control of one unit to each other, eg France gives control of a northern fleet to England, while England gives control of a continental army to France.