I try to avoid long presses, but I would like to lend a few pearls of wisdom that I have gleaned during my play over the years, not that many really. You will get stabbed, take it as a foregone conclusion. It is going to hurt. But that is part of the game. No matter how you play it, someone is going to stab you. You are going to stab someone else. You may even really like the other player, and know them personally. It is going to hurt both you and them. But that is also part of the game. There are going to be bruised feelings, because someone got stabbed, go figure. You do not play in a vacuum. This one took me a while to understand. What this means is, notice who you are playing against. darylrdavis@verizon.net (me) is Austria, you know this from the top of the press messages. People do pay attention to who you are and what you do. That is when #3 really comes to play. If Glen remembers playing against me in a previous game where I did some serious stabbing, he may not be happy with me, and may want to just destroy me from the get go. Tactics, tactics, tactics. Learn how to move your pieces. You think that fleet sitting off your coast can't do much damage? Wait till it convoys a troop onto your land, and you can't stop it by bouncing it. A convoy continues even if you bounce a convoying fleet. Surprise. Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy. The art of smiling at someone's face while stabbing him in his back. You need to talk to the other players. A hello note, at least. You deserve the same. There is more than one way to communicate… your moves will tell it all. A big name means nothing. Seeing Chris Babcock on the board is just the same as seeing Big Bird. He still has the same hurdles you have to get over at the beginning of the game you do, maybe higher. The playing field is about as level as it always is in this game. Don't play too many games at once. This is tempting, especially if you have a game or two in a lull. Then all of the sudden you have 15 on the USAK judge, one on the Droidippy and possibly a couple of others, all demanding full press, and you want to talk about confusion. Been there done that. I find having 3 or 4 games going a good average for me, as long as one is no press, and when one is going to go out, that is when I sign up for another one. Do not consider a replacement position a complete loss at the start. Even if it is only an Army at TUN, try to turn it to your advantage, try to stay alive till the end. keep your games organized, create the subfolders in your email and rules to keep them straight. It will help in the long run. Keep thread on hand for the stitches, and just try to have fun! Daryl R Davis (darylrdavis@verizon.net) If you wish to e-mail feedback on this article to the author, and clicking on the envelope above does not work for you, feel free to use the "Dear DP..." mail interface.