The excitement. The anticipation. The wonder. The-- Oh %&$(at)! HE DID NOT PICK THAT CENTER! I'm hosed! I'm screwed! I'm screwed! We haven't even made it to Round 2, and I'm screwed!
Yeah. Prepare yourselves
First of all, the color key and official player list in the format of:
Player Name - Color (Pattern)
Nathan Edwards - Red (Random)
Loki Falcon - Navy (Stripe)
Warren Fleming - Green (Flood)
Michael Hoffman - Crimson (Horiz)
Philip King - Black (ThinDiag)
Alex Maslow - Olive (Quilt)
Michael Penner - Forest (Diag)
John Reside - White (Gray)
You will note: you maybe didn't get your color choice. Or pattern. I broke ties randomly, and I randomly assigned patterns to those who did not voice a preference. I will not give any advantage in SC choice to players who did not get their color/pattern choice.
Now that you see what you've got, if you do not like your color or pattern... we can change it. So long as nobody else has claimed it. Just let me know what you'd like instead.
A couple of other items. I am your GM:
Adam Martin-Schwarze - Many Colors (Crazy-Quilt)
Anarchy has a game number: DC 345. Likewise, we have a forum on the website, which has an email address of
And now, the unveiling of your draft (and if I spin this out, it's only because ceremony and anticipation demand that I do so)...
Six SCs were not named on *any* preference list, including Sweden, which would probably have been #1 on your GM's list (though I also fancied Smyrna, Spain, Edinburgh, Berlin, Greece, and Sevastopol). Serbia, unsurprisingly, was also an unwanted.
Two SCs appeared five times. One was awarded. The other (Tunis) is still at-large.
Six SCs were chosen on the western half of the StP-Spa stalemate line. Two on the eastern half.
Interior SCs were by and large shunned.
There were two clusters of SCs: France and Russia. Not a single SC was chosen from the Austrian, English, German, or Italian homelands.
Two pairs of adjacent centers were selected. (Did I just hear somebody say, "Ulp!"?)
Some players may soon be wondering whether to continue in their original course of action or whether to pull up the stakes and move to Austria, Germany, or Italy.
Yes, I am already finding this variant immensely satisfying!

Belgium! Belongs to Michael Penner.
Brest! Goes to Alex Maslow.
Constantinople! Mr. Philip King.
Marseilles! Come on down, Nathan Edwards.
Norway! The fearsome ruler of Itea... Loki Falcon.
Saint Petersburg! The pearl of John Reside.
Sevastopol! Property of one Mr. Warren Fleming.
And Spain! All yours, Michael Hoffman.
Round Two picks are due tomorrow at 3:00 CST. Please find the current map attached!