The jumble of smaller powers in the middle surrounded by larger, outlying countries suggest that the way to win for the outliers is to work towards the center and crush the crowded middle before one or two of them becomes dominant. The crush of central powers encourages chaos and makes diplomacy among the central powers critical if they are to survive, if not thrive. At least, that was my assessment, being one of the central powers.

So I decided to try and coordinate the central powers to attack OUTWARD in a united front. This, I thought, might upset the outer powers and force or encourage them to start attacking each other, giving more opportunity for one or two of us central powers time to expand and take a stand.

Well, the strategy did work for awhile. We were able to put aside our internal strife and start attacking the outside powers, helping each other. Unfortunately, as we are all really greedy, glory-bound players, there was a fall-out, along with some bad tactical moves. In short, the core alliance fell apart. There was still hope, as some of the outlying powers were struggling and going through abandonments. Our strategy shifted towards preventing a solo and forcing a draw; not the result a good player goes for, of course. Unfortunately, my own play was sub-caliber, probably because I was too focused on The Big Picture and not enough on my own country's needs. In addition, it quickly became apparent that Atticus, playing the Margrave of Brandenburg, was taking advantage of every opportunity to expand his northern domain across the board. However, he and a few others had already started working on a deal for a draw between the top 4 players. This called for the elimination of a few other powers, for which desultory play resulted in those other powers remaining. Meanwhile Brandenburg continued to expand to the point that a solo was imminent. My own country was being picked clean, and I was unable to stop it, in spite of support from Count Metternich, playing as the Taborites. He proved to be a good player and loyal ally throughout the game and we supported each other whenever possible. Tyran came on late in the game to take over Hungary and was able to make some progress. He was friendly and cooperative; unfortunately for him, we were in the "end game" phase and there was no time for him to develop. But Tyran was a good sport to come in so late and take over the country in what looked like a game with an obvious solo ending.

But Atticus proved to be a really good sport and disdained the solo in order to keep his pledge to the DIAS agreement. For myself, I was not worried about being eliminated; my lackluster play in the mid-game and later was sufficient reason for becoming "the power formerly called Praguers".

So Hussite Wars is an interesting variant. It is not what you would call a balanced map; and probably should not be. But the variant clearly calls for constant diplomacy and careful timing. And I think we see that a solo can certainly be obtained, possibly even with a central power.