This game pits the aptly named "The Warlord" (Red, with a League ranking
of 5), against Piglet (Green, ranked 27), The Canarsians (Blue, 38) and
Lord Elric (Black, 53).  Though things start off roughly as you'd expect
based on rankings alone, that doesn't last long.

For a game including previous nominees and winners of roleplaying awards,
this one begins quietly, with nary a roleplaying comment the first turn.
Early strategic choices include griffins for Red and Green, and two heroes
for all.  Red and Blue expand quickly.  Blue will build giants on turn 3
and again on turn 4!, Red will get minotaurs, and Green giants, Finally,
on turn 3, Piglet (Green) gets around to chatting.  He explains that he
will be playing a reluctant warrior, and so using lyrics from Pink Floyd's
Final Cut and other albums.  He also points out that if at times he
appears aggressive, it is only because he is battling against others of
his color. 

The Canarsians (Blue) don't speak for themselves, but through an academic
who came to study the creatures.  A typical entry: 

> I've chronicled the several of the Canarsian species' archetypes. As
> I've mentioned before, the Canarsians are a species divided into types,
> which are genetically predisposed to certain types of labor. Within
> these specialized archetypes, there is absolutely no differentiation
> between individuals, a facet of Canarsian biology that I find
> fascinating. I've considered the possibility that the Canarsians are
> cloning these individial units, which would explain why they appear to 
> be virtual copies of one another. New units are generated in many of the
> Canarsian cities. In fact, the Canarsians seem to devote much of their
> resources to the propagation of new units.

Later we will learn that the Canarsians emerge every seventeen years,
militarily dominate all opposition, and then return to uneasy sleep. 
Would the cycle continue? 

They make an appeal to Red, though the Canarsians seem resigned to battle.
Red then suggests peace with Green, to which Blue adds a counter-offer.
Green accepts an alliance with Blue.  

On Turn 4, Piglet kills one of the Black heroes and sets up to steal
Black's demon!  This frightens Red and Blue into a cease-fire.  Black then
offers Green an alliance.  It is a difficult call for Piglet because he
stands to gain a lot from attacking Black, and all of the players seem to 
have written him off as a poor player, easily taken advantage of. Piglet
mulls over the situation during his morning mudbath: 

> He serveys the farm around him, it is such a peaceful and quite place,
> birds are singing, cows are mooing, and the dogs are NOT barking...  And
> he remembers his responsibility:  He must suppress his ego and do what
> is best for the Farm!  Furthermore, he cannot let such open gesture by
> the Black nation go un-noticed!  The Red and the Blue nations never even
> considered the Black nation as a worthy ally in their efforts against
> the Farm, but the Farm do not pre-judge anyone's ability until the war
> is over.

Red, Green, and Blue all explore the outer limits of the "no diplomacy"
rules during the intense battle that ensues.

An amusing thing about this war was that Green and Black were all over the
board - with Black taking the first city from Red, and Green sending a
large fraction of his forces across the map toward Blue.  

Green plays what appears to be an inspired game against Red and Blue (with
Black helping out a lot more than the others had predicted early on).  On
Turn 11 Piglet slays Sir Kay (Red's hero) and is left with a strong hero
heading south with little to oppose it.  After this, the game seems to
drag for all involved, though there are still a lot of exciting battles.
Lord Elric (Black) becomes noncommunicative, not even responding to
Green's offers of free cities, and The Warlord (Red) has an important turn
skipped because he has run out of timeouts.  By Turn 16, nearly all
diplomacy (which had been furious earlier in the game) has stopped, though
this turn is made interesting by the slaying of Black's hero by the
Carnasians (Blue).  On Turn 18, Red, ranked fifth in the tournament, goes
lost, and then is put on standing orders (when it comes out that he has
had a baby, suddenly things make sense!). 

On Turn 20, Green kills Blue's hero, and takes four cities, to end with 25
(he offered his ally "any cities you like", and so Black took two).  Blue
ended with 4, Black with 16, and Red with three.  Quite a spectacular
showing for the once apparently lost alliance.