[DrPraetorious]

Okay, so by "expansion", you mean expansion-into-other-players. I call that "conquest" - you've got the same amount of room for initial expansion as every other team.

That two province width of your borders makes it easy for either side to claim chokepoints. That does tend to favor the defender, making expansion yeah difficult, which I thought would be desirable for the person stuck in the middle of 3. Didn't know it would go to Helheim, obviously.

So, yeah, the borders between Black and the other positions are different from all the other borders (more constricted, staggered), and the black position is different from all the other positions in that the two capitals are not equidistant to their neighbors. However, you'll note that they are staggered - it is possible for the two of you to fight on the same border, you just need to walk an extra province or two.

Consider the situation Green is in - both of you have easy access to the western Green start, but eastern green has a lot of trouble reaching you. Eastern blue is not quite as cut off, but it's a similar situation.

With a little diplomacy and planning, you can fight either of your neighbors 2 on 1, with each of you taking a single province route.

Myself, I'd much rather have a short border than a long one, so, in fact, I did this to you *on purpose* because I thought it would compensate for the nature of your start. I agree that your position is challenging, but so are:
1) Green is next to Red (who is Niefelheim!), who has a corner. Sucks to be him.
2) Magents and Blue both effectively have three neighbors, instead of 2.
3) Cyan is extremely constricted for pre-war expansion.

None of them are complaining.

I tried doing this with several maps and this is the one that worked out best. There were additional fairness issues when I tried to make the map larger, as well - it was very difficult to avoid giving one nation or another sole posession of a large hinterland into which they could then expand unchecked.

Also 7 is a very difficult number to tile - there's no way to arrange 7, except in an absolute ring - without putting somebody in the middle of a group of 3.

You have about 1/7 of the map, and you have two neighbors, just like everyone else. Your borders are a little odd, and swapping start locations would require *restarting the game*, is probably part of why no-one else has even expressed interest in your offer.