Diplomacy Zine -- Chapter Eight EP #273 From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1992 20:28:41 +0000 Issue #273 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL: ************************************************************************* I need quotes, send me some! ************************************************************************* Chapter One contains: BAGHDAD, BLITZKRIEG II, KING'S GAMBIT, PASSCHENDAELE, DRAGONS, BLACK OCTOBER, OPERATION DESERT STORM, THE SOMME And is published by uunet!cti1!rlister or rlister@cti.com/Russ Lister Chapter Two contains: BATAAN, BOADICEA, CONAN, CROATIA, CUBIT, DAGGER, DIEN, DRAM, EMU, EYLAU, FONTENOY, GIGGLES, HASTINGS, IONA, KHAFJI, MARENGO, OSIJEK, PARIS, PORTNOY, QUEBEC, TIBERIUS, VEGA And is published by loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr/Daniel E. Loeb Chapter Three contains: SQUALANE, BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE II, CULLODEN, GANDALF'S REVENGE, GOODBYE BLUE SKY, MASTERS OF DECEIT, PANDORA, NOW AND ZEN And is published by mad-2@kub.nl/Constantijn Wekx Chapter Four contains: DEADLY DAGGERS, MONTREUIL-SUR-MER, FIRE WHEN READY, THUNDERDOME, And needs a publisher. Chapter Five contains: YALTA And needs a publisher. Chapter Six contains: BERLIN WALL, HIROSHIMA, GENGHIS KHAN, SEA LION And is published by barry@brahms.udel.edu/Barry Fausnaugh. Chapter Seven contains: RIYADH'S RECKONING And needs a publisher. Chapter Eight contains: TIBERIUS, BETELGEUSE, IRON CROSS, GUERNICA, TEUNISGEK, WOLF BLITZER, THE COMMANDERS, THE SUTHERLAND CONFLICT, NOW AND ZEN ------------- Chapter Eight ------------- Table of Contents: 1992 PDORA Auction ManorCon 10 The Hack's Guide to ManorCon 10 Game Raja - Youngstown Variant - after Spring 1901 Discussions about Variants ---- 1992 People's Diplomacy Organization Relief Auction RULES 1. The deadline for bids is October 2, 1992. Send all bids to: Douglas Kent at 54 West Cherry Street #211, Rahway, NJ 07065. 2. Anyone may participate in the bidding. All you have to do is submit a bid on an item (send no money now please). If you are the highest bidder the item will be yours, and you'll be notified when to send the money and how much. You may submit conditional bids on total amount to be spent, or if you win or lose another item. You can't submit conditionals that say to outbid the next highest bidder by an amount of money. This is only a one round auction, so plan wisely. Also, all bids will be secret. 3. In case of tied bids, postmark will decide. If postmarks are the same, the auctioneer will flip a coin or roll a die to determine the winner. I'm told tied bids are extremely rare. 4. All items are postage paid or will have the postage figured into the minimum price. 5. All donations collected will go to hobby services as decided upon by the PDORA Financial Committee. I will receive no money for the costs I incur. No one on the committee is eligible to receive any of the money either. 6. Allow 4-6 weeks after the auction deadline for the item to get to you. The faster everybody gets their payments in to me, the faster I can have the items sent out to the successful bidders. 7. Input is welcome and encouraged. 8. Additional catalogues can be had for a SASE from me. 9. Good luck and have fun. 10. PDORA Financial Committee: Robert Acheson, Steve Arnawoodian, Don Del Grande, Steve Heinowski, Michael Lowrey. Item # Description A-001 A 9 issue sub to Melinda Holley's Rebel. $3 minimum. 2 LOTS. A-002 A 12 issue sub to Son of Flip, the ideal newsletter for fans of professional wrestling. Oh, and aside from wrestling news, trivia, and inside information, SoF also runs a Machiavelli game as well. A $12.00 value. No minimum. A-003 An 8 issue sub to Carolina, Command, and Commentary. $8 value, $5 minimum. A-004 A 4 issue subscription to Diplomacy World, Dipdom's "flagship" zine. $10 value. 5 LOTs. A-005 A 5 year subscription to War Fair - the up & coming zine big on maps. Normally $3 for 10 issues/year. No game fees, always openings in "The Bourse" variant, and new openings coming in 1993. $5 minimum. B-001 A manuscript of Fred Davis's "A Diplomacy Chronology, 1958- 1983". This was printed in Diplomacy World #35 in 1983. A background look at the origins and middle years of the game and Dipdom. $2 minimum. B-002 NADF (North American Diplomacy Federation) Charter as verified by Rod Walker and a handful of his friends in 1979. This was Rod's attempt to organize and control Dipdom. No minimum. B-003 The Covenant as drawn and originally signed in 1979 governing the transfer and operation of the MNC. A collector's item! No minimum. B-004 A set of a PreCon Booklet and a Results Booklet from the 1990 World DipCon/DipCon event. 5 LOTS. C-001 An internal 2400 baud modem. IBM compatible. $20 minimum. C-002 An internal 2400 baud modem. IBM compatible, and MNP 2-7 compatible. $25 minimum. C-003 A set of five computer programs on 3 1/2" disks for the Apple IIGS. These are programs purchased for a computer that had 5 1/4" drives, and never returned. Three have been opened, but none have ever been used in any way. "Paperboy", "Marble Madness", "BlackJack Academy", "Writer's Choice Elite", and "Cartooners". "Paperboy" requires 256K, "Cartooners" requires 1M, and the other 3 require 512K. Original cost over $150. $25 minimum. C-004 PCTools Ver. 7.1 by Central Point Software. For DOS and Windows. The new version requires DOS 3.3 or above and 640K. Supports up to DOS 5.0. For Windows applications requires Windows 3.0 or above and 2 Megs of RAM. Hard disk is required. 3 1/2" disks. I got this as a "premium" when I bought a card from Intel. Unopened. Suggested retail of $179. $90 minimum. G-001 A copy of Dreadnought by SPI. Unpunched. Contains counters for every capital ship built from 1906-1944. For the real battleship fan. $10 minimum. G-002 A Dutch version of Diplomacy. Excellent condition, flat box, printed by Jumbo in 1981. Collectors item. $15 minimum. G-003 A copy of Diplomacy. 1961 Games Research version as marketed in Britain. Flat box, some wear, plastic pieces and a God- awful map in primary colors. $15 minimum. G-004 A copy of Diplomacy. The "classic" 1971 Games Research version. Good condition, flat box, wooden pieces. Another collector's item. $15 minimum. G-005 Used by complete copy of Magic Realm. $5 minimum. G-006 Avalon Hill's Tobruk. Unpunched. $5 minimum. G-007 Avalon Hill's Panzerblitz in good condition. $5 minimum. G-008 A copy of Car wars. Unpunched. $5 minimum. G-009 A used copy of Diplomacy in good condition. $5 minimum. G-010 Unpunched copy of Air Superiority. $5 minimum. G-011 Alpha Omega, unpunched. $5 minimum. G-012 1963 version of Stalingrad in decent condition. $5 minimum. G-013 1961 version of Tactics II. Fair condition. $5 minimum. G-014 1965 version of Battle of the Bulge. Fair condition. $5 minimum. G-015 1964 version of Africa Korps in good condition. $5 minimum. G-016 1965 version of Blitzkreig in good condition. $5 minimum. G-017 Another copy of Dreadnought. Good condition. $5 minimum. G-018 Cage Match Wrestling Trivia Game from On The Mat Company. $2 minimum. G-019 Murder to Go game by Ideal. This is one of those "murder party" mystery games. Excellent condition. $4 minimum. G-020 Melody Dicer game by Mozart. Wolfgang himself created this game, where you roll dice and create music. Good condition, $2 minimum. G-021 Strat-O-Matic Baseball with 1986 teams. Very good condition. $5 minimum. G-022 Crosscheck game by TSR. A crossword board game. $3 minimum. M-001 Copy of the book "Methods of a Wall Street Master", direct from the author's personal supply. $24.95 cover price, $7 minimum. M-002 Personal horoscope as done by the marvelous Melinda Holley. She'll need your date, time, and place of birth. $3 minimum. 3 LOTS. M-003 Magnetic Dip board as produced by Eric Brosius. This is one of those great magnetic sets that Eric makes, and everybody wants. Tired of having your cats knock all your plastic or wooden pieces around? Get this! $5 minimum. M-004 Audio cassette of "The Simpsons Sing the Blues" by the Simpsons. $1.50 minimum. M-005 Audio cassette of "Life's Rich Pageant" by REM. $1.50 minimum. M-006 Audio cassette of "Alpha Centauri" by Tangerine Dream. $1.50 minimum. M-007 Audio cassette of "Danse Macabre et al" by Saint-Saens. $1.50 minimum. M-008 Audio cassette of "The River" by Bruce Springsteen. $1.50 minimum. M-009 10 Trees! Maple, Oak, Dogwood, and Pine seedlings. Mailed to your house at best time for planting within next 12 months. This could be your "green" good deed for the year! $10 minimum. O-001 Gamestart in Rebel. $2 minimum. 2 LOTS. O-002 Diplomacy game opening to be run in Down at the Mouth by the lovely and talented Vince Lutterbie. Includes the cost of the zine for the length of the game. No minimum. 7 LOTS. O-003 Game opening in Canadian Diplomat, plus 10 issues of the zine. No minimum. 2 LOTS. O-004 Gamestart in the new "readable" Ter-ran. 2 LOTS. O-005 Gamestart in Ramblings By Moonlight. Must sub to play. $3 minimum. P-001 Autographed pictures of Melinda Holley. I'm assuming these are suitable for children, but I really have no idea. Let your imaginations run wild. Always popular in the auctions. $3 minimum. 3 LOTS. Z-001 Gamesman #9. Yet another copy of the last issue by the late Don Miller. 64-page mimeo issue contains articles on Diplomacy, chess, and other games, plus a 10-page article on the accomplishments of the world's navies in the 2 World Wars. $3 minimum. Z-002 Any two issues of Diplomacy World from #60 to #63 - your choice. $2 minimum. 10 LOTS. Z-003 Diplomacy World #60 - #63 (4 issues total). $3 minimum. 10 LOTS. Z-004 Prince #100, a spiral-bound "special" issue that includes comments from past and present subscribers, plus photos. $2 minimum. 5 LOTS. Z-005 Kathy's Korner #136, 143, 145, 154, 158-160 $2 minimum. Z-006 Kathy's Korner #161, 163, 165, 171, 177, 178. $2 minimum. Z-007 Diplomacy World #62, 63, and 65. $2 minimum. Z-008 Zine Register #15 and the 1989 North American Variant Bank catalog. $2 minimum. Z-009 Your Zine of Zines #1-8. $2 minimum. 5 LOTS. That's it for this year. Regardless of the number of folds we've seen recently, and the small number of new zines, we've got a good bunch of items for auction. Get those bids in, and take care! ---- MANORCON 10 MANORCON 10 MANORCON 10 MANORCON 10 MANORCON 10 Friday 17th to Monday 20th July 1992 at Lake Hall, Birmingham University. THE VENUE: A modern University Hall of residence, nestling among the trees and rolling grasslands of the Birmingham University campus. Reserved for our exclusive use are several hundred single and twin bedrooms, a large games room for the main tournaments, up to four additional rooms for specialist tournaments, and a comfortable and well-stocked bar. THE EVENT: This is the tenth time that ManorCon has been held at Birmingham University, in which time it has become the major item on the games calendar. After hosting the first ever World Dip Con in 1988 it has attracted 300 games players in each of the last three years and, as well as featuring the largest Diplomacy Tournament in the hobby, now offers upto a dozen other tournaments covering most areas of popular gaming. For 1992 we are moving to bigger and better accomodation and an even larger turnout is expected. THE MAIN TOURNAMENTS: Diplomacy remains the core of the convention and as usual two tournaments are planned. The National Team Championship will take place on the Saturday and will involve teams of seven players drawn from zines, universities and other groupings --- in 1991 we had 14 teams and this year we expect something similar. We will also host the British Individual Championship on both Saturday and Sunday which, with 108 participants playing a total of 20 games in 1991, is now established as the largest tournament in the hobby. OTHER TOURNAMENTS: David Watts, the inventor of Railway Rivals, will be running a Railway Rivals tournament and a tournament of other Rostherne games. Francis Tresham, of Hartland Tresham Games, will be running several Hartland games and demonstrations. Alan Parr, the inventor of the soccer management game United, will be present and will be taking part in a United tournament. As well as these there will be tournaments organized of Aquire, Bridge, Croquet, Diplomacy Variants, Kingmaker, Soccerleague, 5-a-side Soccer, 1830 and possibly other games including some not offered before. Tournament sizes vary considerable but some of the most popular games in 1991 included 45 players and 17 games of Railway Rivals, 38 players and 17 games of Aquire, 40 players and 14 games of 1830, 32 players of United and 16 players of Bridge. OTHER GAMES: As well as the organized events there will be course be dozens of other games being played throughout the convention. Don't think that if you attend you will be expected to take part in a full tournament --- if you just want to play a few sessions of your favourites games you'll have plenty of opportunity to do so. OTHER ATTRACTIONS: Several major games companies will be supporting the event and at least one games distributor will be selling games at discount prices. We will also be operating a waiting list service for players seeking opponents for particular games and hope to organize an Exchange & Mart area for people wishing to swap or sell old and unwanted games. THE HARD SELL: Send off the booking form today to ensure your place in the biggest hobby event of the year! Once you have booked you will receive Progress Reports every two or three months giving all the latest details of the event. THE CONTACT: Richard Walkerdine, 13 Offley Road, Hitchin, HERTS. SG5 2AZ =========================================================================== Retyped for email distribution by Mark Nelson <amt5man@sun.leeds.ac.uk> on 18th June 1992. =========================================================================== Additional comments by Mark: (1) Registration fee is 3.50 a day or 8.00 for the whole event (2) Room prices include breakfast and are SINGLE ROOM 19 pounds per night TWIN ROOMS 36 pounds per night (3) Cheques made payable to THE UNIVERSITIES DIPLOMACY TOURNAMENT (4) You can email comments/questions to me (but I am aware for 2 weeks until 6th July 1992. (5) I will be there! Will you? Here's an article by an anonymous hack: THE HACK'S GUIDE TO MANORCON One a year diplomacy fans make their pilgrimage to ManorCon to pay their respect to the guru's of diplomacy. They come from all corners of *The Hobby*, for some it will be the trip of a lifetime representing the pinnacle of the involvement with *The Hobby* whilst for others it will be one of many trips to speak to the *Holy Men* that have spent long years uncountable in the study of the words of the Prophet ( not to be confused with the words of the false prophet Proffitt). They will travel by many different means of transport: rail, coach, car, foot and even aeroplane. Some will travel for forty days and forty nights to arrive. Is it not as the Prophet Walkerdine said: ``And the true believers will travel to ManorCon, and see that it is good.'' ManorCon was not the first meeting place of the faithful, and it is not the only site that claims to be sacred ground but it is recognised by all those that have studied the *Holy Scripture* as being the ONE TRUE DIPLOMACY CONVENTION. Beware those that visit `BayCon' and `MidCon' for these are ``conventions'' run by those that have not seen the light and you imperil your immortal soul by consorting with the charlatans and tricksters that claim these are places of Holy Land. And do they not give their game away when they proclaim that these sites are but cons? Verily, brothers and brothers (Would there be a sister or two in the congregation, but has not the prophet Walkerdine declared that ``Thou shall make my dinner'') you have been warned. Many of the faithful will be found in *The Bar* discussing things of great import and verily will THE HACK be found there passing his time in quiet contemplation of the *Holy Scriptures*. But for those that follow this righteous path life is not easy, as the enemies of the *True Faith* tempt them from the path of the Ghods. And did not Walkerdine say that ``in order to understand *The Word* you must first make sacrifice and cleanse your blood by going without beer for 3 days and 3 nights'' For is it not known across the land that there is no beer in Birmingham, only wet bheer. Can there be a less hospitable place in the land for true believers to meet? And so shall THE HACK be found with many other true believers following the advice of *The Prophet* and cleansing his blood. There will be some amongst the *little brothers* that have not yet talked to one of the *Holy Men* and will wonder what is the correct form of address for one who is steeped in *The Holy Scripture*. Do not go to one of these *Holy Men* and say that you are little brother Joe and that you have read through day and night the writings of you guru for then shall the Holy Man be displeased, for you have placed him above one of his brothers and have not the *Inner Circle* of *Holy Men*, who are known as *The High Holy Men* decreed that the *Holy Men* are equals in the eyes of *The Lord*? No, thou must remember that the *Holy Men* are here to make sacrifice in the ways of *The Prophet* and verily thou should help them in their quite contemplation of the writings of *The Prophet* by buying them a drink and bringing it to their table offer it up to them as a gift and *then* you may introduce yourself to them. And if the *Holy Men* be pleased with your offering they will call upon you to bring another and then will they ask you to pull up a chair so that they may instruct you in the words of *The Prophet*. And then you will learn much in the way of *The Hobby* for what has been may come again and what is may but fade away, so sayath one of devoted disciples of *The Prophet*. THE HACK THE HACK THE HACK THE HACK THE HACK THE HACK The following was submitted by mcdonald@bsm.biochemistry.ucl.ac.uk/ Ian McDonald: Game Raja - Youngstown Variant - after Spring 1901 The first summer of the Twentieth century has already seen an attack by one Medieval empire (Russia) on another (Turkey). The very public Austro-Russian attack on Germany has been called off. (All three countries have leaders that have been to Stanford University in the US). The UK foreign minister, Sterling, has been sacked, after misreading the map and accidently posting delicate negotiations between France and the UK to Berlin. The question marks are over peace on the borders of Germany, whether the Turko-Russian conflict will develop into full scale war and if the European colonies in Asia will hold out. Italy is expanding into Africa and may conflict with Turkey over Yemen, Germany make take the Low countries, and otherwise people are expanding as expected. Ian McDonald (France) To end out this issue, I will include some articles on variants: From Mark Nelson: A new project from the ever fertile mind of Mark Nelson... Each week I will try and send out a "new" (to email fans) dip variant. As far as possible I will restrict myself to games which are based on the regular board, or on minor modifications of it. I do not claim that these variants will be any good... ******************* * GAIN DIPLOMACY * * BY Mike Benyon * ******************* Originally published in "Don't Shoot Me!" 8 (September 1982) (1) Unless otherwise stated the Rules of Diplomacy (1971 edition) apply. (2) Each player is randomly given a country on the board, and starts the game with $x billion, x being the number of supply centres held by that country. (3) At the end of each year each player gains $1 billion for every supply center gained and losses $1 billiobn for every supply centre lost. Each player is then randomly allocated a different country --- he will not have the same country for two consecutive years. (4) If a player's credit falls to zero, he is eliminated from the game. (5) Retreats, disbands and builds must be made for each country. If they are not a player will be fined $(1/2)billion for each missing order. (6) TO WIN: $18 billion. Comments by Mark Nelson <amt5man@sun.leeds.ac.uk> (1) The original rules use pounds instead of dollars but I don't have a pound sign on this keyboard. (2) There are a number of other variants using this theme. I think Baseball Wars uses this idea. (3) The better variants that use this idea annouce at the start of the game what the rotation of powers will be. So you know in advance which power you will play in which year and can plan accordingly. Retyped for distribution through DIPL-L 6/6/92. From Kev O'Neill <KO@IBM-B.RUTHERFORD.AC.UK>: This reminds me... In Games and Puzzles mag in the 70s there was a two player variant published based on the idea that each player had a reserve of cash to bid for the services of non-player countries. The initial allocation of funds depended on the players home country to provide a balancing factor. Does anyone have a copy of these rules available? Kev. " OV/VM address : UKACRL(KO) " IBM MailExchange : IBMMAIL(GB3FFVFF) " JANET address : KO@UK.AC.RL.IB From: amt5man@SUN.LEEDS.AC.UK/Mark Nelson: Kev O'Neil writes: >This reminds me... >In Games and Puzzles mag in the 70s there was a two player variant published >based on the idea that each player had a reserve of cash to bid for the >services of non-player countries. The initial allocation of funds depended on >the players home country to provide a balancing factor. >Does anyone have a copy of these rules available? The name of this variant is INTIMATE DIPLOMACY, which was designed by Adrian Baird and Steve Doubleday. It was later revised by Steve (?) Wyatt who ran a zine dedicated to running this variant. It is *the* 2-player variant. I do not think that I have a copy here with me in Leeds, although it's possible that a dipzine has recently republished this game --- I'll have a look. Since you live in the UK you can order a copy of INTIMATE 1A from the UKVB. The address is: James Nelson, 112 Huntley Avenue, SPondon, DERBY. DE2 7DU (0332)-673363 Cost is 30pence. You could also ask him how much the new UKVB catalogue will be, I'm not sure. Mark From: amt5man@SUN.LEEDS.AC.UK/Mark Nelson: Here is another dip variant for you. It is one that most of you will already know about. I will be mailing a new variant (as promised) out tomorrow. ULTIMATE SHAMBLES ??/07 By Eric Klien ??? (1) The 1971 rules of diplomacy apply except where amended below. (2) The first Turn is Autumn 1900 when the GM randomly assigns each player in the game four centers. These centers become that player's home supply centers for the duration of the game. (3) In Winter 1900 each player builds three units. (4) The game then proceeds as per regular diplomacy. Note by Eric Klien: This game requires much more Diplomacy than normal since everyone is your neighbor! ============================================================================= Comment by Lars Mathiesen <thorinn@diku.dk> What does ``proceeds normally'' mean with respect to builds? I have settled on allowing builds on any open, owned supply center, mostly because the Judge supported that already for the Chaos variant. (Other possibilities that I considered were to designate the original four as home centers, and to limit builds to three per year in analogy to F1900B). Comments by Mark Nelson (1) From the wording of the rules you may *only* build in the four centers allocated to you at the beginning of the game. Lars' version is actually a better game. (2) There are many similar variants to this game, most of them are better. Commonly added rules are: (i) Can build in any vacant center owned and (ii) can convert Armies to Fleets and vice versa if the unit is in an owned SC in a Winter season. (3) A rule sometimes added (I'm not sure if it makes for a better game) is that SCs are captured in *any* season. You still build in Winter season. for email distribution by Mark Nelson 11.6.92 ============================================================================== From pl436000@brownvm.bitnet/Jamie Dreier: > ULTIMATE SHAMBLES ??/07 > By Eric Klien ??? I'm sure something like this game has been invented independently by many people. But I know that the name "Ultimate Shambles" was coined by Michel Malhomme, in 1990. I played in the first game, which Michel ran. It was called "Bordel," and it never completed. >(1) The 1971 rules of diplomacy apply except where amended below. >(2) The first Turn is Autumn 1900 when the GM randomly assigns each > player in the game four centers. These centers become that player's > home supply centers for the duration of the game. >(3) In Winter 1900 each player builds three units. >(4) The game then proceeds as per regular diplomacy. As Michel designed the game, there were two features not mentioned. First, the randomly assigned four centers could not be neighbors nor even second order neighbors. Eg, one player couldn't get both Mos and Nwy, or both Sev and Ser, to start the game. Second, players could build in any owned vacant center. As I recall, the players gave their "powers" some interesting names in lieu of the regular power names. There was the Delian League, Lazarus, and Deep Thought, for example. >Note by Eric Klien: This game requires much more Diplomacy than normal >since everyone is your neighbor! Very true. Jamie From Mark Nelson <amt5man@SUN.LEEDS.AC.UK>: Jamie comments on my posting of Ultimate Shambles that: > ULTIMATE SHAMBLES ??/07 > By Eric Klien ??? J I'm sure something like this game has been invented independently J by many people. But I know that the name "Ultimate Shambles" J was coined by Michel Malhomme, in 1990. I played in the first J game, which Michel ran. It was called "Bordel," and it never J completed. Yes, there are a large number of variants very similiar to this. THanx for providing the comments on who originally designed this. THey will go into my copy. >(1) The 1971 rules of diplomacy apply except where amended below. >(2) The first Turn is Autumn 1900 when the GM randomly assigns each > player in the game four centers. These centers become that player's > home supply centers for the duration of the game. >(3) In Winter 1900 each player builds three units. >(4) The game then proceeds as per regular diplomacy. J As Michel designed the game, there were two features not mentioned. J First, the randomly assigned four centers could not be neighbors nor J even second order neighbors. Eg, one player couldn't get both Mos J and Nwy, or both Sev and Ser, to start the game. Second, players J could build in any owned vacant center. I will add these comments into my rules. Thanx for the information. >Note by Eric Klien: This game requires much more Diplomacy than normal >since everyone is your neighbor! Mark. PS Sorry folks! I left my copy of Marine Dip at home so I won't be able to post it today. I'll have a look around to see if I have anything else to hand to post to y'all. From Mark Nelson <amt5man@SUN.LEEDS.AC.UK>: ULTIMATE SHAMBLES ??/07 By Michel Malhomme (1990) (1) The 1971 rules of diplomacy apply except where amended below. (2) The first Turn is Autumn 1900 when the GM randomly assigns each player in the game four centers. (3) The allocated centers may not be neighbours nor even second order neighbours. Eg, one player can't get both Mos and Nwy or both Sev and Ser. (4) In Winter 1900 each player builds three units. (5) Players may build in *any* owned vacant center. Note by Eric Klien: This game requires much more Diplomacy than normal since everyone is your neighbor! ============================================================================= Comments by Mark Nelson <amt5man@sun.leeds.ac.uk> (1) When Eric Klien posted the rules for this variant on rec.games.pbm he did not include Rules 3 and 5. Hence in games run under Eric's rules you can only build in the centers you were allocated at the beginning of the game. Such games should really be classified as being Ultimate Shambles II. (2) There are many similar variants to this game. A commonly added rulesi is that players may convert Armies to Fleets and vice versa if the unit is in an owned SC in a Winter season. (3) A rule sometimes added (I'm not sure if it makes for a better game) is that SCs are captured in *any* season. You still build in Winter seasons only. (4) The first email game of this variant was run in 1990 by Michael Malhomme but it (game name "Bordel") was not played to completion. Retyped for email distribution by Mark Nelson 11.6.92 Revised by Mark Nelson 12.6.92 following an informative and useful post on dipl-l by Jamie <PL436000@earn.brownvm> ============================================================================== From: Mark Nelson <amt5man@ECUSUN.LEEDS.AC.UK> Title is DIPLOMACY VARIANTS. If you live in North American and you want to find out more about diplomacy variants then you should write to: Lee Kendter Jnr, 376A Willowbrook Drive, Jeffersonville, PA 19403, USA Lee is North American Variant Bank Custodian and can answer your questions + supply copy of rules/maps for cost. You can also order a copy of the NAVB catalogue from him. This lists some 1200 or so dip variants. I can answer questions on many of these if you want to ask before buying them (my own variant collection is about 600 strong). Many dip variants are not particularly interesting or playable... Mark From imef2@ebccuab1.bitnet/Joan C. Artes: Hello all, It is time ago that I wished to write to all you to suggest a new variant from Diplomacy. This is a variant that can be only played by mail, and it could be managed very well by the judge. It consist in a blind Diplomacy. I mean, each country does not know how things are going far away from its borders. It only knows the regions of his own country, the adjacent spaces, plus all adjacent spaces to his own units and conquered supply centers. For example, let us consider the next situation (taken for Kaiser) England: Army Livonia. England: Fleet Sweden. England: Fleet North Sea. England: Fleet English Channel. England: Fleet Mid-Atlantic Ocean. England: Fleet Portugal. France: Army Marseilles. France: Army Burgundy. France: Fleet Gulf of Lyon. France: Army Paris. Germany: Army Kiel. Germany: Army Picardy. Germany: Fleet Holland. Germany: Fleet Denmark. Germany: Army Munich. Germany: Army Ruhr. Italy: Army Piedmont. Italy: Fleet Spain (south coast). Italy: Army Tyrolia. Italy: Fleet Adriatic Sea. Italy: Fleet Tyrrhenian Sea. Russia: Army Rumania. Russia: Army Vienna. Russia: Fleet Sevastopol. Russia: Army Moscow. Russia: Army Budapest. Russia: Army Ukraine. Turkey: Army Trieste. Turkey: Army Serbia. Turkey: Fleet Black Sea. Turkey: Fleet Aegean Sea. Turkey: Army Bulgaria. Turkey: Army Armenia. Turkey: Army Greece. Ownership of supply centers: England: Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Norway, St Petersburg, Sweden. France: Brest, Marseilles, Paris, Portugal. Germany: Belgium, Berlin, Denmark, Holland, Kiel, Munich. Italy: Naples, Rome, Spain, Tunis, Venice. Russia: Budapest, Moscow, Rumania, Sevastopol, Vienna, Warsaw. Turkey: Ankara, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Greece, Serbia, Smyrna, Trieste. England would be informed about the situation of the next units England: Army Livonia. England: Fleet Sweden. England: Fleet North Sea. England: Fleet English Channel. England: Fleet Mid-Atlantic Ocean. England: Fleet Portugal. Germany: Army Picardy. Germany: Fleet Holland. Germany: Fleet Denmark. Italy: Fleet Spain (south coast). Russia: Army Moscow. and he would know that there is no unit in Edi, Cly, Lvp, Yor, Wal, Lon, Nao, Iri, Nws, Nor, Ska, Bel, Bre, Naf, Wme, Gas, Hel, Bal, Gob, Fin, Pru and War. Another example, in the same situation, Russia would receive next inform: England: Army Livonia. England: Fleet Sweden. Italy: Army Tyrolia. Russia: Army Rumania. Russia: Army Vienna. Russia: Fleet Sevastopol. Russia: Army Moscow. Russia: Army Budapest. Russia: Army Ukraine. Turkey: Army Trieste. Turkey: Army Serbia. Turkey: Fleet Black Sea. Turkey: Army Bulgaria. Turkey: Army Armenia. and he would know that there is no unit in Stp, War, Bar, Nor, Fin, Gob, Bal, Pru, Sil, Boh and Gal. I hope that I have make no error in listing these spaces. Note that a country (as Russia here) knows what happens around its supply centers even if they are controlled by the enemy (you may suppose that there exist a resistance which still helps the original country). On the other side, a country only knows what happens around the supply centers he controls up to the winter in which loses it. This rule stands even for the countries which have been defeated. This gives those countries the option to inform any power of the situation of his invader. Those spaces non supply centers and not occupied, as they do not belong to anybody, do not provide information about its borders (only to the original country). Of course, the players will not receive a complete inform on the movements of everybody else. They will simply receive the result of their own movements and those which have directely affected them. Example from the latter situation. England F POR - SPA (SC) F MID S F POR - SPA (SC) France A MAR S F SPA Before the movement, England did not know that there was a french army in Marseilles. However, he tried to enter Spain, and he found an opposition from the unit there and the one in Mar. In case Italy had played A PIE - MAR, the support had never taken place, and England would not have been informed about the french intentions to support Spa. (I agree that the example is stupid but it shows what is needed). Of course, with this option, every country can explain to another where his units are, or where a third's units are. The problem is to trust him or not. Another interesting thing is what to do with observers and alternates. There are several possibilities. Here are some of them: 1) No observers allowed. But it would take away a lot of fun. 2) The obervers only see the same of one country, without possibility of change. 3) Just do nothing. Observers may explain any country what is happening on the other side of the map. Of course, there is also the problem of trusting or not them. In this case, all players, obervers and alternates should be declared from different site. 4) Declare the game gunboat (noboby knows the other players) and disable the press for observers. 5) Declare all the press grey or black. I suppose there are other possibilities. I let anybody else (and mainly the judge managers) to improve these ideas. I suggest then, to the judge managers, to include this option among the others. If so, I would be very happy to start GM'ing one test game with this new option. Have a nice diplomacy Joan C. Artes Barcelona Catalonia Spain Europe Publisher comments: I need scribes to type in articles. I am also interested in people's experiences with scanners. And what brands of scanners and OCR software are best. I am also very interested in finding two players for a new 1914 game. ****************************************************************************** To join in the fun, send your name, home address, home and work phone numbers, and country preferences to Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com. ****************************************************************************** Up