Diplomacy Magazine -- Chapter Two From: loeb@geocub.UUCP (Daniel LOEB) Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1992 09:53:36 +0000 Issue #273 of Chapter Two of the Electronic Protocol By Daniel Loeb (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr) February 10, 1992 Distributed via: rec.games.pbm rec.games.board dipl-l ------------------------------------------------------------- Electronic Protocol Games played on the Diplomacy Adjudicator ------------------------------------------------------------- **** TABLE OF CONTENTS **** PART ONE - Opinions, Letters, and Editorials: DESPERATELY SEEKING AN OWNER Black Press Discussion Stat's on CD's Goofy Play discussion PART TWO - Summary of all moderated games on the Judge: List of game openings List of EP games on the DA For more info List of Gamemasters PART THREE - Report from the Battle Front Banditos end of game report Fontenoy 1909 report Iona/Fontenoy Spring 1901 comparative analysis ***** PART ONE ***** **** DESPERATELY SEEKING AN OWNER **** We are still looking for a DIPL-L manager. Please volunteer. **** BLACK PRESS DISCUSSION **** From: John O'Regan <J_OREGAN@csvax1.ucc.ie> GM of Banditos The following discussion was sparked off by the opening paragraph in my end- game report for Banditos. I expect there will be more broadcasts on the subject before long, but what I've put together so far may be of some interest. - John. Broadcast message from J_OREGAN@csvax1.ucc.ie as Master in banditos: I created Banditos as an experiment to see what would happen in a truly no- holds-barred (presswise) game. Faked partial press and broadcasts were allowed. Not only that, but the list of recipients could be faked as well! I thought that these would be ideal conditions for a skilled Diplomacy player to do some real mischief. Whether they did or not, I cannot say.... ---- Reaction to above message from steveb@cs.utexas.edu as Germany in banditos: I'd have to say they didn't. I, at least, don't recall recieving any non-white press. It would have been much more no-holds-barred if there were a way to forge white press... Maybe I didn't word that right. I guess what I'm getting at was that I sent my press as white almost all the time 'cause grey press was annoying 'cause the reader's only hint as to who sent it is in the .sig, which is way down at the bottom of the message so he has to scan all the way down to the end before really being able to read it for contents.. What a bother. I don't wish to inflict that upon my peers. Anyway, for this game to have been what it was intended to be, it would have had to be gunboat-ish in the hiding of players' user-id's, and also there just ought to be some way to send grey press that tells the reader who sent the friggin' message or at least who the sender wants you to think was the sender. I'd be keen for another try it we could get some arrangement like that together... Hopefully that game wouldn't be plagued by the style- conflicts that caused England and Turkey to be blown out so quickly. ---- Reply to Steve's message from ender2@husc.harvard.edu as Italy in banditos: There is. It's called black press. --- Reply to Matt's message from steveb@cs.utexas.edu as Germany in banditos: Yeah, but the Judge doesn't have that bit... At least I don't think it does.. Or rather, the latest files I have from the judge on how to do press don't seem to have any options for such pursuits. If somebody knows better, please give me the word -- preferably in the form of black press. (Well, of course, you'd want to tell me who it's really from -- I'm just wanting to make sure we're talking about the same effect.) --- Reply to Steve's message from ender2@husc.harvard.edu as Italy in banditos: Black press. Well, I'm not involved in any black press games (they are extremely rare on the Judge), but it is implemented. Perhaps, Steve, you'd like to moderate a new game, and throw in the dreaded Black Press for your players to worry about? --- Reply to Matt's message from 'Steve' in banditos: Well, not really. The closest thing you can get to black press is to send grey press and sign it as someone else. --- Interjection from gary@chem.UCSD.EDU as Austria in banditos: There were at least a couple of times in the game that I would have loved to use black press, but I was extremely wary based on reports that I've heard about bugs and such in the specifications for such press. Aparently there have been bugs in the sending, and that was exacerbated by some type of reversal in the specifications that have confused people. It just wasn't worth the risk. The possibility of jeoporadizing my position by a bug or misunderstanding was just too great. If black press sending could be perfected, it would be a lot of fun! I think that the challenge of impersonating someone's mannerisms is even more interesting than just impersonating their address! **** STATS ON CD's **** I was wondering whether the strength of a country influences how willing someone is to keep on playing, or to take over an open position. As an experiment, I have compiled data from EP Chapter 2. This is a listing of Standard or standard gunboat games openings mentioned in EP Chapter 2: Jun28 G, Jul2 g, Jul31 RF, Aug5 rf, Aug9 f, Aug12 Gf, Sep1 I, Sep4 i, Sep25 IAR, Oct4 F, Nov10 AI, Dec5 A, Dec20 G, Jan19 A Here is the breakdown by country. Country A E I F G R T ------- - - - - - - - First Listings 4 0 3 2 3 2 0 Total Listings 4 0 1 5 4 3 0 Probably not yet statistically significant, but it is remarkable that no English or Turkish openings have appeared yet. Perhaps with his direct access to the Judge, Ken Lowe can give us a more in depth analysis, or perhaps Eric Klien has additional data he can add to my analysis. **** GOOFY PLAY DISCUSSION **** From: AMT5MAN@cms1.ucs.leeds.ac.uk Mark Nelson Throwing all your units against one power, leaving yourself open to attack from other players is often seen as a `childish' by the player who is being discriminated againt. It's consider not playing the game. Nothing could be further from the truth, it's a perfectly acceptable tactic. I've used it several times in FTF games at Tournaments where my ally has stabbed me 5-6 seasons before the end of the game expecting me to hold off the oppositionwhilst he takes my centres! Under these circumstances I consider it my *duty* to defend against my ex-ally at all costs to minimise his gains and make him *really* regret breaking our alliance. It isn't me being silly defending against him, he made the mistake of stabbing me in the hope of improving his positionand I'm teaching him a lesson! I'm not an alliance player per se, but you don't owe the guy whose just stabbed youany favours! <DL: I think the point in question is not whether a player is allowed to chose who to lose supply centers from when indeed he must lose supply center, but rather whether he has the right to throw the game to another player when he could easily defend himself against all comers. Actually the line between these two cases is hard to draw, but the issue still has not been addressed.> As a GM of several postal GUnboat games as I matter of course I make every effort to ensure that the players don't know who's in the game. If you reprint a letter on a game then you *MUST* obmitt the name of the player who wrote you the letter. For emailgames this corresponds to obmitting their address. <DL: I would like to emphasise that in article in question the player did not mention that he was talking about a gunboat game. Therefore I had no reason to suspect that his identity should be kept secret.> In practice little is gained from knowing who else is playing in a Gunboat game because almost all players are `mature' enough not to attempt to chear (and there is no guarantee that the other player won't just forward your mail to the GM and get yo expelled from the game). The only advantage comes if you know that person's playing style well whenyou can sometimes second-guess what they will order. This is harder for email players than postal players as it is common for postal players to follow games they are not playing in (the GM reprints all his game reports in the zine) whilst most email players only follow the games they are playingin; consequently they do not know as many players. ***** PART TWO ***** **** LIST OF GAME OPENINGS **** Moderated Openings: Emu - Crowded - Norway (0/1) Unmoderated games opening include: berkeley, empire, bach, blind, math, spam Signups available for the following moderated games in formation: evolt, normandy, 7senuf, poverty, timor Please volunteer to be a GM. **** LIST OF EP GAMES ON THE DA **** --- EXPLANATION --- Here is an update on games played on Judge. Each game is represented by a line of data (followed possibly by a line of comments --- please send me comments I can use if you are a GM!). The games are sorted according the the variant rules which are used. The 1st column gives the name of the game including a "#" if the game is a "private" or "unlisted" game. The 2nd column gives its Electronic Protocol number if available. If the game is published in another EP chapter (other than number two), then that is indicated after a slash. The 3rd column gives the name of the GM (see list of GMs below). The other columns give updates on this game in chronological order with the most recent entry on the right. The updates for a game in formation indicate the number of players needed to start. For example, -5. The updates for a game in progress indicate the season (F for Fall or S for Spring), the last 2 digits of the year, and the phase (M for movement, B for builds, and R for retreats). All this is possibly followed by the indication of the number of replacement players (-1), temporary replacements (T1) needed, or needed later on (*1). I'm listing the status of each game not only for this week but for the last several weeks, so that you can see not only where the game is, but how fast it is moving. Please tell me if this extra information is useful to you. --- LIST --- Name EP# GM Oct4 Nov4 Dec5 Jan3 Jan 19 Feb4 Feb10 ------- --- -- ----- ---- ---- ---- ------ ---- ----- STANDARD RULES cubit jdr -4 S01M S01M dram jdr S01M S01M evolt jdr -7 -3 marengo 129 scottb S03M S05M F06M F07M S08M S09M F09M Ita strong. Ger builds. Fra survives. Eng/Aus weaken. osijek 137 cebulad F02M S04R S05M S05R S06M F06M The Juggernaut has stumbled, what will the FEGI do now?!? paris 134 skiman -4 S02M F03M S04M F04M S05M F05M portnoy 125 koll02 F10M F12M F14M F15M F16M S17M F17M sparrow 133 casmacin S02R F03B S05R S06M S06M S07M F07M Italy trys to play Kingmaker, England pulls ahead of Turkey. # normandy loeb -2 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -1 All press will be written in French. Le jeu sera en francais. croatia 148 nick -2 F02M F02R F02R-2 F03M F03M For beginners. Ger attacked from all sides, Tur enters Rus. quebec 154 nick S01M STANDARD GUNBOAT - Identities of players unknown. All messages are public. # khafji 138 skiman S03M F05M-1 F05B F05B F06B F06B Fast pace. No press. Delays over a few hours unacceptable. boadicea 147 pl436000-6 F04M F08M S09M F09M S11M S11R conan pl436000 -5 -2 S01M F02B F03M .....See below from summary of BANDITOS.... YOUNGSTOWN RULES (10 players) Extended map including Asia and Africa. dien 124 jdr F07B F09M F10B-1 S11M F11M F11M F11B giggles dwiseman S03M F04B S06R S07R S08M F08B S09M Local ERIM game timor nick -10 -5 LOEB9 RULES (9 players) Spain and Scandinavia are added as extra players. eylau 153 loeb -3 S01M F01B-1 S03M S03M F03M F03M Spain stabs England. Austria/Russia at war. GREAT BRITAIN RULES (7 players) Britain starts with 6 SC's but all armies! hastings 139 loeb S01M F01M F03B F04M-1 F04R S05R F05B Russia's only unit is DESTROYED while bouncing Turkish retreat CHAOS RULES (34 players) Regular map. Each SC is owned by a different player. fontenoy 114/4 jdr S05R-6 S06M F07R F08M S09M F09M F09B 8 players left. 21SC B-S-3 alliance builds southern fleet iona jdr -20 -13 F00B S01M F01M Just started. 30 players share 34 supply centers. SEE BELOW. 1898 RULES (7 players) Regular map. Each player starts with only his capital. bataan 152 dmb -3 F99M F00B S01M F01R S02M CROWDED RULES (11 players) 4 more players added, leaving no neutrals. 7senuf jdr -5 -5 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5 emu mjmcleod S02M-4 S02R-1 F02M-2 F02B F03M F03M-1 MACHIAVELLI RULES - An economic variant of Diplomacy marketed by Avalon Hills vega cebula -7 -5 -4 -3 S54M U54M F54M Pope takes out Florence in 1st move but at what political cost? dagger jdr ??? S56R S57M U57R F57M F57B-1 S58M poverty andre -6 -6 -5 -3 **** FOR MORE INFO **** 1) FOR A PARTICULAR GAME: For more detailed information about game's current status: Send "LIST <name-of-game>" to JUDGE@U.WASHINGTON.EDU For the game's history: Send "SUMMARY <name-of-game>" to the JUDGE For regular game updates: Send "OBSERVE <name-of-game> <password>" to the JUDGE For a copy of the variant rules: Send "GET INFO.<name-of-variant>" or "GET PRESS" or "GET GUNBOAT" For other information (including house rules): Contact the GM. (See list below) 2) FOR THE JUDGE IN GENERAL: For general information about the judge, Send "HELP" to the JUDGE For an update of the list of games given above: Send "LIST" to JUDGE@U.WASHINGTON.EDU For a more detailed list: Send "LIST FULL" to the JUDGE To be informed of all changes in the list of games, Send "OBSERVE CONTROL <password>" to the JUDGE. For a copy of the default house rules: Send "GET EP.HOUSE.RULES" to the JUDGE. For other information: Contact me (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr) or Ken (jdr@u.washington.edu) 3) FOR THE ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL IN GENERAL: For general information: Contact the editor Eric Klien (eric_s_klien@cup.portal.com) To solve Email problems, contact one of the email wizards: swb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu, andre@hern.stonemarche.org eisen@cs.jhu.edu, eisen@jhuvms.bitnet, or wcw27974@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu For back issues: Contact the archivist, jlitvin@swtec1.intel.com/John Litvin **** LIST OF GAME MASTERS **** Brian Bacher bacherb@physics.orst.edu David M Bowen dmb@bigd.cray.com dmb@sequoia.cray.com Dave Cebula cebulad@physics.orst.edu Jamie Dreier pl436000@brownvm.brown.edu, pl436000@brownvm.bitnet Bryant Durrell durrell@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu Nicholas Fitzpatrick nick@sunburn.waterloo.edu Nawwar Kasrawi skiman@leland.stanford.edu Edward J Koll koll02@snybufva.bitnet Koll02@snybscva.bitnet Danny Loeb loeb@nestor.greco-prog.fr Ken Lowe jdr@u.washington.edu ken@milton.u.washington.edu Matt McLeod c9106225@wombat.newcastle.edu.au Michael Luft scottb@cs.utexas.edu Sean MacIntosh casmacin@atlas.cs.upei.ca John Aidan O'Regan J_ORegan%csvax1@iruccvax.UCC.IE Andre Verweij andre@duteina.tudelft.nl andre@hlniob.uucp ***** PART THREE ***** **** BANDITOS END OF GAME REPORT **** END-GAME REPORT FOR BANDITOS - by - J_ORegan@csvax1.UCC.IE / John O'Regan (Master of Banditos) I created Banditos as an experiment to see what would happen in a truly no- holds-barred (presswise) game. Faked partial press and broadcasts were allowed. Not only that, but the list of recipients could be faked as well! I thought that these would be ideal conditions for a skilled Diplomacy player to do some real mischief. Whether they did or not, I cannot say. The Master has as yet no way to monitor the press, but I fear that little use was made of these options. 1901 saw some very strange play from just about everyone. Austria supported Russia in Rumania. Germany did not contest Russia for the ownership of Sweden. Turkey went straight for Russia's underbelly (unfortunate, because Russia chose a strong southern opening). Italy took Tunis with an army (and left it there for several years) and kept the Venicean garrison in their barracks. France supported Germany into Belgium. Germany built two fleets and France built anot- her in Brest. England didn't take the hint. In 1902 England blithely carried on with his Scandanavian campaign and let Germany into the North Sea and France into the Channel. At the same time this joint action was taken, Steve and Vincent had an unconvincing 'border dispute' in an attempt to make their co-ordinated naval manoeuvres look coincidental. >From that point on, Nawwar's downfall was inevitable, but it need not have been so swift. By Autumn of '04, he was gone. I feel Nawwar could have fought on longer, but decided instead not to prolong the agony. Turkey lost Bulgaria to Austria in the Spring (Rita making full use of the favour Kiam owed her) and his will to live as well, it seems. Next season saw John obligingly move his remaining units out of the way of a suspiciously prescient Italian fleet. A pity Rita wasn't in on the bonanza too, as she could have walked into Constant- inople. The end of the year saw the departure of Rita and Vincent. Rita felt that becaue of the pressures of work, she could no longer continue to play. Vincent had a slow mailer and resigned so as not to hold up the game. He was being a bit hard on himself in my opinion, but I admire his principles. Gary and Tony took over as Austria and France respectively and 1903 started after a two month hia- tus in real time (9th of August to 11th of October). Unfortunately for England, the change of French leadership did not destroy the carefully laid Franco-German invasion plans and in one fell swoop Tony had an army in Wales and Steve had one in Edinburgh. The only English unit anywhere near home was a fleet in London which was unceremoniously dislodged in the Autumn and later disbanded in Yorkshire despite an attempt by France to support it into Edin- burgh. Russia bent over backwards to do favours for Germany and Austria in the vain hope that in return, he'd be left alone. Gary was less than grateful and in the Autumn stormed into Rumania, Galicia and the Ukraine. Kiam was more suc- cessful up North where he ejected the rapidly deminishing English threat from St. Petersberg, but lost Sweden to a serendipidous German retreat. The next year saw France and Germany squabbling over territory in Britain and Tony captured Belgium in an irresistable fervour of panfrancoistic zeal. Bruce finally convoyed his army out of Tunis to - Albania, Greece or Constant- inople? No, Apulia. But he did take Constantinople with a fleet and some Russ- ian support. Gary continued to make territorial gains in the East, taking Sev- astopol, Ankara and supporting Germany into Warsaw. A Turkish fleet cowered in Armenia, trying not to get in anybody's way. Nawwar was decimated and friend- less. He plunged from 4 centres to 1 overnight. 1905 saw Austria expand at a phenomenal rate - shooting up form 9 to 13 supply centres. Gary now controlled the Balkans, Turkey and most of Russia. Meanwhile France prised Edinburgh away from Germany and they were having bor- der clashes for real this time. France was in the North Sea and German influ- ence was waning fast. Italy lost his Turkish possessions and Austria was test- ing Venice's strength. A Russian army shivered in Finland for the last time and the Rodina was no more. The following year was eerily quiet. France and Germany stopped fighting. Steve braced himself for the inevitable Austrian onslaught. Tony sped his fl- eet to the West Med in a belated effort to bottle up Gary. He also tried to squeeze some armies through Piedmont. Bruce still denied Venice to Gary, but couldn't keep him out of the Ionian. 1907 and the game was in its final stages. It was December in real time and the players were anxious to finish it. Gary, now with nothing at his back, op- ened up a massive Western front and finally broke through at Venice. He probed the German defences, but was repulsed. France snatched Tunis and Bruce switched sides - or had a deathwish, or something. That Autumn, he supported Gary into Rome and Tuscany. Then he resigned. My thanks to Matt Ender for stepping in. A proposal for a G/A/F draw with Italy surviving was unanimously accepted. I wai- ted for the adjustments to be processed and terminated the game. Summary of game banditos through F1907B. Austria: Rita Callaghan rcal@erim.org from S1903M: Gary Samad gary@chem.UCSD.EDU England: Nawwar Kasrawi skiman@leland.stanford.edu France: Vincent Archer archer@evry.cnes.fr from S1903M: Tony Dugdale cxad@musica.mcgill.ca Germany: Steve Benz steveb@cs.utexas.edu Italy: Bruce Onder onder@ISI.EDU from F1907R: Matt Ender ender2@husc.harvard.edu Russia: Kiam Choo a228choo@cdf.toronto.edu Turkey: J Ricksher Murphy murphyjoh@urvax.urich.edu Historical Supply Center Summary -------------------------------- Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri 1900 I I I . E E E F F F . . . . G G G . . . R R R R T T T . . . . A A A 1901 I I I I E E E F F F F F G G G G G G R E R R R R T T T T R A A A A A 1902 I I I I E E E F F F F F G G G G G G R E R R R R T T I A R A A A A A 1903 I I I I G F F F F F F F G G G G G G G E R R R R A T I A A A A A A A 1904 I I I I G F F F F F F F F G G G G G G G G G R A I A I A A A A A A A 1905 I I I I F F F F F F F F F G G G G G G G G A A A A A A A A A A A A A 1906 I I I I F F F F F F F F F G G G G G G G G A A A A A A A A A A A A A 1907 A A I F F F F F F F F F F G G G G G G G G A A A A A A A A A A A A A History of Supply Center Counts ------------------------------- Power 1900 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 Player Austria 3 5 6 \ Rita Callaghan 8 9 13* 13 15 Gary Samad England 3 4 4 1 Nawwar Kasrawi France 3 5 5 \ Vincent Archer 7 8 9 9 10 Tony Dugdale Germany 3 6 6 8 10 8 8 8 Steve Benz Italy 3 4 5 5 6 4 4 \ Bruce Onder 1 Matt Ender Russia 4 6 6 4 1 Kiam Choo Turkey 3 4 2 1 J Ricksher Murphy Index: 10 24 25 31 40 47 47 55 * = 1 unused build. Index is the sum of squares of the number of supply centers divided by the number of players. It is a measure of how far the game has progressed. **** FONTENOY 1909 REPORT **** Diplomacy Game Fontenoy statistics 1909 compiled by Danny Loeb GM: Ken Lowe ***PLEASE SEND ME CORRECTIONS OR COMMENTS IF YOU HAVE ANY!!!! ***UPDATE Another year another elimination... P-London has bit the dust. I had warned him when he took over the position that he wasn't taking the Belgique threat seriously. He responded that if he actively countered Mun/Bel then he would be crushed. As it turns out, he was. Was his gambit too late, or did he have no chance to begin with? Hard to tell. There might be yet another elimination this year. If 7-Venice prefers to die in honors rather than back pedalling over the supply centers of his ally since 1901 X-Rome. Note that a Venetian forfeit will not influence the fate of Italy, since Rome can in that case build an army (or fleet) in Rome. 3-StP got a pleasant suprise this Fall. An interesting bounce allowed him to keep Trieste which he probably had not counted on. Moreover, since the supply center is empty this will allow him the build of a Southern fleet. This fleet will be the first Southern fleet in the hands of the BS3 alliance (now totalling 21 supply centers), since N-Liverpool in Marseilles was still in the alliance. This fleet will be particularly useful in the Balkan/Turk campaign, since for the moment StPete is suffering from a bit of a traffic jam. Although the strategy remains interesting, there were no diplomatic surprises this year. If this keeps up, then it is a matter of time before we see a 3S or BS3 draw. Iona has finally started. Take a look, and stay tuned in case we need back up players. ***NUMBER OF SUPPLY CENTERS Bel Bre Bul Den Gre Kie Lon Mos Nap Par Rom Ser Smy StP Tri Ven War Ank Ber Bud Con Edi Hol Lvp Mar Mun Nor Por Rum Sev Spa Swe Tun Vie A B C D E F G H I J K L N P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1900 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1*1 1 1 1 1 1901 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1902 2 2 1 2 1 1* 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 2*1 1 1 2 1903 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1904 1 3 1 1 1 1 2*2* 4 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2* 2 1* 1905 1 4 1 1*1 2 2* * 4 1* 1 3 3*2 * 3*2 1 2 * 1906 2 4 2 1 2 4 6 4 2 2 3 2 1907 3 5 2 3 3 6 4 2 4 2 1908 3 7 3 2 1 7 4 6 1 1909 2 6 4 2 7 4-5 8 0-1 Bel Bre Bul Den Gre Kie Lon Mos Nap Par Rom Ser Smy StP Tri Ven War Ank Ber Bud Con Edi Hol Lvp Mar Mun Nor Por Rum Sev Spa Swe Tun Vie Note: number = number of supply centers at the END of that year blank = no supply center left at the END of that year * = 1 change of command DURING that year ***OWNERSHIP OF SUPPLY CENTERS Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri 1900 7 X T 6 I P N D V Q W 2 B K S L C H 4 U 3 9 R 0 G A 1 F Y J Z E 8 5 1901 7 X T 6 I P N D V Q W W B B Q K S L 4 4 U 9 3 R A A 1 1 F J Z Y 8 5 1902 7 X T X I P N P V Q W 6 B B S K S I 4 4 3 9 9 A 1 A 1 Z F J Z Y Y 5 1903 7 X T X I P N P V Q W N B B S S S I 4 4 3 9 3 A Z F 1 Z F J 5 Y Y 5 1904 7 X T X 4 P N P B Q W Q B B S S S I S 4 3 9 3 A Z F 1 Z Y J 5 Y 7 5 1905 7 X X X 4 P N P B N W B B B S S S I S 4 3 3 3 A Z F Z J Y T Y Y 7 5 1906 7 X X X B P N P B N B P P B S S S S S I 3 3 3 A Z F Z A F X Y Y S 7 1907 7 X X X N P N P B N B B P B S S S S S B 3 3 3 A Z A F Z A X F 3 S 7 1908 7 X X X N B B B B N B P B B S S S S S S 3 3 3 3 F A F A A X F 3 S 3 1909 3 ? X X N B N B B X X B B B S S S S S S 3 3 3 3 F A F F 3 A F 3 S 3 Ven Nap Edi Lvp Par Por Bel Mun Ber Swe Stp Mos Con Smy Rum Ser Vie Year Rom Tun Lon Bre Mar Spa Hol Kie Den Nor War Sev Ank Bul Gre Bud Tri ***SC Changes SC Gre Spa Bul Lvp Mar Por Ven Rum Rom Was X P A B N B 7 A X Now A B F N X X 3 3 X/7 ***BUILDS AND RETREATS A-Ank: F Rum disbands B-Bel: 1 removal F-Bul: 1 build (Con or Smy) N-Lvp: --- P-Lon: eliminated S-Mun: A Mar -> Pie, or A Mar disbands and 1 build (Mun,Ber,Nor) X-Rom: If Venice does not retreat to Rome, then 1 build (Rom,Nap,Tun) 3-StP: 2 builds (Stp,War,Mos,Tri) 7-Ven: A Ven -> Rom or eliminated *****FONTENOY/IONA COMPARATIVE SPRING 1901 ANALYSIS****** The following is an analysis of the openings of the game IONA (Chaos variant). Below is the Spring 1901 orders from which the Winter 1900 builds can be deduced, and to which the Summer 1901 retreats have been added. For comparison, similar information is given in parenthesis about the game FONTENOY. FONTENOY is the only other CHAOS game to have been played on the JUDGE. It is now in Winter 1909, the surviving players (with their number of supply centers) are: Ank(2), Bel(6), Bul(4), Lvp(2), Mun(7), Rom(5), and StP(8) with Mun and StP in seemingly the strongest comparison. The commentaries are written by myself. For your information, I am playing U-Norway in Iona, and I played J-Greece in Fontenoy. IONA is being played with only 29 players. Thus, 4 players were assigned an extra SC in 1900. Namely, Kie/Ven Mar/Con Tri/Smy Nor/Lvp Por/Spa A-Ank: Fleet Ankara -> Black Sea. Fontenoy: F Ank S 1-Smy F Smy -> Con In Fontenoy, Ankara attempted to form a Turkish alliance. When Con refused to answer any messages, he decided to go it alone. Apparantly, in Iona, the Turks have managed to decide to the joint campaign. Obviously, Ankara and Smyrna have to trust Constantinople here. B-Bel: Army Belgium -> Ruhr. Fontenoy: A Bel -> Ruh In Fontenoy, this was the beginning of the Munich/Belgium alliance which has lasted the whole game so far. In Iona it is hard to see who is the target, from Ruhr so many SC's can be attacked. Actually, there is a good chance Bel will have to head back home for fear of an attack by Holland, London, or Munich (in Burgundy). C-Ber: Army Berlin -> Munich. Fontnoy: A Ber -> Kie One would have thought that the greater initial power of Munich in Iona makes him the target of an otherwise German alliance rather than Kiel. However, we shall soon see. Did Venice move to Tyrolia for a future attack on Munich? D-Bre: Fleet Brest -> Mid-Atlantic Ocean. Fontenoy: A Bre S B-Bel A Bel -> Pic *NSO* In Fontenoy, Brest built an army perhaps hoping for Belgium to help him against Paris. Instead he only got Paris upset at him, and they ended up fighting until Belgium became strong enough to eliminate both. Here Brest build a fleet. Clearly he fears the combined Spa/Por threat more than nearby Paris. E-Bud: Army Budapest SUPPORT 8-Vie Army Vienna -> Trieste. Fontenoy: A Bud S 8-Vie A Vie -> Tri Same move in both cases. In Fontenoy, Trieste managed to pull a complete reversal on his attacker by seeking the aid of Venice. However, here Venice has his mind on a German strategy (or on covering Venice), and probably can't help. F-Bul: Army Bulgaria -> Constantinople. (*bounce*) Fontenoy: A Bul -> Rum In Iona, Bulgaria is in trouble. He correctly guessed Turkey as his enemy, but is now surrounded. Unless he can get major support from the Balkans, he is in big trouble. G-Con: Fleet Constantinople -> Bulgaria (south coast). (*bounce*) G-Con: Army Marseilles HOLD. Fontenoy: A Con -> Bul *bounce,disbands*, A Mar -> Bur These SC's are separate enough that G-Con can be thought of as two countries. The move to Bulgaria is part of the Turkish alliance. Of course, he can change it into a Turkish backstab. Marseilles hold is compatible with the moves by Paris and Brest as a plan against Spa/Por. However, why did he not support Par->Gas ? Either he is not whole heartedly with the French, or he is hoping to not tip off Spa/Por as to his real intentions. H-Den: Fleet Denmark -> North Sea. (*bounce*) Fontenoy: F Den -> Bal Chances are Denmark is worried here about some sort of English alliance (as there was in Fontenoy). He hopes to slow down the English onslaught. I-Edi: Fleet Edinburgh -> North Sea. (*bounce*) Fontenoy: Edi -> Nth Edinburgh adopted the same opening as in Fontenoy. After the English built fleets, they fan out while not threatening each other. However, the Lpl/Nor combination is a new factor that disturbs the balance, and in the end he is betrayed. J-Gre: Army Greece -> Bulgaria. (*bounce*) Fontenoy: F Gre -> Bul/sc *bounce* In Fontenoy, the cost of Serbia's promised support was that Greece build a fleet. When the promised support did not come, (even after several more fleets) however, Greece was unable to do anything about it. Bulgaria is a tempting target in both games in Spring 1901, since it is clear that Bulgaria will have no retreat and be eliminated whereas any other power might live to get its revenge. Here, Greece built an army, and got the support.... twice. However, the supports were cut. Another difference is the quick Turk mobilisation, does the mean Greece will support in the Fall who he attacked in Spring!? In fact, given Smy's retreat, Greece is quite surrounded, and it may be he who needs the support. K-Hol: Fleet Holland HOLD. Fontenoy: A Hol -> Kie It is hard to read much into a hold, but then perhaps it is better to wait to a Fall turn to reveal one's hand. P-Lon: Fleet London -> English Channel. Fontenoy: F Lon S I-Edi Edi -> Nth London decided not to support Edinburgh in this game. And since Brest was not communicating with him, he proceeded into the Channel. R-Mos: Army Moscow -> Ukraine. Fontenoy: Mos S A Sev The Fontenoy movement was a bit strange. A priori, Moscow looks like he is working with Sev to get Rumania, but then why didn't Sev build a fleet? S-Mun: Army Munich SUPPORT 7-Ven Army Kiel. (*cut, retreats -> Burgundy*) Fontenoy: Mun S A Hol -> Kie It is really hard to see how Kie/Ven despite having 2 supply centers managed to convince his neighbors to not attack him. In fact, Mun supports him while being forced to retreat because of his support. Mun now has no good chances at an SC this Fall. This makes him desperate and a desparate player is a dangerous player. T-Nap: Fleet Naples SUPPORT X-Rom Fleet Rome -> Tyrrhenian Sea. Fontenoy: F Nap -> Ion *bounce* The move is different than in Fontenoy, but the idea is the same. Naples and Rome are heading South one at a time because they can't communicate with Tunis. In Fontenoy, Tunis was incommunicative, here Tunis is incomprehensible? In Fontenoy, Venice was part of the alliance as well. He was charged with guarding the entry to Italy. Here either Venice was not appointed as guard, or he is the guard but has left his post. U-Nor: Fleet Liverpool -> Clyde. U-Nor: Fleet Norway -> Norwegian Sea. Fontenoy: F Nor hold *retreats to Bar*, F Lpl -> Iri Norway and Liverpool working together really changes things. Like Smy/Tri and Ven/Kie. He tries to unite his forces. The only other choice, expanding while in turn surrounding another play, would constantly leave HIM open to stabs. Fortunately, the ploy works, and Edinburgh is guaranteed in the fall. V-Par: Army Paris -> Gascony. Fontenoy: Par holds Part of an anti-Por/Spa campaign as mentioned above, but looks like Paris must be covered now. Brest too for that matter.... W-Por: Army Portugal -> Spain. W-Por: Fleet Spain (south coast) -> Gulf of Lyon. Fontenoy: F Por -> MAO, A Spa -> Gas In Fontenoy, this was one of the most volatile spots on the board. Spain has changed hands every year so far, and has been owned by 7 different players in 9 years! Here Iona looks more like a powerhouse. He is the only double power who STARTS with connected supply centers, and his opening superbly takes advantage of this unique position. Franch solidarity will be necessary just to hold their own ground. X-Rom: Fleet Rome -> Tyrrhenian Sea. Fontenoy: Rom -> TyS See Naples. Y-Rum: Army Rumania SUPPORT J-Gre Army Greece -> Bulgaria. (*cut*) Fontenoy: A Rum S F Gre -> Bul *cut,dislodged,retreat to Gal* Same move in both games. In Fontenoy, Rum make an amazing comeback by landing in Vienna, and leading a fairly successful alliance with Trieste and Venice. Here, Rum is treatened not from the West but from the East. Will he then ask for Bulgaria for support? And in that case, will Bulgaria give it? Z-Ser: Army Serbia SUPPORT J-Gre Army Greece -> Bulgaria. (*cut*) Fontenoy: A Ser -> Gre *bounce* See Rum and Gre. 0-Sev: Army Sevastopol -> Rumania. (*bounce*) Fontenoy: A Sev S F Bul -> Rum Rumania got tapped lightly this turn, but with Ukraine's help. Rumania may fall next turn. 1-Smy: Fleet Smyrna -> Aegean Sea. 1-Smy: Army Trieste -> Serbia. (*bounce, retreats to Albania*) Fontenoy: F Smy -> Con, A Tri S A Vie -> Bud *nso* See Con regarding the Turkish alliance. Whether Smyrna moved to Serbia, or as is actually the case moved to Albania. The idea is clear. He wants to unite his forces. Now, he can make a double attack on Greece. 3-StP: Fleet St Petersburg (south coast) -> Finland. Fontenoy: A StP S Swe -> Nwy As Norway, I can safely say that I like the Iona opening. Conversely, StP is in great shape having formed a huge DMZ around his capital. If he had moved to Bothnia to begin with, he would have perhaps more options now. His only choice this Fall appearantly is to try for Sweden, but Sweden is unlikely to be available unless Denmark gives him support. 4-Swe: Fleet Sweden HOLD. Fontenoy: F Swe -> Nwy As above, holding is an excellant strategy when one's target has not been fixed yet. This Fall, he could try for Norway but then would almost certainly lose Sweden. 6-Tun: Fleet Tunis -> Tyrrhenian Sea. (*bounce*) Fontenoy: F Tun -> Ion *bounce* See Rome. 7-Ven: Army Venice -> Tyrolia. 7-Ven: Army Kiel SUPPORT C-Ber Army Berlin -> Munich. Fontenoy: A Kie holds *retreats->Den*, A Ven S A Tri The move to Tyrolia is an attempt to unite his forces. Why then does he support Kiel into Munich which will eventually be his? Probably the same reason he asked Munich to support him, he is attempting to turn Kiel and Berlin against each other, and thus lessen their resistance. 8-Vie: Army Vienna -> Trieste. Fontenoy: A Vie -> Tri *bounce* In Fontenoy, Bud and Vie gang up against Tri. In Iona perhaps they have even more reason to do so, given that Tri is a double-power. Trieste then falls since Venice in Iona is too busy rejoining his forces to support Trieste as he did in Fontenoy. 9-War: Army Warsaw HOLD. Fontenoy: A War Not an exciting way to finish this review, but it will have to do. By the way, please don't be offended by these reviews. It is merely propaganda, guesses, and speculation on my part. In fact, if you have any rebuttals or corrections to make, please do so, and I will publish it in EPChap2. Finally, since this took me a while to write, I think I won't be writting the annual summaries like I did before. After all, now the SUMMARY command is available for everyone..... Up