Diplomacy Zine -- Chapter Four EP #138 From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Tue, 06 Feb 1990 20:43:53 +0000 Issue #138 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL: Chapter One contains: NAVARONE, BLITZKRIEG, OPERATION OVERLORD, GETTYSBURG, and HMS HOOD And is published by daybell@aludra.usc.edu/Donald Daybell Chapter Two contains: DRAGONSLAYER, BISMARK, COLD WAR, JACAL, MANHATTAN, and VERSAILLES And is published by tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer Chapter Three contains: TANNENBURG, ENTENTE, MULHOUSE, and DAWN PATROL And is published by xcbe12a@ucrmath.ucr.edu/Wayne Wallace (I am working on publishing the chapters that dragon@agora.hf.intel.com /Bill Wheeler created. He has them but can't transmit.) ------------- Chapter Four ------------- Spring '05 of the game RATATOSK (BNC number 1989IJ) (GM is jall@diku.dk/Mogens Jallberg) Hi everybody. There has been a lot of problems getting the orders in. Actually I only recieved half of the intended moves, and the sinners managed to produce reasonable excusions. Thus, I hereby extend the deadline to Thursday February 8'th @ 20.00 GMT. Mogens Spring '05 of the game BUSHIDO (BNC number 1989IN) (GM is ronin@cory.berkeley.edu/Sam Parazette) GM just came back from Hawaii, results should be published soon. Fall '04 of the game HUGO (BNC number 1989IO) (GM is willis@trwind.ind.trw.com/Willis Marti) Diplomacy -- HUGO Fall 1904 --------------------------- England: Army Holland --> Kiel Fails (1-1) Fleet Denmark Support Army Hol --> Kie Fails (russia) Fleet Belgium --> Holland Fails (own unit) Fleet North Sea --> Norway Fails (1-1) Fleet Irish Sea Support FRENCH F MAO H OK Germany: A Kie - Mun Fails (1-1) Russia: A NOR holds OK F SWE - DEN Fails (1-1) A WAR - LIV OK A BOH - MUN Fails (1-1) A BER S AUS A MUN - KIE Fails (no such move) A PRU holds OK F ANK S AUS F CON - BLA Fails (no such move) F BLA holds OK Turkey: No move 8-) SUre. Why Not? Austria: A Mun S ENG A Hol-Kie Fails (russia) A Ven-Rom OK A Tri-Ven OK F Con H OK A Sil-War OK A Tyr-Boh OK (2-1) A Vie S A Tyr-Boh OK Italy: A Mar S F WMe - Spa OK (Not dislodged) F GoL S A Mar OK A Pie S A Mar OK F WMe - Spa OK (2-1) F NAf - MAO Fails (1-1) F Smy S Austrian F Con OK France: F Por->Spa(sc) Fails (1-2) F Mao S F Por->Spa(sc) Fails (Italy) A Spa->Mar Fails (3-3) A Gas S A Spa->Mar OK A Bur S A Spa->Mar OK A Par S A Bur OK --------------------------- Russian Army BOH must disband or retreat to SIL or GAL. French Army Spa disbands. New Positions: +1 England:(6) A HOL F DEN F NTS F BEL F IRI 0 Germany:(1) A KIE 0 Russia: (8) A NOR A BER A PRU A ??? A LIV F SWE F BLA F ANK 0 Turkey: (0) +3 Austria:(10) A MUN A BOH A ROM A WAR A VIE A VEN F CON 0 Italy: (6) A MAR A PIE F GOL F WME F NAF F SMY -2 France: (3) A PAR A BUR A GAS F MAO F POR Note Austria will build only two because there are only 2 open home supply centers. RUSSIA should "broadcast" his retreat to all players, builds due by Wed, 31 Jan Next move will be due 4 Feb. (Spring 1905) -- I'll say one thing: y'all certainly have helped me learn ALL the rules. -- ============================ The Weekly Crier -- "All the news that fits, we print." ----------------------------------- PARIS(AP) -- King Jordan announced an offensive to recover Marseilles for the French people. General Richilieu could not be reached for comment, but Admiral Smith, conducting a naval maneuver in Spain commented "This is the most fun I've had since my Grandma was run over by pigs!" London (AP): ``Parliament reversed its earlier decision concerning British responsibility to our Belgian allies. Orders have been sent to leave Brussels in charge of the joint Franco-Belgian contingent that the Royal Navy had temporarily relieved earlier this year.'' Excerpt from ITALY Today (TM) The Emperor of Italy declared today that there is no truth to the rumor that Italy is at war with France and Austria. He could not, however, explain the sudden appearance of fresh croissants on the shelves of Roman grocery stores. When asked about the presence of Austrian forces in Venice the Emperor replied, "wait, you mean to say that Austrian forces are in Venice." Rumors of Italy's involvement in France started to circulate last week when the Italian Emperor returned from his vacation in Greece two days early. The official explanation of this unprecedented turn of events: "Our Emperor was not hitting his woods well." Imperial spokesmen had no comment when asked when the Emperor had ever hit a reasonable wood shot. {Selected headlines from the Rome Enquirer/Star} Emperor Returns from Vacation -- TWO DAYS EARLY "My Woods Were Possesed," He Claims Italian Army Finds a Three Headed Boy In France -- Photos Inside (Budapest) There has been a coup in the Austrian Empire. The lonely monarch, Fred the Elf, has been assassinated and Fred the Halfling, head of the Austrian Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Bureau (FRED) has proclaimed himself leader of the nation. Especially surprising was the broad base of support that Fred had. Both the army, under Fred the Porpoise, supported the late-night coup. Unrest had been growing in the armed forces. It is believed that they were upset at the lack of aggresiveness shown by the monarch. Little had been accomplished for the last six months, since the fall of Turkey. It is believed that Fred the Dwarf and Fred the Porpoise were both promised that their respective forces would be enlarged by the new regime. Fred also recieved the support of Fred the Giant Panda, the nation's top surveyor. He was reported to be thrilled at the prospect of having to draw new, and bigger maps of the Empire. "I'll have to hire a lot more people, but I look at it as a challenge," he is quoted as saying. The only known casualty of the coup, besides Fred the Elf, was Fred the Dust Mite, the royal press secretary. (Vienna) "Expansion is my policy," is how Fred the Halfling began his nationally broadcast speech early this morning. He continued on to say that "Austria had become stagnant, sitting around, while those around them had fought and grown." He said he was supported in his overthrow of the previous goverment by the general populace, which had grown bored of hearing of Italian and Russian advances while their own troops sat around. "We are a nation of movers and drinkers," he said, " we're the caffiene generation." (Wash., D.C.) -- In the wake of the recent AT&T failure, other PTT's in Europe have come under increased scrutiny, especially after intelligence and orders for all four armies in Central Europe failed to match. (Paris) -- Waves of popular disatisfaction with the military are forcing the Government to seriously consider reducing the size of the French Armed Forces. Talk of a "Peace Dividend" is in all the papers. (Vienna) -- Rumors of involvement by the arch-terrorist Derf in the recent coup have been denied by the new Government. Fall '03 of the game JUGGERNAUGHT (BNC number 1989IR) (GM is rdesper@eagle.wesleyan.edu/Rick Desper) Problems with the Italian player, should be solved within 48 hours. (The player has been contacted.) Fall '03 of the game TOKUGAWA (BNC number 1989IS) (GM is rc0o@andrew.cmu.edu/Bob Cochran) Results will be published ASAP. Note new GM! Fall '03 of the game PETAIN (BNC number 1989IT) (GM is ssmith@ms.uky.edu/Scott Smith) Due Jan 27 Summer '03 of the game DUNKIRK (BNC number 1989KN) (GM is sjzwange@phoenix.princeton.edu/Steven Jacob Zwanger) Retreats: Russia F (NOT A, sorry) to Sev England F to Bar Fall 1903 due Wed, Jan 31, 10 PM EST (sorry about the wrong date listed before) Positions: Russia: A Nwy, F Swe, A Ukr, A Lvn, F Sev Austria: A Vie, A Rum, A Gal, A Bud, A Bul, A Gre Turkey: A Con, F Bla Italy: A Pie, A Smy, F Aeg, F EMe England: F Ska, A StP, F Nth, F Edi, F Bar France: A Pic, A Mar, A Bur, A Par, F MAO Germany: A Bel, A Mun, A Hol, A Ruh, F Kie, F Den Spring '04 of the gunboat game VERDUN (MNC number 1989AZrb32) (GM is eric_s_klien@cup.portal.com/Eric Klien) Neat! A bug! The original report said that Turkey got BUL-GRE when in reality it bounced. First bug that I have found. AUS: <A Budapest S A Turkish Rumania H>[nso] ENG: <F Clyde - Edinburgh> <F Norway - Norwegian Sea> <A Sweden - Norway> <F Wales - Liverpool> FRA: A Belgium - Holland A Burgundy - Munich <F English Channel - North Sea> A Marseilles - Burgundy <F North Atlantic - Norwegian Sea> A Ruhr S A Burgundy - Munich GER: <A Denmark - Sweden> <F Heligoland Bight - North Sea> <A Kiel - Munich> <A Liverpool S A Yorkshire - Edinburgh>[att] F North Sea - Skagerak <A Yorkshire - Edinburgh> ITA: F Adriatic Sea - Ionian Sea <F Aegean Sea - Greece>[ret](EME) F Albania S F Aegean Sea - Greece <A Trieste - Serbia> A Venice - Tyrolia <A Vienna - Budapest> RUS: A Bohemia - Silesia <A Galicia - Ukraine> A St. Petersburg - Moscow TUR: F Black Sea - Rumania <A Bulgaria - Greece> F Constantinople S F Greece - Aegean Sea F Greece - Aegean Sea A Rumania - Ukraine <A Serbia S A Italian Budapest H>[att] A Sevastopol S A Rumania - Ukraine F Smyrna S F Greece - Aegean Sea Position Report Spring 1904 Game VER AUS: A BUD = 1 ENG: F CLY F NOR A SWE F WAL = 4 FRA: A BUR F ECH A HOL A MUN F NAO A RUH = 6 GER: A DEN F HEL A KIE A LVP F SKA A YOR = 6 ITA: F ??? F ALB F ION A TRI A TYR A VIE = 6 RUS: A GAL A MOS A SIL = 3 TUR: F AEG A BUL F CON F RUM A SER A SEV F SMY A UKR = 8 Press: Germany -> France: Well I can only trust you. If you decided to get me, well then you have. If not, then all should be ok. Germany -> Russia: Good Luck with your southern excursions. I shall try to keep the English scourge off your Northern Frontier. Russia -> Germany: No I haven't joined the pick on Germany club. The troops in Silesia are taking the alternate route in the event of a traffic jam like last fall. I realize that this next comment is probably superfluous but you might keep a close eye on your backside. I'll try to hold off the Turks as long as I can, but I suspect when they finish with me they are headed your way. Sorry about the support for the non-existent English attack on the North Sea fleet. I was a little miffed at your move into Sweden, since I wanted it as a bolt hole and since England hadn't been real nasty and tried a move in St. Petersburg I was feeling charitable. As they say in the NBA no harm no foul. Russia -> Italy: I'm not going to complain if you move into Budapest. Austria has shown herself to be solidly anti-Italian despite the Turkish threat. If you want to show some mercy and make Turkey happy, just remember he may be headed your way next. Petrograd, March 17, 1904(Reuters) In a surprise move the Czar announced the reappointment of Mikhail Davidovitch as Foreign Minister and the banishment of personal aide Gregor Rasputin. The Czar blamed Rasputin's advice for the sorry state of the nation and indicated that Davidovitch had been following his own orders. London Times, England In a shake up of epic proportions in the history of England, the entire English government has been replaced by a single military dictator. There is panic and unrest in the streets and the population is stunned by the first time in hundreds of years that a foreign power has set foot onto the Isle. The reason for the milittary takeover seems to stem from the civilian government's ineptness at running the war effort and the military takeover was announced by the new ruling leadership as "the only hope in saving the crown." As an additional point, the new leadership was very angry at various attempts at subterfuge from press agencies within England. This press report is the first official announcement from the new government in over a year. Finally, the new English ruling body is very worried at the current French positions. The French, who were being treated on friendly terms, are now in a position to cause significant damage to the remmants of English civilization. The current leaders also demand that Germany immediately withdraw all of its forces on English soil back to the Continent. In exchange, the English are willing to sign a formal alliance with the Germans for the purpose of the mutual destruction of France. The new leadership has nullified all previous agreements of the previous civilian government and the Prime Minister has been arrested as an "enemy of the state" for his mishandling of the war effort. All members of the House of Commons are either in prison or fugitives with outstanding warrants for the same charge. Turkey -> Italy I think you should go help Germany out against France and England. Your fleets off southern France could be quite a valuable negotiation asset for you. In the mean time, I will stay out of the Ionian Sea if you will. We can maintain peace even if you don't go along with this offer, but the Aegean sea is totally out of the question. I am hoping you moved out peacefully this turn, but as you can see, I have taken obvious precautions in the case that you didn's. I think my move is non-agressive toward you in any other way. I also hope that you have chosen to leave Austria in the game. He isn't in anybody's way and as I said before, can offer both of us a comfortable buffer. Also, I would be careful of Russia being next to Vienna with two armies the way he is. At this stage of the game he just may opt to grab at anything just to save himself. THE SULTAN. Turkey -> Austria Hope you made it another turn. I guess you will be surviving just one turn at a time for a little while. THE SULTAN. Fall '01 of the game BERLIN (BNC number 1989KQ) (GM is cwekx@htikub5.bitnet/Constantijn Wekx) =============================<orders>=========================================== Austria (Ledoux) England (Karakashian) F Alb - GRE F NTH - Den (*bounce*) A SER S F Alb - GRE (*cut*) F NWG S A Edi - NWY A Vie - TRI A Edi - NWY France (Rohman) Germany (Feldhouse) F Mao - POR F Hol - BEL A BUR - Mun (*bounce*) A KIE - Den (*bounce*) A Mar - SPA A RUH - Mun (*bounce*) Italy (Gale) Russia (Nabours) F ION C A Nap - TUN F GoB - SWE A Nap - TUN F RUM holds A VEN holds A StP - FIN A UKR S F RUM holds Turkey (Jagoda) F Con - AEG A BUL - Ser (*bounce*) A Smy - CON =============================<Unit Positions>=================================== Army Fleet Austria : SER, TRI GRE England : NWY NTH, NWG France : BUR, SPA POR Germany : KIE, RUH BEL Italy : TUN, VEN ION Russia : FIN, UKR RUM, SWE Turkey : BUL, CON AEG ================================================================================ ================================================================================ Supply Centre Count: Austria : BUD, GRE, SER, TRI, VIE England : EDI, LON, LVP, NWY France : BRE, MAR, PAR, POR, SPA Germany : BEL, BER, HOL, KIE, MUN Italy : NAP, ROM, TUN, VEN Russia : MOS, RUM, SEB, STP, SWE, WAR Turkey : ANK, BUL, CON, SMY ================================================================================ =============================<Builds>=========================================== Austria : +2 Italy : +1 England : +1 Russia : +2 France : +2 Turkey : +1 Germany : +1 =============================<Notes>============================================ Deadline for Winter 1901 (Builds): Wednesday January 31, 1990 at 22:00 h (MET). Deadline for Spring 1902 : Sunday February 4, 1990 at 22:00 h (MET). =============================<Press>============================================ Paris (AP) - Germany forces make a valient, but diluted attempt to occupy Belgium by extream force. Belgium's twinky consortion pledge to ban Germany fruit cakes. St. Petersburg - The new Russian Vodka, Kaspuck is selling like hotcakes, be sure to reserve your case before supplies run out. The Czar today vows to support the rights of the Scandinavian countries from English invasion, and to the English was quoted as saying "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elder berries." =============================<Electronic Protocol>============================== ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL (GM is Constantijn Wekx) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 ----------------------------- A: 03 05 Bill Ledoux Sr E: 03 04 Todd Karakashian F: 03 05 James Rohman G: 03 04 Jim Feldhouse I: 03 04 Van Gale R: 04 06 Kelly Nabours T: 03 04 Roger Jagoda Oops, mistake! Germany's correct supply centre count: Bel, Ber, Kie and Mun. Since Germany left Holland in Fall, it's still unoccupied and free. Constantijn ================================================================================ Spring '01 of the game BIG WILLIE (MNC number not known) (Blind game, GM is okamoto@hp-ses.hp.com/Jeff Okamoto) Due Jan 19 Spring '01 of the game FIRE WHEN READY (BNC number 1990B) (GM is rlg@ai.mit.edu/Bob Givan) Due Feb 9 Fall '01 of the game DREADNOUGHT (BNC number not known) (GM is rbk@aiai.edinburgh.ac.uk/Richard Kirby) DREADNOUGHT FALL 1901 =========== ========= ALL BUT ONE NEUTRAL TAKEN. ITALIAN ARMY WELCOMED IN TRIESTE. England ------- F NWS C A Edi - Nor F NTS S A Edi - Nor A Edi - Nor Germany ------- F HEL - Den A Kie - Hol A Ruh S A Kie - Hol Russia ------ F Sev - Rum <failed> F GOB - Swe A War - Gal <failed> A Stp - Nor <failed> Turkey ------ F BLA S A Bul - Rum A Con - Bul A Bul - Rum Austria-Hungary --------------- F Alb - Gre A Ser S F Alb - Gre A Vie - Gal <failed> Italy ----- F TYS - Tun A Tri Holds A Tus - Pie France ------ F ECH S A Pic - Bel A Pic - Bel A Spa Holds ============================================================================ Retreats -------- NONE ============================================================================ Dreadnought Winter 1901 Unit Positions England (Scardamaglia) F NTS F NWS A Nor Germany (Hallen) F Den A Hol A Ruh Russia (Pease) F Sev F Swe A Stp A War Turkey (Cochran) F BLA A Rum A Bul Austria (Mullins) F Gre A Vie A Ser Italy (Nelson) F Tun A Tri A Pie France (Belle) F ECH A Bel A Spa ========================================================================== Supply Center Ownership '00 01 Supply Centers England 3 4 Lon, Lvp, Edi, PLUS Nor Germany 3 5 Ber, Mun, Kie, PLUS Den, Hol Russia 4 5 Mos, War, Sev, Stp, PLUS Swe Turkey 3 5 Con, Ank, Smy, PLUS Bul, Rum Austria-Hungary 3 4 Bud, Vie, PLUS Ser, Gre, MINUS Tri Italy 3 5 Rom, Nap, Ven, PLUS Tri, Tun France 3 5 Par, Bre, Mar, PLUS Bel, Spa ========================================================================= Builds England: One Build Germany: Two Builds Russia: One Build Turkey: Two Builds Austria-Hungary: One Build Italy: Two Builds France: Two Builds ========================================================================= Press ----- Turkey Today #1 in Turkey Over 4.5 million copies daily April 2, 1901 Inside: Weather: Money: Camel Enterprises soars to 45 7/8 Hot, Sports: Camel Racing begins at Constantinople Downs Dry Life: Veils Return on the Fashion Scene See A12 TURKEY DECLARES WAR ON ITALY!! ANKARA(UPI) - In an unprecedented act of violence, Italian troops in Venice marched on Trieste this morning. Sultan Ali Hakim expressed severe disgust at this unprovoked attack on his peace-loving Austrian neighbors. Hakim announced in a meeting with top advisors this morning: "We have no choice but to consider this an act of war against Austria-Hungary and all of her allies." The Sultan however, did announce that due to the defense of the homeland, no troops would be available to wage war on Italy until "at least the end of next year. We have higher priorities right now." Hakim seemed confident that the Austrians would regain their homeland shortly, and announced that any move by Italy toward the Eastern Meditteranean would only lead to "sure death of the Italian Empire". BALKANS LIBERATED!! Also announced this morning by the Sultan, the struggling provinces of Bulgaria and Serbia were annexed today by The Sultan and the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, respectively. The Sultan's next step, it seems, will be to free the country of Rumania from Democratic oppression. Turkish defense minister Ahmed Ka' Mel announced that with control of the Black Sea, liberation of Rumania will be "a minor task". NEWSLINE: Turkey extended it's non-aggression pact with Russia until the end of the year, at which time hostile relations may or may not resume. The first Turkish fleet in the Black Sea reported another sighting of "Blackie", the Black Sea Monster, terrorizing fishing fleets off of Ankara. Turkish Defense Minister Ahmed Ka' Mel announced that "friendly" relations currently exist between the Turkish and English governments, calming the scare started by the "Desert Enquirer" that English forces would soon be joining the war on Turkey. In Sports, Sanjay Khanna wins the Greater Asia Minor Camel Trot with a time of 9 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes to complete the half-mile course. Khanna will recieve A free year's supply of Purina Camel Chow and a free one year subscription to "Turkey Today". ---- Dateline: Roma, Italy. Today, Italy has severed diplomatic ties with the Austrian government. Top government officials, citing the reluctance of Austria to negotiate in good faith, condemned the empire to vanquish in misery. Deadlines & Other Business -------------------------- Can I have your builds by Thursday 1st February 1990 at 12 midday EST. The next move deadline will be Sunday 4th February 1990 at 10pm EST. This may not be enough time after finding out what everyone is building, so if you are unhappy with this, I will push it forward a few days. Publisher comments: I have noticed quite a few e-mail problems on the net recently. I wonder if networks were having the same problem that my network had? Here is the notice I got from my network: "We recently installed new versions of Sun Microsystems software as part of our ongoing equipment upgrade. In particular, we up- graded to the latest release of the operating system (version 4.0.3) and the latest version of the X.25 software (version 6.0). This software has been far from trouble-free. We have found serious bugs in the remote procedure call code (this is a Sun supplied facility for communicating between dif- ferent machines on a network). These show themselves as long de- lays (several minutes) during login, logout, and occasionally in the middle of sessions. The rpc code is getting confused and sending message to the wrong place. We have a patch from sun that fixes most of these problems, and are working around the rest. We believe that these problems will be invisible to our users by the end of this week (Feb 2). We have also had a number of problems with the X.25 code (this is what lets us connect to Telenet and PCI, and allows calls from these two networks, including PC Pursuit, to be made). The most serious problems we have experienced are: - mass disconnects, where everyone will be disconnected at the same time - REJECTING 00 40, where incoming calls are refused with a code of 00 40 Finally, there have been a number of minor bugs that have broken various parts of the system. For example, we found a problem that was causing duplicate articles to be loaded from the Usenet, two previously unreported hardware and firmware bugs, and a large number of little bogosities. Most of these have been fixed with workarounds in our software, not by Sun. We have been talking to Sun about these problems since the first day we installed the new software, and communicate with them several times a day (we currently have 4 or 5 outstanding service orders). Especially on the X.25 software, the response to date has not been good. While the responsible engineer so far will not talk to us directly, he has made a few suggestions. Unfor- tunately, they seem more designed to avoid taking responsibility for the problem than determine what it is. We get more and more requests for information, even through everything we have provid- ed shows no problems with the Portal software. Sun is con- veniently ignoring that the identical software ran fine on our previous machines, but breaks now. Effective today, January 31, we are escalating the problem. We will get a number of managers at Sun involved, including those in support, marketing, and engineering. Our position is simple: our Sun software is broken, and they have the responsibility to make it work. We don't want excuses or delays, we want a competent engineer assigned full time to work on this problem until it is resolved. If we don't get a satisfactory commitment to this to- day, we will escalate further, to the president of the company if necessary. We apologize for any problems that this may be causing. We will post additional messages to keep you informed." Could it be that everyone is being destroyed by Sun bugs? Let me know if this is a growing problem. Any way, it looks like some of my game results were eaten by electronic pacmen and I will have to ask the GMs to resend the results. IF I HAVE NOT RESPONDED TO ANY MESSAGES, PLEASE RESEND THEM!!! The following was scribed by as365156@yuorion.bitnet, code name Video Dienstag: "It's Full of Stars!" is a variant/SF orientated subzine produced by Mark Nelson, who can be contacted by writing c/o James Nelson, 112 Huntley Avenue, Spondon, Derby, DE2 7DU, England. Gunboat In the late 1960's and early 1970's Gunboat games were fairly popular. As with most things variant-wise their conception originated with SF fan Don Miller, but after about 1974 the game died. However, since 1983 Gunboat has risen from the grave and there are currently about 150 games in progress; making it the most popular variant ever played!! Statistical nuts will have a GOOD time as these games start AND finish. Are there any differences in the results of different countries, are there any differences with regular Dip results and what does it all mean? It's too early to tell, but a search through my own records reveals 19 finishes: 1973CQ, 1982M&P, 1983F1Y, 1984D/F/G, 1985 B/C/L/Q&T, 1986 A/I, 1987 AE, 1988 R,HL&HM (all American games). I suppose a first indication would be to list the results and derive a Calhamer Point-count (CPC) table: Wins: Draws: Austria (1908, 1910) Austria/Russia (1908) England (1910, 1910) England/France (1906, 1910) Germany (1911, 1908) England/Germany (1910) Italy (1909, 1909, 1909, 1914) France/Germany (1912) Austria/England/Turkey (1910) Austria/France/Russia (1910) Austria/Germany/Italy (1912) France/Germany/Italy/Russia (1912) Note: The high number of Italian wins (often thought to be the hardest country to win with) and the zero Russian wins (often thought to be the easiest power to win with)!!! Austria: 3.50 However, whilst a CPC table shows us how well each country England: 3.83 does in terms of winning/drawing it doesn't show how such a France: 2.41 result occurs. Let's look at EE (Early Eliminations up to and Germany: 3.25 including 1905), LE (Late Eliminations after 1905) and S Italy: 4.56 (Survived). I'll also include R (games in which that country Russia: 1.08 won/drew) and express R/S/TE (Total Eliminations) in % terms. Turkey: 0.33 Summary of All Results: R S LE EE R/S/TE Austria 6 5 4 4 32/26/42 (Percentages have been rounded England 6 5 6 2 32/26/42 up/down and may not add up to 100%). France 5 8 4 2 26/42/32 Germany 6 8 3 2 32/42/26 Italy 6 8 4 1 32/42/26 Russia 3 9 4 3 16/47/16 Turkey 1 9 3 6 5/47/47 So what does this tell us? Actually not too much, we would like to see how these figures varied with the result of the game; i.e., if Italy wins, is Russia eliminated more often? There aren't enough game results to do this though. However, we can note that Austria and England tend to be eliminated slightly more often, and that Turkey has an equal chance of surviving or being eliminated. There just isn't enough data for a detailed analysis. There is one more approach which is very interesting. Let's look at the number of supply centres a surviving power has. Number of Remaining Supply Centres: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 14 Austria 2 2 1 England 1 2 1 1 France 2 1 1 3 1 Germany 1 2 3 1 1 Italy 2 2 2 1 1 Russia 1 4 2 1 1 Turkey 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 So what does all this mean, if it means anything at all? To make things easier we'll split the figures into some sensible categories: 1-2 SC's Weak. A power about to be eliminated 3-5 SC's A typical result in a game with a finish. 6-8 SC's Strong. 9+ SC's A power almost certainly just beaten in the race to win. We will express the remaining SC's in percentages for easy comparison. Relative Strengths of Surviving Powers: W 3-5 6-8 9+ Austria 40 40 -- 20 Things become a little clearer now. England 60 20 -- Turkey has a string of good results France 37.5 50 -- 12.5 but no wins! Turkey has the furthest Germany 37.5 50 12.5 -- to go of all the powers to win and Italy 25 50 12.5 12.5 even though she may be strong, another Russia 56 22 11 11 power can cross the South West/North Turkey -- 33 22 44 East stalemate line and win before Turkey can rally a defence. Russia performs badly in the games when she survives and on current evidence is perhaps the worst power on the board in Gunboat. In my experience Russia requires a great deal of subtle diplomacy. I guess that this just can't be done via open press. England hangs on in a number of games; with the right units it's quite easy to hold one or two centres. The early eliminations of Turkey suggest that alliances can be constructed via press. Taking into account the Austrian eliminations it seems that the battle in the Balkans can take one or two courses: a) An attack on Turkey, possibly creating a strong Italian position? b) The three-way attack on Austria. I'm certain that it's from this position that all Turkey's good results come from. Once she has five or so centres it's very hard to eliminate her. Well after a few heavy pages of Gunboat analysis a couple of review of some excellent zines are in order to finish off. "Remember Lindesfarne" by Heidi Lyshol Maridalsyn, 235A N-0647 Oslo 4 Norway A Norwegian SF zine which, luckily, is written in English. To say that the zine is Norwegian is misleading as there are people on the mailing list from Australia, France, Yugoslavia, USA, UK, USSR, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Argentina, Canada and Czechoslovakia!! Truly an international zine. The result is a potpourri of ideas and comments from around the world. As with many SF zines it's hard to describe the actual contents but, given the wide background of contributors, it makes for fascinating reading. If you want a copy, drop Heidi a line. "Passchendaele" by Francois Cuerrier 2303 Eglinton Ave. East, #305 Scarborough, Ontario Canada M1K 2N6 This is one of the top dip-zines in the world, there being only 5-6 zines of equivalent quality. Subs are $7.00 (Canadian) for 10 issues but contributors are paid $1.40 a page! Francois is a very good writer and writes about many topics -- diplomacy, dipdom, politics, smoking, ethics ... the list is endless but whatever he writes is thought-provoking and there are many interesting letter writers. This has been a West Riding Publication #76. Copyright (c) by Mark Nelson. If you'd like to reprint any part of this subzine please write to me first. ************************************************************************ I need more scribes! I need more scribes! I need more scribes! I need ************************************************************************ I am enjoying moderating this zine, keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up