Diplomacy zine -- Chapter Four From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1989 01:48:49 +0000 Issue #116 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, and TRENCHFOOT And is published by tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer Chapter Three contains: TANNENBURG, VERDUN, ENTENTE, MULHOUSE, and DAWN PATROL And is published by dragon@agora.hf.intel.com/Bill Wheeler ------------- Chapter Four ------------- Spring '04 of the game RATATOSK (BNC number 1989IJ) (GM is jall@diku.dk/Mogens Jallberg) Due Tuesday, got five requests for an extension! Fall '03 of the game BUSHIDO (BNC number 1989IN) (GM is ronin@cory.berkeley.edu/Sam Parazette) [] - indicates unsuccessful order Austria-Hungary =============== F Adr - Tri Position -------- F Tri Supply Centers 1 ----------------- TRI Builds: 0 England ======= A NWY - FIN F NWG - BAR F SKA - DEN A SWE S SKA - DEN F NTH S SKA - DEN Position -------- A Fin, A Swe, F Bar, F Den, F Nth Supply Centers 6 ----------------- Den, Edi, Lip, Lon, Nwy, Swe Builds: 1 France ====== F ECH S BEL A BEL H A PIC S BUR A BUR H A MAR - PIE F SSPA - GOL Position -------- F Ech, A Bel, A Pic, A Bur, A Pie, F GoL Supply Centers 6 ----------------- Bel, Bre, Mar, Par, Por, Spa Builds: 0 Germany ======= A HOL - KIE F KIE - BER A MUN S KIE - BER [A RUH - BUR] Position -------- A Kie, F Ber, A Mun, A Ruh Supply Centers 4 ----------------- Ber, Hol, Kie, Mun Builds: 0 Italy ===== A TRI - VEN [A ALB - TRI] Dislodged A VEN - ROM F TUN - ION F NAP S TUN - ION F TYS S TUN - ION Position -------- A Ven, A Rom, F Ion, F Nap, F Tys Supply Centers 4 ----------------- Nap, Rom, Tun, Ven Builds: -2 Russia ====== [F BAL S GERMAN F KIE - DEN] No Corresponding Order [A BER H] Dislodged A LIV - STP A GAL - UKR A VIE S ADR - TRI F RUM H Position -------- F Bal, A Stp, A Ukr, A Vie, F Rum Supply Centers 6 ----------------- Mos, Rum, Sev, Stp, War, Vie Builds: 0 Turkey ====== [F Ion - TYS] Dislodged [F Aeg - Ion] A Ser - Alb A Gre - S Ser - Alb A Bud - S Adr - Tri A Bul - Ser Position -------- F Aeg, A Alb, A Gre, A Bud, A Ser Retreats -------- F Ion Supply Centers 7 ----------------- Ank, Bul, Con, Gre, Ser, Smy, Bud Builds: 1 ===== PRESS ===== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GERMANY ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All you Harkonnen's out there beware! Maud Dib Lives! A V-1, A V-1, my kingdom for a V-1. It appears I shall soon be joining the Austrians in the Bene Teilaxu Tanks. Just one darn uncursed long sword and a protect armor scroll and I will be fine. How come I feel like the Picts in Northern England I shall be Bretwalde yet!!!!!!! Well, England despite my flimsy best efforts you seem to be in an ideal position. Good luck and hope the French weree more trustable than you were... Russia, that was a beautiful stab, now let's see if it doesn't cost you Saint Pete. Who knows you just might get enough builds out of me to stave off England. France, no qualms here just good clean trench warfare, however I would suggest some fleet building in the future... Italy, I hope you can convince one the the two Eastern powers to ally with you and stab the other. Good luck!!!! Turkey, due to circumstances beyond our control the your embassy in Berlin was destroyed, apparently by an errant Imperial Russian naval shell, I would suggest further investigation... Austria, now people know why Germanic people are so military. We are in beautiful spots... Of course if it can be done we have been known to win... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turkey ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sultan announced today that he was saddened by the recent Italian invasion of Albania. He said that Turkey has always tried to get along with its neighbors but has prepared itself so that it would be ready to respond to any unprovoked attacks. He invites all of Europe to condemn the Italian massacre of Albanian peasants. The Turkish army in Serbia has been directed to try and liberate Albania. The Sultan said that it was lucky that he had suspected that the Italians would try something like this and that he had sent a fleet into the Ionian just in case something like this might happen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Italy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malta: The "Floating Summit" disarmament talks aboard Turkish and Italian naval vessels have broken down. It became apparent that the Moslem leader had a somewhat different concept in mind. Going beyond disarmament, the Sultan pressed for the "dis-legging" and "dis-heading" of all Italian sevicemen, which Il Duce found to be unacceptable. Venice, in a bad part of town: The somber young man paddled his way through the deserted streets. The early morning drizzle permeated his disheveled military uniform. He was Lt. Edouard Viscositi of Il Duce's staff. He soon found what he was looking for, the weathered sign above the door read: *LUIGI'S TAVERN* Cold Beer Pool That was what he needed. He floated restlessly, occasionally bobbing down for a sip, unable to get his mind off his troubles. It all began, he reflected, last winter. His assignment as to be Il Duce's personal representative in Vienna; his eyes, his ears, his mouthpiece. All had been well until that New Year's Eve party at the Russian Embassy. He'd had too much to drink, but they all had. It had been a time of great glory, powerful men of two great nations coming together to celebrate their joint victory. He smiled as he recalled the broom closet, and General Kissoff's young daughter and her long, hairy legs.... The General was furious, of course, but always the diplomat he never let it show. How could Viscositi have known it would come to this? He would miss his job. The mingling with the rich and powerful, the sights and sounds of old Vienna, and especially those tiny suasages. His court- martial would be tommorrow. Fall '02 of the game HUGO (BNC number 1989IO) (GM is willis@trwind.ind.trw.com/Willis Marti) Not Received. Spring '02 of the gunboat game VERSAILLES (MNC number 1989JErb32) (GM is sccs6016@iruccibm.bitnet/Gearoid Casey) Not Received. Spring '01 of the game JUGGERNAUGHT (BNC number not known) (GM is rdesper@eagle.wesleyan.edu/Rick Desper Not Received. Spring '01 of the game TOKUGAWA (BNC number not known) (GM is joseph_harold_thomas@cup.portal.com/Joseph Thomas) Not Received. Spring '01 of the game PETAIN (BNC number not known) (GM is ssmith@ms.uky.edu/Scott Smith Not Received. Winter '00 of the game DUNKIRK (BNC number not known) (GM is sjzwange@phoenix.princeton.edu/Steven Jacob Swanger) from Austria to Italy: Observe that Tyrolia is on Austro-Hungarian land from Austria to Russia Them Galcians is mighty fierce. from Austria to Turkey: Viennese star reports resounding success with Tom Collins and Jack Daniels. Hope Serbian princess is all your dreams and more. from Germany: A major cabinet shake-up was reported in Berlin today as heated debate continued over the planned spring military exercises. The Kaiser promised that 'more heads would roll' if his ministry continued to make plans behind his back. He said that he was mostly satisfied with early diplomatic overtures to his immediate neighbors, "except Munich, which was curiously quiet." Most were puzzled by this comment. from Russia to Austria: Galicia is off-limits and any incursion is tantamount to war! from Russia: The Czar has signed a treaty with the Dual Monarchy in Austria- Hungary to split Turkey, one leg each. The Balkans will be divided, and held equally by both nations. from Russia: A delivery of 10,000 beach balls was made to the Kremlin today. No official comment was available, although many specualted that the Czar himself would attend the annual 'Spring Beach Blowout' on the Black Sea. from Turkey to Austria: You were wrong, he lied. from Turkey: The Sultan announced today that "those little inconsequential countries will be gobbled up just like Turkish delight, yum, yum [sic]." When asked to which countries he referred he responded, "oh, you know, those 'ia' countries, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria..." from Turkey: The Suzerain of Turkey has declared that the nation to the North, known as Russia, will cease to exist. Raids by Russians into the coastal waters of the Black Sea have caused countless deaths. Turkey calls on all nations to destroy this outlaw nation of Cossacks. from Italy: Excitement mounted in Naples today as The Italian Navy prepared for spring maneuvers in the Mediterranean. When asked the nature of these maneuvers, the Vice-Admiral Mucho Polio merely smiled and slapped the insolent reporter. In the scuffle which followed, an object fell from the Vice-Admiral's pocket, which was soon discovered to be a french phrasebook. After a moment of stupified silence, the Vice-Admiral shouted, "Plant! Plant!" along with other unrepeatable statements and the press conference soon dissolved into an outright fistfight. from Italy (Reuters) : The Pope has expressed concern over the growing tensions in Europe. "Christians should not fight! That is not what Our Lord taught us". In order to keep the Papal offices informed of secular affairs, a new attache' has been appointed. Leo Benito Guiseppe D'Alberto is a well known nouveau riche playboy, who has acquaintances in all the high places of the Great Powers in Europe. He also has created a line of hair care products marketed unter the name of 'V-05'. Mr. D'Alberto has stated that "The Vatican, errr, Italy will attempt to be a mediating force in the case of a general outbreak of war. The Pope implores all good Christians to live together in peace. Let us all spend our efforts in designing hair styles and looking good." Mr D'Alberto's chief aide, Fernando Lams, has been doing most of the leg work. He has invited chief dignataries and asked them to come to his hideaway. He has reportedly contacted all of the Great 7 nations in an attempt to make all of the countries "look Mahvelous". from Italy (UPI): Mr. D'Alberto has stated that the people living in Tunis need help to look better. The Italian fleet will set sail for Tunis as soon as they have finished the important task of collecting mollusks for D'Alberto's new shampoo. **************************************************************************** San Francisco Chronicle December 1, 1900 Rome (AP): The Chief Aide of the attache' to the Pope, Mr Fernando Lams, has departed on a trip to Los Angeles. He is in the process of relocating his hideaway. His is worried about losing his valued property in the European War predicted for Spring. He thinks that LA is "Mahvelous". GM comments: Based on all the Not Received's, my e-mail may be a little slow today. Look for all the results in the Wednesday issue. I have sent a notice to all GMs with the suggestion to list player names in their results so outsiders can follow the games. Announcement: The M.S.C. Nova Committee will host WARCON (the largest and oldest wargaming convention in the Southwest) this year during February 2-4, 1990, on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. There will be tournaments in many miniature games, fantasy role-playing games, and wargames, including Diplomacy. For more information, you may phone (409) 845-1515 or write to: M.S.C. Nova Committee, Memorial Student Center, Texas A&M University, Box J-1, College Station, TX 77844 ********************************************************************* Transmitted via scribe code name Video Dienstag/CS107124@YUSOL.BITNET ********************************************************************* How To Be A Successful Putz! Or, Slicing Your Own Throat Can Be Fun!! By Steve Cooley From time to time I am amazed at the foolish decisions of some "players". It would be much more accurate to label them "masochists", because they obviously only play Diplomacy for the divine torture of being eliminated. In fact, if it looks as though they can improve their positions, they will freely offer to support their own demise. In the Los Angeles area, these players are referred to as "putz"'s. Oh, sure, from time to time each of us has played the "putz". However, there's a certain hardcore who refuse to play any other way. If you're curious as to whether or not you (or someone you know) qualifies as a putz, here are a few classic examples to help you answer the question. It's Spring 1902 and you're Italy. It's pretty obvious that Russia and Turkey are allied against Austria. The positions are as follows: AUSTRIA: A VIE, A BUD, A SER, F ALB; RUSSIA: A GAL, A WAR, F RUM, A UKR; TURKEY: A BUL, F AEG, F SMY, A CON; and ITALY: F ION, F NAP, A TUN, A PIE. The French player built two armies. During negotiations, it has become apparent that the Austrian player is desperate --- he offers to support either your fleet or army into Greece (which Turkey bounced him out of as he tried for Rumania in Fall 1901). He tells you that you are his only hope for survival. The Turk warns you that he's seen "this guy play Austria and he wiped Italy out". He asks you to support him into Greece. The Russian makes vague promises of a future alliance and warns of an impending English-French alliance. What do you do? If you supported the Turk's Fleet Aegean-Greece, you have a lot of putz potential. In our game, that's precisely what happened. Eventually, Austria was crused and Italy was flattened by the Russo-Turkish steamroller. The English-French alliance was so pathetic that they were unable to take anything offered from Germany. And, even when the handwriting was on the wall, they never offered an alliance to Germany to try and save the game. Okay, it's second chance time (and this one is much easier). You've drawn France and it's Fall 1901. Frankly, you're a little concerned. The English and German players are well respected and, fortunately, they've decided to form a Western Triple with you. The Belgium Question will be decided in the fall, though it's been agreed that you won't get it. By the way, the reason you're concerned is this: Germany has opened A MUN-BUR, A BER-KIE, F KIE-HOL! England opened as promised --- NTH, NWG, and YOR. You trustingly ordered F BRE-MAO, A MAR-SPA, and A PAR-PIC. During negotiations, England expresses disbelief at Germany's opening, but seems confident that everything "can be straightened out". He says he's going to convoy his army to NWY and launch an all-out assault against Russia. Germany tells you the move to Burgundy was meant "to create the illusion that there isn't a Triple". He says he's moving it to Belgium. If you're worried, he says, you can cover your home dots, but you'll lose a build! You've worked game-long Triples with this guy before, what do you do? In our game the French player trusted his allies and was justly rewarded. Germany took Paris and supported the English army into Belgium. France was soon put out of its misery and the English-German alliance went on to a 2-way draw. Want some more? One of the most significant indicators of a player's putz status is his opening move. The award for the All-time Worst Opening has got to go to an Italian player I saw at a recent Con. He opened F NAP-ION, A VEN-H, A ROME S A VEN! (Give me a break!) Then, he kept the armies there until Austria takes him out of the game four years later. Another simple way to spot a putz is to watch for the player who has to garrison any center that can be threatened within the year. He will never place the slightest confidence in his ally, but will never build up too much of a defense because he doesn't want to make his ally nervous. What his extreme caution will do in the end is force his more competent ally to stab and wipe him out. After all, what good is an ally who has a maximum of one unit "free" for movement? This is not to say that these players won't ever do well. I am saying that players who make these types of decisions will not enjoy success on the Diplomacy board as often as others. And, if they are doing well, it's probably because a good player is their ally and is supplying key moves. If you found yourself wondering what was wrong with the decisions these players made, and you happen to get into a game with some of "Spitzer's Blitzers" (the L.A. gang featuring Ron Spitzer and some real hobby legends, Nick Marks, for one), don't be surprised if you hear muffled snickers and an occasional comment of "What a putz!" The following article is from loeb@frunip11.bitnet/Danny Loeb. Hopefully a few of my readers can read it! Jeux & Strategie - No 1 - Novembre 89 Play it again - Diplomacy - par Xavier BLANCHOT - pages 24-25 MATERIEL ... REGLE ... ANALYSE Voila pour les moyens que le jeu met a la disposition des protagonistes; laissant donc une large place a leur talent d'improvisation. Diplomacy ne pretend pas au realisme, et n'entend pas singer l'Histoire. Ne cherchez donc pas a reproduire une situation historique, mais evitez seulement de vous mettre dans une situation absurde, donc inextricable. La seule regle qu'un joueur tres ambitieux devra toujours avoir en tete, c'est qu'il existe une ligne dite de stalemate (blocage), qui passe au milieu de la carte, et qui pourra arreter un pays sue la crete des 17 centres. Les puissances centrales sont donc ainsi legerement avantages, ce qui compense leur vulenerabilite du debut de partie. De maniere generale, pour jouer sereinement une partie de Diplomacy, il est necessaire de faire preuve d'une certaine souplesse psychologique. D'abord parce que meme reduit a un seul centre, un pays peut encore esperer contracter la nullite, ensuite parce qu'aucune alliance n'est incassable, et qu'aucune trahison n'est irremediable. Un bon diplomate ne doit etre ni naif ni rancunier. Si vous etes menaces par une alliance solide, cherchez-vous des allies: il y a 7 belligerants, et sur un seul front. Un Allemand attaque par un bloc franco-anglais pourra toujours negocier un renfort ou une diversion aupres du Russe ou de l'Italien, qui apres tout sont les prochains sur la liste. Un Anglais devra avoir des rapports priviligies avec le Turc, etc. Aucune strategie n'est a priori infaillible. Le schema qui mene a la victoire; dans une partie equilibree; conduit souvent un pays qui a atteint la dizaine de centres a trahir l'allie du debut de partie, trop confiant ou trop expose. N'oubliez donc jamais que les ennemis de vos allies sont peut-etre vos allies de demain. VARIANTES Il existe un grand nombre d'adaptations de Diplomacy, des plus simples aux plus complexes, la plupart etant destinees a jouer par correspondance. Pour les repertorier, il faudrait compiler chacun des numeros du bon millier de fanzines de jeux diplomatiques edites partout dans le monde. Une banque de varaintes europeennes est en cours de creation. La plus celebre des variantes francaises conservant (ou presque) la carte du jeu initial est sans doute le DIPLOMACY SISMIQUE, cree par Pierre Lavaurs. A la fin d'une saison chaque joueur peut donner un ordre de ... secousse sismique| Autre variante toute simple, LA BOURSE donne a chaque joueur (et surtout a d'eventuels spectateurs|) la possibilite de speculer sur les monnaies des sept pays. Parmi les variantes qui n'ont garde que le principe du deplacement, en l'enrichissant parfois, on pourra citer ECODIP. Elle se joue a 10, sur une carte mondiale, et aux centres, s'ajoutent des missiles/boucliers nuclaires, des matieres premieres/usines, un etalon monetaire/marche. Les joueurs peuvent augmenter la force de leurs unites grace a la production de leurs usines, et voter a l'UNO. Les Diadoques, la variante de Jean-Marc Zaninetti, permet a six joueurs, successeurs d'Alexandre le Grand, de s'entretuer pour l'Empire. La carte va de la pointe de la botte jusqu'aux confins de la Perse, et de la Scythie jusqu'a l'Egypte. Les centres y sont remplaces par des villes qu'on assiege. DIPLOMACY EN FRANCE Il n'est pas toujours evident de reunir sept personnes autour d'une table, et il est parfois frustrant de devoir arreter et statuer sur une partie qui aurait pu connaitre de nombreux rebondissements. C'est pour cela que des parties de Diplomacy (ou de ses variantes) par correspondance sont regulierement lancees par les fanzines de jeux: Trahison| - 99 Bd Raspail, 75006 PARIS Triumvirat - 1 Alee de l'Orangerie, 95600 EAUBONNE Vortigern - 20 Rue de Tannenbourg, 94170 LE PERREUX De plus chaque annee, un Championnat de France (le IVeme a eu lieu en avril 1989), des tournois, des conventions, reunissent des joueurs venus de tous les horizons. Pour tout renseignements: Association Belphegor - 76 Bd de Magnetia, 75010 PARIS I am enjoying moderating this zine, keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up