Diplomacy zine -- Chapter four From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Sun, 10 Dec 1989 00:11:34 +0000 Issue #121 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 (For the next month he will be sending it to me and I will be posting it on rec.games.pbm.) ------------- Chapter Four ------------- Fall '04 of the game RATATOSK (BNC number 1989IJ) (GM is jall@diku.dk/Mogens Jallberg) Hi Everybody. Some fool in the computerdedparment has screwed up my acoount. I have to wait to at least monday, to get access to my own acount where I keep the Diplomacy stuff. I am sorry and VERY angry on a certain person. 1000 Apologies, Mogens Jallberg Autumn and Winter '04 of the game BUSHIDO (BNC number 1989IN) (GM is ronin@cory.berkeley.edu/Sam Parazette) England ======= Build A Edi FRANCE ====== Build F Mar ITALY ===== Disband F Tys RUSSIA ====== Disband F Bul Spring '03 of the game HUGO (BNC number 1989IO) (GM is willis@trwind.ind.trw.com/Willis Marti) Diplomacy - HUGO Spring 1903 ---------------------------- England: F Lon S F North Sea H OK A Bel --> Hol OK F North Sea S A Bel --> Hol OK F Ska S Russian A Swe --> Den OK F Liv --> Wal OK Germany: F DEN support A HOL - KIE Fails (2-1, must retreat) A HOL - KIE OK F BAL - BER OK A RUH - MUN Fails (1-2) Russia: F SEV - BLA OK F ARM - ANK Fails (bounce) A RUM - GAL OK A WAR - PRU OK F GOB - SWE OK A SWE - DEN OK (2-1 w/ Eng spt) Turkey: A Con->Smy Fails (Must disband) F Ank->Con Fails (bounce) Austria: A Mun H OK A Tyr S A Mun H OK A Ser-Tri OK F Bul(sc)-Con OK (2-1 w/ Ital spt) A Gal-Sil OK Italy: F Rom - Tus OK F Nap - TyS OK F Ion - Tun OK F Smy S Austrian F Bul - Con OK (Not cut) A Gre H OK A Tri - Ven OK A Ven - Pie OK France: A BUR->BEL OK F ECH S A BUR->BEL OK F PIC S A BUR->BEL OK A GAS->BUR OK A MAR S A GAS->BUR OK ----------------- Results: ----------------- F DEN must disband, or retreat to HEL or BAL. A CON cannot retreat, disbands. Germany needs to broadcast to me & all players location of retreat as soon as possible. Fall move still due this Sunday. I have a request that the game be suspended over the holidays, as it seems several ( >half ) are students. Please vote with your Fall move. (Last move would be 17 Dec. New Positions: England(5):F WAL F NTS F SKA A HOL F LON Germany(4):F ??? F BER A RUH A KIE Russia (6):F SWE F BLA F ARM A GAL A DEN A PRU Turkey (2):F ANK **poof** Austria(5):A TYR A MUN A SIL A TRI F CON Italy (7):A PIE A GRE F TUN F SMY A VEN F TUS F TYS France (5):A MAR A BEL A BUR F PIC F ECH ---------------- The Weekly Crier "All the news that fits, we print." ----------------------------------- Walter Cronkite: "History is being made in Europe, from the Urals to the Atlantic, as the old order comes tumbling down. No one can predict the ultimate result." Dan Rather:"Huh!?! What the h--- is going on? How's my make-up? Are the sports over yet?" Moscow - The Czar announced today that the Germans are no longer welcome at the Scandinavian war games and will be ejected if they do not withdraw voluntarily. The English, however, are still welcome to participate. Vatican - The Pope announced, with great joy, that the Holy Crusades are nearing conclusion as Constantinople was recovered from the Infidels. MARSEILLES (AP) -- General Richilieu is taking a well needed vacation with the 2nd division of the French army this season. General Richilieu was quoted as saying "All that marching across Spain was really draining. We need a rest." In other news, Admiral Johnson has been replaced by Admiral Smith as the head of the French navy, after it became apparent that Admiral Johnson had ties with the British. There had been some controversy over Admiral Smith's background, but King Jordan dismissed it by saying "The Smith family has lived in France for the last 500 years. The rumors of his Turkish heritage are completely false." (Budapest) Fred the Elf, sole monarch of Austria, has announced that he enjoyed the beautiful city of Munich so much that he has decided to spend the spring there. "I hear its gorgeous," he is quoted as saying. The German tourist bureau in Berlin mysteriously disappeared last week after he made this announcement. They are rumored to be celebrating their successful advertising campaign at a work camp in the Ruhr. (Rome) - Italian troops, returning from a successful campaign in the bars of Trieste, practiced the National Military Manuever: " the march backward ". {N.B.: Some nations refer to this as a retreat. Less militarized zones know it as "the Moonwalk".} (Silesia) In other news, Fred the Giant Panda, royal surveyor, said that his surveying teams were "moving toward a succussful correction of the slight problem with the Austrian-German border." He hopes that a the work will end soon. (Bulgaria) Fred the Dwarf, the new cabinet minister of defense, was overheard two days ago at the opera again cursing "those damned Turkish maps." It seems that the Austrian mavy has yet again strayed off course. This time into Constantinople. "I just don't know why the Turks keep producing maps," continued Fred, "they just can't get the borders right. I mean even the Italians are having problems." In other military news Fred says that he is sending the Serbian Guard in to escort the Italian golf fans, who took over Trieste after their upset of Trieste's own 'Clubbers', back to Venice. He said that "although he could understand their enthusiasm at their enthusiasm at their team's excellent performance," that he felt they should give the "tavern-owners of Trieste a rest," and return home to finish their celebration. Spring '02 of the gunboat game VERSAILLES (MNC number 1989JErb32) (GM is sccs6016@iruccibm.bitnet/Gearoid Casey) GM disappeared on way to visit sick grandmother in Ireland. New GM will be tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer and this game will be published in chapter two. GM may be having e-mail problems? If any players are able to contact him, let me know! Summer '02 of the game JUGGERNAUGHT (BNC number 1989IR) (GM is rdesper@eagle.wesleyan.edu/Rick Desper) Nothing happened. Spring '02 of the game TOKUGAWA (BNC number 1989IS) (GM is joseph_harold_thomas@cup.portal.com/Joseph Thomas) (Still missing Spring'01 results) Two players were replaced, game delayed. Summer '02 of the game PETAIN (BNC number not known) (GM is ssmith@ms.uky.edu/Scott Smith) English F Nth retreats to Yor. English F Nwy retreats to Nwg. ----- UNIT POSITIONS: Austria: A Ser Tri Tyr Ven F Adr Gre England: A Lon F Nwg Wal Yor France: A Bel Pic Spa F Ech Mao Germany: A Hol Pie F Bal Nth Italy: A Apu Rom F Ion Russia: A Rum Sev Stp F Bla Nwy Swe BulE Turkey: A Arm F Aeg Con ----- North Africa: The leader of North Africa was quoted as saying, "Given the imminent demise of one or more world powers, the political situation on this part of the world should become simpler if not much clearer." Vienna (Free Associative press): Admiral Drauninmeister, currently in charge of the Austria first fleet in Greece stated today that Greece will be held. He categorically gauranteeed that Austria had to force to hold Greece despite Italian and Turkish moves in that direction. Vienna Probe (All the news that is fit to Primp) What with the death of Miss Gabor, and the mysterious absence of Prince Herman, the Probe today sent most of its reporters to cover the unfolding sex scandal involving minister of corruption Reinhold Weinerblaster. Minister Weinerblaster is accused of taking bribes to fix the results of several of the illegal state lotteries. In addition to the bribes, Mr Weinerblaster was allegedly offered trips to Eastern countries where he would smuggle hashish back to Austria and sell it on the black market to fund improved facilities for the highly illegal turtle fights that are so popular in the underworld. In return for this funding, Mr Weinerblaster was given exclusive invitations to underworld gatherings where he allegedly payed thugs to threaten women with inprisonment if they did not have sex with him. When asked about these allegations, minister Weinerblaster said, "It's my job! I'm minister of corruption for God's sake!" He then offered more details of the scandal in return for a sizeable kickback from the Probe. ----- Reminder: Fall 1902 moves are due Saturday 9 December. Spring '02 of the game DUNKIRK (BNC number not known) (GM is sjzwange@phoenix.princeton.edu/Steven Jacob Zwanger) ORDERS: Austria(Soare): England(Starkey): [A Gal-Ukr] -- retreat [F LON-Nth] A Bud-RUM F Nwg-NWY A SER S A Bud-Rum F Nth-SKA A Tri-BUD A Nwy-STP [F GRE-Bul] France(Boyce): Russia(Lucock): F Spa(SC)-LYO F Gob-SWE A Por-SPA A FIN S F Gob-Swe A Par-PIC [F Rum S Tur F Bul] -- retreat A Bur-BEL A War-GAL A Mar-PIE A UKR S A War-Gal Germany(Brandt): Italy(Sinha): [F DEN-Nth] A TYO H A Kie-HOL A TUN H A RUH S A Mun-Bur F Nap-ION A Mun-BUR F Ion-EME Turkey(Hauser): F Smy-AEG F Ank-BLA A CON H [A BUL S Rus A Rum] Positions: England: A StP, F Nwy, F Ska, F Lon France: F Lyo, A Spa, A Pic, A Bel, A Pie Austria: (A Gal), A Rum, A Bud, A Ser, F Gre Russia: F Swe, A Fin, F Sev, A Ukr, A Gal Italy: F EMe, F Ion, A Tun, A Tyo Germany: F Den, A Hol, A Ruh, A Bur Turkey: F Aeg, F Bla, A Bul, A Con The Russian F retreats to Sev. The Austrian A may retreat to Vie, Boh or Sil. Press From Germany: In honor of the occasion of the invasion of Pearl Harbor, which has, of course not happened yet, the Kaiser announced today that his troops will be engaged in a mock excursion into Burgundy this spring. He was quick to follow that this was purely a ceremonial exercise, not intended to deface, defile or in any way discomfort the French. He added that the troops would be eager to return to Munich in the fall, "provided, of course, that it wasn't already booked." The Austrian retreat is due Monday, Dec. 11, 10 PM EST. Moves for Fall 1902 are due Saturday (just to get back on schedule), Dec. 16, 10 PM EST. Steve Publisher comments: *************************************************************** Scanned via jog@hpda.hp.com/Rajeev Jog's machine, Edited by me. *************************************************************** WORLD DIPCON II DIPCON XXIII DIXIECON IV "The 1990 International Diplomacy Championships" CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA JUNE 22-24, 1990 Dipcon Committee: David Hood, Ken Peel, Tom Nash ********************************************************************* NEWSLETTER #1 SEPTEMBER 15, 1989 ********************************************************************* Welcome to the first issue of the Newsletter for DipCon/World DipCon 1990. The main purpose of the newsletter is to serve as a source of information to members of the Hobby about our event next year, as well as to facilitate communication between members of the two Committees who are working to put the thing together. On that note, first order of business is to list everyone who will be involved in DipCon/World DipCon 1990. (This list, and most of the other basic information about the event, was included in the written bid proposal that was voted on at DipCon 1989.) DipCon Administrative Committee ------------------------------- David Hood, Chair and Tournament Director 15-F Estes Park Carrboro NC 27510 Tom Nash 5512 Pilgrim Road Baltimore MD 21214 Ken Peel 8708 First Ave #T2 Silver Spring MD 20910 DixieCon Tournament Committee ----------------------------- Morgan Gurley, Co-Chair and Publicity, Local 4930 Charmapeg Ave Charlotte NC 2821I Dave McCrumb, Co-Chair and Variant Events Director Rt 1 Box 109 New Castle VA 24127 Randy Grigsby, Publicity, Canada 93 St Vincent St RR#3 Barrie Ont L4M 4S5 Ron Cameron, Publicity, West Coast 7821 Bouma Cir La Palma CA 90623 Simon Billenness, Overseas Publicity Coordinator 388 Richmond Ter #5L Staten Island NY 10301 John Cain, Australia and New Zealand 76 Banool Rd Balwyn 3103 Richard Walkerdine, United Kingdom Jaap Jacobs, European Continent Bob Odear, Publicity, Electronic Mail 901 Park Ridge Rd #B6 Durham NC 27713 Michael Lowrey, Asst. Tour. Dir., Scoring 1131-205 Park Ridge Ln Raleigh NC 27605 Robert Sacks, Special Advisor to Chairman 4861 Broadway 5-V New York NY 10034 Now this list is hardly a complete statement of everyone who will be helping with any given function listed. For example, other pubbers in Australia and the UK will be helping out with publicity (England, Sullivan), and other E-Mail people will be helping Bob reach that audience (Nash, Klien, etc.) But these people should basically be in charge of their respective departments. Now, on to other matters. .. Con Details ----------- The Con will be held June 22-24, 1990 at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There will be four rounds of Diplomacy, of which one must play two to become eligible for awards. During the Saturday morning round, the individual scores will also be tabulated by seven-man team for the team competition. There will also be tournaments in other games, including DipVariants and non-Dip games like Titan, but these and the team tourney will not count towards the DipCon/World DipCon championship. Only the individual scores will count for that. There will also be a Diplomacy Board Exam to be written by 1989 DipCon champ Edi Birsan that will focus on the Diplomacy map and the real-life places represented. Certificates will be awarded for the subsidiary tournaments and for places 4-7, but plaques will be awarded to the top three places in the tourney. Best Country awards have yet to be decided, as Edi Birsan may donate plaques for those awards as well. There will also be certificates awarded to players in games who stick it out in bad positions ("Death With Dignity" awards) similar to those awarded at the Fredricksburg DipCon of 1986. Other prizes will be awarded, to be donated by Avalon Hill and area businesses, but these are not nailed down as of yet. Scoring System -------------- The system will be announced in this newsletter in coming months, and will be made available to players before the Con begins. The theory behind this is that players are going to play to do well at the Convention, even if this offends some people who think there is only one way to play Diplomacy. As long as people are going to care how they do, and they obviously will, they might as well know the real system rather than simply having to resort to guesswork, the latter of which will lead to much ill-will after the Con if they are wrong. Anyway, the system will probably be similar to the one CAD uses now, unless we get a lot of flak about the fact that such a system awards points for placing as well as for win/draw. Mike Lowrey is soliciting comnents from all concerned, and can be contacted at the addresss on the front. InterCon -------- DipCon will be held one week before the Origins convention in Atlanta. As such, many Dippers will likely be interested in attending both events. We will try to help these people get from one place to the other, as well as come up with things for them to do in between the Cons. For people who want to game during that next week, or just want to have a home base while they visit the Atlanta area, Jason Bergmann will be hosting an InterCon at his Atlanta home during that period. There will be sleeping accommodations on the floor for students and bum-types, and Jason will help with hotel arrangements for others. He can also carry up to three others to Dipcon and back from Atlanta for those of you who will be flying into Atlanta rather than into Raleigh- Durham or Charlotte. Get in touch with him: PO Box 23780 Atlanta GA 30322. Travel ------ Unless one is coming from overseas, you can probably get a direct flight into Raleigh-Durham from any major city. Alternatively, you can fly into Charlotte and carpool with Morgan Gurley and his ilk (address on other side). Internationals should contact me or Simon Billenness about your travel plans, There will also be carpool possibilities for many hobbyists. Mike Gonsalves (1401 Haven Rd #T-6 Hagerstown MD 21740) will be driving his van and can pick uppeople through MD/DC/VA. I will announce other rides as I hear about them. International ------------ By next Newsletter (Nov) I will have fees for the Con and housing figured out in foreign currency. With y'alls permission, I'd like to have my international publicity people be depositories for these fees in your respective countries (UK, Australia, Canada). Then you can send me one check for the whole amount through the International Subscription Exchange. Fees ---- While we're on the subject. Con fee wiIl be $20 before the Con, 2d5 wt the door. Housing will be provided on campus for $15 per night/Double, $30 per night/Single. Yes, these rooms are air- conditioned. For those who want to stay in one of the nearby hotels, I will be printing that info in later additions of the newsletter. Meals will not be provided, although there will be some refreshments. We may decide to cater a dinner for Saturday night, which would be an additional charge. Right now the idea is to have a traditional Southern "Pig-Picking", which for the uninitated in barbecue cooked right there in this steam-thing - and you pick the part of the pig you want... Publications ------------ There will be a Con booklet ready before the Con, including directions, schedules, etc. and there may also be a souvenir booklet afterwards. There may also be some sort of somethin-or-other printed daily during the Con. There will definitely be a zine table where pubbers can hawk copies of their zines to Consters - and I will be giving away zines from my personal collection as well, and any that anybody wants to send me. Con Activities -------------- This is a little up in the air at this point. I know Avalon Hill is interested in having some booths and stuff, and some people have suggested we do panel discussions of some sort. I would appreciate suggestions on this end. I will be coming up with ideas for people who will be vacationing in the South before or after the Con, particularly those who want something to do during the week between DipCon and Origins. One possibility is a group trip to various Civil War battlesites in Virginia, or to sites between here and Atlanta. Again, suggestions welcome. Variants -------- Dave McCrumb has decided to have an on-going Gunboat tourney happen all weekend, similar to the way it was done at DipCon 1989 in San Diego. In addition, there will be a more formal variant tournament on Saturday night featuring a larger-sized game. Under consideration are Final Conflict, Colonia, WWIII, and others. Dave would appreciate your input on this. Participants ------------ I will keep everyone up to date on who has promised to show up. Already I am fairly sure that the past three DipCon winners will be here (Edi Birsan, Dan Sellers, and myself) as well as all three past DixieCon winners. (Dave McCrunb, Mark Stegeman, Morgan Gurley.) Other prominent PBMers likely to attend include Vince Lutterbie, Gary Behnen, Fred Davis, Tom Nash, Simon Billenness, and a team is forming to come from California. Next Newsletter --------------- Expect it by mid-November. -DAVID HOOD chair *********************************** Scribed by rlg@ai.mit.edu/Bob Givan *********************************** All articles taken from The Yorkshire Gallant #50 (Published in England) An Introduction to E-mail Dip by Michael O'Regan One of the best aspects of TYG is that it is an international dip zine, unlike any other UK zine. But it's nothing compared to the dark and musky world of E-Mail Diplomacy. People all over America play with increasing scatterings from Europe, but here again there are only a few Brits; maybe you really do have an insular mentality! International snail-mail games commonly run to long eight week deadlines, really very slowly. Contrast this to the speed of communication in E-Mail games. A letter from ireland can reach the U.S. in five minutes upwards to a maximum of an hour. Therefore, games can be run at a fairly fast pace even if the players are spread to the four corners of the world. Eric Klien runs his E-Mail games at a rate of a move a week with adjustments due mid-week. There can be problems, however, links between computers can go down and stay out of action for a few days, causing you to miss a deadline and worse. Worse, what's worse than missing a deadline? Missing two of course! A downed computer usually builds up a huge backlog of mail that can easily take weeks to recover from, but this is rare. But who hasn't had diplomacy letters (even zines) lost or delayed in the post? Eric Klien edits an excellent electronic mail zine called Electronic Protocol which he mails out to dozens of people across the globe twice a week. Not only does the zine contain games but it also includes many articles, including reprints from TYG! Eric doesn't GM all the games in the zine, there are approximately ten of them but new games keep starting, they are in fact in the care of other players scattered across the States. The GM's compile the results and send them to Eric, who then gathers them together and distributes them. So no problems with outside GMs requiring special arrangements to run games, it only takes a few minutes for their adjudications to reach the Publisher! So twice a week I receive an electronic zine from the other side of the Atlantic within an hour of it being posted. i do have on little gripe about Eric's zine and that is that occasionally there are political articles which for the most part only list the people that communism has slaughtered. I was under the impression that the cold war was running out of steam (?) and anyway I think a Diplomacy zine is hardly the place for this sort of thing. On the whole Electronic Protocol is well worth the effort of tracking down and is a must for those with access to the computer networks. Eric's computer address is Eric_s_Klien@cup.portal.com and he's eager to help people make the transition from snail mail to E-Mail! The logical progression from Postal Diplomacy to E-Mail Diplomacy is to write a program to be the GM and to handle the enrollment of players. This of course has been done by an American and it works very well. You send it your moves in a certain format and it sends back the results, two minutes after the deadline. It is an excellent piece of software, the only problem with it being that it doesn't allow you to send in orders which are deliberately wrong. It checks your orders when it gets them to see if they're legal and complains if they're not. Apart from that it works well, the rate of play can even be adjusted to suit the players. The address of the automatic GM is Judge@Blake.acs.washington.edu and it is run by a guy called Ken whose address is Ken@Blake.acs.washington.edu . He'll help with any problems you may encounter with the Judge. In fact this could be taken a step further. Type fifty or so articles up and get the computer to chose a selection of them each issue and we may be able to replace the publisher by an electronic programme. The day of the human publisher is over!! If anyone reading this can get onto the networks, give me a shout on sccs6069@iruccibm.bitnet and we can get dipping... (I believe that this year the zine with the most gamestarts was Electronic Protocol. How long will it be before more games are run on E-Mail than through the post? Indeed it isn't hard to see a day in the future when maybe there are more electronic zines than paper zines. Given the trend for falling prices and that most diplomacy players come from comparatively well off backgrounds, E-mail Dip may be the future of the Hobby). Cooking with Greece by David McCrumb Diplomacy is a game of intrigue and suspense, much as a good mystery or spy novel is. The only difference is that you are an active participant in this "novel", rather than a passive observer. You can try to go where you want to go, rather than having to follow the lead of the author. As in any situation, in order to achieve your goals over those of an opponent, you must have some edge so that your plans receive a higher priority. In Diplomacy, this is usually done from a position of strength, however, there are certain location on the playing map that can give this advantage to the player without that overwhelming power. Greece is one of these important locations, being the most important province in the eastern half of the board. Only Belgium can begin to rival it for importance on the whole board. While Greece is a supply center, it is important not only for its own sake, but also because of the tactical advantages that it gives to its occupier. This advantage is in the form of supports. Greece is located in such a central location that it controls both the land and sea routes between east and west. In order to advance on way or the other, either you, or an ally6 who is willing to give support, must control Greece. Greece is very important to each of the three countries that surround it, but holds the greatest importance for Turkey. With its corner position, Turkey has an excellent defensive position, but along with this advantage comes the difficulty of trying to break out and make its own attack. There is only a limited potential for advancement in the north, therefore if Turkey is going to have a chance at winning, it must make an attack to the west. If an army can be maneuvered into Greece, Turkey will have a unit in position which will be able to give support into the heart of the Balkans. If a fleet can be positioned into Greece, Turkey then has the option of attacking Italy by sea, rather than having to go through Austria and attacking by land, a difficult achievement regardless. The major disadvantage is that they are basically mutually exclusive. Without cooperation from, or at least neutrality by the other, Turkey can not force both the Balkans and the Ionian Sea since a fleet is required for one action, and a fleet for the other. Any attack that Austria intends to make against Turkey must include Greece. Greece is the pivot point upon which any type of invasion must hinge. One special advantage that Austria holds over Turkey is that a fleet in Greece is infinitely more useful than an army. Whereas Turkey must use a fleet for a seaborne attack and an army for a land attack, an Austrian fleet can support both a land attack into Bulgaria and a sea attack into the Aegean Sea. With such an advantage, it is surprising that Turkey so often does not contest Greece, rather allowing Austria to move its first fleet in unopposed. However, if Austria is forced onto the defensive, then the fleet may become a burden. All supply centers are land based, and the fleet can not support any armies which are trying to hold in Serbia. Denying Greece to Turkey, though, still slows down any advance it might make. Greece holds the least importance for Italy among these three powers, but it also holds the most potential. While both Austria and Turkey have special needs and gain certain advantages by controlling Greece, Italy's control of Greece can only lead to positive results. A fleet is able to support a second fleet into the Aegean Sea as well as an Austrian army into Bulgaria. An army can also support an Austrian army into Bulgaria as well as a Turkish army into Serbia. Not only does Italy have every advantage that both Austria and Turkey do, but it also gains the advantage of outflanking Austria by convoying an army into Greece. Italy can attack Austria from both sides at once beginning in 1902. A second additional advantage Italy holds is that once the first enemy is disposed of, the unit in Greece is still in a great position to give supports against the former ally. A third advantage is that if everything fails, Italy is usually able to back out and try another tact without much risk. Even when Russia is taken into consideration, Greece still does not lose its importance. If a united front is being thrown at Russia, Greece can serve to support front line units against the onslaught. If one power is allied with Russia vs. the others, the importance of Greece intensifies as gains must be made to prevent Russia from overrunning the enemy and gaining all of his supply centers, or else to prevent yourself from being overrun quickly. Frequently, the fight over Greece determines who will be the dominant power in the easter portions of the board. It can serve as both a hinge in any attack by any power in any direction, or as the lynch pin in a static defense against overwhelming odds. With its central location in the eastern Med., it can not be ignored. The major goal of any player should be to quickly establish ownership, and if that is not possible to either deny it to anybody else, or make them defend Greece with everything they have. Prophets Do Not Play Diplomacy by Francois Cuerrier Sometimes the British Hobby does things backwards. Whereas in North America a mainstream GM will call on standbys to replace players who have dropped out, British GMs by and large simply allow the position to go into Civil Disorder. Whereas American GMs tend to combine Winter & Spring, Summer & Fall, the British GMs do it the other way round. Thus in the former case orders are made conditional on builds and retreats; in the latter it is _builds_and_retreats_ that are conditional on the moves---the prophetic system. Actually, this is only a matter of perspective and the British Hobby could also build a case that it is _America_ that has it backwards. A stronger case, actually, considering that their practices are more firmly grounded in the Rulebook. Under the prophetic system, the dislodged units of any player that was NMR'ed are simply removed, simply because the retreats were due with the moves---exactly along the lines of the Rulebook stipulations governing Civil Disorder. But while it s generally agreed that a GM should make reasonable effort to either conform with the Rulebook or obtain a variant description for his game, the consensus in the North American Hobby is that Postal Play has introduced some considerations that Alan Calhamer never envisaged when writing the rules. Thus the rules regarding Civil Disorder and prophetic retreats were obviously meant to address positions that had been vacant from the start, or to outline how oversights (the missed retreat) should be handled. There is a strong case to be made that because of the high turnover of postal players, a stubborn and unyielding adherence to the letter of the rules will eventually do more to undermine player spirits than the few judicious adjustments will. Obviously a game where three or four of the participants have dropped out can hardly be considered as the sophisticated game that Calhamer would have wanted to condone or encourage. A GM that uses no standbys might do well to look at ways of reducing his turnover---it's really the least that he can do to keep the game interesting. Additionally, prophetic retreats _discourage_ players to stay with the game by compounding the damage of a single missed move further. (And the real purists might wish to consider how this philosophy fits in with the most serious violation perpetrated by ALL postal players an GMs---that governing the length of deadline, as IV(1).) Those interested in the expediency of postal play will no doubt note how cumbersome the prophetic system can be. The players are forced to take into account every permutation of moves on the board before deciding their retreats. When John Leeder (a Canadian) was GMing one of my games, he'd typically receive three or four pages of conditional orders from me. And still, on occasion I'd miss a possibility with telling consequences. It is thus that the English player addressing the mere _possibility_ that F(NTH) _might_ be dislodged must write conditional orders depending on (1) whether the dislodging fleet was French, German, or Russian; (2) the final French position regarding IRI and NAO; (3) the final Russian position regarding Swe, Fin, StP, BAR and NWG; (4) the final position of Germany regarding BAL/SKA/Den/HEL/Hol/Kie/Bel. The conscientious English player would also want conditionals to prepare for any shifts elsewhere on the continent, including whether Germany took Bur or moved to Pru/Sil; whether Russia moved to one or more of Pru/Sil/BAL; whether France made any anti-German move; and whether Italy moved West. All that work for a mere possibility! This is even truer of Winter orders, especially for Russia in the early game. The players must address both the possibility of a removal and of a build. Past that, it'll be difficult to even conceptualize what power he might want to favour before seeing the Fall moves. A build of F(StP,nc) might be appropriate if England landed an army in Norway; F(StP,sc) is Russia gets a _second_ build, because of plans to move against Germany; A(StP) if England took Norway with a fleet and Russia _didn't_ get a second build; nothing at all if Germany arranged a stand-off over Sweden, but F(StP,sc) if he moved to Pru/Sil as well _and_ France moved against Munich; A(War) of preference if A(War)-Gal succeeded; but a second fleet in Sev if Turkey took either BLA or Arm; and A(Mos) if F(Sev)-Rum failed. We haven't even started to address the possibility of a removal, and this is just _Fall_1901_. The North American system has the great advantage of requiring conditionals less often. The other players may wish to make their moves conditional on an opponent's retreat---if it affects their position. They'll never have to guess at what unit is about to be dislodged---the retreat orders and the conditional moves are only due the season after the unit has been dislodged, so conditionals are needed only for the given retreat not all possibilities. This means that the conditionals will be less complicated, as at most they'll be dealing with two or three retreats instead of all the combinations and permutations possible with 34 units. Even in Winter, it is a rare player who must write more than five to six conditionals (it's normally one or two) to cover every contingency. Other advantages of the system: (1) The importance of tactical skill is deemphasized in a game that stresses diplomacy; (2) The GM is less likely to misread conditional orders because they are simpler; (3) Players are less likely to suggest a separation of seasons, moving the game along; (4) An NMR is not as discouraging, because dislodged units retain the option to retreat; a stand-by player---if any is used---will correspondingly show greater interest for the position. (5) The players can concentrate on negotiating moves rather than negotiating retreats. A player that spends too much time discussing retreats is in fact signalling to his ally that the alliance is unsuccessful, and that a stab may be in order. -------------------- -------------------- MARK'S MUMBLINGS I would like to run a game using the American system to see what the differences are and how it affects the play of the game. In fact I may try it out in my semi-international dip game, so if you want to try the American system... The main (only?) advantage of the American system is for a player who NMR's. The standby (or original player) has a much better position. I have played a handful of games using the American system. It can become rather boring when writing moves out if the retreat of two units affects your position. For every possible combination of retreats a different set of moves is required. However, when writing out your moves the possible combinations are obvious and can be taken care of. The time required to write these possible move out is not that long for a dedicated player. It would be much more complicated when builds are required, too complicated for conditionals to be used. However, most North American GMs will issue a separation of seasons. This makes the game take a little longer to play but ensures that these complications are avoided. (By the way Francois, separation of seasons does not occur in British games, so your point (3) is wrong. In fact US games will take longer to play!) Francois has painted a rather colourful picture of the 'complexity' of the British system. In fact I have never encountered a position as complicated as he suggests. Perhaps somebody would like to defend our British system? Oh Yes They Do by Stuart Eves (A response to 'Prophets Do Not Play Diplomacy', by Francois Cuerrier) 1. To quote the original article, this is 'only a matter of perspective'. Any system which combines seasons will involve a prophetic element. It is simply a question of which sets of orders are conditional; the retreats/build/disbands or the movement orders. 2. The American rulebook may differ from the one we use in the UK, but the latter clearly states (XI.1 and XII.2) that retreats, builds, and disbands are made directly after the Spring and Autumn seasons, '_without_any_preceding_diplomacy_.' I do not propose to debate the rationale behind these rules in depth, (I happen to believe that they do offer further diplomatic possibilities when they are broken!), but I submit that they _are_ broken throughout the US hobby. 3. I understand from the 'mumblings' of our esteemed GM that 'separation of seasons' will be issued in cases where both retreats and builds are required. I would suggest that this is evidence that the US system is more complex than ours. 4. Francois suggest that the number of conditional orders required may be very great. I would like to take issue with this. As he correctly points out, the number of possible moves by 34 units is very large. However, the number of conditional orders which need to be made are comparatively few. In a bad game year a player might require four retreats and two disbands, a total of six conditional orders. I consider it quite possible that a player might require this many conditional move orders each _season_, i.e., twice as many conditional orders per game year. (I hope to play a game under the US system to test this supposition.) In both systems, I think the number of conditional options for each unit would be approximately equal, i.e., a unit ordered to retreat might have two or three possible options; similarly a unit might well have two or three credible move orders. However retreats and builds are orders made by single units, and only rarely affect any other units directly (when two retreats are made to the same space). In contrast, move orders _do_ involve the interaction of a number of units. Hence the failure of a player to take into account all the conditional options could result in several units being 'wrongly' ordered, rather than just one. To summarise this point: as Francois suggests, the conditions in the UK system may be more complex, but the number of orders which are given conditionally are fewer, and less complex in themselves. I see this as an important advantage. 5. I must assume that Francois uses very small notepaper if it takes him three or four pages to list all his conditional moves. I cannot remember using more than half of an A4 sheet myself. As I'm sure must be the case with many UK players, rather than trying to list all the possible combinations, I use an "IF...THEN...ELSE" format for my conditional orders. The 'ELSE' clause covers me in the event that my original conditions are not met, ensuring that I order something rather than nothing. 6. I think it possible that the US game may be more tactical than the British version, which is more strategic. This is partly borne out by Francois' comments about not knowing which 'power he might want to favour'. I'd suggest that stabs in winter/spring seasons are more likely to succeed than in Spring/Summer seasons, because players in the British Game will have seen their opponents builds in advance. (I personally find builds a fairly reliable guide to an opponent's intentions.) For this reason I'd expect the US game to contain more stabs which would lead to more tactical play. For example, as Italy do you make the strategic build F(Nap), or the safer tactical build of A(Ven)? In the British game, if you trust Austria enough not to build in Tri, and get it wrong, it's bad enough. In the US game, the Austrian unit will already be in Ven before you have a chance to do anything about it! I believe that his dangerous situation may account (in part) for the poor performance of Austria and Italy in the US hobby, as their build options are more limited by the need for security. 7. An NMR has an equivalent effect in both systems. One set of retreats, (maybe builds), and moves will be lost in either case. Regular separations of seasons in the US hobby would lessen the effects of NMR's, but they would do the same in the UK system if they were used here. 8. I do not think that tactical skill is deemphasised in the US system, as Francois suggests, any more than in the UK system. Certainly separation of seasons would make tactical skill less important, but this is true of both systems. In any case, I feel that one of the attractions of 'Diplomacy' is the blend of diplomatic skill and tactical skill. I reckon that it is a mistake to try to change the balance of the two. in my opinion, the greater tactical skill required to make prophetic moves (or retreats!) is compensated for by the much longer periods between moves, in comparison with the FTF game. To conclude: I haven't played under the US system but I think I've made a case that the UK system is not nearly as backwards as Francois would have us believe, and is certainly no worse than the US system. I am enjoying moderating this zine, keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up