Diplomacy zine -- EP #130 Chapter Four From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1990 23:40:12 +0000 Issue #130 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) Delayed due to Winter vacations. Spring '05 of the game BUSHIDO (BNC number 1989IN) (GM is ronin@cory.berkeley.edu/Sam Parazette) Due Jan 20 Spring '04 of the game HUGO (BNC number 1989IO) (GM is willis@trwind.ind.trw.com/Willis Marti) Due Jan 17 Summer '03 of the game JUGGERNAUGHT (BNC number 1989IR) (GM is rdesper@eagle.wesleyan.edu/Rick Desper) Due Jan 22. Fall '03 of the game TOKUGAWA (BNC number 1989IS) (GM is joseph_harold_thomas@cup.portal.com/Joseph Thomas) Not Received. Spring '03 of the game PETAIN (BNC number 1989IT) (GM is ssmith@ms.uky.edu/Scott Smith) Due Jan 7, Not Received. Spring '03 of the game DUNKIRK (BNC number 1989KN) (GM is sjzwange@phoenix.princeton.edu/Steven Jacob Zwanger) Due Jan 20 Winter '02 of the game VERDUN (MNC 1989AZrb32) (GM is eric_s_klien@cup.portal.com/Eric Klien) Yikes! Suddenly the old GM reappeared. Upon further consideration, I have decided to continue to be GM. The main reason for this was that *everyone* submitted their orders on time despite the fact that this game has been on hold for over a month. This shows that you guys are very determined to run a fast game. I am ready for a fast game. In fact, Germany has already submitted orders for next turn. Deadline is Sunday at 10 PM Eastern time. Although if you guys are faster than I will be. Following are the results again which are identical except for the following piece of press: Germany: I think it is in our best interests to cooperate. The English are no match against our COMBINED forces. =================== Verdun Winter '02 =================== =============== Movement Orders =============== Orders marked with ** failed for some reason. AUSTRIA Disband F(ADR), A(Gal) ENGLAND FRANCE Build A(Mar), A(Par) GERMANY ITALY Build F(Nap) RUSSIA TURKEY Build A(Ank) ********** UNIT POSITIONS Austria : A(Bud), A(Vie) England : F(ENG), F(Nor), A(Fin), F(NWG) France : F(Bel), A(Bur), A(Por), F(Bre), A(Mar), A(Par) Germany : F(NTH), A(Ruh), A(Swe), A(Mun), F(HEL), A(Hol) Italy : F(Alb), A(Tyr), A(Ven), F(Tri), F(Nap) Russia : F(Rum), A(Ukr), A(Boh), F(SKA), A(StP) Turkey : F(BLA), A(Gre), A(Ser), A(Bul), F(AEG), A(Ank) ********** Ownership of Supply Centers 00 01 02 Austria 3 4 2 Vie , Bud England 3 4 4 Home, Nor France 3 4 6 Home, Spa, Por, Bel Germany 3 6 6 Home, Den, Hol, Swe Italy 3 4 5 Home, Tun, Tri Russia 4 5 5 Home, Rum Turkey 3 5 6 Home, Bul, Gre, Ser ********** ********** PRESS ********** GM -> All : Belated Season's Greetings Someone told me that I've been replaced, do any of ye know if this is true. Who is the new GM so I can send him all the past positions. ********* Austria to Europe: It is no surprise that Austria is totally anti-Italian and will do whatever neccessary to see their destruction. Therefore, it should be public knowledge that Armies Budapest and Vienna will both support Turkish army Serbia to Trieste. ********** From: Minister of Defense, Her Majesties Armed Forces To: Russian counterpart Notes: Confidential We are sorry that we interpretted your actions as hostile. Assistance in regaining English control of the North Sea would help our Spring Maneuvers. Apparently, we also made a grave error in showing friendliness to the French as they are now poised to cause us a serious threat. ********** Germany to France: I'm very interested in your ideas about Italy. They've been in Tyrollia far too long. Tell me more. ********** Rome (BBC): Intelligence reports continue to surface today about recent acts of sabotage along the French border. Officials refuse to speculate about the ultimate source or reason for the terrorist acts. However, "steps will be taken," stated the Italian foreign minister. Conflicting reports continue to pour out of the Balkans. Austria- Hungarian forces are reported to be attacking neighboring forces in a willy- nilly fashion, with little regard for the nationality of those forces. Angry responses have been rapidly voiced by both Russian and Turkish officials. The Italian armed forces are launching a new fleet this morning, which will be stationed in Naples. The army has expressed dismay about the wanton waste of meager national resources on "yet another boat." Sources close to the President stated that the choice was made at a large dinner party in Rome, where the navy served the best chianti. "A clear choice," voiced the Director of Management and Budget, as he respectefully belched. In the north, greetings are extended to the Russian forces on R & R in Bohemia. It is unclear whether these troop movements were planned....the thin and long supply lines of the already poorly supplied Russian soldiers is of some concern to those on the Austrian front line, who welcome the Russian reinforcements. News from the area is spotty and largely unsubstantiated, however. ********* Italy -> France: So you're after Italy next, huh? Perhaps you should rethink you're position before launching an assault on yet another front. Our agreement has been working well...don't blow it. ********* Petrograd, November 25, 1902 (Reuters) At his monthly press briefing, Foreign Minister Mikhail Davidovitch announced a date for the Helsinki Tri-partite Summit at which the leaders of Russia, Germany and England would attempt to resolve the causes of the current hostilities in Scandinavia. He indicated that Russia would be attending the conference with an open mind. "It is our desire to maintain good relations with both of our Northern neighbors. In the event of hostilities between England and Germany, Russia would be forced into a neutral position." ********** Russia -> Austria: The Christmas Spirit is overtaking my better judgement. You can count on our support for your Tyrolian excursion. ********** Russia -> Austria Now you want me in Galacia?! Confused, aren't you? YOu not only bumped by army from Galacia, but supported it to boot. ********** Russia -> Germany: We appreciate you friendship in the past and have no desire to invade German soil. Our retreat to Bohemia is aimed at Austria and perhaps in the future Italy. ********** Russia -> Turkey: Shall we continue the campaign against Austria and perhaps start thinking about Italy. Those fleets could leave you rather hemmed in. I hope you aren't thinking about building anything in Ankara. We would have to consider any such action as a serious violation of the Mutual Friendship Treaty. ********** Turkey => ALL Happy Holidays to everyone! Now to get down to business. Don't believe what you read that is being sent by Turkey as I have only sent two announcements in the past. You figure out which ones they were. I don't usually have the time to create some of the "master pieces" that I've seen in the press column (I'm also not that imaginative). So, I guess my point here is that I don't really mind others writing my press for me, just so long as all of you don't make expectations on my movements based on that press. NOTE TO RUSSIA: Yes, I was a little more than irritated that you went to Rumania with your fleet instead of your army. That was a direct indication to me of which direction you intended to advance. I don't want to see more Russian fleets appearing in the Black Sea and will do what I feel it takes to prevent that. I also don't want to have to build more fleets to patrol that area myself. I will let the next few turns speak for themselves (not the press). My attitude is "get that fleet out of Rumania and back to Sevestapol, or else you will see how we Towel heads react to idle threats." THE SULTAN ********** Turkey -> Austria Get out of my face!! Why would I work with you after your attack on Serbia? I'm sure you're not aws "sorry" as you will be. ********** Turkey -> Russia: It's pretty obvious why I attacked you in Rumania. Consider it the start of all out war! Germany: I think it is in our best interests to cooperate. The English are no match against our COMBINED forces. ********** ********************************************************************** 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) Not due yet. Spring '01 of the game DREADNOUGHT (BNC number not known) (GM is rbk@aiai.edinburgh.ac.uk/Richard Kirby) Due Jan 20 Publisher comments: To join a diplomacy list of e-mail games, send the command SUB DIPL-L YOUR NAME to the address LISTSERV@MITVMA.BITNET ********************************************************************* CONTEST! ********************************************************************* loeb@frunip11.bitnet/Danny Loeb asks: 1) What country and strategy can hold out the longest against a 6-way alliance which is being played the best possible. 2) True or False. Every space is adjacent to a coastal land province. The following was scribed by ebrosius@lucy.wellesley.edu/Eric Brosius: "Latest Local Wargaming Events" by Laurence Gillespie from Zeppelin #18 (Feb 1 1976) I have been getting in quite a bit of gaming over the past six months, and as that is a fairly unusual event for most Nova Scotia PBMers, I thought I'd tell you about it, especially as it indicates various major developments and trends on the local scene, all of which will have their effect on the future of gaming in the province. Yes, some of the local, more unenlightened FTFers attempt to play Diplomacy from time to time, though the variant currently in vogue around here (deviant would be more like it) is so ridden with rule alterations and misinterpretations as to be virtually unrecognizable, the maps, pieces, and support concept being the sole things the game as played around here has in common with real Diplomacy. And if you think that people from the more boondock parts of the southern US play the game strangely (or from the more boondock parts of Ontario for that matter) with all sorts of weird opinions about sTabs, cartels, cross-games, and treaties, you haven't been to the less civilized portions of Nova Scotia. I haven't quite caught on to it yet myself, but apparently in Halifax, anyway, it is considered unethical to attack someone if they haven't attacked you first. I'm not talking about sTabbing, but attacking! I consider myself to be a comparatively honorable type, not going in for truce violations and all that, but a recent game saw me draw France, which prompted what I consider a reasonable move on my part -- an attempt to make an alliance with England against Germany. England, being new to the game and not yet corrupted by other more experienced FTFers, agreed, as he was not yet so indoctrinated by local standards that he could fail to see the advantages of such a plan. Things looked good enough at that moment, though Russia, played by someone from Dartmouth (a minor suburb of Halifax) was clearly bent on a conquest of Scandinavia. I was able to make a two-year non-agression pact with Italy, and I doubted that Russia would be ill-disposed toward France in any case. With a little luck in the southeast, war would break out there, and I'd have a clear ticket to a win. So Spring, 1901 sees France move A Par-Bur, F Bre-Mid, and A Mar-Spa, with a Churchill opening for the British ((F Lon-Nth, F Edi-Nrg, A Lpl-Edi)). I start rubbing my hands in anticipation of all those lovely Belgian and Bavarian villages open to rape and pillage when all of a sudden I get a tap on the shoulder and find myself eyeball to eyeball with the Turk, of all people. "Oh, you're...Turkey?" I say. "That's part of Asia, isn't it?" "Government of Turkey wants to know what the French intend to do in Burgundy?" was the reply, with a faintly Turkish accent thrown in for effect. I thought of all sorts of snappy answers to that one (especially after I got home) but contented myself with what I thought was a reasonably innocuous reply -- "Well, it could go to Belgium. It could go to Paris. It could even go to Munich!" Me and my big mouth. That made me as popular as a pork chop salesman in a synagogue (or since we don't want to be biased, say a fishmonger on a Friday in a Catholic church ((!)) ). Everyone started yelling "MUNICH!!", alarm bells started sounding, and ominous rumblings of thunder could be heard on the horizon. "TURKEY DECLARES WAR ON FRANCE" shrieked the Turkish War Minister. "Whaaaaat????!" cried the slightly confused French player. "RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON FRANCE!!!!" howled the Russian War Minister. "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?????????!!!!!" gasped our poor Frenchman again. "THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE DECLARES WAR ON FRANCE!" yelled the Austrian. "Whhhhaaaaaaaaaaat??????????!" shrieked the French President. "ITALY INVALIDATES ITS PACT WITH FRANCE AFTER 1902" said the Italian. "WHAT!?" I yelled. "English swine, do you declare war on France and agree to defend Germany?" the four of them cried in unison. "Well...er, uh...uh" mumbled King George. "TURKEY DECLARES WAR ON ENGLAND" shouted the Turkey. "RUSSIA DECLARES WAR ON ENGLAND" howled the Czar (no surprise there, though). "Italy will declare war on England as soon as we can" said the Italian. I still couldn't believe it, thinking it some sort of FTFers in-joke. "That's fine, guys; did you hear the one about Edi Birsan when he actually kept an alliance he made..." but stony silence greeted that bomb. Despite that disconcerting note, things went not all that badly in 1901/02. Since local FTFers are, to put it mildly, weak on the tactical side of things, and especially since they do most of their negotiating and planning right across the table in full hearing of their enemies, it was obvious that the Germans would move to protect Munich in 1901, so I snapped up Belgium with the greatest of ease, and the English got their foothold in Scandinavia. But things moved downhill after that. Taking advantage of one of the more unique rules down here, Turkey disbanded one of his armies during a fall move season and replaced it with a fleet. Three fleets went west. Austria grabbed his two Balkan centres and stood pat as Russia moved EVERYTHING north and proceeded to launch an all-out war against the English in Scandinavia. The sole miracle of the game was that Italy did not declare war on me, standing by his pact. Now a two-against-two war I don't mind, or even a two-to-three war under certain circumstances, but a two-to-four fight with one very belligerent neutral on your southern border is impossible, and it was clear things would get very bad very fast unless I managed to bring about some revolutionary new development on the diplomatic scene. Turkey was clearly a hopeless case, so either Italy, Austria, or Russia had to be persuaded if I were to make any headway against Germany before total destruction overtook us. Austria appeared to be the most likely ally, as he had no fewer than five units in the Balkans doing nothing in 1902. He had Bulgaria in the palm of his hand; all he had to do was clench his fist and Bulgaria would be his. "Did you say...attack Turkey? Hee hee hee hee hee hee" the Archduke snickered in a Woody Woodpecker sort of laugh tinged with fear. I could clearly see that asking Austria to attack Turkey would be like asking someone to steal from the Mafia. A frown from someone in the other corner of the room struck terror into his heart. "Shhhh!" he cried. "Don't you know talk like that could get me liquidated!? I shouldn't even be seen with you" and so saying the Austrian squirmed away. Italy was a little better, and Russia, whom I considered comparatively rational, if ruthless, was more interested in Scandinavia than the south, which I really couldn't blame him for. By mid-1903 the first Turkish fleets were arriving in the waters off North Africa, and though the pact with Italy had extended another year, it was clear that I had to commit myself one way or the other. England and I could not continue to fight the whole board single-handed, getting nowhere fast in a Germany backed up by Russia and Austria, and with England already expelled from his untenable foothold in Scandinavia. Incredibly, at that moment, I made a major diplomatic breakthrough. Italy agreed to go up against the Turk just as I agreed to stop attacking Germany, at which point the Turk agreed to stop moving west. I didn't know what I'd do after making peace with Italy, England, and Germany all at once, but as it was considered a fairly normal thing in this game to sit around and do nothing I was sure I'd prosper. Russia was a real colossus by then, but I figured that something would have to happen in the Balkans with all those units hanging around there (though I was probably wrong) doing nothing. Anyway, I was looking forward to the resolution of the Fall, 1903 moves, as at last I could begin to recover from my folly of invading Germany. Needless to say, both Italy and Turkey stabbed me that turn. At that point I gave up trying to figure out the system of ethics (if there was one) held in respect by the FTFers and concentrated on [messing] up the plans of the Turko-Wops. Russia was hungry for a win, had influence over Austria as well, and know that if the Turks broke through in the west they would go on to win. The Anglo-French, though by then in a desperate state, combined in a sort of commonwealth (though both players continued to play) and began to exert pressure on the Russian. The Czar tried to treat us like puppets, but a couple of threats to disband our fighting forces and yield to Islam soon cured him of that arrogance and he began to work constructively towards creating a Russo-Austrian alliance, which he did by 1904, and wonder of wonders, someone declared war on Turkey! Turkey, outnumbered in the Balkans by about five to one, was clearly doomed. He responded to this by saying "Turkey is now at peace with France". I told him to take a flying **** "(#'$&_$( &$&#&" (among other things) at the moon, and when it was clear that most of the Turko-Italian units would be tied down in the west, they surrendered. So the Austro-Russians won, and though the Anglo-French were thoroughly battered, we were not destroyed, and had won the moral victroy of thoroughly screwing those who had thoroughly screwed us. The Turko-Italians were the only real losers, a state which they deserved to be in due to their utterly irrational play. I don't know where the Germans considered themselves to place, but probably behind the Turko-Italians. I managed to get in several other deviant dip games in Dartmouth, none of which were very satisfactory, all following the usual path of the FTFers getting circles run around them with my PBM tactics until the weight of numbers destroyed my offensive capabilities. So as far as Dippy goes, I am very dissatisfied with the state of the FTFers. I am enjoying moderating this zine, keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up