Diplomacy zine -- Chapter Three From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com Date: Wed, 13 Sep 1989 23:19:29 +0000 Issue #97 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL: Chapter One contains: D-DAY, NAVARONE, BLITZKRIEG, OPERATION OVERLORD, GETTYSBURG, and HMS HOOD And is published by Daybell@aludra.usc.edu/Donald Daybell Chapter Two contains: DRAGONSLAYER, DOUGHBOY, BISMARK, COLD WAR, JACAL, and TRENCHFOOT And is published by Tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer ------------- Chapter Three ------------- Spring '02 of the game TANNENBURG (BNC number 1989HZ) (GM is Ebrosius@lucy.wellesley.edu/Eric Brosius) No Summer This Year, Either! AUS (Ledoux)......((F GRE-aeg)), ((A SER S Turkish A bul-rum/NSO)), A TRI S A ser, ((A VIE-gal)), A BUD S A vie-gal [5 units]. ENG (Hosek).......((A NWY-swe)), ((F NRG-nwy)), F edi-NTH, ((F hel H/ANN))) [3 units -- 1 ANN]. FRA (Snyder)......A par-BUR, A BEL S A par-bur, F mar-LYO, A spa-MAR, F por-SPA(sc), F bre-PIC [6 units]. GER (Krywolt).....F kie-HEL, F HOL S F kie-hel, A mun-RUH, F ber-BAL, A DEN H [5 units]. ITA (Farebrother).A PIE H, A ven-TUS, F tun-WES, F nap-TYS [4 units]. RUS (Jordan)......F bot-STP(sc), ((A SWE S German A Den)), A mos-UKR, ((A WAR-gal)), A RUM S A war-gal, F SEV S A rum [6 units]. TUR (Shook).......((F SMY-aeg)), A BUL H, A CON S A bul, F BLA S A bul [4 units]. GAME NOTES The deadline for Fall, 1902 is ***Sunday, September 17 at 10PM EDT*** No Summer orders are required -- there are no retreats. The English F Hel was annihilated because it has no open retreat spaces. The vote to change the deadline to Wednesday failed. Be warned in advance that I expect Winter, 1902 to be due Tuesday, September 19 at midnight EDT. You can always call me at (508) 473-0252 if you get stuck. I'm including a unit count in my adjudication. This is simply another form of error-checking. If you spot a miscount, let me know; it probably points to another error somewhere. Note that in my notation a support is listed as failing if it has no effect -- for instance if it's cut -- even if the move it supports succeeds. A support is listed as succeeding if its weight is counted in the battle -- even if the move it supports fails. I'm very sorry about my E-mail catastrophe and the resulting delay. I am now receiving mail at Wellesley just fine, but I can't send. They say this will be fixed "real soon now". Until then, I'll have to send you mail from MIT, though I believe I'll be able to read it normally. PRESS GM-Board: I'm delighted to see we have quite a bit of press: From the N.Y. Times: FRANCE DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY! (Paris) The prime minister of France today said that he had signed and agreement with the queen of England to invade Germay. He explained his reasons for the agreement by saying "Those damn Germans just want too much money for their beer! We're just hoin to have to ho in and get it ourselves and make sure they keep their prices more reasonable in the future." This also explains the presence of a fleet of the Royal navy in the Helgoland Bight, previously explained by the English as a "slight navigation error." Noted political analyst Eric Klein was quoted as saying "It's obvious that the first step in the invasion will be the anihilation of the Germany fleet in Holland." Events this week are expected to confirm his prediction. Anonymous: Nobody EXPECTS the Spanish Inquisition! GM-Anonymous: Thanks. Why not submit some more press? Anonymous-GM: Okay. I will. From the Rome Tribune: POPE DENOUNCES AUSTRIAN INFIDELS! "They're all scum!" The Pope made a speach today, denouncing the Austrian people as heathen imperialist scum. He said that word had got back to him that a large majority of the Austrian people were only going to church on Easter, and then only for the pot-luck dinners afterwards. He also said that he had been informed that the Austrians weren't going to confession and "all kindsa other auwful stuff!" He said that this turn from the church had obviously lead to imperialistic urges, such as the invasion of Serbia and Greece. "God only knows where they'll go next, spreading their heathen ways!" They pope later denied that the taking of Tunis by the Italian navy was in any way imperialistic. "We just sent those boys down there to protect our missionarys! They ain't botherin' nobody." The Pope urged the Italian goverment to take immediate steps to rectify the situation in Austria. "We gotta do sumpthin before dis ges outta hand. Maybe we should send some missionarys over there or sumpthin. Course then, we'd have ta send along some troops to make sure the boys was OK. Son't want our boys of da cloth gettin' messed up by those heathen scum!" Anonymous: Taken from the New York Times: ...American intelligence reports that the French and Italians have combined their strengths and declared war on England and Russia. What effect this will have on the French peace-offerings to Germany, none can say at this time, but it is strongly suspected that the Germans will ally themselves with the strong French-Itallian force to eliminate Austria-Hungary within the next year. The Russians, meanwhile, are expected to co-operate with Turkey to sweep through central Europe to confront the French, while the English forces batter away at French positions across the Channel. As the situation at any time is uncertain, the Times will do it's level best to keep the world informed.... Munich: KAISER says NO to Bohemian invasion *********************************** The Kaiser today, in an official press release from his luxurious ski resort on the Swiss border, has today quashed rumous of an impending invasion of Bohemia saying "The German policy at this time is not one of agression towards any of it's neighbours, and the German people would not stand idly by while their own armies marched on a peaceful populace!" The kaiser's statement has renwed faith in the German High Command, and has the backing of many other European nations. It is also a hope of the kaiser that the current situation to the north of Germany can be dealt with smoothly and without incident. In other militay news, it has been observed that the German 1st Navy has been preparing for military excercises in the North Sea. When asked for comment, Rear Admiral Kemmel denied that the 1st Navy was going anywhere, but explained the preparations as "mere precautions against incurrence into the Empire by hostile forecs". Elsewhere, the Minister of Foreign Affairs re-affirmed the Alliance with the French and vowed that the enemies of the alliance will soon be crushed under the military might of the combined French-German forces. (an official press release of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Germay) END OF PRESS Summer '02 of the game TANNENBURG (BNC number 1989HZ) (GM is Ebrosius@lucy.wellesley.edu/Eric Brosius) Nothing happened. Autumn and Winter '01 of the gunboat game VERDUN (MNC number 1989AZrb32) (GM is Sccs6069@iruccibm.bitnet/Michael O'Regan) Not received yet. GM comments: If anyone has the ability to design ads for laser ready copy, let me know. I would like to create a full page ad that will be run in Paper Mayhem. All donations for this ad should be sent to Eric Klien, 1 Sinai Circle B10, Chelmsford, MA 01824. Let me know if you want the donations to be anonyomous. If anyone would like to GM the remaining turns of a twenty player Diplomacy game, let me know. The game is now down to 7 players and you would start GMing September 27th. And here is more of the latest issue of BTDT: Stven Carlberg: "... on another subject - I read in your zine that you're in charge of the Diplomacy Zine Register, so I'll bet you can advise me on something else. About a year ago, I signed up for a game in Touche, a zine which has been coming out more and more sporadically ever since. I don't think it would exactly be considered an "orphan" game, but we're still waiting for Spring 1901 moves to be published and everybody else I've talked to about it wishes we were in a different zine. Is there a regular procedure for transplanting games like this? If there's not, is there any chance you'd be willing to take over and GM the game for BTDT? I think all seven players would agree to move the game with or without the consent of Ramon Lazaro pubber of Touche). Also there's the question of fees. I think we put out something like $10 each for fees and/or a sub, and if nothing else, it bothers my sense of fairness that Lazaro got our money for nothing. Any suggestions? ((As of July, at DipCon I believe, the new head of the US Orphan Service is BTDT player Vince Lutterbie, at 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall MO, 65340. I'm not familiar with the exact procedure used, having fortunately been spared the worst case scenario of the Dip player with a time and money commitment to a game. I believe, but really am not sure, that USOS will transfer a game if all the players wish, and there game is not being adjudicated, even if the GM is opposed. Again, I believe that's the philosophical difference between it and the Orphan Games Project, but Ken Peel can verify this as Robert Sacks has explained that to him numerous times, as both Ken and Robert have noted to me. I would suggest contacting Vince with the details, including length of time since sending in Spring '01 orders, names and addresses of all players, any response, if any, from Lazaro to attempts to find out what's going on, etc. If and when the game does get transferred, I'd be glad to GM it myself, or let SUsan Welter guest GM it here, as I know she's expressed interest in GMing an orphaned game. What more can be said about pubbers who fold messily or leave games and players hanging? Yes, it happens, yes, it's an inevitable part of the hobby, unfortunately. But it stinks. And, it's mail fraud. If you solicit subs or game fees through a sample, or a pubber-submitted blurb in ZR or another zine listing, get the money and don't provide the service advertised, it is mail fraud. Not having been in the hobby too long, my experiences with this sort of thing are still fairly limited. When I first got a copy of ZR and a zine bank sample pack, I sent out sub money and game fees to a large number of zines and novice services. The only ones I got burned by were Jeff Zarse and Elmer Hinton, both of whom cashed my check and NEVER sent me Random Thought or Word to the Wise. Post cards to both months later produced no response. Ironically, Hinton recently sent me a "courtesy" copy of Kaissa wherein he notes my taking ZR from Ken, and hailing the transfer, slamming Ken for, it seems, pointing out these kinds of problems and eventually dropping Hinton's listing. One of the Bad Boys' points in dropping from the hobby was that nobody had a legitimate beef with a pubber folding and not returning sub fees. That if the $5 or whatever you sent was something you really needed, and the loss of which made a difference, you shouldn't have wasted it on a zine in the first place. Francois Cuerrier has recently made the point that as most zines operate at a rather sizable loss, and you have gotten better value for the money you sent in as a sub all along, you again, don't have e legitimate beef with not getting your last $2.45 or whatever back. Both of these arguments miss the point that if you commit to provide a service for a fee, it is not only unethical but totally illegal not to provide the service or return the fee, even if the amount of money is so small nobody will actually DO anything about pursuing the matter. Yes, the $5 I sent Zarse is minuscule, irrelevant, meaningless. The point is, it was my money, and if I want to waste it, I have the right to decide how to. I'd rather blow it on almost anything then charity the recipient of which is Jeff Zarse or Elmer Hinton. Since then I've experienced as a player or subber 3 clean folds, Excitement City Unlimited, Costaguana, and The Scribblerist, where sub money was refunded and the games appropriately carried on by flyer or rehoused. In addition I am a subber to Praxis, which one would certainly assume has folded messily without such provisions, were it not for Stewart's tendency over the last year to drop an issue in your mailbox every 3-months just when you've given up (i.e. the last issue, in May, came out the very day the C.D.O. listed him as folded). Dark Mirror (to which I sub and play in)'s future must be considered dubious at best by the fact of currently being 3 months late, following on the heels of a two-month delayed issue. Tim Moore, the room-mate of Audrey Jaxon, DM's pubber, has informed me recently that he is going to adjudicate and mail out the games this weekend, but the future of the zine itself is still in doubt. Too bad, it really was an excellent effort.)) Susan Welter: "As if y'all haven't figured it out, we PBEMers have totally confused the PBM world as to what (how) we CIS/PBEMers do. Peery, even after hours of chat and online demonstrations, still thinks we play a version of (<gag>) A/H Computer Diplomacy. Don Williams came up to me and suggested that we should apply for Boardman numbers! I did my best to straighten out their thinking, but I'm not sure I explained us well. I've a feeling that its the `E' between `B'& `M' that confuses them. Or --- we use computers to correspond & order rather than (use the) the postal service. What became my standard line was that we PBM the same as anybody else. We just do it faster. When Don `suggested' that we should get Boardman numbers I kindly told him that we do [have them assigned] and will continue to do so and that Ken Hill is our `Zine editor and individual GM's here don't have to worry about it. In other words, I kept my Irish temper to meself. "Anyway --- youse guys, HELP! Write to those-who-would-be-Ghods and tell them what we, here on CIS, are all about. On the Dixiecon committee for next year is Bob Odear in charge of Electronic Mail. Who????? Local bulletin boards are terrific (I've yet to find one in Minneapolis that runs a regular Dip game; there's 32 local BBS's at my last count) but......! "Any ideas? Comments? Thoughts? Arguments? I refuse to have PBEM Dip put into the minds of PBMers that ALL we do is play A/H Comp Dip. "the end of Sus's soap box-------S" ((Don't know what else I can add. You said it all. Don Williams' confusion about PBEM and Boardman Numbers is the easiest part to explain and understand. Don is the official village idiot of the Dip community and can't tie his own shoelaces or adjudicate a game, much less remember who assigns BNs to. Poor dear, the BNs were thought of as a sort of vocational therapy for him, but it may be beyond him even at that.)) George Mann: "Well, I just heard that The Scribblerist is semi-folding. I can understand how publishing can get out of hand. "As to your last issue. Yes, I still want to trade with BTDT! Where else will I be able to see Lilleleht get bashed? Congratulations on your new kid. I'll sleep a few extra hours for you. "No the C.D.O. hasn't approached me about a block of Machiavelli numbers. Canadians are wimps anyway and I don't think there's a one of them with a Machiavellian attitude. I wouldn't have said such a thing a year ago, but James Wall has pointed out the weakness of Canadian Dip players. "Oh yeah, who's Jeffrey Lerner? ((My youngest reader and the person who has taught me all I know, admittedly not much, and all I care to know, about professional wrestling. In return, I have turned him on to Dip, Empire Builder, and dragged him to a CloneCon where he ACTUALLY MET KATHY CARUSO (she said "I love little kids," and I thought "yeah, with cole slaw on the side."), and fell in love with Civilization. Who's getting the better of this exchange?)). Good luck with the ZR. I'm sure you're going to do a good job. "As some of my readers are wanting more Dip "news," letters, stuff, etc, I guess I'll be stepping that up. If you have anything to say to my demented subbers, followers, etcetera, feel free to write and save them. I'll try to find a way to liven it up - any ideas? ((Yes - get Orne to write a regular monthly column on "Why I Hate Wrestling." Then write your own response. Let the sparks fly. Hell, it'd be almost as good as me and McKee about gunboat. Speaking of the Devil...)) "Oh yeah, who's Jeff McKee anyway? I never heard of any of these people. Where do you get your subscribers from? ((Certainly not the beer line at the local wrasslin' event at the Coliseum. Which explains why you've never heard of them. This is a zine for a better class of folk, George. And besides that, about half these folk are PBEM players who rarely venture into the wider world of PBM.)) Are they the street people who will be counted by census takers on March 25, 1990 between 2 and 4 AM? That later statement is a true event that will be happening! "As Sacks says the MNC/UTC issues numbers for Machiavelli. I guess I can issue Machiavelli numbers for Diplomacy games and all other non- Machiavelli numbers. I think that's Sacks' logic!" ((Well, if you and Robert get into it over Machiavelli numbers (an issue clearly as earth shattering in its import as Canadian BNs, rival MNs, 3, count 'em, 3 zine listings, and a brain dead BNC who "suggests" people he has already given BNs to apply for same, I have a suggestion for dealing with it... 2 out of 3 falls in a steel cage.)) Cal White: "... On to more important matters - Congrats on that young 'un. Don't expect to catch up on that sleep you're missing, not for at least 30 years anyway ((What a ray of sunshine you are Cal.)). "Beety-Deety is looking good. I like seeing an active letter column ((I do too. But after this one I'm not to keen anymore on typing one!)), and that interview thing is a good idea. Bruce McIntyre just finished doing an interview with Bruce Linsey that I enjoyed. "If all your feuds are off, how about declaring yourself a "Feud Free Zine?" I can send you the rules if you like. It's not really a very serious clique and the rules aren't exactly iron clad. The whole idea is to make the point that many hobbyists just want to have a good time in Dipdom without getting involved in the bitterness of a feud. Disagreements are fine, but they should be mature disagreements, not juvenile name calling." ((You mean give up bashing the living daylights out of McKee, Smith, Williams, et al? No way, Jose! Besides, if feuding is verboten in Northern Flame, what exactly is Peery vs. The Sovereign Nation of Canada (when Larry feuds, he feuds big... takes on whole countries at a time!)? A mature disagreement? C'mon Cal... wouldn't that thingie pass for the F word? Seriously though, although I have read your "Feud Free" statement and agree with the bulk of it, I don't think I would want to label my zine as such. My feeling is that it carries a connotation in many people's mind of wishing to avoid strong feeling and controversy at all costs, and could possible put a damper on people's ability to speak their mind openly and fully when contributing to the zine. I could be way off base, but that's how I see it from this viewpoint.)) Al Tabor: "Captain Beefheart is/was one of my heros! I ordered Trout Mask Replica. (Not normally stocked in Pearl's Emporium, Madison, S Dak. Try ordering this record from a 65 year old Norwegian woman who normally sells Andy Williams without getting beat up. [You're saying bee what!]) I listened to it a lot trying to make sense of out it. Then I saw him live. (He used to tour with Ry Cooder.) And suddenly it all made sense. I've heard him play Veterans Day Poppy 4 times over the course of 10-12 years with 3 different bands and each time it was played exactly the same note for note, nuance for nuance. I understand he's doing well as a painter now days. Today's audio environment: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Voodoo; Stan Ridgeway, Mosquitos; and Hunkpapa. Thanks for the later." ((Al, now you've got me talking on a subject on which I can wax passionate... the great, the magnificent, the purely brilliant unknown American genius, Don Van Vliet, AKA Captain Beefheart. Anyone with a copy of Trout Mask Replica is, well... I don't know, but clearly heads and shoulders above something else. In fact, I've just checked and I am embarrassed to say that of all the Beefheart albums, that's the one I don't seem to have. Seems like I used to. I dunno, either it disappeared in one of the 17 moves I made between ages 18-35, like so many great albums I once owned, or I listened to friends' copies so much in late high school that memory tricks me. Either is a plausible explanation. Anyway, I believe I have every other Beefheart album ever released, from the astonishing "Safe As Milk," which if you listen to it and realize it was released in 1965, the same year the Beatles, for instance, were doing "Beatles 65," becomes even more incredible for the extant to which it was light years ahead of its time, to "Ice Cream For Crow," released in 1982 and the last I ever heard from him. The man is truly an unrecognized genius, and if, as a rather fatuously self-important article in Time last week on the Stones and the nostalgia epidemic in rock this summer, suggests, rock songs and albums have become the new American literature (gimme a royal break before I barf all over the keyboard... it actually compares Springsteen to Fitzgerald!!), then "Trout Mask Replica" is clearly the "Finnegan's Wake" of the new literature. A creative tour de force, truly original, creative, and personal, as perhaps nothing else in rock history. A virtual reinvention of the idiom in one shot (as opposed to the slower process of reinventing themselves, and the idiom, exemplified by the Beatles' gradual evolution from 1964-69). But, like the book, dense to the point of impenetrability without a serious commitment in time and effort. An album you have to work your butt off to "get." Not for the casual listener. Do you still have it Al? Could you tape it for me? I've been looking through the CD bins for it, but like the Fugs (thought we'd get though an issue without mentioning them, eh?), I don't think Beefheart represents a big enough market to warrant reissuing on CD. Glad you like Hunkpapa. Under the tutelage of my music guru Jim Bob Burgess, I have gotten an older Throwing Muses album, before the attempt to gain marketability that "Hunkpapa" is supposed to be. Therefore, "House Tornado" is on my current playlist. I've also, at the explicit orders of Dick Martin, gotten the venerable B-52s new CD, "Cosmic Thing," and I love it! Although there is no one song as good as "Private Idaho," or "Rock Lobster," (although "Love Shack" comes close) it is, in my humble opinion, their strongest album yet. Also on the current playlist: "Indigo Girls" - Indigo Girls, "Mr. Music Head" - Adrian Belew, "Guitar/Vocal" - Richard Thompson (a retrospective collection dating back to Fairport Convention to the present, mostly of out-takes and little known works), "Scatterlings" - Juluka, "Avalon Sunset" - Van Morrison, "Steel Wheels," - the World's Greatest Over 40 Band, "Yellow Moon," - the Neville Bothers, and "Iron Man," - Pete Townsend. I've also bought the new CDs by Pere Ubu, Dr. John, and King Sunny Ade, but haven't had a chance to listen yet.)) Jimmy Williams: "My Dear Thomas, there are at least 13 Jimmy Williamses in the world and I have met seven of them. You are imprecise to call Jimmy Williams a "crazed madman." I much prefer homicidal maniac, or pathological killer, or better yet, heterocidal apathetic!! There are not enough bullets in the world to create a perfect society! "But I will tell you what really pisses me off - that your brilliant editorial comments are introjected into the hypnotic drumbeat of my prose! - The brainwashing, mind-controlling rhythms of my rhetoric are thus bowdlerized into limp, flaccid impotency!!! "Perhaps, subconsciously, this is what frightens you most: the Raw Rutting Sexual Power of the Magnificent Blonde Neitschean Beast, the Ubermensch who, by the Cosmic Inevitability of his Genetic Prowess will make Slaves of all Lesser Beings!... ((Capitalization is Jimmy's - Ed.)) Well, that certainly frightens me! "Well, I am used to all this! ((Jimmy, Jimmy... 2 consecutive sentences starting with "Well." Tsk, tsk! Bad as Don Williams. Is there something about the name Williams that makes one mangle the language?)).These mice should throw themselves upon their knees in abject submission and gratitude - that I have deigned to confront them with their Deepest Dipsychological Fears! "Yes, Dip is all Psychosexual! Emphasis on the "Psycho!" Emphasis on the "Sexual!" "Of course there aren't any women in the game to dominate and conquer - with which to breed more World Historical Individuals - if there isn't... well then you know what that means! Overtones of homosexual panic! "Overtones, hell! "We are all in Maximum Security boys, and Needs Must Be Satisfied!!! Oh My God! I have just given voice to the Deepest Abiding Anxiety of All! Homosexual Aggression!!! "Well, that's Dip! Now, what are we going to do about it? Well, first off, we certainly aren't going to come right and say it, we don't want to scare anyone off. Where will we find victims then? "That's why I find draws so disgusting. These people agree to "do it." There is no Terror! That's sick! These people ought to be locked up! - In a Dip game with me! AAAAhahahahaha! AAAAhahahahahaha!" ((I know, I know, most of you are thinking... why does he print this drivel? It just encourages Jimmy to write more. Why isn't Nash like all those responsible editors who fling his letters into the waste basket? Well, folks, I'm just a softie, I guess. Besides, he is, uh, unique, no?)) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE GAMES Standby List: Stephen Dorneman, Stan Johnson, John Crosby, George Mann, Ron Cameron, Mickey Preston, Robert Greier, Tim Moore, Vince Lutterbie, Jimmy Williams, George Rifle, Mike Morris, Jason Bergmann, Jack McHugh, Steve Heinowski, and Paul Milewski. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Choo Choo Coleman 1988HE Spring 1908 ITALY, GERMANY, TURKEY, PLAY MUSICAL CENTERS IN THE BALKANS. TURKEY PLAYS RING AROUND THE FLEET IN SEV. ONLY SUSPENSE IS PROVIDED BY FLEETS... WHAT ARE THE RUSSIAN FLEETS AND THE TURKISH F AEG UP TO? France (Morris): A GAS-Mar; F SPA(sc) S A Gas-Mar; F MID S A Bre; A BRE H. Germany (Smith): A Mos-UKR; A Boh-GAL; A Bud-TRI; A VIE S Bud-Tri; A TRL S Bud-Tri; A PIE-Mar; A BUR S Pie-Mar; A PAR S Pic; A PIC S Par; F Bel-ENG; F NTH S Bel-Eng; A Yor-LON. Italy (Welter) : A Rum-BUD; A SER S A Rum-Bud; A Tri-Vie (to the box!); F ADR-Tri; A ROM-Ven; F Ion-ALB. Russia (McKee) : F Lvp-NAT; F Edi-NWG. Turkey (Tabor): F Sev-RUM; A BUL S F Sev-Rum; A Con-SEV; F Smy-AEG; F BLA C A Con-Sev; A ARM S A Con-Sev. Units By Owner, Spring 1908: Chairman, F. Zappa Fan Club: A Gas F Spa(sc) F Mid A Bre Satan of the Leisure Suit: A Ukr A Gal A Tri A Vie A Trl A Pie A Bur A Par A Pic F Eng F Nth A Lon Den Mom-o-rama: A Bud A Ser F Adr A Rom F Alb You mean this *isn't* gunboat?: F NAt F Nwg Oh wow..., it's, like... trails, man... : F Rum A Bul A Sev F Bla A Arm F Aeg Russia votes yes to all proposals. However, there were no proposals (that's so... so... well, so McKee, ain't it?). Al also voted on numerous non- specific and non-existent proposals. Sigh. Mark Lew in the latest benzene suggests an entrance test to enter the DipCon tournament... write a set of orders as Italy that gets you Tun in 1901 (he got burned by two successive Italian allies who couldn't manage it!). Perhaps we need a test for plying here... a) there is a proposal to vote on. b) there is not. Yes Jeff, that is multiple choice. We do have one for your perusal next time, however... a German win. Please remember to vote with your orders. (I'm gonna do a macro to put the next sentence in automatically for me) Remember, NVR=No, but NMR=Yes, and it takes a unanimous vote to end a game. Russia asks that his default be changed to yes. I have no problem with this, feel it is his right to ask it, but I also think other players have the right to know. And now, for some press: Rom-Mar: a variation on the theme. Pope to Russian in exile: you really want it this way? Rom-Con: It's yours. Con-GM: I dunno. It's not fall, I know that. Beats me what year it is. I wrote down what I want to do but I can't find my map or the turn report. And aliens had taken you PIN out of my numbers file. I mean it had just disappeared. Mysteriously. Everyone else was I mean it had just disappeared. Mysteriously. Everyone else was there. If there were any proposals that included G or R, I vote no. Any remaining that include me are a yes. I thought this was due Friday but Susan said she thinks its due today, so--- (Spa-Ber) Go home and pick on someone your own size, you big bully! (Spa-Con & Rom) Trust each other, work together, and push North! Together you can wipe the smirk off Smith's face! (Spa-Edi) Let your final acts be deeds of honor! Set sail, seek and destroy the German fleets. Sink the Bismarck! Ber-GM: One of these days we are going to have to start being just as nice to each other as we have been nasty. No one would know what to make of it. It was me who elevated you to godhood you know. GM-Satan: Is that possible, theologically? The deadline for Fall/Winter 1907 is, now get this please... midnight EDT, September 20, 1989. The reason is that I'm setting the deadline for the regular PBM games in BTDT to October 7, as it looks like I'm going to have to go to a somewhat slower (5 weeks), but bigger format, so that seems just about right as a half way point. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elio Chacon 1989J Fall 1903 BATTLE OF THE GIANTS BEGINS AS TURKISH, ITALIAN FORCES BATTLE IN BALKANS. THAT OL' TURKISH MAGIC WORKS YET AGAIN ON RUSSIAN COMMANDER, MOSCOW FALLS WITHOUT A SHOT. ENGLAND, FRANCE CONTINUE ON THE ROPES IN WEST, TRADE CENTERS ANYWAY. ITALY REPEATS '01 FEAT... 3 BUILDS YET AGAIN! Summer, 1903: French A Spa retreats to Por. Austrian A Bud retreats OTB, F Gre retreats to Bul (sc). Austria (Nickel): F Bul(sc) H (annihilated); A VIE-Bud. England (Hunter): F Eng-BRE; A Bel H (dis: r-Pic, OTB); F NRG-Nwy; F NTH S F Nrg-Nwy. France (Moore): A GAS-Spa; A POR S A Gas-Spa; A Par-BUR; F LVP H. Germany (Rifle): A SPA H; A Bur-MAR; A SIL-Gal; F SKA-Nth; A DEN H; A HOL S (I) A Ruh-Bel. Italy (Lutterbie): F LYO S (G) A Spa; F Wes-MID; A Tri-SER; A Ven-TRI; F GRE H; A Ruh-BEL. Russia (Williams): A STP S F Nwy; A Mos-WAR; F NWY S (G) F Ska-Nth; A Bud S (I) A Tri-Ser(dis: r-Alb, OTB). Turkey (Hoffman): A Con-BUL; F BLA S A Con-Bul; F AEG S A Con-Bul; A Ser-BUD; A RUM S A Ser-Bud; A UKR-Gal; A Sev-MOS. Centers By Owner: Austria: Loses Gre, Bud. Has Vie. 1 (even) England: Loses Bel, Lvp. Gains Bre. Has Lon, Edi. 3 (-1, or r OTB and even) France : Loses Spa, Bre. Gains Lvp. Has Por, Par. 3 (-1) Germany: Gains Spa. Has Mar, Hol, Ber, Den, Kie, Swe. 7 (+1) Italy : Gains Bel, Gre, Ser. Has Rom, Nap, Ven, Mun, Tri, and Tun. 9 (+3) Russia : Loses Mos. Has War, Nwy, and StP. 3 (-1, or r-OTB and even) Turkey : Loses Ser. Gains Bud and Mos. Has Ank, Con, Smy, Sev, Rum, and Bul. 8 (+1) Thanks to Steve Heinowski and Paul Milewski for submitting unused standby orders! You're on top of things, guys! Please note COA for Karl Hoffman: 1070 Cold Stream Circle, Apt. M, Emmaus, PA 18049. Press: I -> F: I really enjoyed meeting you at DipCon. If I were to stab for anyone it would be for a good person like you. UNfortunately - George is also a good guy and I feel that I have a strong commitment to him. Hopefully we will meet again. GM -> Board: Anyone else getting as nauseous as I am by Vince's repeated sweet ramblings to guys he's just stabbed the bejeesus out of? They sound like eulogies... then again, I guess that's exactly what they are! I -> T: I hope we can avoid conflict. I really want peace - but this game invites paranoia. I to A: G has 7 and a "short one." A has 7 and does not have a "short one." It doth verily seemeth unto me that if meet portions are rendered, then thou, Austria, shalt be found wanting. You should be content that you do not have a "short one," and let it lie. Do not, I pray you, seize Germany's "short one," despite the leanings of your heart. R to G: War to the knife, you poltroon! My Turkish slave will see you pay for your offense! R to E: The German madman will destroy us all! R to I: Stay out of Ser! It's mine! All Mine! R to T: Moscow awaits its Anatolian lover. Winter 1903/Spring 1904 orders are due Oct 7, 1989. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marv Throneberry 1989IA Winter 1900 This game started by gamestart flyer last month. As stated then, the players were given an extra deadline for negotiations, although I stated I would adjudicate Spring 1901 if I got all orders by this deadline. I haven't, so the deadline formal deadline for Spring 1901 is Oct 7, 1989. I have orders on file from: A/E/F/G/R/T. The players are: Austria: Karl Hoffman, 1070 Cold Stream Circle, Apt. M, Emmaus, PA 18049. England: Jimmy Williams, 2352 Le Havre, Lexington, KY 40504. France : Mickey Preston, 223 Breckinridge Sq. Louisville, KY 40220. Germany: Benjamin Brandon, 505 Violet Lane, Jackson NJ, 08527 Italy : Nelson Heinztman, 2255 Delaware ave, #C-4, Buffalo, NY 14216 Russia : Marty Norman, 1916 Knob Hill, Plano, TX 75023. Turkey : Stven Carlberg, 1353 Gray Rock Drive, Marietta GA 30066. Please note Karl Hoffman's new address and that Stven's first name is Stven, NOT Steven! Please note Boardman Number assigned (thanks Don). Oh yeah - NOTA BENE - W.A.P. it is for handling NMRs! The vote was clear. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Railway Rivals Chesapeake and Ohio Map 89-13-CO Bo Belinsky Ken Hill, The Mason-Dixon Line (MDL), starts in Petersburg. Red. Conrad von Metzke, Trans-Oceanic Markets Never Are So Hot (TOM NASH) starts in Emporia. Orange. Paul Gardner, Obese Hotheaded Insensitive Offal haulers (OHIO), starts in Richmond. Blue. Doug Brown, Chesapeake Ohio Rail Enterprise (CORE), starts in Richmond. Brown, of course. Mickey Preston, Lexington and Louisville Central (L&LC), starts in Emporia. Black. Jim Goode, Burgundy Express (BX), starts in Washington. Yellow. (I can't believe NONE of you picked Baltimore! Either to butter up the GM, or as a reflection of Railroad history.) Rolls for first round are 6-4-3. Note COA for Doug Brown: 3385 Maricopa Court, Cameron Park CA 95682. (PS - Doug, am I ever gonna see Gonzo Rails? Before the ZR deadline of September 30th? Does it really exist?) Deadline for round one is Oct 7, 1989, but as soon as I get all 6 sets of orders I will go ahead and adjudicate and mail out the results and rolls for round two. So feel free to mail early. Jim asks about the apparent ferry lines connecting Norfolk, Newport News, and Cape Charles. I assume they are routes for building bridges (or bridge- tunnels, to be accurate) at the regular rate of 1 per hex, a la the new Japan map, rather than buyable ferries a la the Sweden map. Conrad, your assistance here would be appreciated. Unless I hear otherwise, I will treat them this way. Jim also asks about the Kanawha River, if it starts at hex I14 (between I13 and J13). Sure does on my map! Conrad also advises I pass along that nothing important is missing along the margins that appear clipped on this map. The problem is that the British use slightly different sized paper, and on this map about a half inch ends up getting clipped in the xerox process. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Railway Rivals Gamestart Spain Map 89-12-SP Felix Mantilla The Players: Ken Hill, 6199 Rockland Drive, Dublin, Ohio 43017 Conrad von Metzke, 4374 Donald Ave, San Diego CA 92117 Paul Gardner, 20 Spruce St., Brattleboro, VT, 05301 Doug Brown, 3385 Maricopa Court, Cameron Park CA 95682 Mickey Preston, 223 Breckinridge, Louisville, KY 40220 Jim Goode, APSU Box 4607, Clarksville, TN 37044 John Cain, 76 Banool Road, Balwyn, 3103 Australia Marlene Zetzer, 5512 Pilgrim Road, Baltimore MD, 21214 You should all have your maps by now. Please send start point (no starting in Madrid, coastal cities only) railway name (some of you have already done so), and color preference ASAP. Again, though the deadline is October 7, if I get info from everyone, I'll send it out with the round one rolls ASAP. Chances are, that this game will be played to the regular deadlines of the zine, with the time mail takes from Australia. And if you haven't seen John's zine Victoriana, sub now. It's a keeper. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gunboat Dip Gamestart Winter 1900 Frank Thomas Countries were selected by random draw. You are playing ___________________________________. You're paid up ________. You owe me a $5 gamefee_________. All shades of press will be allowed, though I reserve the right to censor both press and joke orders for "blatant" negotiating. It's got to be pretty blatant to be censored, but the last Gunboat game I ran this way I did censor 3-4 times! Deadline for Spring 1901 is October 7, 1989. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHOO CHOO GAMES: A SPECIAL FEATURE While typing up last issue of BTDT, I had this sudden inspiration to solicit some articles towards a special issue of sorts on railroad and rail building games. SO I went ahead and solicited a number of articles from a number of people. The final results were better than I feared, but not as good as I'd hoped. I received four articles, all reprinted herein. Eric Brosius on some ideas for speeding up the PBM play of Empire Builder, Ed Wrobel on his recent discovery of Merchant of Venus, a space game he sees as fitting into the choo choo game tradition, Bruce Linsey on his development of a system for playing Empire Builder by mail, and, the piece I'm happiest and proudest to be printing here, an original article by David Watts, the inventor of Railway Rivals, among other games, on the process of that game's birth. So without further ado, I give you choo choo chat: The Railway Rivals Story - David Watts As long as I can remember, I've been interested in maps, in railways, and in board games. Not surprisingly, eventually the 3 fused into a single idea. The first glimmerings of what became "RR" were in 1947., when as a sixth-form geography student I was studying Ordnance Survey 1" = 1 mile maps. I noticed that there were often two rail routes between cities, and found that they had once been the work of separate railway companies. What if a third company had also wished to link those cities? It wasn't long before the school's O.S maps had acquired a lot of pencilled-in extra railways! I became a geography teacher, and often used map-based games which I devised myself as teaching aides (more as an interest-building after-school technique than in classes; games in classes are difficult to organize effectively and quietly!). By about 1969, RR had reached its present form. There was the problem of how to remove the rail routes from the map so that you could reuse it; I experimented with elastic bands, small magnets, pegboards - but nothing was really suitable. There was also the problem of how to market the game even if it could be finished. British board game companies then were uninterested in my game ideas - as indeed they still are. It was clear that I would have to arrange for manufacture and marketing myself. The solution to these problems came through the idea of having cheap throwaway maps; they would be drawn up on a simple hex network by the buyers. I bought a small hand press with which, after 8 weekends work, I could complete a page of coloring instructions by which the customer could change the hexsheets into a map. As for marketing, as a result of producing a textbook on Map Projections myself in 1972, I had a long list of possible buyers for the game as educational simulations. So in 1973 the first 4 versions of RR appeared (the present maps A,B,C,D). Schools were the main customers, but after only a year, this market tailed off. Now they account for less than 1% of sales. But one teacher was a subscriber to Don Turnbull's wargames zine Albion; he wrote a rave review, and so I discovered the adult board games hobby. This led to the postal games zines, and in 1975 the first postal RR game appeared in Mick Bullock's "1901 And All That". THen there was contact with the new "Games and Puzzles," the Games Centre chain of shops, and a couple of bright lads called Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, who were starting a new business called "Games Workshop." One of the key points of RR is illustrated by the fact that at the start I issued 4 maps together: that the same rules can fit hundreds of different maps. At present, I sell 22, and there are 30 trial amps as well; many enthusiasts have devised dozens of their own designs. Sales rose almost continually, but slowly. The format was improved: in 1977 the first ready-printed maps; in 1979, the first 3-colour laminated ones. Among the readers of "Albion" was a Swiss, Walter Luc Haas, and through the years we corresponded regularly. In 1979 a German printing firm, Butehorn, wished to expand their business, and started a board games division. WLH wrote regular columns in several papers on board games, so they asked him to recommend some new ones. They issued their version of RR - curiously going back to the old throwaway map idea - in 1980, but in 1982 they went out of business, owing me a lot of royalties! However, Schmidt (#2 on the German board games scene) had seen the game, & reckoned they could do it better, so they took over the license. Curiously, they didn't use my maps, but designed their own. They were unplayable! Thus, the western USA map needed a 300 mile tunnel to cross the Rockies (but the Sierra Nevada was no obstacle at all), while cities such as St. Louis and Chicago were ignored in favor of Lubbock and Jefferson City. Fortunately by then RR had attracted such a following in Germany that lots of people told Schmidt what a mess they'd made of the idea, and I re-drew the maps for them. This revised version won the German "Game of the Year" award in 1984, and became a best seller. The first royalty check was for a larger amount than my total receipts for the previous 12 years! Since then, Germany had continued to provide about 75% of my games income. Then Games Workshop took up the idea, and from 1985 until early this year marketed the game in Britain and USA. Unfortunately, it's completely out of their usual style of game; their fans didn't like it, while people who would never found it among all the usual GW stuff. In the USA they sold less than one copy a day! Not surprisingly, it has now been withdrawn. I continue to devise new maps for RR, and also new map-based games on other themes. As always, the RR maps are designed knowing the answers - they are drawn to encourage you to reproduce the actual lines. So a study of rail atlases, or knowing the railway history of an area, will help you to win this game. I'm in the happy position of being able to make money from my hobby; not a fortune, indeed, but enough to supplement my teacher's pension, and enough to stop my wife criticizing the amount of my time that it takes up! - David Watts, Milford Haven, July 1989. Postal Empire Builder? Yea! - Bruce Linsey Maybe it's just that I'm an incorrigible postal freak, but whenever I learn a new game and like it, my first thought is "how can this be adapted for postal play?" Thus, when Empire Builder became my favorite game about four years ago, I sought a way to run it by mail. The endeavor took a lot of effort. Unlike Diplomacy, which is tailor- made for postal play, EB is much better suited for face-to-face play. The reasons for this are: 1) Players move in sequence, not simultaneously; 2) A lot of things can happen right in the middle of a turn which will affect the players' later actions in that turn; and 3) A game lasts about 60-70 turns per player. These all had to be overcome in order to allow for postal play. Clearly the game's format would have to be altered so that all players would submit orders simultaneously. To accomplish this, I devised a rotating "Order of Play" schedule so that orders would all be due at once, but if a conflict arose (such as two players trying to build the same track section), whoever was higher in the order for that particular turn would get priority. Thus, the game became manageable in terms of overall number of turns: instead of 60-70 turns per player, we now had 60 or 70 turns overall. In practice, we call these "turns" in which everyone goes at once a "round." Since negotiating is not a major consideration in EB, I ran the game on two-week deadlines, making the game comparable in length to a (rather long) postal Dip game. But there still remained the problem of there being far too many "branch points" in a turn. In face-to-face, this just means a brief pause now and then while a player makes a quick decision. Postally, however, this translated potentially to overwhelming sets of conditional orders. The solution was found by Mark Lew. Since the vast majority of branch points occur when a player draws a replacement card after a sale, why not just draw all replacement cards after everyone has moved and built? And that suggestion did the trick. In practice, I ended up dividing each round into 3 phases: 1) movement and product action, 2) building and upgrading, and 3) drawing replacement cards. Each phase is resolved for all the players before the next; and within each phase, we go by that round's Order of Play. The remaining problems were purely mechanical. I spent countless hours devising (and revising) a format for reporting the players' actions each round. The one I eventually settled on in TRAX is reasonably clear. The map had to be reduced to fit on a single page. I started out by drawing it in color for each player, each round, but you can guess how long that lasted! A few turns into the game, I began using line symbols for track instead. While the color was obviously nicer, the symbols are certainly adequate. I wrote up a comprehensive set of houserules, and used the revisions to the rules and deck that my local group had already adopted, and... viola! Postal Empire Builder was off and running! The game's inventor, and president of Mayfair Games, Darwin Bromley, was extremely supportive throughout all of this, even giving me credit for the design, playtesting, and traxmastering the first postal game; all in the new version's game box. As for the postal hobby, TRAX is about to end, but Paul Gardner, Conrad von Metzke, and Pete Gaughan are all running EB (or its sister game British Rails) by rail, so I think we're getting well established. And I feel proud of that, because it's a wonderful game. I am enjoying moderating this zine, keep that mail coming! Eric Klien Up