THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #301

March 14, 2005


Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287
Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com (all E-Mail addresses are reported in this format, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account. Some of you have been getting bounced messages from my ISP's spam protection, if that happens to you, USE my backup E-Mail at jfburgess of gmail.com!!! Don't complain that my E-Mail keeps bouncing without forwarding the bounced message to that address. Then I can forward it to the ISP help to get it dealt with.
Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


I expect ALL players to be signed up on the E-Mail notification list for the szine, see below. Some of you have been complaining about this, but it is up to you to get on this list, it's easy, come ask me if you have trouble.
I gotta get this issue out (at least finalized and printed) before the NCAA games start so that I can get my picks out there for y'all to laugh at. I hope some of you got Jamie McQuinn's message and joined Jamie's NCAA pick group. We'll let you all know next issue what happened there. Next deadline is April Fool's Day, really! Send me your orders properly, but anything else fun you want to send in honor of that day will be accepted. Anyone up to faking me? Go for that too if you like. Best news of all is that Doug Kent is back in Dallas, well, almost, he's in a halfway house in Hutchins but he's using his Dallas E-Mail and address again. He warns me that he only will get to see things once a week or so, so take that into consideration as you negotiate with him in games.
Lots of fallout from last issue, I wish I had gotten a subszine from Michael Lowrey in time for the issue, but we'll definitely have him in the next two issues, as he's already sent me TWO subszines. David Partridge has a "correction" in this issue. And lots of feedback on the pictures including the note below from Eric Ozog.... I THOUGHT that wasn't him, though I know I recognize the picture. But I can't place it! Can anyone help Doug Beyerlein out and identify who that REALLY is in last issue's picture montage??? Extra special bonus prizes from me to whoever gets it. Included is a bonus blown up Eric and Cathy photo in this issue for selected subbers (I can't afford to do everyone), and then I put a picture that Conrad von Metzke sent me (see his letter below that) on that same insert. If you were not lucky enough to receive the insert and want to see it, I've put it up on the web page with this issue. I remember when Eric and Cathy were just getting together and many of us were matchmaking trying to put them together, but of course they already really were pretty much together and they had to just politely go along with our nattering interference.... or something like that, anyway, here's what Eric had to say to me:


Eric m Ozog (Mar 5, 2006 8:22 PM)
Hi Jim, I received TAP #300 the other day - congratulations on your staying power! Including Doug Beyerlein's early dip hobby photos was a neat idea, and I'd like to see more of that; I'm sure a lot of folks have photos of dip personalities they could share. But alas- Doug's 1984 photo of an alleged "Eric Ozog" is not accurate! The face looks familiar, but I can attest that person is not me. Not elflike at all; hair is too hobbit curly and dark brown, while mine is straight and sandy blond (albeit less of it now). I do recall for a brief time in 1982 I got bored with my straight hair and had my mom curl it that year; so people may have seen me with curly locks at DipCon in Baltimore. I drove to that Dipcon with Dan Stafford, Randy Ellis, and Stuart Lancaster in my green 1978 Mercury Cougar (which I still drive today). I also wore a contact lens at the time- no glasses. I don't believe I attended a major dip-convention in 1984, except perhaps a Madcon or Pudgecon in that year. Cathy Cunning and I met for the first time to go to the 1983 Dipcon in Detroit, where I believe I won second place and best France in the tournament; more importantly, Cathy and I solidified our "love alliance." I was 23 in 1984, the year Cathy moved from Phoenix to live with me in Chicago. Attached is a 1984 photo of the two of us. This may sound corny, but you can see the youthful glow of love in the faces. We married in 1985, and we're still allied after nearly 21 years. I believe the postal diplomacy hobby reached its zenith during the early '80s- it was so full of life. Those were happy times. People had a great time getting together to play the Grand Old Game in person and enjoyed each others' company, and driving and flying long distances to do so wasn't a burden; rather, it was part of the fun (maybe my perception of "The Hobby" during this time was a bit skewed from falling in love). Today, I'm happy to say, there is an active face-to-face hobby in the Pacific Northwest: Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, B.C., with a new generation of hard-core players who organize tournaments on a regular basis. Once or twice a year I try to make a Northwest con. I don't play very well compared to 20 years ago (I got my butt kicked at Dipcon in Portland), but I still enjoy the game; the cheap thrill of playing face-to-face is still in my blood.
Best, Eric, elferic of juno.com


Conrad von Metzke (Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:30:22 -0800)
Hi, Jim, my fault, you keep sending, I keep reading, but I never let out a peep, do I? Well, now's the time. 300 issues (however you choose to compute the number makes no difference, quite a few of your issues have been big enough to justify five numbers each) is monumental, particularly now when there is so little postal publishing left. And so I toast you, with great admiration and a dash of jealousy here and there, that you made it and I, er, well, didn't. (Officially COSTA closed at 299. I think; 29something, anyway. I did carry on thereafter in a sense; one gunboat game was still going, and I finished it up by e-mail until it finally ended (in game year 1934, won by Eric Brosius). But at one time, after one of my many re-starts after a lapse, Walt Buchanan challenged my numbering system and indicated that, in his opinion, I was running numbers that were half a dozen too high. I have no idea. Nor do I care any longer.) No matter what the details, you did it, I didn't, and I couldn't be prouder.
Which is as good a time as any to say thanks for all the issues, which I honestly don't deserve, but which I do read and will not refuse to accept....
Of course I looked at the photos - I barely remember me! It was pleasant to know that I clearly remember every single one of the names shown, and also the faces of those I met at one time or another (roughly half). I've also read some of the big fat issue so far, and will do the rest tonight; it will not go to waste, believe me!
One last thing for the moment - to update you on personal appearances, I attach - no, I will put into a separate message owing to the download time - a more or less current photo. Taken last July, on board a cruise ship in Alaska. L-R rear, Ross, Conrad and Eric; front, Sara Spafford (Eric's fiancee) and Jean. Second photo, of the other member of the family, who couldn't come on the ship: Xena, Warrior Rhodesian Ridgeback. ((I only included the first picture.))
(In the group photo, of perhaps a bit of interest; the photos on the wall behind us: The smaller one is Scott Carpenter, the astronaut; the larger one is his wife, Patricia, who christened the ship "Mercury" in honor of husband's space mission. And no, the plant on the right is not a Christmas tree, though I'll bet in December it is trimmed to double as one!) ((And because of the way it is cropped, you only can see Patricia Carpenter really well, but squint at the other one, or go look at the version on the web page and blow it up....))
Oh - okay, one more last thing: I'm long gone from Diplomacy now, but am still active in other postal gaming (railroad games); I do a subzine for David Oya in Banbury, UK. (CALAFIA'S ISLAND); I run one game as a `guest' in Jim Reader's VARIABLE PIG; and I have several games of my own going on by e-mail in a sort of unofficial e-szine (to borrow your preferred usage) which used to be called DISORIENTED EXPRESS but then went dormant for a couple of years, and now it's back I can't decide what to name it, if anything, so it just goes on without any designation. But it does go on.
The end. Really.
Be well, sir, Conrad, metzke of san.rr.com
((Thanks, you be well too. You look great in the picture, you've grown more handsome as you've gotten older....))


The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with double that for other foreign subbers(or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance. Anyone may play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!
Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: /
I also have taken over the Postal port/DipPouch/Postal
and TAP on the web is there at: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html
where the szine resides in html format. Presently, issues from #190 to the current issue are there, and I will be updating the back issues gradually someday. Also, check out Stephen Agar's more extensive efforts at: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com and http://www.diplomacy.co.uk
Peter Sullivan's subszine is out of stasis, and all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.
Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He had been hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date was now a "whenever". But Peter is now clearly back and appears in most issues!!! Wish Peter well as he has been through a bit of a rough time lately. In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge had been picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. But Rip also has been missing in action lately, I don't have an update but he and Dave Partridge communicate. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.
The TAP mailing list has moved! It now is even BETTER protected than it was. I even have a bit of trouble posting to it. To post to this list, send your email to: tap of diplom.org. But this is completely moderated, it won't go out to the list unless I approve it. In general, I intend to keep traffic down to just the szine, as we've been doing and I'll put your LOCs in here. I EXPECT all players to be on this list, especially those of you who are from foreign countries!!! You need this to find out when the szine is up on the web to check in on results.
General information about the mailing list is at: /mailman/listinfo/tap
You can sign up from there, or send E-Mails to: Tap-request of diplom.org; with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. You must know your password to change your options (including changing the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. Normally, Mailman will remind you of your diplom.org mailing list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on your options page that will email your current password to you. A big, big thank you for Millis Miller for setting this all up!!


THE SEARCH FOR JEFF KEY
I've been planning to put Jeff Key up here many times in the past, but someone else always made it to the list. Since we have the aborted John Beshara search, this is the time to find Jeff. I met Jeff that I remember just once, I think it was at Paul Gardner's house and one of those wild spread out cons that he used to have at his house in Vermont. But I've not heard from Jeff now in many, many years. So let's go find him! As always it is worth fifty bucks if you locate him and get him to write to me. Jeff, of course, is most famous for devising and naming the Key Lepanto game opening alliance between Austria and Italy against Turkey. For some reason, I've been seeing LOTS of Key Lepantos or aborted Key Lepantos lately. It's about time that we find Jeff and see what he's been up to. ((If anyone knows where Paul Gardner is, that would be good too....))


Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Derek, Sylvain, Steve, Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new "search for" every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Derek Nelson or Sylvain LaRose or John Smythe is "found" from now on it is worth $25.


Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.
This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who "found" him.


INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS
The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.
E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com
Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.
We have closed the European continental branch, as I think most of you had figured out.
And the ISE in Australia hadn't had much real action in recent years, and Brendan Whyte has moved on to Jerusalem!!! Brendan still produces what I find to be the most readable small szine in the worldwide hobby. Did you all realize that? Write to Brendan at his new Jerusalem address and ask him about subscribing, I'm not sure what the new deal will be. Department of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, ISRAEL. His travelogues are wonderful, I particularly enjoyed the recent one describing his trip to Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and the areas around and in-between. You all know what countries those are right? He also had a wonderful experience in a few hours on Belarussian soil stuck in a border crossing.


WORLDMASTERS04 SECTION
See http://www.worldmasters.net/wm04/ for details on progress on the WORLDMASTERS04, the Round 2 games are close to finished and the semifinalists are about set. As I look at it, semifinals notables include: Egg Ferreira, Buffalo Bartalone, Lee Simpson, Joe Janbu, Sebastian Beer, Jerry Fest, Twerg O'Donnchu, Tim Sweeney, Dave Partridge, Glenn Ledder, Adam Silverman, Toby Harris, and Thomas Franke. This is one of the deepest semifinal fields for this great tournament that I've seen, with representatives from nearly all of the world's hobby communities.
And remember I got called in as a STANDBY for Turkey in game WM04R221!!! This game did end with center counts Andy Bartalone with 15, Glenn Ledder with 12, me with 6, and Dan in Austria with just Greece. In another world I could have challenged Glenn and Andy more, I wish them both luck as they move on to the semis. In particular, I don't know how Andy will fare if he continues to be as busy in his new job as he was during this game. He just didn't pay enough attention. In another world, his clock would have been cleaned.
It is helping now that I've joined the Yahoogroup WM04-Chat where this discussion is happening. You can join too! However, this forum has been very, very quiet, I hope it picks up with semis, maybe I'll have to start some discussion. But most of the talk that there has been has about Yann Clouet and the French Hobby's new "World Palmares Evaluation" of FTF Diplomacy Play. Of course, Yann Clouet comes out #1, further backing up winning the John Koning award, and I am 1442nd (in a tie with Mark Nelson and Tony Dickinson, among others!). This uses lots of tournament results, more than 750 of them, and really is quite comprehensive. See those rankings at: http://www.18centres.com/SPIP3/article.php3?id_article=199


DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters)
Obscure and not-so-obscure ramblings on the state of the hobby and its publications, custodians, events, and individuals with no guarantee of relevance from the fertile keyboard of Jim-Bob, the E-Mail Dip world, and the rest of the postal hobby. My comments are in italics and ((double quotation marks)) like this. Bold face is used to set off each individual speaker. I should also make a note that I do edit for syntax and spelling on occasion.
The game Diplomacy is a copyrighted product owned by Hasbro and all reproductions or other use of that material in this szine is intended to be personal use and not infringe on those rights in any way. All reproductions are done at a heavy financial loss to the editor and thus are without the remotest possibility of commercial intent, except to promote THE game, the Game of Diplomacy, which you all should purchase from Hasbro or other duly licensed distributors.
Stephen Agar has matched the Hasbro rule lists and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:
http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?xcc_gameandtoyinstructions
http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy.PDF
http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy(OlderVers).PDF
Nice of them to make BOTH of these available. And all seven different US rulebooks for Diplomacy can now be found here courtesy of Stephen Agar (relatively new address for this):
http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/diplomacy_rules.htm


Check out current and back issues of Diplomacy World - Yahoogroup diplomacyworld
Also, I need any Hobby Award Nominations NOW (!!!) for:
The 2005 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service;
The 2005 Rod Walker Award for Literature;
The 2005 John Koning Award for Player Performance;
The 2005 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance;
or
A 2005 Kathy Byrne Caruso Award for Lifetime Achievement (if warranted).
The Hobby Awards Committee is Jim Burgess (Chair and Treasurer), Fred Davis, Jr., Melinda Holley, Gary Behnen, Jamie Dreier, Paul Kenny, Mark Stretch, and Robert Lesco. I was going to publish the award ballot for this year in this issue, but I realized that I really just had to get this out first and then do that....


Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:
Deadline Spring 2006, Issue #97: March 1, 2006
Deadline Summer 2006, Issue #98: June 1, 2006
Note that Andrew Neumann has taken over the lead editorship from Tim Haffey. Get us articles NOW!!! The March issue is almost complete and should be out shortly.
Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:
Andrew Neumann, andrewneum of gmail.com - New Lead Executive Editor!
Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Ex-Lead Editor and Archives Editor
Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor and Publisher
Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD; stephen of stephenagar.com - Webmaster and Non-US Postal
Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games
Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA; rebhuhn of rocketmail.com - US Postal


ATTENTION: There is a new company doing a new PC Diplomacy game:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/news.asp?ArticleID=239&Page=News
This game is out and available. You all should read the interview in the Spring 2005 movement issue of the Diplomatic Pouch (and I mean ALL!!!!!!! of you!!!!!) that I think you can find at:
/Zine/S2005M/
Contact Susana Meza, pr of paradoxplaza.com, the PR Director for more info or if you want demos or help with a Diplomacy convention! To find out more general information on DIPLOMACY please visit www.diplomacy-pcgame.com or contact pr of paradoxplaza.com


Jim O'Kelley (Mon, 27 Feb 2006 17:51:38 -0600)
Hey, Guys.
DipCon was a lot of fun, as usual.
After a brutal first round in which I was on a board that coughed up a solo, and a mediocre second round in which I managed to weasel my five-center England into a four-way draw, I rallied. In the third round Saturday night, I got a nine-center three-way as France.
My best round came Sunday morning in round four. That was the timed round. I played Turkey on a board that featured Andy Bartalone in Austria, Jake Mannix in Italy, and Edi Birsan in Russia. I killed Edi with Austria and Germany, then stabbed Austria. With Italy's help, I killed off Bartalone.
Then, due to miscommunication with my Italian ally, I found myself in the Ionian with an open Naples staring me in the face. I already had 11 centers, so, as I'm wont to do (Don will attest...), I three-dotted him.
I didn't have much of a shot at a solo, but I hoped to cut Italy out of the draw. Sadly, Jake talked his way into the stalemate line, and the game ended in a four-way draw as time expired with me at 16 centers.
A three-way would have given me Best Turkey, but the 16-center four-way was good enough to vault me onto the top board. I finished seventh and have a nice plaque to prove it.
Don, Hohn Cho won the tournament, and Steve Cooley finished second. Edi placed fourth, so the California crowd fared pretty well.
Any chance of getting some of you guys to Dixie Con this year? It's a long shot for me, but I'm going to work on it.
Jim, ajokelley of sbcglobal.net


Toby Harris (Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:59:28)
Hi Jim,
Hope all is well at your end.
So you'd like more reading material in Dip Zines huh? Okey dokey.
Your Worldmasters Update may be a little out-dated; I'm sure you can glean the top 49 going through to the semis for next issue. Most games are either finished or near the end now. As this is (as far as I know) the world's biggest email tournament it's surely worth a few words. ((Yup, I think I updated it now, and I'm printing most of this as well. I think what I'm not printing will go in Diplomacy World.))
And other news is that the European Championships for 2006 took place last weekend. My write-up follows.
Take care Jim, Toby, toby of responsiva.biz
p.s. if you didn't already have it this is my email address. THMC re-branded to Responsiva last November.
- - - -
Greetings one and all. I hope you all had a great time this year. It was certainly great to see you all again. So, a little round-up on the EDC;
The Venue
The surroundings were unusual but comfortable for most; some players were not overly happy with the low tables around the edge of the room, but these were designed so that the likes of Ronald Lokers wouldn't bump his head on the lower part of the ceiling. Needless to say, Vic & Demis had no such misfortune. In general, the dorms and playing area were described as comfortable and the refreshments reasonably priced.
Our Sponsors
Mindscape / Paradox very kindly paid the balance on the room hire and donated three Diplomacy games for the winners, which was very much appreciated. I hope that the material around the room (place cards and posters) were noted and that some or all of you will now go and buy the game and tell your friends what you think of it. It does play well in so much that you can diplome with your neighbours etc (this hasn't been achieved before in a computer game) and if you play it for this reason you'll enjoy it. The AI is not as strong as an experienced player (I think this is a tough nut to crack) but I have certainly enjoyed playing a few rounds and would say it's worth trying out.
Next Year's EDC
The bid for EDC 2007 in Marseilles (hosted by Gwen Maggi & Cyrille Sevin) beat off all rivals and so we'll be playing on the beach, surrounded by bronzed Mediterranean sunbathers. It almost makes missing the final round sound like a good idea. Hopefully Gwen will lead the way and we'll all jump into the sea for a little splash.
WDC 2006 will be in Berlin during the first weekend of August, and this is a real must for all Diplomacy players with a lust for increasing their silverware collection.
The "Team" Round
The whole purpose of what we did this year was to make 100% certain that three of the awards went home to three different countries, and so we had a nationality tournament with all players secretly representing their home country. Needless to say the last thing I wanted was a repeat of WDC 2004 so the event was announced after it had taken place, with all players scores summed (and divided by "n+1") for the country they represented. This gave us three `National Heroes' for the players representing the top three countries.
For Germany we have Bogislaw "Joe 90" Schoenf; For France Guillaume Marliot; And for the UK Simon Bouton.
Needless to say, our Scottish visitor John Jamieson was a most welcome addition to the Dutch team ;-)
The Scoring System
Ah yes, that element of a DipCon which always gets moaned about! I wanted a system which did two things:
1. Simple to add up
2. A system which HURTS players who come second
So how do we achieve this?
a. Use simple numbers (1's and 10's)
b. REWARD players for EVERYTHING (survival, topping the board etc) EXCEPT those who come second!
Subtle, huh? Indeed, players could see the value of survival; as TD I kept a few players in the game in my first round - so please don't think that a 13-centre Turkey is where it would have ended had I played "normally" ;-). The real irony of all this is that it took a while for the penny to drop - elimination in 1908 wasn't worth so much less than a one centre survival! And of course the table-toppers get a bonus. Not a "silly" bonus - it's crazy to lose 24 C-Diplo points just because of a final turn misorder or unpleasant "gift" to another player. But hey, every system is different and this one was designed to give a little something for every style of play - except perhaps my own style of preferring a "centres squared" system which rewards the players who really push for the 18 every time they play. Whatever - the tournament was not let down by the scoring system and most who commented on it liked its raw subtleties.
The Top Table
This was an interesting one, generating lots of feedback and comments, so I'd like to set the record straight on a few things. The first point of note is that there were four French and three English players, and the alliances did tend towards "French vs English". However this is little more than coincidence because the alliances tended to swing according to personal opportunity and individual desire to do well in the game, rather than any international conflict. And that's how it should be. I watched the game unfold and adjudicated every turn - and all seven players did their best to win. But for a breakdown of my personal view on each performance;
Austria (Vic Hall) Vic started by covering Trieste and sending his fleet south, letting Russia (Simon Bouton) into Galicia. It looked bad until Simon supported Gal-Rum in the fall. From this point until the mid game it appeared Vic played the perfect game; covering Albania at the right moments (I've always maintained the value of Albania when playing Austria) and keeping Turkey bottled up at home. Vic's downfall came more through bad luck in so much that Italy (Guillaume Marliot) could guarantee no worse than second place in the tournament by ensuring he topped Vic on this final board. Eventually, with Russia going down to the northern alliance and Turkey & Italy after some gains towards the end-game, Vic never grew to 7 and by the end was knocked down by the I/T alliance. I don't think there was anything Vic could have done at any point in the game to improve his end result and for this reason I felt more disappointed for him than any other player.
England (Cyrille Sevin) Cyrille was quick to spot that his best chance in this game was to ally with Germany (Gwen Maggi) and played it well. By the mid-game France (Chetan) was contained on five and he & Gwen had gotten through to War, Stp & Mos. After Spring 1904 had been adjudicated the opportunity was there for Cyrille to stab his German ally for the fall and guarantee 1st place. Russia's northern game was over and France was not in position to stop England taking virtually everything east of Holland (which he already owned). However, Germany turned on Cyrille through (what I understand to be) some powerful persuasion by Chetan, and suddenly the game was alive once more. Cyrille looked like a probable winner for the next few years because (in 1904) Turkey was still struggling on three centres. I felt Cyrille was perhaps a tad soft on his German ally - had he gone in for the kill maybe the end result would have been different.
France (Chetan Radia) It looked quite good for Chetan up to the mid-game; Italy stayed East and with his units well-positioned Chetan appeared to always have a threatening position against England. But many turns were wasted - continuous agreed 1 x 1 bounces over the Channel, later being replaced with 2 x 2 bounces. Why, I wondered, didn't Chetan go for Bre-MAO, MAO-NAO and cover Brest with an army whilst convoying to Clyde? It could have made a difference. But Chetan did save the game in 1904 and persuaded Gwen to take Holland from Cyrille, which was a superb feat in itself. Had he not stolen Belgium from Germany the following year, maybe Gwen would have continued to work with him and this could have given Chetan the edge. Who knows whether this might have had a better result for him in the end.
Germany (Gwen Maggi) Gwen took three builds in 1901 and stood Russia (Simon Bouton) out of Sweden. The Sweden bounce was probably justified because Simon had gotten into Galicia and looked strong from the off. But Gwen made some mistakes in this game - probably more than anyone else in fact. The worst of these was a fleet move from BAL-Lvn in an attempt to cut Simon's support for Warsaw (Gwen had moved to Sil & Pru in Spring 1902). Simon saw this coming and made sure he vacated Livonia, leaving Gwen with a very badly placed fleet in Livonia. On a top board I think this was probably the weakest move of the game. However, Gwen did realize the threat from Cyrille and stabbed him when it mattered, therefore ensuring it wasn't all over in 1904. Although Gwen had a high sc count until (and through) the mid game, his nearest rivals leading into the mid game were A/F/E - which is not a good omen for the end game supply centre grab!
Italy (Guillaume Marliot) Guillaume appeared obsessed with taking Vic down from 1902 onwards, presumably because Vic entered the final game as the only player ahead of him. There were no attempts throughout the game to attack either F or T, so this meant Austria would always feel the pressure of his Italian neighbour. Guillaume spent most of the game on four centres but towards the final two years his break came and Trieste fell. At one stage it was clear Guillaume had a very real chance of topping the board - spoilt only by Vic deciding it wasn't to be and denying his game-long aggressor the chance to win. Guillaume didn't play 'badly', but he did appear focused on moving his pieces in just the one direction (i.e., against Austria). Perhaps had he considered ION-EAS at some point (with a follow-up convoy to Syria) maybe his game would have ended differently. The motto here is that if you focus on guaranteeing 2nd place in the tournament you will lose sight of first place.
Russia (Simon Bouton) Simon started with a successful move to Galicia, making himself look so strong in the first year that any doubt over Sweden was sealed immediately. Maybe it was already sealed, but this would have tipped the balance for me. Simon did make some great moves in the game - I liked the vacation of Livonia to welcome the German fleet into a useless province. I was also impressed with his Diplomacy; England and Germany were both attacking him and threatened Mos & War between them. When England (Cyrille) asked for a chat, Simon's response was "is that so you can ensure you get your centre and your ally doesn't?" I guess you had to be there to find it funny. Anyways, once the E/G had formed there was little Simon could do. Despite being assaulted from three sides, Simon did get a build in the mid-game though and this was where I felt Simon could have played it better; no home centres available! Better to have foregone the bounce with Turkey in BLA and moved to Rum or Arm instead - give up on the north, build another fleet in Sev and go for a southern game. It was possible he might have eliminated Turkey from this and history would have been changed.
Turkey (Benjamin Pouilles) Benjamin faced a lot of early game pressure from the A/R alliance, losing Bulgaria early on and continuously being bounced out of BLA & AEG. Eventually the break came and Ben slowly grew to top the table on ten centres. His diplomacy appeared first class (from what I heard) and his moves solid. He stayed friendly throughout and just got on with it, waiting for his time to come and seizing the moment. There isn't a lot you can do to praise a player who plays Turkey - it's a basic & boring country to play. But everyone knows the dangers of Turkey and if you don't take it out early, chances are it will come back and bite you on the arse at the end. And that's just what Ben did. Very well played and on balance I'd say Ben was the player who made the least mistakes, stayed the friendliest, kept discussions going and deserved the win.
All in all I'd say it was a good and fair top table with the best guy on the day winning. Well done Benjamin - a very worthy winner.
The Results
Ironic that when unpacking the little 7th place trophy I thought of Demis. He missed out on the top table by one point thanks to a centre he felt he didn't need in the third round - serves you right Demis; I hope you'll never do this again! But a Best Country glass plaque and a `trophette' for 7th will have sugared the pill.
Robin Walters just missed out on the top board too, but a solid fourth round result won him a couple of prizes to take home. Great stuff.
The top five slots went to players on the final table, supporting the new scoring system further in that top table players shouldn't necessarily sacrifice their chance of a trophy by playing on the tougher, final board. Similarly, virtually every player in the top half of the scoreboard entering the final round would have made the top three with an outright win in the final round.
As for my not playing in the final round, my role was to GM the final. But, for the record, had I played and been eliminated in 1907 . that makes a total of 94. He he, just how `worthy' can you get ;-) But this aside, when you play Diplomacy with the opening line "don't worry about me - my scores won't count" it did lead to an unfair advantage - so the exclusion of my scores was the right thing to do. What perhaps wasn't right were those lovely allies who believed it, and won't ally with me again at WDC!!! Bah, what a wasted opportunity - maybe I should have sought council from Xavier on what to do as TD ;-)
Ok, official results from Dave follow and final thanks to both Dave and Shaun in making all this happen.
See you next time, Toby


David Norman (07 March 2006 21:38)
EuroDipCon Results
((Toby: numbers are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th round scores and then a total))
Overall Results
1 Benjamin Pouilles 30 14 19 30 93
2 Guillaume Marliot 27 30 18 15 90
3 Vick Hall 30 30 17 12 89
TD Toby Harris 33 18 36 - 87
4 Cyrille Sevin 15 19 27 19 80
5 Chetan Radia 32 17 14 16 79
6 Robin Walters 15 17 23 23 78
7 Demis Hassabis 17 11 32 18 78
8 Gwen Maggi 15 20 31 12 78
9 Andre Ilievics 24 12 12 23 71
10 Druk Dzongkha 20 14 23 14 71
11 Simon Bouton 16 31 16 8 71
12 Frank Oschmiansky 19 13 6 30 68
13 Yann Clouet 17 15 15 21 68
14 Simen Fure Jorgensen 17 18 16 17 68
15 Bogislaw von Schoenf 7 30 14 15 66
16 Julian Ziesing 14 20 16 15 65
17 Luca Pazzaglia 13 20 11 19 63
18 James Arney 24 8 14 17 63
19 Frederic Coste 17 14 8 21 60
20 Simon Magnusson 18 14 13 14 59
21 Leonardo Quirini 11 13 17 16 57
22 Niclas Perez 8 7 13 28 56
23 Rene Van Rooijen 12 18 15 11 56
24 Emmanuel du Pontavic 16 13 5 21 55
25 Dennis Andersson 2 6 30 17 55
26 Doug Massie 11 31 12 - 54
27 Tage Bengtsson 12 14 12 15 53
28 Alexandre Fondu 18 7 15 12 52
29 Mike Ward 12 15 14 11 52
30 Ronald Lokers 15 14 15 8 52
31 Millis Miller 16 15 17 - 48
32 Gihan Bandaranaike 15 19 14 - 48
33 Joao Carvalho 11 19 11 5 46
34 Carlo Selvetti 8 13 16 6 43
35 Arne Senftleben 16 4 5 16 41
36 John Jamieson 5 12 12 8 37
37 Dan Lester 11 6 20 - 37
38 Andrew Greco 11 11 12 - 34
39 Timm Urschinger - 12 5 11 28
40 Rui Rodrigues - 12 12 3 27
41 Shaun Derrick 4 15 7 - 26
42 David Norman 14 - - - 14
43 Markus Welbourne 4 - - - 4
David, david of ellought.demon.co.uk


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! I've got my abbreviated best of 2005 below along with MANY other tidbits. Also, I have an all-time movie list from Fred Davis that REALLY will make it next issue.... sorry, Fred, for the delay!


Brendan Whyte (Thu, 09 Mar 2006 14:53:45)
Eeeww... colour photos of Larry Peery shaved... I feel all dirty... Actually, doesn't he look like Stan Wrobel? Maybe they were separated at birth...
I enjoyed Larry's Beshara tribute, even though I had never heard of Beshara before. . Most interesting coincidences. I should also say I have a Combustible Edison album, bought after seeing the video for their theme to "Four Rooms" on tv in LA in 1994. I later got the "Four Rooms" video out to watch. It was ok, nothing great, but it had a few moments. Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" was a similar concept and heaps better. But the Combustible Edison album is great. Is their other stuff in a similar vein, or completely different?
Another favourite album is Joe Jackson's "Jumping Jive", which is completely different to the rest of his oeuvre. I was so disappointed when I bought more Joe Jackson albums....
Brendan Whyte, bwhyte of mscc.huji.ac.il
((Well, Joe is quite eclectic and he gets annoyed by fans on all sides who like one or another part of what he's done and wants him to be more consistent. I've been able to follow and enjoy to one extent or another most of what he's done, but there really are hardly any two albums alike in the oeuvre. If you like "Jumping Jive", the first one I would recommend is "Body and Soul" with a lot of Joe on sax and lots of other horns and saxes. That was 1984, the album before that in 1982 ("Night and Day") was generally panned for being extremely uneven, it started a push where Joe consciously tried to mix genres and styles, almost to drag his audience along after him where he wanted to go. But "Body and Soul" stayed pretty consistent and is one of his best albums in my view. I'm not sure what else you bought, but you probably began to think the guy was schizophrenic. And perhaps he is. All of Combustible Edison's work is in the similar vein. I think they have three albums. The same people made some other records in their "Christmas" incarnation, but those are decidedly different in character. As you describe yourself, you wouldn't like them.))


JIM-BOB'S HORRIBLE NCAA TOURNAMENT PICKS
I am actually getting this out the door (typing this last) after the first two rounds of games. So, what I'm going to report in each regional is my original picks, some comments, and then some revised thinking. But the summary is still this. I think Florida can get to the Final Four, beat UConn, and then beat West Virginia or UCLA or even (ugh) Duke who get to the final to oppose them. Billy Donovan's Florida Gators to win it all, you might have heard it here first.
Washington Regional: As my big upset here, I was picking Winthrop to knock off Tennessee, and they ALMOST did it! But this didn't hurt my bracket very much, because I was sure that the Wichita State surprise would easily overwhelm Seton Hall and get into the Sweet Sixteen. I nailed that one! I had them opposing North Carolina, who I thought would make a run, but NO, another of those teams, George Mason made it by Michigan State (which I did not have) and by UNC. Wow. It shouldn't matter, as UConn now has an even easier trip to the Final Four than I thought they would have, their ALMOST collapses in the first two games nonwithstanding. As I said above, it will only be Florida in the Final Four that can knock them off. I thought Calhoun saying that beating Albany in the first round was his hardest coaching job of his career was laughable except that I think it was true. I had Illinois opposing UConn in the Sweet Sixteen, which won't happen. Hands down, UConn has the best talent in the country, NO ONE has players of the caliber of Anderson, Boone, Gay, and Williams, but that doesn't mean they are going to play the best. After the first weekend, Calhoun already is having a heart attack!!! Imagine what happens next??? Sometime they won't be able to just turn it on.
Minneapolis Regional: Here, my big teams going to the Sweet Sixteen as somewhat surprising were Nevada (who couldn't even get past Montana) and Wisconsin (who couldn't even get past Arizona). The game between Arizona and Villanova to get into the Sweet Sixteen was a REAL classic! Wow, what a game..... and I thought that BC had had their run getting to the ACC Tournament Final. But Villanova and BC should be a great matchup. I'm still predicting that the winner won't matter because Florida is destined for the Final Four. It was only 20 years ago that Billy Donovan made it there as a player with Providence!!! I nailed the lower half of that bracket (not that it was that hard), but now I think that Florida prevails easily over Ohio State (which I had) and probably Villanova, so their trip to the Final Four will be more difficult. The Gators have the same background as West Virginia, played well early and then coasted waiting for the tournament, Taurean Green is a GREAT set-up man and those two forwards Noah and Horford crashing the boards will knock out Villanova's small team without getting distracted by their quickness.
Atlanta Regional: We all hate Duke, right? I still couldn't keep Duke out of the Elite Eight, where I have them falling to West Virginia. West Virginia had a bad last couple of weeks, but clearly they were gearing up to what was really important.... THIS! I had Iowa and then West Virginia getting past Iowa, and of course their path was a bit easier than that against Northwestern St. I had them beating Texas in the Sweet Sixteen, and still have that. I totally screwed up the upper part of that bracket, except for knowing that Syracuse was one and done after their great run through the Big East Tournament (that was amazing, and really special!!!). West Virginia is one of the few teams with a serious inside center who also can go outside in Kevin Pittsnogle. He is the kind of player, with his experience last year, that gets to the Final Four. Yes, the rest of the team doesn't always play good D, but they don't miss Free Throws and Mike Gansey also is the kind of "do-everything" player that you gotta love. Joe Herber runs the offense with efficiency.
Oakland Regional: My big problem here as thinking that four seed Kansas would be the team making the run through this Regional. HOW wrong could I be??? They couldn't even get past Bradley!!! Bradley is such an easy team to like, why didn't I like them..... damn, I hate missing the underdogs! Otherwise, I had this upper part of that bracket OK. I am rooting for Bradley now to keep going!!! In the bottom part, I thought that Indiana could beat Gonzaga, but I still think that UCLA can beat Gonzaga. If Bradley can't make the Final Four as a REAL underdog, I hope that UCLA can. Boy do I HATE Memphis, hate Memphis..... we grew to hate John Calipari when he was up here in Mass. as a poor man's Rick Pitino type (and yes, I still love Ricky P.). But Rodney Carney and Joey Dorsey are just ugly, ugly players. Yuck.... I wanna watch basketball, not a street fight.
So, another good tournament, still one of the best sporting events of the year. We haven't had any really huge upsets yet, but I think we're about to get some Top Seeds knocked off. And while the number two seeds are not impressive, teams like Florida at number three are. And those are JUST the kinds of teams that win this thing if one of the favorites doesn't. Join me in rooting against Memphis and Duke.....
THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION
"So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.
He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,
You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...
You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.
It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,
I'm all alone, I've got no choice."
From "Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.
If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at "burgess of world.std.com". If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.
I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small "s" instead of a capital "S". This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.
Standby lists:
Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Vern Parker, Heath Gardner, Paul Kenny, and Jeff O'Donnell stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.


GAME OPENING INFORMATION
We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! Especially, contact Rip Gooch for Railway Rivals, see Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com. Rip has been a bit missing in action lately, but I am assured that he SHALL return.
I'm ready to start a new Breaking Away game, who's interested??? Challenge David Partridge again as he is in, so are Brendan Whyte and Alexander Woo. I also am giving a free spot to Eric Martin. Anyone else? Rick Desper is in too.
I am willing to open another new game of REGULAR Diplomacy if there is enough interest!!! We have Marc Ellinger (pd), Don Williams, and John Crow signed up, only four more to go!!!
Also, is there any interest in another game of Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7 Dip? I know it may be getting tired, but I really like it. We have Karl Schmit and Sean O'Donnell on the list, let's get seven!! It's FREE!!!
I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly or you can look at them at www.variantbank.org. Bruce Edwards and Eric Ozog are signed up. I'll try to remember to punch in the rules in the next issue.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough and Bruce Edwards are interested, anyone else?
And since Colonia is over, Harold Reynolds is looking to start something else.
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and we have an opening here: Bruce Edwards, Mike Barno, and Eoghan Barry are signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON! I'm more likely to get these things started if I see some interest..... I've GOT to do this now, Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....
Right now, the other thing going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Sean O'Donnell, Jeff O'Donnell, Bob Holt, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, and Eric Ozog are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, we only need THREE more!


TAKING OVER ISHKIBIBBLE'S REGULAR DIPLOMACY GAMES ((NOT))
Last chance is gone here, these games never really got going all that far in the first place. And I really couldn't get back more than one player in each game and it seemed silly to get that many standbys. Take note Mr. BNC Tom Howell. Let's start another new Diplomacy game instead. Who's interested?? Any of you old Ishkibibbleites want to play?? Or should I just drop the free subs I've been giving you all?? Your choice. Anyone who was a subber to Ishkibibble may join the new regular Diplomacy game for free, but this is a ONE TIME only offer, get your request in now. Marc Ellinger already has taken us up on this request.


Marc Ellinger (Sat, 11 Mar 2006 21:38:05 EST)
Jim,
I'm still happy to continue playing, but I would suggest we restart the games, so that we can re-dip. It's been so long that there is no continuity to the games. I'll send you some money for a subscription this week and to help defray the cost of restarting the games.
On the other hand, if we're going to play them out from where they're at, let me know and I'll try to remember what was going on before.
Marc, ELLINGERMC of aol.com
((See above, I think we're done, and you're in for the new game. You didn't have to pay me, but I see that you have.))


SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1903 IS APRIL 1ST, 2006
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1903 IS APRIL 22ND, 2006
Spring 1903
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a VIE S a bud-gal, a tri-SER, a RUM h, a ser-BUL,
a BUD-gal, f bul(sc)-AEG.
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): f LVP-nat, a WAL-lvp, a SWE h, f ENG-mid, f nwy-NWG.
FRANCE (Tretick): f MID C a bre-cly, f NAT C a bre-cly, a bre-CLY, f IRI-wal, a spa-GAS.
GERMANY (Ozog for Tallman): a ber-SIL, a mun-TYO, f bal-GOB, a bur-MAR, a pic-BRE, f DEN h.
ITALY (O'Donnell): f nap-TYH, a tus-PIE, a GRE S AUSTRIAN a ser-bul, a NAF h,
f ION S AUSTRIAN f bul(sc)-aeg.
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): a GAL s a ukr, a arm-SEV, a UKR S a gal, a stp-LVN.
TURKEY (Biehl): f CON-aeg, f ANK h, f SMY-aeg.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,
(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net
FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle Spotsylvania, VA 22553-1953
United Parcel Service ONLY: 5023 Sewell's Pointe Way, Fredericksburg, VA 22407, (540) 898-3386
cell (540) 226-5571 (E-Mail) berniebuddy32 of aol.com
GERMANY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 331-5698 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
GERMANY: Temporary Standby is Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138,
(360) 691-4264, ElfEric of Juno.com
ITALY: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell, as late as midnight Eastern)
RUSSIA: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
TURKEY: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 591-1832(???) ($7); jrb of dccnet.com


Game Notes:
1) Terry is still having some medical problems, but rather than hold up the game anymore, Eric Ozog has agreed to pay attention to the game and negotiate and submit orders for Terry. We all hope this will be a brief interlude. Eric originally brought Terry into the Diplomacy hobby all those many years ago, and so I'm glad he's agreed to do this.
2) John Biehl's phone number, listed above, has been disconnected. John, do you have a current number to list??? He's the one person I think we're still not sure about.


Press:
(PIKE'S LOG): I am sending a troop transport and the Starship W Bush to investigate the Children of Tomari situation. We will help them if we can, or scrounge some of their leftover resources and rescue survivors if they fall and they are going to fall. I'm also helping the Cardassians in their war with the Breen. I'm stretching us a little thin, but I trust the Cardassian leader. ((You mean the Cardassian Gul....)) Only time will tell if that's wise. Pike out.
(RUSSIAN DELINQUENTS-WORLD): Playing defense now. Will work for dots obo.


FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1907 IS APRIL 1ST, 2006
Autumn and Winter 1906
AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): R a ser-BUD; bld f tri; has f TRI, a BUD, a RUM, a NAP, a ROM,
a UKR, a MOS, a ALB.
ENGLAND (Schmit): bld a lon; has a LON, a HOL, f ENG, f POR, a BUR, f BRE,
f NWY, f NTH, a STP.
FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): rem f wes, a mar; has a PAR, f SPA(SC), a GAS.
GERMANY (Sundstrom): has f HEL, f SWE, a DEN, a LVN, a MUN, f SKA.
TURKEY (Levinson): has a BUL, f ION, f TYH, a GRE,
f TUN, f BLA, a SEV, a SER.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net
ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1509 O'Keefe Road, DePere, WI 54115, (920) 338-8402,
diplomacy of new.rr.com ($4)
FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell, as late as midnight Eastern)
GERMANY: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org
RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com
TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, 1, allee des Marniquets, 78430 Louveciennes FRANCE, don't need phone,
levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)


Game Notes:
1) As I noted to one player, the Spring deadline is RIGHT here, you should have been negotiating about it already.


Press:
(CAPTAIN'S LOG): The end is near. The Romulans have captured and reunified Vulcan. They have a troop transport orbiting Earth and starship menacing Deep Space 9. To make matters worse, the Children of Tomari have taken Deep Space 6 (that's right, Deep Space 6 has been deep-sixed!). Our Ferengi allies are holding their own as are our Breen allies. This is, of course, no help to us. I have to decommission a starship and a troop transport for spare parts. We will continue to fight, although I'm not sure why....
(JEFF to ALEX LEVINSON): Just for that, you can have your stupid statue back!!!
(JEFF to ALEX LEVINSON II): Just kidding! By the way, nice move into Tunis. Although if you had taken Naples, Austria (your front line) would not be building. My guess is that Mr. Schmit talked you into the move to make his life easier. Good luck ever advancing past the Mid-Atlantic....
(JEFF to JIM): Go ahead and put me in the Modern game that Sean has gotten into. Let me know if you need another player. I have a couple of people to call who might be interested. ((Since Modern has 10 spots, I actually need THREE more players, so go right ahead.))
(JEFF PS ON MODERN GAME): Ever thought about modifying the map a little? ((Not really, I wouldn't do it actually, I'd let the designer, Vince Mous do it if anyone were to do it. I don't see any really serious problems except for the difficulties Poland has establishing a strong position. Nevertheless, I'm surprised, but the statistics show that Modern is very, very balanced, even more balanced than regular Diplomacy. It is one of the most balanced variants ever designed by those stats, compiled on the Judges.))
(JEFF to WORLD): England wins unless alliances change. Just thought I'd mention it!
(CAPTAIN KIRK to LT. UHURA): Lt., please issue a Federation wide distress signal on all frequencies. (If she starts to sing, I'll kill her!)
(JEFF to SEAN): Russia still sucks!


I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1912 IS APRIL 1ST, 2005
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1913 IS APRIL 22ND, 2005
Fall 1912
AUSTRIA (Parker): f ION C a rom-smy, f TYH C a rom-smy, a GAL h, a WAR h, f EAS S a rom-smy,
a PIE h, a BUL-con, a tri-VIE, a VEN h, a SEV-arm, a rom-SMY, a SER-bul,
a STP h, f AEG C a rom-smy.
FRANCE (Kent): f BRE S f pic-eng, a PAR-bur, a spa-mar (d r:por,otb), a WAL h,
f pic-ENG, f TUN h.
GERMANY (Wilson): f hol-NTH, f bel-PIC, a MUN S a ruh-bur, f edi-CLY, a gas-SPA,
f eng-MID, a LON h, a NWY h, a MAR S a gas-spa, f cly-NAO, a ruh-BUR.
TURKEY (Miller): f smy s a con (d r:syr,otb), a ARM h a CON s f smy.


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Parker): TRI,BUD,VIE,ser,rum,nap, (has 14, bld 1)
war,mos,stp,sev,ven,rom,bul,gre,smy
FRANCE (Kent): PAR,por,BRE,tun,lvp (has 5 or 6, even(r:otb) or rem 1)
GERMANY (Wilson): KIE,BER,hol,den,bel,MUN,swe, (has 11, bld 1)
nwy,mar,edi,lon,spa
TURKEY (Miller): ANK,CON (has 2 or 3, even(r:otb) or rem 1)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139
VernDip of aol.com is preferred
ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222
alberich of iglou.com
FRANCE: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy., #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, 225-751-3857,
ckevinw1 of cox.net
ITALY: Formerly was Heath Gardner, 1510 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27403-1207
metaphorman of gmail.com
ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Tim Miller, 258 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville, MD 20850,
tim of webjudge.net
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287
burgess of world.std.com


Game Notes:
1) We have a GA-GA Anschluss draw proposal in hand. Please vote with your Winter orders. If you fail to vote, the game goes on.


Press:


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE NEW DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1920 IS APRIL 1ST, 2006
THE NEW DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1921 IS APRIL 22ND, 2006
Fall 1920
ENGLAND (Kent): f lon-WAL, a GAS S FRENCH f mar, f NAO-mid, a KIE s RUSSIAN a ber (otm),
f MID-wes, f ENG S f nao-mid, f HOL S a kie, f POR S FRENCH f spa(sc).
FRANCE (Sasseville): f MAR S f spa(sc), f SPA(SC) S f mar, a RUH-mun, a BUR S a bur-mun.
GERMANY (Barno): a CON h.
RUSSIA (Parker): a mos-WAR, a stp-NWY, a BER-kie, f DEN S a ber-kie, a nwy-SWE, a war-PRU.
TURKEY (Linsey): a arm-SEV, a ukr-GAL, a SIL S a mun, f WES-mid, a sev-UKR,
f GOL S f pie-mar, a MUN s RUSSIAN a ber-kie, a gal-VIE, f NAF S f wes-mid, f AEG-con,
a TYO S a mun, f PIE-mar, a BOH S a mun.


Supply Center Chart
ENGLAND (Kent): LON,LVP,EDI,bre,por,bel,kie,hol (has 8, even)
FRANCE (Sasseville): PAR,MAR,spa (has 4, rem 1)
GERMANY (Barno): con (has 1)
RUSSIA (Parker): MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber,WAR (has 6, bld 1)
TURKEY (Linsey): ANK,SMY,rum,bul,gre, (has 13, bld 2)
bud,nap,ven,tun,sev,rom,tri,vie,ser,mun
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy., #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883, (607) 589-4906
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139
VernDip of aol.com is preferred
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) The FREGT draw is rejected, there are no new proposals. We're off the draw clock, as seems clear at this point.


Press:


FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
CONGRATULATIONS TO RICK DESPER WHO HUNG ON FOR THE VICTORY!!!




Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. New game start in this, who wants to play again (or for the first time)??? We have five signed up so far, see the list in the game opening section. I want to start this up soon, so sign up!!! Can I twist arms on just ONE more of you to join???


Press:


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.30.
On 21 Mar 2006, 20:18.