THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #318

December 19, 2008


Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287


Now and forever, "20 Minutes into the Future"


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


You know how they say trouble comes in threes, well, of course it doesn't but our puny minds coalesce around such triviatum. But today is a day to resurrect some dedications in this holiday season, and I need to make three of them, thankfully the latter two dedications seem to be having somewhat more hopeful endings.
First off, I'd posted this on the TAP web page some weeks ago, but most of you probably have not seen this. We dedicate this issue to Jim Meinel and his daughter, Emily. I have talked to a few of you about this, and some of you had met Jim's wife Jenae,
http://www.legacy.com/adn/Obituaries.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=120158947
Jenae passed away suddenly on November 10th and Jim really needs the support and good wishes of his hobby friends. Drop him a note, either at his E-Mail address of jim of meinel.org or postally at Jim Meinel, P.O. Box 112147, Anchorage, AK 99511. This is really, really tough, I know Jim can get through it, but it cannot be easy. Hang in there, Jim!!!
Secondly, Brad Wilson was hit by a car when heading home after work at the end of November. So, we ALSO dedicate this issue to Brad Wilson! Although Brad, of course, does not remember anything, someone did stop and there was some identification of damage, though I'm not sure precisely how much Brad was able to find out about that or what legal issues will be entailed from all this. Someone I know was hit by a car a year ago and is still recovering, especially mentally, but though Brad did have a Grade III concussion (this is the form where you lose consciousness and cannot remember anything around the event), I understand that he is doing pretty well. He also has a broken leg which might also have some complications. Send Brad best wishes as well, I have not seen E-Mail from him yet, though others may have (you can try that at bwdolphin146 of yahoo.com). But his postal address if you want to drop him a Christmas card, New Year's card or other note is Brad Wilson, Apt. 3-C, 1115 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Hang in there, Brad!!
And finally, as some of you are aware, there was a band of New York and New England that was hit by the worst ice storm in a few decades just north of us. My parents lost power for a couple of days, some friends of ours lost it for four or five days, but subszine editor Dave Partridge lost it for a full week. I'll let Dave tell the details of his story in his subszine, which may or may not appear in this issue, at this writing I'm going to stop holding TAP waiting for him and just see when he gets it out. But Dave has been a subszine here for a long time, and it is way past time to dedicate an issue to him as well!!! We forget how much of our lives, especially in the winter when we can freeze to death, is predicated on electric power. Dave did have his own generator, and could keep things going a bit, but that required the "searches for the gasoline that the generator sucked up" that my other friends whose power went out described about the same way. You go out on these streets with power lines and trees down everywhere and try to make your way to someone who has gas, if you fail and run out of gas yourself in the car, you're really in trouble. I'm glad Dave and his family made it through safely.
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. THIS IS A PROBLEM, sign up now if you're playing!!!
I would if I were you.


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. Since I have to get caught up this issue with all sorts of subszines, I'm going to be fairly limited with other items this issue. 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: / and current and past issues of 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.
Peter Sullivan's subszine is back in stasis, but all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.
Peter is now back at least sometimes he is producing this new fannish thing called Virtual Tucker Hotel that you can find at http://efanzines.com/VTH/. I am not sure I actually understand VTH, someday I'll hook up on one of the live chats and then maybe I'll figure it out. Rip Gooch is probably permanently missing as a subszine, but he has a cool facebook page and you can keep track of him there. Dave Partridge had been picking up the choo-choo game slack. Contact Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info on getting into choo-choo games and other sorts of different games. And Andy York and Doug Kent have been my most frequent subszine guests lately!!! Andy has been in every issue, thanks, Andy!!! And Doug Kent has been coming out faster than TAP lately, so many issues have been having multiple Eternal Sunshine's. I haven't heard from Michael Lowrey lately but he gets his in every few issues too! So, we have a full set of subszines at the moment.
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 MICHEL FERON
Jerry Jones gets added to the list of failures, next up the former editor of Moeshoeshoe, along with Michel Liesnard one of the founders of the Belgian Diplomacy hobby. If you read Diplomacy World #101 you will quickly figure out why I chose Michel Feron to search for next. There are a host of clues on the Internet that I found, so he could be very easy to find. Go for it, you have until Issue #320.
I am running out of people on MY list of who to search for, so I am looking for ideas, who would you like to find? Send me some names. I will likely go into all these szines that Doug Kent is posting and find some more szine editors to search for, that's what I usually do, but I'd like to find people that some of you will search for or want to find!!! This actually is giving me a HUGE number of possible ideas for people to search for, but I can be focused or induced. Come on, help me out.


Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Jerry, Margaret, Derek, Sylvain, Steve, Ed, Tom, 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 Jerry Jones or Margaret Gemignani or Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst 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
John Harrington and I have agreed to close the ISE. In this age of PayPal, the traffic on the ISE had fallen almost to zero, and what was left almost entirely was me facilitating orders of Breaking Away and John's other Fiendish Games. So, I'm still going to help John out with that, but there will be no ISE. If anyone still needs assistance with this, though, since I'm helping John out, like if you're in a foreign country and need to send dollars for dipping things to someone in the US, I may be able to help you out.


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
and at Doug Kent's new Diplomacy World web site at:
http://www.diplomacyworld.net/


Also, I need any Hobby Award Nominations NOW (!!!) for the :
The 2005 and 2006 and 2007 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service;
The 2005 and 2006 and 2007 Rod Walker Award for Literature;
The 2005 and 2006 and 2007 John Koning Award for Player Performance;
The 2005 and 2006 and 2007 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance;
or
A 2005 and 2006 and 2007 Kathy Byrne Caruso Award for Lifetime Achievement (if warranted).
The NEW Hobby Awards Committee is Jim Burgess (Chair and Treasurer), Fred Davis, Jr., Melinda Holley, Andy York, Jack McHugh 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.... and then, well, REAL SOON NOW!!! And when I do, I'm going to give out three sets of awards and get caught up for the missed years, that seems to make the most sense. Committee.... you will be hearing more from me soon! This also fell apart with my move, but I think I can get it together for next issue when all the games are in Winter.


Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines are now:
Deadline Winter 2009, Issue #104: beginning of January; theme is Worldwide Variants, we will have articles on Colonia VIIb, Known World 901, and many more. A new DW Demo Game in Known World 901 will also start, this variant is one of those David Cohen designed variants and it already has been pretty extensively playtested. If any of you are interested in playing, let me know.
Deadline Spring 2009, Issue #105: beginning of April; theme is "The Endgame", what have you always wanted to know or read about about end game strategy, we'll feature it here.
Deadline Summer 2009, Issue #106: beginning of July; theme is "Historical Variants" from pre-1900.
Deadline Fall 2009, Issue #107: beginning of October; theme is "Balance of Power", arguably the key concept in all of Diplomacy, Eric Hunter, Doug and I just realized that there are NO good articles around that actually describe it. The founder of the feast, Mr. Calhamer, of course has written on it a couple of times, but he has, well, a singular view. I hope we get a lot of excellent articles on this topic, I'm writing one.
These last few issues have been really tremendous, if you've not looked at them yet, go look! And for any issue, we're taking articles on ANY subject, let us know!!!
See http://www.diplomacyworld.net/ for some exciting back issue material being posted as well as the new Issues, including the monstrous Issue #100. Highlights of #100 include Walt Buchanan's ex-wife Carol showing us who REALLY was in charge of the hobby back in the Hoosier Archives days, Eric Ozog augmenting the oft-heard, but never get enough of, love story between Eric and Cathy, and the start of the new Diplomacy World Demo Game. We also now have every issue back to the very beginning posted!
Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:
Doug Kent, Lead Executive Editor!, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy #2327, Dallas, TX 75228, dougray30 of yahoo.com
Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor and Interview Editor
Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games Editor
Mark Zoffel; zoffel of earthlink.net - Strategy and Tactics Editor
Jim O'Kelley, 4224 N. Hamlin Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618, jimthegrey1013 of yahoo.com - Club and Tournament Editor
Jack McHugh, 810 School Lane, Folcroft, PA 19032, jwmchughjr of gmail.com - Variant Editor


OK, and then we have FTF tournaments. See the Pouch FTF tournament page at:
/Face/cons/index.php
I'm organizing a tournament at TempleCon here in Providence, February 6-8, 2009, please y'all come!!! More details are at http://www.templecon.org/09 and the hotel block is presently full, but let me know if you need help with accomodations.
Tournament Schedule (half of the games on open deadlines):
Round 1: Start 6PM on Friday, no official stop time, Venue is on 24 hour schedule, possible dinner or late night snack break will be worked out by Tournament Director based on course of games.
Round 2: Start 9AM on Saturday, official Random Stop Time between 4 PM and 5PM to allow for meal break between rounds, only announced at beginning of last Fall turn.
Round 3: Start 6PM on Saturday, no official stop time, Venue is on 24 hour schedule, possible dinner or late night snack break will be worked out by Tournament Director based on course of games.
Round 4: Start Noon on Sunday, official Random Stop Time between 4 PM and 5PM, only announced at beginning of last Fall turn
Board Assignments: Random using an announced commonly used program. Tournament Director will play if necessary to fill out a board and can possibly play positions on two boards simultaneously to fill out boards - tournament director's scores do not count for any purpose, including Best Country awards. If replacement players are used in the "no time limit" games because someone has to leave, the replacement will be the Tournament Director wherever possible and the original player will get the full score credit for the game.
GAME TURN SCHEDULE: Run games on Central Clock using DipTimer with so-called "drop-dead deadlines". Each player can have one (less than one minute) extension to get orders into the box per game. Timing includes adjudication with a continually running clock allowing 17 minutes per Spring (including Winter adjustments) and 15 minutes per Fall season with retreats also taken out of negotiation time run as quickly as possible. This schedule may permit games to move ahead of the clock, which is allowed. As games progress and with the speed of the game, the Tournament Director (especially in the timed rounds 2 and 4) will shorten these times at his discretion to get as many game years in as possible in each round. The Tournament Director is viewing the drop-dead deadline as an educational tool, since it is not often used in North American tournaments (see the discussion on the Yahoogroup MADip for more on this), and will be keeping the players appraised of the deadline as it approaches to ensure that players have enough time to write orders. Harassment of players trying to write orders near the deadline will not be allowed.
Voting on Draws/Game Stop: Comes out of negotiation time, Tournament Director discretion can be disallowed or delayed for repeated requests. Conducted by Tournament Director with anonymity.
-----------------
Scoring System: Modified Detour98f
This is the scoring system used for most New Zealand tournaments and New England tournaments.
- If you survive to 1905 then you get a point (whether you're eliminated later or not).
- If you are in the draw at the end of the game then you get a point.
- You get a point for every supply centre you own.
- If you are in the outright lead then you get a bonus of the difference between you and the next best player.
- If you are first on the board you get 4 bonus points, if you are second you get 3 bonus points, if you are third you get 2 bonus points, if you're fourth you get 1 bonus point. (If there's a tie you all get the points for the lower position - i.e. equal 2nd both get 2 bonus points)
- You add each person's points to get a raw score. The next step is to standardize the game. Divide each person's raw score with the sum of all the raw scores and then multiply by 100. This generate a percentage for everyone. So an entire game is worth 100 points and how much of those points that each person gets is determined points 1-5.
- If you solo you get 110 points and everyone else gets *nothing*.
- Tournament Scoring: All players will be awarded 50 Points upon entering the tournament. To play in a game, in each round played, there is an "ante" of 14 points (rounded down, approximately 100/7). If Tournament players (to fill out boards) play more than one position they will ante up twice, this will be avoided if possible though it could result in a player playing more than four scoring rounds in the tournament.
- There also will be Best Country awards for each of the seven countries which can be won by people who play only one round, these will be based on the Detour game score, not Supply Center counts.


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
We were running a "23 tunes" contest here (stolen blatantly from Mark Wightman and the late lamented The Sprouts of Wrath. If anyone would like to send me a tape or CD of their 23 (which was the original point) that would be great, but I don't intend to require that. I will be playing in the sense that I'll be putting 23 tunes in, and you have to guess me, but I obviously won't score points. Send commentary with your choices, and we'll see if people can guess who you are!!! And already there is a LOT of diversity in defining tunes and styles, so BE CREATIVE!!! This kind of died, mostly because of me. I don't want to take this last issue getting it back together, but see the new rules below, we're going to start over. Feel free to send along general music comments any time. I haven't had much feedback here, we'll try to pick it up in the new year.


23 Tunes Game
Here are the rules for 23 TUNES. You send me ONE tune each issue, or a whole list, but I reveal them one tune at a time over the next 23 issues. If you missed earlier turns, you can still catch up by sending enough tunes to catch up in subsequent issues, and guess on submitters each issue. When you are CORRECT and guess someone correctly, I will tell you, but you can only guess one person for each list each turn. I am also submitting my tunes. I will tell people each issue how many people have guessed them correctly, so you can tell that you're being predictable and try to take your list in another direction. After we're done, I'd like to exchange CD's/Tapes for as many of the tunes players as possible, but this is not required. I'll be sending the winner both my LAST 23 tune list and my NEW 23 tune list. The winner is determined by having you guess each issue who submitted what list (I am now NOT telling you who the submitters are). For each list you get right, you get a point, you also can win bonus points from me for really cool tune selections or daring explanations (to encourage you to write things about the songs). You lose a point for each person who gets your list right.
WHAT I NEED: At least one tune and an explanation or comment. I'll add one tune to each list each issue. You will always be able to catch up by giving me enough tunes to catch up.


Garret Schenck (Mon Nov 24 12:24:23 2008)
Hey Jim, Just when I was starting to wonder if you'd gone down for the count, the latest issue of TAP, or at least something purporting to be TAP, arrived in my mailbox. I figured I would write you since my copy had the X in the space, suggesting that my sub was up. But of course I have a LIFETIME subscription to your szine, as per our contract when I was "found.." Seeing as you're an economist and therefore (presumably) feel that contracts are the lifeblood of our wonderfully successful economic system, I'm sure you're prepared to honor your agreement, to your death, or at least the death of your szine, whichever comes last. In the old days I believe "fakes" were usually perpetrated by others, not the actual zine publisher. The fakers had to figure out who to mail the "fake" to, pay costs to produce, etc. They also had to do their best to make the "fake" at least somewhat believable. Since this "fake" arrived with an actual graphic cover instead of the same boring canned text thunk up at least a decade previously, about how Kevin Teague had grabbed the highly desirable internet domain name "szine.com," etc., etc., knowing this crap stuck on the front of your actual szine was a fake "fake" was pretty much child's play. ((Yeah, well you're the only one to comment this extensively!))
Are you the first publisher to fake his own "fake"? ((But I categorically deny faking my own fake. I don't know how that thing got stuck on the front of my szine and on my web page.))
I guess it's a sad commentary on the state of "paper" publishing these days, if there's nobody out there willing to put time/effort into faking your szine. Is Boardman still publishing? ((Yes, it's a bit ragged itself on publishing speed, but it's still going.)) If he is you could do him the honor of folding your rag and that would give him the (I'm quite sure) immense satisfaction of being not only the first, the most prolific, but also the last publisher of postal Diplomacy games. ((Nah, I intend to be last....))
Where's Emmert? A cursory look through the szine didn't reveal him anywhere. ((He's around, maybe he'll say something when he sees this.))
I'm glad to see Williams is still finding suckers willing to publish his drivel. If you really ARE thinking about raising your pub rates, and/or breaking your CONTRACT for my lifetime sub, you might think first about banning him from your zine and associated subzines. Several acres of virgin forest in the Paul Tsongas National Forest would breath a sigh of relief, too. (This last punny bit for the benefit of Mark Lew, if he's still around - don't know if he'll get the reference, but he might.) ((Of course, Mark also is still around.))
Anyway, all the best, Garret, garretschenck of ymail.com
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.
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
Can we get back to these game openings below? We just need a few more people for a couple of these.
I am willing to open another new game of REGULAR Diplomacy if there is enough interest!!! Doug Kent, Fred Wiedemeyer, Brad Wilson, and Shaun Thompson start the list, who would like to join them???
I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. Bruce Edwards and Eric Ozog are signed up. I published the rules again last issue!
And since Colonia is over, Harold Reynolds is looking to start something else. Harold has been updating the Diplomacy A to Z, go check it out at: http://www.badpets.net/Diplomacy/AtoZ/index.html
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, Steve Koehler, Art Schleinkofer, Bob Holt, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, and Dave Partridge are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, we only need TWO more! Only two, just TWO more...... come on.


THE PHIL REYNOLDS MEMORIAL: 2006B, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1903 IS JANUARY 10TH, 2009
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1904 IS JANUARY 31ST, 2009
Fall 1903
AUSTRIA (Burgess): a GAL-vie, a TRI-vie, f GRE-aeg, a bul-CON,
a SER h, f EAS-smy.
ENGLAND (James): f ENG S a bel, f NAO S f mid, a BEL h,
f mid h (d r:iri,gas,otb), f NWY h.
FRANCE (Williams): f spa(sc)-MID, a BRE S a pic, f POR S f spa(sc)-mid,
a PIC s GERMAN f hol-bel (nso), a bur-MUN.
GERMANY (Ellinger): a mun s a ber (d r:ruh,kie,boh,otb), a BER S a mun,
f HOL S ENGLISH a bel, a SWE h.
ITALY (Crow): a TYO S FRENCH a bur-mun, f WES S FRENCH f spa(sc)-mid,
a SIL S FRENCH a bur-mun, a pie-MAR, f tun-NAF.
RUSSIA (Barno): f BLA S AUSTRIAN a bul-con, a LVN-war, a UKR-war,
f RUM s AUSTRIAN a ser-bul (nso), a SEV S f rum, f gob-STP(SC).
TURKEY (Wiedemeyer): f con-aeg (d ann), a ARM-ank, a SMY-ank.


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Burgess): TRI,VIE,BUD,ser,gre,bul,con (has 6, bld 1)
ENGLAND (James): EDI,LVP,LON,nwy,bel (has 4 or 5, bld 1(r:otb) or even)
FRANCE (Williams): PAR,BRE,spa,por,mun (has 5, even)
GERMANY (Ellinger): KIE,BER,den,hol,swe (has 3 or 4, bld 1)
ITALY (Crow): ROM,NAP,VEN,tun,mar (has 5, even)
RUSSIA (Barno): WAR,STP,SEV,MOS,rum (has 6, rem 1)
TURKEY (Wiedemeyer): ANK,SMY (has 2, even)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: David Burgess, 101 Laurel Lane, Queensbury, NY 12804
(518) 761-6687, burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org
ENGLAND: Drew James, 3644 Whispering Woods Terrace, Baldwinsville, NY 13027
(315) 652-1956, kjames01 of twcny.rr.com
FRANCE: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org ($5)
GERMANY: Marc Ellinger, 751 Turnberry Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109
mellinger of blitzbardgett.com or ellingermc of aol.com
ITALY: John Crow, 946 S. Medalist Circle Plano, TX 75023-2851,
(214) 532-1418, johnny.crow of hotmail.com
RUSSIA: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883, (607) 589-4906
mpbarno of lightlink.com ((BUT NOTE currently not able to access this))
TURKEY: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA
CANADA T6T 1N1, (780) 465-6432, wiedem of telus.net or wiedem of shaw.ca


Game Notes:
1) I'm glad everyone is back, and for quite a turn here.
2) Note Marc Ellinger's new preferred E-Mail address and John Crow's new postal address.


Press:
(RED KINGS 9 (DARK PRESS - NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION)):
A ticket to the boneyard
"Wooooooh," inhaled the caterpillar, he looked down at the two gangsters from atop his toadstool. He used one hand to flick an ash off his vest, with his other hand he continued to twiddle the bullet between his fingers, with his other hand he picked up his cup of coffee, with his fourth hand he pointed at the thin gunsel, "I believe for an elephant you would need a menagerie."
"Oh, negatory Boss," the thin gunman shook his head, "thems menagerines are high bred fruit... all hoity-toitty like. Deys half tangerine and half... sumpin' else." The heavy set gangster behind him nodded vigorously in silent agreement.
The caterpillar sighed resignedly. The thin gunman took that as a sign to go on, "yeah," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate the heavy set gangster behind him, "Huey here eats 'em up sumpin' terrific. Courses, they give him the indigestions."
The heavy set gangster, Huey, grimaced and nodded in reluctant confirmation.
"Wooooooh," the caterpillar pulled on his pipe, water gurgled at the end of the hose, "I know just how he feels."
"So's we finds our ménage a twa," said the thin gunsel, "and we scores big."
"Wooooooh, that is the general idea," intoned the caterpillar in his heavy voice.
"I'll find dat flatfoot when I find dat oliphant, or my name ain't Luis del Castillo."
"Out," said the caterpillar.
"Whazzat Boss?"
"OUT!" yelled the caterpillar, he waved all four arms for emphasis pointing to the door.
"Louie," spoke the fat gunmen for the first time, "I tink he wants us to leaf." The two gunmen quickly backed to the door and through it.
Coming out of the darkened back room brought the two into the coruscating lights and jazzy sound of the dance hall. The sound of mingling people and multiple conversations washed over the two gunmen. They looked out over the club, seeing the patrons at the bar and the couples on the dance floor. The thin gunman couldn't help but shake his head. "If we'd just nabbed dat dame when she was a taxi dancer here, den' we wouldn't be going tru all dis misery," said Louie sagely, "who knew she was scopin' us out afore she went tover to da Copa to put her peepers on Evil."
The fat gunman, Huey, shook his head in slow commiseration.
"Da boss won't be happy till we find dat broad and da gumshoe," said the thin gunman, "c'mon let's pound a few pages and toin sumpin up."
He headed out the front door with the fat gunman in tow, neither one noticed the patch of darkness that separated itself from the shadows and moved after them. The two gunsels walked out the front door underneath the sign that read "Centerland Ballroom", the sign next to the cashier booth read "Dances 10 cents". Louie and Huey, sans Dewey, were on the trail.
So there I was with this doozy of a dame, hardly a dime to my name. I coulda called this chapter Down and out on a case, but da blonde had told me where we were going so it was definitely; a ticket to the boneyard. We were in a small part of the Hobby called Variant-Town, where the more ethnic brands of Dip are played. We were staring at the trolley map in the station. It didn't make a lot of sense, it was almost like when the planners were in the Hobby they had their minds on something else. The different colored lines criss-crossed, disappeared and came back...
"I still don't get it," said the aforementioned blonde, smacking her gum, "youse said the Boneyard was for decrepit and defunct szines."
"Yeah, that's what I said," she was leaning over to better peruse the map causing her trench coat to fall open a little. I was perusing the obvious... the map, the trolley map, what d'ya think?
"Isn't that redundant? Decrepit and defunct?"
"Not in the Hobby," I knew we had to go back to the older neighborhoods, "I don't know if it's Silver Age or Golden Age... the Blue Line takes us North, it's the Yellow Line that goes South."
"Da Yellow Line is fer losers," the blonde smacked her gum for emphasis.
"Then we can catch the Red car East and transfer to the White Line...
A newsboy on the corner was waving a paper in the air;
Read all about it! Hierophant goes Missing! Missing and Silent!
"I don' think you can transfer at Galicia and 52nd," she said, eyeing the faded map.
"What do you want to do, walk across the Hobby?"
"We don't have time. Time is a train, makes the future past. We don' wanna be left standing in the station with our face pressed up against the glass," smacked the blonde.
"I was gonna say with our thumb up our..." what I was going to say was interrupted by a shout; "You two! You two!"
Yeah, I already knew that.
"Stop!"


SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1907 IS JANUARY 10TH, 2009
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1908 IS JANUARY 31ST, 2009
Fall 1907
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a GRE s a rum-ser (nso), a rom-ser (imp, d r:nap,otb),
f GOL sails in circles (h).
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): f POR S TURKISH f wes-mid.
FRANCE (Tretick): a BRE h, f mid-SPA(SC), a GAS S f mid-spa(sc), f MAR S f mid-spa(sc),
f ENG S GERMAN f nao-mid, a BUR S f mar, f IRI S GERMAN f nao-mid.
GERMANY (Ozog for Tallman): a TYO h, a BUD S ITALIAN a ser, a VIE h, a MUN h,
a ven-ROM, f SKA h, a TUS S a ven-rom, a BEL h, f NAO-mid.
ITALY (Kent): a APU S GERMAN a ven-rom, a SER S RUSSIAN a rum-bul, a tri-ALB.
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): f SEV-bla, a ukr-RUM, a rum-BUL, a ARM-ank, a MOS-sev.
TURKEY (Biehl): a ANK-arm, f SMY h, f BLA-sev, f NAF S f wes-mid,
f TYH-wes, f WES-mid.


Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): nap,gre (has 2 or 3, even(r:otb) or rem 1)
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): por (has 1, even)
FRANCE (Tretick): PAR,BRE,MAR,spa,lvp,edi,lon (has 7, even)
GERMANY (Ozog/Tallman): KIE,BER,MUN,hol,den,bel,swe, (has 9, bld 1)
nwy,vie,rom
ITALY (Kent): VEN,tri,bud,ser (has 3, bld 1)
RUSSIA (Sundstrom): WAR,STP,SEV,MOS,rum,bul (has 5, bld 1)
TURKEY (Biehl): ANK,SMY,CON,tun (has 6, rem 2)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


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 telus.net or wiedem of shaw.ca
FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, 5023 Sewell's Pointe Way, Fredericksburg, VA 22407, (540) 898-3386
cell (540) 226-5571 (E-Mail) berniebuddy33 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: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
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) 816-0460 (cell) ($7); jrb of dccnet.com


Game Notes:
1) Terry is still having some medical problems, Eric Ozog is continuing to negotiate and submit orders for Terry until further notice. Eric originally brought Terry into the Diplomacy hobby all those many years ago, and so I'm glad he's agreed to do this.


Press:


FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1911 IS JANUARY 10TH, 2009
Autumn and Winter 1910
AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): bld a bud; has a BUD, a TRI, a GAL, a MOS, a VIE.
ENGLAND (Kent): bld f lvp, f edi; has f LVP, f EDI, a DEN, a KIE, f ENG,
f NWY, f NTH.
FRANCE (McHugh): has f BRE, f MAR, a RUH, a BUR, f MID, a SPA.
GERMANY (Sundstrom): R f den otb; rem a boh; has f BAL, a SIL, f STP(SC), a LVN.
TURKEY (Levinson): R a tri-ALB; rem f bla; has a SEV, a VEN, f AEG, a UKR, f WES,
a BUL, f ION, f GOL, a ALB, f TYH, a RUM, a SER.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
(780) 465-6432, wiedem of telus.net or wiedem of shaw.ca
ENGLAND: Doug Kent, 11111 Woodmeadow Pkwy #2327, Dallas, TX 75228
dougray30 of yahoo.com
FRANCE: Jack McHugh, 810 School Lane, Folcroft, PA 19032, (856) 456-5984,
jwmchughjr of gmail.com
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, Beeklaan 504, 2562BP Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS, don't need phone,
al of tolkin.nl ($5)


Game Notes:
1) Note Al Levinson's new E-Mail address.


Press:


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1925 IS JANUARY 10TH, 2009
Autumn and Winter 1924
ENGLAND (Kent): R f mid-ENG; rem a gas, f por; has f ENG.
FRANCE (Sasseville): has f MID, f TUN, a PAR.
GERMANY (Barno): has a BUL.
RUSSIA (Osuch): bld f stp(sc), a war; has f STP(SC), a WAR, f NAO, a LON, f CLY,
f IRI, a UKR, a KIE, a RUH, f NTH, a HOL, a BER.
TURKEY (Linsey): bld a smy; has a SMY, f CON, a RUM, a GAL, f TYH, a SER,
a BUR, a SIL, f WES, a MUN, f GOL, a BRE,
a TYO, f NAF, a PIE, f MAR, a BEL.


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
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883, (607) 589-4906
mpbarno of lightlink.com ((BUT NOTE currently not able to access this))
RUSSIA: Bob Osuch, 19137 Midland Avenue, Mokena, IL 60448, (708) 478-3885
ROsuch4082 of aol.com
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) There are no current proposals.


Press:


CAST NO SHADOWS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
Rules at: /Postal/Zines/TAP/Tinamou/rules/BreakingAway.htm
DUE DATE FOR TURN 9 IS JANUARY 10TH, 2009
Turn 8
61 (replenish with a 4) Zorro (Breaking Away!!!)
60 (no replenishment) Empty
59 (no replenishment) Empty
58 (no replenishment) Empty
57 (replenish with a 3) Wally
56 (replenish with a 4) Travis
55 (replenish with a 5) Agnus
54 (no replenishment) Empty
53 (no replenishment) Empty
52 (replenish with a 3) Death, Yorick, Kyoto
51 (replenish with a 6) Granny, Bowie
50 (replenish with a 8) Xavier, Rincewind
49 (replenish with a 10) Water
48 (replenish with a 11) Drugs, Carrot
47 (no replenishment) Empty
46 (replenish with a 3) Crockett, Gloria
45 (replenish with a 5) Gavrancic,
44 (replenish with a 6) Mideast, Krstajic, Vidic, Kyrie, Bonham
43 (replenish with a 11) Sanctus, Dragutinovic


Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (5 points)
Team Name: The Turtle Moves; Captained by Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler
A: Rincewind the Wizzard 14 16 8 8 (14)
B: Granny Weatherwax 11 4 6 (11)
C: Captain Carrot 15 3 11 (10)
D: Death 3 3 3 (3)
(Rincewind with the Luggage, Granny on Her Broom, Carrot of the City Watch, and Death is just DEATH!)
Total Replenishments: 12+58+18+15+33+33+18+28 = 215
TEAM 2 (Tom Howell): off-the-shelf of olympus.net (4 points)
Team Name: Never Ending Worry Source; Manager: Rumour; Team Captain: Ye Olde Manager
A: Water 15 4 4 10 (5)
B: Kyoto 17 3 3 (14)
C: Mideast 17 10 6 (4)
D: Drugs 13 11 11 (5)
Total Replenishments: 12+35+37+44+30+22+16+30 = 226
TEAM 3 ((David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (0 points)
Team Name: Famous Four
A: Krstajic 15 16 6 6 (3)
B: Vidic 13 7 6 (4)
C: Gavrancic 3 3 5 (7)
D: Dragutinovic 11 3 11 (6)
Total Replenishments: 12+35+40+28+13+18+16+28 = 190
TEAM 4 (Brendan Whyte): obiwonfive of hotmail.com (3 points)
Team Name: The Reverse Alphabeticists
A: Zorro 7 7 6 4 (14)
B: Yorick 3 3 3 (7)
C: Xavier 3 5 8 (7)
D: Wally 7 3 3 (8)
Total Replenishments: 12+26+24+28+28+38+17+18 = 191
TEAM 5 (Alexander Woo): aswoo of yahoo.com (10 points)
Team Name: Just Ordinary; Manager: Credo
A: Agnus 12 7 3 5 (4)
B: Sanctus 4 10 11 (6)
C: Kyrie 10 14 6 (8)
D: Gloria 16 14 3 (11)
Total Replenishments: 12+44+22+17+22+42+28+25 = 212
TEAM 6 (Andy York): wandrew88 of gmail.com (17 points)
Team Name: Alamo
A: Crockett 15 4 5 3 (3)
B: Travis 3 4 4 (3)
C: Bowie 4 5 6 (3)
D: Bonham 3 10 6 (8)
Total Replenishments: 12+12+12+60+20+22+21+19 = 178


Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Up above in parentheses is the card you played to get to where you are in the field. The replenishment card is the last card in your list. Be careful to note that the card you played (the one in parentheses) is not available for you, for next turn. Just for fun, I'm going to keep track of total replenishment, by turn, which is a rough measure of how the teams are doing. Of course, it is lining up to get across the sprint and final lines in the right places that really counts. We can calculate an "efficiency score" later, which will be the ratio of scoring points per replenishment. If I'm predicting how the future of this will come out, a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure.


Press:
(CREDO): I believe Gavrancic will realize no one can play to square 42.
(BOOB CALCULATES): And while someone COULD have hit 47, no one did, so no one hit the jackpot replacements. But Gavrancic did hit 45 to give Dragutinovic his 11, and to your Sanctus. Hosannas to you!
(USELESS STATISTIC OF THE DAY): The Turtle Moves - 2, Famous Four - 1, Just Ordinary - 2, Alamo - 1.


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.85.
On 19 Dec 2008, 23:15.