THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #365

October 25, 2015


Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287, jfburgess of gmail.com


E-MAIL/WEB ONLY ISSUE! PDF will be available on the website. We also are being reproduced in Eternal Sunshine.


Web Page Address: /Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


So, my run of good luck in the medical issues continues. But I'm not completely free yet, and still under treatment. Sometimes this seems like a bit of a netherworld, but is much better than the alternatives. Mark Fassio is doing somewhat better, but still in fits and starts. Continue to keep especially him in your prayers and thoughts. Let me know if you need to know more about how he's doing, I'll just do periodic updates here. The new Kendo Nagasaki game starts this issue, I like running them and I also like playing in them... mostly. Plenty of time to join still.
That all should keep the szine cranking and I'd like to start another regular Diplomacy game in addition to the Breaking Away that's getting close to six! Wishing all the rest of you who are struggling with health issues similar good news!
This issue continues the szine/subszine inversion. As most of you know, this thing began as a "subszine" to Terry Tallman's North Sealth, West George, then became its own szine with a host of subszines. The subszines remaining will appear as sub-subszines to our flipflopped home in Doug Kent's Eternal Sunshine. I'm set on continuing my GMing, and I'm starting to write a bit, hope there might be more. Feel free to communicate with me about how you want to help or what you want to play, or if anyone else wants TAP subszine status.
For production, in addition to the HTML's of each separate product on the web page, I will also have a PDF that you can print of the entire subszine (including my famous handdrawn maps!). You can just print the maps if you like, but remember maps are for pikers anyway, you don't need no steenkin' maps, keep them up in your head where they belong.
The Diplom.org site has moved. Chris Babcock and Mario Huys are now in charge. It all went pretty well, all things considered, and most of you probably didn't even notice it was happening. But if you find you cannot access the website with the PDFs and HTMLs of all the past issues... well, please let me know and we'll fix it. The address is still: /.
There are currently 75 members of the official TAP subscriber list, but that's down because in the move, there were some addresses dropped. http://lists.asciiking.com/mailman/listinfo/tap is the new list website. YOU need to make sure you're on this list. There you can check your subscribing options and whether you're registered. Register if you want to get TAP E-Mailed regularly. Some people have had trouble with the attachments, so I have switched to sending the link in the announcements, we'll see if that helps. Please let me know.


THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE FEATURES SECTION (CONS/LETTERS/MUSIC)
((For upcoming cons around the world: /Face/cons/index.php, success, we have badgered all the Con directors to post their Cons, so it is reasonably up to date now. And there remains lots of interest in the FTF community, and linking E-Mail/Web players to FTF. Currently, we look towards Carnage and Diplomacy World FTF editor Will Abbott did a great job connecting up with Necronomicon in Tampa, FL on Columbus Day weekend. He and some other hobby stalwarts did a great job of recruiting new people into the FTF hobby, something I also love to do!!! Article in January will be forthcoming. We finish up the Grand Prix and Nor'Easter year with Carnage, November 6-8th in Killington, VT. Also, the Facebook page for European Tournament Diplomacy, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1500292310187264/, Diplomacy in Europe, has been really active and the place to be in the hobby these days. If you're on Facebook, hook up there!))


NEW FEATURE: ROCK AND ROLL BANDS AND MOMENTS THAT MATTER
((If anyone from TAP or ES has ideas for more things to talk about here let me know. I do have four or five ideas lined up here already that I just have to write. I didn't get around to writing more this time either, but I will.))


THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE LETTERS SECTION - BASEBALL PLAYOFF EDITION
((First a brief summary of who did really well with picks way back in April. Doug Kent nailed Toronto being the class of the AL East, but thought Detroit, Chicago, Seattle and Oakland would succeed in the rest of the AL. He didn't have the Royals repeating. Goz similarly got the Toronto pick, but had Cleveland and Seattle. While I lost all three with the Red Sox, Cleveland, and Seattle. Boy, Seattle underachieved!!! In the NL, I missed the Nationals being underachievers but got the Mets resurging season and the rest of the NL pretty well, but I thought the Cardinals would be the ones getting to the World Series instead of the Mets. Goz had similar picks and also overestimated the Nationals, but Doug gets the booby prize for useless NL picks having the Mets in Last Place in the East with Miami and Washington at the top, scrambling the Central with the Pirates and the Reds at the top, and having San Diego winning the West.))

Warren Goesle (Monday, October 5, 2015 11:46 AM)
Subject: Playoffs? I just want to win a damn game!
Since the rest of you need a kick start...
The 3 best records all come from the same division. And it's not the AL East. Very strange.
AL Wild Card: Yankees over Astros. Because, y'know, Yankees.
ALDS: Yankees over Royals in 4. Blue Jays over Rangers in 4.
ALCS: Blue Jays over Yankees in 5.
NL Wild Card: Cubs over Pirates. Because Arrieta.
NLDS: Mets over Dodgers in 4. Cards over Cubs in 4...because Arrieta can only pitch once.
NLCS: Mets over Cards in 6.
WS: Blue Jays over Mets in 6.
The Cubs rookie 3B/OF Kris Bryant has MLB's top selling jersey. The last Cub to do that was Frank Chance. Jim-Bob, do you still have yours?
Go Cubs!
Goz, warrengoesle of wowway.com
((I had a Frank Chance baseball card, but never the jersey, jerseys weren't the thing back then. I actually have NO jerseys with a player number/name on them, none at all. You were closest on your choices, Goz, though... Rick embedded his choices in yours, but I left him separate, you guys can perform the mind game match.))


Rick Desper (Mon, 5 Oct 2015 17:39:02)
Yankees. Because Keuchel isn't quite as good on the road.
Royals over Yankees in 5. Because I want the Yankees to lose. Blue Jays over Rangers in 4.
Blue Jays over Royals in 6.
Sound logic to me. I'll call a home run for the star pitcher. ((That was Rick agreeing on the NL Wild Card that Arrieta would be the star and get the Cubs forward... the Cubs did indeed move forward.))
Dodgers over Mets in 5. Cards over Cubs in 4.
Cards over Dodgers in 6. Because they always beat the Dodgers in the playoffs.
Blue Jays over Cardinals in 7.
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com


David Partridge (Wed, 14 Oct 2015 12:27:57)
Cubs power way past Cardinals again in Game 4 to win NLDS
One step closer to Armageddon, restock the bunkers!
Dave, rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
((I know I'm late, but I'm not paying attention to tonight's game, was doing some cleaning at my church and then eating dinner.... I would go with the Astros and Cubs in Wild Cards as both being the teams "a year ahead of schedule".
AL: Royals over Astros and Blue Jays over Rangers in four each.
Then, my wife and I were talking over dinner, and she said "aren't the Blue Jays going to beat the Astros?" She doesn't really follow Baseball, but I'm going to change my mind, which was leaning toward the Royals and go with the Blue Jays to the World Series in 5.
NL: Dodgers will beat Mets and Cardinals will beat Cubs, each in four.
My wife likes the Dodgers, but here I'm going with the Cardinals, in six.
World Series: The Blue Jays shouldn't win, but I'm going with them, in seven.
Just looked above, lots of agreement here....))
((10/26 update: well, so much for listening to my wife, there go the Royals, I'm rooting for them to beat the Mets in 6.))


THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION
Standby lists: Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Paul Rauterberg, Doug Kent, Paul Kenny, and Hugh Polley stand by for regular Diplomacy. Just let me know if you want on or off these lists.


GAME OPENING INFORMATION
I'd love to do another game of Spy Diplomacy, but it requires commitment that seems in short supply these days, but let me know if you want me to reprint the rules. I really, really want to get the Diplomacy and Breaking Away games started as soon as possible, come on, help me out!!!
REGULAR DIPLOMACY: need seven for another game start, we have five. We have Edward Innes, Fred Wiedemeyer, Marc Ellinger, Melinda Holley, and Gavin Begbie.
BREAKING AWAY: New game, want six! Andy York, Rick Desper, David Burgess, and Hank Alme are in, only two to go here too.


THE DON WILLIAMS 57 MEMORIAL: 2014A, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1904 IS NOVEMBER 15TH, 2015
Spring 1904
AUSTRIA (Ozog): f tri-ALB, a boh-MUN, a SER-bul, a bul-CON, a bud-VIE, f GRE S ITALIAN f aeg.
ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): a wal-YOR.
FRANCE (Ellinger): f mar-GOL, f MID S f bre-eng, f bre-ENG, a BEL h, f NAO h (unordered),
f iri s a lon-wal (nsu), a gas-MAR, a lon-WAL.
GERMANY (Abbott): f DEN-bal, f HEL S a hol-kie, f NTH-den, a edi-LVP, a hol-KIE.
ITALY (Holley; Resigning, replaced by Brad Wilson): f rom-TYH, f NAP-ion,
f AEG s AUSTRIAN a bul-con, a RUM-bul, a tyo-PIE.
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): f STP(NC)-nwy, f NWY-swe, a war-SIL, f NWG S f stp(nc)-nwy, f SWE-bal,
f con-ANK, a BER-kie, a sev-ARM.
TURKEY (Burgess): f SMY-aeg, f EAS-ion.


E-Mail Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Eric Ozog, elferic of juno.com
ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, wiedem of telus.net
FRANCE: Marc Ellinger, mellinger of blitzbardgett.com
GERMANY: Will Abbott, wjja9 of yahoo.com
ITALY: New Italy is Brad Wilson, fullfathomfive675@gmail.com
RUSSIA: Paul Rauterberg, paul.rauterberg of att.net
TURKEY: David Burgess, burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org


Game Notes:
1) Unfortunately, Melinda is having a medical issue that leads her to resign. In the other game, I'm trying to finesse it a bit, but here I've asked Brad Wilson to take over, and he has agreed.
2) Since there are no summer retreats, you are welcome to go ahead to Fall at the next deadline if you want to.


Press:
(ME to YOU): This game sucks...
(SMYRNA to WORLD): When you are drinking lemonade, you probably had lemons tossed at you!
(JIM to WORLD): When you make peace with authority, you become authority.


THE PHIL REYNOLDS MEMORIAL: 2006B, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1914 IS NOVEMBER 15TH, 2015
Spring 1914
AUSTRIA (Burgess): a RUM S a ukr-sev, a TYO S a tri-ven, a tri-VEN, a ukr-SEV, f ank-ARM,
a GAL S ENGLISH a war, a PIE S a tri-ven, a SER S ITALIAN a alb-tri.
ENGLAND (James): a kie-BER, a par-GAS, f NTH h, f ENG h, f mid-WES, a BUR S a par-gas, f BEL h,
a LVN S a war, f naf-TUN, a ber-SIL, a WAR h, a MOS S AUSTRIAN a ukr-sev, f gas-MID, f aeg-CON,
f BAL h, a MUN h, f HEL h.
FRANCE (Holley, resigning as of Summer): f SMY S AUSTRIAN f ank-con (nso), f ion-NAP,
a POR S f spa(sc), a MAR S f spa(sc), f ADR S a ven, f SPA(SC) s a mar, a ven h (d r:rom,tus,apu,otb).
ITALY (Crow): a alb-TRI.
RUSSIA (Kent): a sev h (d ann).


E-Mail Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: David Burgess, burgesscd of roadrunner.com or dburgess of glensfallshosp.org
ENGLAND: Drew James, kjames01 of twcny.rr.com or karelanddrew of gmail.com
FRANCE: Melinda Holley, genea5613 of aol.com
GERMANY: Marc Ellinger, mellinger of blitzbardgett.com
ITALY: John Crow, johnny.crow of hotmail.com
RUSSIA: Doug Kent, dougray30 of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Fred Wiedemeyer, wiedem of telus.net


Game Notes:
1) There is an AEF draw back on the table for Summer, especially with Melinda having to resign, after so long, I'm going to put in a special YES vote on the three way draw proposal. Of course, any of the rest of you can vote no, and if you do NOT vote for the Summer turn, it will be recorded as a NO and also veto the draw.
2) We're all getting older, aren't we? Melinda is having some medical problems and will have to resign. I'm going to record her for Summer as voting yes, and if the proposal doesn't pass, then I will replace her to submit Fall orders. I recognize that means that with no order received the Army Venice would retreat off the board in the Summer turn, but if the game continues, I am going to retreat it to Rome (or anyplace else if Melinda happens to send me an order). We all hope Melinda works through her medical problems and is OK again soon!!!


Press:
(ITALY to WORLD): I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…
(BOOB to ITALY): Step one is complete.
(RUSSIA to WORLD): Damnit Jim, my dilithium crystals are running out.
(WANDERIN' WOPS): "We're headin' home!"
(ENGLAND to ALL): Who the heck voted down the draw?
(SCOTT SHAFER to SU DEFENSE): What the hell were you thinking!!!! Don’t let them tie the game up! You A-holes! Now I am probably going to get fired!
(JIM-BOB WHO KNOWS NOTHING...): Well, at least they only BARELY lost this time! Don't they play someone else even more daunting next week? Why did you go to the ACC in the first place???


WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KENDO NAGASAKI
DEADLINE FOR TURN 2 OF THE NEW GAME IS NOVEMBER 15, 2015, GET ORDERS IN OR JOIN UP!!!
Kendo Nagasaki for me comes from the series in Eternal Sunshine... The full rules for Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki are in: http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/es58.pdf. Send a guess!!!


TURN 1
Brendan Whyte: Tom Howell:
Henry Mancini on Vostok Island, Pacific Ocean Kim Philby in London

Hank Alme: Marc Ellinger:
Bela Fleck in Oaxaca, Mexico Richard Nixon in Santiago, Chile

Peter Sullivan: Doug Kent:
Lewis Hamilton in Buenos Aires Julia Child in Santiago, Chile

HINT to the Person with the Closest Geographic Guess: You have identified my gender correctly, but I was born many centuries before you.




LAST WORD: I think it is very interesting the way the energy in the hobby ir ramping up in recent times. From my perspective, it seems to have been fueled largely by the "way greater than life" figure of Toby Harris, who finally after more than two decades of trying (sometimes trying NOT to let people know how much he wanted it) won the World DipCon.
I still remember his whole demeanor at the Paris World DipCon he and I were both at so long ago... whichever one it was... 2001 just before 9/11 changed te world, where he was so disappointed not to get on the Top Board. - Cyrille Sevin won one of his many World titles with Brian Dennehy and Chetan Radia close behind, as I recall... and Edi Birsan playing Kingmaker.
But since then, the Diplomacy in Europe Facebook page has exploded, and so much energy seems to be out there. Games across Europe have been happening (Dave van Leeuwen running the Dutch Open, a French tournament over Columbus Day weekend hosted by Gabriel Lecointre, games within companies using Diplomacy to build teamwork (led by Sebastian Dinjens), lots of "student games". The Game also is exploding in China.
And most recently Christian Pedone ran a speedy "texting game" and is running another one now. I hope we can get the Diplomacy World Cup started to take advantage of that energy (time for another nudge from me on that!!!).
This all is stupendous for the future of the hobby. Once I get past this cancer thing, I'm going to dive back in with more energy too. I hope all of you are finding the places to play that make the most sense to you, or you're just starting to host your own club games. This whole group of people is just such a fantastic group of people, who could have more friends than any of us???
As I keep getting older, I continue to greatly mourn those who have been lost, and maybe this szine is a bit too morbid a place that way - with games in honor of both Phil Reynolds and Don Williams - but hey, I think I'm just about past that. Let me know if you're looking for something in the hobby that I can help you find, I am a big lurker just about everywhere, so I see all... watch out, I'm watching YOU!!!


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.85.
On 27 Oct 2015, 09:55.