THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #267

March 8, 2003

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); FAX to (401) 277-9904
Web Page Address: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


We have a goodly number of subszines below. Don Williams may be in trouble for finishing up his subszine and game. I'm hoping that won't be the case, as his comeback has been stunning (thanks in no small measure to Gary Coughlan). You will all attest to that, I'm sure.
This is, of course, again quite late. But I have made some progress in clearing the decks of the issues that have made me late.
1) I ended a whole bunch of games I was in since we last spoke, at least five! For me, being in about eight games at once was way too much. I think I'm only in two or three now? Just showing that I'm not sure is one indication as to how screwed up I was. Don't ask me to join any games right now.
2) Work: my increasingly insane work situation is still insane, but the manager two levels above me at one of my jobs just quit to take another job and the positive nature of this for me just can't be overemphasized. He should be a Peter Principle case study, just SUCH a nice guy and just SUCH a bad manager. We're also being reorganized given this opportunity which all should be to the good, but it may take a bit of time.
3) WorldMasters Tournament: I'm on the Tournament Management Committee still, and still GMing one game with twice weekly deadlines, but hey that pressure is lessening up a bit and the GMing will end very soon.
4) World DipCon: More on that below, you SHOULD have been there. It was great to finally meet Hank Alme (!!!) and Mario Huys; and great to see my local Boston crowd Mel Nicholson, David Maletsky, Brian Shelden (by adoption) and Taylor Hayward; Don Williams, Steve Emmert, my Norwegian bud Frank Johansen; Vic Hall, David Norman, and Gihan Bandaranaike from the UK; Manus Hand, Bear Barrow, and all the great ARMADA folks; my brother David (who I don't see enough), Andy Bartalone, my Swedish bud Niclas Perez, Blue Cable, the estimable Chris Martin, the steely Tom Pasko, the smooth David Hood, the jovial Len Tennant, the determined Ray Setzer (who finished 14th, way to go Ray!!!), the befuddled (by the weird scoring system) Irishman Brian Dennehy who far as I could tell played four great "C-Diplo" games, but we weren't playing C-Diplo; my good bud Rick Desper, the mercurial Mark Franceschini, the inscrutible Steve Cooley (must be tough having an LA District Attorney with the same name, Steve!), the really neat Matt Shields, the stern Tom Kobrin, the ubiquitous Jim Yerkey, the blustery Tim Richardson; the BIG world traveler Sean Colman from Australia; Yann Clouet, William Attia, and the other Frenchmen (including the World Champion, see below); Yarden Livnat, and BRIEFLY Cal White (who REALLY hated the scoring system); other Oldtimers Edi Birsan, Larry Peery, and Buz Eddy; and especially new World Champion Vincent Carry, who has come so far since I last played against him in a World DipCon game back in 1994 in Birmingham. Vincent stabbed me quite nicely for one of his wins and I finished 73rd again.... I say again, because in every one of my four World DipCon's I've finished within four places of that. There are pictures up of most of these people at the Official Report site at: http://devel.diplom.org/armada/2003/results/results.cgi
5) I've been seeing how my "horizon" has changed with more FTF play and more Internet interaction where I must admit that postal PLAY seems less important to me these days. But this szine is starting to seem more important too, so I think there will be changes that I will put in place soon that will keep this going, but in some different ways.
6) And lastly, we're planning a FTF tournament in Boston, likely to be called Boston Massacre 2003, and likely on the Summer Solstice weekend of June 21-22. I want ALL of you to think about coming..... more details soon, but I've got to publish regularly to publicize it!!


One other major announcement, I'm not going to dwell on it, but I guess I need to do it in our current spam infested Internet. I've had a number of complaints from people about harvested E-Mail addresses by spammers from TAP. Since TAP is a simple html file, spammers can create these spider programs that hunt around the Internet for "@" signs and then harvest the text on either side of that to find E-Mail addresses. People have asked me to go edit all of the back issues of TAP which seems to me to be an incredibly daunting task. If anyone can tell me on the UNIX devel.diplom.org system how to make one global change, I'll do it, but the others are going to have to be an as I get to it issue (unless you want to edit the html yourself and give it back to me). Anyway from now on we'll do our own system (so spammers will never figure it out globally) of using "of", so I will now be burgess of world.std.com. You can all reconstruct an E-Mail from that. Sorry about the past, but I'm one who really doesn't get that excited about spam (I'm on the header of every issue, so I must get at least as much spam as any of you from TAP and I only get about 3-6 spam E-Mails a day which are extremely easily identified and deleted, even though I DO NOT have filtering software on this account), but recognize that others' personalities are different and congenitally have difficulty not getting upset by it.


And now I get to the usual header stuff. I decided to can the sub price increase, the postal rate increase really is peanuts, or it seems so at the 3-5 ounce level that I live it. So, no problem, let's keep selling subs when I can at this price. You all know that I'm an incredible softie anyway. 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 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: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/
I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/
and TAP on the web is there at: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/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
David has grabbed and reserved the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! David Wang's site used to be the best place to follow John Caruso's postal baseball league that I am in. BUT, the site has not been updated as well in recent times. THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-POO Martin's website: http://www.phantomempire.com where in the "files" section, "baseball" sub-section, you can see all of the individual and team level stats. Use the Telnet button in the upper left corner, that's the easiest way to do it these days. You need to sign up as a "member" to see all of the files. You, too, can chat with John Caruso there, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Really, you can. John's E-Mail address also is commishjohn of att.net if you want to send him E-Mail after all that. John still has openings, you can play RIGHT NOW! Contact him at commishjohn of att.net if you're interested in joining us or ask me for more details, this is THE most fun thing I do in the hobby at the moment, find out why!!!
Peter Sullivan's subszine is currently "in stasis", although 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 games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He is now hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date is now a "whenever". In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge are picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.
By electronic mail, through the Internet, subs are free and can be obtained automatically by sending the message: subscribe tap
to majordomo of diplom.org and messages can be sent to the entire electronic mailing list by mailing them to tap of diplom.org which will forward your message to all of the people currently on the list. The message:
unsubscribe tap
sent to majordomo of diplom.org gets you off the list. Please make careful note of that as well since you generally can get yourself off the list a lot easier than I can, and NOBODY likes to see unsubscribe messages sent to the entire list. A big, big thank you for David Kovar for setting this all up!!


THE SEARCH FOR ED HENRY
Find him and win the fifty buck prize!! You have until Issue number 270 to find him. I want to tell Ed about Kathy and all sorts of other things. There is a "full board" there now, help me out and earn yourself some cash!!! Ed Henry was very active in the hobby in the 1980's. I don't think he's the same Ed Henry who's so famous right now working on Kiplinger's magazine (writes the Car reviews and is African American), but he could be. Ask him and find out!
Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Tom, Bill, Gregory, Kevin, Al, and Jerry found too!!! Note that Brenton Ver Ploeg would love to find Leslie Obata, the woman that Jerry Lucas used as his front too. This could be an easy way toward finding Jerry, though as Brenton notes, who is to say she has the same name now. 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 Berry Renken or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Jerry Lucas or Al Pearson 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 added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into Euros, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.
We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. We are now maneuvering deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at b.whyte of pgrad.unimelb.edu.au (same university where John Cain works!) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers!!


WORLDMASTERS02 SECTION
WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament First Round is Underway!!
See http://www.cat23.com/wm02 for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again. There already is a big flare up between a GM and a player where the player now says he doesn't "trust" the GM, and it's only 1901! But in general, things seem to be going PRETTY smoothly for a tournament that got way overwhelmed with 73 teams of 7 players, for a total tournament player roster of 511!!! All seventy-three games are up and running with GMs in mere days, an amazing feat in itself. Kudos to Tournament Director Rudi van Hal for a yeoman job thus far!!!! Special thanks to Dave Partridge and Steve Hutton, who I conned into joining the Tournament Management Committee as well. Toby Harris is nearing another record first round 18 center victory, gee I wonder how THAT is happening?


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.
In what I believe is a RECENT change, Hasbro also has been putting the rules to Diplomacy up on their web page along with rules for most of their other games. Not only that, but they have the "current" as well as an older version of the rules there. Stephen Agar has matched that and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:
http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?x=cc_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:
http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/old_rulebooks.htm


Check out back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org
As we tried to get together the Fall issue, it became clear to all of us that the current editorial structure has failed. The new issue is almost put together, but needs a new lead editor. Stephen is backing away, I'm not at all prepared to go it alone, and certainly Dave Partridge isn't ready to take it over. But the framework is there. Rather than publish a substandard issue of what we have, let's declare failure and see if anyone cares enough to step forward as lead editor. It probably doesn't help that the new lead editor for the Diplomatic Pouch, Edward Hawthorne, has ten times my hobby energy and is running around like a vacuum cleaner scooping up all the writers (even me, I'm writing for him first, he's SO persuasive!) for the expanded and back on schedule Pouch. I do think there is more than enough room for both, especially since the Diplomatic Pouch is ONLY available on the Web, but if someone else doesn't think so, then so be it.
If you want to subscribe in paper form at $3 per issue, North American subs should be sent to David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA. Stephen Agar is handling international postal subscriptions and you can write to him at: 47 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA, UK. Issues from Stephen will cost you 2 GBP in the UK and 3 GBP for the rest of the world. Or subscribe electronically at diplomacyworld at Yahoo Groups! But I realize that most of you will wait for some notice about the future. Nothing new yet.


See last year's 2002 Hobby Awards ballot at:
http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/BALLOT02.html
See the results at: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/ANNOUNCE02.html.
We are now officially soliciting nominations for 2003, for activities during 2002. Think about it, I already have some nominations in hand.
Nominate:
1) People who you think might deserve the Kathy Byrne Caruso Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement to the Hobby.
2) People who you think might deserve the Don Miller Memorial Award for Meritorious Service to the Hobby.
3) People who you think might deserve the Rod Walker Award for Literary Achievement (get me an electronic copy of the article!).
4) People who you think might deserve the John Koning Memorial Award for Player Performance (remember it has to be for playing in 2002).
5) People who you think might deserve the Fred Hyatt Memorial Award for GM Performance (again for 2002 GMing).


You have ABSOLUTELY no excuse for why you don't go to some FTF tournaments or gaming get-togethers these days. In light of that, DixieCon is again coming up on Memorial Day weekend. Though I am unlikely to make it as long as I have this summer house to open up, I will still plug David Hood's agenda mercilessly.....


David Hood (Sat, 1 Mar 2003 16:58:03 -0500)
DIXIECON 17
The Longest-Running Diplomacy Tournament on the East Coast - May 23-25, 2003
Let the Carolina Amateur Diplomats host you for a Memorial Day Weekend of Diplomacy gaming in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on the beautiful campus of the University of North Carolina. Dixiecon features three rounds of Diplomacy as well as a Diplomacy variant tournament and other boardgaming in a format which has been delivering satisfaction to its participants from all over the country and world since 1987. Dixiecon has hosted the North American championships four times and World Dipcon twice. Dixiecon is also the second leg of the four-part Eastern Swing, which crowns an east-coast winner in Maryland at the Tempest event in October. This could be the year you are inducted into the Order of the Knife, the motley collection of past Dixiecon winners! All twelve were in attendance at last year's Dixiecon, which doubled as the 2002 Dipcon.
A Word from the Director
Diplomacy at Dixiecon is probably a little different from what you may be used to at other venues. Most Dip events have time limits for each game due to space and other considerations, and thus must have a scoring system that ends games before they are truly over. While I enjoy playing in such tournaments, there is really nothing like having unlimited time to complete the Diplomacy games, which is how we play the first two rounds. We also go the extra mile to try to make sure you play against as many different players as possible. Come see if you are ready for an intense Diplomacy experience. - David Hood
Description of Events
First, there will be a Pickup Basketball Extravaganza for all those whose Achilles tendons are still valid. The Diplomacy tournament itself will consist of three rounds, one beginning Friday night at 6:00 and the other two beginning at 9:30 on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Saturday morning round will also double at the three-man team tournament. After Round Two the whole crowd will eat North Carolina-style barbeque and then adjourn to various game activities such as a Diplomacy Variant event, a historical miniatures event, open gaming, or "festivities" on Chapel Hill's Franklin Street. Those still in good shape will wake up the next morning for the last round of Dip, after which we will do awards and then open gaming until early Monday morning.
Schedule of Fees
General Entry Fee $20 (Does not include BBQ, paid separately)
Share a Room $20 each per night for double occupancy
Your Own Room $40 per night
Contact: David Hood, 1969 12th St Pl NE, Hickory NC 28601; gamerhood of charter.net. Make Checks Payable to David Hood.
Please indicate below if you already have an agreed-upon roommate, or an agreed-upon team for the Diplomacy Team. If flying, give us your anticipated time of arrival, and if applicable, flight information into Raleigh-Durham International Airport so we can pick you up:
David, gamerhood of charter.net


Bruce Linsey (Sat, 22 Feb 2003 10:28:04 EST)
I have just received back from Fred Davis a box full of copies of SUPERNOVA, my old Diplomacy novice packet. This 36-page booklet is very old, dating from the early 1980s, but it does include some useful articles on playing the game. If you'd like a copy, please send one dollar (U.S.) to Bruce Linsey, P.O. Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106.
Bruce, GonzoHQ of aol.com
((Thanks, Bruce, I agree that SUPERNOVA is a great little publication and urge people who've never seen it that are still trying to hone their skills to pick up a copy. Keith Sherwood asked me about sending some Diplomacy archive material (he has great comprehensive stuff from the 1978-1984 Silver Age period of the hobby) to the Hoosier Archive location in the Popular Culture Library of Bowling Green State University. I said: "Linda Babcock's E-Mail is lbabcoc of bgnet.bgsu.edu. She's very pleasant and helpful. The Web Page is: http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/pcl/pcl.html but they don't specifically talk about the Diplomacy collection there, yet..... we keep giving them things though!" and he replied (important update for you szine editors!!!):))


Keith Sherwood (Tue, 4 Feb 2003 10:39:45 -0800)
FYI: Linda has moved on to the Music Library, and has left Colleen Warner (cawarne of bgnet.bgsu.edu) in charge at the popular culture library with Richelle Burkey (rburkey of bgnet.bgsu.edu) as in take coordinator. I'm now conversing with Richelle.
Keith, Keith_Sherwood of intuit.com
((I am now addressing everything to Richelle, as she seems to be the intake person and I would recommend everyone else do the same so that the Diplomacy Material stays together. On the address label, I also refer to the "Diplomacy Hoosier Archives". Now, more on Hobby Offices and an exciting conjunction and promise for getting another big chunk of our records permanently up for research on the Internet.))


Conrad von Metzke (Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:45:33 -0800)
Please be aware that as from now, the Boardman Numbers are being assigned by someone else. The new custodian is:
Tom Howell
365 Storm King Road
Port Angeles WA 98363
off-the-shelf of olympus.net
In addition to those receiving this message, a few others need to be told. I'll take care of John Boardman myself. But it would be useful if somebody (Tom, presumably) could advise at the very least Paul Bolduc and Andy Lischett. I'm not in touch with either and don't have addresses. (Andy by the way doesn't have e-mail.)
It's been fun. But now my Dip days are over (with one small exception), and I'm off into the sunset to do railroad games and work on the stamp collection. And rebuild the fishpond. And.... And yes, Cal, I did look up dipbounced, and there are some intriguing features, but for my money it is overall (a) a mess and (b) so hauntingly impersonal that I'd go insane in five minutes.
Lotsa love to you and the whole damn hobby, Conrad, metzke of san.rr.com
((Andy Lischett can be considered hereby notified. If I were sending Conrad somewhere for personal, I would NOT send him to Dipbounced. I would send him to rec.games.diplomacy or better to www.cat23.com and the WorldMasters tournament discussion groups. And my big problem for some time has been the need to have the BNC/MNC records up on the Internet. I'm really pleased that Tom Howell is going to work in this direction and there are near limitless possibilities of looking at the history and trends in the hobby from that. There has been a whole lot of recent discussion on rec.games.diplomacy about these trends. As part of the discussion, I cited three specific issues that I use to chart trends in the hobby, others may have other views:
1) In tactics: the use of F Tri-Ven as an opening move for Austria in either negotiation or actual use VERSUS F Tri-Alb as a near given for Austria.
2) In strategy: the use of early "game long" alliance pairs or triplets VERSUS more free wheeling styles that are fluid.
3) In alliances: the use of Russia/Turkey as the "feared alliance" VERSUS Austria/Germany as the "feared alliance".
Anyway, you can actually research some of these things on the thousands of Internet games, where possible it would be nice to compare them to North American postal history.))


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
Tell me anything you like about the year of 2002 or other recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!!
Steve Langley (Mon, 13 Jan 2003 23:29:18 EST)
"Narc" -- a movie
Jason Patric plays `Nick Tellis' a young undercover narcotics officer who accidently kills an innocent bystander while trying to bring down a drugged out killer. He spends the next two years on 3/4 paid suspension. Ray Liotta plays `Henry Oak' the surviving partner of an undercover narcotics officer who was beaten and then had his brains blown out, possibly with his own gun. Tellis is a smart cop who is sinking into depression over not being allowed to be a cop. Oak is a smart cop who goes over the edge and becomes the poster boy for police brutality.
The problem is, the death of Oak's partner isn't getting solved. There isn't anyone with the right contacts to chase it down, except for these two. Tellis is invited to please take a look. He does and concludes that he needs Oak, becasue Oak knows more about the dead cop than anyone else.
The story is told in that old onion metaphor. Everyone has an agenda, so no one ever tells the truth, or at least when they do, it's usually their version of the truth, based on either their agenda, or their partial knowledge. Tellis starts putting it together. With each new clue, the story changes.
The story is the real star here, and the direction, but the actors were both outstanding.
Not for kids.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Langley (Sun, 9 Feb 2003 19:14:59 EST)
"The Recruit" === a movie
Good Movie.
Al Pacino plays "Walter Burke" a senior CIA operative who has come in from the cold to become an instructor at Langley. He has unfailing instincts for spotting falsehood and talent. He gets most of the good lines. He says things like, "I'm a scary judge of talent" and "Everything is a test, nothing is as it seems", and one that he says a lot, "The most important rule is `Don't get caught'"
Colin Farrell plays "James Clayton" a computer genius who is also an athlete and who has been consumed since his teenage years with trying to find out what happened to his father.
Burke recognized in Clayton the sort of talent the CIA needs. Clayton goes along because he thinks Burke knows something about his father. The plot is developed around the characters as they go through training and become what Burke wants of them, secret agents.
This CIA isn't about the Tom Clancy analysts, this is more along the lines of 007 with a license to kill. Good story, good ending.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Langley (Sun, 9 Feb 2003 19:23:02 EST)
"Shanghai Knights" === a movie
Not your typical sequel. They didn't remake the original with more car chases and a larger body count. What they did instead is go to England, drop a lot of names, and introduce a kid sister.
Fann Wong "Chon Lin" plays Jackie Chan's "Chon Wang's" baby sister. She has all the martial arts moves and is lots cuter. Owen Wilson "Roy O'Bannon" falls for her hard. He even considers becoming a better man.
The story actually holds together, but doesn't get in the way of the action. Jackie Chan is still the greatest. His comic action is truly wonderful to behold.
As always, "Roy O'Bannon and his side kick the Shanghai Kid" overcome formidible odds, and incidental accidents, to stop the villains. I loved it.
((I agree with you entirely. I thought in particular that the whole bit "back East" with Roy in the hotel was totally hilarious! The "London killer" thing was a bit of a throwaway. Fann Wong just dispatched him in three seconds flat. I also really loved "Artie". But for some reason my wife really hated it, oh well. I think she just wasn't in the right mood.))
She isn't alone. Two men in conversation while I was leaving the theatre were saying that this wasn't any better than the `Tuxedo' which was really terrible. I guess it's like "The Three Stooges". Some people get it and some don't. I come down on the don't side with them.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com
((Yes, I didn't see the `Tuxedo' as I could tell from the previews alone it would be pretty terrible. But this really was good if you got into it. Charlotte got all of the diverse references (LOTS of 60's references) but still found it annoying. I think you have to jump in with a movie like this and decide you're going to enjoy it and then enjoy it. The structure of the movie reminded me in many ways of Die Another Day (even in the personality of the villain). But Owen Wilson is just so cool. I think he's fun and Jackie Chan really was at his best here.))
((While I'm interrupting, a few comments on some movies that Steve DOESN'T talk about. "The Quiet American" is stunning and subtle at the same time. Some of you may have noticed that Michael Caine got an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Graham Greene's cynical English reporter "stuck" in Saigon during the French military retreats and withdrawal in the early 1950's. Some of you also may have heard how Caine had to rant and rave to get Miramax to release the film in the US, and it still is NOT in wide distribution. The problem, of course, is that the "Quiet American" is anti-American and as we ratchet back up our aggressive interventionist espionage capability is not politically correct. Still, we need to think and talk about our history, that is the only way to analyze and avoid future errors. This movie helps to generate discussion a lot, and is a great story to boot. Charlotte and I really talked about this one. Strangely, it's very different from the 1950's movie with Audie Murphy as the quiet American (Brendan Fraser shows some great range with a great performance in that role here) that had Graham Greene helping with the screenplay. I haven't seen that old black and white since the 60's on TV, but some research revealed what I had remembered, that the old movie told a completely different story from the book - this one is more faithful - and Michael Redgrave played the Caine role as much more of a straight derelict. Caine's performance is highly nuanced and one of the deeper complex (Diplomacy like!!!) roles I've seen on the screen this decade. I'd vote for him for the Academy Award. Lots of great on-location shooting in Vietnam too, I'm sure this movie could not have been made at any time from the 50's to today except now, and it still has a tough row to hoe. Help it out and go see this one, you might think a bit and you won't be disappointed.... caution, I suppose, you might get angry, really angry, at some more recent US policies as you do that thinking.))
((Staying with the military themes, I also saw Maxwell's second great Civil War installment movie, Gods and Generals, recently. Unfortunately, Maxwell didn't lose enough of the turgid dialogue of Jeff Shaara's book of the same name. Charlotte and I were reminded why we banned the book from our house a decade or so after struggling to read our way through it. As many of you probably know, Jeff's late father Michael wrote perhaps the best historical novel EVER written around the Civil War (in a very crowded field), The Killer Angels. That book was the source for Maxwell's first Civil War movie, Gettysburg, which is an absolutely stunning movie. Gods and Generals has a VERY good performance by Stephen Lang as Stonewall Jackson, some decent performances with terrible material by Mira Sorvino as Fanny Chamberlain, some unknown TV actress as Jackson's wife, and of course Jeff Daniels reprising his role as Mainer Joshua Chamberlain. But for the most part this movie is a shameful mess. Robert Duvall does a MUCH worse job than Martin Sheen did in Gettysburg as Robert E. Lee. Duvall smirks his way through the role. I just wanted to SLAP him! The unpaid (I think) Civil War reenactors who do all the battle scenes did a heroic job, although some of the "explosion" scenes are a bit repetitive. Chancellorsville, in particular, is screened brilliantly. But this is a very long four hour movie, and the spectacle doesn't stand up to the characterizations. Unfortunately, Jeff Shaara just doesn't have it. Even the music is much less memorable and less effective for the drama. This team is going to produce a third movie to finish off the war, I hope they can turn it around and do something more like Gettysburg. I worry that they will bring back Duvall and that won't work, he's a good actor, but he has NOT captured Lee's peculiar extremes. Of course, there is endless debate about what Lee's true character was, but I guarantee he did NOT smirk! The worst was his delivery of the infamous line, "It is good war is so terrible, or we would grow too fond of it." I don't have that precisely right, but you know the line I mean. But, perhaps we overreact. Some of the minor characters like Chamberlain's brother Tom, Confederate Artillery Chief Alexander, A.P. Hill, Sgt. Killain of the 20th Maine, the 20th Maine's first commander Adelbert Ames, and a variety of others portrayed lots of character in very little screen time. And I know I was hearing some of that terrible Jeff Shaara dialogue and automatically cringing. So go see it, see what you think, and hope they do better with the third movie. If they're even allowed to make it now....))
((I also, for something COMPLETELY different, saw "Old School" which really surprised me on a couple of levels. First, it was a better STORY than I thought it would be. Owen Wilson's brother did a GREAT job as the real protagonist in the story, so it was MORE watchable from that point of view than I had expected. On the other hand, it was NOT as funny as I had expected. In a pattern that I think everyone knows, most of the really good jokes were in various trailers that I had seen previously, and it NEVER is as funny to see the joke when you already know the punch line (though they did play out the "Blue" joke more than you saw in the trailer to productive mirth). This is a shame, but the market seems not to be able to deal with it. I try to miss the trailers and arrive late whenever possible. Anyway, though, Old School is obviously not a great or deep film by any means, but it's pretty good.))


Steve Langley (Sun, 26 Jan 2003 17:22:57 EST)
"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" === a movie
In 1980 Chuck Barris took a look at himself and decided that he was fifty and wasn't getting any respect. In fact, despite fathering a dozen or so TV game shows, most very popular, the critics thought of him as the person who did more harm to America than all of its external enemies combined.
So, in an attempt to expunge his demons, and, set the record straight, he wrote his own `unauthorized' autobiography, where he told his life story from being a young boy trying to score with young girls, through being a teenager trying to score with teenage girls, to getting a job in TV as a means of scoring with young women. He was never very successful in the scoring department, which caused great frustration, and lead to a series of bar fights. He wasn't very good at that, either.
Then a wonderful thing happened. He was approached by a secret part of the CIA who wanted to direct his anger. He was trained to become an assassin. In the meantime his TV career started moving. One of his appeals to the lowest common denominator game shows, The Dating Game, took off. He started being a success, and as a success, had lots better luck scoring with young women. However, just because his frustration was lessened his connection to the CIA wasn't. He was sent out to eliminate `bad guys'.
George Clooney put up some of the money to make the movie, directed it, and gave himself the role of Barris' CIA control. He got Julia Roberts to play the `sexy foreign spy' and Drew Barrymore to play Barris' sex interest (love interest, maybe).
The movie was not what I expected actually. I was going in looking for a spy spoof. What I got instead was an interesting study of Chuck Barris, who has to be one of the all time dangerous minds.
Sam Rockwell did the Chuck Barris character perfectly. I've only seem him in small roles up to now (he was the villain in Charlie's Angels) but he expanded to fill the screen in this role. He makes Barris' claim to being an assassin almost believable. He also showed Barris as a genius who really did understand how to communicate to the lowest common denominator.
One really great scene comes when Barris follows a beautiful girl into seclusion, where she tears him apart for being the kind of person who makes a living off of cruelly making fun of people without talent (The Gong Show). Rockwell goes from the cocky TV success who plan to score to the vulnerable nerd who stumbles away in defeat.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com
((I haven't seen this one yet, but I definitely intend to!! Thanks, Steve, for the reminder.))


Steve Langley (Sun, 26 Jan 2003 16:57:33 EST)
"Darkness Falls" === a movie
Darkness Falls is a small town with its very own monster. A hundred years or so ago the town had a woman who exchanged gold coins for baby teeth. She was known as the tooth fairy. When two children disappeared the towns people went over the edge and decided she was at fault. They hung her. Later the children showed up, unharmed. Too late, she had already cursed the town. The children of the town whispered the story down through the generations. When you lose your final baby tooth, the tooth fairy comes for you. If you keep your eyes shut she can't touch you, but if you peek, she will carry you off, or kill you on the spot. The only way to escape her is to stay in the light, she hates the light.
Young Kyle Walsh peeked. He managed to escape to a lighted bathroom. His mother, who thought he was having a nightmare wasn't as lucky. She stepped into his bedroom to show him there was nothing there. The police concluded that Kyle somehow had killed his mother in an insane rage. Kyle was locked away in an asylum and went from there to the foster system. Twelve years later he still surrounds himself with light.
Kyle receives a call from the girl who was verging on being his girlfriend when he was a child. Her little brother has night fears. He can't sleep, and he is afraid of being left in the dark. Kyle's symptoms as she remembers them. She's holing Kyle can tell her how he overcame the problem.
Kyle returns to try to help. He is received with disfavor by the young man who is (in his own mind) courting the girl, by the police who still think Kyle killed his own mother, and by the hospital staff who are sure there is nothing wrong with the child.
I liked the premise. It was good to see Emma Caulfield doing something other than her Buffy the Vampire character.
Unfortunately, instead of extending the premise, Kyle as the hero and considered to be the villain, the movie trotted out the monster and cleared it all up. Lots of people getting killed. Lots of too loud sound track.
Not my favorite movie.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Langley (Sun, 2 Mar 2003 13:24:48 EST)
"Cradle 2 the Grave" === a movie
I'm not sure what the title has to do with the movie. Difficult plot to follow. Lots of different factions of good guys and bad guys. The bad guys have stolen a secret weapon (50 of them) from Taiwan (to justify Jet Li as the hero) and plan to auction them to the highest bidders in, of all places, the USA. Right there you have to wonder at just how bright the bad guys are.
To bring this about they smuggle the weapon into America as diamonds (they look like diamonds) and then arrange a diamond heist (good caper) in order to get them back. Excuse me?
Anyway, despite the illogic of it all, you still have Jet Li doing what he does, along with a few impossible stunts that were pretty amazing. You also have DMX (Tony Fait a top thief) who does a pretty impressive job too. There is an outstanding chase scene. Hollywood keeps surprising me with new chase ideas, or variations.
Mark Dascascos who used to be `The Crow' on television gets to be the bad guy. Mark is pretty good at martial arts, but it is clear that Jet Li really had to hold back to make it look like a fight when the two finally met.
Good action, good stunts, not a great movie.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Alexander Woo (Wed, 05 Feb 2003 20:15:00 -0800)
I'll sign up for your Modern opening. (My opinion is that Modern is just slightly too large a variant without Wings. I remember finding 3 mutually nonintersecting stalemate lines a while back, though just barely - a not too bad criteria for "too large". But I'm up for trying it with Wings.) ((Thanks, great to have you on board. Do you have the Wings rules around? See below.))
Ranting you may or may not want to put in TAP: ((I LOVE ranting.....))
a) In response to Eric's inquiry about Monk, I seem to recall that almost all of his solo piano recordings were re-released a few years ago (including some previously unreleased "outtakes") in a multi-CD set.
b) Since sport gets mentioned in TAP, and so does politics, I'll mention their current intersection, which is cricket and Zimbabwe. ((Sorry for the time delay.... this issue is sort of "over" now, but I too found it VERY interesting following it on the BBC. I did not hear how it all turned out after what you say here, but I'm sure someone will pick it up and complete it.)) Zimbabwe is the country where Robert Mugabe "won" an election probably with about 40% of the votes, and plans to take land from large landowners to give to his political supporters. (Incidentally, my opinion is that many of the large landowners being white is irrelevant; Mugabe just wants land so that he can buy enough support to stay in power a little longer.) The cricket World Cup, scheduled for the next month and a half, was awarded to South Africa four years ago, with the proviso that Zimbabwe and Kenya would play their first round matches at home.
The English government has behaved very poorly in this situation. They have asked, but not required, the English team to boycott their match in Zimbabwe. On the other hand, the English and Wales Cricket Board faces a significant financial loss if they boycott the game, and the government has refused to indemnify them against this loss. (International cricket is the only level of the game that is profitable; lower levels survive on subsidies from the international game.) It doesn't help that no formal economic sanctions have been placed on Zimbabwe. The Australians, also scheduled to play a match in Zimbabwe, would also rather not play there, though their government seems to be behaving more reasonably. The Pakistanis, victims of Indian boycotts of matches in Pakistan, don't want any more precedents for political boycotts, while the Indian cricket authorities would like their government to let their team play in Pakistan. Namibia and the Netherlands are also scheduled to play in Zimbabwe, but cricket being very low profile sports in both countries, they are insignificant to the situation, and the situation is insignificant to them. Some noises have been made about rescheduling the matches in South Africa, ostensibly for security reasons, but the Zimbabwean government has stated it will deny its team permission to leave Zimbabwe for relocated matches.
Complicating this situation is the demographics of cricket in Zimbabwe. Although Mugabe likes cricket personally, most players of cricket, both black and white, come from families that own large tracts of land, and other supporters of cricket are mostly the urban poor; both segments of the population belong largely to the opposition. Indeed, if the Zimbabwe team plays in England next summer as planned, I would not be suprised if most of the players get their families out of the country and apply for asylum. This all puts Zimbabwean cricketers in a difficult situation.
The first match in Zimbabwe, with England playing, is scheduled for February 13. Australia is scheduled for February 24. I don't know how this will turn out. Catch some BBC broadcasts.
-Smiley, awoo of Math.Berkeley.EDU
((Next, many of us participated with Jamie McQuinn in an NCAA College Basketball pool that ESPN runs and we'll be doing that again this year. See below. My thoughts are buried in scandal issues as Rhode Island seems to be a central focal point for a number of the big national stories on this at this point. Jim Baron, the Coach at URI, should be in the running for the Coach of the Year for the job he has done, and of course he was followed by the suspended Jan van Breda Kolff at St. Bonaventure and that disaster, and was preceded by Jim Harrick at URI, who may send his program down under a flood of recruiting violations. I would say more, but time is pressing, gotta get this out. Last words of the issue are these....))


Jamie McQuinn (Mon, 03 Mar 2003 13:09:20 -0500)
OK, Here it is: http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/frontpage
Register and sign in with ESPN Fantasy Sports (it's free).
Find the group: ZFL
Password: teller
After the tournament teams are announced, we can fill out our grid.
Jamie, mag_jamie of dmcpl.dayton.lib.oh.us


LAWYERS: THE AMATEUR DIVISION - 2000G - GUEST GM: RUSS RUSNAK

2000G, No Lawyers Welcome
Game over in three way draw between Italy, Russia, and Austria. Final issues in next issue.

Russ Rusnak 1551 High Ridge Parkway Westchester, Il 60154 GM 708 409-0718 RRRRRUSNAK of AOL.com
Bob Osuch 19137 Midland Ave. Mokena, Il. 60448 AUSTRIA 708 478-3885 ROsuch4082 of aol.com
Bruce Linsey PO Box 234 Kinderhook, NY 12106 ENGLAND GonzoHQ of aol.com
Paul Rauterberg 3116 W. Amer. Dr. Greenfield, WI 53221 FRANCE 414-691-4264 trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Mike Barno 634 Dawson Hill Road Spencer, NY 14883 GERMANY 607 589-4906 mpbarno of lightlink.com
Jim Burgess 664 Smith Street Providence, RI 02908 ITALY 401 351-0287 burgess of world.std.com
Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net RUSSIA
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:
Bruce Linsey, 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, Kevin Wilson, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Jim Sayers, and Kurt Ozog stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.
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 as the following maps are available. Following each in parenthesis is the suggested number of players: Isle of Wight (3 or 4); Netherlands (3 or 4); Northern Italy Map P (4 to 8); Spain Map SP (4 to 7); China Mk. I (6 to 8); Austria (3 or 4); Belgium and Luxembourg (3 or 4); Southern Italy Map Q (4); South Sweden Map SWE (3 or 4); Switzerland (3 or 4). Ripping Yarns Mk III will take the form of a tiny subszine in Word as soon as Rip gets some people interested. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com.
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.
You also can sign up for the next Breaking Away game, which is starting now. Tom Howell currently is signed up, knock off the superstar, come on, you can do it!! So far, Eric Brosius and David Partridge want to challenge Tom.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough is still interested, anyone else?
Harold Reynolds is willing to start a game of Colonia and one of Aberration. I think the signup list for Colonia includes me, David Hood, Paul Rauterberg, David Partridge, and (Yes, really!!) Konrad Baumeister. That means we only need four more. Sean O'Donnell is interested in Aberration.
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and Chris Lockheardt is pulling out of that opening too, so I need three players. Eoghan Barry is 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..... Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....
Right now, the other thing I am contemplating getting going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Sean O'Donnell, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, and Kurt Ozog are the only ones signed up for that.
Stephen Agar runs a British Diplomacy mailing list at: http://www.diplomacy.co.uk
and if you are interested, contact Stephen Agar at stephen of meurglys.com or join the Brit hobby mailing list at (aw, you guessed it, another new address): http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/


I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1904 IS MARCH 29TH, 2003
Summer 1904
AUSTRIA (Lockheardt): has a TRI, a TYO, a RUM, a GRE, a BUL, a GAL, f ALB.
ENGLAND (Heikkinen): has f ENG, f MID, f NTH, f PIC.
FRANCE (Kent): R a bel-RUH; has a MAR, a PAR, f BRE, f POR, a SPA, a RUH.
GERMANY (Sayers): has a BER, f BAL, a HOL, a BEL.
ITALY (Méhkeri): has a VEN, f ION, f AEG, a MUN, a TUN.
RUSSIA (Desper): R f ber-PRU; has a NWY, f PRU, a MOS, a UKR.
TURKEY (Miller): has a ARM, a SMY, f CON, a SEV.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Chris Lockheardt, 54 Butler Avenue, Maynard, MA 01754, +1 978-897-1547
clockheardt of yahoo.com
ENGLAND: Allan Heikkinen, c/o S.HELEY, 7 / 77 Phillip Street, Waterloo, NSW 2017, AUSTRALIA
aheikkin of ram.net.au
FRANCE: Doug Kent, 1404 E. Lamar Blvd #106, Arlington, TX 76011
dipworld of ix.netcom.com
GERMANY: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA
jimp of magna.com.au
ITALY: Dan Méhkeri, 26 DeQuincy Blvd, North York, Ontario, M3H 1Y5, CANADA, +1 416-631-0492
mehkeri of neon.polkaroo.net
RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Tim Miller, 5454 South Shore Drive, Apt. 222, Chicago, IL 60615, +1 773-834-4597
btmiller of uchicago.edu
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287
burgess of world.std.com


Game Notes:
1) A FART draw is proposed..... now wouldn't THAT be a fitting end to this one? Please vote with your Fall orders.


Press:
(BOOB LAMENTS): Sorry there isn't any press this time! Perhaps the farts are keeping everyone away.


SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1906 IS MARCH 29TH, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1906 IS APRIL 19TH, 2003
Spring 1906
ENGLAND (Sundstrom): f NWG-nwy, f HOL-kie, f NTH S f den-ska, f den-SKA,
f nwy-swe (d r:nwg,bar,otb), f NAO s FRENCH f mid (otm).
FRANCE (Tretick): a par-BUR, f MAR S f mid-spa(sc), a BEL S a par-bur,
f mid-spa(sc) (d r:por,iri,eng,bre,otb), a bre-GAS.
GERMANY (Williams): a KIE s a ber, a BER S a kie, a MUN S RUSSIAN a boh.
ITALY (McCullough): f rom-TYH, a tyo-PIE, a VIE S TURKISH a bud-gal, f gol-SPA(SC),
f NAF S f spa(sc)-mid, a TRI S a vie, f spa(sc)-MID.
RUSSIA (McHugh): f STP(NC) S a swe-nwy, a swe-NWY, a gal s f rum (d r:war,sil,ukr,otb),
f ska-den (d r:swe,otb), a BOH S GERMAN a mun, f rum h (d r:bla,otb).
TURKEY (O'Donnell): f con-AEG, a gre-SER, a BUL S a ser-rum, f WES S ITALIAN f spa(sc)-mid,
a bud-GAL, f bla-SEV, a ser-RUM.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Doug Kent, 1404 E. Lamar Blvd #106, Arlington, TX 76011
dipworld of ix.netcom.com
ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882 ($5)
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 1383 Canterbury Way Potomac, MD 20854, (301) 279-0803 ($4)
JTretickGames of aol.com
GERMANY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($3)
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net
ITALY: Jody McCullough, 1071 Brown Avenue, Lafayette, CA 94549-3153
jodymc of sbcglobal.net
RUSSIA: Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998
flapjack of comcast.net or Xatsmann of comcast.net
TURKEY: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or talonstalkingprey of yahoo.com


Game Notes:
1) Note that Jody has a new E-Mail address and so does Matt Sundstrom! And Jim has a new postal address!!


Press:
(ENGLAND): Please be advised Atlantic Cruise Lines has closed their Southampton docks.


FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1911 IS MARCH 29TH, 2003
Winter 1910
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a TRI, a VEN, a ROM.
ENGLAND (Biehl): rem a yor, f hel; has f EDI, f IRI.
GERMANY (Emmert): RESIGNS, REPLACED BY BOB OSUCH; bld a mun, a ber;
has a MUN, a BER, f NTH, a KIE, a GAL, a MAR, a BUD, a TYO,
a VIE, a BEL, f CLY, a BRE, a POR.
RUSSIA (Tretick): has a PRU, f NWG, a DEN, a SIL, a WAR, f NAO, a NWY.
TURKEY (Lutterbie): bld f ank; has f ANK, f BLA, a UKR, f TUN, a ALB, f WES,
a SER, a RUM, f ION.


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: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 591-1832 ($7); jeen of telus.net
FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,
redavis914 of aol.com
GERMANY: Bob Osuch, 19137 Midland Avenue, Mokena, IL 60448, (708) 478-3885
ROsuch4082 of aol.com
ITALY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 710 9613, cell (360) 710-9613 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
RUSSIA: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, (540) 582-2356 (E-Mail)
batretick of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Vince Lutterbie, 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall, MO 65340-2837
melvin of cdsinet.net


Game Notes:
1) Steve Emmert resigns with these orders and is replaced by Bob Osuch. Thanks, Bob! And thanks Steve for giving it a go.
2) John Biehl has a new address, check it out above.


Press:


(Sometimes I Feel Like) FLETCHER CHRISTIAN: 1999Cgh013, Colonia VIIb Diplomacy


Game Notes:
1) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed draw passed and I still didn't have a chance to do the final Endgame chart. You have until then to do Endgame statements.
2) Harold Reynolds has done a lot of work with the maps and is guest GMing a new game of Colonia. This fits with my desire to have Spy Diplomacy be my next "big" game to GM, so I accept his offer. I also volunteer to get it started by signing up to play. There are nine players in the variant, could Harold give me an exact count of how many are signed up? Also, Harold ran a test game with Konrad Baumeister, Dave Partridge and Paul Rauterberg that you could look at on his website. See the note above about the Diplomacy A to Z, which also is there.


Press:


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1912 IS MARCH 29TH, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1913 IS APRIL 19TH, 2003
Fall 1912
ENGLAND (Sayers): f LON h, a GAS S FRENCH f mar, f NAO S f mid, a KIE S FRENCH a mun,
f MID h, f ENG S f mid, f HOL h, f POR FRENCH f spa(sc).
FRANCE (Sasseville): f MAR s f spa(sc), f SPA(SC) s f mar, a MUN s a bur, a BUR S a mun.
GERMANY (Barno): a bud-TRI.
RUSSIA (Reynolds): a MOS h, a LVN S a mos, a BER S FRENCH a mun, f BAL S a pru,
a STP S a mos, a PRU S a ber.
TURKEY (Linsey): f ION-tyh, a UKR S a war-mos, a WAR-mos, f WES-spa(sc), a SEV S a war-mos,
f TYH-wes, a SIL-mun, a TYO S a sil-mun, f NAF-mid, f TUN S f tyh-wes, f TUS S f gol,
a PIE-mar, f GOL S a pie-mar, a GAL-war, a BOH S a sil-mun.


Supply Center Chart
ENGLAND (Sayers): LON,LVP,EDI,bre,por,bel,kie,hol (has 8, even)
FRANCE (Sasseville): PAR,MAR,spa,mun (has 4, even)
GERMANY (Barno): vie,tri (has 1, PLAYS ONE SHORT)
RUSSIA (Reynolds): MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber (has 6, even)
TURKEY (Linsey): ANK,SMY,CON,gre,rum,bul,ser, (has 15, rem 1)
bud,nap,ven,tun,sev,war,rom
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)
jimp of magna.com.au
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
mpbarno of lightlink.com or mbarno of claritas.com
RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952
preyno of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) The FREGT draw is reproposed. I did have a request that we go back to where we were, which is this: (1) Some of you have "perpetual draw votes on this proposal on file", those are still in force; (2) Some of you do not and have been voting every season, for you if you FAIL to vote it counts as a yes vote for the proposal.


Press:
(WANDERING IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY): Almost anytime Phil writes press, I am reminded of the Virginia natives' name for Miles Standish: "Little Pot that Soon Boils Over".


EDWARD TELLER: 2002?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1904 IS MARCH 29TH, 2002
Winter 1903
AUSTRIA (Kendter): has f TRI, a VIE, a BUD; and 5 nukes.
ENGLAND (McHugh): has f LON, f EDI, a LVP; and 5 nukes.
FRANCE (Kenny): has f BRE, a PAR, a MAR; and 5 nukes.
GERMANY (Schultz): has f KIE, a BER, a MUN; and 5 nukes in their silos.
ITALY (Rauterberg): has f NAP, a VEN, a ROM; and 5 nukes.
RUSSIA (Muller): has f STP(SC), a MOS, a WAR, f SEV; and 4 nukes.
TURKEY (Andruschak): has f ANK, a SMY, a CON; and 5 nukes.


Current Standings
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 TOTAL
JOHN SCHULTZ  3  3  3               9
PAUL RAUTERBERG  6  1  6              13
KARL MULLER  2  3  3               8
HARRY ANDRUSCHAK  4  5  0               9
LEE KENDTER, JR.  1  6  2               9
JACK MCHUGH  5  0  3               8
SANDY KENNY  3  1  3               7
Black Holed  8 14  7              29
Neutral  2  1  7              10
Totals(eventually) 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 238
Times GM Nuked  0  1  1            2
Whole Frelling Game  0  0  1            1


Addresses of the Participants
John Schultz plays on in our memories....
Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Karl Muller, 75-17 60 Place, Glendale, NY 11385-6044, (718) 416-1103
karlmuller of alumni.lemoyne.edu or pegandkarl of mindspring.com
Harry Andruschak, 734 West 214th Street, Apartment 12-A Torrance, CA 90502
(Phone number not established yet), harryandruschak of aol.com
Lee Kendter, Jr., 1503 Pilgrim Lane, Quakertown, PA 18951
lkendter of speakeasy.net
Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998
flapjack of comcast.net
Sandy Kenny, 23 East Coulter Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108-1208 (609) 869-3160
KennyShire of aol.com or possibly sakenny of net-gate.com


Game Notes:
1) A couple of adjudication notes.... when you guys nuke the same province more than once, I put in parentheses the number of nukes that hit that spot. Also, if your move to a space succeeds and THEN you are annihilated, I capitalize the first letter of that space where you are annihilated. The reverse happens if your move bounces where I capitalize the first letter of the place you started.
2) The rules I have been using for this game have been that there are no replacements or standbies. Nukes for the positions John has will remain unfired in their silos. None of his units will move or support anything. They can be attacked and dislodged and his centers can be nuked. John could win the game this way, conceivably, but likely would not.
3) Paul Kenny tells me about his wife Sandy: "The best e-mail address to use for Sandy is our temporary aol account, Kennyshire of aol.com. I set her up with a net Net-gate account, but as far as I know she hasn't used it, sakenny of net-gate.com.


Press:




FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 2010 IS MARCH 29TH, 2003
Fall 2010
BRITAIN (K. Ozog): a FIN S a stp-mur, f eng-NTH, a LAP S a stp-mur, f nth-NWG,
f BAL-lat, a stp-MUR, f BRN S a stp-mur, f GOB-lit.
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): f LBS S f mal-ion, f EME-aeg, f alg h (d r:wme,tun,otb), f mal-ION,
f APU S f mal-ion, a SYR S a irk, a lib-ESA, a IRK S a syr, f izm-aeg (d r:ana,otb).
GERMANY (Rauterberg): a SIL S a cze, a SAX S a aus, a MUN S a aus, f PRU S f gda, f HOL h,
f GDA h, f bor-BRI, a VEN s a tus-rom, a PAR S a swi-lyo, f pic-ENG, a AUS S a ven,
a CZE S a aus, a swi-LYO, f BEL S f pic-eng, a tus-ROM.
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): f SOG S f mor-alg, f mor-ALG, a auv-BOR, a NAV S a auv-bor, a MAR h,
f mao-BIS, a NAP S EGYPTIAN f apu, f tys-MAL, a MON S a mar.
UKRAINE (Partridge): a ANK S f ist-izm, a GRE h, a SER S a cro, a MOS S a gor-stp, a gor-STP,
a EST S a gor-stp, a KRA S a slo, a POD S a kra, f wbs-IST, f ist-IZM, a mur s a gor-stp (d r:gor,otb),
a SLO S a kra, a WAR-gda, f ion-eme (d r:alb,otb), a ADA S a irn, a URA S a mur, a HUN S a slo,
a LAT s a gor-stp, f AEG s f ion-eme, a LIT s a war-gda, f ADR-ven, a IRN S a ada,
a CRO S f adr-ven.


Supply Center Chart
BRITAIN (K. Ozog): EDI,LIV,LON,ire,nor, (has 8, even)
swe,den,mur
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib, (has 7 or 8 or 9, bld 1 or even or rem 1)
tun,mor
GERMANY (Rauterberg): BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,hol,cze (has 15, even)
swi,par,lyo,gda,bel,aus,mil,ven,rom
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,por, (has 9, even)
nap,mar,mon,bor
UKRAINE (Partridge): KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul, (has 21 or 22 or 23, bld 3 or 2 or 1)
geo,ank,mos,bie,gre,gor,ada,irn,
ser,hun,war,cro,ist,kra,lit,stp,izm
Neutral: none (Total=64)


Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, (630) 837-2813
heyday6 of yahoo.com
EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920
or (440) 225-9203 (cell) ($2)
FRANCE: Harry Andruschak, PO Box 5309, Torrance, CA 90510-5309, (310) 835-9202 ($5)
Tapmdfrance of aol.com
GERMANY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($3)
ElfEric of Juno.com
POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
RUSSIA: Randy Ellis
SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230 ($3)
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or talonstalkingprey of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711, (209) 225-0957 ($10)
UKRAINE: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033 ($8)
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com


Game Notes:
1) I'm going to start a quiet interest list down here in the next Modern game. I don't want to start it until this game is done or nearly done, but with ten players it may take awhile, so I'll start now. Rick Desper, Sean O'Donnell, Alexander Woo, and Kurt Ozog are in to be four of the players. Any more??? We are going to do it with "wings". But we do need official wings rules, which I seem to be unable to locate. Can anyone assist me there?


Press:
(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): "You animals can't see your own captivity; and you won't ever come home now; you won't ever come home." From Sally Timms crooning of the "Waltz" by the Mekons from The Curse of the Mekons.
(SEAN-MEKONS): Is there a song that fits this game a little better?
(MEKONS to SEAN): No.
(SEAN-BOARD): Would any of you agree with my previous assessment?
(JEFF-ROMULANS): Can't we all just get along?
(SPANISH TRIBUNE): What are we doing again?????
(QUOTED IN "A Comparative Study of the Effect of Bean Counters in Different Cultures During Times of War"): As Admiral Hawk (Hawk is an approximation of the Romulan name which might more accurately be translated as "Raptor who strikes from the sky with such vigor he uncoils his target's DNA") noted in his journal during the War of Federation Aggression: Nitpickers wanted me to justify my expenses again. They can't seem to understand that a few well placed agents are worth a fleet of battleships. The clerk I bribed for ***** (This term has no real translation. An approximation would be "the offal slung aside as the raptor feeds, too small to bother with and left for the scavengers". Suffice it to say that it is small in terms of naval budgets, although perhaps twice the yearly salary of a Federation clerk.) to use the same symbol on the maps for the Federation briefings for Birds of Prey and Troop Carriers has already won us a battle, and I have high hopes for the second clerk, who has introduced the "cost saving measure" of only providing maps at every other briefing. That should have the Federation hopelessly confused soon.
(KLINGON LOG SUPPLEMENTAL): I've forgotten the coordination of the attack of my Birds of Prey near the interstellar war with the Romulans. Intelligence has been dead now for several months and there has been no word from Captain Kirk to give us the coordinates of the next battle. The only hope can be is that should we fail that we will bring honor to our houses.
(CAPTAIN'S LOG SUPPLE"MENTAL"): Given the option of attacking a new Romulan starbase with force or defending our one starbase in Romulan space, I've decided to play defense by attacking the Romulan supply line from two directions and overpowering an isolated and surrounded warbird. The maneuver is risky, but if successful could be the start of a long successful campaign against the Romulans. Kirk out.
(PS: KIRK to THE ROMULANS): Oh yeah! Sez you!
(ANONYMOUS): What are "wings" and where do I find the associated rules?
(BOOB to ALL): Well, wings are air units that can support attacks, but cannot take supply centers. And you know I cannot find the associated rules, but we'll locate them.


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.30.
On 10 Mar 2003, 12:51.