THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #271

June 3, 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, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account or FAX to (401) 277-9904.
Web Page Address: http://devel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


I've got subszines in here from Rip Gooch and Harold Reynolds. Harold finally has a Colonia map that I think everyone can follow. This is tremendous, watch the game!! Wait!!! Hold the presses, we DO have Tinamou coming in, let's see, is that it?? Yes, there it is, let's go with THREE subszines then. Lots of good reading, probably more in the subszines than in the main szine this time around. Thanks to all of you for making this so easy.


Last chance to join me at the "Boston Massacre" tournament in Boston at MIT on June 21-22, 2003. Show up and have a blast with a great bunch of FTF Dip players..... Dave Partridge made a great web site with all sorts of info at http://devel.diplom.org/BostonMassacre/ It looks like we will have at least 50 players, but we have to get up to 69 in order to get me onto the tournament rankings, as I own 69th place. So where are you guys??? I count only four TAPites coming so far. Do I have to threaten to fold again??? We had a great little warm up at Mel's house on Sunday, we taught a few FTF newbies how to do it, so they would have a chance in the tournament. Well, so they wouldn't get killed TOO fast anyway. It was hard to convince them that they couldn't just SIT THERE! They had to get up and negotiate. We also got a preview of the prizes, which are way cool. You have to join us!


Lots of great music stuff coming out! Ghod (Richard Thompson) has a new record coming out and so does Erin McKeown. And moreover, magic of magic, they are appearing together for a minitour from June 30-July 6 in the UK. Said tour will pass through Northampton, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, and Cardiff. Anyone attending one of these five concerts and writing a review for TAP gets an automatic lifetime subscription and will be at my beck and call for practically anything you want from me. I almost dropped everything to go myself, but I can't. Erin McKeown's new album is called Grand and it is being released next week. The Lady says: "GRAND is my dream of what a record could sound like, of what i am interested in as a writer, what i want to be my contribution as an artist. you cant ask much more of your latest project." No, you can't. I think this record will rock a bit more than her previous intently interior albums have exhibited. It surely will be THE record of the year, if Ghod doesn't beat her to it with The Old Kit Bag, which also is just coming out now. I've only heard "I'll Tag Along" from it, which continues Ghod's development of a more complex singing voice. Anyway, Ghod and the Lady together in one place, you just can't miss it. Come on, my UK subbers, get out there and REPORT!!!




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. Or you can play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!
Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: 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 Wang still has the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! BUT, the site has not been updated in recent times. If you want to follow me and others in John Caruso's Baseball League, 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 one opening, 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 REALLY IS THE most fun thing I do in the hobby at the moment, find out why!!!
Peter Sullivan's subszine remains "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 STEVE KNIGHT
Find Steve Knight by issue 275 and win the fifty buck prize!! This is a Mykey P. Barno approved search!!! Steve Knight is famous for getting the first E-Mail game going that was assigned a Boardman number, back in the early 1980's. Steve Knight started this game in what today would be seen as a weird way. He called it "a play-by-mail game of Diplomacy, to be played over the net." The game was first advertised in February of 1982 and then started in March/April 1982 on net.games, the early version of Usenet. Mad As Hell, Vol. 1, Issue 1 appeared on the Net on March 26, 1982. This was around the time that I was starting The Boob Report that later became this rag. Steve was the inventor of a number of terms that are still used on the Internet today. One was the concept of a "grace period" that recognized that Internet connections could be squirrely. The grace period was the time after the deadline that the GM would wait to receive orders. Neither Steve nor any of the initial players in the game (A: Don Holt; E: Eric Anderson; F: Brian Redman; G: Jim Grosch; I: Rich Soyack; R: Tim Tjarks; T: Eric Holtman) are currently still active in the Diplomacy hobby to my knowledge. But, as you can guess from the name, Tim Tjarks is trivial to find on the Net and I think I see Rich Soyack. I'll give you ten bucks for any of them that you get to write me a letter about the game, and you can offer them at least a few sample issues. Steve will get the usual lifetime sub. Lastly, just to show the way things were on the Internet in those days.... when you sent E-Mail you had to specify the route through various Gateways with ! points instead of @ signs. Steve was ihnss!ihps3!stolaf!knight (the stolaf was for St. Olaf College where Steve was at the time) OR harpo!stolaf!knight. Depending on where you were and what Gateways you would have to pass through, it would vary considerably which address would work better for you. He asked the players to help him figure out what "unpublished uucp links" might be available to speed up particular connections. This Gateway structure was maintained until somewhere around 1990, when the last of the gateways that I know of was folded into the Internet. I know at the end, the last gateways I had to type were to smaller European universities (like University of Galway). I might have more in subsequent issues. See if you can tell me what happened with the game.....
Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, Kevin, and Al 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 Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe 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 bwhyte of unimelb.edu.au (note that this is a new E-Mail address for Brendan) 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 Nearing the END!! All first round games need to be finished by the end of June. Ray Setzer's vicious stabs of everyone in sight succeeded and he took the 18 center win in Fall 1908, with a brilliant guess over Bulgaria where he supported himself in from Rumania with both Serbia and Budapest. When Turkey tried A Bul-Rum with two supports, but one of those was Sev that Ray could and did cut from Ukraine..... well, that did it! Turkey also had another attack with a support on Bulgaria, but essentially it was two two-on-three's, neither of which stopped the attack. So Ray wins and I think that also puts his team in the lead of the WM Team Tournament.
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. Our latest flap was where we (by a very narrow 3-2 margin) voted to support a GM who wanted to rollback a season when he forgot a player request for a deadline extension. 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!!! Toby Harris has completed another record first round 18 center victory, gee I wonder how THAT happened? And now, I'm facing Toby and others in another "Boasters" game, designed to hold interest between Rounds 1 and 2 of the WorldMasters Tournament. I'm Italy to Toby's England and we just can't seem to agree on anything, I wonder why?


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.
The nominations will be finalized shortly, so get any last ones in:
1) People who you think might deserve the Kathy Byrne Caruso Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement to the Hobby. Last year's award went to the late Richard Sharp.
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).


All szine editors and people wanting to get rid of archival postal hobby material to productive purpose, should think about sending it to:
Richelle Burkey(Diplomacy Hoosier Arch.)
Popular Culture Library
William T. Jerome Library, 4th Floor
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
where lots of excellent archival material is flowing in.


((There is some question about how able or willing BGSU remains in the archives, I think we need someone to leave them a lot of money to wake them up.... money donations are tax deductible! Otherwise, they don't want to have to sort duplicates. All of you should continue to send your new issues to her, but for past stuff, we're going to need to work out some way of getting their attention.))


Michael Hopcroft (Wed, 28 May 2003 14:32:55 -0700)
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the rules for United, the postal soccer management game that was popular in the '80s among postal Dippers? Is it still being sold? Are the electronic publishing rights available?
Michael Hopcroft, Publisher, mhopcroft of seraphimguard.com
Seraphim Guard - The Game is Far from Up! - http://www.seraphimguard.com
Publishers of fine RPGs like HeartQuest Diceless: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1769
((I think Mike Barno, among others here, can help you.... Mike?? Anyway, Michael, I hope you're hanging in there through the public services cutbacks in Oregon!))


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!!


Rick Desper (Sat, 31 May 2003 19:33:29 -0700 (PDT))
Sports stuff for TAP:
I had meant to tell you earlier this week that there will be a New Jersey sweep of the NHL and NBA finals. The Devils are well on their way. The Nets have looked very good thus far, and the Spurs seem to be playing with attention deficit disorder. I think we'll see that Kenyon Martin is already good enough to play at least as well as Tim Duncan. And the Nets are very polished.
((I agree with you, even though the Devils look in a bit of trouble at this moment.))
I really like the Hillenbrand trade. The Sox really need another pitcher, and Kim is immediately their third best pitcher (possibly second). Apparently the Jays beat up on Fossum today. The Sox are not going to win postseason games with people like Fossum and Burkett pitching.
((That's for darned sure.... and then Kim's first start is being rained out as I write and finish up the szine on a Tuesday.))
Movie stuff for TAP: The Italian Job is a nice romp. The biggest problem is that the god-awful trailer gives away WAY TOO MUCH. Why do Hollywood executives keep doing this to us? I don't know if I mentioned the movie Confidence earlier. A flawed movie certainly - the movie is told in flashback, and it's hard to see why. But Dustin Hoffman is terrific.
Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com
((Haven't seen it yet, but I probably will. If I could rule the movies, I'd put a little flashing red light outside the theatre when the trailers were playing, so that I could wait there until they were done. But that would defeat the whole purpose, wouldn't it?? I'd rather have European style ads instead. Have you seen the latest one from Honda, I think it is, that is making the rounds of the Internet? Now cool commercials, that's great; but giveaway trailers? Burn 'em!!))


Steve Langley (Sun, 1 Jun 2003 01:35:03 EDT)
"Wrong Turn" === a movie
"Wrong Turn" starts out so very well. It is disturbing, at times disgusting, creepy, and very scary. The idea is that there is a family hidden in the wilds of West Virginia that has been inbreeding for centuries. The results are semi-human at best. They live by trapping cars, killing the occupants, and eating them. Hard to believe that no one notices.
Given the rather absurd premise, these guys are really ugly. They live like bachelors in the very worst sense. Six young people fall into their trap, and start being killed. When it got down to only two of them left, things got even more ridiculous. But then. the good guys are supposed to win, right?
Still, the first half of the movie was excellent.
I went to see it because of `Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. Eliza Dushku is a semi-regular on the show. I had to see what she could do in a different setting. Actually it wasn't all that different. `Jessie' managed to keep her head (in both senses) where lesser people were losing theirs (both senses again). She is very convincing as a strong willed woman.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Langley (Wed, 14 May 2003 19:56:16 EDT)
"Lizzie McGuire the Movie" === a movie
I really was not planning to see "Lizzie McGuire the Movie". It didn't even make my "if there isn't anything else to watch" list. Turns out there wasn't anything else to watch, and a friend told me it was cute. Well, it was cute. There were lots of scenes of Rome in the background with a full head shot of Hilary Duff smiling in the foreground. Might even be a Guinness Book record in it for most close-ups of a smile.
The character comes from the TV show by the same name. Lizzie McGuire is this drop dead cute teenager with a propensity for self embarrassment. That's pretty much the theme as I understand it. She is a "good girl" and "nice person" with a pesky kid brother who has his own evil muse, "Melina" played by Carly Schroeder. The few seconds when the evil muse was on screen were the only seconds when the movie really got interesting.
Lizzie graduates from middle school and takes a school supervised trip to Italy where she plans to have an adventure. Turns out she is the exact double for a popular Italian pop-singer except for the hair. She is courted by the singer's ex-partner who wants her to appear with him as his old partner. Lizzie is too naive to suspect that there is anything wrong with this scenario. And, it is an adventure.
Totally improbable but it was cute.
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Langley (Mon, 19 May 2003 19:49:31 EDT)
"The Matrix Reloaded" === a movie
I was of two minds going into the theater. The basic Matrix idea was pretty well covered in the first movie. Other than more action, bigger body count, et al, what could they do? The whole Matrix idea of a machine creating a virtual reality to keep its human batteries believing that they have lives is a bit extreme. Then you throw in a matrix embedded human who hacks his way into the matrix code and discovers that he is not what he thought. Lots more extreme. Throw in a small rebel force of free humans who are following a prophecy about one who will free everyone from the machine, and you have a real comic book origin story. Once you have done the origin story, everything else is pretty much anti-climax. We all saw that in the "Batman" movies.
On the other hand, there was promise of some really spectacular special effects. So, expecting to be let down as far as a plot goes, I was expecting to be more than compensated by the special effects. The first part of the movie lived up to my special effect expectations, in spades. It also was living up to my plot expectations. Then, suddenly, with some exposition that is supposed to be the death knell for an action movie, the whole first story was turned on its head. Mysteries left unexplained were made clear, and the story got interesting. Then, just before we got to the end, a whole new mystery crops up. And the movie doesn't end. It takes a break with the words "To Be Concluded" instead of the words "The End".
Steve, Steflan of aol.com


Steve Hutton (Tue, 27 May 2003 19:15:35 -0400)
an overwhelming movie offering
OK, your comment about being "underwhelmed by the movie offerings in recent months" has goaded me into writing. ((Great!!!))
Sometime between July 11 and 22, my first movie will be shown at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. This will be the world premiere, unless another festival sneaks in before then. I'm not certain how many other festivals will screen it, because they don't all have the same excellent taste as Philadelphia. ((Indeed!))
My movie is a 65-minute (that counts as a feature, right?) gay sex comedy called Fluff. I wrote it and produced it, and now it's my job to flog it to the all-important postal-Diplomacy-old-fart market. ((Why, absolutely, you must!))
To see more, including a trailer, music video, making-of video, choose-your-own-adventure, and the inevitable downloadable board game, check out the official site: www.GreekChorus.com/fluff
Steve Hutton, stevehutton of rogers.com
((I love the title, it hasn't been claimed by someone else? Amazing....))
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). See Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. 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 has started the game of Colonia (see elsewhere in this issue) and is interested in guest-GMing a game of Aberration. Sean O'Donnell and Brendan Whyte are interested in Aberration. Brendan needs rules from Harold Reynolds.
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, Dave Partridge, Eric Ozog, and Kurt Ozog are 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 1905 IS JUNE 21ST, 2003
Summer 1905
AUSTRIA (Lockheardt): has a BOH, a TRI, a TYO, a MOS, a GRE, a RUM,
a WAR, f ALB.
ENGLAND (Heikkinen): has f ENG, f NTH, f PIC.
FRANCE (Kent): has a BUR, a BRE, f GAS, f MID.
GERMANY (Sayers): RESIGNS, KEVIN WILSON CALLED AS REPLACEMENT; has a MUN, f BAL,
a RUH, a BEL.
ITALY (Gardner): R a mun otb; has a VEN, f ION, f AEG, a APU.
RUSSIA (Desper): R a mos-STP; has a LVN, a STP, a GAL.
TURKEY (Miller): has a ARM, a CON, f BUL(SC), 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
aheikkinen2003 of yahoo.com.au
FRANCE: Doug Kent, 1404 E. Lamar Blvd #106, Arlington, TX 76011
dipworld of ix.netcom.com
GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 373 Gateford Drive, Ballwin, MO 63021
ckevinw of aol.com
ITALY: Heath Gardner, 3017 Mayview Road, Raleigh, NC 27607, (919) 834-4832
hdgardne of uncg.edu
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) Heath takes over as Italy (welcome, Heath!). But Jim Sayers resigns as Germany. Here's what Jim has to say: "What a long and happy time we have had, including reading your zine as well as playing. I am now 77 and must be one of the oldest codgers in the game, time I feel to retire gracefully. I don't feel up to much more bloodshed so perhaps I had better retire from all games. It really has been a lot of fun." Note he says "we" but I received no note from fellow "retiree" Allan Heikkinen. Perhaps Allan is sticking with the game. We'll see. Thanks, Kevin Wilson, for jumping in to replace Jim Sayers! I hope the round robin of player replacements is over though!!
2) An extremely earnest EFGIRT draw is proposed.... you got it right, excluding Austria. Please vote on this proposal with your Fall orders. I think I need TWO no's to defeat this proposal, isn't that right??


Press:


SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1907 IS JUNE 21ST, 2003
Winter 1906
ENGLAND (Sundstrom): rem f hol; has f NWY, f NTH, f SKA, f BAR, f IRI.
FRANCE (Tretick): has a BUR, a BEL, f LON, a GAS.
GERMANY (Williams): has a KIE, a BER, a MUN.
ITALY (McCullough): bld f nap, a ven; has f NAP, a VEN, f GOL, a MAR, a VIE,
f SPA(SC), f MID, a TRI, f POR.
RUSSIA (McHugh): R a nwy-FIN; has f STP(NC), a FIN, a WAR, f SWE, a BOH.
TURKEY (O'Donnell): bld a con; has a CON, f ION, a BUD, a SER, f WES, a SIL,
f SEV, a GAL.


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 seanfodonnell of yahoo.com


Game Notes:
1) My map making was a bit flawed last time, but only Sean seemed to notice: "That's not a Russian fleet in Sev that would be a Turkish fleet." And later, "as is a French army and I already covered that the fleet in Sev is Turkish." That French army would be in Gascony. Gee, I really did have quite a brain fart, didn't I?


Press:


FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1912 IS JUNE 21ST, 2003
Winter 1911
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a TRI, a VEN, a ROM.
ENGLAND (Biehl): has f EDI, f LVP.
GERMANY (Osuch): R a bud otb; bld f kie; has f KIE, a MUN, a BER, f SKA, a DEN,
a MAR, a BOH, a GAL, a BEL, f CLY, a BRE, a POR.
RUSSIA (Tretick): bld f stp(nc); has f STP(NC), a PRU, f NTH, a LON, a WAR, f NWG, a NWY.
TURKEY (Lutterbie): bld a ank; has a ANK, f CON, f BLA, a UKR, f TYH,
a ALB, f MID, a BUD, a RUM, f NAP.


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); jrb of dccnet.com
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) All quiet here.....


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 (see elsewhere in this issue).


Press:


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1913 IS JUNE 21ST, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1914 IS JULY 12TH, 2003
Fall 1913
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 S 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 SER h.
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 alb-TRI, a UKR S a war, a WAR S a sil, f WES s ENGLISH f por-spa(sc) (nso),
a SEV-mos, f tyh-GOL, a SIL s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso), a tyo-VIE, f NAF S f wes, f tun-TYH,
a pie-TYO, f gol-PIE, a BUD-ser, a BOH s ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso).


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): ser (has 1, even)
RUSSIA (Reynolds): MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber (has 6, even)
TURKEY (Linsey): ANK,SMY,CON,gre,rum,bul, (has 14, bld 1)
bud,nap,ven,tun,sev,war,rom,tri,vie
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Standby is Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham, MA 02492
72060.1540 of compuserve.com
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.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 rejected and then reproposed. I had no complaint, so I've granted a request that we go back to where we were on the voting, which was 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.
2) With these orders Jim Sayers retires from the hobby and the szine. See his note above in the other game. I've called just about everyone else on my standby list in recent months, so I couldn't resist asking Eric Brosius to come in as England. It really WAS his turn on the rotation.


Press:
(TURKEY to ENGLAND): Like what you see? A true gamer gets the best possible result for himself, and you have the opportunity now to do MUCH better than a five-way draw. For more of the same next turn, write me and let's talk!!!!
(TURKEY to WORLD): Stalemate, schmalemate! The alliances in this game need a little shaking up....NOW who wants to talk?


EDWARD TELLER: 2002?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1905 IS JUNE 21ST, 2002
Winter 1904
AUSTRIA (Andruschak): has a VIE, a CON, f TRI; and 5 nukes.
ENGLAND (Kendter): has f LON, f EDI, a LVP; and 5 nukes.
FRANCE (McHugh): has f BRE, a PAR, a MAR; and 5 nukes.
GERMANY (Kenny): has f KIE, a BER, a MUN; and 5 nukes.
ITALY (Schultz): has f NAP, a VEN, a ROM; and 5 nukes in their silos.
RUSSIA (Rauterberg): has f STP(SC), a WAR, a MOS, f SEV; and 4 nukes.
TURKEY (Muller): has f ANK, a CON, a SMY; and 5 nukes.


Current Standings
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 TOTAL
JOHN SCHULTZ  3  3  3  3           12
PAUL RAUTERBERG  6  1  6  3           16
KARL MULLER  2  3  3  4           12
HARRY ANDRUSCHAK  4  5  0  3           12
LEE KENDTER, JR.  1  6  2  4           13
JACK MCHUGH  5  0  3  3           11
SANDY KENNY  3  1  3  3           10
Black Holed  8 14  7  1           30
Neutral  2  1  7 10           20
Totals(eventually) 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 238
Times GM Nuked  0  1  1  0         2
Whole Frelling Game  0  0  1  0         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, 3154 East Lydius Street, Schenectady, NY 12303-5035
karlmuller of alumni.lemoyne.edu or pegandkarl of mindspring.com
Harry Andruschak, 734 West 214th Street, Apartment 12-A Torrance, CA 90502-1907
(310) 533-8945, 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. But you never know, given how extreme the yuppiedom part of the game has gone. I hope everyone will get orders in this time!


Press:
(PAUL to LEE): What do I expect when I am in Tri, you ask. I expect you to cover your adjacent dots....




FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 2011 IS JUNE 21ST, 2003
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 2012 IS JUNE 12TH, 2003
Fall 2011
BRITAIN (K. Ozog): a SWE-den, f LON S SPANISH f bis-eng, a EDI h, f NWG-nth,
f BHM-ham, a lap-NOR, f arc-NAO, f bal-pru (d r:gob,otb).
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): f CAI S f lbs-eme, f LBS-eme, f eme-aeg (d r:isr,ale,otb),
f APU S a ven-adr, f VEN-adr, a SYR S a irk, a LIB-tun, a IRK S a syr.
GERMANY (Rauterberg): a SIL S a cze, a sax-BER, a MUN S a aus, f PRU S f gda-bal, f HOL-ham,
f gda-BAL, f BRI S SPANISH f bis-eng, a MIL-ven, a PAR h, f NTH-den, a AUS S a mil-ven,
a CZE h, a SWI S a aus, f BEL-nth, a ROM s a mil-ven.
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): f sao-MOR, f TUN-lib, a BOR S a nav-auv, a nav-AUV, a mar-LYO,
f bis-ENG, a NAP-rom, f ION-lbs, a mon-PIE.
UKRAINE (Partridge): f wbs-IST, a ANK S a ada, a GRE h, a ser-BOS, a GOR h,
a stp-MOS, a est-STP, a kra-WAR, a BIE S a slo-kra, f izm-EME, f ANA S f izm-eme, a URA h,
a slo-KRA, a war-GDA, f ALB-ion, a ADA S a irn, a sib-KAZ, a HUN S a cro,
a LAT S a lit, f AEG S f izm-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 7 or 8, bld 1(r:otb) or even)
swe,den,mur
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): ALE,ASW,CAI,isr,sau,lib,ven (has 7 or 8, even(r:otb) or rem 1)
GERMANY (Rauterberg): BER,FRA,HAM,MUN,hol,cze (has 15, rem 3)
swi,par,bel,aus,mil,rom
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): SVE,MAD,BAR,gib,por, (has 9, bld 3)
nap,mar,mon,bor,tun,mor,lyo
UKRAINE (Partridge): KHA,KIE,ODE,SEV,ros,rum,bul, (has 24, bld 1)
geo,ank,mos,bie,gre,gor,ada,irn,
ser,hun,war,cro,ist,kra,lit,stp,izm,gda
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 ($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 seanfodonnell 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, Dave Partridge, Alexander Woo, Eric Ozog and Kurt Ozog are in to be six 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): "They'll be building up the temple on the backs of the people - sign of the profit." from "Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem" and the best album of 2002 Oooh! (Out of out Heads). "I am the King, you are the Queen, we rule NOTHING!!!"


Personal Note to You:



File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.35.
On 06 Jun 2003, 19:56.