The Greatest UK Diplomacy Zines Of All Time?

by Stephen Agar

This is a repeat of an exercise I have done for some years now (originally back in Spring Offensive No.32) and I will update after every zine poll. This is a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously - it just occurred to me that if you were to examine all the Top Ten results from all the Diplomacy Zine Polls, it would be possible to produce an overall ranking of one form or another. I opted for something simple and awarded points as follows: First = 20 Points; Second = 15; Third = 12; Fourth = 9; Fifth = 7; Sixth = 5; Seventh = 4; Eighth = 3; Ninth = 2; Tenth = 1. Joint positions picked up the points for two places divided between them (e.g. a Joint Fifth would get 7 + 5 = 12 points divided between the two of them = 6 points each). Since the Zine Poll began, 87 different zines have made it to a top ten position. This table published Jan 99.

Pos. Zine

Total

Wins

Top Tens
1 Dolchstoß

219

5

21
2 Greatest Hits

146½

4

12
3 Mad Policy

113

1

9
4 Spring Offensive

98

3

7
5 Chimaera

78

2

7
6 1901 and all that

63

  

6
7 Take That You Fiend!

61½

1

10
8 NMR!

59

  

7
9 The Cunning Plan

58

1

5
10 Home of the Brave

54

1

6
11 Electric Monk

51

1

4
12 Cut & Thrust

50

  

9
13 Zeeby

49

  

5
14 Realpolitik

48

1

4
15 Puppet Theatre News

45

  

5
16 Ode

44

1

9
17 SNOT

43½

1

4
18 Hopscotch

41

1

5
19 Fall of Eagles

40

  

4
20 Y Ddraig Goch

39

  

4
21 Ethil the Frog

35

1

2
22 NERTZ

32

1

2
=23 Denver Glont

31

  

5
=23 On The Game

31

1

3
25 A Little Original Sin

29

  

5
=26 Jigsaw

25

  

3
=26 The Acolyte

25

  

3
28 War & Peace

23

1

2
29 Vienna

20

  

3
=30 A Step Further Out

19

  

3
=30 Smodnoc

19

  

2
32 C’est Magnifique

17

  

4
=33 Fifth Column

14

  

2
=33 One Man’s Rubbish

14

  

3
35 War Bulletin

13½

 

3
36 Prisoners of War

13

  

3
=37 Sprouts of Wrath

12

  

1
=37 Frigate

12

  

3
=37 Orion

12

  

1
=37 Thing

12

  

1
41 Lemming Express

11

  

2
42 Putty Riffo

10

  

2
=43 The Tinamou

9

  

3
=43 Arfle Barfle Gloop

9

  

1
=43 Die Poppel Revue

9

  

1
=43 Mr Gladgrind

9

  

1
=43 Trojan Horse

9

  

1
=43 The Freaky Fungus

9

  

1
49 Ad Nauseam

8

  

2
=50 Megalomania

7

  

2
=50 Back to the Dark Ages

7

  

2
=50 Hyperion

7

  

1
=50 New Statsman

7

  

1
=50 Pigmy

7

  

1
=50 Rats live on no evil staR

7

  

1
=56 Age of Reason

5

  

2
=56 Dib Dib Dib

5

  

2
=56 Pyrrhic Victory

5

  

2
=56 Grafeti

5

  

1
=56 Perspiring Dreams

5

  

1
=56 Watch Your Back

5

  

1
=56 BUM

5

  

2
63 Hannibal

4½

  

2
=64 Bloodstock

4

  

2
=64 Filibuster

4

  

2
=64 Buum

4

  

1
=64 Ripping Yarns

4

  

1
=64 Scorpio

4

  

1
=64 The Ides of March

4

  

1
70 Comet

3½

  

1
=71 GAME

3

  

1
=71 He’s Dead Jim!

3

  

1
=71 Our Enry

3

  

1
=71 Retief

3

  

1
=71 SFCP

3

  

1
=71 The Church Mouse

3

  

1
=71 U-Bend

3

  

1
=78 Chantecler

2

  

1
=78 Lokasenna

2

  

1
=78 Mach Die Spuhl

2

  

1
=78 Rocinante

2

  

1
=78 Son of Bellicus

2

  

1
=78 Obsidian

2

  

2
=84 20 Years On

1

  

1
=84 Court Circular

1

  

1
=84 Gallimaufry

1

  

1
=84 LiES

1

  

1

Editors with more than one zine in the above list include Mick Bullock (1901 and all that and New Statsman), Geoff Challinger (Home of the Brave and Hyperion), Toby Harris (Smodnoc and The Freaky Fungus), Richard Egan (Vienna and LiES) and myself (Pigmy and Spring Offensive).

 

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