Leif and the other organizers had laid out a busy schedule for the Con that ran from Friday morning through late Sunday afternoon. Although they all seemed pretty chipper Friday morning I wondered how some of my team mates would feel later on. Physical and psychological preparation is a big part of any Con and being able to pace yourself is critical to anyone who hopes to do well.
Friday would consist of two rounds, one beginning early in the morning and one in early evening. Each would last nine game years. This meant the players would be at it from 0900 until 0200 or so the next morning with only an hour or so break. Saturday would be the same, but with the WDC Society Meeting squeezed between the two rounds. Saturday evening's round would be the team event. Sunday would be the final round starting in the morning, with the awards ceremony coming in the late afternoon. Players were required to sit out one of the first four rounds, presumably to give them a chance to get some rest. And, for the most part, things ran on schedule. although some of the final game years of some rounds were running a bit ragged to keep up with the deadlines.
I have already described the event venue but a location is only a part of the event. Even more important is the staff. This year's WDC was hosted by GOTHCON, Sweden's largest gaming event. Their twenty-one years experience showed. The event fit the venue and the staff fit both. Unlike most Cons where one or two people attempt to do all the work, this Con had a ratio of 1 staff member for every 10 players, an ideal situation. They also had a very good, if noisy, communications system based on a network of walkie-talkies. Each staff member was dressed in a quasi-uniform, and there was a clear chain of command and division of responsibility. The staff members I dealt with were very professional, very helpful, and not at all over-bearing as I have seen at other large-scale gaming events.
Leif did a good job running the WDC tournament and he had some good helpers from what I could see. Bjorn von Knorring ran the WDC Society Meeting in good fashion. All in all, a good job all around.
So much for the venue and the staff. What of the participants? This gets a bit tricky to write since I don't have the complete event roster, game reports, or tournament results. Based on the information I have, I'll make a few general comments here and fill in the details when I can.
The locals were a majority at the event, but did not in any way dominate it. Per Westling reports there were 114 players from 11 countries, but those stats are a bit misleading. Some countries (Switzerland, Norway!) were represented by only one player. Besides the Swedes, the biggest national groups were the British, French, and Amis, with slightly fewer Belgians and Finns. Per also reports there were 48 games played during the five rounds (13 maximum during the fourth, team tournament, round). There were thirty teams involved in the team event.
This was not a perfect mix, of course, but it was far closer to it than any previous WDC event. The Scandinavians provided a good, neutral base, for the player mix to which the other national hobbies brought their individual flavors. No single national hobby group was able to dominate the event or its games. However, as always, I have come away from this year's event with some questions:
Does the French ability to get other foreigners to both love and hate them come naturally, or do they have to work at it?
Since they were such a major player in this year's event; let's spend some time on the French Dippers, both as stereotypes and as individuals.
The same issue of American Way that had that killer horoscope also featured an article titled, "I Love France. Really." to which I would add "But the French are another matter. Entirely."
One Swede, who will remain unidentified, suggested to me that if I ran into a problem on the train with seat reservations, etc. to merely react by shrugging my shoulders and repeating "Je nais compre-nez vous" over and over. Eventually, he said, the Scandinavian would give up in disgust and go away. Alas, I never had a chance to try it.
Based on what I saw, the French Dippers are using the French stereotype myth to their advantage in gaming competion, and it is all very cunningly done. When it suits their purposes to be SOBs; they are. When it suits their purposes to be ingratiently angelic; they are. Both are merely roles being played to suit the demands of the moment.
There is a very real difference between French Dippers and the Parisians, something only an Ami Dipper who has met a New York Dipper would appreciate.
Having said all that, it seems to me to be a serious mistake to assume that all foreigners of any nationality are alike or would do the same thing in the same way as another of their countrymen. Each Dipper is a unique individual superimposed on a stereotype. An Ami wouldn't (I hope) make that kind of assumption about Ami Dippers, so why make it about the French, Brits, or others?
Why do the Brits turn every overseas (and domestic as well, for that matter) event into a drunken orgy?
Is there a difference between the French and Belgians? If so, what is it? Bruno Berken almost had me convinced that there wasn't any difference, but Delattre gives me reason to hope otherwise.
Why is Magic more appealing than Diplomacy to the Norwegians?
Why would an Ami Dipper go 5,000 miles to attend a WDC and then spend his time sitting in a hostel playing something other than Diplomacy with another Ami? It is a puzzlement.
And what of the Americans who came to WDC VII? I had originally promised Leif there would be three top players from America. I had hopes of six or seven. We ended up with a total of nine, including three Amis living in Europe who showed up on their own. The Americans were as diverse a lot as the hobby they represented: Pitt Crandlemire (the 1996 WDC champion with his links to TDP, the hobby Net and Web sites), Manus Hand (from TDP), Edi Birsan (Old Fart), Larry Peery (Old Fart), Tom Corbin (from DIXIECON, host of the 1998 WDC), Dan Mathias (from DIXIECON), Dan Barnes (from Germany), John Robillard (from Sweden), and Vincent Mous (from Canada via Denmark, and TDP). Note that all six of the Amis from the States attended WDC VI. It will be interesting to see which event they regard as better. I told Leif that I expected to see two Americans finish on the top board of the event.
I suppose, for once, there may be some interest in my games. Again, please note that I took no notes during the games because I expected to have the original or copies of the game reports available as I wrote this. So, anything I write here now is subject to revision later.
True to form and past experience, my early games were disasters followed by a settling in period and increased concentration on the games. Good pacing, good alliances, and the possibility of being nice and winning at the same time, showed the truth of the old adage, "He who makes the fewest mistakes wins;" and I firmly believe making enemies is the biggest mistake one can make in a Diplomacy game.
My first round game, as Austria I think, was a real disaster, even by my standards. Lots of big errors led to an early elimination. I was so preoccupied with my concern that Italy would build an arny in Venice in Winter 1901 that when I wrote my own build I wrote "Army Venice." Later on I managed to NMR on a fall turn because I thought I had written my orders before I went table hopping to check up on the other games. Needless to say, I was gone quickly.
My second round game, as Turkey, wasn't much better. It was filled with bad diplomacy and bad guesses. I attacked Russia full blast in the Spring of 1901, only to watch as Austria and Italy, and then Russia, attacked me.
I sat out the third round, licking my wounds.
On either Friday or Saturday late afternoon some of us Ami went out for dinner. We strolled down the hill to the Boulevard area and hunted for a restaurant that was both open and serving something we would all eat. We finally stopped at a "London pub" of somekind. Our group included Manus Hand, Pitt Crandlemire, Tom Cobrin, Edi Birsan, Vincent Mous, myself and perhaps Dan Mathias as well. I decided, for no known reason, to try the kangeroo since I didn't see any reindeer on the menu. I didn't know what to expect, so I wasn't disappointed. It was tough and tasteless, so the small portion didn't matter. It was also over-priced to my mind. Still, the conversation was good and the company pleasant.
Round four was the team event and this is a story worth telling. At least I think so. Since no one else was doing it; I took charge of the task of arranging the Ami teams. I put our three best-known players on the first team, Team USA: Crandlemire, Mathias, and Cobrin. A second team consisted of some Net/Web fans: Hand and Mous. Birsan decided at the last moment not to play in this event so he could visit with some of his Midnight Games fans, and no doubt justify the trip as a business expense. Robillard wasn't playing unless his lady friend could play on his team. At this point I decided to stop worrying about them and start looking out for myself. I had no team. I wasn't even sure I wanted to play in the event. But I discovered that Borger Borgersen, who I had spent no time with thus far, was also without a team since he was the only Norwegian at the event; and Dan Barnes, the Ami from Germany, was also teamless. Ah hah, I thought, I have a team of three strays. Borger and Barnes agreed to join up with me and I went off to register the team.
"What team name?" the computer whiz registrar asked. I had no idea. I hadn't given it any thought. An American name seemed presumptous considering Borger was a Norwegian. I tried to think of a common identifying characteristic the three of us shared. The only thing that came to mind was that we all liked to talk --- A LOT! I asked the registrar what the Swedish word was for somebody that liked to talk a lot, a "chatterbox" in other words. It took a bit of explaining but I finally got the idea across, and so Team Pratkvarnarna came to be.
As a team we each played in separate games. Our combined scores would determine our final score and that would determine the team standings. I knew Borger and Dan were doing well early on, but I soon got distracted from their games and started to focus in on my game.
I had been assigned Russia; which I like to play. The other players were Bruno Berken from Belgium, Olivier Robbe from France, and four Swedes. I have written up a detailed report on this game elsewhere. Suffice it to say here that the francophones used a tactic I find repulsive, using Rules disputes over adjudications to their advantage. That made me, and the Swedes, mad. The result was a long and bloody battle in which I played well.
I think it was three or four in the morning before I got back to the hostel and to bed; which was better then Per. He never did come home that night, or was it the next night, or was it both nights? Ah, to be young again! Still, my juices were flowing and I was back on Sunday morning for the last round.
In the fifth round I was assigned to play England. Tom Corbin was Italy, Kiem Vanshoka was Turkey, two good Swedish players were Germany and France; and two relative novices were Austria and Russia. Again, I have written up a more detailed report on this game elsewhere. Suffice it to say that I think this was the best FTF game I have ever played at a Con. I didn't win, but I did something even better, at least to me.
I was content when it was over.
Back to WDC VII
On to the Results
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Larry Peery ([email protected]) |
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