Diplomacy Games

Never bored with boards

The guys take a deep dive into different Classic Diplomacy boards. Amby now owns three and so does Kaner, so we compare and contrast them all!

Intro & news

• The guys are getting closer to isolation being lifted with talk that the pubs will be open soon. They then discuss their drinks and Amby's Larry can (0 mins 10 secs)
• Kaner asks about Amby's quarantine beard (3 mins)
• Tournaments seem to be all online with Amby considering participating in DixieCon, but unfortunately the timing is really bad in Australia (4 mins)

Diplomacy board talk

• Rob Schone who's attended some of the Brisbane games, is moving back to New Zealand for a bit and gave the show two of his board (5 mins 50 secs)
• One is the 4th edition from 2000 (with metal playing pieces), which was the same version bought from Matt in an earlier show (7 mins)
• Kaner has three boards - two official and the magnet set he created. His main one is a larger scale canvas printed board that they use when playing in Brisbane. Kaner shows his other board (50th anniversary edition - this is the 5th edition published in 2008) where some territories are too tightly clustered together (8 mins)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Amby agrees and highlights the size of the board and territory size is pretty small in his 4th edition boards, he gets out the units to give an idea of size and how they don't very well (12 mins)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kaner discusses how his magnet board is actually a small board that you can walk around with and plan moves on (14 mins 30 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They discuss dynamism (17 mins 10 secs)
• Amby returns to the canvas map they usually play on - designed by u/trampolinebears. Kaner points out that some territories have their full name as well as abbreviations so players don't get confused when writing orders (18 mins)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Amby talks about a competent player misordering at PoppyCon (19 mins 30 secs)
• They grabs some more beers before Amby introduces the other board he received from Rob - a 1971 edition of Diplomacy (20 mins 40 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They discuss the cartoon stylized characters on the board and the color of the players on the board (22 mins 10 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kaner asks if it is a European or American board (24 mins 25 secs)
• Kaner starts discussing the board he learnt on (26 mins 30 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• He then talks about his dream Diplomacy board (27 mins 30 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They return to the 1971 edition and Amby discusses the playing pieces (28 mins 40 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They discuss a special project for Kaner (33 mins)

A brief Around the Grounds

• Kaner's signed up to a 1 day phase public press Divided States game and is doing his head in (35 mins)
• The guys wrap up the show as Kaner needed to get stuff happening (41 mins)

 

Venue: Still at home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter from Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Larry Pale Ale from the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes!

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

 

Still in Lockdown

The guys are still stuck at home. Amby discusses playing in the Minnesota Diplomacy Club's online game and an around the grounds with Kaner getting a really good draw while Amby is eliminated from the Order of the Dragon.

Intro

• Its been so long since the guys were in the pub they can't remember how to start the show. Kaner is missing pubs and massages. They discuss their drinks and Kaner prepares his tunes (0 mins 10 secs)

Amby plays with the Minnesota Diplomacy Club online

• Amby logged on at 7 am that day to play in one of the Minnesota Diplomacy Club's Discord/Backstabbr games. He played in game two as Russia and channeled his inner Melissa Call.  (7 mins)
• Amby said it went well until the mid-game. He was part of a 5 way draw which was based on a sum of scores system (9 mins 30 secs)
• A number of players like Amby weren't local members of the club (12 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner asks about the technology and how the logistics all worked (13 mins 30 secs)
• Amby discusses the strategy he used as Russia and what the other players were doing in the early game (21 mins)
• Kaner asks about Fall 1902 when Amby's fleet in Norway was dislodged and retreated to the Norwegian Sea. He asks why Amby didn't move to Clyde to then take Liverpool (24 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner then asks about Spring 1904 when Turkey (Craig) massively stabbed Amby. He discusses Siobhan's Periscope advice about reading the player vs reading the board (27 mins)
• They discuss how the nature of the game is changing with a mix between online and face to face (30 mins)
• Kaner jumps back on his little robots plan (34 mins)

Shout out to our Patreon supporters: all the alcohol this episode is being paid by them!

• Because of additional Patreon supporters and not drinking in a pub (alcohol costs are lower) the show has for the first time covered its costs! Thanks to Zach Moore, Garry Sturley, umbletheheep and Walshie (37 mins 20 secs)
• They tease the upcoming Patreon episode that will be recorded after this normal episode (41 mins 30 secs)

Around the Grounds

• Kaner's Silent Europe game has ended in a 7 way draw with him being part of it as the Teutonic Knights (42 mins 15 secs)
• He discusses the rise and fall of powers on the board (44 mins 20 secs)
• Amby points out to Kaner that he got a points boost from doing so well in the game. He's just one half decent draw to maybe make it into vDip's Top 100 players 51 40
• The Europa Renovatio variant has just been soloed again (by slypups) but... as Denmark again in the game Holy Empire (52 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner talks about the long grind demonstrated in the graph (54 mins 30 secs)
• Amby is surprised that Kaner's playlist brought up an artist they both like: The Dead South (57 mins 20 secs)

• Kaner asks about Amby's Order of the Dragon game. Amby announces he's now been eliminated after being stabbed by Walshie (Lithuania) and Colonel Apricot (Ottomans). Amby's effort to marry off his heir to the Kalmar Union (Nanook) didn't work as he misread the rules. Heirs can marry but it occurs after the SC count. But as Amby's initial heir and new heir were both killed off when their SCs fell (including his capital) it eliminated him from the game even though he still had some SCs (58 mins 30 secs)
• They discuss trust and distrust in the game and different game cultures (1 hr 4 mins)
• Kaner talks about wanting to play the boardgame Pandemic once people can socially hang out again. He discusses creating a Diplomacy game that encouraged cooperative play (1 hr 5 mins 50 secs)
• They discuss the Winning forum thread at vDip (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs)
• The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 12 mins 45 secs)

Venue: Still at home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter from Brisbane

Amby - San Valentin grenache from Spain

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes!

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

Playing to win: interview with kevdog8, rannjohnson & Dr Recommended

With Coronavirus still rolling, the guys interview kevdog8, rannjohnson and Dr Recommended on Amby's soloed Undivided States game - the biggest SC count of all time. Plus lots of current games discussed. As much fun as you can have at home during self-isolation!

Intro

• The guys introduce the show from home with all pubs still closed due to Coronavirus. They discuss their drinks and Kaner's doomsday drinking den (0 mins 10 secs)
• Amby talks working from home and Diplomacy. Kaner gives his take (2 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks what Kaner's been up to Diplomacy wise. Kaner discusses his new Diplomacy white board inspired from the Diplomacy Briefing (5 mins 40 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Amby puts on some tunes with DJ Luter One (8 mins 55 secs)

Undivided States interview

• Kaner talks about the Youtube video he's made of the Undivided States map (below). You can also see each map as the game turns progressed on vDip. Amby (who soloed as New York) gives his thoughts on the video (11 mins 20 secs)

https://youtu.be/tnGzmgA_sbc

• Kaner asks what were the songs Amby listened to while playing the game. They were:

The Last Night of the Proms version of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture:

Little River Band's Playing to Win (after Amby started thinking he had a chance of soloing):

• They start to introduce the interview with the final players in Undivided States:  kevdog8 (Kentucky), rannjohnson (Florida) and Dr Recommended (Montana). ingebot was also in the final group of players (Hawaii) but wanted to put his post game analysis into a global message: (13 mins 50 secs)

Ok, so here's my thoughts on much of the game. I took over as Hawaii that had just killed California and took control of Southern half of the west coast North america. My main opponent off the bat was Texas, with an Arizona in between acting as a buffer state, and a stalemate lasted for quite a while until I launched an invasion of Mexico from two fronts, at which point I was also able to gather enough resources to kill off Arizona. With a bit of luck in northern New Mexico, as well as a very unfortunately timed NMR from Texas, this helped me breakthrough. Florida, who until then was sort of an ally against Texas, suddenly attacked me instead, not that I blame them, it's what I would have done if our mutual target suddenly collapsed and the spoils mostly went to the other party. As Texas shrunk further and became more compact, I decided it wasn't worth it to continue grinding down Texas, and turned my attention North to kill Idaho and Alaska, mostly to kill Alaska since it was clear they won't be going to hold back expanding New York, and thereby hold the northern straits in my hands, with killing my longtime ally Idaho more of an add-on thing (the success of this may have been part of why I attacked Florida with the add-on of Montana later). Florida and I made up to fight Kentucky together, I simply to defend AMR and in my mind didn't view it as aggression. During this time I also supported both Montana and Colorado to counter Kentucky. Therefore, in my calculus, myself+Florida+Colorado+Montana = coalition to stop Kentucky. As New York grew, however, this calculus changed, and given Kentucky and New York were allied, I decided that instead of trying to fight that alliance directly, why not act in a way that helps one part of the alliance in order to weaken the alliance. This led to my decision in Spring 2060 to launch an offensive along my entire front to kill Montana, Colorado and Florida to help Kentucky grow. After that, things became a slow grind, as my expectations didn't pan out, Kentucky failed to grow significantly, and as New York grew closer to the solo I sort of lost the will to fight, a few seasons I even forgot to enter moves around Alaska since entering moves for this game became part of my "daily routine" instead of a fun thing to do, I basically even stopped looking at what had happened the previous season since I no longer cared and I wouldn't have mattered or be "news" anyways, just New York slowly growing. In a way, I'm glad this game was over because the last 20 odd years of it was "suffering" for me. Sometimes I would attack Florida again, and then make peace again, just so I would have something interesting to attempt, since preventing New York from soloing was increasingly remote.

• The interview begins with kevdog8, rannjohnson and Dr Recommended. Amby rambles a little before asking kevdog (Kentucky) about his relationship with Amby (New York) (14 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks rann (Florida) about his take on North Carolina's collapse (18 mins 15 secs)
• They discuss the back and forth stabbing routine by New York and then Hawaii against Florida  (19 mins 20 secs)
• Amby discusses with Dr Recommended (Montana) about where he saw the greatest threat was coming from (20 mins 50 secs)
• Amby asks Doc about his thoughts on the Swiss cheese process New York made of him (22 mins 30 secs)
• Amby discusses Kaner's advice that if took out Doc's final SC in the fall of his final set of moves to solo, Doc would survive. Unfortunately that wasn't the case (24 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks the guys whether they listened to the episodes and whether they worked out which player Amby was (27 mins 15 secs)
• Kaner discusses Spring 2078 and Amby's concerns that Hawaii was inviting Kentucky into his supply centers (29 mins)
• Amby discusses his concerns that Hawaii was throwing Kentucky the solo, to force New York to draw. They also discuss who had put in draw commands (it was a hidden draw games) (31 mins 15 secs)
• They discuss what aspects of their strategy would they have changed (33 mins)
• Kaner mentions Amby being in a similar situation with a fleet log-jam near Alaska, similar to what was discussed around the Straits of Florida (38 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks if the game wasn't gunboat would the game more likely end in a draw (39 mins 30 secs)
• They discuss the points bump you get coming 1st, 2nd or 3rd on such a big map (40 mins 30 secs)
• They talk about what elements of Technostar's Divided States map do they like and what if anything would they change (42 mins 20 secs)
• Kaner asks their thoughts on the sealanes (44 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner asks about the idea of being able to convoy on rivers whether that would change the dynamics of the board (46 mins)
• Kaner - as a non-American - asks about the guys thoughts about the geography of the map (46 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks about the pronunciation of Arkansas. Kaner asks why it isn't pronounced Ar-Kansas (49 mins 40 secs)
• Kaner asks about early in the game eg spring 2025, whether the guys would've predicted certain players to make it to the end (50 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks if any players felt they got a lucky break in the game (52 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner and Amby begin to wrap up the interview (56 mins 30 secs)
• The guys return. Amby's dog - a lagotto romagnolo - starts barking (57 mins 35 secs)
• Kaner asks Amby his thoughts on the interview (59 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds

• Amby discusses a "Big Hitters" game he's proposed at vDip for people with 2000+ vDip points (1 hr 2 mins)
• Amby's Cry God for Harry! game has just finished in a 9 way draw. It was an anonymous game and the guys can now advise who they played as: Amby played as England and Kaner as Genoa (1 hr 6 mins)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They discuss CCR's writing style (as the Golden Horde) (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs)
• Amby mentions he created the game title as he wanted to recreate Shakespeare's Henry V and the English victories over France, only to find MAK (France) was a great ally. They go onto discuss Tanteno's position as Switzerland in the middle and various alliances (1 hr 10 mins 15 secs)
• Kaner ponders what brought the Golden Horde to put in a draw (1 hr 14 mins 15 secs)
• Amby briefly discusses his one-time plans to try to get to Jerusalem on crusade (1 hr 16 mins 30 secs)
• After some more drinks, Kaner asks Amby if he's going to join any large games (1 hr 20 mins)
• They discuss Kaner's EU IV game, but they give a more high level overview of the game (1 hr 21 mins 30 secs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They move onto Kaner's Silent Europe game (1 hr 31 mins)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• They discuss the changes in the game over time, including a brief Scottish attempt in 1585/1590 to create a kingdom in the Holy Land (despite losing all other SCs) (1 hr 35 mins)
• They talk about ideas for what players should be doing (1 hr 42 mins)
• Kaner asks Amby about his Discord Order of the Dragon game. He's playing as the Golden Horde and just stabbed his ally Lithuania. He talks about the bizarre rules and how different it is to a standard classic game: neutrals you can marry, thralls, vassal states, marrying your heirs to other players' heirs, dynasties being killed off if their heirs are killed (1 hr 43 mins 30 secs)

 Venue: At home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter from Brisbane

Amby -Young Henry's Newtown Australian Pale Ale from Sydney

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes!

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kaner asks about the broken love hearts on the board (Arges - southern part of modern day Rumania and Novgorod - modern day St P). Amby talks about the unit placement and territory border headaches (1 hr 46 mins 15 secs)
• Kaner asks why Amby has two heirs (1 hr 55 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner's head starts hurting but gives credit to Alex Ronke for the variant's creation (2 hrs 1 min)
• The guys wrap up the show (2 hrs 2 mins)

Playing tournaments during Coronavirus: interview with Garry Sturley & Andy Harris

Like most of the world the guys are stuck at home thanks to the Coronavirus. They interview Garry Sturley and Andy Harris on attending the MaccCon tournament while effectively in lockdown. Plus a bit of a games and variant development update.

Intro

• The guys introduce the show from home due to pubs all being closed due to Coronavirus. They try to replicate the feel of being in a bar  (0 mins 10 secs)
• They talk the local government elections and Amby's vote for Kaner (7 mins 20 secs)
• Kaner sends Amby a text - a whiteboard version of Diplomacy (8 mins 45 secs)
• They talk about Amby's poncho antics and the special one-off release of a Patreon episode for everyone stuck at home (10 mins 40 secs)

Interview with Garry Sturley and Andy Harris on MaccCon and the Coronavirus

• They introduce the interview (12 mins 20 secs)
• They all discuss accents (13 mins 20 secs)
• They discuss Andy's location in Jersey in the Channel islands (16 mins)
• Amby asks about the MaccCon tournament and how Andy participated remotely with Facetime (18 mins)
• Andy talks about the logistics for how he participated. He also discusses the downsides (24 mins 15 sec)
• Garry discusses the challenges of being a tournament director and player and using Facetime (28 mins)
• Andy discusses CoronaCon being run by the London Diplomacy Club on the weekend 4-5 April (30 mins)
• Kaner gives his thoughts on using battle bots as a way of doing it before they discuss CoronaCon a bit more (34 mins 20 secs)
• Amby asks what lockdown is and isn't in the UK (39 mins 30 secs)
• They talk about drive through bottleshops, VB and Bundaberg rum (42 mins)
• Amby asks about where the Diplomacy Tour of Britain is at now with Coronavirus (48 mins 45 secs)
• Amby suggests the idea of a Diplomacy Tour of Britain based on the territories on the board. Andy has a suggestion for a tournament in Jersey (51 mins 15 secs)
• Amby asks how Andy and Garry how they placed in the game they played at MaccCon (56 mins)
• Kaner asks about the scoring system for the tournament (58 mins)
• Amby asks about how British gameplay is different to European gameplay (59 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks what Andy means by "diploming" (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs)
• Garry discusses the use of counters on the board (1 hr 5 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks Garry how his gameplay differs between face-to-face and online Diplomacy. Garry plays as Phlegmatic over at PlayDip and Diplomacc at webDip (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs)
• Garry recently signed up to be one of our Patreons. Amby asks what role he's interested in doing in the US Government once Kaner is elected president. Garry gives his answer for what role he'll be doing: Ambassador to Belgium (1 hr 13 mins 15 secs)
• Andy asks about what the Australian Diplomacy scene is like if he visits (1 hr 15 mins)
• The guys wrap up the interview (1 hr 19 mins)

Post interview chat

• They guys return with new drinks. Kaner talks about his robot idea in more detail (1 hr 19 mins 40 secs)
• Kaner asks Amby what he got out of the interview and they talk about Coronavirus and the game (1 hr 27 mins)

Around the grounds

• Kaner discusses him getting his ass kicked in EU IV (1 hr 32 mins 45 secs)
• Amby discusses a small break from alcohol after PoppyCon (1  hr 37 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner asks about Amby's games. He thinks his Cry God for Harry game is heading to a draw. His other game Fake NewsLeak Interference Democalypse is continuing ok. He says he's dead as England and Canada in the 1812 Overture game and about to start playing in Order of the Dragon. (1 hr 40 mins 45 secs)
• Amby discusses how Order of the Dragon works  (1 hr 44 mins)
• Kaner shares his screen and discusses new variants in development at vDip: Pits of Horror, Scottish Clan Wars, Tiglath-Pileser (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs)
• They talk about making new variants before wrapping up the show (1 hr 52 mins 30 secs)

Venue: At home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Cloudy Sommersby apple cider

Amby - Brand's Laira Barrelman cabernet sauvignon from the Coonawarra

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes!

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

Pissed at PoppyCon - a Patreon preview for those in Coronavirus lockdown

Kaner and Amby are hammered. They give their take on Day 1 of PoppyCon. Released first on Patreon, we wanted to share this with all you in lockdown going crazy due to the Coronavirus. Hope you, your family and friends are well.

The guys discuss Day 1 of gameplay at PoppyCon in Melbourne

• Amby complains its cold (1 min 15 secs)
• Amby gets tangled in a poncho (2 mins 35 secs)
• They discuss Austria getting eliminated from 5 SCs to zero in a single turn (3 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner was tempted to wipe Amby off the board in game one. Amby (Germany) was included in the draw with 1 SC, Kaner (England) ended in the draw with 8 SC (4 mins 45 secs)
• The Kaner asks Amby about his "How about we go get a beer" moment in game two when Amby (Turkey) was attempting to reconcile after stabbing Tim (Russia). Amby ended up in a draw with 9 SCs. Kaner wasn't in game two  (6 mins 10 secs)
• Kaner reflects his highlight of the game with the German army in Berlin taking the slow road to Norway. He also discusses Peter MacNamara's come back as England (10 mins)
• Kaner asks Amby why he didn't push harder against Russia (15 mins 45 secs)
• They move onto discuss game three briefy (16 mins 40 secs)
• Amby returns back to game one and asks Kaner what he thought of Amby's (Germany) opening (17 mins 15 secs)
• Amby discusses his switcharoo with Richard (Turkey) in discussions with Robert (Russia) (20 mins 50 secs)
• Amby asks Kaner how he thinks he's going to go the next day for the remainder of game three (22 mins 55 secs)
• They discuss how Kaner kept putting in incorrect orders as he drank more cider (23 mins 45 secs)
• They discuss the impact of Coronavirus on the number of players at the tournament (25 mins)
• Kaner wraps up the show (25 mins 30 secs)

If you like what you heard, we have another 7 Patreon episodes currently and put out new episodes each week between the normal show release. If you want to listen it costs hardly anything and helps us with the cost of drinks/better recording gear. Join and listen at https://www.patreon.com/DiplomacyGames

Venue: PoppyCon, Melbourne

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - A can

Amby - A glass

PoppyCon & interviews with Melissa Call & Andrew Goff

The guys make it to Melbourne for PoppyCon and discuss their plans for the tournament, an interview with host Melissa Call, and follow up interview with multi-WDC winner Andrew Goff and Melissa, before a wrap up of Amby's Divided States game and more.

Intro, news & their thoughts on what to do at the tournament

• The guys introduce the show, making it to Melbourne before the Coronavirus really started impacting. They introduce their drinks, venue and Kaner asks Amby what is game plans are for the PoppyCon tournament. Kaner goes onto give some history lessons about Victoria  (0 mins 10 secs)
• They give some local history (4 mins)
• They talk a little Coronavirus (6 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner discusses his three build England plan for the tournament. Amby asks about the prospects of a four build Russia and getting a bluewater Russian fleet in the Med to take Tunis in 1903. They go on to talk about how face to face games lend themselves more to crazy alliances happening compared to online (8 mins 55 secs)

Interview with Melissa Call

• The interview starts with Melissa (Mel) Call, the host of the PoppyCon tournament. Before recording Kaner asked Mel what her favourite country to play is. Her average SC count playing as Russia in Australia is 11 and hasn't been eliminated locally. Amby asks about what strategy do you need to follow to play a good Russia (18 mins)
• Kaner reflects on his Russian gameplay, which Mel advises on. Mel talks about not being the first person to 10 SC's (22 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner discusses Mel's tactic of getting bickering happening in the centre of the board (24 mins 50 secs)
• She discusses the value of a Russian-German alliance (26 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner asks about which alliance on the board gets her worried as Russia (28 mins 15 secs)
• Amby asks if Mel has any particular plans for this tournament. Kaner asks why France is her least favourite country. Mel also gives her thoughts as England and the English Channel (30 mins)
• Amby asks what the PoppyCon tournament is all about (33 mins 25 secs)
• Amby discusses how there is a certain thrill to a face to face tournament and his one time he's replicated it in the online environment (40 mins)
• Amby asks Mel how she feels when she's been betrayed (42 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner reflects how experienced players and relatively new players react very differently to a well orchestrated stab (43 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks Mel as a female Diplomacy player, how she feels she's been treated and how to get more women into the game (45 mins 15 secs)
• They discuss choice of words and deception (52 mins)
• Mel talks about playing people, not countries (54 mins)
• Amby asks about how Mel's strategy may change if she's up against a great player (54 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks how to approach things if your ally is showing tell-signs, impacting your alliance (57 mins 30 secs)

Interview with Andrew Goff and Melissa Call

• Andrew Goff (Goffy) joins the interview, as well as Mel's husband Matt and Goffy's partner Albert (59 mins)
• They return to the earlier topic of dealing with good players (60 mins)
• Amby asks Goffy and Mel what new players should do when it comes to trusting players (1 hr 1 min 15 secs)
• Goffy talks about new players learning from their mistake and finding someone you can trust and learn from them (1 hr 5 mins)
• Amby asks Mel about the bullshit detector and trust (1 hr 6 mins 15 secs)
• They discuss Goffy's "little drops of poison" and how other players view his gameplay. He gives his perspective on that (1 hr 10 mins 30 secs)
• Goffy talks about not worrying how many builds he gets in 1901, but then goes onto discuss a massive opening (1 hr 15 mins)
• He recommends online players coming to face to face and doing things they've never done before and watching the tight timeframes (1 hr 18 mins)
• Mel reflects that you can read a lot about the culture of the tournament by reading the rules. Goffy stresses not pissing off the tournament director (1 hr 20 mins 30 sec)
• Goffy gives his thoughts on tournaments with and without top boards (1 hr 27 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks what a newbie player should worry about (1 hr 28 mins 30 secs)
• They start discussing intermediate player strategy (1 hr 34 mins)
• Goffy announces the 2021 WDC will be held Battlefield Bangkok at the end of July 2021. He outlines how accommodation is great value in the area and its a fantastic venue (1 hr 35 mins 40 secs)
• Kaner gives a big wrap about Bangkok (1 hr 37 mins 50 secs)
• Goffy discusses a number of events for players at WDC 2021 (1 hr 39 mins)
• Goffy says he won't be playing as he'll the tournament director (1 hr 40 mins)
• Kaner asks Goffy about the culture of Australians spying on players' writing orders. They expand on gamesmanship, culture and rules (1 hr 43 mins)
• Goffy discusses you're only really new in tournaments for 3 or 4 games and how to do well in a tournament, although maybe not necessarily win (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs)
• Goffy mentions how some US players can hold a grudge. He then discusses how European games often end (1 hr 55 mins 30 secs)
• He talks about fake orders and unguarding your orders (2 hrs)
• His next intermediate tip is to not have favourite countries, alliances and players (2 hrs 30 mins 50 secs)
• Amby asks if when the countries are assigned in a tournament, does Goffy have a predetermined plan in mind (2 hrs 4 mins 30 secs)
• They discuss the Flying Dutchman (illegally having an extra unit on the board) and why tricks are for kids (2 hrs 9 mins 30 secs)
• They wrap up the interview (2 hrs 13 mins)

Post interview chat

• Kaner suggests the idea of recording discussions at the tournament (2 hrs 14 mins)
• The guys discuss hats (2 hrs 16 mins)
• They return to the conversation about recording discussions (2 hrs 18 mins 30 secs)
• Amby suggests that listeners give us a Shit Sandwich: something complementary, something you don't like and then end on something complementary again (2 hrs 19 mins 50 secs)

Amby solos his 50 player Divided States game

• Amby has won the Undivided States game that they've been talking about for almost two years. Amby starts discussing what worked in his favor (2 hrs 20 mins 45 secs)

 

• Kaner asks what its like ordering 127 units to order. In answering Amby talks about the holding vs attacking (2 hrs 23 mins 10 secs)
• Kaner asks Amby how it approached discussions on the game in the podcast and whether listeners at some point worked out who Amby was despite it being an anonymous game (2 hrs 24 mins 50 secs)
• Kaner then goes onto discuss Amby's hopes on rankings and how that went (2 hrs 28 mins 40 secs)

Future game plans & Diplomacy projects

• Amby discusses his Discord game and how he's interested in one or two of nopunin10did's upcoming Discord games: Saga of the Nine and Order of the Dragon. He also discusses getting more involved in the Nexus tournament (2 hrs 30 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner asks Amby, aside from this, whether he's going to take a break from variants (2 hrs 32 mins 40 secs)
• Amby mentions how the Minnesota Diplomacy Club and Windy City Weasles found Meetup brought in a lot of extra face to face players (2 hrs 33 mins 30 secs) [Amby post-episode: we obviously WON'T be doing this until the whole Coronavirus thing is under control]
• Kaner asks whether Amby might jump back into variant creation. Amby gives his thoughts on what he'd tackle, first up is a Classic map with standing neutrals. Kaner suggests maybe changing the opening unit types to a build start so Italy isn't totally hamstrung (2 hrs 36 mins)
• Amby discusses his next cab off the rank, a Roman Empire Crisis of the Third Century  variant (see previous discussion on this idea in episode 22) (2 hrs 41 mins 30 secs)
• Amby briefly touches on a "true" Cold War map (but forgets about detail) and then discusses a proto-historical Colonial map of the American east coast and how to approach gunpowder European powers against Native Americans (2 hrs 45 mins 20 secs)
• After another drink Kaner proposes a Khmer Empire map in southeast Asia. He goes onto discuss gopher's idea of a White Russia vs Red Russia variant. Then he gives his thoughts of the colonisation of the East Indies (2 hrs 48 mins 45 secs)
• They talk Melbourne shopping before announcing the show is no longer an Amazon affiliate (2 hrs 52 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner talks about being a Victorian with mix-allegiances and Australian namesays (2 hrs 55 mins)
• The guys start wrapping up the episode (3 hrs 0 mins 45 secs)

Venue: Saint and Rogue, Melbourne

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - White Rabbit dark ale from Healesville, Victoria

Amby - Tooborak American Gunslinger's pale ale from the Tooborak, Victoria

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

The Mongolian Empire

The guys talk Corona Virus, Primaries, the new Mongolian Empire variant, current games & much more.

Intro and news

• The guys introduce the show and quickly get into discussions around what's going on in the world (0 mins 10 secs)
• Amby explains why Hitler had a funny mustache (1 mins 45 secs)
• They discuss the Super Tuesday primaries and how their presidential campaign is going. Amby explains why they've got such a good chance of winning the election (2 mins 25 secs)
• They belatedly intro the bar and drinks, before Amby explains his vote winning strategy (4 mins 20 secs)
• The guys give a hat tip to our latest Patreon - Zachery Moore from the Minnesota Diplomacy Club - who'll be our Secretary of Convoy Operations when we're elected. If you want to contribute and become a Cabinet Secretary when we're elected and get our exclusive extra Patreon episodes visit https://www.patreon.com/DiplomacyGames (9 mins 10 secs)
• Amby delivers a shit sandwich, advising the Canetoad Classic tournament in Brisbane is being postponed a year (12 mins)

The Mongolian Empire variant

• A variant created by Kaner many years ago has at last come to life on vDip! After extra work by ninjanrd and coding by Flame from the Russian Diplomacy site, it can now be played (14 mins 20 secs)

 

• Amby congratulates Kaner and creates a similarly with Dan Carlin's incredible  Wrath of the Khans series (16 mins)
• Kaner outlines the 11 powers in the game (17 mins 20 secs)
• Kaner explains why the map is orientated east-west instead of north-south (20 mins)
• He goes onto discuss the affect of the Black Death on units/SCs (21 mins 35 secs)
• Kaner comes up with a clever plan to reduce the amount of noise coming from the tow truck (24 mins 25 secs)
• He then discusses the role of the Silk Roads and Trade Winds (25 mins 40 secs)
• They talk dogs in impoundment yards. Amby diverges for a moment and talks about the kids TV show "Bluey" that is created a stone's throw from many of the pubs they've recorded at in Fortitude Valley (30 mins)

• Amby then has a flash back to the 70's Australian police show also called "Bluey" that was then parodied in the early 90's by Australia's The Late Show, as "Bargearse" - a fat cop whose always farting, solving crimes by accident (31 mins 20 secs)

• Kaner goes back to Mongolian Empire and talks about geographic complexities from rivers, bridges, mountains, the Great Wall of China and city states with standing neutral armies (32 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks Kaner what it feels like to see something he's created now being played by people (38 mins)
• The guys return with new drinks and new batteries in the recorder (39 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds

• Amby discusses his 1812 Overture game being played on Discord and facilitated through PlayDip (41 mins 20 secs)

 

 

• They discuss whether they should be playing more classic games online to improve their face to face gameplay and strategies (48 mins)
• The guys talk about Kaner's Europa Renovatio games (52 mins)
• Kaner talks about his Silent Europe game (54 mins)

• Amby reflects that Kaner's ranking may soon be getting an uptick with how he's currently going in multiple game (58 mins 55 secs)
• Amby talks about his Europa Renovatio game and briefly his Undivided States game (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs)
• Next up is Amby's involvement in G-Man's Cloak and Dagger series in the World Diplomacy X game Fake NewsLeak Interference Democalypse (1 hr 4 mins)
• They start wrapping up the show so they can record a bonus Patreon episode. Amby reminds Americans to write-in "Kaner" in their primary voting. Amby asks Kaner if he minds also running for Lord Mayor of Brisbane (1 hr 8 mins)

Venue: Doo-Bop Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's cloudy cider from Sydney

Amby - Kalleske Moppa shiraz from the Barossa Valley

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

Interview with Doug Kent from Diplomacy World

The guys interview Doug Kent, Editor-in-Chief of the quarterly publication Diplomacy World. Plus they talk trust for newbies and their current games.

Intro

• The guys introduce the show, their drinks and the venue (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Doug Kent from Diplomacy World

• They begin to introduce the interview (5 mins 25 secs)
• Amby asks about how Doug got into Diplomacy (7 mins)
• Amby asks about Doug’s collection of old Diplomacy zines and whether he plans to bring any of them online (11 mins)
• Kaner asks if he has a favorite zine or collection (12 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks what came next for Doug after playing postal (14 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner asks about Diplomacy World and how Doug became the lead editor (16 mins 40 secs)
• Amby asks Doug how he feels the hobby has changed (24 mins 20 secs)
• Kaner asks what’s the most rewarding part of publishing Diplomacy World (29 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks if Doug plays much now (35 mins 5 secs)
• Amby asks about Doug’s future plans for championing Diplomacy (40 mins)
• Amby asks if there was an article in Diplomacy World about a hypothetical game between the top players in the past 20-30 years, who would those players be (44 mins)
• Amby asks for Doug’s take for contributors publishing under their online game name, rather than their real name. They also discuss what goes into Diplomacy World and what doesn’t  (52 mins 40 secs) 
• They discuss how people can contribute and support Diplomacy World (58 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks about any plans to scan older editions with optical character recognition so they’re searchable (1 hr 8 mins 40 secs)
• Kaner asks about Doug about preferred variants (1 hr 15 mins)
• The interview wraps up (1 hr 23 mins)
• The guys discuss their thoughts on the interview. Kaner commits to writing an article for Diplomacy World on sea lanes (1 hr 23 mins 30 secs)
• They talk about the Colonia variant and Kaner gives a history lesson. They discuss future interview planning. Kaner rules out WDC 2020 for him (1 hr 30 mins)
• They guys give their views on the Balkan Wars variant and Kaner explains Deviant Diplomacy to Amby (1 hr 34 mins)

Diplomacy news

•  The guys discuss their drinks in the context of Diplomacy (1 hr 36 mins)
•  They give an update on their tournament plans for March in Melbourne and the Canetoad Classic for May (1 hr 38 mins)

Newbie guide: Who can you trust?

• The guys kick off the segment and why trust is important (1 hr 40 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner explains his experience with being able to trust players, and describes the differences between face to face and online (1 hr 42 mins)
• Amby pauses the recording for a moment so Kaner can tell himself something off tape (1 hr 43 mins 45 secs)
• Amby discusses when a player is talking options with you, you start feeling trust developing. Kaner gives his counter-perspective (1 hr 45 mins)
• Kaner walks through an example about the English Channel and building trust (1 hr 46 mins 30 secs)
• Amby talks about gut feelings and players who hedge their bets (1 hr 52 mins)
• Kaner suggests the next Newbie segment should be Strategic considerations in discussions before Stabbing (1 hr 55 mins)
• Amby asks what you need to do to regain trust (1 hr 57 mins 45 secs)
• Amby asks how you can trust in gunboat (2 hrs 1 min 30 secs)
• Amby discusses how heavy joint military build ups on borders that are coordinated and create a stalemate line can also build trust sometimes (2 hrs 5 mins)

Around the grounds

• The guys grab another drink and discuss a gunboat fog of war game Kaner is still in (2 hrs 7 mins 55 secs)
• They talk about the solo win by Agnaar on the Europa Renovatio map, taking the number one spot on vDip  (2 hrs 11 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner touches on an anonymous Europa Renovatio game he's in (2 hrs 14 mins 30 secs)
• Amby discusses his Cry God for Harry! game and how well the Golden Horde and Marmluks are doing (2 hrs 16 mins 45 secs)

 

• Amby touches on his Undivided States game (2 hrs 21 mins 15 secs)
• Next up is Amby's 1812 Overture game being run on Discord (2 hrs 24 mins)
• The guys wrap up the show (2 hrs 28 mins)

Venue: Empire Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's pale ale from Sydney

Amby - Maxwell Silver Hammer shiraz from the Barossa

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

Interview with Erik van Mechelen

The guys interview Erik van Mechelen from the Minnesota Diplomacy Club & host of the Diplomacy Podcast. Plus lots of around the grounds, drinking & openings for newbies.

Intro

• The guys introduce the show, their drinks and the venue (0 mins 10 secs)
• Amby talks wine and getting fat (2 mins 50 secs)

Interview with Erik van Mechelen from the MN Diplomacy Club and the Diplomacy Podcast

• Kaner starts introducing this episode's interview with Erik van Mechelen from the Minnesota Diplomacy Club, creates the Diplomacy Podcast and writes books on Diplomacy (4 mins 35 secs)
• The interview starts with Erik, how he got into the game (6 mins 40 secs)
• They talk about getting involved in the local Minnesota Diplomacy scene (9 mins)
• Kaner asks about the migration of the Diplomacy culture from Chicago to Minnesota. Erik talks about scoring systems (14 mins 45 secs)
• They talk about giving back to the Diplomacy community (17 mins 50 secs)
• Kaner discusses the dynamics of the game of Diplomacy (19 mins 50 secs)
• Amby asks about why new players turn up to a face to face game, and how do you retain players (20 mins 30 secs)
• They discuss getting a player base and creating a tournament (26 mins 45 secs)
• Kaner discusses his Thai experience getting players involved before asking about the Janus scoring system (27 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner asks about using the game of Diplomacy in an educational setting (32 mins)
• Kaner asks about why Erik created his own Diplomacy podcast (35 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks about Erik's work writing a Diplomacy book. Erik reflects on Andrew's Goff's writing style in the Italian Renaissance in Diplomacy World. Erik talks about his Diplomacy: Conversations with Barbosa and How to Win at Diplomacy (37 mins 50 secs)
• Kaner asks if Erik has ever played any Diplomacy variants (42 mins)
• Kaner asks about favorite country to play (45 mins 40 secs)
• Amby reflects on planned fun openings that quickly become default openings once negotiations start (46 mins 40 secs)
• Kaner asks about the logistics of games in Minnesota. Erik talks about his upcoming tournaments (52 mins 10 secs)
• Amby asks Erik how to get involved in Minnesota and where to listen to Diplomacy Podcast before wrapping it up (54 mins 10 secs)
• The guys return and give their thoughts on the interview (56 mins 15 secs)

Diplomacy chat

• They talk about going to Melbourne for their upcoming tournament (1 hr 0 mins)
• Kaner asks about using Meetup to promote the game in Brisbane (1 hr 1 mins 20 secs)
• They return to post-interview chat (1 hr 3 mins)
• The guys get their creative juices going about the Europa Renovatio variant (1 hr 6 mins)
• Amby talks about the Kill Lithuania and also Scotland game dominated by Denmark (1 hr 8 mins)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kaner grabs some more drinks (1 hr 13 mins)

Around the grounds

• Kaner talks about one of his Renovatio Europa games, Silent Europe and Tiemcen's raiding behind Scottish lines. Kaner discusses the nature of aiming for clusters of SCs (1 hr 15 mins)
• Amby discusses trying to work out what's going on a board he's on and paranoia caused by a single player (1 hr 24 mins)
• Amby discusses listening to the History of Byzantium podcast and whether the Renovatio Europa map needs to be altered so Constantinople doesn't fall so easily to better reflect reality (1 hr 28 mins 20 secs)
• Amby talks about his DMOL shirt and hot weather before Kaner talks about a variant idea (1 hr 34 mins 20 secs)
• Kaner talks about his fog of war Classic game where he killed off Amby (1 hr 37 mins)
• Amby complains about being defeated in game after game after game, most recently as Ukraine in A Modern Pickle (1 hr 42 mins)
• He's even getting shafted in the 1812 Overture game on Discord GM'ed by nopunin10did (1 hr 45 mins)

Newbie Openings

• The guys return after ordering drinks and a snack. Amby reflects on an American Gridiron game on TV and how cold it looks (1 hr 54 mins)
• They kick off the Newbie segment on Openings by starting with playing as England. Kaner makes Amby a generous offer (1 hr 56 mins 15 secs)
• Next up is a discussion on opening as Turkey (2 hrs 2 mins 50 secs)
• The guys discuss German openings and the Western Triple (2 hrs 6 mins 15 secs)
• Italy follows, and they reflect on the Modern Italy strategy discussed by Erik (2 hrs 10 mins)
• Onto Austrian openings (2 hrs 13 mins 45 secs)
• France is up next (2 hrs 18 mins 30 secs)
• Last but not least are Russia's openings (2 hrs 21 mins 15 secs) 
• They try to make sense of the Gridiron game (2 hrs 27 mins 50 secs)
• They guys start wrapping up the newbie segment and the show (2 hrs 29 mins)

 

Venue: Hotel Carrington, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's cider and Young Henry's pale ale from Sydney

Amby - Saltram's shiraz from the Barossa

 

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

Interview with Umbletheheep from the Diplomacy Briefing

Kaner and Amby interview Umbletheheep, publisher of the weekly email newsletter the Diplomacy Briefing, and discuss people in the Dip community giving something back.

Intro

• The guys introduce the 60th show, their drinks and the venue (0 mins 15 secs)
• Kaner talks about being tempted to make a cheeky stab and they both discuss paranoia (3 mins 20 secs)

Interview with Umbletheheep from the Diplomacy Briefing

• Kaner starts introducing this episode's interview with Umbletheheep who publishes the weekly email newsletter "Diplomacy Briefing" (5 mins 45 secs)
• The interview begins with Amby welcoming Umble to the show and asking why he created it (7 mins 30 secs)
• Amby asks about the format of the newsletter (9 mins 50 secs)
• Umble discusses how long it takes to curate the information (12 mins 20 secs)
• Amby asks about what feedback and suggestions Umble gets from his readership (14 mins 30 secs)
• Umble discusses prioritizing new content into the newsletter, checking out old Diplomacy magazine articles and planning ahead with an outline (19 mins)
• Amby asks about current trends for how players approach the game vs using an old strategy and approach players have forgotten (22 mins 10 secs)
• Kaner asks where the handle "Umbletheheep" came from (26 mins)
• Amby asks how much his persona's approach is similar to his own (28 mins 50 secs)
• Amby asks about whether Umble plays much face-to-face and attending tournaments (32 mins 15 secs)
• They explore Umble's plans for improving his own personal gameplay (38 mins 10 secs)
• Amby asks about the audience of the newsletter (43 mins 10 secs)
• Kaner discusses his thoughts on the newsletter and asks why Umble ended up at Nexus when he re-engaged in the online game (45 mins)
• Amby asks Umble where he sees the game going geographically (48 mins)
• Umble discusses scratching a creative Diplomacy itch (53 mins)
• The interview starts wrapping up (56 mins)
• The guys return and discuss their thoughts on the interview and playing postal Diplomacy (57 mins 30 secs)
• Kaner asks Amby about what else he got out of the interview (1 hr 1 min 20 secs)
• Kaner says he'd love to read the old article mentioned about Diplomacy widows  (1 hr 3 mins)
• The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 4 mins)

Venue: Proud Henry, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Archer IPA from no idea

Amby - Trescothic grenache from the Barossa Valley, Australia

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon

Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.