| August 27, 2002 |
Web Page Address: http://diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html
Subszines.... Tinamou is here and what seems to be two issues of Deny Everything, check them all out! We print a copy of Rip Gooch's British subszine, but we want him to do a North American version. PLEASE sign up for his Railway Rivals games!!!
| SPECIAL KATHY BYRNE CARUSO MEMORIAL SECTION |
I'm not going to even try to organize what follows below.
The hobby shocks continue with perhaps the greatest loss of all.
Let me begin with the words of John Caruso that hit me in the
head on August 16th.
``It is with a heavy and sad heart that I write this. If it's not a coherent letter, please excuse me. The illness that I had mentioned to some of you was not me - it was Kathy. The illness was lung cancer. Yesterday at 11PM, we lost her, 4 months after she was diagnosed. She didn't die from the cancer but from the weakness it caused - it made her vulnerable to other things and some other infection killed her. The doctors say they may never know. Anyway, I lost my best friend, not just my wife, and right now I'm really hurting. If anyone in the Dip hobby wants more data, I'm going to ask Jim Burgess to do me the favor and be my point man there. I know some Dip people may want to know as well. I'm signing off with a heavy heart. Thanks for understanding.''
John went on to ask me to try to minimize a flood of E-Mails and to do something like this, gathering thoughts and condolences in this medium, where John can keep it and look at your comments as he can muster the strength. In recent years, the way to keep up with the Caruso family has been through John's baseball league, which is why his E-Mail address is commishjohn of att.net. I have more to say interspersed below. I am hurting for my friend John, for Francine, and for the whole family. I'm also going to miss Kathy myself as well. But there's lots of celebration below too and more next issue is welcome. Send me whatever you like and I'll print it. I'm going to let Bob Olsen and then Cal White lead off.
Bob Olsen (Thu, 22 Aug 2002 17:52:22 EDT)
Jim, One of the first and few coherent thoughts I had about Kathy's death is that the best memorial would be for everyone to send in their memories and funny stories about her. And that TAP would be the best place for it. I'm glad to see that you're going to do something of the sort. I'll have something to send when I can...probably next week.
By the way I guess you never got my new address: 33642 Sea Point Drive, Dana Point, CA 92629.
| best wishes, Bob Olsen, ROBERTOLSENRG of aol.com |
Cal White (Sat, 24 Aug 2002 18:09:40 -0400)
Dear John,
I heard about Kathy's passing and I just wanted to say that I am sorry for your loss. I've never lost a spouse so I can't imagine what you're going through, but I know how I felt when I lost my father six years ago. It's not a good feeling, but I'm sure you'll have lots of support from family and friends. I wish you well in the future.
| Cal, diplomat of idirect.com |
Steve Cooley (Sun, 18 Aug 2002 05:15:33 -0700)
Sadly, I never met Kathy. However, when I entered the hobby it was so I could play and learn to play better. I was in awe of Kathy because she mastered the art of playing Italy. I would look at the maps of the games she was in and marvel at her position. How in the world did she do that?
I also was an admirer of her wit. She was clever and did not suffer fools lightly-and that's what made her ``zinny" so entertaining. Maybe as I've grown older, I've learned how to see beyond the tactics and appreciate the people in the hobby more. I hope so. People like Kathy Caruso are rare and far more valuable than the nuances of the game they teach us. I am sure that most, if not all, of you were closer to her than I was. I share in your loss and am saddened at her passing. My prayers are with her family.
| Steve Cooley, tmssteve of msn.com |
((Thanks, Steve, many who never met Kathy directly still were deeply affected by this. Here are a few that Kathy might not have even thought would write or notes, or whom she never even knew....))
Russell Blau (Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:15:14 -0400)
I am very sorry to hear this. I didn't know Kathy well, but I did meet her at a few cons years ago, and encountered her postally as well. Not only was she "perhaps" the greatest female player of all time, but she was most likely the best Italy of all time, of either sex! Plus she was a great person, and I know she will be missed.
| Russ, russblau of excite.com |
Mike Smith (Mon, 19 Aug 2002 03:19:03 GMT)
I never knew her, but whenever someone who puts fresh ideas into a game, and defies the norm being a female in a male dominated hobby. I may not have known her while she was alive, but she will be known in death through the legacy she left.
You and her family have my condolences in this sad time.
| Mike Smith, masamax of shaw.ca |
((Let me next re-publish my favorite comments from Kathy at the end of a game, a Boob Report game from the mid-1980's called....))
| Endgame statements from THE FREE LUNCH GAME: 1984 HL |
Ed Henry (ex-France) NMRed out
Dear JB, Well, I couldn't very well have you thinking that anything happened to me. I reached a point (for about the fourth time) where I simply wasn't paying enough attention to the games I was in-there is an obligation to reply to letters, even if it's only to say something like "no problems here: all boring on my front." Once you stop answering, anything can happen: missing deadlines, forgetting deadlines and worst of all, getting deadlines mixed up. That's why I missed for the all-important second time in a row. When I found I had been replaced by a standby (Kathy, for the umpty-millionth time), I was so demoralized, I blew a few other deadlines (and games, I'm sorry to say).
In the interest of maintaining my reputation as the world's worst letter-writer, I'm going to have to cut down on my letter writing (of course), and, by definition, my game-playing-at least by mail. I don't expect to totally disappear, but near enough.
And, on top of everything else, Bob (my erstwhile ally) doesn't even like baseball press. Talk about destruction of illusions...
I don't have much to say about the game: this one was fairly easy after the relatively smooth changeover from Mike ((Lee)) to Bob in midstream. I'm a little sorry, and feel (mildly) guilty about having lost track of what was going on during the last couple of seasons-I guess Bernie should get a little credit for out-stubborning me (he was there a bit longer than I was). All-in-all, it was fun while I was there, and I do appreciate all the work you put into it. Many thanks to all involved for an enjoyable contest.
Special thanks to you, JB. Hopefully, you'll hear from me again-sometime.
| Sincerely, Edwin S. Henry |
((Thanks to you too, for all the press. I'm glad you wrote, because I was feeling guilty that I pushed you out of the game. (I know, SLUDGE, I'm being Boobish again, but leave me alone...) I admit to a perverse pleasure in bringing Kathy out of the blue to team with SLUDGE for the draw. I did try to call you on NMR insurance, but I didn't try very hard. I was somewhat worried that you would be angry. I'm glad you're not, and I'll be happy to have you back anytime. [[Hmmm, shouldn't we look for Ed Henry next??]]))
SLUDGE Olsen (standby England) win
There are some standby positions so easy, so well-prepared that even I can't manage to screw them up. This one, for instance. ((Oh, come on! You almost blew the win after Ed Henry handed it to you. There's that cutthroat win-only player that I knew was lurking beneath your benign pudgy exterior!!!)) On coming in long about 1904 ((Spring 1904, it was)) it was quite clear that before I showed up there had been an English-French alliance, and that England had a winning hand in the north. So all I had to do was follow through with blind, mindless, toadyish stubbornness, and it all fell into place.
During the course of this game, I received the single most remarkable letter I've ever gotten in my entire Dip career. Long about 1908, when I was at about 14 centers ((actually going from 10 to 13)) and he was at 2 going on 1, Bernie Oaklyn wrote and offered to play for a strong second in the game, to my win. He challenged me to build him up to 16 units-eliminating all the other countries-and take the 18-16 win. Regrettably, I was not up to this challenge, but I certainly wish Bernie every success in someday finding someone stupid enough to agree to such an arrangement. ((Randy Ellis tried it once with me...but he deserted me, so I was forced to stab his successor. Now I am just stupid enough to turn the tables. What do you say Stephen? You can ignore that, Bob)) Meanwhile, he did at least succeed in convincing me that there still is something new under the sun, and that sheer, unadulterated chutzpah still lives in the world.
The actual plan from day one was to keep pushing until somebody pushed back; despite my occasional tactical ineptitude, nobody really did, and it was a 2-way with France all the way. ((What 2-way? You won, Bob. Don't you remember?? I thought you were just kidding before, but I think you're serious. Congratulations on your second win!!)) It was a shame that Ed Henry played the game almost to the end and then dunderheaded out, but at least I had the satisfaction of achieving a 2-way with Kitton Byrne. ((SLUDGE. You ripped the Kitton to shreds. I haven't seen a more vicious, lying stab since the last coming of da Sleaze. Have you blanked it out? You poor mudball. I've heard some rumours that your memory has been faulty lately. Have you thought about some professional help? I hear Ollie North is looking for a job, maybe he'd like to beat the truth out of you. When you get mad, you can return the favor...)) Of course it was only a standby position...just as our other 2-way was önly" a variant. But at least thanks to Jim-Bob, I have not been forced to listen to a lot of bad-mouthered ((sic, and sic he is...)) slanderous abuse about "winning" and suchlike vicious lies...not like some ((other)) GM's I could mention, GM's who can't even claim the slightest vestige of mammalianism, who habitually blow up nuclear reactors, and who furthermore... ((I thank you for the kind words concerning my honest and kind demeanour. I hope you don't mind this friendly interruption, but the tirade against this unnamed GM goes on for 86 more pages. Do you have any idea how much it would cost to print and mail such a voluminous outpouring of vituperation? According to the new Berchian standards, I am within my rights to return it to you for editing. I exorcise my right regarding the present work. I don't understand, Bob, who could make you lose your cool like this? I hope you will find it in your cool and sludgy heart to forgive this person. I'm concerned for your mental health. This isn't another example of failing memory is it? I would be more than happy to print another attempt to resolve this problem you seem to have about winning. You did win this game. Congratulations!!))
Kitton Byrne (standby France) win
This two way draw really proves what a great diplomat I am. Obviously, convincing a strong England not to stab my poor France took a lot of flirting. ((I'm getting very confused. You slashed that poor helpless SLUDGE to ribbons with your razor sharp claws. He seems to be very confused about this. At least you were kind enough to put him under before you did it. Flirting, indeed! I know this is just another win for you, but trying to be modest will not help one iota. I'm the GM. I know what happened in this game!! I do, I do, I do!!!))
It is very hard to come into a game as a standby and find out that Iron Fist, oops, I mean Bob Olsen is holding your very life in his hands. I found myself hitting my head against a wall. I'd say, ``Honey, go for the win, take my centers", and he'd reply, ``I could never stab you Honey". I knew I'd never convince him to take the win when he refused to build three units. Three units which could have ripped thru France! So I graciously accepted his offer to share in his victory. ((Right, and then you ripped out his heart. Real nice move, Bloodsucker!! Boy are you mean.))
The real shame of the whole thing is that I didn't get to pound Pops into the ground. I wouldn't have minded giving him a few swift kicks after his press! Actually, I would have enjoyed it!
As for the cute little elf, well I wasn't going to hurt him. I wanted him to help stamp out Pops.
As for you, Boob, next time you tell me I definitely won't get a position, how about keeping your word!
| Kathy |
((I'll try... I honestly thought Ed would come back. Thanks for standing by, and congratulations on your well-played win.))
Peter J. Gaughan IV (Turkey) survival
I will always remember this as ``my game with Uncle Bernie", and to a lesser extent with Carl Russell. Very early on, I bought Carl's story and stabbed Bernie - in the same turn, Italy and Austria came after me, taking Bulgaria. Fine, I says, and immediately made profuse apologies to Mr. O, begging for a re-alliance. We fought back the lying Austrian, and I was in the Ionian in Winter '03 thanks to Italian preoccupation with France.
From 1903 to 1908 I got two letters from Bernie for every one I sent him (plus a phone call while I was at my parents', in Northern California, for Christmas two years ago!). Once I waded through all the jingoism about France being England's puppet and how Russia was going to succeed at this and that, I got some very good tactical advice.
Alas, by the time Eric came in and set up the R-A-T, an E-F conclusion was certain. I supported it until Fall 1908 and then went for the biggest survival I could get. I realize Eric and Bernie will think only evil thoughts about ``Father Peter" for a long time, but last-gasp defenses just don't make a lot of sense.
((Thanks, Pete, for sticking with the game to the end. As the first game I ever GMed, it was always fun to have you around.))
Eric Ozog (standby Austria) survival
When Jim-Bob asked me to take over Austria I first thought ``aw shit, I don't want to play", and also considered doing a pirate crusade and suiciding out. Then I thought I'd make the best of it and go for survival. I enlisted Russian and Turkish support, figuring I could get the priest (Father Gaughan) and the devil himself (Uncle Bernie) together to form a stalemate vs. Olsen's and Henry's strong E/F. It worked for awhile, but a stalemate was impossible and the R/A/T fell apart, culminating with Gaughan stabbing me, to grab what he could. I don't blame him one bit, ``Father, you know not what you do".
My congrats to Bob and Kathy, it was especially fine tactics and strategy, Mom, you used to earn that French position. And I know you at least would have kept me alive had the game gone on. Henry certainly would not have, bless his soul, wherever he may be. Too bad I arrived 3 game years too late, for I could have had France! No thanks to you, Jim-Bob, but a good GMing job. You're turning professional; it sort of complements your PhD.
| Till we meet again, Eric |
((That'll do it for Free Lunch. [[This is the best set of comments in my archives about how much fun those games were and how we played, though that's just what's in my archives. Szines were different then, weren't they? Steve Mauris is up next with what might SEEM like an unrelated request about how to run a szine, but Linda Courtemanche's classic comments on the subject are so good and refer to Kathy so well in spirit, that they get reprinted here too.... step back fifteen years...]]))
Steve Mauris (Fri, 23 Aug 2002 19:16:55)
How hard is it to publish a zine? I am considering it, but I don't know if I want to bother with surface mail.
| -Steve, sjmauris of hotmail.com |
Linda Courtemanche (July 25, 1987)
Dear Jim-Boob, Hope you're enjoying (what's left of) your summer! If you're anything like me, you're enjoying it from the comfortable depths of an air-conditioned home. ((Grrr, I can't stand your kool kind. See my press in the next Flick of the Wrist for more on how I hate my unconditioned heat... [[Boy, am I glad I have air conditioning now!!!]])) The humidity around here is something fierce this year, and I hear that extends all the way up and down the Coast. (*Sigh*) My kind of summer afternoon is the intoxicating 80-degree, low-humidity, cloudless one which encourages trips to the lake or the mountains. All the weather now encourages is sleep! ((Easy for you to say! At least you CAN sleep. I'm happy that summer is almost over. Bring on the snow! Bring on the snow!!))
I'll bet you this letter is going to arrive just after an edition of TAP goes out in the mail. ((No bets, you're right as usual. If we keep up this psychic contact (you also sensed the subject of the editorial you hadn't seen), Steve and Charlotte are going to get very jealous.)) I seem to be good at that - and, without regular deadlines from you, I'll probably continue to be good at that! (Hint, hint.) ((Oh, come on, what more can I do? I target getting TAPs out at the same time as each issue of The Boob Report (twice in each five week period), knowing that I'll fall short of the target and get issues out on average once every four weeks. But I won't stick this on a regular schedule that I can't keep to. The games come first on that count. By keeping it fun the szine has a much better chance of lasting longer. This time the last issue was only four weeks ago. So what's your problem? Too many issues?? Tough, you take what I give you!!! [[TAP and the Boob Report used to go out separately with sometimes different schedules in an attempt to keep the games on track always, much as Brad Wilson did in more recent years, with issue 100 I stopped that.]])) But I did want to write anyway, because my interaction with the hobby has, of necessity, plummeted lately to a mere trickle of letters, along with (of course) High Inertia and our two games on flyer. I do want to keep my hand in.... ((Well, well, welcome to the NMRing world of the big-time pubber. I didn't know you were running two games on flyer. Are they the games that used to appear in Rebel with High Inertia? Does that mean that all that wonderful press is ignored by the general public? Oh, woe is us...))
Anyway, on to what I wanted to write about: The Cream Shall Rise! is out, and I have just finished poring over it at lunch (and for a few hours afterward - the bloody encyclopedia is 88 PAGES LONG!). One of Brux's comments in it struck me particularly, because it links right in to a point I had planned to pontificate on in HI sometime, but somehow I kept forgetting about it. Bruce's comment: ``Too many of the top zines are not as timely as they could be." (He made this comment in the context of several areas which could still stand improvement in the hobby.) ((Absolutely, I agree. At this point, as I always try to do when the writer has serious points to make, I will bow out until the end. I hope that with Linda's letter and my editorial last issue we can get some alternative discussion going here, but please don't forget the music focus of the szine! If you forget, be assured that I won't, now back to Linda...))
I have been thinking about this for quite a while, since a number of zines that Steve and I sub to have been notably absent from our mailboxes for long stretches lately. Some have come bouncing back; some have faded into the Twilight Zone. But most of the zines with timeliness problems, it seems to me, have a similar problem:
THEY'RE TOO #$% of &*! GOOD!!! (([[I wish we had that problem today.]]))
This may sound like a dumb criticism to make, but I really do think it is valid if a pubber has to take long unexpected breaks between issues. (The word ``unexpected" is key here. I don't care if someone only comes out four, three, two, one times a year - as long as he/she ANNOUNCES that as a pubbing schedule! Otherwise, the poor reader has to start asking around, ``Say, have you heard anything from....? Did my issue get lost in the mail, or...?" I think most of us have been through this at one time or another.) What I am trying to say is that each pubber should KNOW HIS/HER LIMITS. Otherwise, he or she is eventually going to find him/herself wading in some pretty deep hobby guacamole, with a stack of unanswered letters and unadjudicated games, a disgruntled readership who is losing interest in the games and is waiting for its money back, a load of guilt the size of Texas for not being on time, and an intensity of pressure which is bound to spill over into how that pubber conducts other parts of his/her life. For a pubber who got into the hobby for fun, none of it is going to seem that much fun anymore. And yet, the problem could have been avoided so easily.
The majority of zines I know which are running late seem to have gotten too big and ambitious for their pubbers' schedules and/or wallets. Some were born that way. And that's what I mean when I say pubbers should know their limits. To explain this, let me postulate ``The Pubber's Ten Commandments":
1. START SMALL. I have been staggered by the size and complexity of a number of recent zines starting out - the number of pages, the professional production, the number of gamestarts offered, the length and scope of discussion forums. As a reader, of course, that kind of zine thrills (and sometimes even overwhelms) me. As a pubber, I know the enormous number of hours which must be poured into an effort like that and how easily it can lead to burnout. Any new pubber should ease into that kind of commitment, rather than diving in headfirst! One or two gamestarts, a few pages of discussion, simple production techniques should be advised for a novice pubber. After he/she has tested the waters and knows whether he ((shouldn't that be ``he/she"? I prefer inclusive language to these awkward slashes. It's an important issue, but the result has to make sense in spoken English or it won't work. I prefer to adjust syntax to the plural (e.g. they) as an alternative to he/she. Besides, he/she always puts the male first. But I did say I wasn't going to interrupt...fooled you again)) can afford the time, energy, and money loss, the zine can be made a bit more elaborate. But the new pubber should take his/her zine one step at a time, and stop expanding the minute any part of the investment becomes more than he/she can comfortably handle.
2. PLAN AHEAD. I recall a hobby pubber who thought it was enough to plan six months in advance in considering pubbing and game starts. I do not agree. As anyone who plays knows, an average Dip game, run on a regular schedule, lasts two or three years of real time. Every time a pubber starts a game, he/she should be conscious of this and take into account what life-changes to expect in that time. Of course, some changes are unpredictable, but a careful pubber should plan to leave as few orphans as is physically possible, assuming he/she finds his/her life takes such an extreme twist that continued adjudications are impossible.
3. DON'T WIMP OUT. Don't ever let anyone talk you into more gamestarts than you can handle, a more elaborate zine than you can afford, becoming a zine if you don't feel the time is right, or having more subbers than you think you can hack pubbing for.
4. SWITCH GEARS. If life gets very busy, don't be afraid to set up a new pubbing schedule you can handle. Just because you've always come out every month doesn't mean you have to keep doing it. State your new schedule clearly -then keep to it. I think readers prefer knowing where they stand to expecting a monthly issue that doesn't come for six months.
5. CONSIDER FAMILY. Any time a pubber is deciding whether to start or expand a zine, he/she must keep in mind the amount of time it will take away from family time. It is the rare Dipster with a husband or wife or significant other in the hobby, and even those relationships must find ``quality time" to survive and thrive - ALL relationships must. No Dipzine is worth breaking up over! So plan your pubbing schedule accordingly, and don't take hobby frustrations out on family members (I have done this; it's easy to get TOO serious about pubbing).
6. HAVE FUN! If a pubber begins to see the zine as a chore rather than as an enjoyable venture (on a regular basis, I mean; all pubbers consider it a drag at certain times!), it is definitely time for that pubber to begin looking at his/her zine to see if he/she is overextending.
7. BE HONEST. Admit to yourself an area of pubbing you are worried about, and then you will be able to plan a solution. Too many games? Begin to consider a guest GM or the Orphan Service. Too many pages? Think about whittling away at the size of the ``feature" section of the zine. Too much money spent? Consider raising your sub fees, cutting trades, initiating or raising game fees, establishing a cutoff point for your sub list. Too disorganized? Get your sub system in order.
8. SEE THE BIG PICTURE. Pubbing is probably only one of your hobby activities. To start or expand a zine, something else on your schedule will probably have to go. It might be taking on fewer or no new games, subbing to fewer zines, refusing or finding someone new for a hobby service, or voting for draws in some games you are in. The solution to your pubbing problem might be outside your pubbing.
9. REMEMBER REAL LIFE. Don't let your pubbing career get so big that you find yourself turning down get-togethers with friends or relatives, neglecting your job or abusing its privileges (Xerox, coffee breaks, telephones) in order to work on your zine or games, planning vacations or household needs around your pubbing schedule.
10. FOLD CLEANLY. When the time comes to close down shop, make it a good break for you and your readers by taking it on yourself to rehouse your games (if at all possible), return sub fees quickly and voluntarily, notify all subbers and traders of your decision as soon as you can make it and then follow through with arrangements in what the business world calls ``a timely fashion". Then get back to your post-pubbing life knowing you have left publishing in good standing, and you can go back to enjoying being a ``civilian"!
Anyway, Jim-Boob, I appreciate your providing me with the forum for gettiing all this off my chest. I hope all this helps someone, and congrats on your own zine, which is always fascinating to read and very well-produced.
| Best always, Linda Courtemanche, 1021 Penn Circle, Apt. E-402, King of Prussia, PA 19406 |
((Thank you, Linda, for a thought provoking letter. I appreciate the comments about my szine as well. I agree with Linda in questioning the service to the hobby that is done when pubbers start up big, popular szines only to have them fold when the pubbers get in over their heads. Unfortunately, there is ego involved and ego drives many pubbers to get into publishing at all. Periodically, I have to resist the temptation to try to do a ``big szine". Forcing myself to do two small szines in my way of dealing with that problem, but all pubbers should be willing to face it in some way. Most of the rest of what Linda said mirrors countless letters I wrote to pubbers as Orphan Service custodian. I guess my best public statement of those thoughts was my article that appears on the back page of Bruce Linsey's Once Upon a Deadline, the pubbers handbook. My feeling about that project, despite its laudable, impressive completeness, is that it makes me feel too many of those destructive ``bigness" urges. Speaking of Bruce, I have the letter up next that those of you who have been around for awhile were expecting after last issue's editorial. Let me emphasize that there will be no feuding in this szine. PERIOD. However, as a former hobby custodian, I have considered carefully the purpose of hobby projects. Let me share with you my primary conclusion. Hobby projects must be conducted in a completely positive way, with positive results, to the greatest extent possible. Unintended harm and hurt are always possible, but the institutional conduct of the project must be channeled in positive directions. For example, in the Orphan Service, my former project, I never assessed blame, never levied blind threats, never treated any individual in a way that I would not want to be treated, but only tried to help resolve problems. In general, all of the custodians of the Orphan Service in my memory have operated in that manner, but think about the implications if the Orphan Service were not operated benevolently....))
Gary Behnen (Thu, 22 Aug 2002 20:02:22 EDT)
Jim, Diplomacy rem embrances are numerous, but I knew her best as a GM/Pubber and fellow inaugural BB Leaguer. The highest praise I know to give is that her 'zine KK was always timely, fairly adjudicated and had a tremendous player's list with minimal NMRs and I don't remember her missing the playoffs!
My fondest memory is picking her up at the airport in KC in the late 80s or early 90s for a Poolcon and taking her back to ``The Farm" on the Kansas Plains. (It was a running joke with Kathy because invariably new Dip players would send you the ``Hi, I'm 35, have 2 kids and a dog..." letter and for a while my response was, to say the least, a ``fabrication" about a crazy old farmer. Someone mentioned it to her and she got quite a hoot out of it.) Having never met Kathy and only "knowing" her through games/letters/calls I expected to meet a cross between Maria from West Side Story and Wonder Woman. She purposely didn't fill me in and said she'd pick me out. As I dutifully waited as people disembarked waiting for some eye contact/recognition, eventually I noticed someone standing next to me...of course, I knew then it was Kathy...I never felt the blade until I sat down in the car!
She was the consummate competitor and I was privileged to call her a friend. I will miss her...
| Greedy (Never could shake that nickname she gave me, either), Emuchiefs of aol.com |
((Jim-Boob? No kidding! One question I was going to ask Daf and Gary about one of my remembrances. I remember that Kathy went to one of the Pudgecon's at Bob Olsen's house, I thought it was the same one that Daf came to where Gary, Daf and I (and others) got in that huge water fight where we flooded out Bob's basement with Russ Rusnak (one of the places I got my nickname for Bob Olsen of Sludge!). But perhaps that was a different Pudgecon. I know Kathy and Gary were together at the same one, weren't they??))
Daf Langley (Thu, 22 Aug 2002 10:05:54 -0700)
I've been thinking about this for a few days now. Even though Kathy and I hadn't talked in years, she was still someone who I counted as a friend. As I heard the news from Don, I must admit that, while the news hurt very much, I couldn't bring up a picture of Kathy's face. I had met her a few times. Once at her place in New York and once when she came out to stay with Steve and I in California.
She could definitely light up a room. But, speaking as another diva who appreciates being the center of attention (I know, hard to believe!), she never made you feel like you were being upstaged.
In the last few days, I've been reliving that time in my life. Remembering old friends who I hadn't thought of in years. And there, amidst the memories, was her face. Luckily it was a sunny day and I had on my sunglasses - so no one could see the sudden tears in my eyes.
I know everyone has a Kathy story. It's a part of who she was. I just wanted to let you all know that I have found her face in my memory. Possibly months, years too late, but it is there. And with that face are the memories of a golden time. And to let you know that I care for each and every one of you. It's big hug time and this is mine to you.
I remember well the PudgeCon where we flooded his ((Bob Olsen's)) basement with our waterfight - which, I seem to remember - started with squirtguns and progressed to kettles of water being thrown about. What was the name of the guy from Ohio - or was it Iowa - who was in the middle of that with us? ((Well, Russ Rusnak was, you doused him with QUITE a kettle of water, but Jim Williams was the one from Iowa.)) Were Gary and Kathy at that one? Gary might have been, but I don't remember Kathy. She was at the one previously that Steve had gone to before I ``shacked" up with him! ((Correct, see below for details....))
I hope John will quit worrying about us and take care of himself. I can't imagine what he's feeling right now. I've got his phone number, so I think I'll call him in a week or two.
I've been thinking about Michalski lately. I'd love to get back in touch with him. ((I have Michalski's postal address, but not his E-Mail address. I expect we'll get some reaction from John after he reads all of this.)) Is Dave Grabar still around? He should be told if he hasn't already. ((Grabar is in John's baseball league and John is making us talk about our playoff runs to get his mind off things. Grabar's team stinks, but I'm fighting Dicko (Martin) and Behnen for the playoffs. You wouldn't believe how life in the Caruso household in the last 8-10 years has revolved around that baseball league. Kathy's Mets team won the last World Series for the first time in awhile and just surged into First Place in the NL East this last turn that John ran just before the funeral. We all told him not to, but he did.))
I saw in an email somewhere that someone told Steve for which I am grateful. The old Madison bunch? Rusnak, Petersen, Ozog? Ron CA Brown? Larry Peery? The man/woman from Enid, Oklahoma (I'm having a hard time coming up with his name!). ((Oh yes, Frauke Petersen and Scott Hanson. They are still married and living in Germany. They have a little baby whose pictures were on their website the last I looked (I'll have to look it up). No one has told them, I believe, but I'll alert them about this issue. I've heard NOTHING from Ron CA Brown for a very long time. He must be in a deep depression that the Rams moved to St. Louis and THEN got good. He was a massive Rams fan. I hope you don't mind if I print some of this for everyone to see.))
I appreciate your asking. It is a grim task. But I must say, I've had such a wonderful bitter sweet time remembering those old days. It's terrible that it takes someone's death to send me back there.
| Daf, langley of lasher.com |
((I've been hunting around for a good picture, possibly to publish next issue and would welcome some assistance. I could do a special full page color front page to the szine. I can scan it if someone can send one to me - I will return it. I want to offer extra tremendous special thanks to Gary Coughlan for making this issue almost what it needed to be.... let's let Gary go on for a bit.))
Gary Coughlan (Fri, 23 Aug 2002 19:48:47 -0500)
I too would like to say something about Kathy. I dug up some articles about her for Jim-Bob to print in TAP if he wishes but I mainly wanted to find those articles (they were in my hot, dusty attic in my zine collection) for me so I recall the good times I had with her. I'd like to share my earliest encounter with Kathy........
I entered the hobby in late 1979 and among the many zines that I subscribed to was Ter-ran published by Steve Heinowski out of Ohio. He welcomed me into what I soon learned during 1980 was a zine of many good friends who loved to poke fun at each other, who played in several games together, who waged press wars and taunted and good-naturedly teased each other in the letter column and submitted articles on all kinds of topics. It was in this zine that I first encountered Faz, John Caruso and Kathy Byrne (as she was known before she married John).
In 1980, I was a complete novice, everyone has to start somewhere, and one of my first games was in Ter-ran where I was very much the new kid on the block placed in Italy right next to a larger-than-life-even-then Mark ``Faz" Fassio--shades of ``Odyssey" 21 years later. Not only that, but this game, Steve said, was going to be a ``Bourse" Diplomacy game where the readers of the entire zine could participate and ``buy stock" in the countries that they thought would do well.
When Spring 1901 results were revealed, it was obvious that my Italy was at the bottom of the heap among the Bourse players, of whom Kathy was one. As it turned out, I did what I always would do in Diplomacy games, and ``pestered" my friends and enemies with letters. I also ``attacked" the Bourse players in my press who had failed to ``invest" in my Italy and ``reward" those who had bought Italian stock with Italian art treasures like ``David", the ``Pieta", etc.
I got a letter from the Kathy Byrne herself and trembling and shaking I opened it up. What could this world-famous female Dip player be writing lowly me for? Like everyone else in Ter-ran, and in zines across North America, I avidly read Kathy and about Kathy-she generated a lot of press, articles and comments. In this letter, she told me that she and John Caruso would be calling me on the telephone the next Saturday and told me the time. I was stunned and very nervous.
Saturday came and I answered with my deep Southern accent to a raspy, wise-cracking Brooklyn brogue-Kathy. ``I love your accent" she cooed to me and I was overwhelmed with her friendliness.
Among other things, she told me she was going to be buying lots of Italian stock in the Bourse from now on because, and I'll never forget these words, ``your letters make an impact on people". I felt I had been knighted by a Queen and I guess I had been.
I went on to do very well in this Ter-ran game, and make my Bourse backers a lot of money, and I owe a lot of it to Kathy's encouragement of me at a time when I was feeling left out of the ``in crowd". In this same game, Kathy also showed her great competitive spirit when John Caruso came in as the Russian standby. ``This is going to ruin all my Bourse plans. I don't know why Steve put John in this game!" Kathy bemoaned. This is the Kathy that I want to remember. Always.
I found another Kathy story that may be of interest to y'all since she instigated it and it truly shows her sense of humor at its best and how she loved flouting authority.. It's from the Thanksgiving ByrneCon, November 24-27, 1983 that Bob Olsen, Mike Mazzer, Mike Mills, Tom Swider, Robert Sacks, Woody and I, among many others, attended and we were all in this game with Kathy. Here is the con report I wrote. I'm so glad I wrote reports because almost all of this stuff I have forgotten after nearly 20 years....
``Back to ByrneCon [after eating out at a steakhouse], where we decided to play a gunboat game on Kathy's Dutch Dip set that Woody had bought for her in Europe. Robert Sacks was the GM so we decided to play with his mind. We used the Dutch abbreviations (by checking in the rule book) for army, fleet and the provinces, as well as for hold, support and convoy and build and remove.
So ``A Swe" became ``L Zwe" and ``F Bla" became ``V Zwa". When we got tired of that, we switched countries. I was Russia, Italy and Germany in this game at various times. Then we started adding extra units to the board, called in English ``Flying Dutchman" and that's where Sacks finally caught on-when he read the orders, not because of seeing us add units right under his eyes. He picked up the board and dumped it!
We went for an ombudsman as Sacks tightly held the orders, the ``evidence". Carl Russell and then Bruce Linsey were our ombudsmen and Sacks said that it appeared several players in the game had been (gasp!) ``cheating", but he wanted to apologize to the English and German players because it seemed they hadn't. (This was Mills and Swider, the two worst offenders of all!).
Now I'm not sure if it was Saturday or Sunday, because I didn't see it, although I certainly heard about it, but Woody had been badgering Sacks about the gunboat game and other things. Eyewitnesses say that when Woody gave Sacks his choice of being called ``Bob", ``Bobby" or ``Robbie" and started using ``Bobby" instead of the ``Robert" that Sacks prefers, Sacks went after him with a beer bottle. No one believed this who saw it. Anyway, I understand that Sacks requested that Woody not be invited to the New Year's ByrneCon, and Woody says he intends to go and aggravate him even more then.
This was the day that the cokes and other drinks ran out and Robert Sacks was thirsty. Kathy told him to drink some of the Amaretto and Cognac, telling him it was like Kool-Aid. And he did!"
| Gary, bamboopnuts of msn.com |
Gary Coughlan (Sat, 24 Aug 2002 16:57:27 -0500)
Jim-Bob, My printer/scanner is out and I don't have any pictures, I'm sorry. I'm glad that you have enjoyed the articles. All I have available to me now are my old EE issues. Going through them brought back a lot of memories as I was searching, and some of those were bad ones that I have forgotten. Until this weekend, and doing these articles I have never felt like I was back in the ``hobby mindset" where it is dominating my thoughts. Can't say I like that aspect of it either but Kathy's passing cannot be overlooked.
I typed up a DAFCON III report for Daf, Steve and Don from 1983-1984 (it was on New Year's) that I went to and you were mentioned. Steve was driving me back to San Francisco to the airport and I'll paste it in: You were the next to the last item in this list. I had forgotten so many things.......
``Some highlights for me at DafCon III. Riding in Doug Beyerlein's Volvo. The group picture we took where Terry Tallman wore a paper sack to hide the visage of the ``Hobby Sex Ghod" and stood on a stool to make himself appear taller than he already was. ((I remember that picture, it made me laugh and laugh and laugh!)) Seeing the disbelief of the West Coast when they saw my pictures of East Coast and MidWest hobby members. My hands turning green for no apparent reason. Getting a new nickname (``Smoothie Coughlan") from Don Williams. Watching Clark Reynolds in action patiently explaining the rules to Civilization. I'd believe anything this man said. Please don't put me in a game with him! Jeanette Shearer telling me that I have a Midwestern accent and denying that she has a British one since she lived in Oregon all her life. Don Williams backed me up on that. Betting Steve Langley(rightly) that Jim Burgess has had 3 addresses in Rhode Island. Daf's and Maria's laughter."
| Til later....Gary, bamboopnuts of msn.com |
Gary Coughlan (Thu, 22 Aug 2002 13:01:49 -0500)
Here is what I found about the PudgeCons, along with some tidbits:
(1) These cons were not called by this name at first, at least the first one wasn't. It was referred to as ``ToadyCon" and ``WichitaCon". By the time the second one came around they were referred to as PudgeCons.
(2) The first PudgeCon was held September 10-12, 1982--almost 20 years ago, can you believe it? 21, including Bob Olsen were there. Before this time, Bob had only met of us and that one was....Mike Mazzer!
(3) The 21 at the first PudgeCon in alphabetical order: Steve ``Woody" Arnawoodian, Jim Burgess, Kathy Byrne, Gary Coughlan, Randy Ellis, Al Giddings, Scott Hanson, Stuart Lancaster, Steve Langley, Mark Luedi, Mike Mazzer, John Michalski, Bob Olsen, Bob Osuch, Eric Ozog, Al Pearson, Marc Peters, Dave Pilant, Paul Rauterberg, Keith Sherwood and Bill Yeaton. ((And I came up by bus from Dallas across Oklahoma, that year where I got the ``Jim-Bob'' nickname. Everyone carried Europa Express's as badges of identification in the airports and bus stations.... but I didn't come as far by bus as ONE memorable attendee...))
(4) Kathy and the lst PudgeCon: ``Kathy and Woody flew to Pittsburgh where they met Al Pearson and all three of them flew to Kansas City where they met Scott Hanson, rented a car and drove 4 hours to reach Wichita." Maybe Woody or Scott could talk about what must have been a memorable car ride.
(5) Woody and Bob Olsen met me (Gary) at the airport and ``they said that Michalski and Byrne had finally met each other. Toots and Luscious together at last."
(6) Steve Langley had traveled by bus for 14 hours from California to reach Wichita. Kathy, at this con, told us she had called Steve Langley on the telephone a few weeks previously, never having talked to him before and: ``pretended that she had gotten his name from a dating service called ``Love Mates". Steve was puzzled on the phone and said she must have made a mistake. She said ``Aren't you Steve Langley, don't you have two daughters?" When Steve said, ``Yes, but..." Kathy said, ``Look, I paid $50.00 to get you name from ``Love Mates" so when are we going to go out?!" She finally told him who she was.''
(7) Another quote from my review of this first PudgeCon: ``John Caruso, who couldn't go to Wichita, had sent a postcard to Bob Olsen telling him to watch over Kathy and keep her away from Michalski or else. I believe the phrase was ``If he lays one hand or anything else on her, I'm coming after ya." The picture I took for Kathy's ``snapshot collection" with her in Michalski's lap with his tongue wagging around, speaks for itself!"
(8) I had carried a big army duffel bag full of squirt guns. Michalski got the Magnum, Kathy had one called the ``Spunkler" and I had a ``Lugar". We would do refills at the kitchen faucet.
(9) I had forgotten that Daf was the hobby's designated ``official UnknownCon Call Girl" and she got a call from this first PudgeCon: ``John Michalski called Daphne and we all talked to her. I'm sure she was glad to have been called in the daytime rather than at night for a change, right, Russ?" [This must be referring to Rusnak]
While looking for this stuff, I found an article Daf had written for my zine about the calls she would get and I'd like to put that in here too: Daf says: ``There is another aspect to the ordinary phone call. It is the infamous Gang Call. Imagine if you will, laying in bed at 3 in the morning and having your sleep shattered by a ringing telephone. You pick it up, expecting heavy breathing, and discover it is a bunch of drunken Dip maniacs calling from Illinois. Call me a masochist, but I loved it! I heard a blow by blow description of the game in progress, I talked to a lot of delightful people and when they all finally passed out and hung up, I saw a beautiful sunrise to boot. Actually, instead of being mad, I'm flattered to be the official UnknownCon Call Girl. Gee, maybe, I should rephrase that.
(10) Comments were made on various sleeping people: ``observing how innocent Langley looked when he slept and how conscienceless Mazzer looked when he was asleep"
Then Pudgecon II, when they were referred to as PudgeCons, was August 12-15, 1983. Eighteen showed up at this one: (1) In attendance: alphabetically: Peter Ashley, Mike Barno, Jim Burgess, Gary Coughlan, Jeff Ellis, Randy Ellis, Daf, Scott Hanson, Steve Langley, Mike Mazzer, John Michalski, Bob Olsen, Eric Ozog, Marc Peters, Frauke Petersen, Russ Rusnak, Carl Russell and Jim Williams. ((This time I flew to Chicago and drove to Wichita on the Ozog lovemobile road trip. I think we had Barno, Ozog, Peters, Russ Rusnak, and Carl Russell on board?))
(2) This con received phone calls from James Woodson, Tom Swider, Woody and........Don Williams
(3) This is the one where Daf masqueraded as a Hare Krishna at the airport when they came to pick us up. We had never seen Daf up to this point. An excerpt: ``a Hare Krishna woman started bugging me to make a donation. I had dealt with these people while in the Army at airports in Los Angeles and San Francisco but Wichita?! She kept pace with me telling me that hers was an international organization and would I like to read their material? How about a contribution of 71 cents? Wouldn't I just look at the material. No, no, no! Then the woman said, ``Gary!" It was then that I met Daf and got the gag. She was carrying the Voice of Doom houserules (infamous for their length which cost 71 cents to mail). The odd figure for a donation didn't even dawn on me as I just wanted to be rid of this pest! Later that night, they would play the same trick on Mike Mazzer who also fell for it until he heard the 71 cents."
(4) The water pistol at this fight surpassed the level of the first one: ``Friday night was the first of two massive water gun fights complete with hot water in the guns and glasses of water poured over heads....Daf found out how a squirt gun fight could degenerate into a ``wet t-shirt contest"....The second water fight was on Saturday night. Out of 21 water pistols, only 7 still operated after it was all over. I don't mean some minor misfunction--I mean they were broken."
(5) At the very end, Daf, Steve and I were left at Bob's and this incident happened: ``Before leaving, Bob had a saleslady come to his door inquiring about his children. He told her he didn't have any. She asked him to tell her if any of his neighbors had children. Just when he finished telling her this, I said in small voice (I was out of sight from the door), ``Who's at the door, Daddy?" Bob's stunned look was priceless as we all knew the saleslady had heard me. He hastily shut the door and said: ``Go to your room!"
I know all of this wasn't strictly about Kathy but I feel we need some ``remembered happiness" and she was a big part of it. I don't recall if there were any PudgeCons after this........I didn't go if there were.....and since I have to soon leave for work today, I haven't had time to scan the EEs beyond this.
| Til later....Gary, bamboopnuts of msn.com |
((Wow, what memories... my all time favorite memories of the first PudgeCon were about the gaming, and those of the second one were about the water fights! The first Pudgecon featured a game with me as Russia and Kathy as Germany (I think that's what it was) where I ruthlessly stabbed and attacked her until she finally screamed at me.... ``You Boob, I'll crush you like a worm.'' And then she did! I never could play Russia... and at one point Eric Ozog and I spent an entire negotiation turn alternating between giggling and laughing hysterically on Bob's front lawn about some insanely funny move that had just happened. What fun!!))
Bob Osuch (Thu, 22 Aug 2002 18:58:41 EDT)
Funny, cuz I was at Pudgecon I and had visited Bob in Wichita before that... rode with Paul Rauterberg and I think it was Ozog and Marc Peters or Mark Luedi in the other car. And we did call it Pudgecon, but not until we started writing it up afterwards. Paul had a convertible and it was hotter than hell on the drive down. I think we made it in about nine hours. So we get in the door at Olsen's and I sit down, exhausted, and Byrne jumps on my lap and asks ``Are you good in bed?" I was too shocked to answer but I had finally met Kathy. We had a great time, though,as opposed to other Cons, I pretty much kept out of the limelight. I do remember going out to dinner with Toots and Kathy and others. And the squirt guns, of course, and talking with Sherwood about something psychedelic. And I did get credit for my comment on a girl we saw while out ... ``looks like 30 miles of bad road", which Luedi later would name his zeen.
| Bob, ROsuch4082 of aol.com |
((Hey, wait a minute, that doesn't sound like Ludes' story on that! I will get something out of Mr. Luedi yet, stand up for yourself, Mark!!))
Vince Lutterbie (Tue, 27 Aug 2002 09:51:13 -0500)
Hi Jim;
I first got to know Kathy through Feuilletonist's Forum (I know that I misspelled that!). ((No, you didn't.... well, truthfully, I fixed it....)) It was my first PBM game and Kathy was the first to write to me. She always signed her letters ``Grandma", even though she wasn't much older than I. She was Italy (of course) and I was England. We got going in the game, but the zine folded and the game was never successfully orphaned.
Nevertheless, we ended up in many games together, and became friends. Gary Behnen and I went to a few Cons together, and one of them was the last PudgeCon in Wichita, Kansas. It was shortly after that, that Gary and I decided to host a few Cons at my place. They were called PoolCon. We have had many hobby notables attend, including some of the CADs; Michael Lowrey and Dan Sellers among them. Anyway, Kathy showed at the 2nd one, maybe 1990, I don't recall exactly.
Kathy was a character, and more full of life and humor than any other two people. She was not afraid of anything, or anybody and had a great fount of love in her. She was the highlight of the Con.
A few years later, I mostly dropped out of Dip, but have stayed active in other games, with some overlap into the hobby. I have been receiving TAP for years (Thank you!), and this has allowed me to keep up with the hobby. Anyway, I noticed Kathy's name here and there as she'd pillage newbies and old timers alike.
To say that she was a character would be trite, and an understatement, but it happens to be true. I've never met John, but she wrote so much about him, and talked so much about him, that I feel as if I know him. I know life is tough for him right now and he has my prayers and good will. Hang in there John, or else Kathy will kick your butt.
I'll miss my friend Kathy Caruso, but never forget her.
| Vince, MGLUTTV of mail.dmh.state.mo.us |
((Thanks, Vince, this starts a train of these notes that really make me cry. And, speaking of Kathy as a ``character'' let's go with this one next:))
Steve Emmert (Sat, 24 Aug 2002 19:45:00 -0400)
Jim, recently I got the following note from Suzanne Castagne, an incredibly talented player living near Paris:
From: ``Suzanne Castagne" < sucastag of wanadoo.fr > : Who was Kathy Caruso? Was there really a woman who was one of the best diplomacy players ? What sort of a ``character" was she?
I hope she won't mind my answering her publicly, as it were. Yes, Suzanne, the best player in the world was, for a time, a woman. Kathy was legendary, a masterful tactician and superior communicator who added a rapier wit to her formidable diplomatic talents. I am poorly equipped to write about her role in the hobby, but I'll try here.
I joined the postal Dip hobby in the mid- to late 80's, so I came in after the brightest period of Kathy's play. But that didn't stop her from giving me a nickname, something she did for all the people she liked, according to Don Williams. Mine was ``Mooseman," a reference to my affinity for the cartoon character Bullwinkle. I got to meet Kathy once, at her home in Brooklyn, where my wife and I were invited one Saturday afternoon. We didn't play Diplomacy, but I enjoyed the chance to simply be with someone who was esteemed with the very best of players, and an ebullient personality as well.
I can't tell you the secret of Kathy's ability, though I have heard from others small snippets of her tactics: The last-minute phone call, just before the deadline, designed to make you uneasy with your ally, just enough to get you to change your orders in a way she could exploit. The aggressive play from positions where one would expect passivity, or at least patience. (The Byrne Opening, which in my opinion is the best opening for Italy, is named for her.) The attack press, a technique all but unknown to PBEM players, but the very soul of PBM play. (Similarly, she inspired the title, ``Byrnesse Abuse" for needling but good-natured attacks on a player.)
I got to play against Kathy once, in what turned out to be her last game. It was an invitational game, and Kathy had to be coaxed out of retirement by Don. As it turned out, she really didn't have the time to devote to the game, and she wound up getting eliminated early. So I didn't see her game at her best. But others did. Recently, when I ran the game My Melon, Callie Baby, I invited the Academy to vote for the best player you'd ever faced. I voted in my own poll, and I voted for Mark Fassio, who won Kathy's last game. And he has written to me recently to say (I hope he doesn't mind my quoting him here) that he has respected the play of a great many players, but he feared only one, and that was you-know-who. If the best player I've ever faced tells me that Kathy was the only player who scared him, that really tells you something.
Kathy married John Caruso, a very capable Dip player in his own right. John was a terror on the board if you attacked him, but I never got to see that; I only saw the man who went far out of his way to accommodate a man (and his opera singer wife) who he'd never met, simply because his wife asked him to do so. It was apparent to me that John loved Kathy deeply, despite the absence of outward displays of emotion toward each other. They LIKED each other, and that's the basis of a successful marriage; I have made sure it's the foundation of my own.
Kathy was abrasive, outrageously funny, and tactically brilliant. She had an unfettered abilty to laugh, and would dare to laugh AT you. If you were shortsighted, you might take offense at first. But then you'd realize that she was right, and you'd start to laugh at yourself. The ability to do that is priceless.
Whenever I get together with my Dip friends, I have always offered a toast to the man who has given me such happiness and so many wonderful friends: ``To Allan Calhamer." Now I have another name to add to that toast.
Yes, Suzanne. She was really the best.
| Steve, steve.emmert of cox.net |
P. S. Jim, if I can get Suzanne's mailing address, will you send her the next issue of TAP on me? Suzanne, will you give me that address?
((I'd be happy to do so, but your money isn't good on this one. Anyone that anyone wants me to send this issue to does it on my dime. I might let you buy me dinner again or make me mint julep one day, but this one's on me. I have met Suzanne... in Paris for one that I remember. Now, the last part from Gary, and I'll let him end it where he ended that article in Europa Express all those years ago. If anyone has more to say next issue [and I know some of you do] I'll continue this.))
Gary Coughlan (Sat, 17 Aug 2002 18:32:53 -0500)
Hi Jim-Bob, I decided to go ahead and type the two articles up. They wiped away some of my sadness and brought back some wonderful memories and I hope they do the same for you. Let me know what you think..........Gary
These are two articles about Kathy Byrne Caruso and one is by her with her own chosen title. Both are from the pre-email early 1980s when the Diplomacy hobby was almost totally postal and, just as now, females were a rarity. All of Kathy's voluminous correspondence was hand-written in a beautifully seductive, very feminine flowing script, full of loops and curves.
((And you can find Kathy's famous article on playing Italy, still the best one ever written on the subject, on Stephen Agar's www.diplomacy-archive.com web site. These are JUST perfect!!))
The first article appeared in Steve Heinowski's dipzine Ter-ran #37 in which Kathy describes first coming to the hobby and meeting her eventual husband, John Caruso who she describes in this article as ``a true dippy addict". In Kathy's own words.......
| PLAYER PROFILE: Is She For Real? --by Kathy Byrne |
Since I can't stand reading Blind Pan anymore [Pubber Steve's monthly column in Ter-ran], I am going to attempt to fill up Steve's empty space with a player profile on none other than that die-hard *&#$# from New York. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a creature from outer space sent here to infiltrate the male Diplomacy world. ((That was Ieapo Stabo!)) I am a normal (semi-normal, would you believe, crazy?) 30 year old (whose grey hair is multiplying with every stab) bookkeeper with 3 children including a set of twins.
Two years ago I started dating a true dippy addict. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore (if you can't beat'em, join'em), so I signed up for a game in Ter-ran (Steve, were you lucky-of all the zines I was getting, I liked yours best-just think you almost lost me to Jerry Jones!).
The odds in Diplomacy are amazing: it's a 100,000 to 1 shot that there will be another female in the game, but it's a 1,000,000 to 1 shot that out of the other 6 guys, one will side with me. One such player wrote, ``You belong in the kitchen", but I had no idea what his gripe was as I always write my moves and letters in the kitchen.
My first year in Diplomacy is almost completed (I'd be rich if I had a quarter from everyone who said I wouldn't make it); but 4 months ago I was ready to hang it up. Steve convinced me to stick it out for a while longer (boy, is he a glutton for punishment). He really believed that the players would get used to me. Well, I'm glad now that I listened to him. Last game start, I was considered to be a ``normal" player, allies were not so hard to find and people were even listening to my strategies. So, there's hope for the female wargamer yet, and I expect to beg and plead for a long time (this time any bet gladly accepted-I know I'll be around a year from now, the worst is over!)
Na-no, Na-no Earthlings
PS Any wife, girlfriend, etc. considering joining the world of Dip, get in touch with me. I will be happy to pass along some tips and words of encouragement.
The second article was about Kathy and it appeared in EUROPA EXPRESS
#12 (March 4, 1982), a theme issue devoted to women players in the
Diplomacy hobby from all over the world.
| ALL ABOUT KATHY --by Gary Coughlan |
``There never was, and there never will be, another like you." (from the motion picture All About Eve (1950), George Sanders to Anne Baxter). These words are also descriptive of New Yorker Kathy Byrne, one of the best players that Diplomacy has ever seen--male or female.
And Kathy is definitely female. As she wrote to me in her beautiful feminine handwriting: ``I mean who else but me can finish Round One at [ORIGINS convention] with at least fifty guys watching while I give my two allies a kiss!" Who else indeed!
And Kathy is definitely an excellent player. She won fourth place, out of 120, at last year's GenCon East. She recently won the hobby-wide Whitestonia Best Players Poll. She is currently the only player, ever in the history of the hobby, male or female, to have three postal wins as Italy. She also has a postal win as Russia.
With such tremendous achievements, combined with the fact that she is a female, Kathy is probably the most well-known hobby member today. Virtually everyone has at least heard her name even if they know nothing else about her.
Kathy's high visibility also stems from the many games she enters in many zines. By all accounts, she is a very active negotiator in her games. As one anonymous writer told me: ``She has tremendous persuasive powers, much of which stems from the fact that she's female...You have to give her credit; before she's done she'll have amassed one of the more impressive records in Dip history. And she is a good tactical player."
And she is also a good writer, winning second place in the recent Whitestonia Best Writers Poll. Kathy does two subzines: Kathy's Kornor in Whitestonia and Kathy's Kode in Coat of Arms. She has also written articles and letters in scores of zines on a wide variety of subjects. And she rarely, if ever, fails to submit press in her many games.
And, as Kathy writes, so is she written about. EVERYWHERE. She has been praised, vilified, adored, hated, applauded and abused. She has been portrayed as the Mona Lisa in color lithographs (an expensive process), satirized in numerous cartoons and characterized as the ``Bloodsucker" in several games:
``Bloodsucker?" repeated Vlad bemusedly.
``Yes, the most notorious, hideous, sadistic monster in history-a fiend in female form who..."
``Bloodsucker?"
``That's what they call her. Because..."
Vlad sighed and clasped his hands to his chest. ``I tink," he said, ``I tink I am in luff." [Excerpt from Bob Osuch's Mass Murders subzine. Vlad was the wonderful press writer Bob Olsen's nom de plume]
All of this fascination with, and public comment on, the hobby's foremost female and one of its few women has magnified Kathy's every success, stab and failure. On her person, the hobby tends to project its prejudices of ``Woman". Frequent cartoons about Kathy tend to show the two extremes of how she is regarded: A sultry sexy temptress or a brutal female ferocity.
At last year's GenCon East, Al Pearson, pubber of Just Among Friends, handed out ``I Was BYRNED at GenCon East certificates with boxes to check for the ``Type of Byrne" (lst-, 2nd-,3rd-degree or Rear End Byrne). This year Kathy has been awarded the 1981 ``Nixon Award" for being the ``Biggest Liar of the Year".
Once when Kathy announced she was sharply curtailing her involvement in the hobby, Dave Carter, pubber of Sleepless Knights, wrote: ``I'm glad that Kathy isn't completely leaving the hobby. I'd have a hard time explaining to my future grandchildren how I was the only one in the PBM Diplomacy Hobby (circa '70s and '80s) who was not stabbed by the infamous KB." To which Kathy replied, ``Thanks Dave, I needed that!" and ended her curtailment plans.
Her techniques vary in different games. There is no pinning her down. Eric Ozog, pubber of Diplomacy By Moonlight, said: ``I was ``Byrned" at GenCon East. I was Turkey. Byrne was Russia. She allied with me at the start and then stabbed me horribly. Kathy's tactics are amazing. She always pulls this `dumb-broad-I-can't-make-my-mind-up-I'm-a-woman' routine. And let me tell you is it effective."
After her postal win as Russia, her GM, Scott Hanson, pubber of Irksome, said: ``This game should prove to the skeptics that Kathy Byrne is an expert at this game...sure she got all the breaks but someone has to be pulling the strings behind the scenes to make those breaks happen."
So Kathy is an excellent player both postally and face-to-face. Her letters and phone conversations reveal a very friendly and witty personality with a made-to-be-mocked Brooklyn accent. But what is she like in person some of you who have only known her via print may be asking?
Mark Berch, pubber of Diplomacy Digest, said after meeting Kathy at GenCon East: ``Kathy Byrne: She is even more electrifying in person than she is in print. She can effortlessly galvanize almost any group of people. She virtually wiped up the floor with Sacks [Bob Sacks was the tournament director of GenCon East who intended to ban smoking totally at first. Kathy is a smoker...] when she did not approve of his no-smoking edict, and when she decided to leave a meeting, WHOOSH, she sweeps half the people out with her. Whether it was getting people to pose for her camera or making sure everybody noticed that she was going an entire game without stabbing Al Pearson, there was Kathy, an authentic, genuine live-wire."
Within the pages of EUROPA EXPRESS, Kathy has entered her first game with Europeans. Already she is famous in Europe for her letters to Michel Liesnard, pubber of Chanticler in Belgium, whom she calls ``Cuddles".
Kathy Byrne is a genuine hobby phenomenon and an original. A quote from an American novelist, Ellen Glasglow, also fits Kathy well: ``In her single person she managed to produce the effect of a majority."
But I will end this article with some lines which best describe Kathy to me since I have written to her, talked to her on the phone and met her and am now in a postal game with her. These words are from Billy Joel: The Stranger's ``She's Always A Woman."
``She can kill with a smile/ She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies.
And she only reveals what she wants you to see.
She hides like a child/ But she's always a woman to me.
She can lead you to live/ She can take you or leave you.
She can ask for the truth/ But she'll never believe you.
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free.
She steals like a thief/ But she's always a woman to me.
Oh-she takes care of herself/ She can wait if she wants.
She's ahead of her time.
Oh-and she never gives out/ And she never gives in.
She just changes her mind/ She will promise you more than the Garden of Eden.
Then she'll carelessly cut you/ And laugh while you're bleeding.
But she'll bring out the best and the worst you can be.
Blame it all on yourself/ 'Cause she's only a woman to me.
She is frequently kind/ And she's suddenly cruel.
She can do as she pleases/ She's nobody's fool.
But she can't be convicted/ She's earned her degree.
And the most she will do is throw shadows at you / But she's always a woman to me.
And now I finally get to the usual header stuff.
I decided to can the sub price increase, the postal rate increase
really is peanuts, or it seems so at the 3-5 ounce level that I live it.
So, no problem, let's keep selling subs when I can at this price.
You all know that I'm an incredible softie anyway.
The postal sub price is still
$1.50 per issue in the US and Canada,
with double that for other foreign subbers (or $3.00 per
issue sent airmail).
Players in current games and standbys will
continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts
(except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost
$20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the
game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance).
NOTE: 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://diplom.org/DipPouch/
I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: http://diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/
and TAP on the web is there at: http://diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html
where the szine resides in html format. Presently, issues from #190 to the current issue are there, and I will be updating the back issues gradually someday. Also, check out Stephen Agar's more extensive efforts at: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com and http://www.diplomacy.co.uk
David has grabbed and reserved the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! David Wang's site used to be the best place to follow John Caruso's postal baseball league that I am in. BUT, the site has not been updated as well in recent times. THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-POO Martin's website: http://www.phantomempire.com where in the ``files'' section, ``baseball'' sub-section, you can see all of the individual and team level stats. Use the Telnet button in the upper left corner, that's the easiest way to do it these days. You need to sign up as a ``member'' to see all of the files. You, too, can chat with John Caruso there, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Really, you can. John's E-Mail address also is commishjohn of att.net if you want to send him E-Mail after all that. But as I said, he would prefer if most of the tributes and notes get published here. The future of the League of course is a bit up in the air, though it looks like we will finish the season. Last week John demanded (and we obey ALL his demands) that we attempt to behave ``normally'', so we resumed our puffed up touting of our teams in E-Mail chat. But I was telling Kathy all season that I wanted to face her in the World Series, and of course that will no longer be possible. Kathy won three World Series in this league over the years, most recently just last year.
Peter Sullivan's subszine is currently ``in stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.manorcon.demon.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 BERRY RENKEN |
Find him and win the fifty buck prize!! You have until Issue number 265.
Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Tom, Bill, Gregory, Kevin, Al, and Jerry found too!!! Note that Brenton Ver Ploeg would love to find Leslie Obata, the woman that Jerry Lucas used as his front too. This could be an easy way toward finding Jerry, though as Brenton notes, who is to say she has the same name now. This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new ``search for'' every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe or Jerry Lucas or Al Pearson is ``found'' from now on it is worth $25.
Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.
This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who ``found'' him.
| INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS |
The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.
E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com
Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.
We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into Euros, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.
We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. We are now maneuvering deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at b.whyte of pgrad.unimelb.edu.au (same university where John Cain works!) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers!!
| WORLDMASTERS00 SECTION (with other Tournament Info) |
Worldmasters 2000 Email Diplomacy Tournament Finals Underway!!
This is possibly the most prestigious and hard fought E-Mail tournament around (only challenged by Doug Massey's Vermont Group Tournaments or the Australian E-Mail Tournament), now with FOUR full rounds. The final players (with current SC standing, which is what counts in a C-Diplo based tournament) are:
AUSTRIA: Jack Brawner - Find Jack at TrojanOwl of aol.com, and he is not doing very well as I see it, with 5 centers at the end of 1907, but he seems to be suiciding out with Turkey taking his centers. There's no reason for that in C-Diplo, so I don't get it.
ENGLAND: Mike Weinzimer - Find Mike at mweinzimer of yahoo.com, and he is back up to his 3 home centers at the end of 1907, but is he out of trouble?
FRANCE: Erlend ``Joe'' Janbu - Find Joe at janbu of online.no, and he is knocked down to 6 centers at the end of 1907, but there's plenty of time for a comeback.
GERMANY: Douglas Vaughan - Find Douglas at vaughan4 of mindspring.com, and he is really surging at this point, now with 7 centers at the end of 1907, and he is being really, really sneaky. Can he win??
ITALY: Egbert ``Egg'' Ferreira - You can find Egg at egbert of salavip.com.br, and he is now eliminated at the end of 1907, poor, poor Egg....
RUSSIA: Darren Koch - You can find the Aussie Darren at koch_family of bigpond.com, and he is holding strong at 7 centers at the end of 1907, he still just has that ONE fleet in the Norwegian Sea.
TURKEY: Frank Johansen - Find Frank at frank.johansen of diplomacy.no, and he is still moving up, back to 6 centers at the end of 1907, as his comeback continues.
The wondrous Peter Richardson pjrich of ntlworld.com is the GM. If you want to follow the game, send an E-Mail to mailserver of cat23.com with the following message:
subscribe wm00-results
The history of the WorldMasters tournament is that it is not necessarily THE best player who wins, but the format and style seem to reward effort. The player who works the hardest likely will win. Jack, Joe, and Douglas all look good at this point, with Egg out and Mike struggling to survive. I know lots of you can't stand C-Diplo, but that's the way it works.... I think the game goes until 1912, so there is lots more play in it, though France looks quite strong.
| 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 the new Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org |
The Spring issue is out!!! For future issues, I'm also still looking for WRITERS!!! Please!!! You don't want me to turn into Larry Peery, do you?? But thanks to Larry for an article that appears in this latest issue.
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!
LAST chance to vote in the 2002 Hobby Awards!!!
If you are reading this on the Internet, then go to the ballot at:
http://diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/BALLOT02.html
Please send me your votes by the Sept. 1 deadline.
This is a great ballot and take advantage of the web links to look
at some of the nominees.
Feel free just to vote in one category if you want, or vote in all four!
Steve Mauris (Fri, 23 Aug 2002 22:06:54 GMT)
What do Chris Martin, David Norman, Tim Richardson and Edi Birsan have in common? They're all planning to attend Tempest in a Teapot IV this October 11-13.
Join with us, the Potomac Tea & Knife Society, at the Silver Spring Hilton, 8727 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD for Tempest IV will feature three rounds of Diplomacy over three days. We will use the established PTKS scoring system and standard PTKS tournament rules. Visit www.ptks.org for more info, too!
Travel to the Washington area is easy, and PTKS will transport its out-of-town guests from any of our three local airports (Washington National, BWI, and Dulles). Autumn is a great time to visit us; most of the tourists have returned to their homes and the weather is usually quite nice. PTKS members will be standing by to facilitate sightseeing and transportation needs. For hotel questions or to make a reservation call us at 1-800-645-5901
The preregistration rate for Tempest IV will be $20, due by September 15. After that, the price will increase to $30. Sorry, but it's getting kind of expensive to do this show. So be sure to register NOW! You won't want to miss the intrigue, lying, deceit and bloodletting that Tempest is known for. Besides, Andy Bartalone double-dog dares anyone to come and try to beat him on on the boards.
For more information, contact Andy Marshall (landruajm of netscape.net), the Tournament Director, or Steve Mauris (sjmauris of hotmail.com), the Tempest Chairman.
Hotel Directions - From Baltimore/Washington International: Start out going West towards I-195 W by turning left. Stay straight to go onto I-195 W. Take the I-95 SOUTH exit, exit number 4B, towards WASHINGTON. Merge onto I-95 S. Take the I-495 WEST exit, exit number 27-25, towards COLLEGE PARK(US-1)/ SILVER SPRING. Keep RIGHT at the fork in the ramp. Merge onto CAPITAL BELTWAY/I-495 W. Take the US-29 SOUTH/COLESVILLE RD exit, exit number 30B, towards SILVER SPRING. Merge onto COLESVILLE RD/US-29 S.
Just ask our previous Tempest guests: PTKS knows how to show its friends a good time. Registration information on Tempest will be emailed to our mailing list and to a large market sample of the hobby by August 15. For more information on Tempest, email Andy Marshall at landruajm of netscape.net or visit our website at www.ptks.org.
David Hood (Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:02:19 -0400)
The 12th annual Hickcon has now been set to take place at Jon Kwiatkowski's house in Boone on September 27-29. I think 4:00pm or after would be OK on arrival time; we generally leave in the early afternoon on Sunday. If you have never been to Hickcon before, it is our housecon which roves around North Carolina every year. We play all sorts of things, generally not including any Diplomacy. Attendence is usually in the 8-12 range, but some years we have had more. If you have anyone in mind who might also want to come, let me know that when you respond.
Jon can be contacted by phone at 828-264-4870. As far as directions go, get to Boone and get on the main road through downtown. Then take Green St off to the right, heading north. Right turn onto Green Heights, quick left onto West Queen St. Follow that around until you see Charles St on your right. He is at the end of the street, 298 Charles St.
Please let me know if you are interested. We may be able to do some carpooling. I know that Duewer is flying into RDU and then coming in the car with Bruce Allen - so maybe we could do some similar things for others.
((Can I publicize this??))
You probably don't have time to publicize. I mainly included you because you keep such a close finger to the pulse of the hobby that you would want to know what is going on in the southern hinterlands...
((I also publish really often.... plenty of time!))
I had pulled out my old Colonia map that I mounted onto cardboard probably 12 years ago with the concept of volunteering to standby in that game. I cannot believe the losses we have suffered recently - I fondly remember playing Colonia one time with Fred Hyatt as GM, Gene Prosnitz as ally, Robert Stimmel as enemy, and Bob Acheson as another player on the board...
| David, dhood of PHD-LAW.COM |
((That's for darn sure..... Paul and Harold, ask him about signing up for the new Colonia game!! Edi Birsan also had some comments on Gene Prosnitz' passing.))
Edi Birsan (Mon, 19 Aug 2002 15:07:39 -0700)
I was saddened to hear of his passing. When I first got the game back in Christmas 65, Gene was one of the adults that I played with through out the 60's. He also was the very first victim of the Lepanto Openning in a 1966 face to face game in New York. He was an intense player and along with his wife Sandy an excellent host in those early days of the New York Conspiracy. I will miss the possibilities to add to those memories with new ones that include him.
| Edi Birsan, edi of mgames.com |
((Thanks, Edi, I expect you might have comments to make on Kathy as well. I dealt with Gene a great deal only much more recently as they convinced me to be a Colonia GM.... Harold, you have my sympathy!))
| MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY) |
Tell me anything you like about the year of 2000 or 2001 in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! Mine will continue soon!!! Really, it will. And it will continue to be a joint 2000 and 2001 issue. More recently, there is a new Cornershop CD and I can't wait any longer to talk about it....
``Blue Crush" - a movie
The titles say that this is based on the magazine article `Surf Girls of Maui'. Very loosely based. The article was about women surfers, highlighting several. It also was about the recent rules changes in surfing competition.
For years surfing competition was male dominated. That was because most of the surfers who competed were men. Then women started competing seriously. Not a problem for several years. Then women started winning. Suddenly, for `safety reasons' the men instituted `separate but equal' competitions for men and women. This was supposedly so the women wouldn't hurt themselves trying to compete against men. Yeah, right. Women have a natural superiority when it comes to surfing. They are lighter, they have a lower center of gravity, and all else being equal, that gives them a tremendous edge. So, for `safety reasons' they were sent into competing against each other. Same waves, same beaches, just no way to beat a man at his own game.
``Blue Crush" is about a surfer girl named Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) who dominated the competition when in high school (another truth about surfing is that all else being equal kids are better than adults. Its that same kids are lighter and have lower center of gravity than adults. Of course, adults have experience going for them.) Shortly after that competition two things happened. The rules were changed, and Anne Marie wiped out trying to run the pipe.
The pipe in Maui is a wall of water 60 or 70 feet high that curls over the top as the wave breaks forming a near tube of water that moves across the front of the wave, sometimes for as much as a half a mile. Some really talented surfers with no concept of mortality sometimes ride the mouth of this tube. If they wipe out, tons of water drive them right to the bottom. Many of them die. Anne Marie survived her wipeout. She still remembers it though. She dreams about it, she thinks about it every time a really big waves forms under her. She backs off.
There are some good characters, some great surfing. Mostly the movie fills the time between the surfing. Still, there were some great moments. Teaching football players to surf was fun. The real high point was when Anne Marie was in the Rip Masters competition (invitational) and backing off her wave. The woman who was competing against her became her coach and got her to take the wave.
Of course, she wiped out.
Living through it gave her a new insight. She and her new coach got her onto an even better wave.
I liked the movie. The incidental love story could have been replaced with more surfing, but maybe that's just me.
| Steve, Steflan of aol.com |
| LAWYERS: THE AMATEUR DIVISION - 2000G - GUEST GM: RUSS RUSNAK |
2000G, No Lawyers Welcome, Winter 1912
Austrian/ Russian draw defeated / reproposed
Austria Bob Osuch ROsuch4082 of aol.com Has A Smyrna, A Burgundy, A Trieste, A Greece, A Tyrolia, A Bohemia, A Albania, A Serbia, F Aegean Sea, A Rumania
France Paul Rauterberg trauterberg of wi.rr.com Retreat A Bur-Par. Remove F Lpl. Has F Picardy, A Paris, F English Channel, F North Atlantic Ocean
Italy Jim Burgess burgess of TheWorld.com Has F Tyrrhenian Sea, F Western Mediterranean Sea, F Adriatic Sea, A Spain A Venice, F Ionian Sea
Russia Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net Build F Sevastopal and A Warsaw Has F Sevastopol, A Warsaw, F London, F North Sea, A Edinburgh, F Norwegian Sea, A Belgium, A Munich, A Holland, A Berlin, A Silisia A Armenia, F Clyde, F Mid Atlantic Ocean
Spring 1913 orders are due on Wednesday, August 29
Winter 1912 supply center chart
Austria 10 Smyrna, Contantinople, Vienna, Budapest, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ankara, Trieste, Rumania,
France 4 Brest, Paris, Marseilles, Liverpool
Italy 6 even Rome, Naples, Venice, Tunis, Spain, Portugal
Russia 14 Berlin, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Sweden, Denmark, Warsaw, Norway, Moscow, Edinburgh, Kiel, Holland, Belgium, Munich, Rome
Russ Rusnak 1551 High Ridge Parkway Westchester, Il 60154
GM 708 409-0718 RRRRRUSNAK of AOL.com
Bob Osuch 19137 Midland Ave. Mokena, Il. 60448 AUSTRIA 708 478-3885 ROsuch4082 of aol.com
Bruce Linsey PO Box 234 Kinderhook, NY 12106 ENGLAND GonzoHQ of aol.com
Paul Rauterberg 3116 W. Amer. Dr. Greenfield, WI 53221 FRANCE 414-691-4264 trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Mike Barno 634 Dawson Hill Road Spencer, NY 14883 GERMANY 607 589-4906 mpbarno of lightlink.com
Jim Burgess 664 Smith Street Providence, RI 02908 ITALY 401 351-0287 burgess of world.std.com
Brendan Mooney bkmooney of comcast.net RUSSIA
| THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION |
``So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.
He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,
You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...
You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.
It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,
I'm all alone, I've got no choice."
From ``Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.
If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at ``burgess of world.std.com''. If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.
I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small ``s'' instead of a capital ``S''. This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.
Standby lists:
Bruce Linsey, Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, Dan Gorham, and John Schultz stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Jim Sayers, and Kurt Ozog stand by for the Modern Diplomacy game.
Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.
| GAME OPENING INFORMATION |
We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! Especially, contact Rip Gooch for Railway Rivals as the following maps are available. Following each in parenthesis is the suggested number of players: Isle of Wight (3 or 4); Netherlands (3 or 4); Northern Italy Map P (4 to 8); Spain Map SP (4 to 7); China Mk. I (6 to 8); Austria (3 or 4); Belgium and Luxembourg (3 or 4); Southern Italy Map Q (4); South Sweden Map SWE (3 or 4); Switzerland (3 or 4). Ripping Yarns Mk III will take the form of a tiny subszine in Word as soon as Rip gets some people interested. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com.
I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly. You also can sign up for the next Breaking Away game, which is starting now. Tom Howell currently is signed up, knock off the superstar, come on, you can do it!! So far, Eric Brosius wants to challenge Tom.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough is still interested, anyone else?
Harold Reynolds is willing to start a game of Colonia and one of Aberration. I am presently the only one signed up for the Colonia game.
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. Rick Desper is the only one 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 1903 IS SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2002
Summer 1903
AUSTRIA (Lockheardt): has a TRI, a BOH, a GAL, a RUM, a SER, a BUL, a UKR, f GRE.
ENGLAND (Heikkinen): has f MID, f NTH, f ENG, f GAS.
FRANCE (Kent): R a gas-PAR; has a MAR, a PIC, f BRE,
f POR, a PAR, a BEL.
GERMANY (Sayers): has a KIE, f DEN, a HOL, a BUR.
ITALY (Méhkeri): has a VEN, f ION, f EAS, a MUN, a TUN.
RUSSIA (Desper): has f BER, a MOS, a WAR.
TURKEY (Miller): has a SMY, f AEG, f CON, a SEV.
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Chris Lockheardt, 54 Butler Avenue, Maynard, MA 01754, +1 978-897-1547
clockheardt of yahoo.com
ENGLAND: Allan Heikkinen, c/o S.HELEY, 7 / 77 Phillip Street, Waterloo, NSW 2017, AUSTRALIA
aheikkin of ram.net.au
FRANCE: Doug Kent, 1404 E. Lamar Blvd #106, Arlington, TX 76011
dipworld of ix.netcom.com
GERMANY: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA
jimp of magna.com.au
ITALY: Dan Méhkeri, 26 DeQuincy Blvd, North York, Ontario, M3H 1Y5, CANADA, +1 416-631-0492
fool of kvack.org
RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 319 West Side Dr., #102 Gaithersburg, MD 20878
(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) I don't know what happened to Adam Mitchell, but he is gone, no answer to my repeated E-Mails, so Doug Kent takes over as France. THANKS, Doug!!
Press:
(FRANCE - ALL): Sacre bleu! I have some veeery poorly made but high-priced trinkets for you tourists to buy. I spit on you, pew pew pew!
| SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1905 IS SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2002
Summer 1905
ENGLAND (Sundstrom): R f mid-NAO; has f NWG, f HOL, f NTH, f HEL, a BEL,
f NWY, f NAO.
FRANCE (Tretick): has f SPA(SC), a BUR, f MID, a BRE.
GERMANY (Williams): has a KIE, a BER, a MUN.
ITALY (McCullough): has a PIE, a VIE, f GOL, f NAF, a TRI, f WES.
RUSSIA (McHugh): has f STP(NC), a SWE, a GAL, f DEN, a BUD, a BOH, f RUM.
TURKEY (Goesle): has a GRE, a BUL, f TYH, a SER, f CON, a ALB.
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 directvinternet.com
FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 13267 Coppermill Drive, Herndon, VA 20171, (703) 713-1328 ($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 telocity.com
RUSSIA: Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998
flapjack of comcast.net
TURKEY: Warren Goesle, 623 Scenic Circle, Holland, OH 43528,
wgoesle of core.com3
Game Notes:
1) One lazy retreat, no press?
Press:
| FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1910 IS SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2002
Winter 1909
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a TRI, a VEN, a ROM, a BUD.
ENGLAND (Biehl): rem f naf, f tyh; has f NTH, f ENG, f WES, a LON.
GERMANY (Emmert): bld f kie, a mun; has f KIE, a MUN, a BOH, a BUR, a GAL, a TYO,
a VIE, a HOL, f LVP, a SPA, a MAR.
RUSSIA (Tretick): bld a stp; has a STP, f NWY, a DEN, a WAR, a SEV, f NAO, a FIN.
TURKEY (Lutterbie): R a rom-APU; rem f eas; has f BLA, a RUM, f ION,
a APU, f NAP, a SER, a BUL, f GRE.
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, 8809 Delwood Drive, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 4A1 CANADA,
(604) 589-9124 ($7); jeen of telus.net
FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,
redavis914 of aol.com
GERMANY: Steve Emmert, 3317 Hershridge Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
steve.emmert of cox.net
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)
bernietretick of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Vince Lutterbie, 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall, MO 65340-2837
melvin of cdsinet.net
Game Notes:
1) Lots of changes, but that didn't make anyone write any press!!
Press:
| (Sometimes I Feel Like) FLETCHER CHRISTIAN: 1999Cgh013, Colonia VIIb Diplomacy |
A CHINA/ENGLAND/SPAIN DRAW IS DECLARED!
THE DUE DATE FOR ENDGAME STATEMENTS IS EXTENDED
Supply Center Chart
| AUSTRIA (Prosnitz): | BUD,VIE,TRI,TAH,pps,sav,peru | (has 22) |
| gre,sam,bol,bul,par,MEL,NAP,ven, |
| fij,ist,bav,nwz,ant,izm,tou |
| CHINA (Reynolds): | PEK,WUH,XIA,AMO,tib,NAN, | (has 22) |
| sin,jap,manch,mon,nep,mah,sia, |
| bur,cam,ben,vla,MLA,bor,afg,iwo, |
| oms |
| ENGLAND (Power): | NIG,EDI,LON,kam,ire,gab,sum, | (has 27) |
| uga,arg,togo,SUR,QUE,gha,bel,vol, |
| bah,BRA,DAK,vza,ric,ont,ifn,azo, |
| mor,nwy,ALA,ANG |
| OTTOMAN (Schleinkofer): | jer,yem | (has 2) |
| RUSSIA (Rauterberg): | MOS,KIE,CAP,STP,CRI,pol,moz, | (has 25) |
| swe,mal,zam,den,rom,han,die,GOA, |
| nat,niz,hag,cey,kha,van,jav |
| bag,persia,wak |
| SPAIN (Partridge): | MAD,MEX,SOM,VAL,MANILA, | (has 38) |
| cal,tun,rab,eth,hon,tex,nwg,ken, |
| lis,lag,FLO,lou,num,tau,ohi,vir, |
| gua,tar,tim,cub,tai,bdx,sud,mas, |
| manit,fez,egy,kor,col,ore,HAW,ecu,con |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=136) |
Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Gene Prosnitz ended as player of record
CHINA: Harold Reynolds, 3025 Bridletowne Circle, Scarborough, Ontario, M1W 2C9, (416) 773-0943
hjreynolds1 of rogers.com
ENGLAND: John Power, 18 Tilton Court, Baltimore, MD 21236, (410) 933-8827 ($4)
natjohn2 of comcast.net or jrpower of bechtel.com
FRANCE: Hank Alme, 506 Paige Loop, Los Alamos, NM 87544
almehj of swcp.com
OTTOMAN: Art Schleinkofer, 3120 Holly Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154-1708
Krolart of aol.com
RUSSIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
SPAIN: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
Game Notes:
1) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed draw passed and with all of this with Kathy Byrne Caruso I 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 would like to volunteer to guest GM a new game of Colonia. This fits with my desire to have Spy Diplomacy be my next ``big'' game to GM, so I accept his offer. I also volunteer to get it started by signing up to play. There are nine players in the variant, so we need eight more to get it going. I know there are others, could Harold give me a count?
Press:
| SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1911 IS SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2002
Fall 1911
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 VIE 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 ION-tyh, a UKR-mos, a WAR S a ukr-mos, f WES-spa(sc), a SEV S a ukr-mos,
f TYH-wes, a SIL-mun, a TYO S a sil-mun, f NAF-mid,
f TUN S f tyh-wes, f TUS S f gol, a PIE-mar, f GOL S a pie-mar, a GAL S a war, a BOH S a sil-mun.
Supply Center Chart
| ENGLAND (Sayers): | LON,LVP,EDI,bre,por,bel,kie,hol | (has 8, even) |
| FRANCE (Sasseville): | PAR,MAR,spa,mun | (has 4, even) |
| GERMANY (Barno): | vie | (has 1, even) |
| RUSSIA (Reynolds): | MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber | (has 6, even) |
| TURKEY (Linsey): | ANK,SMY,CON,gre,rum,bul,ser, | (has 15, even) |
| bud,nap,tri,ven,tun,sev,war,rom |
| Neutral: | none | (Total=34) |
Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Jim Sayers, 15 Holdsworth Street, Woollahra 2025, AUSTRALIA ($10)
jimp of magna.com.au
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com or mbarno of claritas.com
ITALY: John Schultz, 692 Crest Dr., Valparaiso, IN 46383, (219) 614-1406
probo of 695online.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 FRET draw is rejected again and both the FRET and FREGT draws are reproposed. Please vote again with your Winter orders. Generally you need to vote again unless you insist to me that a vote you have made wants to be perpetual. A failure to vote may not veto a draw. I have noted that I don't have a specific rule about calling a draw with no movement. You just play on, BUT what I am doing is calling on my rule for allowing failure to vote on the draws counting as a ``yes''. This is done with warning. Starting with these Winter orders, you have to vote EVERY season or your no vote or failure to vote becomes a ``yes''. This is the ``fair warning'' before I do that. Initially this will NOT count those of you who have given me perpetual draw votes, but after another period of no movement, everyone will have to vote on the draws every season.
2) I've had requests about ``speeding up'' the game. This is certainly possible, but it only can be done (i. e. making this upcoming deadline Spring instead of the quiet Winter) with the permission of all players. Thus, I'm not sure it matters in this situation, but feel free to tell me that your orders for future seasons are good for a quicker run of seasons. We could sail through a game year every other issue if you want. If there are no Winter adjustments, be sure to tell me if you are submitting Spring 1912 orders that can be used right away.
Press:
(RUSSIA to TURKEY): Don't let that lackey Germany live! He doesn't deserve a part of the draw!
(GER-RUS): I am more free than you.
| EDWARD TELLER: 2002?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant |
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1903 IS SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2002
Winter 1902
AUSTRIA (McHugh): has f TRI, a VIE, a BUD; and 5 nukes.
ENGLAND (Kenny): has f EDI, f LON, a LVP; and 5 nukes.
FRANCE (Schultz): has f BRE, a PAR, a MAR; and 5 nukes.
GERMANY (Rauterberg): has f KIE, a BER, a MUN; and 5 nukes.
ITALY (Muller): has f NAP, a ROM, a VEN; and 5 nukes.
RUSSIA (Andruschak): has f STP(SC), a WAR, a MOS, f SEV; and 4 nukes.
TURKEY (Kendter): has f ANK, a CON, a SMY; and 5 nukes.
| Current Standings |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | TOTAL |
| JOHN SCHULTZ | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| PAUL RAUTERBERG | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| KARL MULLER | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| HARRY ANDRUSCHAK | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| LEE KENDTER, JR. | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| JACK MCHUGH | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| SANDY KENNY | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Black Holed | 8 | 14 | 22 |
| Neutral | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Totals(eventually) | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 238 |
| Times GM Nuked | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Addresses of the Participants
John Schultz, 692 Crest Dr., Valparaiso, IN 46383, (219) 614-1406
probo of 695online.com
Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Karl Muller, 75-17 60 Place, Glendale, NY 11385-6044, (718) 416-1103
karlmuller of alumni.lemoyne.edu or pegandkarl of mindspring.com
Harry Andruschak, PO Box 5309, Torrance, CA 90510-5309, (310) 835-9202
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
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) There everyone is in their new slots. Pretty neat, eh?
Press:
(ANDRUSCHAK-MULLER): I note your threat to ``Bomb The Leader". I also note that I am now ``The Leader". The bad news is that this means I will be nuked (as Russia) in 1903. The good news is that I will be justified in nuking people in return in 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1907. (I hold grudges). I could even nuke you, as Italy, in 1903 in view of your threats. But in the end, as an Evil Empire, I'll nuke Russia's historical enemy of Turkey. Three nukes on Turkey, and maybe the 4th on the GM? Sounds like a good plan whilst I deal with Real World problems.
(ANDRUSCHAK-RAUTERBERG): I don't understand why you stabbed England for London, when Belgium was yours for the asking.
(ANDRUSCHAK-SCHULTZ): And are you going to let Rauterberg get away with it?
(JOHN - HARRY): Hell...Harry, nuke the hell outta me...I need a tan.
(``THE MAN WHO IS NO MAN" to OTHER PLAYERS): I got 9 SCs and you don't. Nyah nyah nyah!
| EMBRACING THE CONSTRAINTS: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules |
THE DUE DATE FOR END GAME STATEMENTS IS AUGUST 24TH, 2002
Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (The Quabbin Reservoirs): Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham MA 02492
(25 points) 72060.1540 of CompuServe.COM
TEAM 2 (The Flightless Birds): Rick Desper, 319 West Side Dr., #102 Gaithersburg, MD 20878
(24 points) (301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com
TEAM 3 (The Brit Pack): John Harrington, 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 3UW UK
(23 points) fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com
TEAM 4 (The Border Riders): Tom Howell, 365 Storm King Road, Port Angeles, WA 98363
(62 points) off-the-shelf of olympus.net
TEAM 5 (The Quadrilaterals): David Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033
(17 points) rebhuhn of rocketmail.com
TEAM 6 (The Bad Boys): Jim Tretick, 13267 Coppermill Drive, Herndon, VA 20171, (703) 713-1328
(5 points) JTretickGames of aol.com
Game Notes:
1) Join the next Breaking Away game, sign up now! Rules available from me, or you can search them out in the back TAP's. Now what issue were they in, someone telling me could save me lots of searching! If I get no more endgame statements, that will be it for this game.
Press:
(HALBERT (being able to hold (unfazed) more beer than most strong folks can carry using a large cask and a wheelbarrow) to DANA): What ya do, see, is tie one of these maroon ribbons to the back of one of your opponent's seats, then hang on until he's winded. Then, ya peddals as hard as ya can! What's that yellow pissy lookin' stuff ya's drinking, anyway? Here, let me buy YOU a good beer.
End game statement from Tom Howell:
At the risk of belaboring the obvious, let's go to the rules. The rules tell one how to play the game. The rules also tell one how to win the game. I'll try to divide this into strategy and tactics. Strategy first:
One wins by scoring the most points. Where does the individual cyclist score the most points? At the finish line, of course! Any given place is worth twice as much at the finish as at one of the sprint lines. In fact, a place as low as 4th at the finish is worth a first place at a sprint. So, as far as I'm concerned, only first or second places in a sprint are worth devaluing any of my riders' cards. In other words, building card values for a high final finish place is more important than scoring at a sprint line. This is particularly true of the first sprint line.
But, up to a point: If I don't score any points in either sprint, my riders will have to do very well at the finish. So, if possible, I'll try to get my riders' cards built up so they can score well at the second sprint and keep pushing to the finish line.
A corollary: Spreading the points between my opponents can be as important as grabbing points for myself. With only four riders, and eight scoring places at each scoring line, I can help myself by helping a rider of a low-scoring team garner some of the points I won't get. I can do this by playing a card which will enable the rider I want to help replenish with a big card.
(Unless the player in question has proven to be very predictible in his moves, I'll propose some cooperation to help him score some points.)
Which leads to:
Tactics: To score big points, one needs big cards.
First off: the more cards a rider has, the more flexibility that rider has. I always give my ``A" rider four cards! Otherwise, he will tend to surge to the front of the pack too early, and soon only holds low value cards.
In the early turns, one wants to build up his riders' card values. One does this, of course, by riding near the back. Holding only three (or four) cards, each rider's options are limited. One must know the spaces to which his riders can move as well as the possible spaces of all the other teams' riders. Equally important, is knowing where riders can not move. This information allows one to calculate moves most likely to return high value replenishment cards.
An illustration: say my ``B" rider is on space 60, and holds a three, a four and a seven. He could move to 63, 64 or 67. If no other rider can land on 65, playing the four will devalue his hand by a point, because his replacement has to be a 3. Which is better to play, the three or the seven? Depends on where the other riders are. If ``B" is in the back of the pack, he's probably better off playing the seven because otherwise he's only going to fall farther and farther behind. However, if no one can move to 68, it might be better to play the three, in hopes that the seven will get him a better replacement card on a future turn. Of course, if ``B" in in the middle or front of the pack, he should play the three and drop back into the pack where his replenishment cards will have higher values.
I find playing face-to-face much less stressful than postal Breaking Away! Since each rider moves sequentially, I can watch the pack reform and make informed moves. Postally, I have to try to guess where all the other riders are likely to move, then try to second guess whether a different move for them makes more sense based on where I decide to move my riders.
So there's another part of the picture: if my opponents make moves I can anticipate, it's easier for me. Some do, some don't.
Of course, a good spreadsheet helps. Unfortunately, the one I'm using isn't all I could wish it to be...
| FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy |
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 2010 IS SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2002
Winter 2009
BRITAIN (Schultz): R a mur-LAP; rem a ska; has a STP, f NTH, a LAP,
f DEN, f BAL, a EST, f BRN, f GOB.
EGYPT (J. O'Donnell): bld f ale, f cai; has f ALE, f CAI, f MOR, f MAL, f APU,
a SYR, a TUN, a IRK, f IZM.
GERMANY (Rauterberg): bld a ber; has a BER, a SAX, a MUN, f PRU, f HAM,
f GDA, f BOR, a VEN, a LYO, f BEL, a AUS, a CZE, a MIL, f HOL, a TUS.
SPAIN (S. O'Donnell): rem f mar; has f GIB, f SAO, a BAR, a NAV, a AUV, f MAO,
a ROM, f GOL, a MON.
UKRAINE (Partridge): bld a ode; has a ODE, a BUL, a SER, a MOS, a GOR, a LAT,
a KRA, a POD, f WBS, f IST, a MUR, a SLO, a WAR, f ION, a ADA,
a URA, a HUN, a BIE, f GRE, a LIT, f ADR, a IRN, a CRO.
Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: John Schultz, 692 Crest Dr., Valparaiso, IN 46383, (219) 614-1406
probo of 695online.com
EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920
or (440) 225-9203 (cell) ($2)
FRANCE: Harry Andruschak, PO Box 5309, Torrance, CA 90510-5309, (310) 835-9202 ($5)
Tapmdfrance of aol.com
GERMANY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($3)
ElfEric of Juno.com
POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
RUSSIA: Randy Ellis
SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230 ($3)
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com, sfo25 of netscape.net
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 is in to be one of the players. Any more??? We are going to do it with ``wings''.
2) Thanks to Kurt Ozog, but Sean has returned! Thanks, Sean!!
Press:
(THE MEKONS QUOTE OF THE MONTH): ``It's hard to be human, human again...'' From Fear and Whiskey's ``Hard to be Human".
(BRITAIN to UKRAINE): Oh, no, you don't! Not behind my lines...sonny.
(CAPTAIN'S LOG ``NO JOY IN TREKVILLE''): As ordered by Starfleet, I have ordered a military offensive against the Romulans. I do this with great reservations because I had developed a good working relationship with the Romulan commander. The first battle was moderately successful, but only by luck and a minor ruse I pulled off. We took a frontline Romulan starbase and we scuttled one of their troop transports. We were lucky because the Klingons' frontline and backup communications array failed, causing total paralysis of the entire Klingon fleet and this might hurt us down the line. A strange thing happened as the battle approached. I got a message from ``Q'' warning me about the Klingon communication problem. I've never known ``Q'' to help anyone, let alone the Klingons. ((``Q'' had suspended the Federation communication array, so Kirk was not in control of the Enterprise, it had to follow the commands that Sulu and Chekov already had entered into their consoles.)) When I tried to contact the Klingons, their backup system also was down (the Grafton phone system was out) and by the time my shuttle was able to make it to the Klingon summit (Uncle Chip's party) where I could actually talk to Commander Worf, it was too late. The entire Universe is not united against the Romulans. If victorious, we can easily divide the Romulans into four separate spheres of influence to ensure ``peace in our times''. It's going to be a long war. As a precaution, Mr. Spock is suggesting that all of Vulcan be required to learn how to speak ``Romulan''.
Personal Note to You: