THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #282

July 24, 2004

Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287

Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com (all E-Mail addresses are reported in this format, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account or FAX to (401) 277-9904. For Faxing, most of the time you have to call me to tell me it's coming so I can set up the FAX.
Web Page Address: http://diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html


A bit late again, but getting better.... we should have a whole group of subszines below in the postal version... And I've got lots of games finishing, so I'd like to start some new ones. I've got a NEW regular Diplomacy game opening, I'd like to get the Modern game with wings going, and what about another Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7? This latest one really collapsed, but it can be a great way for "low maintenance Yuppie play". If there's interest in that, I'll run that too. I also would like to get Spy Diplomacy going, I'll publish the rules for that so you can see it. That's MY variant.


The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with double that for other foreign subbers(or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance. Or you can play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!
Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: http://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 Wang still has the HIGHLY prized name: www.szine.com!! BUT, the site has not been updated in recent times. If you want to follow me and others in John Caruso's Baseball League, THE place to follow the league now is DICKIE-P 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, once he gets back from the vacation that he's on right now. Really, you can. And Dick himself is lonely and he hangs out there even more than John does, make Dick Martin's day, go to phantomempire! John's E-Mail address also is commishjohn of att.net if you want to send him E-Mail after all that. John still has openings, you can start RIGHT NOW to pick up one of the unclaimed teams and play it this year! My team is still heading toward the playoffs, continuing to lead my division over the likes of Dicko's Baltimore Oriole team. Contact John at commishjohn of att.net if you're interested in joining us or ask me for more details, this REALLY IS THE most fun thing I do in the hobby at the moment, find out why!!!
Peter Sullivan's subszine remains "in stasis", although all the back issues can be accessed via :
http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.
Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He is now hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date is now a "whenever". In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge are picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info.
By electronic mail, through the Internet, subs are free and can be obtained automatically by sending the message: subscribe tap
to majordomo of diplom.org and messages can be sent to the entire electronic mailing list by mailing them to tap of diplom.org which will forward your message to all of the people currently on the list. The message:
unsubscribe tap
sent to majordomo of diplom.org gets you off the list. Please make careful note of that as well since you generally can get yourself off the list a lot easier than I can, and NOBODY likes to see unsubscribe messages sent to the entire list. A big, big thank you for David Kovar for setting this all up!!


THE SEARCH FOR SYLVAIN LAROSE
Sylvain played a LOT of FTF all up and down the East Coast back in the late 1990's and then disappeared, I think he lived in Montreal at that time. John Quarto in particular keeps bugging me about finding Sylvain, so I thought I'd toss him in here. He shouldn't be THAT hard to find, but I've looked and failed. Now it's up to you. You have until issue 285 to do it for the fifty buck prize.
Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Steve, Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new "search for" every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Steve Heinowski, Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Kevin Tighe is "found" from now on it is worth $25.
Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.
This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who "found" him.


INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS
The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.
E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com
Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.
We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into Euros, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.
We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. We are now maneuvering deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at bwhyte of unimelb.edu.au (note that this is a new E-Mail address for Brendan) or by mail to send checks at: Geography Dept., University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA. This should help out my Australian subbers!!


WORLDMASTERS02 SECTION
WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament Semi-Finals are on-going. I'll try to slip in a report next time. I think they're really close to choosing the Final Board for the last seven. This Final Board game always is VERY exciting to watch. I'll let you all know where you can find it.
See http://www.cat23.com/wm02 for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again, not much is going on there, only a rollback issue or two.


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.
Stephen Agar has matched the Hasbro rule lists and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:
http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?xcc_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 (relatively new address for this):
http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/diplomacy_rules.htm


Check out back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org
We are back, Tim Haffey has agreed to be the Production Editor that I needed. We always need more articles, Issue #90 is out NOW. If you think you should have been on that list and weren't, let me or Dave Partridge know. Help us out, write an article for a future issue!
Also, I'd be interested in hearing any Hobby Award Nominations for:
The 2004 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service;
The 2004 Rod Walker Award for Literature;
The 2004 John Koning Award for Player Performance;
The 2004 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance;
or
A 2004 Kathy Byrne Caruso Award for Lifetime Achievement (if warranted).
The award ballot for this year will be publicized in a few weeks.


Upcoming Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:
Deadline Fall 2004, Issue #91: September 1, 2004
Deadline Winter 2004, Issue #92: December 1, 2004
Final Hobby Awards Ballot for 2004, nominations now to: burgess of world.std.com
The qualifications for the Kathy Byrne Caruso Lifetime Achievement Award are that the awardee must have been: (1) Active in the Diplomacy Hobby in at least Three Separate Decades; (2) Multidimensional in their Contributions to the Hobby (e.g. writing, playing, publishing); (3) Taking Retirement or Semi-Retirement from the Diplomacy Hobby; and (4) One of the Hobby�s Unique Personalities Worthy of Being Remembered as Long as THE Game Continues to be Played. This award need not be awarded each year, but only as worthy candidates are identified. The only past honoree is the late Richard Sharp.
The other award categories are self-explanatory:
Nominees for the 2004 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service
Nominees for the 2004 Rod Walker Award for Literary Achievement
Nominees for the 2004 John Koning Award for Player Performance
Nominees for the 2004 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance
The Hobby Awards Committee is Jim Burgess (Chair and Treasurer), Fred Davis, Jr., Melinda Holley, Gary Behnen, Jamie Dreier, Paul Kenny, Mark Stretch, and Robert Lesco.
- - - - - - -
Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:
Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor
Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Co-Editor, Demo Game GM, and ebook Publisher
Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD; stephen of stephenagar.com - Webmaster and Non-US Postal
Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games
Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA; rebhuhn of rocketmail.com - US Postal
Below we have the World DipCon results and some other Con announcements around the world.... the publicity for cons is down a bit this year, but you can get out there and get to games, see below!!!


Mike Dean (Tue, 20 Jul 2004 21:22:16)
All
Following advice from a prominent hobbyist I am contacting you all with updated news of PSYCHO CON 2004!
PSYCHO CON 2004 UPDATED INFORMATION:
From 2pm Friday 8th October to 6pm Sunday 10th October 2004, The Clifton Hotel, SCARBOROUGH, UK
$4 per day, or $8 for the weekend if booked before 31st August. $6 per day if paying on the door. Overseas attendees admitted FREE!
Full Registration Details, including a downloadable form at: http://www.psychozine.co.uk/psychocon. If you are attending - please REGISTER as soon as possible.
Games to be played - many and various! Please bring any games that you particularly would like to play. You are sure to find players!
Prizes! There are many ad-hoc tournaments. Prizes have been donated by MAYFAIR GAMES, EAGLE GAMES, RIO GRANDE GAMES, SPIRIT GAMES, and THE BOARD GAMES COMPANY with more to come!
Accommodation is booked separately: The Clifton has some single rooms available @ $35 / night. it also has double and twin rooms. Book early to avoid disappointment! Telephone: 01723 375691 Other accommodation, to suit all pockets is available in nearby hotels and guest houses via the Tourist Information Centre - 01723 373333.
Publicity:Please can you undertake any publicity you are able to do on our behalf to your mates, players in games you currently play in, and to any games clubs you are a member of. Your help appreciated!
ALSO:
1. There will be a PSYCHO CON booklet much like the MANOR CON booklet! [Copying is one of the greatest compliments!]
I want to do my bit to promote the POSTAL GAMES hobby as well as On- Line webzines - so - if you are an editor - please provide me with the following information: The Name of the Zine, eZine or Website, Contact Information, Frequency, Format, Cost, Pages, Games Run and no more than 20 or so additional words describing the zine to potential subscribers. I'll print all that send something! ((Any of the rest of you who want in, get your entry to Mike, mine already is in.))
2. If any zine editor wants to send flyers or sample copies to be placed on the Main Desk as PSYCHO CON - please let me know and I will ensure that they are on display
3. Please Promote the Con to as many people as you can - this is our FIRST con and we would like it to be a success!
4. I will LIFT all the Convention information from the Manor Con booklet - so if you have a Con listed there, you don't need to contact me unless you have changed the details!
5. Advertising will be available within the booklet at $3 per page - so if you want to advertise your zine or convention you can do so!
And that's about it!
Cheers, MIKE, mike.dean of psychozine.co.uk


MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)
Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!!


Mark Lew (Thu, 8 Jul 2004 15:54:35 -0700)
I laughed at your "Go Barry and go Giants comment". If the cheering I hear from the SF fans on the webcast is any indication, that's how the local fans feel, too: they like Barry and they like the Giants, in that order. Unlike some Giants anti-fans, I have nothing against Barry. No more than any other Giant, that is. I guess that means for me too the order of preference would be Barry and then the Giants ... and then the Giants fans. I'll make an exception for you, though. I know you're not to blame for the misdeeds of your compatriots. ((And I really am more of a Red Sox fan now, my Giants love stems from the teams of the late 60's and early 70's when I was even more of a Giants fan than I am a Red Sox fan now. I don't like Red Sox fans a lot of the time either. I think anyone who EVER says "Yankees suck" is showing an amazing level of ignorance and stupidity.))
A's have been seeing a lot of your two teams lately, and mostly losing. We've gotten stomped twice by the Red Sox and I expect we'll get stomped again tonight. Yesterday the ESPN guy said something to the effect of "just when it looked like the A's were starting to get it together". Huh? I don't know what team he's following. In fact, it's just the opposite. A's racked up a bunch of wins a while back which gives them a cushion, but it was obvious to all of us here that we were headed for a rough patch. Nothing serious in terms of the whole season, but the whole team is banged up and we're going into a tough patch in the schedule. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose every game between now and the break. But after the break we should be good to go, with Hudson and Chavez back and the others rested up. A's definitely need the break this year. ((I still think they have a tough way to go. Won't those Rangers ever come back to the pack???))
I think Mulder and Dotel are the only two pitchers on the entire team who aren't injured, overworked or both. No, that's not quite true. Come to think of it, Zito isn't hurt; he just sucks. (There's speculation that he's tipping his pitches again. Could be.) With Hudson and Harden hurt, Redman has been killing himself trying to pick up the slack by starting on short rest and going much deeper into the game than he ought to, and now it's starting to catch up with him.
Half the bullpen is on the DL. Of the ones who aren't, Rincon, Mecir and Duchscherer are all playing hurt. As far as I know, Bradford is healthy, but he's been worked too much. I guess Lehr is one other who is neither hurt nor overworked, but he's a rookie and can't really hold the pen together alone. Thank heavens for Dotel; he and Mulder are the only two pitchers on the team who are 100% right now. ((Just give it some time.... you've only had Dotel for a month... sorry, it needed to be said.)) I laugh when I hear the national commentators talk about "Oakland's great pitching staff". Well, yes, it's great, but it sure isn't right now. ((You do still lead the league in ERA pitching, but Boston is right there too and the Red Sox pitching could be described just the same way. I wonder sometimes JUST how bad some of these other pitching staffs must be.)) Then again, these are the same guys who still talk about the "big three" so obviously they didn't get the memo.
The hitters aren't in such bad shape, but they're not in the best place either.
Byrnes is going into his traditional second-half slump. He ought to be getting some days off, and Macha knows it, but the only other outfielder is Kielty who has bruised ribs and can only bat RH (he's usually a switch-hitter). We used to have a fifth outfielder, but he's on the DL. I think Hatteberg needs a day off, too. In that case, there's options. I love Hat, and he's still hitting well, but I think Macha should sit him a game or two and play Karros at first, leaving Durazo in DH.
The worst is at 3B. McLemore's knee is falling apart and he shouldn't be playing at all. But our third-string 3B (German) is also hurt and can't hit at all. He's still on the roster only for defense and pinch running. If we needed room, they'd probably put him on the DL, but there's no one else to bring up anyway, so why bother. McLemore is the reverse: he can still hit, which is why he's been in there, but his defense is suffering and so is his running. (He used to be a speedy type, so when he was taken out for a pinch-runner a few days ago, that was a first for him.) We've been playing the fourth-string infielder (Castro) at 3B occasionally, too, but he's a career minor-leaguer who isn't the same quality. We've actually got better 3Bs in Sacramento, even after trading Teahen, but they won't come up. (Castro usually plays 2B in Sacramento.)
Beane doesn't like to bring up young players before they're ready to stay. Veteran minor-leaguers who are going to bounce back and forth anyway, fine, but not the real prospects. According to the official spin it's all part of the organization's plan for properly grooming players physically and psychologically, blah blah blah. That's probably partly true, but as with most things for the A's, it's also financial. I don't understand exactly how it works, but if a guy comes up sooner, that means he'll become a free agent sooner, so anyone that Beane expects he'll want to keep on the big-league team won't come up until he's ready to stay for a while. He won't blow a year on the far end of the contract just to have a few weeks of play on the front end. That's why, for example, you won't see Joe Blanton pitch for the A's any time soon, even though we could use him right now.
On the bright side, Kotsay, Dye and Crosby seem to be in good shape. They're pretty much the only ones right now. The catchers are doing OK, but both are sore and could use the break.
Silly me. I started writing this email when I tried the webcast and it hadn't started yet. Now I suddenly realized it's almost 4:00 and I've been missing the pre-game show....
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
((Cool, first pitch should be about to happen, I'm still at work, but I'll get in the car soon to listen on my way home. I expect you're right. I'd be very shocked if the A's win tonight. Schilling is MOTIVATED right now, what a competitor. On Barry, you also have to remember that I was a fan of his father's from back when Bobby Bonds was brought up to the Triple A farm club in Phoenix (at the time that's where it was), and my affection has carried over. Also, I'm an economist and pretty much believe that if baseball didn't care and wasn't testing, anything Bonds did was allowed. We're not going to be able to maintain this "purity" that we never had anyway. But that was a cool team that Phoenix AAA had way back then. I also was a big fan of Ed Goodson, but he never made it as big as Bobby Bonds.))
((Then... look, see how Schilling fought his way out of the first inning, rendering that double to Kotsay useless! That's what I mean!!))


Mark Lew (Thu, 8 Jul 2004 16:42:34 -0700)
Yeah, though we did make him throw a bit, more than I had hoped.
Of course the real question is how long Harden lasts. Our bullpen is for shit right now. We've probably got about two good innings there. Any more than that and you'll be in the double-digits again.
A's radio says that McLemore and German are both completely unavailable today, which means we're playing with a 23-man roster. I took a look at the roster and I see eight guys on there playing hurt. Those two plus Kielty and five pitchers. Plus all the guys on the DL.
Hudson won't be back before the All-Star Break, and he won't pitch in the AS game either. (There's some debate about whether he goes to Houston at all, but my guess is that he goes and they send a trainer or two along with him.) In Cleveland, Saarloos (temporary call-up from AAA) will start the first game, which lets Mulder get an extra day of rest. Maybe we'll take one of three there.
A's record is exactly what it was at the same point last year. The difference is that Seattle isn't off to its usual good start, so we're not nearly so far behind. I knew Seattle would be bad this year, but I didn't think they'd be THAT bad.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
((I actually did suspect that Seattle would fall off the table this year. I was pretty sure they would finish last, though they are a BIT further behind than even I expected them to be. Picking up Spiezio was doomed not to help them, and Edgar/Olerud were both clearly done. They finally gave up on Olerud and released him, even when he was good he was a first baseman with no power. He should go to someone like... the Yankees!))


Mark Lew (Thu, 8 Jul 2004 16:54:56 -0700)
Doh! Kotsay left at second again! What really impresses me is that Schilling struck out Hatteberg twice in a row. Nobody strikes out Hatteberg twice in a row. Hat has the lowest strikeout ratio in the majors.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net
((Yes, I was impressed by that too, we did get into bullpens, former A's closer and present Red Sox closer Keith Foulke blew the save, but the Red Sox came back and won in the tenth on a NICE piece of baserunning by the kamikaze Johnny Damon who wasn't slowed at all by fouling a pitch off his knee, scoring from first on a double to left. And yes, I'm glad they got McLemore out of there, it was PAINFUL watching him try to run the bases earlier in the series. Good luck against the Indians! PS this means I'm not worried about the A's beating out the Red Sox for the Wild Card, their way to the playoffs is through the Rangers and the division title.))


Mark Lew (Thu, 8 Jul 2004 17:33:47 -0700)
Just heard that Chavez is expected back tomorrow in Cleveland. I didn't realize he was returning before the break. That probably means German goes on the DL to make room for Chavez, and Castro stays on the team as backup utility infielder. McLemore will stay on the bench as emergency backup and maybe pinch-hitter, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't use him at all before the break. When German gets better, presumably he comes back as backup utility infielder (which he was earlier this season) and Castro goes back to Sacramento.
When Harden was in a jam a while ago, the local announcers were talking about whether the team could get a starting pitcher up from Sacramento to pitch in Cleveland tomorrow. Not just joking either, they were serious. If we need a long man, Saarloos is the only real option, and he's supposed to start tomorrow in Cleveland.
My bet is that Harden stays in even if it gets really ugly. They're willing to let him clean up his own mess even if he gets 10 runs hung on him, just so long as he doesn't hurt himself for the long-term. But he won't pitch again before the break, so they can go ahead and wear him out if necessary.
Actually, we're not nearly as far behind as I expected to be. Schilling has thrown a lot of pitches. If we get into your pen maybe we actually have a chance to win. Then again, Schilling doesn't pitch again before the All-Star game either, so maybe they'll leave him out for a long time, too.
Torre's managing the AL this year, right? Good thing he's more decent than his employer is. Otherwise he'd probably make Schilling and Mulder pitch three innings each just to wear them out.
[...] Wow, Byrnesie just got a home off Schilling. Cool.
mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net


Jack McHugh (July 29)
Hey Jim-Boob, Doug "the Sack" Kent wrote me from the slammer and told me I should update my address with you so here is my new address:
e-mail: jw_mchugh of comcast.net (home); jack.mchugh of njdmava.state.nj.us (work)
Jack McHugh, 1815 Bayshore Road, Apt 404, Villas, NJ 08251-2073, 609-889-5020 (home)
Anyway, I'm just writing to let you know I was married again on May 15th at St. Raymond's in Villas, NJ. Just thought I'd let you know that since you were so thrilled the first time I got married. ((I was indeed, mega-congratulations, I hope it works for you! You have really found someone to put up with your snoring!!))
I also am involved in playing Columbia Games' EastFront via e-mail fairly heavily right now and I have one National League team in Scoresheet baseball. I notice Cal White is running the Canadian half of Scoresheet baseball as well. I have another team in the junior circuit (based on Cleveland-my new favorite AL team, someone took my old favorite team Texas) but that team doesn't start up until next year.
So when are you going to run World Diplomacy or some other global variant again? ((Well, Harold Reynolds is running a game of Colonia in his subszine. Anyone want to respond to Flap Jack, knowing that this request passed in an instant and probably flew out of his brain. Hey, Jack, send me some orders as Italy for the last NYEED turn.))


Kevin Wilson (Tue, 27 Jul 2004 23:57:39 EDT)
The move to Baton Rouge is almost complete. We closed on the house in St. Louis on the 13th. We closed on the house in Baton Rouge on the 21st. The movers arrive tomorrow to deliver our household goods and we're out of the apartment as soon as we can get things in some order but no later than Saturday. So, it's time to change the address to the new, permanent address in Baton Rouge; which is...
Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70809-6702
Yep, a zip+4 to make things easy. This address is effective immediately. ((Gotcha, congrats on the move, I hope you enjoy Louisiana. I heard that it rained and rained and rained down that way earlier this year, I hope it is drier now.))
I think it rained a little or a lot 35 of the first 45 days that I was down here. Then it got hot. Really hot. 95-100 degrees and 90+last few days have been much less damp, both rain and humidity.
Kevin, CKevinW of aol.com
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:
Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Vern Parker, Heath Gardner, Phil Reynolds, Paul Kenny, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.
Brad Wilson and Jack McHugh 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, see Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com.
A NEW game of regular Diplomacy. The original, the best, play it here! Matt Sundstrom for sure already is signed up, I think a couple more of you requested in for this one. Please remind me. Also, is there any interest in another game of Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7 Dip? I know it may be getting tired, but I really like it.
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 or you can look at them at www.variantbank.com. Bruce Edwards is signed up.
John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough and Bruce Edwards are interested, anyone else?
Harold Reynolds is running the game of Colonia (see elsewhere in this issue) and is interested in guest-GMing a game of Aberration. Sean O'Donnell and Brendan Whyte are interested in Aberration. Brendan and Sean BOTH need rules from Harold Reynolds.
Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and Chris Lockheardt is pulling out of that opening too, so I need three players. Bruce Edwards and Eoghan Barry are 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..... it takes four and Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....
Right now, the other thing going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, and Eric Ozog are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, the other Modern game is now done!
Mike Barno and Edi Birsan run a great web site at http://www.diplomaticcorps.org! Please check it out as they prepare to pass it along to the Germans and Sascha Hingst this fall.


FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1902 IS AUGUST 21ST, 2004
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1902 IS SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2004
Spring 1902
AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): NMR, PAUL RAUTERBERG CALLED AS STANDBY;
a TRI h, a BUD h, a VIE h, a SER h, f GRE h.
ENGLAND (Schmit): f lon-ENG, f bar-STP(NC), f NTH S f lon-eng, a NWY S f bar-stp(nc).
FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): f BRE-eng, f pic-BEL, a BUR S f pic-bel, a SPA h.
GERMANY (Sundstrom): a BER s ITALIAN a mun (otm), a HOL-bel, a kie-RUH, f DEN-swe.
ITALY (Williams): f TUN-tyo (imp), a VEN-tyo, a MUN-tyo.
RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): a stp-FIN, f GOB-swe, f RUM s AUSTRIAN a ser-bul (nso),
a SIL s GERMAN a mun (otm), a ukr-MOS.
TURKEY (Levinson): f smy-EAS, f ank-CON, a con-SMY, a BUL-gre.


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,
PHONE NUMBER??, wiedem of planet.eon.net
AUSTRIA: Standby is Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1452 Seville Dr. #3, Green Bay, WI 54302-5559, PHONE NUMBER??,
diplomacy of new.rr.com ($5)
FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,
(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell)
GERMANY: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org
RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com
TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, 1, allee des Marniquets, 78430 Louveciennes FRANCE, don't need phone,
levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)


Game Notes:
1) This is why you want me to have your phone number.... I didn't have Fred's and he NMR'ed. He didn't respond to my E-Mail either. I'm calling Paul Rauterberg as a trusty standby, he just had two games end down below. Pretty please, Paul, will you step in if I don't hear from Fred?


Press:
(BERLIN-MUNICH): Don't take my support the wrong way, I'd just rather have you in there than anyone else. Please take good care of the Hofbrauhaus until we return.
(BOOB to BERLIN): He had lots of support, but chose not to use any of it....
(CZAR-PRIME MINISTER): Are we there yet?
(BERLIN-MOSCOW): Maybe we can agree on something in the fall.
(BOOB to BERLIN): Well, looks like you did agree on SOMETHING! But Russia thinks there is a problem....
(RUSSIA-BOARD): I see a dilemma here...... Can any of you say Catch 22.


I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1908 IS AUGUST 21ST, 2004
Winter 1907
AUSTRIA (Parker): R f gre-ALB; bld f tri, a vie; has f TRI, a VIE,
a SEV, a VEN, a TYO, a MOS, a SER, a RUM, a STP, f ALB.
ENGLAND (Kinney): rem f nwg; has a LON, a EDI, f NTH.
FRANCE (Kent): has a MAR, a PAR, a PIC, f ENG, f MID.
GERMANY (Wilson): has f HOL, a BEL, a DEN, a MUN, f SWE, a RUH, a BUR.
ITALY (Gardner): has a ROM, f ION, f GRE, a APU.
RUSSIA (Desper): has a NWY.
TURKEY (Miller): has f AEG, a ARM, a CON, f BUL(SC).


Corrected Supply Center Chart
AUSTRIA (Parker): TRI,BUD,VIE,ser,rum, (has 7 or 8, bld 3(r:otb) or 2)
war,mos,stp,sev,ven
ENGLAND (Kinney): LON,LVP,EDI (has 4, rem 1)
FRANCE (Kent): PAR,MAR,spa,por,BRE (has 5, even)
GERMANY (Wilson): KIE,BER,hol,den,bel,MUN,swe (has 7, even)
ITALY (Gardner): ROM,NAP,tun,gre (has 4, even)
RUSSIA (Desper): nwy (has 1, even)
TURKEY (Miller): ANK,SMY,CON,bul (has 4, even)
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139
VernDip of aol.com is preferred
ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222
alberich of iglou.com
FRANCE: Douglas Kent, #30694-177, Federal Prison Camp Allenwood, PO Box 1000, Montgomery,
PA 17752
GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 7250 Perkins Rd., #838, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, 225-751-3857,
ckevinw of aol.com
ITALY: Heath Gardner, 3017 Mayview Rd., Raleigh NC, 27607,
metaphorman of gmail.com
RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Tim Miller, 258 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville, MD 20850,
tim of webjudge.net
GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287
burgess of world.std.com


Game Notes:
1) Note that I made a mistake in allowing Italy to retain control of Venice, Venice is now Austrian.... the corrected supply center chart is up above.
2) The concession to Russia is rejected, but there were votes for it!


Press:


SOMETHING TO BE SCARED OF: 2001D, Regular Diplomacy
THE GAME IS OVER - EFG DRAW AGREED TO BY ALL PARTIES
THE DUE DATE FOR ENDGAME STATEMENTS IS SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2004


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Doug Kent
ENGLAND: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882 ($5)
Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net
FRANCE: James Alan (Jim) Tretick, 1383 Canterbury Way Potomac, MD 20854, (301) 279-0803 ($4)
jatretick of comcast.net
GERMANY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947 ($3)
wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org
ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,
(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com
TURKEY: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or seanfodonnell of yahoo.com


Game Notes:
1) As quickly as the Dogs of War released on the Duck, they were quacked back into the kennel. This well may be a first in DipDom, or should that be DipDon, that a player NMRs and then has the other side of the board concede a draw to a coalition that includes him. Yes, the EFG passes and the EFGIT fails, so the game is over with that result. Since there were some comments with some of the votes about "wanting the bigger or the smaller draw" I need to say that my policy is that if multiple draws pass, then it is the smaller one that counts. However, here it didn't matter since you all voted for EFG, but at least one of you did NOT vote for EFGIT.
2) BUT, I must not abrogate my responsibility to admit my..... yes, Mike, here it comes.... my egregious error!!! Last turn, I realized after I printed the szine, but JUST before I copied it, that Mike could retreat A Mar-Pie. You may all note that I handwrote it in on the postal version. Sorry about that, I don't think it had anything to do with the draw vote.


Press:
(MIKE to MISTER UNCLE JEFFY-POOH SIR): "Why [I] made an alliance with him in the first place" is because of my predecessor's errors, not my own. When I took over this spot, my fleets were committed against France and there were Turkish fleets next to my homeland. Had I fought Sean then, I would have lost two Austrian centers plus two Italian home dots (or one plus Tunis) within a year. My only choice was to ally with him long enough to get his fleets into the Atlantic. By the way, since he took Tunis, we've swapped one center for one despite his "having an ally" - I wouldn't call this "get[ting] his ass kicked by a psycho." But it probably will develop closer to that than the opposite, so I'll vote both I and T out of the draw unless they give me EFGI. If Don were playing I'd want the game to continue just for that reason.
(JEFF O'DONNELL to MIKE BARNO): Never mind!....
(BOOB to MISTER UNCLE JEFFY-POOH SIR): Interestingly, your nephew seemed to have the same logic in reverse, so both Italy and Turkey voted themselves out of the draw.
(ROME): I'm pleased to report that Don did in fact demonstrate signs of life via e-mail, albeit only six words long, none of which was "mayonaisse".
(BOOB to MISTER MYKEY-POOH SIR): Yes, I know how you hate that.... but mayonaisse isn't even a word. And Mr. Williams may be many things, including most definitely NOT being a gentleman, but he most assuredly IS a scholar. But this WAS enough for you to vote him into the draw....
(WORLD2 to SCOTLAND): The Italian ambassador will soon come a-calling, bearing a case of Knob Creek. An attaché was heard to express doubts about a gift of mere bourbon whiskey (with an "e") bestowed upon the leaders of the source of single-malt whisky. The ambassador apparently growled something along the line of "Shut up, we'd give them panther piss if it meant getting their vote for our preferred draw."
(BOOB to TAP EDITOR): You know, we're SUPPOSED to clean up everyone's egregious grammatical errors.
(TAP EDITOR to BOOB): Yeah, but some of these guys do these things intentionally, what am I, a mind reader???
(BOOB to TAP EDITOR): But single malt WHISKY??? They never heard of such a thing in the wild, wild west, which is the only place they use that spelling. And besides, Ohio is hardly the wild, wild west.
(TAP EDITOR to BOOB): Sometimes, the bed you make is the bed you lie in. And now (since you guys write this stuff JUST for me...):
(MIKE to SEAN): "Repetitive guitar growing increasingly louder followed by pause." - Trent Reznor


FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 1999K, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR END GAME STATEMENTS EXTENDED TO SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2004
Five Way AEGRT Draw Declared!


Addresses of the Participants
AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ENGLAND: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,
(604) 591-1832 ($7); jrb of dccnet.com
FRANCE: Rick Davis, 2420 West Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407, (707) 544-5201,
redavis914 of aol.com
GERMANY: Bob Osuch, 19137 Midland Avenue, Mokena, IL 60448, (708) 478-3885
ROsuch4082 of aol.com
ITALY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 710 9613, cell (360) 710-9613 ($2)
terryt of whidbey.net
RUSSIA: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, (540) 582-2356 (E-Mail)
batretick of earthlink.net
TURKEY: Vince Lutterbie, 1021 Stonehaven, Marshall, MO 65340-2837, (660) 886-7354
melvin4852 of sbcglobal.net


Game Notes:
1) Draw passes. I'll have the SC counts NEXT time, then continue to print End Game Statements to the issue after that, really! See below, but really, I'm not a meanie about deadlines for endgame statements. Anybody still want to submit statements from 1987 K?


End Game Statements:
ENGLAND (John Biehl)
In 1999K, it looks like I avoided elimination via the draw result (although I don't really deserve to be part of it, I'll take it anyway). Bernie avoided (possibly/probably) having to resign due to illness (and we were the two remaining original players). This leads into the main reason 1999K was not so `fantastic a voyage'. There were too many changes of players (for whatever reason) and this did affect play and the alliance structure. It was interesting that not one alliance stood for the whole game. ((Yeah, I wish Bernie the best, and all things considered I think it WAS a good result for just the reasons you say.))
England played for an alliance with Germany versus France at the beginning. When the Aus/Tur juggernaut appeared a rapid Eng/Ger/Rus triad was formed to counter that (Fra becaming the odd man out and subsequently disappearing). It was the resignations of Aus (Gorman), Ger (Shreve) & Tur (Ellis) that played havoc with the alliance structure. I think, at the end, we had the new Tur & Rus combining and fighting their previous respective ally. The game looked to become a three way Ger/Rus/Tur slugfest.
England's major error came in 1909 where I should have defended my position against the new Ger player (Emmert). Then I would have been more of a factor in the later turns. ((Emmert is JUST such a dot grabber.... someone should have warned you. Of course, the GM cannot do this sort of thing.))
I enjoyed most of the press in the game except for the `toilet' humour of some (but, hey, if the GM allows it). I thank `Jim-Bob' for spending the time (four years) and effort to keep this postal game going. ((You're quite welcome. On the toilet humor, I've always gone with the loosest of possible editing pens. I am very clear in my house rules about it. The idea is that all things are played out within the game. And I make people involve me to insure it doesn't get out of hand. So if you want to look like a horse's ass, I'll let you look like one, but I'll also make sure you call ME a horse's ass too! And then you finish this with some press....))
Press:
(LONDON, SEPT. 1, 1913): The disappearance of King Saint Edward VII in the Barents Sea has caused a constitutional crisis. Parliament may be forced to declare Edward lost at sea (which he is figuratively and literally).
(OFF THE NORTH CAPE, OCT. 31, 1913): "Your Saintliness, we have spotted a Russian flagged lighthouse yonder." "Hand me my greatsword and swing out my boat. I shall assail that Russian tower!" cried Saint Edward VII. "We shall attack all Russians who cross our wake till we find that evil Tretgrendel or the equally vile Grendiak. No matter how many icebergs my Yacht must navigate by, I shall not rest till I find them!"


SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy
THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1916 IS AUGUST 21ST, 2004
THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1917 IS SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2004
Fall 1916
ENGLAND (Brosius): f LON h, a GAS S FRENCH f mar, f NAO S f mid, a KIE S FRENCH a mun,
f MID S FRENCH f spa(sc), f ENG S f mid, f HOL S a kie, 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 bul-CON.
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): a gre-SMY, f alb-ION, a UKR S a war, a WAR S a sev-mos,
f WES S ENGLISH f por-spa(sc) (nso), a SEV-mos, f GOL S ENGLISH a gas-mar (nso),
a SIL S ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso), a GAL S a sil, f NAF S ENGLISH f mid, f AEG C a gre-smy,
a TYO S ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso), f PIE S ENGLISH a gas-mar (nso), a ser-BUL,
a BOH S ENGLISH a kie-mun (nso).


Supply Center Chart
ENGLAND (Brosius): LON,LVP,EDI,bre,por,bel,kie,hol (has 8, even)
FRANCE (Sasseville): PAR,MAR,spa,mun (has 4, even)
GERMANY (Barno): gre,con (has 1, PLAYS ONE SHORT)
RUSSIA (Reynolds): MOS,STP,nwy,swe,den,ber (has 6, even)
TURKEY (Linsey): ANK,SMY,rum,bul, (has 15, rem 1)
bud,nap,ven,tun,sev,war,rom,tri,vie,ser
Neutral: none (Total=34)


Addresses of the Participants
ENGLAND: Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham, MA 02492
eric.brosius of comcast.net
FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)
roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030
GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883
mpbarno of lightlink.com
RUSSIA: Phil Reynolds, 2896 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 953-6952
preyno of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106
GonzoHQ of aol.com


Game Notes:
1) The FREGT draw is rejected and then reproposed. I had no complaint, so I've granted a request that we go back to where we were on the voting, which was this: (1) Some of you have "perpetual draw votes on this proposal on file", those are still in force; (2) Some of you do not and have been voting every season, for you if you FAIL to vote it counts as a yes vote for this proposal. If we get to a situation where no centers change hands for three game years, then we can go to the next step, which will require everyone to vote every season, no perpetual draw votes. And failure to vote would be a yes. This turn, Fall 1916 is two game years by that measure. PS I may do a GM judgment call that no "real" center movement has occurred if there are only small insignificant trades of centers that are done (that will include the one that happened this turn, even though it technically involved "taking a center"). I suppose if this continued, and Germany keeps taking more centers, especially home Turkish centers, we'd go back on "regular voting rules". I'll think about what that addition would be and make a ruling next issue.


Press:
(BOOB to GAME): I can't believe you're not writing any press, well, this item keeps the whole game on one page....


DR. EDWARD TELLER: 2002?rn42, Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy - Black Hole Variant
THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1907 IS AUGUST 21ST, 2004
Summer 1907
AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): has a RUM, f TRI; and
nuked EDI, LON, NTH, NWG, ENG.
ENGLAND (Muller): has a LVP; and 5 nukes unfired.
FRANCE (Andruschak): has f BRE, a PAR, a MAR; and 5 nukes unfired.
GERMANY (Kendter): has a MUN; and 5 nukes unfired.
ITALY (McHugh): has a VEN, a ROM, f NAP; and 5 nukes unfired.
RUSSIA (Kenny): has f STP(SC), a MOS, a WAR, f SEV; and nuked BER, KIE, VIE, BUD.
TURKEY (Schultz): has f ANK, a CON, a SMY; and 5 nukes in their silos.


Current Standings
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 TOTAL
JOHN SCHULTZ  3  3  3  3  3  4     19
PAUL RAUTERBERG  6  1  6  3  5  2     23
KARL MULLER  2  3  3  4  3  4     19
HARRY ANDRUSCHAK  4  5  0  3  3  3     18
LEE KENDTER, JR.  1  6  2  4  5  2     20
JACK MCHUGH  5  0  3  3  2  3     16
SANDY KENNY  3  1  3  3  2  3     15
Black Holed  8 14  7  1  7  7  6  50
Neutral  2  1  7 10  4  6     30
Totals(eventually) 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 238
Times GM Nuked  0  1  1  0  0  0  0   2
Whole Frelling Game  0  0  1  0  1  0  0   2


Addresses of the Participants
John Schultz plays on in our memories....
Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
Karl Muller, 3154 East Lydius Street, Schenectady, NY 12303-5035
karlmuller of alumni.lemoyne.edu or pegandkarl of mindspring.com
Harry Andruschak, 734 West 214th Street, Apartment 12-A Torrance, CA 90502-1907
(310) 533-8945, harryandruschak of aol.com
Lee Kendter, Jr., 1503 Pilgrim Lane, Quakertown, PA 18951
lkendter of speakeasy.net
Jack McHugh, P.O. Box 427, Claymont, DE 19703, (302) 792-1998
flapjack of comcast.net
Sandy Kenny, 23 East Coulter Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108-1208 (609) 869-3160
KennyShire of aol.com or possibly sakenny of net-gate.com


Game Notes:
1) A couple of adjudication notes.... when you guys nuke the same province more than once, I put in parentheses the number of nukes that hit that spot. Also, if your move to a space succeeds and THEN you are annihilated, I capitalize the first letter of that space where you are annihilated. The reverse happens if your move bounces where I capitalize the first letter of the place you started.
2) The rules I have been using for this game have been that there are no replacements or standbies. Nukes for the positions John has will remain unfired in their silos. None of his units will move or support anything. They can be attacked and dislodged and his centers can be nuked. John could win the game this way, conceivably, but likely would not. This was the last big move, Sandy popped back in to pop our leaders one in the nose, and the leader Paul got his orders in as usual. But the outcome is pretty well set now. Come on, get those last fall orders in!!!


Press:


FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules
THE DUE DATE FOR TURN 6 IS AUGUST 21ST, 2004
DESPER TAKES A MASSIVELY HUGE POINTS LEAD!!!
PELATON FALLS APART FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON!!!


Turn 5
46 (replenish with a 3) Homer(8)
45 (replenish with a 4) Lisa(10)
44 (replenish with a 5) Marge(6)
43 (no replenishment) Empty
42 (no replenishment) Empty
41 (no replenishment) Empty
-S-P-R-I-N-T- -F-I-N-I-S-H- -L-I-N-E-
40 (no replenishment) Empty
39 (replenish with a 3) Bart, Clubs
38 (replenish with a 5) Diamonds
37 (no replenishment) Empty
36 (no replenishment) Empty
35 (replenish with a 3) El Vez, Johnny Peso, Carl Sagan, Pebble
34 (replenish with a 7) Geri Lee Lewis, Wade
33 (replenish with 9) Edmond
32 (replenish with a 10) Hearts, Frederick
31 (replenish with a 12) Franklin, Spades,
30 (no replenishment) Empty
29 (no replenishment) Empty
28 (replenish with a 3) Zedd
27 (no replenishment) Empty
26 (replenish with a 3) Silt, Clay, Sand, Omega
25 (no replenishment) Empty
24 (no replenishment) Empty
23 (no replenishment) Empty
22 (replenish with a 3) James
21 (no replenishment) Empty
20 (replenish with a 3) Paige


Addresses of the Participants - Their Team and Their Cards
TEAM 1 (Rick Desper): rick_desper of yahoo.com (24 points)
Team Name: Team Springfield
A: Homer Simpson (15) 8 3 3 3
B: Marge Simpson (16) 8 4 5
C: Bart Simpson (10) 9 3 3
D: Lisa Simpson (11) 20 3 4
Total Replenishments: 22+63+46+13+15 = 159
TEAM 2 (Bruce Edwards): kactusjak of tiscali.co.uk (0 points)
Team Name: Last Again
A: Zedd (3) 15 3 3
B: Omega (3) 13 9 3
C: Paige (3) 15 10 3
D: James (3) 21 16 3
Total Replenishments: 16+37+29+25+12 = 119
TEAM 3 (Tom Howell): off-the-shelf of olympus.net (0 points)
Team Name: The Soils; Manager: Boulder
A: Clay (3) 15 16 15 3
B: Silt (3) 13 9 3
C: Sand (3) 16 20 3
D: Pebble (16) 21 20 3
Total Replenishments: 17+62+63+25+12 = 179
TEAM 4 (Dennis Menear): dmenear of wirefire.com (0 points)
Team Name: The Firm
A: Edmond (14) 9 3 16 9
B: Franklin (3) 15 4 12
C: Frederick (9) 6 3 10
D: Wade (12) 5 7 7
Total Replenishments: 12+28+32+35+38 = 145
TEAM 5 (David Partridge): rebhuhn of rocketmail.com (0 points)
Team Name: It's In The Cards; Manager: The Joker
A: Spades (8) 15 9 3 12
B: Hearts (9) 13 3 10
C: Diamonds (15) 16 3 5
D: Clubs (20) 21 16 3
Total Replenishments: 17+55+51+25+30 = 178
TEAM 6 (Karl Schmit): diplomacy of new.rr.com (0 points)
Team Name: 25 Dollar Quartet
A: Carl Sagan (15) 15 3 8 3
B: El Vez (12) 6 3 3
C: Geri Lee Lewis (12) 6 9 7
D: Johnny Peso (14) 1 16 3
Total Replenishments: 12+37+22+44+16 = 131


Game Notes:
1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. Press is VERY welcome!!!
2) Up above in parentheses is the card you played to get to where you are in the field. The replenishment card is the last card in your list. Be careful to note that the card you played (the one in parentheses) is not available for you, for next turn. Just for fun, I'm going to keep track of total replenishment, by turn, which is a rough measure of how the teams are doing. Of course, it is lining up to get across the sprint and final lines in the right places that really counts. (As we can see, Tom and David are neck and neck for the lead in this, but Rick is sweeping up all the points.) I'm not setting up a separate scoring method. BUT..... we can calculate an "efficiency score" later, which will be the ratio of scoring points per replenishment. If I'm predicting how the future of this will come out, a 10% score will be really tremendous for this measure (note that Rick already is way ahead of this pace).
3) I had a question about the tiebreakers... it is rider (A then B then C then D); highest card played; highest card in hand.


Press:
(TOM-DAVE): That was exactly the question I had for you! I don't feel at liberty to say everything I could. If we can talk Tim into another game, you think you can beat him, knowing he'll most likely do the same thing? ((new paragraph)) I think what's required is an in-depth analysis of the game, including seeing what happens using different strategies. Then you have to figure out what needs to be done to be the farthest across the finish line the turn the finish line is crossed. There! I've just told you how to win. Your task, the hard part, is implementation... < heh >
(TOM-BOOB): That applies to this game, too, doesn't it?
(BOOB-TOM): Ayuh, damn straight. Especially hard when Bruce is lost!! He just got remarried, I think, and is "busy". Help, anyone hear from him??
(HOMER - FIELD): Woo-hoo! Look at that blubber fly!
(CLAY-SPADES): Hey! What are these interlopers doing on "our" space? I thought we reserved this position for just us!
(BOOB to CLAY): It's OK, they've taken off and left you in the dust with minimal replenishment.
(BART - BOULDER): I tried to stay back and collect cards, but the rest of the family dragged me along with them! Really, I didn't want to play the frontrunner strategy again, but I thought other players would make their moves last turn!
(BOOB to BART): Then again you scored lots of Sprint points with those moves!
(BOULDER-HISSELF): What kind of a draw is that? Time to discard and re-draw.
(MR. BURNS - SMITHERS): Now where is that $1 trillion bill. I need to give money to the Bush campaign. (In background, you see Homer put a greenback with a large number of zeros on it into a Coke machine. It goes in and comes out again.)
(HOMER): Stupid machine!
(BOOB to HOMER): Think precious bodily fluids...
(BOULDER - BOOB): What's the weather like out your way? We've been sweltering out here. It's so warm, the carpenter ants chewing in the walls are still going during the "cool" part of the day: just before dawn.
(GRANDPA SIMPSON - THE JOKER): Should we start the publicity for another snowball fight here?
(BOOB to JOKER): Snow-Ball, Snow-BALL, SNOW!!! BALL!!!


FEAR AND WHISKEY: 1998Ers31, Modern Diplomacy
CONCESSION TO UKRAINE PASSES - CONGRATULATIONS TO DAVE!!!


Addresses of the Participants
BRITAIN: Kurt Ozog, 391 Wilmington Drive, Bartlett, IL 60103, (630) 837-2813
heyday6 of yahoo.com
EGYPT: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyri, OH 44035-5728, (440) 322-2920
or (440) 225-9203 (cell) ($2)
FRANCE: Harry Andruschak ($5) Tapmdfrance of aol.com
GERMANY: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221, (414) 281-2339 (E-Mail)
trauterberg of wi.rr.com
ITALY: Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138, (360) 691-4264 ($3)
ElfEric of Juno.com
POLAND: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($5)
roland6 of home.com and ICQ: 40565030
RUSSIA: Randy Ellis
SPAIN: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230 ($3)
sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com or seanfodonnell of yahoo.com
TURKEY: Kent Pollard, 1541 W. San Jose, Fresno, CA 93711, (209) 225-0957 ($10)
UKRAINE: Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033 ($8)
rebhuhn of rocketmail.com


Game Notes:
1) You all voted for the concession, so we're done. I've now got three games to summarize, and we'll do all of those next time! But first, we have.... Tah-Dahhhhh! Drum Roll, please.... the STAR TREK Season Finale!!!


Press:
(STAR TREK SEASON FINALE: UNCAGED!): Our last episode begins with the Federation in a desperate fight for survival against the evil Romulan Star Empire and their confused allies, the Bejorans. Starfleet has lost its entire fleet with the starship Enterprise the only remnant of the now fallen, once mighty Federation. What a surprise, the Enterprise being the only ship in the Quadrant. Having taken several disruptor blasts to her hull with the shields down, the Enterprise hides in a nebula in a last gasp defiance of the Romulan onslaught in a desperate attempt to make repairs.
(SPOCK'S LOG): Acting Captain's final log. Captain Kirk is dead (Oh no! Not again). Communications with Engineering have been cut off and I believe the entire section, including Mr. Scott have been exposed to the vacuum of space by the Romulans' last disruptor blast. Dr. McCoy should be at his post in sickbay, but he has chosen to spend his last moments on the bridge, completely ignoring his duties and simply annoying me to no end. This is the point of the log where I bore the viewing audience to death with notations of commendations for the cast and crew, but I've decided to skip that.
Dr. McCoy interrupts Spock.
(MCCOY): Spock, there's something that I just don't understand. Why would the Bejorans help the Romulans take over the universe knowing that the Romulans will enslave, torture, and even exterminate the Bajoran population?
(SPOCK): I've actually done some research and I've discovered that the New Bajoran President seized political power toward the end of the war and had a personal grudge against Captain Kirk. It turns out he is the brother (by adoption) to the now deposed Grand Nagus of Ferenginar.
(MCCOY): A Bejoran adopted by a Ferengi?
(SPOCK): Yes, Doctor. After the Cardassian withdrawal, many Bejoran orphans were adopted by a variety of cultures, including Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, and Ferenginar. Grand Nagus Huey and the new Bejoran provisional government president Dewey are brothers by adoption and President Dewey will do anythign to avenge the Federation invasion of his brother's beloved Ferenginar.
(MCCOY): Damn it, Spock! We are the Federation, not the Cardassians!
(SPOCK): Actually, we were the Federation, now we are one broken starship.
(MCCOY): It doesn't matter! Grand Nagus broke two treaties with the Federation and attacked us twice.
(SPOCK): Don't forget, Doctor, our refusal to fight the Romulans with the Ferengi made Grand Nagus predict the ultimate Romulan victory. Also the Cardassians in their infinite wisdom decided to conduct maneuvers near Deep Space 9 and the Bejoran home world destabilizing the whole universe. After the fall of Ferenginar, the universe should have aligned against Romulus. Bejoran President Dewey's kingmaking alliance with Romulus was a misguided attempt to salvage his brother's failed administration, by making the "attack me and the Romulans win" prediction come true, while at the same time masking both of these brothers' inability to maintain any treaty and their lack of ability to win any real engagement.
(MCCOY): So how much time to do you think it will be before the Romulans find us?
At that moment another disruptor blast hits the Enterprise, this time near the Bridge. Many of the viewscreens on the Bridge explode, killing Chekov, McCoy and Uhura. Spock found himself crawling on the floor when whe realized that he was the last "man" alive on the Enterprise.
He glanced up at the viewscreen one last time and he could see four Romulan War Birds and the light of one last disruptor. The last thing Spock saw was a bright blinding light before he lost consciousness....
... then what seemed to be a moment later Spock woke up and saw something that made his green blood curl. (A fat Trekkie woman in a tight Captain's shirt?) Spock was lying in a hospital bed, standing beside him was a man, feminine in physique, with a very large misshapen head wearing a long white gown. The man was the zoo keeper!
(SPOCK): Fascinating!
(THE ZOO KEEPER): As I sense you have deducted, the starship Enterprise never left Talos 4. All of the adventures the ship and crew encountered, including the movies, the four series, and the Trek conventions were illusions we placed in your mind. You've never actually met the "real" Captain Kirk. We have been running this illusion for 38 years.
(SPOCK): Why wake me now?
(THE ZOO KEEPER): Our doctors have determined that you have Bendi syndrome and your prognosis is terminal.
(SPOCK): Guess again.
The Zoo Keeper became startled as he realized he could no longer read Spock's mind.
(THE ZOO KEEPER): What happened?
(SPOCK): You forget, I am a Vulcan. I have spent the last 38 years concentrating on my own telepathic abilities and I surpassed you guys a long time ago. I didn't know about your deception when you faked Captain Pike's escape from Talos 4, but when the Enterprise went on its first mission with Captain Kirk I knew I was still on Talos and that the mission was an illusion.
(THE ZOO KEEPER): How?
(SPOCK): In the first five minutes of the episode Kirk defeated me in 3D Chess. No human had ever beat a Vulcan before. Shortly after that I gained superiority in my mental abilities. The adventures were not illusions you placed in my mind, they were illusions I placed in your mind. The Federation doesn't exist. The Enterprise computers had been programmed to give false information to any intruder and then self destruct in seven days if myself, Number One, or Captain Pike did not enter a certain access code.
(THE ZOO KEEPER): But we read the minds of each crew person, (Notice the idiotic, politically correct usage of the word crewman.) they have a clear memory of the Federation. If there is no Federation, then who are you people?
(SPOCK): I am the evil Mr. Spock and our universe is actually the mirror universe. I doubt there actually is another universe. Field Marshal Kirk is at this moment on his way to rescue us in the Imperial ship the BP Oil. I simply wiped your memory of the Empire and made up the Federation story. My telepathic distress call tood 38 years to get to and from Earth. I was also able to telepathically broadcast all of the illusions to Earth with help from you guys by using that Menagerie episode to set it up. I understand that my illusion was a hit back on Earth. I'm a little lucky that there was a Vulcan there to receive the message and that your telepathic powers don't accumulate when a number of you get together. It's a little like that stupid "Children of Plato" episode where the evil telekinetic "alien Greeks" were overpowered by Captain Kirk. You know it is too bad I couldn't have overpowered you guys (do you have genders here?) earlier. All I could do is block you from getting the Enterprise access code. I couldn't save the ship and fly myself and the crew off this Rock 38 years ago. By the way, you guys are all about to die.
(THE ZOO KEEPER): Why kill us now?
(SPOCK): Revenge mostly. The real Vulcan is identical to Romulus. We are going to kill you for the fun of it while we use a Genesis torpedo to turn this rock of a planet into a garden and an Imperial Base. What is really hard to believe is that you bought the "Star Trek" story to begin with. I mean think about it, a race of humans where no one has any religious affiliation good or bad. No poverty, Sisco's dad owns a restaurant, Quark owns a bar, and the crew regularly plays poker, but no one has any money because there is no need? What did you think the Federation officers were paying Quark? What was the crew gambling with? No TV? How was the crew supposed to look at their porn or get their news? A Federation military organization that doesn't believe in warships. That Captain Picard idiot who could have destroyed the entire Borg collective with a computer virus but refused because that would be "immoral". The empire would have thrown him into space without a suit over that one. I really thought that one would blow my cover. I mean, really, can you imagine a universe without baseball and the long suffering Boston Red Sox fan? The whole thing was pretty Polyannidiotic if you ask me.
(THE ZOO KEEPER): You know, we still have enough ability to confuse the BP when it gets here.
(SPOCK): I think not, the Genesis device is on its way. It can't be altered and it was a transporter matrix on it that weill beam any human or Vulcan on Talos 4 to the out of your range BP.
At that moment, Spock disappeared in a transporter matrix and moments later the rock that was Talos 4 was turned into a Class M planet. Spock and the 110 survivors who had been informed of Spock's illusion were now safe on the BP. Field Marshal Kirk introduced himself to Spock.
(KIRK): I'm confused, Mr. Spock, according to our scans the Talosians telepathic abilities should have accumulated. Two of them should have been able to overpower you mentally.
(SPOCK): That is correct, Field Marshal, most of their abilities were enhanced by a Tachyon computer generator, but I was the strongest. I simply wiped their memories of the knowledge of that ability and convinced them it would be futile to try.
(KIRK): Remind me to avoid playing you in poker.
(SPOCK): As you wish.
(KIRK): We do have a small problem.
(SPOCK): Enlighten me.
(KIRK): The Genesis torpedo had a small protomatter leak on its journey to Talos and it interfaced with your mental transmission because of its Tachyon energy. The connection opened a dimensional door and the scanners were able to scan what the interface created.
(SPOCK): What did it produce?
(KIRK): We can't prove it, because the dimensional door closed quickly, but we think it created a Federation ship turned into Ferengi in what looks like the perpendicular universe.
(SPOCK): A real Federation ship with a real Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy???
(KIRK): We think so.
(SPOCK): Just kill me now. By the way, did the Red Sox ever win the World Series while I was on Talos 4?
(KIRK): Nope, they lost a seven game series in the playoffs to a team from Andoria last fall.
(SPOCK): The Curse of the Bambino, 300 years and counting.
With its mission accomplished, the Empire colonized Talos 4. Ironic, because that was the Talosians' original intent. As Kirk and Spock spoke, the BP set a new course for its next exploitation mission for the Empire.
(SPOCK to KIRK): Is there really a Dr. McCoy?
(KIRK): Not on this ship!
(SPOCK): .... good because I probably would have killed him on sight just to be safe.
(KIRK): Care for a game of 3D Chess?
(SPOCK): I'll pass!
(JEFF to JIM): Thank you for running the szine and my press. Sorry about the length of this one but it was, after all, the Season Finale.
(BOOB to JEFF): Indeed, it was, not as hard to type in as it seemed when I looked at it. But everyone else should realize that it DID delay the szine a couple of extra days as I hunted for time to type it in. You sure you don't want to get an E-Mail account and type these things in??? Seriously though, I did enjoy them, especially this mind bending Season Finale....


Personal Note to You:


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.30.
On 04 Aug 2004, 20:03.