Diplomacy Games - SoundSage

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Gavin landed back in Australia just the day before recording, and he and Ken settle in for a full debrief on WDC 2026 in Athens. From the venues and the social activities to all four of Gavin's games and the top board, this one covers it all.

Intro* Ken sets up the episode – this one is going to be almost entirely about WDC 2026 Athens, because Gavin was there and has only just landed back in Australia (as at the time of recording) (15 secs) * He notes the DBN coverage gave a strong account of the boards and Ed's player interviews, but plenty of the magic from Spyros Dovas and his organising team didn't make it to the stream (45 secs) * Drinks are introduced: Ken is on one of his home-brew lagers with a kick, and Gavin is working through a leftover Sicilian Nero d'Avola that has turned a little sour – a fitting metaphor, he suggests, for how his first round went (1 min 45 secs)

The tournament in aggregate* Ken asks Gavin to give a broad overview – location, numbers, facilities, atmosphere (2 mins 45 secs) * Around 106 players registered, though some didn't show due to last-minute issues. Approximately 5 Australian players couldn't attend because their original flights were routed through the Middle East (3 mins 30 secs) * The geopolitical context: as of recording, the Middle East airspace situation was in week nine of its shutdown, forcing Australian travellers to reroute via Singapore, Hong Kong, or Malaysia. Some also baulked at the US transit option due to the documentation requirements (4 mins 30 secs) * Despite the drop-outs, the turnout was excellent and genuinely representative – a heavy European component split between the UK and the rest of Europe, a strong French contingent, players from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, and Norway, a good number of Americans and a couple of Canadians (including Chris Brand), around 10 Australians, and a couple of Kiwis (Dominick Stephens and Craig Purcell). The local Greek contingent, given the Athens club had only been running for about 18 months, was especially impressive (3 mins 30 secs) * Tournament format: three regular rounds followed by a fourth round of tiered top boards. Rather than a single top board, the format featured seven simultaneous top boards – the top 7 players went to the premier board, players 8–14 played the second tier, 15–21 the third, and so on down through the field. Crucially, players who volunteered to sit out for round four to help with numbers kept their ranking position (7 mins) * Ken and Gavin discuss how the tiered format means the fourth round is never a dead rubber – every board is still competing for something meaningful (8 mins 15 secs) * Discussion of the central clock arrangement: effectively federation-based rather than a literal single clock, with the two main venues coordinating their start times by communication (9 mins 30 secs)

The venues* The main venue was the upstairs function space of a beachside restaurant operation – excellent location right on the waterfront, but somewhat cramped for negotiations once all the boards were in (9 mins 45 secs) * As a result, boards were redistributed to the secondary venue: the Anchor bar, about 150–200 metres down the road. Gavin played two games in each location and considered the Anchor the better play space – more open, well ventilated, and with a large covered outdoor area next to a (drained) pool (11 mins) * The colour-coded sash system made it easy to identify players by country but created the amusing challenge of locating your specific Italy in a room full of Italys from different boards (13 mins) * The third venue – an outdoor shaded area – was reserved for the premier top board. Unlike Milan's car park, this one had good shade and plenty of room for spectators around the giant shadow board (13 mins 30 secs)

Pre-tournament social activities* Gavin outlines the structure: you could do as much or as little as you liked. He landed well due to a useful 5.5-hour Singapore layover that helped reset his body clock, and flew over on the same flight as tournament director Jamal Blakkarly (16 mins) * They were met at Athens airport by Spyros, his wife, and daughter, who drove them to breakfast at a beautiful harbour-side restaurant in one of the small inlet bays east of Piraeus (18 mins 15 secs) * Pre-tournament island stay: Gavin spent two days on Serifos, the island Spyros recommended and which has personal significance to his family (his grandfather was christened there). Spyros provided a detailed Google Map of the best spots. With the tourist season barely starting, Gavin got excellent last-minute accommodation at a family-run hotel and had the beaches almost entirely to himself (18 mins 45 secs) * The island was so off-season that locals were literally still painting their furniture and kerbs in preparation. Gavin did the recommended hikes and swims, and the hotel gifted him a dry-bag left behind by a previous guest (20 mins 30 secs) * Back in Athens overnight, Gavin caught up with a multinational squad of players including Shane, Brandon, Max, Zoe, Justin Law, Bradley Grace, and Karthik. They had dinner at an Italian restaurant with the Acropolis lit up above them (22 mins 30 secs) * Hydra day trip (Wednesday): players caught the fast ferry from Piraeus out to Hydra (about 1.5 hrs). The island has a refined Venetian-Greek port feel, with rustic paths and rock beaches beyond. The group visited the Museum of the 1821 Greek Revolution, full of local history and artefacts. Gavin wore one of his Diplomacy shirts and ended up being an ambassador for the hobby to an American grandmother and her debate-champion granddaughter from North Carolina – and pointed them towards David Hood and the local hobby there (24 mins 15 secs) * The water temperature at the beach was about 4–5 degrees colder than Australia, which meant the Europeans loved it and Gavin did not go in (26 mins 30 secs) * Acropolis and Athens tour (Thursday): guided tour of the Acropolis by what Spyros described as the best guides operating there, followed by a walk through the Plaka and past the Panathenaic Stadium (venue of the first modern Olympics in 1896), then a seafood lunch at a beautiful harbourside restaurant (30 mins) * Temple of Poseidon (Thursday evening): the most popular activity – the bus was packed. About halfway there, Spyros took everyone on an unannounced detour to a beach bar where they had the place to themselves, a wonderful surprise. The Temple itself sits on a peninsula with 270-degree sea views. Spyros told the story of how the Aegean got its name from that location, and a huge group photo was taken (31 mins 15 secs)

Tournament production values* Gavin describes the production as setting new high-water marks for tournament organisation – high enough that the Chicago 2027 organising team would be wondering how to match it. Every player had a colour-coded sash matching their country, a branded WDC Athens notepad in their country colour, and a matching pen for every round (33 mins) * The awards were 3D-printed Greek god statues for the podium finishers, complemented by a full suite of themed awards for the top players in each country and for notable gameplay (34 min) * Special awards included: the Ajax Award for 8th place overall (the brilliant fighter who just missed out); the Archimedes Award for the most innovative play; the Leonidas Award for the player who fought on against insurmountable odds; and professionally screen-printed awards for best performance as each of the seven Great Powers (35 mins 45 secs)

Gavin's gamesRound 1 – France – Board: Agkystri (View game)* Gavin introduces his first game and the board composition: he played France, with Danae Stamataki (Austria-Hungary, local Greek player who topped the board on 10 supply centres and won best Austria), Sabrina Ahuja "Sabi" as England, Brian Ecton as Germany, Jean-Louis Delattre as Italy, Teo Ananiadis as Russia, and Frank Oosterom from the Netherlands as Turkey (37 mins 15 secs) * The plan was a Western Triple working with England and Germany, with the goal of neutralising a strong-looking Italy early. It didn't come together as intended (37 mins 45 secs) * The infamous mis-order: Gavin had two builds and intended fleet Brest plus a second build. Instead he built fleet Brest and placed the build directly in MAO, effectively waiving his second build. The DBN commentators interpreted this as a genius strategic waive; Ken's interpretation was somewhat more grounded. Gavin confirms Ken was correct (39 mins) * The other players on the board didn't share DBN's generous reading of the situation. Germany immediately moved into Burgundy and kept flipping between fronts as his position allowed. Italy kept pressing France throughout. Gavin found himself squeezed down to a single unit in the English Channel (40 mins 30 secs) * Final turn plan: England agreed to convoy an army across to Picardy to support Gavin back into Brest. Instead, Sabi walked into an open Paris. Gavin ended the game with zero supply centres and was eliminated (42 mins 15 secs) * Gavin notes he made his disappointment known professionally, and that he subsequently had a drink with Sabi – but not that night (44 mins 15 secs)

Round 2 – England – Board: Lemnos* Not covered by DBN. Gavin played England; the board included Dominick Stephens (New Zealand) as Germany, Chris Brand (Canada) as Russia, Ruben Sanchez as Italy, Roberto Perego (Italy) as France, Robert Schuppe as Turkey, and Anastasia "Nastja" Styles as Austria-Hungary (46 mins) * The plan was a Northern Alliance of England, Germany, and Russia. It unravelled immediately when Chris opened Moscow to Livonia and Dominick interpreted it as aggressive – resulting in a Germany-Russia war from the outset (46 mins 15 secs) * Gavin adapted: knowing Germany was occupied in the east, he gave Russia some space and opened into Belgium, with Dominick and Chris both honouring his request to take Norway unopposed via fleet (46 mins 45 secs) * Dominick and Gavin worked to grind down Roberto Perego's France, who ground out a hard-fought game staying alive on 2 centres. Ruben Sanchez's Italy played a deft game, flipping between alliances with Turkey and Austria (49 mins 15 secs) * Dominick topped the board on 10; Ruben came in at 9; Gavin finished at 7. The game was meant to run to 1909 but drew earlier when the position stabilised. Gavin reflects he may have drawn too early, with both Dominick and Ruben suggesting he had room to push for another two centres (50 mins)

Round 3 – Germany – Board: Symi (View game)* Gavin played Germany. The board included Shane Armstrong (Australia) as France, Mikalis Kamaritis as Italy, Alex Maslow (USA) as Russia, Steven Hogue (USA) as Austria, Alex Lebedev (Russia) as England, and Jack Johns as Turkey (51 mins 15 secs) * The strategic context: only Mikalis Kamaritis and Alex Lebedev were realistically in contention for the top board from this game. Shane and Gavin identified this early and committed to supporting the player they believed deserved to be there (52 mins 45 secs) * Shane and Gavin opened with a Sealion against England, while Gavin also walked a careful line with Alex Lebedev, who initially felt more threatened by France than Germany. Austria was eliminated in 1903, and England in 1904 (53 mins 45 secs) * A notable moment: Gavin slipped an army from the North Sea into an unoccupied London – a move he acknowledged was unnecessary, created friction with Alex Lebedev, and which he would not make again. He apologised on the day (56 mins 15 secs) * Mikalis told Gavin and Shane to wait until 1905 – and delivered. He launched from his eastern position, took two dots off Russia and one off Turkey in a single year, then steamrolled from there. Alex Maslow was a strong and enjoyable player who nearly flipped the alliance but ultimately couldn't (56 mins 15 secs) * The game agreed to a draw of 10-10-14 (Shane-Gavin-Mikalis), which the three felt would get Mikalis comfortably onto the top board. In the final adjudication Mikalis took one extra dot away from Shane, making the final scores 15-10-9 (58 mins 15 secs)

Round 4 – Austria – Board: Myconos (View game)* Gavin made it onto the fourth round, placed into the 6th top board. The board featured Shane Armstrong again as Turkey, Emmett Wainwright as England, Patrick Jacobson as France, Nathan Lester as Germany, Cameron Taylor as Italy, and Richard Bolton as Russia (59 mins 30 secs) * The standout introduction: Nathan Lester, son of Dan Lester (who Gavin played against at Bangkok WDC). Same voice, same playing style, same persuasive meta-game arguments – but with a mullet and dressed like he's in an 80s rock video, and without the beard-stroking (1 hr 0 mins 45 secs) * Gavin and Shane, having just played together in Round 3, ended up as Austria and Turkey respectively – not a natural alliance. Gavin didn't trust it but it held. Italy and France both kept fighting hard throughout (59 mins 45 secs) * The game drew in 1906, with Shane and Emmett both finishing on 8, Gavin on 6 as Austria. Everyone then rushed across the road to watch the top board (1 hr 3 mins 45 secs)

The top board* Ken asks about Mikalis's diplomatic style. Gavin: exceptional situational awareness, communicates clearly and directly, asked and answered the "what do you want from this game?" question in a way that built immediate trust, and was good to his word on timing (1 hr 4 mins) * Gavin arrived at the top board mid-1906 (his own game had just drawn). The top board was played outdoors under a well-shaded tree with plenty of room for negotiations, guarded by two or three people ensuring other players and passing members of the public couldn't crowd the board (1 hr 5 mins) * The giant shadow board: a massive life-size replica board was set up nearby so all spectators could follow the game without approaching the real board. Andrew Goff read out the orders and the shadow board was updated after each adjudication – the same setup used at Milan WDC (1 hr 7 mins 45 secs) * When Gavin arrived, he felt Bradley Grace had the game. The shift came late – Mikalis made a decisive move in the endgame that separated him from a closely matched France/Germany contest (1 hr 9 mins) * Congratulations to Mikalis Kamaritis – well deserved, Gavin says. And to Bradley Grace: so close, but it will happen (1 hr 9 mins) * The awards ceremony included Mikalis receiving both the championship belt and a traditional olive laurel wreath – a detail that was not captured in the DBN stream. Ken flags this as something future broadcasts should consider covering (1 hr 11 mins 15 secs) * A Best Shane Cubis Award was also created – won by a Greek player who loudly lobbied Spyros for an award on the basis of how much he'd helped out. An AI-generated image of Shane Cubis in 1901 attire featured on the award, to the complete bafflement of the European and American contingents (1 hr 12 mins 50 secs)

Game hobby and future WDCs* The Chicago Windy City Weasels delivered a presentation promoting WDC 2027, enthusiastically received by the assembled players (1 hr 13 mins 15 secs) * The 2028 bid: Melbourne was the only bid, and it was unanimously approved. Andrew Goff (Goffy) presented it. WDC 2028 Melbourne will be held at the MCG – the Melbourne Cricket Ground – with the conference rooms used for regular play, and the premier top board played on the MCG wicket itself. The countdown timer will run on the MCG scoreboard. Notionally scheduled for the last weekend of February 2028 – the weekend after the Formula One Grand Prix and the weekend before the first AFL round (1 hr 14 mins 30 secs) * For international context: roughly equivalent to playing at Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, the Camp Nou, or Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena. English players will recognise the MCG as where English cricket hopes traditionally come to die (1 hr 15 mins 15 secs) * Also at the game hobby: a unanimous vote to amend and modernise the WDC charter, which dates from around 2000–2001 and doesn't reflect current online play, email communication, or the organisational structures of the Asia-Pacific and European hobbies. Four representatives (from NADF, the Asia-Pacific Diplomacy Association, and the European and UK hobbies) will draft amendments to be presented at WDC 2027 Chicago, with ratification at WDC 2028 Melbourne (1 hr 18 mins)

Wrap up* Gavin acknowledges the full organising effort: approximately 10 people working behind the scenes alongside Spyros and Jamal to make everything run. The Greek hobby and Athens Diplomacy Club can be enormously proud (1 hr 20 mins 30 secs) * The Armistice Party: held between rounds three and four in the venue near the pool area. A DJ with a custom app allowed all attending players to nominate up to 10 songs each, with the crowd then voting in real time from four options for what came next. Gavin describes it as stunningly well thought through (1 hr 22 mins) * Ken summarises: meticulously planned, wonderful venue, brilliant location, great games, fantastic people. Gavin: you got it in one. Thank you to Spyros, Jamal, and everyone they played with (1 hr 23 mins)

Addendum – recorded one week later* Ken and Gavin explain the addendum: a few things were either forgotten or lost in the original recording, so they've caught up a week later to cover them (1 hr 25 mins 45 secs)

The Cane Toad* The Cane Toad tournament will not run in 2026 – Gavin has made the decision to rest it for the year and bring it back bigger and better in 2027 (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs) * Reasons: Gavin no longer lives in Brisbane where the tournament has historically been based, and several attempts to get a local game going have been completely unsuccessful. He feels it would be unfair to interstate players to travel to Queensland only to play mostly other interstate players rather than a meaningful proportion of locals (1 hr 27 mins 30 secs) * He also flags cost-of-living pressures and fuel costs as factors, noting that the fuel excise which had been removed is about to be reinstated (1 hr 28 mins 45 secs) * Ken and Gavin have a brief riff on whether cane toads actually hibernate, and whether the tournament might one day move to a different Queensland location (1 hr 28 mins 45 secs) * Gavin shares a long-held dream of running the Cane Toad on the beach under a sun-safe setup. Council regulations require public liability insurance – but the Asia Pacific Diplomacy Association is in the process of organising exactly that for tournament directors, which may open the door in future (1 hr 29 mins 15 secs)

Tournament news* The Sydney Cup is on the weekend of 4–5 July. Gavin would love to go but has used up his diplomacy credits between Greece and starting a new job – it'll have to stay in the bank for now (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs) * A New Zealand tournament is being discussed for the week before WDC 2028 Melbourne (late February 2028). Three New Zealand players who attended WDC 2026 in Athens have flagged interest in hosting something, on the logic that if you're travelling all the way from Europe or the US, a short hop across the Tasman to New Zealand is well worth building into the itinerary (1 hr 32 mins) * Ken enthusiastically endorses the idea and encourages anyone planning for WDC 2028 Melbourne to factor in a week in New Zealand beforehand (1 hr 33 mins 30 secs)

Challenge for next episode* Over his birthday lunch, Gavin's son surprised him with an accurate recall of his WDC result. This leads Gavin to issue a challenge for the next episode: both Ken and Gavin will do some homework and come back with three or four online diplomacy resources that people may not know about, to raise awareness of what the community has put together over the years (1 hr 34 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds VDiplomacy gets an introduction for any listeners who aren't familiar: a sibling platform to WebDiplomacy, it hosts classic games but is particularly known for its range of variants (1 hr 36 mins 30 secs) * The Dionysus Reimagined game recap – the ancient Greece variant Ken and Gavin set up in the lead-up to WDC Athens. Ken soloed, eliminating Gavin in the final year. Gavin notes that technically his last dot was taken so late that his result registers as a survive rather than an elimination (1 hr 38 mins 45 secs) * Gavin played Athens and found himself defending on all fronts from early on: Sparta (who built only armies and had nowhere to go but north), the Macedonians pressing from the north, Byzantium late in the game, and Rhodes. Ken played Byzantium and credits his early token luck as a key advantage, picking up all his bid supply centres including one he expected to bounce – giving him fleet dominance in the Aegean from the start (1 hr 40 mins) * The bid mechanics are recapped for any listeners unfamiliar with the variant: each player has 4 tokens to bid on non-core supply centres; outbid or bounce and you don't get the build. Ken's fortunate opening bids gave him a decisive early position (1 hr 40 mins 30 secs) * A practical tip for vDiplomacy players: always open the large map after adjudication. The small map can omit orders that didn't go through, making moves look different from what was actually played. Ken noted several instances in the Dionysus game where support orders that failed simply weren't visible on the small map (1 hr 45 mins 45 secs) * Ken congratulates himself on the win and notes the ratings gap between the two has now closed to around 100 points (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs) * New game announced: Gavin has set up a Pirates game titled Ahoy Mateys on vDiplomacy. Gunboat, 2-day 2-hour phase length. Ken explains the extra 2 hours: it gradually shifts the adjudication time back toward Australian time zones in games where everyone readies up early (1 hr 48 mins) * Pirates variant overview: a 13-player variant set in the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, created by Gavin in collaboration with Ollie (the vDiplomacy site administrator). The 13 players are broken into three factions (1 hr 51 mins 45 secs): + Europeans – Spain, England, France, and Holland, who nominally control supply centres across the map but must capture them to make them count + Pirates – five pirates, four historical (Montbas, Brasiliano, de la Cueva, and Johnson) and one fictitious: El Guapo, borrowed from the movie The Three Amigos* + Privateers – one per European power, operating as private navies with letters patent. They can attack anyone except their sponsoring power (and vice versa). The Dunkirkers serve Spain, Henry Morgan serves England, François Le Jones serves France, and the Rocherson serves Holland * Unit rules: all units are fleets, but there are two types – Clippers (move up to two spaces, standard attack strength) and Frigates (move one space, attack at 1.5x strength). A single clipper cannot defend against an attacking frigate, but a clipper supported by another clipper can. Five marked spots on the board allow transformation between unit types (1 hr 57 mins 45 secs) * Special rules: a voodoo witch's hut in Cuba allows a fleet on the north coast to teleport to the south coast and vice versa. And a 14th non-playing character – a Hurricane – spins up each storm season in a random sea territory, moves randomly in the fall turn, and destroys anything in its path with an effectively unstoppable attack strength, also resetting any supply centre it passes through to neutral (1 hr 59 mins) * Ken commits to reading the full rules before play begins, notes Pirates has a genuine following on vDiplomacy with games regularly in progress, and suspects he may get slaughtered (2 hr 1 min 15 secs) * Gavin and Ken wrap up the show (2 hr 2 mins 15 secs)

Venue: At home

Drinks for the interview:
Ken: One of his home brews – a lager with a bit of a kick
Gavin: A Baliamo Nero d'Avola from Sicily – opened two weeks prior, which he noted had become a little sour and bitter compared to its fresh opening, much like his first round at the tournament

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help pay off the audio equipment… or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone. Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.

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After five months (maybe more?) between episodes, Gavin and Ken are back – and with WDC 2026 Athens about to happen, what better time to get the tournament organiser, Spyros Dovas, on the show to talk about everything you can expect from rocking up to Greece this year.

Intro* Gavin and Ken kick off the show with cheers and reintroduce the podcast after a hiatus of over five months (0 mins 10 secs) * Gavin explains the gap – his move away from Brisbane has made catching up with Ken less frequent, and a previously recorded episode went out of date before it could be released (1 min 30 secs) * Gavin flags he's still searching for employment and shares his brief, unsuccessful foray into applying at Dan Murphy's – though he remains a loyal patron (3 mins) * Ken notes that Gavin is heading to a certain upcoming tournament, and Gavin confirms he'll be attending WDC 2026 in Athens – flying via Singapore and living something closer to backpacker than five-star (4 mins 30 secs) * Gavin talks about his travel plans, including the Athens itinerary, flying before the Middle East situation affected routes, and his fondness for Singapore's airport (6 mins) * Gavin reflects that while he's been to Greece before, it's been about twenty years – and this time he'll be doing things differently (8 mins)

Interview with Spyros Dovas – WDC 2026 Organiser* Gavin introduces Spyros as the tournament organiser for WDC 2026 (as distinct from Tournament Director Jamal Blakkarly) and hands over to him (9 mins 30 secs) * Spyros explains how the venue came to be chosen – rather than a downtown Athens hotel, his wife suggested the beachside suburb of Saronida, about half an hour from central Athens, which he knows well (10 mins 30 secs) * Spyros describes the venue logistics: as registrations grew, he booked an auxiliary venue nearby so there's now capacity for even a very large crowd (13 mins) * Gavin asks Spyros to make the pitch: why should people come to WDC 2026 in Greece? Spyros covers the competitive angle (previous world champions, strong contingents from the US, Australia, and across Europe), the community experience, the setting, the weather, and the pricing advantages of being just before peak tourist season (14 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the FOMO build-up section on the official WDC website (17 mins 30 secs) * Spyros outlines the pre-tournament activities organised for Wednesday and Thursday (18 mins 30 secs): + Wednesday – a day trip to the island of Hydra, departing from Saronida to Piraeus and taking the fast boat across (approx. 1.5 hrs) + Thursday – a guided tour of the Acropolis with what Spyros describes as the best guides operating there, followed by a walk through Plaka and the historic centre, lunch by the sea, and an evening trip to watch the sunset from the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon * Gavin enthuses about the Hydra day trip and reflects on the island's significance to Greek identity, noting it's less well-known internationally than Santorini or Mykonos but stunning (23 mins) * Gavin shares that he's already visited the Acropolis and Parthenon once before, about twenty years ago with his family, but is genuinely excited to experience it again with expert local guides (25 mins) * They discuss accommodation in Saronida – Spyros notes a good range from five-star hotels to Airbnbs at reasonable prices for this time of year, though availability is diminishing and people should book soon. He offers to assist anyone having difficulty (27 mins) * Gavin mentions the Athens neighbourhood guide Spyros has put together – a Google Map indicating where to stay, where to avoid, and the character of different areas – inspired by advice Spyros gave his own son who is now studying at Bocconi University in Milan (29 mins) * Gavin asks whether anyone stands out as a favourite to win. Spyros diplomatically declines to name names, noting at least a dozen players who wouldn't surprise him as champion – which he says makes the tournament all the more exciting to watch (32 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the tournament format: four rounds in total, with a Friday afternoon opening round (around 5pm, to accommodate European day-of-travel arrivals), two rounds on Saturday, and Sunday morning featuring a top board alongside competitive play for all remaining players (35 mins) * Gavin asks about the name of Spyros's Athens Diplomacy club – "The Gift Bearers" – and its tagline "Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts," which Spyros explains is a reference to Virgil's line about the Trojan War, chosen for its local resonance and edge. He also confirms there will be a welcome gift bag for all players at check-in (37 mins 30 secs) * Gavin admits to attempting to read the Iliad in preparation and finding the going tough; Spyros explains that even modern Greeks find Homeric Greek fairly obscure, and discusses the remarkable linguistic density of ancient Greek compared to contemporary languages (40 mins) * Spyros previews content he still plans to publish on the WDC website: a food guide covering local dishes people shouldn't miss and how to approach them, plus recommendations for experiencing authentic Greek nightlife and an Orthodox church service on Sunday morning (43 mins) * They wrap up the interview with Spyros reassuring any hesitant attendees that Greece is safe, welcoming, English-friendly, and set up for international visitors (48 mins) * Ken wraps up by expressing his jealousy and thanking Spyros (50 mins) * Spyros signs off, noting the first round is exactly two months away from the recording date. If you want to attend WDC 2026 in Athens and haven't signed up yet, or want more info, go to https://athensdiplomacy.club/wdc2026/ (50 mins 30 secs)

Post-interview chat* Gavin and Ken return and reflect on the interview – particular enthusiasm for the Acropolis guided tour and the Hydra day trip (51 mins 30 secs) * Gavin reveals a bonus travel tip: on arrival in Athens before the tournament, he'll be visiting the island that Spyros's family originally came from – a recommendation straight from Spyros himself with full insider knowledge of where to go (53 mins) * Ken shares a reflection on visiting Venice as a teenager and then studying the Italian Renaissance in Year 12, noting how historical knowledge transforms the experience of being in a place – relevant for anyone heading to Athens (55 mins 30 secs) * They confirm the tournament details: four rounds, Friday to Sunday (22–24 May), with a top board on Sunday. Gavin checks in on the 21st (57 mins)

Around the grounds* Ken mentions he's been quietly plugging away at a couple of online gunboat games, with mixed fortunes (58 mins 30 secs) * Ken floats the idea of setting up a game of the vDiplomacy Greek Diplomacy variant – winner of the World Variant Design Contest in 2010 – to coincide with WDC Athens. Gavin enthusiastically signs up - This game has since begun and you can view it at (59 mins 30 secs) * Gavin gives an update on his Europa Renovatio game (a 36-player variant set in pre-fall-of-Constantinople Europe) – he was positioned for a potential solo before getting dogpiled, and is now manoeuvring to encourage a draw - This has since finished in a draw with Gavin now able to reveal he was playing as the Teutonic Order (1 hr 1 min) * Ken provides an overview of Europa Renovatio for listeners who haven't played it, and the two discuss a potential improvement: adding sea lanes across the Sahara to fix the unrealistic around-Africa single-move connection (1 hr 5 mins) * Gavin asks whether Ken will bring a recorder to WDC – answer: depends on whether everything fits under the 7kg carry-on limit (1 hr 9 mins) * Gavin shares his excitement after scanning the WDC 2026 player list – strong contingents from Australia, France, Greece, the UK, and the US, plus many familiar names from the online scene. Tempers expectations about his own chances of making the top board (1 hr 10 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 12 mins)

Venue: At home

Drinks for the interview:

Oops – we forgot to mention what our drinks were and we don't remember, although Ken definitely had one of his homebrews.

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We chat with Alex Duffy who as Head of AI Training at Every Consulting run an amazing project where different AI models competed against each other in Diplomacy. Plus we discuss the upcoming Australian Open tournament.

Intro* The guys introduce the show and Gavin flags he'll be moving further away from Ken, so the show will become more online than face-to-face (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Alex Duffy* They introduce the interview with Alex from Every Consulting and GoodStartLabs about different AI models playing against each other in Diplomacy (4 mins) * The interview kicks off with Alex discussing the research project he ran at Every Consulting where various AI Large Language Models (LLMs) competed against each other in Diplomacy (6 mins 45 secs) * Gavin asks Alex how he got into Diplomacy originally (9 mins 50 secs) * They discuss the thinking behind the project. During his answer he mentions the Twitch stream of the AI models playing against each other - you can view this on their AI Diplomacy Twitch channel (11 mins 15 secs) * They look at how data should be structured and presented to the LLMs (15 mins 45 secs) * Alex talks about the different style of play adopted by each LLM - you can read their summary on the Every Consulting AI page (18 mins 45 secs) * Gavin asks about how different models approached strategy nnd iterative training of the models so they learn from how they perform in games (24 mins) * Gavin reflects on how he sometimes plays in cycles of play (32 mins) * They discuss why the game Diplomacy keeps being used researched in the AI space (34 mins) * Alex introduces his lates project: The Battle of Bots. You can find out more and register your interest on their Battle of the Bots web page (40 mins 30 secs) * They reflect on the newer generations of players bringing their enhanced technology experience to the game (45 mins) * Alex asks Gavin and Ken what they've learned from playing Diplomacy to apply to real life (48 mins 30 secs) * Gavin asks Alex whether he plans to get more into playing Diplomacy face to face (53 mins 45 secs) * Alex discusses other games he's interested in getting into more (57 mins) * Just a reminder, you can find out more and register your interest on their Battle of the Bots web page (1 hr 0 mins) * Ken suggests some games he feels would be appropriate to research. Alex provides his email address to hear listener's suggestions on other games ot look into (1 hr 2 mins) * They begin wrapping up the interiew (1 hr 5 mins 30 secs) * The guys reflect on the chat (1 hr 7 mins)

Diplomacy Chat* Gavin is off to compete in the Australian Open, being hosted the weekend of 21 to 23 November. Plus they talk about the Bismark Cup (1 hr 23 mins) * After some tangental talk, they return full circle to the Australian Open. Gavin mentions doing some recordings when not playing, however, with his house move he can't find the recorder which is packed somewhere (1 hr 33 mins) * They discuss getting and staying in the right zone, and reflect on Mitchell and Webb's the Inebriati sketch (1 hr 37 mins 30 secs) * Gavin incorrectly cites Mitchell and Webb again, but it is actually Stephen Fry and Hugh Lawrie's Treaty of Westphalia sketch (1 hr 39 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 40 mins)

Venue: At home

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin: Proximo tempranillo from Rioja, Spain

Ken: Poet's Country Crisp lager from Yenda, NSW

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

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

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

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We catch up with Adam Silverman and explore what to think about if you're running a tournament for the 1st time or the 21st time. Plus an overview of how the 2025 Asia Pacific Diplomacy Championship went at the Cane Toad Classic.

Intro and Diplomacy chat* The guys introduce the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) * Gavin gives a quick update on how the Cane Toad Classic went and introduce the topic of what do you're thinking about if you want to host a tournament (4 mins)

Interview with Adam Silverman on how to run a tournament* They start the interview with Adam, host of World DipCon 2025 and begin discussing how his games have been going so far this year (5 mins 45 secs) * Gavin asks Adam about what the difference is like between running a small or regular size tournament - like a standard Whipping tournament - and something as big as World DipCon (8 mins 50 secs) * Adam discusses the importance of having people helping tournament organisation and what to be mindful of (11 mins 15 secs) * The key things to aim for in tournament attendence (15 mins 30 secs) * They discuss space and what to look for in a venue (20 mins 45 secs) * Gavin and Adam talk about social activities and how to manage and plan for that (25 mins 30 secs) * They talk about covering tournament costs (32 mins 30 secs) * Adam discusses responsibilities for those assisting him with the tournament (37 mins) * He shares what he's changed over the years based on player feedback (43 mins 15 secs) * They discuss the NADF Code of Conduct (46 mins) * Ken suggests the idea of a tournament finance officer (47 mins 45 secs) * Gavin asks if Adam's taken anything away from our tournaments he's attended and brought to his own (50 mins 40 secs) * The interview starts wrapping up before Ken and Gavin give their thoughts on key takeaways for them (52 mins)

Cane Toad Classic wrap up: how to improve a tournament* Gavin and Ken discuss player feedback from the tournament to help with future Cane Toads, plus the guys' own learnings (1 hr 0 mins 15 secs) * Gavin starts sharing his ideas for next year's Cane Toad Classic, including the prospect of it moving to the Gold Coast in 2026 (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs) * The guys get another round of drinks - and we get an update on how their next drinks taste as a Diplomacy mid-game before discussing further options to consider for next year and a possible future year venue (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs)

Diplomacy chat* Gavin has played for the first time in 5 years a virtual game using Backstabbr and Discord in a round of Snake Pit (1 hr 30 mins 30 secs) * He discusses how it all went and what his experience was like - Gavin played as Austria and developed a great AIR with Sigurd (Italy) and Rob Hillier (Russia). You can view the game on Backstabbr, including an Austrian army in Liverpool (1 hr 33 mins) * Ken mentions the latest DBN Deadline news discussing a new AI Diplomacy model, and we give a big thanks to DBN for covering in Gameday Live the Cane Toad Classic (1 hr 41 mins 30 secs) * They talk about upcoming Australian tournaments before wrapping up the show (1 hr 46 mins 15 secs)

Venue: Lang's Lounge, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin: Sally IPA by Your Mates Brewery, Queensland and a cheap and cheerful red

Ken: Stone & Wood Hazey IPA, New South Wales followed by a Sally IPA

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

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

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We catch up again with Noam Brown about his World Diplomacy Championship win this year in San Francisco and get an update from him. Plus the guys talk more about the Cane Toad Classic being held at the end of August.

Intro and Diplomacy chat* The guys introduce the venue and their drinks in this Athens inspired venue (0 mins 15 secs) * Gavin outlines his plans for travelling on the cheap to Greece for WDC 2026 (3 mins)

Interview with Noam Brown* They set up the interview with Noam Brown (6 mins 45 secs) * Noam discusses how the WDC this year required a lot of attention and was pretty exhausted (8 mins) * He talks about the four WDC's he's been to and what he's learned over the years (11 mins) * They talk a little about Cicero and what Noam learnt from his involvment in the project and how he'd approach the issue of a broader reputation and AI - if you don't want to listen to the technical stuff, fast forward to about 30 mins 20 secs (17 mins 15 secs) * Noam discusses how much AI has improved since Cicero launched (23 mins 45 secs) * Gavin asks how Noam would approach Cicero differently if he had his chance today and how general purpose models impact that (25 mins 45 secs) * Gavin asks how did non-Diplomacy people respond to him winning the World Championship, the scoring structure for the tournament and his games (30 mins 20 secs) * Noam is given some hypotheticals if he was on the top board for WDC 2026 in Greece (42 mins 15 secs) * They discuss why no-one has ever won back to back WDC's (46 mins) * Ken asks about Noam's "meta" approach to building up his skills and gameplay (47 mins 30 secs) * Gavin asks how Noam feels about the change from working at Meta to OpenAI and where AI is at now and into the future (52 mins 30 secs) * Noam discusses the advice he's given to non-Diplomacy people about what they can get out of the game (1 hr 0 mins 30 secs) * The interview wraps up and the guys discuss their thoughts from the interview (1 hr 2 mins 45 secs)

Diplomacy chat* Ken asks Gavin about what how WDC in Athens is going to be run (1 hr 6 mins) * Gavin discusses his time at the Sydney Cup (1 hr 8 mins) * Want to attend the Cane Toad Classic (30 and 31 August)? >> Register using our form << (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs) * Ken discusses why he thinks he tends to play well as Russia (1 hr 24 mins) * They grab another beer and reflect on how it is as a mid-game (1 hr 29 mins) * Gavin invites our listeners to >> complete a survey about the podcast << (1 hr 33 mins)

Around the grounds* Ken discusses a Europa Renovatio game he's in (1 hr 34 mins) * Gavin talks about his two games. They discuss the way sea lanes are used in the WWIV sea lane variant. Ken discusses how you could remove stalemate lines having overseer zones on a Classic map (1 hr 39 mins) * Ken talks about the Diplomacy Variant Club at Discord (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 52 mins)

Venue: Kafenio, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin: Mythos lager from Greece

Ken: Mythos lager from Greece

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

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

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We interview English - now Australian player - Robert Hillier about his Diplomacy experiences and more. We also have some great Diplomacy chat about how the game compares to other board games and Gavin points out similarities between Diplomacy and the TV show "The Traitors"

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We're joined by relatively new but very experienced player Zoe Cameron as she shares great advice for new and existing players alike.

Intro and Diplomacy chat* The guys introduce the venue and their drinks (0 mins 10 secs) * They set up this episode's interview with Zoe Cameron (3 mins 30 secs)

Interview with Zoe Cameron* The interview with Zoe kicks off who has only been playing since early 2024 but has got massively into the game and some of her thoughts on the game (5 mins 5 secs) * They get into a discussion around the Venn diagram between strategic play, tactical play and relationship play (10 mins) * Lizard brain contemplations (15 mins) * They talk about their drinks for the interview and DBN After Dark (18 mins 20 mins) * Zoe has some great advice for new players (22 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the connections created from the game and the "free jazz of social dynamics" (25 mins 30 secs) * She discusses the importance of vulnerability whether you're a new or experienced player (31 mins 20 secs) * Zoe and Ken share a story - you can also hear Ken's original discussion on our previous episode (37 mins 30 secs) * Zoe says she's coming to the Cane Toad Classic, with Ken showing her the Toadiest Toad trophy (40 mins 45 secs) * She talks about different geographic playing styles (43 mins 30 secs) * After Ken asks about Zoe's best game she discusses getting the best sense of flow in a game (51 mins 30 secs) * She talks about an upcoming Melbourne tournament she's organising for 17-19 October 2025 (59 mins) * Zoe gives a shout out to tournament organisers before they start wrapping up the interview (1 hr 5 mins) * The guys chat about the interview (1 hr 7 mins) * Gavin acknowledges he probably needs to try giving Discord a go again (1 hr 11 mins)

Cane Toad Classic - it's happening!* They talk about the tournament the weekend of 30-31 August at Meeple and Mug in Brisbane's West End, the social and formal structure for games (1 hr 13 mins) * Ken talks about the trophies, including the infamous Toadiest Toad award (1 hr 18 mins) * They talk about the upcoming Sydney Cup on 21-22 June (1 hr 21 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 23 mins)

Venue: The Prince Consort, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin: Pepperjack Malbec

Ken: Young Henry's Newtowner Pale Ale

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

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

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After three episodes recorded online, the guys at last get the tech working offsite at the bar again. They discuss WDC 2025, their upcoming tournament plans and their latest online games.

Intro and Diplomacy chat The guys introduce the venue and their drinks (0 mins 10 secs) * They talk about the 2025 World Diplomacy Championship and congratulate Noam Brown (who we interviewed about Cicero) (2 mins) * We talk about the upcoming WDC's planned for 2026 (Athens) and 2027 (Chicago) and whether there will be another Asia-Pacific WDC in 2028 (7 mins) * They get back to how their beers would be as Diplomacy openings (9 mins 30 secs) * A little admin update on the podcast (15 mins) * They talk about the challenge of getting 7 players for a local game (16 mins 30 secs) * Gavin discusses trying to maybe* get a family game of Diplomacy happening in Christmas-New Years (19 mins) * Gavin gives an update on the Cane Toad Classic for 2025 - that said, since recording we have finalised details. The tournment will be run Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 August, with social activities starting Friday night. Check out the details at the Cane Toad Classic web page (21 mins) * Ken talks about visiting webDiplomacy and saw they had a new forum. They talk about vDiplomacy being spam-bombed with Ken dropping the ball on his Mod responsibilities (32 mins)

Around the grounds* Gavin is in just one game, with Ken joining some new games (36 mins) * Gavin goes on to talk about the Magic Hour at vDip and how he's smashing Ken in the Best vDip player rankings (38 mins) * He discussed drawing in a 6 way Imperial game as Holland (42 mins) * Ken is playing another Zeus game (43 mins) * The guys then wrap up the show (46 mins)

Venue: Caxton Street Brewing Company, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin: Caxton Street Brewing IPA

Ken: Caxton Street Brewing IPA

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

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

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The guys discuss one of them winning their first Diplomacy tournament and their latest games.

Intro and Diplomacy chat* The guys start rolling the show early before introducing the episode (after Ken encourages keeping in some pre-show discussion) (0 mins 10 secs) * They talk about their drinks (4 mins)

The Bangkok New Year's Tournament 2025* Ken won his first tournament! And also scored two best country trophies (6 mins 45 secs) * He talks about his game that got him best Russia (12 mins) * Ken discusses his final game playing as France (14 mins 30 secs) * Ken talks about Kratom (17 mins 30 secs) * Gavin talks about catching up with Stuart Barton and Max Roe Banks around his DBNI game (20 mins 10 secs) * Gavin mentions he's going to the Melbourne Open {Post recording update - this didn't happen due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred closing Brisbane Airport and cancelling all flights} (21 mins) * He also talks about planning for the Cane Toad Classic in August this year (21 mins 30 secs) * Ken asks Gavin around his favourite country preferences (26 mins)

Around the grounds* Gavin discusses a Colonial 1885 game he's in as France before they move onto the challenges of variants where sea territories get stalemated (27 mins 35 secs) * Ken talks about taking advantage of a player's repeated orders (35 mins) * They move onto a Europa Renovatio game where there's now only four players left (38 mins 20 secs) * Ken discusses the Zeus variant he's playing (45 mins) * The tech starts giving out with Gavin not hearing Ken (48 mins)

Part 2* The guys are back about a week and a half later. We both went through a cyclone which cancelled Gavin's plans to get to the Melbourne Open - airport closed and flights all cancelled (50 mins) * Ken provides an update on game he was hoping to solo in (52 mins 30 secs) * Gavin points out in vDip a winner take all game results in vDip rankings all going backward except for being buying in (no change) with the winner getting all vDip points (58 mins) * Because of the recording delay, Gavin runs through the Top 3 placed winners at the Melbourne Open - big congrats to Tianyu Sun! (1 hr 1 min) * Gavin gives his next interstate tournament plans (1 hr 2 min 15 secs) * They start wrapping up the show and flag they're about to record a Patreon episode

Venue: At home, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin: D'Arenberg The Stump Jump Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre from the Barossa, South Australia

Ken: Kaner's dark ale home brew

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

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

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Following on from last episode we discuss with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace the fastest Diplomacy solo possible, all the math and all the reality of how to make it possible!

Intro* The guys introduce the episode and explain the latest comedy of errors plagueing the show. This includes recording at home again (another dumb reason why) and why Gavin is recording on his iPhone's speaker (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace on soloing fast* We begin setting the scenes for this episode's discussion with Peter McNamara and Bradley Grace about how to theoretically solo the board as quickly as possible and how to best practically achieve this (2 mins 25 secs) * They discuss their drinks in the interview and the reason for the discussion (3 mins 30 secs) * Peter talks about the theory behind how to solo as quickly as possible on the board in 1903 (7 mins 30 secs) * Theoretically most players can get to 21 SCs in 1903 (9 mins 30 secs) * Brad talks about the theory of reaching 21 SC in 1903 as England (11 mins 15 secs) * Peter talks about a Backstabbr sandbox with Italy in 1903 with 21 SC (12 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the mathematical equation to solo in 1903. Peter doesn't have it at hand, so Gavin finds it on ChatGPT with lots of other useful elements for this strategy (14 mins 30 secs) * They all move onto the practical dynamics of being able to solo as quickly as possible, with Brad discussing soloing in 1904 (22 mins) * Peter gives his perspective on why he could never solo that fast (26 mins) * Ken asks about being able to make 18 with your own units, without other countries convoying (30 mins 45 secs) * They talk about the practical aspects for how to convince players to allow you to solo so fast (37 mins 40 secs) * Peter blows away the myth of The Return of the Mack (42 mins) * Peter manages to find the sand box for the game at the 2020 Poppycon (45 mins) * Ken and Gavin pay tribute to both Peter and Bradley as players and ask about their upcoming tournaments - apologies if they talk about tournaments that happened. Remember, things are pretty busy for the guys now so sometimes the podcast episodes come out much later then when they were recorded (50 mins 30 secs) * The interview wraps up (55 mins) * The guys give their perspectives on the interview and an update on the math sent post-interview by Peter - apologies for the bad audio from the breeze. They ask if anyone is aware of a solo by 1903 (56 mins) * Ken talks about heading over to the Southeast Asian New Years Tournament, with Gavin asking if he's going to try a fastest solo ever effort (1 hr 2 mins) * They also discuss busting (unfortunately) the Return of the Mack myth (1 hr 5 mins)

Around the grounds* Gavin discusses buying into a game he didn't remember buying in to (1 hr 6 mins 30 sec) * The theory about dogs and their owners and picking up a great position that with some fast talk is doing very well (1 hr 8 mins) * Ken discusses his Imperial game (1 hr 10 mins 45 secs) * Despite talking about the vDip for podcast listeners, the game is no longer available - sorry folks with all the busy real life stuff tihs episode was recorded about a month before it came out (1 hr 15 mins 45 secs) * They touch on the last time they were in Thailand when they came up the idea of Big Stick Diplomacy. They talk about whether to add to the variant the ability to move from one theatre to another, but allowing for a delay getting there eg using David E Cohen's ocean stacking or similar for naval travel (1 hr 19 mins) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 25 mins)

Venue: At home, Brisbane

Drinks for the interview:

Gavin:- Hempranillo Australian shiraz-tempranillo

Ken: Kaner's dark ale home brew

Bradley: Coors beer

Peter: Penfolds shiraz

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

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

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The guys suffer from user error while catching up for our Christmas episode. Seasons greetings everyone!

Intro and Diplomacy chat* The guys introduce the episode and why this is the second recording of it (0 mins 15 secs) * Ken describes his own homebrewed ale before it gets their creative juices going on the most incredible Russian opening ever (2 mins 30 secs) * The greatest Diplomacy solo challenge (8 mins 50 secs) * Ken talks about the "Return of the Mac" game (15 mins 15 secs) * He goes onto discuss the December 2024 God Save the Zine edition (apologies Ken accidentally says it was in Diplomacy World) on page 23 by Ian Bond - a Tetris like way of looking at the Classic board (16 mins 40 secs) * Ken discusses how Ian's design reminds him of what's achieved in the variant Alacavre, which looks like a fantasy map but has exactly the same connections as a Classic board. That said Ken then points out the stats for this variant are totally different to Classic statistics, which shows how habitual we are when we approach the Classic Diplomacy board (21 mins 20 secs) * They go onto creating a new game of Alacavre for Diplomacy Games podcast listeners - just pop over to vDiplomacy, create an account if you haven't got one already and join the game at DiplomacyGames plays (password/invite code is just the word podcast) (33 mins 50 secs) * They discuss geographic linguistic differences across Australia and Gavin's old casual job he had at the Regatta Hotel. He goes onto mention this was around the time he played Diplomacy for the very first time - through the variant Machiavelli. You can find out all about this in our Patreon feed in a week or so from now (38 mins 50 secs) * The guys give a proper status update about the show and the likely release schedule/quality over the next 6-12 months (43 mins 30 secs) * They advertise many "development opportunities" available for listeners who'd like to help the show. If you're able to help let us know on the podcast contact form (47 mins 20 secs) * Ken also suggests if there are interview guests you'd like to hear on the show to let us know (50 mins 20 secs) * Ken reflects back on Diplomacy and 2024 (51 mins 45 secs) * He then discusses his upcoming attendence at the South East Asian New Years tournament being run by Sascha Heylmann on 24-26 January and their recording plans for early 2025 (53 mins 40 secs) * Ken presents the "Better vDiplomacy player" plaque to Gavin for getting a higher score and ranking than Ken this year (56 mins 20 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 1 min)

Venue: At home, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken - Kaner's own dark ale
Gavin - Casillero del Diablo shiraz from Chile

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

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

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The guys talk about the 2024 Asia Pacific Diplomacy Championship and the creation of the Asia Pacific Diplomacy Association. And of course have a few drinks!

Intro* The guys introduce their drinks (0 mins 15 secs)

The 2024 Asia Pacific Diplomacy Championship* They begin talking about their attendance at the Asia Pacific Diplomacy Championship and Ken winning the Shane Cubis Award (1 min 30 secs) * Gavin corrects the audio levels and talks about their venue (3 mins 45 secs) * They get back to talking about the tournament and their games (5 mins 30 secs) * Gavin shares some Diplomacy advice he got earlier (15 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the Australian scene currently and how it is growing in quality and quantity (17 mins 30 secs)

Catch up with Max Row Banks, Asia Pacific Diplomacy Champion* The guys set the scene for the chat, recorded immediately after Max found out he was the 2024 Champion (18 mins 30 secs) * The interview begins with Max talking through his game (19 mins) * Max talks about playing as Russia, Germany and France (20 mins 15 secs) * They talk about Max winning the championship by one SC (22 mins) * Ken asks about Max's favourite moment in the event (22 mins 45 secs) * They talk about the competiting players (23 mins 30 secs) * Ken asks where to next (24 mins 20 secs) * Max also won Best Strategist in the tournament (25 mins 10 secs) * They begin wrapping up the chat (26 mins 30 secs) * Gavin hadn't relistened to the interview when he and Ken caught up and incorrectly says he hasn't played against Max, even though Max touched on it at the Cane Toad Classic when Gavin had to make numbers for a board (27 mins 45 secs)

Round table discussion on the new Asia Pacific Diplomacy Association* They move onto a post-championship discussion around the earlier agreement to establish the Asia Pacific Diplomacy Association, a regional equivalent to what North America and Europe already has (28 mins 30 secs) * Andrew Goff gives a brief overview of what's happening (31 mins 15 secs) * Jamal Blakkarly provides his input into the discussion (33 mins 15 secs) * Dominick Stephens reflects on how the New Zealand hobby could build from the association's approach (35 mins 15 secs) * Shane Armstrong talks about where the hobby is at in Sydney and how the association can help (36 mins 50 secs) * Andrew gives a hat tip to Lei Saarlainin in setting an original vision (38 mins) * Ken suggests moving to a quiter location (39 mins)

Diplomacy chat* The guys have moved to Gather for a quieter atmosphere. Gavin reflects on regular feedback - positive and negative - from listeners about recording in a bar. And other related reflections (39 mins 30 secs) * They discuss some of his thoughts on the association and some of the benefits from it (43 mins 20 secs) * Ken talks about the new Renegade Studios variant, "Era of Empire" (49 mins 30 secs) * Gavin reflects on his repeated efforts to reach out to Renegade's media team about an interview on how they're taking the game forward - but unfortunately with no response (56 min) * The guys ask if anyone has a connection into the people from Renegade Studios, please get in touch as we'd love to know the strategy they're taking the game (58 mins 45 secs) * FYI - don't message us on X, as we don't go there anymore (1 hr 1 mins) * Gavin is now on a Tscharke Shiraz from the Barossa and Ken is on a Balter XPA. Gavin gives his limited insights of the Russian language (1 hr 2mins)

Around the grounds* Gavin's joined an unranked Divided States game and has actively encouraged the one guy who didn't stab him to walk into his SC's (1 hr 3 mins 30 secs) * Ken moves onto his Imperial Diplomacy game where he's doing pretty good as Prussia (1 hr 5mins) * They move onto Gavin's anonymous World War IV game where he's still doing well (1 hr 7 mins) * Gavin asks Ken on tactics when it comes to convoys and movements to keep it legal (1 hr 11 mins) * They start wrapping up (1 hr 16 mins)

Venue: Little Miss Sunshine and Gather, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken - Young Henry's Cloudy Cider and Balter XPA
Gavin - Little Miss Sunshine Breezy Pale Ale and Tscharke Shiraz

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

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

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The guys catch up after a busy few months IRL and talk about aspects of their favourite game

Intro* The guys introduce the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) * They explain why the recording schedule hasn't been so great this year (2 mins 30 secs)

Diplomacy chat* Ken shows Gavin the prototype trophy for the January 2025 Diplomacy tournament planned for Bangkok (3 mins 15 secs) * The guys get some more drinks and discuss their upcoming attendance at the Asia Pacific Diplomacy Championship (13 mins) * They talk about the "Toadiest Toad" award at the Cane Toad Classic (14 mins 30 secs) * They come back to the Asia Pacific Championship and their aspirations for the tournament. Listeners - just so you know this episode is being released the day before the championship starts (16 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the Canberra tournament being help 3 weeks later and the plan to have a top board (20 mins 20 secs) * Gavin gives a couple of apologies due to the recording schedule being a bit lax (23 mins 20 secs) * They discuss trying to get regular games going and what is the 'secret sauce' (25 mins) * A small local football digression (27 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds* Ken asks how Gavin's online games are going (31 mins 45 secs) * They talk about what happens when someone blocks your growth corridor off on a large map (34 mins 15 secs) * Ken talks about his gunboat Imperial game against the big boys (37 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the value of holding a build back (42 mins 15 secs) * The guys start wrapping things up and remind listeners around our Patreon feed (44 mins)

Venue: Babblers, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken - Stone and Wood Pacific Ale
Gavin - Paratheon Silver Shiraz from the Barossa Valley

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

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

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The guys interview Jacob and Jamal from the A Christian and Buddhist Walk into a Bar podcast as a cross over episode. Plus Gavin discusses WDC in Milan and more.

Intro* The guys open the show and introduce their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs) * Gavin has a cough but goes into his experience playing at the 2024 WDC in Milan (2 mins 40 secs)

Interview with Jamal Blakkarly and Jacob Traeger from the podcast A Buddhist and a Christian Walk into a Bar about Diplomacy and faith* The guys start introducing the interview with Jamal and Jacob, co-hosts of the podcast A Buddhist and a Christian Walk into a Bar for a cross-over episode about Diplomacy and faith (9 mins) * The interview begins as the four of them set up the nature of the episode for each of the podcasts' audiences (11 mins) * Ken explains the game for the other podcast's audience (16 mins) * They discuss the link between each of their religious and spiritual perspectives and Diplomacy (17 mins 30 secs) * Gavin discusses Jamal's double stab on him during the Melbourne Open (22 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the evolving nature of Diplomacy, its connection with your life and learning moments (25 mins) * Gavin talks about inadvertantly injecting Diplomacy into the game of Monopolyn (41 mins) * Jamal asks whether God likes Diplomacy (43 mins) * The nature of the discussion turns towards Buddism and Diplomacy, and Jamal reflects on Catholicism in Italy (49 mins) * Jacob asks about whether there's any place in the game of Diplomacy for some of the key aspects of the major religions (57 mins) * Gavin reflects on the face to face nature of the game as a way of meeting great people and traveling to amazing locations (1 hr 5 mins) * Just search Christian Buddhist bar on Google to find Jamal and Jacob's podcast if you want to hear more of A Christian and a Buddhist Walk into a Bar (1 hr 11 mins) * The guys reflect on the discussion with Jamal and Jacob (1 hr 12 mins) * Gavin talks about how he enjoyed spending time travelling and visiting Diplomacy players during his trip, including Jamal, Bradley Grace, Chris Brand and John Avena (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs) * He goes onto talk about WDC 2025 in San Francisco and WDC 2026 in Athens, with a shout out to Spyros, podcast listener and TD for WDC in Athens (1 hr 22 mins) * Gavin discusses officially holding the Cane Toad Classic tournament in Brisbane the weekend of 24-25 August 2024. Register your interest at the Australian Diplomacy tournament form (1 hr 26 mins) * They talk about a pre-game for the first weekend in August but since recording we've fallen short and won't be happening (1 hr 30 mins) * The guys begin wrapping up the show, and Gavin does an extra Bradely Grace shout out on 3 words (1 hr 35 mins 15 secs)

Venue: Longwang, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Balter XPA from the Gold Coast, XXXX Bitter from Brisbane (during the interview)

Gavin: Balter XPA from the Gold Coast

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

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

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The guys interview Davide Cleopadre, the tournament organiser of the 2024 World Diplomacy Championship in Milan, Italy.

Intro* The guys open the show being recorded on Skype and introduce their drinks with a couple of stories along the way (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Davide Cleopadre, TD for the 2024 WDC in Milan* They start introducing the interview with Davide Cleopadre, the tournament organiser (11 mins 50 secs) * The interview begins and Gavin asks Davide why he nominated Milan as the host for the 2024 WDC (14 mins) * Gavin talks about the culture in Italy and Australia and how they've very similar (16 mins 15 secs) * Davide talks a little around the venue and eating too much (19 mins) * Gavin asks what will people walk away remembering about this particular WDC. Ken bowls a curve ball (21 mins 20 secs) * He goes onto ask about the structure of the tournament... with a little lasagne and gnocci talk... and not to put any sauce on anything in Australia (24 mins 15 secs) * They talk about the rounds in the tournament, the scoring system and gameplay (29 mins) * Davide goes into how the top board is determined and Gavin asks about the Lingua Franca in the tournament (41 mins 40 secs) * Ken asks about using new technologies to improve communication in other languages in tournaments (45 mins 10 secs) * Gavin draws on his previous visit to Milan many years ago and asks about Davide's expeditations on travelling before or after the tournament (49 mins) * They talk about the WhatsApp group for the tournament (50 mins 50 secs) * Davide talks about the idea of betting and bottles of wine before a brief discussion on Spaghetti Bolognese (55 mins 30 secs) * The guys discuss the interview (59 mins 30 secs) * Gavin mentions the Team game concept being considered for WDC Milan (1 hr 6 mins)

Diplomacy chat* Ken asks what Gavin's doing with his online games while he's away (1 hr 11 mins) * They discuss some of Gavin's vDip games (1 hr 15 mins) * Ken asks about buying into games (1 hr 20 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 28 mins)

Venue: Skype because Ken has buggered up his hand, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: XXXX Bitter from Brisbane

Gavin: De Bortelli Sacred Hill Shiraz, "Wine of Australia"

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

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

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The guys open the show and introduce the venue, Maniax, an axe throwing bar (0 mins 10 secs)
Gavin mentions a Bizarre Map originally published on X, which explains what bits of Australia are like if they were American (6 mins 15 secs)
They also discuss the old pronunciation issue for “Arkansas” (8 mins 20 secs)
The guys flag there’s no interview this episode, and an update where they stuffed up an interview (9 mins 30 secs)
Gavin talks about setting a regularly scheduled day each month so people can put it in their calendar eg second Sunday or the month (16 mins 45 secs)
They get invited to throw axes and receive a safety briefing and before having a throw - apologies if it gets a little quieter at this point but there’s understandable a bit of space between the recorder and where we throw the axes (19 mins 45 secs)
The guys give a wrap up of their axe throwing games (41 mins)
They move onto a new bar and discuss the venue and their drinks (45 mins)
Gavin talks about not acting his age. Read more about Australian school yard Hand Ball - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handball_(schoolyard_game) - he also discusses swearing (50 mins 30 secs)
Ken delivers some big news from Sweden (55 mins 15 secs)
He asks Gavin about his thoughts on networking the board vs the strategy of the board - you can hear about this for less than $2 a month in our Patreon feed (55 mins 50 secs)
Gavin cracks some news about his plans for May and June this year (57 mins 50 secs)
They discuss the What the Dr Recommended segment (1 hr 6 mins)
The guys kick off an Around the Grounds segment and start talking about some of their online games (1 hr 7 mins 50 secs)
They start wrapping up the show (1 hr 20 mins)

Venue: Maniax and then Brew, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Maniax Mead and Stone and Wood Pacific Ale

Gavin: Two to the Valley pale ale by Newstead Brewery and a Don Ramon tempranillo

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

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

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The guys discuss their latest face to face tournament, the Melbourne Open and have an around the card table discussion with many great players. Plus Ken's shoe story. Enjoy!

Intro* The guys open the show discussing their drinks, Gavin's incredible rustiness and a little about the tournament (0 mins 15 secs) * They mention DBN is having a chat also coming up blow by blow about the tournament (9 mins secs)

Card table chat around Melbourne Open and player experiences* The guys introduce the card table chat with various players from the Melbourne Open and Ken teases the tale of two shoes. Bear in mind that occassionally with so many people speaking it can be confusing briefly (9 mins 30 secs) * The chat begins with Karthik Konath (USA), Craig Percell (New Zealand), Ken, Steve (Melboune), Peter (Melbourne), Jamal (Canberra), Goffy (Melbourne) and Robert (Melbourne via London), meanwhile Gavin discusses a skit in Aunty Donna and his poor consistent games at the end of day one (10 mins) * They begin a debrief on their round 1 and 2 games and observations from the first day (14 mins) * Sascha (Thailand via Germany) joins the chat and they discuss the international player's views on why they came to an Australian tournament and what they like about Australia from their visit so far (19 mins) * They talk about the prospects of a WDC in Australia is a few years (26 mins 30 secs) * Australian stereotypes (32 mins 35 secs) * They eventually move on to each discuss their first day at the tournament (38 mins 45 secs) * They move onto how things will change in their gameplay for day two and the additional role to the TD in supporting wellbeing (1 hr 23 mins 45 secs) * The discussion wraps up (1 hr 53 mins)

Airport Tournament wrap-up (BONUS shoe story)* The guys give their recollections of the chat (1 hr 53 mins 30 secs) * They discuss their trip back from Andrew Goff's to their apartment and Ken's Ned the "Shoe Man" Kelly story (1 hr 57 mins) * Ken announces he came third in the tournament (2 hrs 3 mins) * Ken flags to watch his second round Turkey game when it airs on DBN (2 hrs 7 mins 30 secs) * Gavin talks about his first round Italy getting an Italian army in Sevastapol in fall 1902 (2 hrs 9 mins) * They discuss upcoming tournaments including the Hung Parliament Handicap in Canberra, getting a Canetoad Classic in Brisbane happening in August and another Melbourne tournament in October (2 hrs 14 mins) * Gavin flags that our scheduling has been thrown out a bit before wrapping up (2 hours 16 mins)

Venue: The Taphouse (Melbourne Airport) and Andrew Goff's place, Melbourne

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Stomping Ground red ale by the Taphouse and so, so many

Gavin: Stomping Ground pale ale zero alcohol and many, many more

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

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

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The guys interview Zach Moore about all things NADF. Plus we talk our online games.

Intro* The guys open the show talking about some recent off topic discussions (0 mins 15 secs) * They discuss their drinks and initial venue (1 mins 30 secs) * Loser's round stuff (3 mins 30 secs)

Interview with Zach Moore about NADF* The guys start introducing their interview with Zach, current NADF President who gives us a tour of his car (6 mins 30 secs) * Zach explains how he took over the presidency of NADF from Siobhan Nolen, and his purpose in the role and the Code of Conduct (9 mins) * He discusses the more proactive measures he'd like to see to get ahead of behaviours that cause problems and how the NADF Board is assisting (13 mins) * They discuss improving diversity in the game (16 mins) * Zach talks about this year's DipCon in Vancouver and his experience, including his game with Jamal Blakkarly (20 mins 30 secs) * Gavin asks about why non North Americans didn't perform as well at DipCon (28 mins) * They discuss how play style changes in a tournament where there is no top board (34 mins 30 secs) * Zach talks about how Covid killed the local Minnesota club (37 mins 30 secs) * Zach asks about the Australian "Snake Pit" virtual league on Discord (39 mins 15 secs) * They talk about the concept of an International Diplomacy Federation (41 mins) * Zach puts on the record about him winning his DBNI first round and top board, and how it'll happen (46 mins) * They wrap up the interview (48 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds* They move bars to the Dark Red Wine Bar and discuss their new drinks as a mid-game (55 mins) * The guys talk about a "Big Hitters" game staring to form at vDiplomacy, currently planned on a Haven map (1 hr 1 mins) * They talk about heading off to the Melbourne Open this weekend (1 hr 5 mins) * They wrap up the show (1 hr 9 mins)

Venue: The Prince Regent & the Dark Red Wine Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Young Henry's XPA and Moretti Lager (from Italy)

Gavin: Balter XPA and a Primitovo from Apulgia, Italy

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

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

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The guys interview Chris Brand about the upcoming 2024 DipCon/Cascadia Open in Vancouver. Plus we talk upcoming tournaments and our online games.

Intro* The guys open the show about Gavin's wife's recent interest in Ticket to Ride and talk about a number of other board games (0 mins 15 secs) * They discuss their drinks and initial venue which they last visited in episode 2 (4 mins 20 secs) * Ken's been brewing beer (6 mins 20 secs)

Interview with Chris Brand* The guys start introducing their interview with Chris Brand, WDC winner and tournament organiser for this year's DipCon/Cascadia Open in Vancouver (10 mins 15 secs) * Gavin asks about the tournament from 3rd to 4th February 2024 and how it'll be different being run as a DipCon (12 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the scoring system and player's from different locations' playing style versus the West Coast style (15 mins 30 secs) * They go onto discuss responsibilities in organising the tournament (20 mins 40 secs) * Chris talks about the rounds and the impact of online players increasingly attending face to face tournaments (23 mins) * Gavin asks about Chris' drink (26 mins) * Ken asks about how did the idea of combining DipCon and Cascadia come about (27 mins 40 secs) * He then asks about the logistics of getting to the tournament (30 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the social aspect of the tournament (32 mins 15 secs) * Gavin asks Chris about whether he'll attend WDC in Milan (34 mins) * Ken asks about how to register and get advice on getting to the tournament (35 mins 40 secs) * They start wrapping up the interview before moving onto discussing the interview (38 mins) * Ken gets up to some maple syrup smuggling (47 mins 30 secs)

Diplomacy chat* The guys discuss the two upcoming tournaments in Australia: the Melbourne Open hosted by Andrew Goff in the first weekend of March and the Hung Parliament Handicap in Canberra hosted by Jamal Blakkarly on 12-14 April (48 mins 30 secs) * The guys give their take on Renaissance Italy (57 mins) * They discuss having a tournament in Brisbane during August called the "Canetoad Classic" and get into the trophy (1 hr 1 min) * The guys move onto a new venue, moving to Rothwells and discuss their mid-game drinks (1 hr 7 mins)

Around the grounds* Gavin talks about the last episode where the guys agreed to play the new South of Sahara variant, but Ken then CD'ed and left the game (1 hr 14 mins) * They move onto Gavin's Europa Renovatio game as Portugal (1 hr 18 mins) * Ken flags he hasn't got around to any Big Stick Diplomacy variant updates. They then talk about a few games broadly (1 hr 26 mins) * Ken talks about how to flag in a gunboat how to flag to get on with it and draw (1 hr 29 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the episode (1 hr 32 mins 45 secs)

Venue: The Gresham & Rothwell's, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Cooper's Sparkling Ale from South Australia and Wilder gluten free pale ale

Gavin: Capa Sigle Tempranillo from Castilla la Mancha in Spain and a 2018 Bordeaux

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

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

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After almost 4 years the guys bring back creator and publisher of the Diplomacy Briefing, Umbletheheap, to see where the weekly email newsletter is at and where it's going. Plus we award the end of year Best Player award between each other, the new South of Sahara variant and progress on the Big Stick Diplomacy variant.

Intro* The guys open the show and discuss their drinks and initial venue which they last visited in episode 14. They discuss why Russia doesn't open Warsaw to Silesia more often. (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Umbletheheap* The guys start introducing their interview with Umbletheheap, creator and publisher of the Diplomacy Briefing (6 mins 15 secs) * Umble gives a quick overview about what the Diplomacy Briefing is and its initial beginning (8 mins) * He discusses the increasing role of many other great people contributing to the Briefing (10 mins 15 secs) * Gavin asks about the professionalisation of the newsletter (14 mins 10 secs) * Umble discusses his role in Ministry as a pastor yet being someone who loves the game Diplomacy which has a certain reputation (17 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the role of AI when assisting the Briefing (26 mins) * Gavin gives a shout out for anyone listening to the show who wants to step up, give back to the community and be recognised for their work re-using podcast conten in other areas eg Youtube (31 mins) * Umble shares two secrets, one on starting the Briefing and getting Captainmeme back into the game (32 mins) * He discusses winding things back a bit, while still ensuring the Briefing will keep on going (39 mins) * Umble discusses old Diplomacy zines and how in the past it impacted on relationships (44 mins) * He finishes up by discussing their Diplomacy awards coming up (47 mins) * The guys return - this time in a new venue - and discuss the interview (52 mins)

Diplomacy chat* They discuss the new venue - an 80's rock bar called Alice - and their drinks (57 mins 30 secs) * Some 80's pop culture banter (59 mins) * Ken awards the trophy between the two of them on who is The Better vDip player, with Ken still beating Gavin (1 hr 0 mins 40 secs)

New variant - South of Sahara* The guys discuss the latest new variant on vDip "South of Sahara", created by David E Cohen and brought to vDip by Enriador and Tobias Florin (1 hr 3 mins 30 secs) * They discuss this new 5 player variant. Gavin shares a conversation with David about the variant and some of his new upcoming variants (1 hr 5 mins) * Ken shares a story about transforming units in Known World 901 and they agree to playing a South of Sahara game together (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs) * Due to the very dark lighting they decide to switch drinking venues (1 hr 15 mins)

Variant development update: Big Stick Diplomacy* The guys have moved to Red Queen Gin and begin planning further their Big Stick Diplomacy variant (1 hr 15 mins 45 secs) * Ken gives Gavin a geographic history lesson (1 hr 41 mins)

Henry Kissinger update* The freaky Henry Kissinger moment (1 hr 47 mins)

Bronze Age Diplomacy play testing* Gavin bought into this variant being play tested. You can view the game at vDiplomacy with the opening positions viewed on the variant page (1 hr 54 mins 30 secs) * He goes on to discuss what he felt coming towards the end game and why as a variant creator he felt the need to stab his long term ally (1 hr 57 mins 15 secs) * The guys start wrappin up the show, but have a mea culpa for our Patreon supporters. Gavin's slightly misplaced the recording from last episode and is looking for it. It'll come out soon (2 hrs 7 mins)

Venue: Embassy Hotel, Alice and Red Queen Gin, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Black Haze stout infused with egg nog, Sundance Surprise, Ritual and Ceremonies
Gavin: Black Hops Goat hazy IPA, Buffalo Trace on the rocks, barrel aged Negroni

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

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

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The guys interview Sascha Heylmann who they met and played at WDC. Plus we address the myth of Diplomacy being the favorite game of Henry Kissinger... unfortunately surprisingly timely.

Intro* The guys open the show and discuss the venue and their drinks before they introduce their interview with Sascha Heylmann, one of the behind the scenes organisers at WDC in Bangkok (0 mins 15 secs

Interview with Sascha Heylmann* The interview with Sascha begins (2 mins 45 secs) * How Sascha got into Diplomacy: both in Europe and in Bangkok. He discusses recent organising of games in Bangkok (4 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the challenge of getting local players instead of ex-pats and more women involved into the game (9 mins) * The guys talk about the challenge of playing a pre-dominantly a game communicating in English vs Thai, culture in the ex-pat and Thai communities and improving diversity in the game (15 mins) * Sascha talks about upcoming steps in Diplomacy coming up for Bangkok and more broadly for southeast Asia (26 mins 45 secs) * Ken asks about Sascha's takeaway thoughts on what went well and what could've been done differently for future tournaments (31 mins 30 secs) * They talk about long term thinking for a tournament circuit concept. Sascha reflects on this in the southeast Asian context with the idea of it being somewhere like Denang in Vietnam in August 2024 (36 mins 30 secs) * If you want to find out more and join Sascha's Whatsapp group for the New Years or Southeast Asian championship, use our contact us link and we'll hook you up! Or private message Vaultboy on vDiplomacy (45 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the interview (52 mins) * The guys return and give their thoughts on the interview (52 mins 50 secs) * Ken and Gavin move bars to the Press Club (54 mins 50 secs)

Diplomacy news and chat* Brother Bored’s Diplomacy Dojo podcast is back after a bit of a hiatus (56 mins) * They discuss PlayDip recently being hacked and give their thoughts about the massive amount of gambling advertising on the site (58 mins) * Ken announces that we’re going to be part of trying to get a face to face scene happening on the Gold Coast (about an hour south of Brisbane) (1 hr 2 mins) * Gavin announces a small development in the urban legend about Diplomacy being the favourite game of Henry Kissinger. Note: this was recorded prior to the announcement of Henry Kissinger’s death (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * The guys turn to their new proposed variant across multiple theaters of war at the end of the 19th Century and have an update for listeners (1 hr 20 mins 15 secs) * Gavin resets expectations on a Christmas extravaganza for the next episode (1 hr 37 mins) * He goes onto discuss a suggested title for this variant (1 hr 39 mins 15 secs) * They talk about a name for the variant and coalesce on "Big Stick Diplomacy" (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs) * The guys begin wrapping up the episode (1 hr 49 mins)

Venue: Press Club, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Valley Hops hazy IPA
Gavin: The house cabernet sauvignon.

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

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

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The guys interview Bradley Grace about his love of Diplomacy. Plus they discuss a great new variant devised on a mini bus in rural Thailand and their online games.

Intro* The guys introduce themselves, the bar and their drinks for the evening (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss what life's like now back in Australia, instead of their super chill selves in Thailand. Ken talks about some of the places he visited in Thailand after Kanchanaburi (4 mins 30 secs)

Interview with Bradley Grace* They start introducting the interview for today's episode with Bradley Grace. Gavin flags they had tech issues recording the interview, so apologies there's a small break and then another 30 mins of the interview didn't record for some reason (8 mins 45 secs) * Ken begins the interview and asks Bradley about how did he come to WDC. Bradley also discusses how he first got into Diplomacy (11 mins 30 secs) * For some reason Zoom crapped itself so soon in the interview, but then we come back (14 mins 15 secs) * Bradley talks about his virtual Diplomacy championship top board experience and his stories on gameplay (16 mins 45 secs) * He talks about his main lesson: be 10% less aggressive (21 mins 30 secs) * Bradley and Ken talk about their discussions from watching the WDC shadow top board. They discuss Diplomacy as a spectator sport (23 mins 30 secs) * Bradley talks about the repechage round which determined whether he or Edi Birsan made the top board. He then gives his views on how he would've done on the top board as Germany (26 mins) * He asks Gavin why he built an army as Turkey in winter 1901 rather than a fleet (29 mins) * Ken asks if Bradley had a favorite game he played at WDC (30 mins) * As flagged the 2nd part of the interview wasn't recorded (sorry - you just missed half an hour of gold). Gavin flags our next Patreon episode has a great WDC discussion recorded involving Chris Brand, Jamal and Bradley (37 mins)

A great new variant?* On the way back from Erawan Falls in Thailand on a mini bus, Gavin and Ken came up with the idea for a fantastic new variant, an alternate history variant set during the Spanish-American War, where a broader war occurs including Britain, France, Holland and Portugal. The variant involves conflict across 4 diffent theaters of war and different power dynamics across the quadrants to create balance across the board (43 mins 15 secs)

Around the grounds* Ken discusses a couple of the few games he's in at the moment (1 hr 4 mins) * Gavin talks about two games he drew in - an Ancient Mediterranean game and an Imperial game (1 hr 6 mins) * He then discusses an American Conflict game he was eliminated in (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs) * They talk about trying to get a face to face game happening locally. Ken discusses the new 6 player Greek city states map he purchased at WDC (1 hr 13 mins 30 secs) * They begin wrapping up the show (1 hr 15 mins)

Venue: Antico, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Stone & Wood pale ale
Gavin: A glass of Italian montepulciano (missed the name of the vineyard when ordering)

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

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

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With the guys about to head off to WDC in Bangkok, they play a face to face game & discuss their learnings to apply. Plus updates on their podcast listener game and new variants in development at vDip.

Intro * The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s initial venue (0 mins 10 secs) * They talk a little around their plans for Bangkok's WDC before a bit of an intro on their recent face to face game in Brisbane (3 mins)

Chat with Reily Chapman on their face to face game in Brisbane * The guys set up the context of their chat with Reily (previously on the show as Macca) about their recent face to face game in Brisbane (5 mins) * The discussion starts as Kaner and Amby get into the Guiness (6 mins) * Reily talks about his board topping game as Austria, and Amby’s poorly executed game as Italy (8 mins) * Kaner discusses his game as Russia (12 mins) * Amby’s psychological warfare against France (15 mins 20 secs) * They discuss gameplay (19 mins) * Kaner and Reily with different recollections of the same thing (22 mins 30 secs) * Amby’s stab (24 mins 30 secs) * Turkey starts threatening Turkey (27 mins) * Amby discusses his misorder and how it all unraveled (31 mins) * They discuss their top learnings from this game and the end game (38 mins) * They start wrapping things up with some final thoughts to help for WDC (52 mins) * Kaner & Amby return and give their thoughts on the discussion with Reily before moving onto a strategy talk (54 mins 30 secs)

Diplomacy talk * They talk about timings for next episodes following the guys going to Thailand (1 hr 2 mins) * The guys have moved from their starter bar (Prince Consort) to the Gatsby Lounge in Fortitude Valley and their new drinks (1 hr 4 mins)

Around the grounds * They kick off their current games discussions with their podcast listener game based on Nine Dash Line (1 hr 6 mins 30 mins) * They discuss a proposed new variant at vDip set in New Zealand amongst Maori tribes by Porter Zach (1 hr 18 mins) * They review some of the other new maps in development (1 hr 23 mins 30 secs) * They move onto a couple of Amby’s game including an American Conflict game and an Imperial Diplomacy game where he’s Britain (1 hr 30 mins) * Amby gets block sizes mixed up before they discuss getting some variant maps printed for games without 7 players (1 hr 41 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 45 mins)

Venue: Prince Consort, Finn McCools & the Gatsby Lounge, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Balter XPA, Guiness and 150 Lashes pale ale Amby: Torbruk Woodcutter's shiraz, Guiness and St Hallet’s Faith shiraz

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

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

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

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With just a month until the first World Diplomacy Championship in Asia we catchup with organisers Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen about WDC Bangkok 2023, plus lots more.

Intro * The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss why Italy doesn’t open more often to the west and some crazy openings (5 mins 35 secs)

Interview about WDC Bangkok with Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen * They introduce the interview today with Lei Saarlainen and Andrew Goff about WDC 2023 in Bangkok (14 mins) * We discuss what’s planned (16 mins 40 sec) * They discuss how language is approached at the tournament (20 mins) * Andrew and Lei discusses what makes this WDC different to previous tournaments (25 mins 10 secs) * Kaner asks about what Bangkok is like for visitors flying in and what to do. Andrew gives some tricks to remember for visitors (29 mins 45 secs) * Lei also mentions there is a side tournament being held a week later in Siem Reap in Cambodia including visits to the Angkor Wat temple complex. Andrew also gives context for scheduling during the tournament and a WhatsApp group (33 mins 50 secs) * They discuss time limit plans for the games (38 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks about the tournament scoring system (41 mins 20 secs) * Amby goes onto discuss which official version of the rules will be used - the new board or rules played for many years (44 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks about the cultural style of the tournament gameplay (48 mins 20 secs) * He goes onto ask about the local climate and how should people be packing (52 mins 30 secs) * They discuss some of the challenges maintaining momentum for the tournament during the pandemic (56 mins) * They begin wrapping up the interview (1 hr 1 min) * They goes give their thoughts on the interview (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs) * Amby incorrectly says the Siem Reap tournament will be in a temple - he misheard Lei - ignore this bit folks! (1 hr 7 mins)

Diplomacy chat * Kaner asks about getting a face to face game in Brisbane (1 hr 13 mins) * Amby discusses the Curious Western Triple (1 hr 14 mins) * The guys talk houses and the Kaner & Amby Gardening Show (1 hr 28 mins)

Around the grounds * The guys discuss their Nine Dash Line game (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=55953) which they’re playing with podcast listeners (1 hr 33 mins 40 secs) * vDip has new variants again thanks to tobi1 and Enriador. Kaner talks about his anonymous East Indies game where he’s getting screwed over (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=55953) (1 hr 41 mins 50 secs) * Amby touches on some of his games. First up is an email only game run by David E Cohen for the Mandate of Heaven variant. He discusses his interesting gameplay strategy - big shout out to his ally Rob (1 hr 46 mins 20 secs) * Amby talks about his American Conflict game - a Civil War variant with the European powers joining in at the same time (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=56035#gamePanel) (1 hr 51 mins 15 secs) * Next is his Imperial game as Britain (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=55996) (1 hr 54 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the show (2 hrs 2 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Babylon, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: 150 Lashes pale ale Amby: Kaesler shiraz from the Barossa Valley

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

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

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Kaner & Amby catch up to discuss the upcoming new official board game rules, their game with podcast listeners and much more.

Intro* The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 5 secs)

New board game rules & face to face* They talk about the proposed board updates and rule changes from Renegade, the new publisher (7 mins) * Amby discusses the beer taps before they move onto the last 2 rule changes (25 mins 40 secs) * They discuss whether any of the upcoming tournaments from August on, including WDC, will be playing against the rules (33 mins) * The guys talk about their plans for WDC in Bangkok (43 mins 40 secs) * Amby discusses timing for their next face to face game in Brisbane (45 mins 10 secs)

Around the grounds* Kaner and Amby in the last episode talked about playing the Nine Dash variant with podcast listeners. This has now happened and can be found at vDip. The guys give a shout out to all listeners/players in the game (47 mins 20 secs) * They talk about the interesting aspects of this variant’s board before they talk about how the game is going for them and other players (49 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about the Aberration V anonymous game he’s in and then discusses his World War IV game (1 hr 3 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up (1 hr 8 mins 40 secs)

Venue: Miss Demeanor, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Black Hops pale ale
Amby: Tscharke’s Shiraz, Shiraz, Shiraz from the Barossa Valley

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

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

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Lots of stuff been happening in the guys' lives, so they catch up to discuss the game.

Intro* The guys give some context for the delay in podcast episodes (0 mins 10 secs) * Kaner gives Amby his belated Christmas gift (1 mins 50 secs) * They discuss their face to face game in January, their first game since Covid. They discuss having another game in mid-April (5 mins 20 secs) * The guys move onto discussing ChatGPT and using it for a Diplomacy game. Kaner discusses the jail breaked version (10 mins 30 secs) * They realise they'd forgette to introduce the bar and their drinks (13 mins 45 secs) * Amby talks some more about ChatGPT and what it knows about our podcast (16 mins) * Amby asks Kaner about circular movements in Diplomacy. Kaner uses as an example a Classic Britain game. They go onto discuss the dynamics of how England got off Great Britain (25 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the two new variants at vDip: Cold War Redux (a 4 player version) and Nine-Dash Line. They discuss creating a password protected game for our listeners and give away the password when you listen (35 mins) * Kaner discusses a northern California variant map, a New York City variant and David E Cohen's South of the Sahara variant (48 mins) * In discussing the Russian civil war, Amby discusses the Czechoslovak legion creating havoc in central Russia (54 mins) * The guys move to a new bar Black Hops session ale and Lato Wild West red blend. Kaner talks chilli vodka (56 mins) * Kaner discusses his Mistletoe Grinding Shoepolish Mudcake game (1 hr 1 min) * Kaner's games he stole from Amby and bottom feeders (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * Why they can't play Bot games at the moment against each other (1 hr 14 mins) * Amby talks a little about his games (1 hr 16 mins 40 secs) * Amby goes back to the January face to face Brisbane game and how he did not lie to players (channeling his inner Cicero) (1 hr 18 mins 50 secs) * The guys wrap the show up (1 hr 20 mins)

Venue: Criterion Hotel and Before + After, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Great Northern lager and Black Hops session ale
Amby: Balter XPA, Pepperjack Shiraz from the Barossa Valley and Lato Wild West red blend

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

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

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The guys interview Noam Brown from Meta about all the things you don't know about Cicero. Plus a good old Diplomacy chat.

Intro* The guys introduce the show and venue. Amby explains his screw up pre-recording (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks for listener's feedback on the Christmas show and they discuss their drinks (6 mins)

Interview with Noam Brown from Meta* The guys start introducing today's interview with Noam Brown from Meta about the work they've done teaching their artificial intelligence (AI) agent Cicero into playing a very strong communicative game of Diplomacy (10 mins 30 secs) * Amby mentions where you can learn more in other videos about Cicero: DBN, Meta's own videos and CaptainMeme's Diplostrats first and second videos (12 mins 30 secs) * The guys begin the interview with Noam and discuss his early days experience with the game (14 mins) * They discuss why Diplomacy was chosen to explore with AI (17 mins) * Noam talks a little more about his pitch as a Meta employee and what benefits he put forward to the organisation (20 mins 40 secs) * They discuss awareness of Diplomacy among team members (23 mins 55 secs) * Noam talks about prior AI research and how it related to the research project (25 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about what type of computing power is needed to run Cicero. Amby asks whether people could play against Cicero (28 mins) * Kaner asks whether Cicero learns from games it plays and asks about Novel techniques used with Cicero (31 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks what happens when humans play randomly against the bot and how it interrupts that (46 mins) * Amby asks about when in the research process did the project team identify not lying works better (47 mins 30 secs) * Amby goes onto query if someone could take off the "training wheels" to make Cicero lie (55 mins) * They discuss why Cicero puts an emphasis on some locations on the board that some players ignore. He goes onto asking about Cicero's understanding of stalemate lines and other learnings from Cicero (56 mins) * They go onto discussing the conversation style of Cicero and how players interact with it (1 hr 1 min) * Amby asks about how Cicero responds to the reactions of human players. They discuss what Cicero would do if everyone wanted to be its ally (1 hr 3 mins 30 secs) * They discuss why the named Cicero was chosen (1 hr 6 mins) * Amby asks about the peer review process of publishing the paper to Science.org and Noam's thoughts on the media's reporting of the story (1 hr 7 mins) * Amby asks about whether there are any plans to have Cicero publicly play in a leading tournament (1 hr 10 mins 50 secs) * He asks if there's anything Noam would approach differently if he was starting the project now (1 hr 12 mins 20 secs) * To find out more Noam encourages people to visit Meta's page on the project and again, CaptainMeme's video (1 hr 15 mins) * The guys return and give their thoughts on the interview, plus Kaner's awesome question he didn't ask (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the idea of how Cicero could play and win the World Diplomacy Championship (1 hr 20 mins) * Kaner discusses playing the meta game, how Cicero needed to learn to play differently against humans and playing the game with "the truth" (1 hr 24 mins)

Diplomacy Chat* Amby wants to explore the idea of playing a face to face game by being as open and honest as possible (1 hr 28 mins) * The guys move to Newstead Social and order some new drinks and how they compare in a mid game. Kaner describes a wine he's recently had (1 hr 32 mins) * Amby talks again about getting a face to face game on - spoiler alert... it actually happened! (1 hr 41 mins) * The guys talk more about their plans when attending WDC 2023. Find out more at the WDC Bangkok website (1 hr 45 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 55 mins)

Venue: Green Beacon Brewery and Newstead Social, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Apple cider by Green Beacon Brewery and Your Mum's Fav lager by Young Henry's

Amby: Windjammer IPA by Green Beacon Brewery and West Cape Howe tempranillo from Margaret River in Western Australia

Remember if you know something about how WordPress works and can help the guys, get in touch!!!

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

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

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The guys celebrate the festive season with Round 2 of Diplomacy Trivia, some Christmas gift giving and much, much more.

Intro* The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks. They throw in a bit of weather talk (0 mins 10 secs) * The guys introduce the 2022 Christmas Diplomacy Trivia game and contestants: reigning champ Markus Zijlstra/CaptainMeme, 3rd place 2022 WDC player Peter McNamara, variant extraordinaire David E. Cohen and podcast Patreon supporter and well known player Hal Schild (7 mins 30 secs) * The trivia contest kicks off (8 mins 45 secs) * The first question starts (11 mins) * The visual for which country was not altered in the very last prototype of Realpolitik before it became Diplomacy is: (20 mins 30 secs) * The next visual question relates to this board (23 mins) * The contest round up with the winner declared (1 hr 5 mins) * The guys return and give their thoughts on the contest (1 hr 7 mins)

Christmas gifts and Diplomacy chat* Being Christmas the guys exchange gifts (kind of) (1 hr 12 mins) * They talk about their plans for WDC 2023 in Thailand (1 hr 20 mins 30 secs) * Amby shares his dream about the winner of WDC 2023 (1 hr 24 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks Kaner if he plans to do a fact finding tour for his Southeast Asian variant of the Khmer kingdoms (1 hr 27 mins) * The guys get some more drinks and describe them as mid-games (1 hr 29 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds* Kaner discusses briefly one of his new Europa Renovatio games (1 hr 32 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about the David E. Cohen Mandate of Heaven email game he's in where he's playing as Shu (Orange) (1 hr 33 mins 30 secs) * Amby has been playing with ChatGPT to see how it can improve his Diplomacy game (1 hr 40 mins) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 46 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Brewdog, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Hazy Jane Pale Ale and Gateway to Helles Pilsner from Brewdog

Amby: Brewdog IPA from Brewdog and Willie Smith's Organic Apple Cider

Remember if you know something about how WordPress works and can help the guys, get in touch!!!

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

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

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The guys interview Stephen Agar, creator of the Diplomacy Archive for zines and the Variant Bank, on getting back into the hobby. Plus the guys talk cheese and languages. Oh and their games too.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks. They grab some lunch and then return (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Stephen Agar * The guys start setting the scene for their interview with Stephen Agar, creator of the Variant Bank and collector of Diplomacy zines around returning to the hobby (4 mins 15 secs) * The interview begins with Stephen talking about running postal Diplomacy back in 1976 and his progression initially with the hobby (4 mins 30 secs) * He starts talking about creating in 1999 Diplomacy Archive and Variant Bank. He goes onto discussing how he received 1000's of UK Diplomacy zines and how he's looking at providing them to the British Library (11 mins) * He discusses rediscovering aspects of the game from rereading and cataloging zines and how only about 10% of all zines are online (15 mins) * Stephen goes onto discuss how he's inherited about 1,600 variants from the North American Variant Bank which aren't online (17 mins 30 secs) * They discuss why interest in variants have reduced in the Diplomacy community compared to the 1960's and 70's (22 mins) * He talks about the ingenuity and fun in variants like Abstraction, Multiplicity and light hearted variants like Vain Rats, Deluge and Geophysical Diplomacy (27 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks what you'd typically find in a zine edition before progressing to a general discussion around views around how the community has evolved (33 mins 45 secs) * Stephen talks around the passing of veterans in the community (44 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about what things were like in the postal Diplomacy scene (47 mins 30 secs) * They talk a little around Richard Sharp and his book on the game (50 mins 15 secs) * The conversation moves onto the physical nature of zines, Diplomacy folklore and the challenge of dealing with old web tech (53 mins) * They discuss how people can contribute to Stephen's project (59 mins 30 secs) * Stephen talks about stalemate lines and correspondence with Allan Calhamer and Stephen's 1959 edition of Diplomacy (1 hr 8 mins) * Stephen asks if anyone is interested in a postal Diplomacy zine to reach out to him by email (1 hr 16 mins) * The guys return to give their thoughts on the interview (1 hr 18 mins) * Amby reflects on the difficulty of getting sufficient players for an email game, talking about the David E. Cohen game he's in and gives a thanks to David for creating the connection with Stephen (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner announces he's about to win a Germany 1648 game which he thinks will be over by the time this episode goes out (1 hr 37 mins 50 secs) * They talk cheese and languages (1 hr 44 mins) * Amby discusses one of the games he's in and the guys can't remember which variant they both previously agreed to play (1 hr 54 mins) * The guys talk about Daniel Lester winning the 2022 Web Diplomacy Championship and touch on the announced plans for 2023 WDC in Bangkok, Thailand (1 hr 59 mins) * They start to wrap up the show (2 hrs 3 mins)

Venue: Greenglass, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Pipsqueak cider from Little Creatures, Freemantle

Amby: Château La Reyne Malbec from Cahors , France

Remember if you know something about how WordPress works and can help the guys, get in touch!!!

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

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

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The guys interview Kestas about his suggested options for how vDip and webDip could better work together or possibly merge. Plus how their games are going.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Kestas on vDip and webDip * Kestas is welcomed back to the show and starts by discussing his thoughts on how vDip and webDip could possibly work better together (4 mins 30 secs) * He outlines some of the challenges for vDip and how webDip may be able to assist (9 mins) * Kestas describes how he's testing the water with the community for their thoughts and feedback (15 mins) * Amby gives a clarification on "vDip is dying", which was mentioned on the site in the context of its forum (17 mins) * Kaner asks about if vDip and webDip were closer, could rapid variant development start again (24 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks how would variants be brought across. Kestas discusses the options available (34 mins) * They discuss if merges happened what needs consideration for vDip players who for one reason or another don't want to be part of webDip and former webDip players who may have been banned and subsequently moved to vDip (49 mins) * Kaner asks about what the function of vDip is now and what the vDip community wants for the future (55 mins) * Amby asks what opportunities there may be in the future for webDip which may be an incentive for vDip players when considering the proposal (59 mins) * Amby asks about timeframes (1 hr 3 mins) * After Amby had to wrap the interview up, the guys return to discuss their thoughts on the conversation (1 hr 7 mins 40 secs) * Kaner summarises the four options on the table (1 hr 9 mins 15 secs) * They discuss the gin menu (1 hr 22 mins) * Kaner returns to discussing how functionality between vDip and webDip could be shared and their final thoughts on the topic (1 hr 25 mins) * Kaner touches on what he and Kestas discussed after Amby had to leave and wrap up the interview. Amby asks what webDip people thoughts on the proposal also would be (1 hr 36 mins 40 secs)

Diplomacy chat * The guys discuss David E. Cohen's Mandate of Heaven play test which Amby will be joining (1 hr 39 mins) * Amby gives another shout out to the listener community for anyone with WordPress skills who can help either fix the DiplomacyGames.com template or help us migrate from the existing old template to a new one (1 hr 40 mins) * Amby mentions they spent about 10 minutes talking about Mandate of Heaven back in podcast episode 105 (1 hr 44 mins) * Amby mentions he's been playing with AI image creation using Diplomacy related themes and posts some quick ones created on the spot with Kaner, one Diplomacy & JFK themed and the other Harry Potter characters playing Diplomacy (based on Kaner's requested prompt). He'll do some better versions posted to our Twitter account (1 hr 44 mins 30 secs)

They move onto Amby's drawn Zeus 5 game where he played as Italy. While he initially didn't like the variant map, he really started appreciating it after playing it (1 hr 51 mins)
Next is Amby's A Modern Europe game where he's playing a position anonymously (1 hr 57 mins 30 secs)
Kaner touches on his Rinasciemento game (2 hrs 1 min)
They begin wrapping up the show, flagging what's coming up in the Patreon episode that will be out in a week (2 hrs 3 mins)

Venue: Dutch Courage Officers' Mess, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

Amby: Zilzie shiraz from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

Remember if you know something about how WordPress works and can help the guys, get in touch!!!

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

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

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The guys interview BlueDog, an old school Diplomacy player who got back into the game after many decades. Plus Diplomacy chat, entering the Australian Podcast Awards and more drinking.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and an ongoing apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto discuss what Kaner's reading, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with BlueDog * The start discussing the interview today with BlueDog, an ally of Amby's in a WWIV sealanes game. Amby talks a little about Rulebook press (9 mins 30 secs) * BlueDog discusses how he got started playing Diplomacy in the 1970's and only got back into it this year (2022 at time of recording) (14 mins 30 secs) * They discuss having the parent-child dynamic changed (17 mins 30 secs) * BlueDog discuss how his father, a World War 2 veteran and uncle got into the game (19 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto discuss his experience with the online Diplomacy sites and his thoughts pre-internet about the game opportunities he envisaged (22 mins) * BlueDog discusses how he got back into the game listening to the When Diplomacy Fails interview with Zack Twamley (this is also on Zack's feed.) He goes onto discuss how he'd forgotten some of the basics when coming back into the game (25 mins) * They discuss playing against the bots at webDip (28 mins) * BlueDog talks about playing large variant games (Divided States, Europa Renovatio) and liking players even though they eat up your SC's (31 mins) * BlueDog and Amby discuss their game (BlueDog as Australia, Amby as South Africa). BlueDog gives lots of good advice for players (38 mins) * They start discussing the end game (49 mins) * BlueDog travels a lot internationally for his job. Amby asks how that impacts on his ability to play the game (52 mins) * Amby asks about whether BlueDog would get back into playing face to face Diplomacy (55 mins) * BlueDog asks about the demographics for who plays the game and the type of people they are (56 mins) * They guys wrap up the interview and return to discuss their thoughts on the game (1 hr 0 mins 45 secs)

Diplomacy talk * Amby gives a shout out to the first WDC for the first time since COVID at Carnage in Vermont. Amby gives an update on WDC 2023 in Thailand and that's still looking good (1 hr 4 mins 45 secs) * Amby presents a Thailand Diplomacy challenge to Kaner (1 hr 11 mins 30 secs) * Because Amby has been sick for a while he hasn't organised a face to face game in Brisbane. They discuss plugging into university board game clubs to get some Diplomacy games going (1 hr 13 mins) * Amby is looking at putting in an entry to the 2022 Australian Podcast Awards. Kaner asks what category they should enter (1 hr 15 mins 30 secs) * The guys grab some more drinks, Amby changes to wine and they order some Peruvian loaded fries (1 hr 22 mins) * Amby has been playing with AI image generators like Craiyon, and starts talking about some of the AI generated images can be created based on Diplomacy game themes (1 hr 23 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * The guys move onto discuss one of the Europa Renovatio games he's signed up for, and accuses Amby of being a CD stalker. They go onto discuss how different countries tend to go on this map (1 hr 34 mins 30 secs) * They talk about favourite variants on vDip. Amby mentions Baron von Powell's College of Cardinals variant. They also discuss favourite variant rule changes (1 hr 41 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 51 mins)

Venue: Mongrel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Rad Ale, Seeker Brewery in Wooloongong in New South Wales

Amby: Hop, Skip & Jump Indian Pale Ale, Aether Brewery in Brisbane and Tscharke Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in South Australia

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

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

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The guys interview BlueDog, an old school Diplomacy player who got back into the game after many decades. Plus Diplomacy chat, entering the Australian Podcast Awards and more drinking.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and an ongoing apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto discuss what Kaner's reading, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs)

Venue: Mongrel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Rad Ale, Seeker Brewery in Wooloongong in New South Wales

Amby: Hop, Skip & Jump Indian Pale Ale, Aether Brewery in Brisbane and Tscharke Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in South Australia

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

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

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The guys interview Traci Brown, leading expert in detecting deception using body language. Plus two new variant maps are making the rounds. Kaner keeps on winning. And Amby screws up the tech.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and an apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Traci Brown * The start discussing the interview today with leading deception detection expert Traci Brown (2 mins 30 secs) * The interview begins with Amby framing the context of today's discussion on body language and detecting fraud and lying (5 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Traci how she got into being a body language expert with Traci discussing her earlier cycling career (7 mins 45 secs) * He goes onto ask what are the basic things someone should be looking for (12 mins 20 secs) * Traci dispels some of Amby's thoughts on body language. Traci discusses the importance of establishing a person's baseline (15 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks how do you establish the baseline of someone's body language (18 mins 45 secs) * Traci discusses the importance of maintaining a journal of your competitor's behaviors and the importance of paying attention to what people do (24 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks about when players respond to you when they think you're up to no good. Traci also discusses mirroring (35 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about what behaviors you should follow to build trust (39 mins 15 secs) * They discuss practicing regularly (42 mins) * Traci discusses her 21 Day Body Language Makeover series of Youtube videos, fraud spotting and her book How to Detect Lies, Fraud and Identity Theft. Amby also mentions Traci's podcast, Truth, Lies and Coverups (44 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks if there's much variation between people's behavior online versus face to face (51 mins) * They wrap up the interview. You can learn more at Traci's website, BodyLanguageTrainer.com (52 mins) * The guys return and give their thoughts on the interview (52 mins 45 secs)

Diplomacy chat and news * The guys discuss trying to get a local game happening (1 hr 4 mins 20 secs) * Amby will soon be on holidays to Broome in Western Australia and then outback all the way back to Brisbane. This will slow down podcast episodes in October. Kaner suggests some game options while he's away (1 hr 6 mins 45 secs) * The guys discuss the two new variants that Flame has created: Cold War Redux (a 4 player game) and Speed Europa (7 players on an updated Classic map) (1 hr 14 mins) * They discuss firstly the Cold War Redux variant (1 hr 16 mins)

The guys screwed up the pausing and lost a bit of their chat (1 hr 23 mins)
They find where they were last up to and start that section again, this time going into more detail on their thoughts about Speed Europa (1 hr 24 mins)
Kaner discusses how some visual improvements could make the map even better (1 hr 38 mins 45 secs)
Kaner has soloed another game: Germany 1648, a Thirty Years War variant (1 hr 39 mins 45 secs)
He discusses how having a this variant now as an interactive map makes it so much better. Amby talks about how he hacked the code in 1648 to do the two types of fleets in the Pirates variant (1 hr 43 mins)
Amby discusses how Zach Twamley is currently doing a Thirty Years War podcast series. They go onto discussing a game against each other. Note: Amby won't create this until he's back from his outback trip (1 hr 45 mins)
They discuss how Kaner is going in the rankings (1 hr 50 mins)
Kaner starts discussing a new Europa Renovatio game he's in (1 hr 51 mins)
Amby screwed up and failed to clear the SD card of the recorder, so they start closing out the show on his iPhone (1 hr 52 mins 40 secs)

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

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

How to Detect Lies, Fraud and Identity Theft: Field Guide

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The guys interview Joren, one of the Diplicity app's incredible map creators. They talk all things Diplomacy maps. Plus all the cool updates over at webDiplomacy will blow your mind. And Kaner picks on Amby's 1066 variant.

Intro & webDiplomacy awesomeness * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks. They then go through how the show will run this episode (0 mins 15 secs) * Kaner introduces a new games engine introduced to webDiplomacy: a great new click interface, against bots and no account needed! You'll find it at play.webdiplomacy.net Thanks Andrew Goff for the hot tip (8 mins) * Amby talks about his experience giving it a go (10 mins 45 secs) * They discuss why vDip has interactive interface options but webDip didn't (18 mins 15 secs) * They talk dumbed down bots before the batteries dies (20 mins secs)

Interview with Joren on Diplomacy maps * They start introducing their interview with Joren from Diplicity, one of their incredible cartographers (22 mins 20 secs) * The interview starts with Amby asks Joren how he got interested in maps (24 mins 35 secs) * Kaner gives his perspective on Joren's maps and give thanks to trampolinebears Classic map. He goes onto explaining how he got involved in helping Martin Bruse with Diplicity (30 mins)

They discuss the aesthetics of the Cold War map (36 mins)
Joren walks through the creative process in developing a map using examples that support David E. Cohen's Unconstitutional (39 mins)
They discuss the meditative process of drawing maps and what software is used to develop (47 mins 30 secs)
Joren discusses steps being taken for Diplicity to be available as an iOS app (50 mins 30 secs)
If you want to support Diplicity in covering some of their costs for this project, go to Diplicity, click on the top left "hamburger" menu, then at the very bottom right click the "$" symbol (53 mins)
Amby asks Joren what he looks for when deciding to embark on a new map. He discusses Unconstitional, Three Kingdoms and South America variants (58 mins)
Amby then brings up when Kaner first shared Diplicity with him and the Vietnam War variant before discussing map cultural context (1 hr 0 mins)
Joren talks about collaborating with variant creators and getting work in progress input on maps (1 hr 3 mins 45 secs)
He touches on a Diplomacy variant community (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs)
Joren gives his recommendations on how to make a variant and map in the Diplicity community. They talk about the learning curve (1 hr 8 mins 15 secs)
Kaner asks about where people can find out more about participating in the Diplicity Discord community (1 hr 12 mins 50 secs)
Kaner goes onto discuss some .SVG issues he's had in the past with graphical editing (1 hr 14 mins)
The guys return and have moved to Exhibition, they give a drinks update (1 hr 15 mins 30 secs)
They give their thoughts on the interview with Joren and what they got out of it (1 hr 19 mins 15 secs)
Kaner reflects on maps as a cultural lens (1 hr 27 mins 45 secs)
Kaner geeks out on ceramic sake bowls (1 hr 32 mins 30 secs)

1066 variant talk * Kaner has an issue with standing armies in the 1066 variant that Amby co-developed. Amby doesn't understand why there isn't a Classic variant with standing neutrals. They go onto discuss the different versions and tweaking them based on game results (1 hr 33 mins 45 secs) * The guys begin wrapping up the show, with Amby reminding folks we're still looking for someone to give us a hand with our WordPress instance. Reach out of you can give us a hand (1 hr 48 mins 45 secs)

Venue: The Charles & Exhibition, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: 3 Bolt Pale Ale from Brisbane and Dreaming of Sunshine Californian IPA by Ranger Brewery

Amby: Lino Ramble Vinaly Shiraz from the McLaren Vale in South Australia and Dreaming of Sunshine Californian IPA by Ranger Brewery

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

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

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The guys interview Tejas Patel, who is DARPA's the project lead for SHADE: an AI research initiative using Diplomacy to better understand the nuance of communication intent behind actions. Plus the guys games and how does a famous UK Diplomacy player get himself a novice rank in Australia's Diplomacy association.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) * They discuss getting how to get a French fleet into Tunis. Hint hint, they're wrong! (Spring 1901 MAR-GOL, PAR-MAR, NAP-TYR; Fall 1901 Convoy MAR-TUN (2 hrs 45 mins)

Interview with Tejas Patel from DARPA * The guys introduce their thoughts on the interview with Tejas Patel from DARPA - Defense Advanced Research Project Agency - and why our podcast wanted to talk to him (5 mins 35 secs) * The interview begins with Amby asking Tejas why DARPA chose Diplomacy for the SHADE project and what the project is about (9 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks how Tejas first discovered Diplomacy and when he realised Diplomacy could be used for what DARPA wanted to research (13 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks how communication takes place in the game and how AI is used (17 mins 45 secs) * Amby reflects on the way communication is done and what he initially thought the research project was doing with communication and action taking. He asks why structured data communication rather than natural language communication was chosen for the research (20 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks about the project management methodology approach being used in the research project (24 mins) * Amby enquires whether the Diplomacy community may be engaged to help the project (26 mins) * He goes onto ask about how the project team's experience with Diplomacy (28 mins) * They discuss whether the Potomac Tea and Knife Society have had any engagement with the project (30 mins) * They go onto talking about the desired project goals (31 mins) * Amby asks how the project could inform policy making and its potential future use from a military perspective. Tejas responds about transparency and the opensource nature of the project (34 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks what does SHADE stand for. They go onto discuss other DARPA acronym project names (40 mins 15 secs) * Tejas asks how the guys found out about SHADE, Amby mentions the Diplomacy/Shade article in Military + Aerospace Electronics magazine (42 mins) * Amby asks how Tejas got employed by DARPA (44 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks what are Tejas' favorite countries to play (45 mins 50 secs) * Kaner enquires about the timelines for the project and the robot AI (46 mins 45 secs) * Tejas says if you want to know more about DARPA to visit their website before the interview wraps up (49 mins 30 secs) * The guys return and give their thoughts on the interview with Tejas (50 mins)

Around the grounds * Kaner asks Amby about his current games, spending his some talking about a standard Classic game he's bought into as Turkey (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * They move onto a Known World 901 game of Kaner's that just finished where he was part of the draw, despite not being a strong power. He explains he got to that point (1 hr 15 mins 30 secs) * Amby lets Kaner know the DAANZ (Diplomacy Association of Australia and New Zealand) master points have just been updated (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs) * They discuss how Markus Zijlstra/CaptainMeme/DiploStrats managed to get in the DAANZ rankings as a novice player. Kaner goes onto discuss how Markus is interested in the next Bourse game, explaining how the Bourse game got unexpectedly wrapped up, with Amby being declared the Bourse winner (1 hr 23 mins) * As a large group moved into where the guys were sitting, with all the extra noise they wrap up the show (1 hr 28 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Leonard's, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Ballistic IPA in Brisbane

Amby: Parker Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from the Coonawarra in Victoria

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

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

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The guys get into the new Bourse game, talk Amby's happy little accident, games and much much more.

Intro & Diplomacy talk * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs)

Bourse 2022 * Kaner kicks off discussions on the new Bourse game he's adjudicating and Amby is playing. Kaner reminds listeners if they missed previous shows what a Bourse game is (5 mins 45 secs) * They discuss pumping up the value of currencies (9 mins) * Amby discusses how he's previously approached the start of earlier Bourse games and how his opening strategy has changed (11 mins) * Kaner reflects on Amby having a commanding position in the Bourse game (21 mins 30 secs) * After ordering some more drinks, Kaner shares with Amby about the adjudication and checking who bought what (22 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds & more Diplomacy talk * Amby discusses the outcome of his Youngstown World War II game as Japan where he didn't expect at all to win, but somehow did (31 mins 45 secs) * He goes onto reflect his strategy to try to win, but how he was constantly thwarted by England and Germany (36 mins) * They discuss that it had an End of Game time limit and what happens when that is reached (38 mins 15 secs) * The guys move onto Kaner's games focusing initially on his Known World 901 game which is coming to the tail end (44 mins 30 secs) * They move onto his Europe Renovatio Winterkorn Bloodbath game (49 mins) * Kaner discusses how borders are occupied or unoccupied in games (53 mins 15 secs) * Amby advises he hasn't been able to get enough people to fill a board for a face to face game in Brisbane (56 mins) * They talk about July as an option until they realise they're both away for big chunks of July, and discuss road trips (58 mins) * Amby suggests Kaner playing a social game when he's in Victoria with his dad. Kaner talks stabbing his brother and his Dad playing Diplomacy in the navy (1 hr 4 mins 15 secs) * They flag why there was no interview this episode (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs) * They start wrapping up the show (1 hr 10 mins)

Venue: Dr Gimlette's, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Stone & Wood IPA

Amby: An unknown McLaren Vale shiraz from South Australia

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

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

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The guys discuss Amby's attendance at PoppyCon in Melbourne with round the table interviews, tournament results and a live Wilsonian game of Diplomacy.

Intro & Diplomacy talk * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) * They give a quick run down of how today's episode is going to work this episode, and Kaner provides a pronunciation correction for the Mayans. Amby shares a partial Arkansas update, with the Twitter pic he shares from @TerribleMaps with Kaner (4 mins 30 secs)

They start to introduce Amby's experience at PoppyCon this year (10 mins)

PoppyCon * The round table begins, with a brief discussion on scoring systems and Jamal Blakkarly's board solo (14 mins) * They talk about playing on multiple boards at once (18 mins 30 secs) * Allan discusses what's changed in the way players approach the game compared to 30 years ago and a discussion on draws (22 mins) * Amby asks about people's thoughts on the new players to the game (27 mins 30 secs) * The conversation merges into a general conversation around games on Day 1 (30 mins) * Amby asks about the overall tournament metagame after Jamal's solo and Shane weighs in on his first game (35 mins) * Amby asks Melissa about PoppyCon and venue hosting for a tournament. The round table discusses the challenges for tournament directors and SC based tournament scoring systems (39 mins) * They discuss how players approach tournaments now (45 mins) * The round table discusses the anonymous gunboat game played in the evening (not part of the formal tournament) where the scoring was how many SCs you ended with when the pizzas arrived and correctly identifying which player was which country (48 mins) * Amby wraps up the round table discussion (52 mins) * The guys get some more drinks and talk about the round table discussions (52 mins 30 secs) * They throw to Andrew Goff as tournament director giving the final results for the weekend (59 mins) * As part of local tradition, after the tournament results, Goffy awards the Best Shane Cubis Award (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto discuss the next tournament in Melbourne for November/December (1 hr 6 mins) * The guys come back and Amby gives a further update on his games in the tournament. Here's the maps from towards the end of his games: (1 hr 7 mins)

Amby as Germany in game 1

Amby's second game as France

The guys go onto discuss attending the next Melbourne tournament and trying to get some face to face games happening in Brisbane (1 hr 18 mins)
Next up they introduce the final part of the PoppyCon recordings, a live Wilsonian/United Nations game where players competed over the table in an open forum for all negotiations on a very tight phase turn (1 hr 19 mins)
Kaner gives a forewarning that with a heap of people talking all at once it can be a little difficult to follow what's being suggested around the board. Amby says he'll add some Backstabbr maps to show each turn's orders (1 hr 22 mins 45 secs)
The game begins in Spring 1901 with:
- Melissa - Italy
- Casey - Turkey
- Shane (Peter writing orders) - Germany
- Goffy - England
- Jamal - Austria
- Rob - France
- Allan - Russia (1 hr 25 mins)
Negotiations begin for Fall 1901 (1 hr 32 mins 40 secs)
Winter 1901 builds are added (1 hr 38 mins 30 secs)
Spring 1902 negotiations begin (1 hr 39 mins 40 secs)
Fall 1902 kicks off (1 hr 45 mins)
Winter 1902 builds (1 hr 50 mins 40 secs)
Spring 1903 opens to negotiations (1 hr 51 mins 45 secs)
Fall 1903 rolls around (1 hr 57 mins 20 secs)
And with Shane Cubis/Peter McNamara as Germany are eliminated a draw is proposed, followed by build orders (2 hrs 4 mins)
With the draw not proceeding Spring 1904 begins (2 hrs mins secs)
Fall 1904 rocks around (2 hrs 9 mins 40 secs)
Winter 1904's centre adjustments occur (2 hrs 15 mins 30 secs)
Spring 1905 begins before a 5 way draw is proposed and passed (2 hrs 17 mins)
They discuss the game from the players' perspective (2 hrs 19 mins)
The game ends and Kaner & Amby return with some further observations on the bar (2 hrs 22 mins 45 secs)
They get onto talking about the Wilsonian game and their thoughts about recording people playing Diplomacy (2 hrs 25 mins 40 secs)
The guys start wrapping up the show (2 hrs 30 mins 40 secs)

Venue: Frog's Hollow Saloon, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Gage Road Atomic hazy pale ale and Kosciuszko pale ale

Amby: Coriole Sparta shiraz from the Barossa, South Australia

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

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

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The guys interview face to face Macca, a local vDiplomacy player over a drink about all things Diplomacy.

Intro & Diplomacy talk * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) * They discuss being involved in the most recent DBN Deadline News as guests in a panel discussion about Diplomacy variants (3 mins) * Amby recently got Covid and talks briefly on that (4 mins 40 secs) * He goes onto discuss his excitement about attending PoppyCon this weekend (10 mins 50 secs) * The guys clarify that they have a guest joining them at some stage during the show (11 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks Amby if there's a country he'd like to play at PoppyCon (12 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Macca * Kaner & Amby welcome Macca to the show, and bring him into the conversation around alliance combinations (14 mins 50 secs) * Kaner asks Macca how he got into Diplomacy (18 mins 50 secs) * Kaner then asks Macca about his favorite variant at vDip (22 mins) * They discuss stalemate lines (23 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks Amby about whether Kestas got back to him about webDip's bots and whether they could be made less challenging (25 mins) * Kaner asks Macca about their favorite and worst country to play (27 mins 40 secs) * Kaner taunts Amby around some of his less successful alliances (29 mins) * Kaner asks Macca which of Amby's variants at vDip he's played before they also discuss one of Kaner's variants: Mars (38 mins) * Amby asks Macca what needs to change to be able to add new variants to vDip (43 mins 50 secs) * Amby asks Macca if they've played any games together, only to discover Macca's strategy over Amby in the Winning thread game. They then go onto discuss strategies for winning the Winning thread (48 mins) * Amby goes onto ask why some Diplomacy players go off and play Winning, Mafia or something else within the sites. They discuss Ankara Crescent (56 mins) * They go onto discuss having a Bourse game (59 mins 30 secs) * After some more drinks they discuss what happened to the Venus variant. Kaner goes onto explain the broader Solar System match concept (1 hr 10 mins 30 secs) * Macca goes onto discuss the Around the World tournament they're organising (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs) * They start wrapping up the show (1 hr 22 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Beach House Bar & Grill, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Fat Yak pale ale

Amby: D'Arenburg Footbolt shiraz from the Barossa, South Australia

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

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

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The guys invite Kestas back onto the show to discuss webDip's partnering with Facebook. Plus lots of Diplomacy chat, including variants and Kaner's great game result.

Intro & Diplomacy talk * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) * They reflect on last episode where they misheard what was happening in Ukraine at the time (4 mins)

Interview with Kestas * Amby welcomes Kestas back to the show after an absence for 4 years on the podcast. He asks about some of the latest developments at webDip and the artificial intelligence collaboration with academia and Facebook (5 mins) * Kaner asks about the system and approach to redacting personal identifiable information (12 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about the technical aspects of how the data is used and what will a player experience as a result (17 mins 30 secs) * They touch on the bot games briefly ceasing a year ago before Amby asks about covering costs for the hardware upgrades (21 mins 30 secs) * Amby reflects on some discussions he and Kaner had on their Patreon feed about Facebook getting involved in Diplomacy. He goes onto ask about webDip's admin conversations with Facebook about the intellectual property of the data they had and the nature of commercial considerations (26 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks whether Kestas and webDip would've taken a different approach if partnering with a military organisation as opposed to a commercial business (34 mins) * Amby mentions how he got back into Diplomacy around 2007 thanks to Facebook (43 mins 45 secs) * Kestas asks the guys whether they'd prefer for a bot player to take over from a civil disorder position (44 mins 45 secs) * Amby talks about how he and Kaner a year ago were testing alliance combinations against webDip's bots. They discuss how good the bots were. He asks whether there's been any thinking around different levels of bot competency (49 mins) * Kaner asks about whether this has made things too busy for the Mods. Kestas mentions some of the SVG map changes happening as a result of the Facebook partnership (53 mins 15 secs) * After putting his foot in his mouth, Amby asks Kestas whether he's played much since their last interview (56 mins) * Kestas mentions his last face to face game back in 2003, and how it gave him the idea of bringing Diplomacy online, and what his family thinks about what Kestas has done (58 mins) * Amby tries pitching PoppyCon to Kestas' dad. Kestas reflects on how Dip has helped players get into coding (1 hr 2 mins) * The guys discuss their thoughts on the interview and artificial intelligence. By the way, the Canadian institute in Montreal developing the AI can visit their site at Mila (1 hr 4 mins) * They do a "What the Dr Recommended" for the top 25 active players at webDip (1 hr 15 mins 30 secs)

Diplomacy chat & Kaner's great game * They grab some mid-game drinks (1 hr 19 mins) * Amby will be attending PoppyCon on 23-24 April, but Kaner can't make it (1 hr 23 mins) * They talk petrol/gas prices (1 hr 25 mins 30 secs) * Its only a month or so until the next Australian federal election, which means its almost Democracy Sausage time! (1 hr 29 mins) * The guys give a shout out about DixieCon coming up before discussing sausages again (1 hr 31 mins 45 secs) * They turn to some variant talk discussing David E. Cohen's Mandate of Heaven variant that he's currently refining (1 hr 38 mins 45 secs) * Ryan Treanor emailed us about out Baron von Powell interview and asked if his College of Cardinals variant ever made it to an online platform. Amby gives an update from Baron (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks a question around where can you play Diplomacy currently by email (1 hr 51 mins) * They discuss one of Kaner's game, 36-4-All, has finished in a three way draw with Kaner as the Livonian Order (mauve on the map). Kaner discusses his thinking when deciding not to stab his ally Sweden. Kaner is now officially higher placed in vDip's Hall of Fame, way above Amby (1 hr 53 mins)

The guys start wrapping up the show and acknowledge the need to get back to a more predictable release schedule (2 hrs 2 mins)

Venue: Banc, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: The Heads lager from Noosa, Queensland and Two Birds pale ale from Victoria

Amby: 2017 Oxhardy Upper Tintara shiraz from the McLaren Vale, South Australia and a GSM from Rhone, France

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

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

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With flooding forecasted and too long between episodes, the guys catchup online to talk PoppyCon, Ukraine, What the Dr Recommended and lots of Diplomacy talk.

Intro & Diplomacy talk * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and their situation for the evening. They talk about concerns about flooding and pooh-pooh it, only for a couple of days later (after recording) for the rain to start bucketing down and flooding locally (0 mins 15 secs) * They touch on interviews that were planned and haven't yet happened (3 mins 15 secs) * Amby says he plans to go to the PoppyCon tournament, with Kaner shortly later saying he'd like to go too (4 mins) * They then go to onto discussing about attending WDC 2023 in Bangkok (8 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner asks how Amby's games are going. Amby begins talking about a Modern Diplomacy game he bought into and won. But there's disappointment in Amby's voice when he discovers its unrated so doesn't count (10 mins) * Kaner does share there is a positive aspect of the game, still counting as a win. Amby outlines his win/draw/survive/eliminated percentages (11 mins 45 secs) * After the shock to the system, Kaner asks on Amby's view of how he approached previous turns to apply to his gameplay (14 mins 30 sec) * Amby talks about continuing to get hammer in his Imperial game before turning to a Modern Europe game where he stuffed up an attack that allowed his opponent to retreat to a more favorable position (17 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto discuss his Divided States game, which started with 50 players and is now down to 14 players (22 mins) * Last up is his Europa Renovatio game where Amby is hanging in as a middle power (24 mins 45 secs) * Audio warning: Amby's mute function wasn't working properly so apologies for things he thought he was silencing: eating chips, dogs barking, bins being moved etc * The guys move onto Kaner's games starting with his Europa Renovato game, which both guys feel is starting to head toward the end game (26 mins) * They then discuss an early game Europa game with an awesome title: Four Heralds Winterkorn Bloodbath (30 mins) * Kaner discusses the challenges of a forward retreating unit (34 mins 30 secs) * They move onto a listener's request to do an update for What the Dr Recommended - the top players on a Diplomacy server (39 mins 30 secs) * After not finding the player's name in the Top 100, they move from vDip to PlayDiplomacy (43 mins 30 secs) * Amby picks up some news in the background about Russia invading Ukraine. Kaner gives an update that was actually old news, not knowing that the full scale invasion of Ukraine was on (45 mins) * Amby asks how he views Putin as a Diplomacy player. Amby gives a shout out to The Rest is History podcast for their overview of Russian-Ukrainian history. They then go onto discuss their thoughts (46 mins 45 secs) * They return to What the Dr Recommended after Amby logs into PlayDip to read (in their Australian accents) the top 25 players. Kaner gives a hint to the 406 in his user name (59 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks why PlayDip has added a heap of online casino and crypto links to its footer (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * They touch on David E Cohen's latest version of Mandate of Heaven and talk vDip Winning thread (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 13 mins)

Venue: At home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Kilkenny Irish cream ale

Amby: The Colonel and the Merchant shiraz cabernet from Langhorne Creek, South Australia

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

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

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We interview Mrs Kaner and Mrs Amby about being Diplomacy wives. Plus we talk current games.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Mrs Kaner & Mrs Amby * The guys introduce today's interview: their partners (6 mins 50 secs) * The interview starts with Kaner starting to talk detail about a game which quickly turns to him asking Mrs Kaner what she thinks when he talks about his games, before they ask Mrs Amby the same question (7 mins 30 secs) * Mrs Amby talks about when Amby has to record an interview and her understanding of the game (11 mins 10 secs) * They talk about Mrs Amby's mother's theory about Kaner (13 mins 40 secs) * They talk about the bars the guys visit (17 mins) * Kaner asks the ladies about their thoughts about players travelling to play the game (18 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the guy's personalities and how it leads them to Diplomacy (22 mins 30 secs) * They wrap up the interview before the guys discuss their thoughts afterwards. Kaner asks listeners what their partners think about the game (25 mins 45 secs)

Diplomacy chat and Around the grounds * The guys discuss their thoughts on attending PoppyCon in Melbourne during April (32 mins 50 secs) * Kaner asks Amby about how badly he's doing in his games (35 mins 50 secs) * Amby acknowledges Kaner was correct that when buying into a game in a CD'ed position on vDip/webDip, if you get eliminated, when the game ends you don't get penalised. Amby discusses his 1800: Empires and Coalitions game and his game play now that he's lost (40 mins 20 secs) * They get some more drinks and describe how they taste now as a mid game (51 mins 40 secs) * They move onto discuss some of Kaner's games (56 mins) * The guys discuss slowly eating up an ally in a non-threatening way (1 hr 8 mins) * They wrap up the show (1 hr 14 mins)

Venue: Valley Hops Brewery, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: The Interloper IPA by Valley Hops

Amby: 21 Pubs pale ale by Valley Hops and The Other Wine Company shiraz from the Adelaide Hills

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

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

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We interview tobi, who saved vDiplomacy. Plus we celebrate Christmas and discuss our games.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with tobi * The guys introduce today's interview. Tobi is a developer who saved the day when vDiplomacy ground to a halt. Even if you're not on vDip, there's still some lessons here for other Diplomacy sites (3 mins 50 secs) * The interview starts although Kaner didn't turn up. They begin by looking at what went wrong with vDip and how it relates to other Dip sites (5 mins) * Tobi talks about his skillset developing and applying it to Diplomacy websites. They talk about going live into production without full user acceptance testing (12 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about with the upgrade to vDip using webDip code, whether any webDip functionality is in, or will be added to vDip soon. They also discuss tobi getting in touch with Oli and what came out of discussions (19 mins 45 secs) * They move on from the tech talk to discuss how tobi first got into Diplomacy before talking about the German hobby (27 mins) * Amby channels his inner Kaner and asks tobi which country he likes to play and why (33 mins 30 secs) * Amby goes onto to ask why tobi tends to play at vDip and what variants he likes to play. They discuss 1066, his thoughts on big variants and different features (35 mins) * They begin wrapping things up by talking about the community at vDip (41 mins 20 secs) * Kaner and Amby are back at the bar and discuss their thoughts about the interview (43 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about the wind muffler added to the Zoom recorder (48 mins) * Kaner discusses what would be needed for a variant to run a Bourse game automatically on a Diplomacy site (50 mins 30 secs)

Diplomacy chat and Around the grounds * They get some more drinks before giving our listeners an update on how things have recently changed here with Covid (58 mins) * Amby discusses losing in the Mongolian cloak and dagger game (playing as the Caliphate) before they turn to Christmas and presents (1 hr 4 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks if Amby is doing well in any games (1 hr 7 mins) * They talk about one of Amby's Europa Renovatio games, High Renovatio Jackpot and Yellowstone Honey (1 hr 11 mins) * Next up is his Divided States game, No name-11 (1 hr 14 mins) * He wraps up with Dawn of the Enlightenment and the need for another black eye (1 hr 18 mins) * Amby asks about Kaner's games and they discuss playing out an alliance vs stabbing (1 hr 22 mins 40 secs) * They grab more drinks and decide to start wrapping things up, with a brief chat about PoppyCon (1 hr 24 mins)

Venue: Maya Mexican, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Estrella lager from Spain

Amby: Gage Roads Sidetrack XPA and Rusden Driftsand GSM from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

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

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

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The guys interview game designer, World Boardgaming Champion and CEO Matt Calkins about his love of Diplomacy.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Matt Calkins * The guys introduce today's interview (6 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks when Matt first got into Diplomacy and which aspects of the game's design he likes (7 mins) * They discuss some of the board games Matt has commercially published and their relationship with the game. Matt's games include the award winning Sekigahara (the most similar to Diplomacy), Tin Goose and Magnet (10 mins) * Matt talks about the World Boardgaming Championships (12 mins) * Amby asks about the cross-overs between gaming and the business world (15 mins) * Photo credit: Forbes Magazine * Kaner asks about creating board games and Matt's favorite country to play in Diplomacy (16 mins) * Amby asks about Matt's favorite board games in his library in the photo taken in Forbes magazine (23 mins) * Amby asks how Matt uses board gaming in his life before discussing how others connect with him now though games (25 mins) * They discuss board games and skills before wrapping up the interview (30 mins) * The guys are back at the bar chatting about their thoughts on the interview with Matt. Kaner talks Power Grid and Tigris & Euphrates (32 mins)

Diplomacy news * The guys discuss trying unsuccessfully to get a face to face game going in Brisbane and what to do from here (42 mins 20 secs) * They talk about vDip being back up and running again (44 mins 20 secs) * Kaner discusses AI and Diplomacy (45 mins 20 secs) * After some new drinks they talk about a cool new board promoted in the Diplomacy Briefing just in time for Christmas made by Matt Crill (51 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner has bowed out of the Dawn of the Enlightenment game and Amby has been stabbed again (1 hr) * Amby discusses his Cloak and Dagger Mongolian empire game as he moves towards being removed before talking about his Europa Renovatio game before they get to 1800 Empires and Coalitions which Amby bought into and end on his last anonymous Europa Renovatio game (1 hr 4 mins 15 secs) * They then get to Kaner's 36-4-All Europa Renovatio game (1 hr 15 mins) * Next is his other Europa Renovation game, This is Madness II (1 hr 18 mins 50 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs)

Venues: The Scratch Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Willie Smith cider (although Kaner calls it a Willie Nelson's cider) from Tasmania and Helios Cyclops Indian pale ale from Brisbane

Amby: Helios Poseidon West Coast pale ale from Brisbane and Trop Big Red syrah from South Australia

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

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

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The guys celebrate their 100th podcast by inviting Andrew Goff, Brandon Fogel, Brother Board and CaptainMeme on to play their Diplomacy Trivia Extravaganza.

Intro * The guys introduce their 100th show, their drinks and tonight's venue, including a story or two (0 mins 15 secs) * They start introducing the Diplomacy Trivia Extravaganza with Andrew Goff, Brandon Fogel, Brother Bored and CaptainMeme as contestants. They also mention if you join the Patreon feed, next week's bonus episode is the guys coming up with the questions (6 mins 40 secs)

The Diplomacy Trivia Extravaganza * Amby is acting as the game show host and begins by introducing the players and some of their Diplomacy background. Kaner is the adjudicator (7 mins 50 secs) * They begin the questions (11 mins 50 secs) * After a score update, the game moves onto the lightening round (34 mins 15 secs) * The lightening round concludes and we move back onto the normal set of questions, followed by another score update (47 mins 45 secs) * Goffy does a promo for PoppyCon in Melbourne in April 2022 before questions continue (1 hr 3 mins 15 secs) * The trivia contest starts wrapping up with the results (1 hr 8 mins)

Diplomacy chat * The guys announce a new Patreon supporter of the show, thanks Dr Recommended! (1 hr 13 mins 30 secs) * They discuss vDiplomacy currently being down (1 hr 17 mins 20 secs) * Kaner & Amby grab another drink before coming back to discuss their Dawn of the Enlightenment game organised by David E. Cohen. Surprise surprise, Amby's been stabbed already (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs) * Kaner describes his first game year for this variant (1 hr 35 mins) * Amby suggests a face to face game in Brisbane for the weekend of 10 or 11 December and give a Covid update(1 hr 41 mins 45 secs) * They discuss some of the duplicitous conversations a little more in Dawn of the Enlightenment (1 hr 49 mins) * Kaner talks about why he likes big maps and how it breaks common thinking on a normal Diplomacy board (1 hr 53 mins) * The guys wrap up the 100th show (2 hrs 0 mins)

Venues: The Down Under bar & grill, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Four Pines draught and Four Pines milk stout

Amby: Four Pines pale ale and a cabernet sauvignon from somewhere

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

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

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The guys discuss their games and Amby reflects on the similarities between the hit Netflix series Squid Game and Diplomacy.

Intro & Around the grounds * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and tonight's venue (0 mins 15 secs) * Amby admits he's hit his limit in how many games he's joined up. They discuss the Dawn of the Enlightenment game they're both in (5 mins 15 secs) * Amby is playing France and discusses the challenges of playing colonial positions in addition to Europe (13 mins) * They discuss spectating a game with the view to taking over a civil disorder position in High Renovatio Jackpot (18 mins) * Kaner asks if any of Amby's games where he's takes over civil disorder positions he's going well in (22 mins) * Amby discusses his Divided States anonymous game, No Name 11, where New Hampshire (red) has lost its homeland and re-established itself in Alaska (23 mins 15 secs) * Amby goes onto discuss getting shafted in the Mongolian Empire game Screaming Jugular Bloodaxe Gusher (28 mins 45 secs) * Amby gets a new drink (Cabernet Sauvignon from Langhorne Creek) where a turn has just happened in his anonymous Europa Renovatio game Yellowstone Honey (34 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses his World War IV Primacy game amongst the non-zombie players (41 mins 45 secs) * Kaner gives a shout out to the latest sign up round for Nexus (45 mins)

Squid Game * Amby gives an overview of Squid Game to Kaner and his thoughts on the similarities of the hit Netflix series and the game dynamics of Diplomacy. No spoilers. (47 mins) * The guys wrap things up with a reminder about the upcoming 100th episode (53 mins)

Venues: Hop & Pickle, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Hop Hog pale ale from Feral Brewing

Amby: Geezer Pleaser bitter by Little Bang Brewery

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

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

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Kaner & Amby catch up with Diplomacy novelist R. Jamie Langa, talk about the new recorder & lots of Diplomacy stuff.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and discuss the new audio recorder they've had to buy thanks to our Patreon supporters (0 mins 15 secs) * You can provide a one-off contribution of $5 towards buying the new recorder at our Diplomacy Games Patreon feed (5 mins) * Amby talks about how he's gotten into Aussie Peppa Pig language warning! (6 mins)

Interview with R. Jamie Langa, Diplomacy novelist * The guys start introducing this show's interview guest R. Jamie Langa, author of Diplomacy novel "Art of the Stab." (8 mins 30 secs) * The interview starts with Amby asking why Jamie decided to write a novel based around the game (10 mins 30 secs) * They discuss why Diplomacy isn't more a part of popular culture (14 mins) * Amby asks what drew Jamie to writing the book. He outlines what he was trying to achieve in the story (22 mins) * Kaner asks about Jamie's process for writing the book (27 mins 45 secs) * Kaner discusses his own thought processes when playing a game and asks Jamie who's his favourite country. They also talk about role playing their country (34 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks what Jamie did to test whether someone who doesn't know the game, could comprehend the book (45 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks how Jamie approached things differently in writing Art of the Stab compared to his first novel (48 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about the self publishing experience (53 mins 30 secs) * You can buy the book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble (57 mins 45 secs) * They guys return and are still geeking out on the new recorder (1 hr) * Amby asks Kaner what he thought about the interview. Again, you can order the book from Amazon (1 hr 1 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks Amby what is his favorite country to play (1 hr 6 mins 15 secs)

Diplomacy chat * The guys have received a suggestion from Siegmar Bruggen on how to address our anonymous games: editing together various segments of the show where we danced around who we were and how the game turned out (1 hr 10 mins 30 secs) * Amby also discusses Brian McKay's email about playing a face to face game now that he's returned to Brisbane. Amby flags having a game early-mid December (1 hr 14 mins) * After ordering some more drinks they discuss an email from David E. Cohen about playing his Dawn of the Enlightenment variant (1 hr 18 mins 30 secs) * They talk again about the High Seas territory approach (1 hr 24 mins)

Around the grounds * Kaner starts discussing two of his anonymous Europa Renovatio games (1 hr 29 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks Amby why he's in so many games. Amby starts giving a run down on his various games. He touches on being elimitaed in the Spice Islands game before quickly moving to an anonymous Divided States game he bought into (1 hr 40 mins) * Amby goes onto discuss an anonymous Europa Renovatio game he bought into (1 hr 46 mins 45 secs) * He's getting smashed in an anonymous 1885 Colonial game (1 hr 50 mins) * Kaner asks about Amby's cloak and dagger Mongolian game (1 hr 53 mins 30 secs) * Amby briefly discusses his Primacy app games, discussing a Middle Earth game and a World War IV game (1 hr 56 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (2 hrs 3 mins 30 secs)

Venues: Pig & Whistle Eagle Pier, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Something Haze something black lager that isn't black

Amby: Something Eden something shiraz Barossa something

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

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

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The guys catch up for some drinks to discuss their games, with Kaner sharing his Diplomacy theory of crab shells and faultlines. Plus the Middle Earth variant.

Intro & Around the grounds * The guys kickoff and Kaner outlines why he dislikes playing England (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss the venue and their drinks (3 mins 50 secs) * They talk about the lockdown that never happened and a general Australian COVID update (6 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses an Australian MP who has wild theories about COVID. Amby shows his website domain that didn't get reregistered (8 mins 30 secs) * Kaner shares a joke or two with Amby and chats about measuring systems (11 mins 30 secs) * They grab some more drinks and Amby looks into abandoned games (17 mins 30 secs) * Kaner wants to out Amby and himself when in anonymous games (23 mins) * Kaner asks Amby about fleet builds on rivers in Divided States games & ideas for better gameplay (25 mins 45 secs) * Amby talks about his Spice Islands game and rulebook press (32 mins 45 secs) * He goes onto discuss his cloak and dagger game, Screaming Jugular Bloodaxe Gusher (36 mins) * Kaner gives some advice around looking at why an ally made a certain set of moves (39 mins) * They get into some of Kaner's anonymous Europa Renovatio games (40 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about the gameplay of a player he's stabbed, only for them to double down fighting their original enemy and let Kaner get up to mischief (43 mins 45 secs) * Amby pivots to talk about his classic game on Primacy where he was trying spitefully to create a stalemate line to force the draw as his goal (47 mins) * After some more drinks, they discuss gameplay in another one of Kaner's games (52 mins 15 secs) * Kaner shares his theory about Diplomacy faultlines, which act as a wedge into a region and how you approach your position as a crab shell (55 mins 30 secs) * He then goes onto discuss a "boring game" and his current crab shell (1 hr 1 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses two Primacy games, Legends of Ferranor where he won (pretty much as everyone CDed) but has started playing a Middle Earth variant, inspired by JRR Tolkien (1 hr 9 mins)

They discuss skills they learnt at 12 years of age and why Amby has never seen a Lord of the Rings film (1 hr 12 mins)

Venues: Hellcat Maggie, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Fixation IPA

Amby: St Hallett's Garden of Eden from South Australia

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

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

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The guys interview Bryan Pravel and Zach Moore from DBN about Diplomacy at the Olympics and where the game is going.

Intro * The guys are in pre-lockdown. They expect the government will do a lockdown when they planned to record so catch up on Skype instead. (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Bryan Pravel & Zach Moore from DBN * The guys welcome Bryan and Zach to the show, before jumping into the 2032 Olympics and DBN's plan to partner with 2032 Olympics broadcaster NBC (5 mins) * Amby asks what steps DBN needs to take to be ready by 2032 (8 mins 20 secs) * They discuss how people interested in interning at DBN can apply and what skills they need (10 mins) * Amby asks what's going on in the background of a live broadcast game (13 mins) * Amby discusses the professional broadcast feel of the show, and asks how that could improve in the future (16 mins 15 secs) * Kaner asks Bryan and Zack on how an Olympic Diplomacy competition should be held and which nations are most likely to take gold, silver & bronze (19 mins) * They discuss the need for an International Diplomacy Federation to advocate for the game (24 mins) * Amby asks what scoring system lends itself to better television (29 mins) * Amby queries how a world record system would work for Diplomacy at the Olympics (33 mins 45 secs) * He asks about following the conversations of players in a game and how that could work in a live environment (36 mins) * They discuss Ed Sullivan's info about Olympic events not necessarily always being traditional sports. Amby discusses the Wikipedia page that needs updating to raise the awareness of Diplomacy as a potential new event (41 mins 45 secs) * They start wrapping up the interview (45 mins) * Kaner & Amby give their thoughts on the interview (47 mins) * They flag the show has been going now for 5 years (52 mins)

Around the grounds * Amby asks Kaner about how his games are going - both are anonymous Europa Renovatio gunboat games (55 mins) * Amby outlines his really stuff ups where he CD'ed in his Divided States game and in Spice Islands (1 hr 8 mins) * They do a reminder about the upcoming 100th episode, before returning to the Spice Islands game and how surprisingly complex it is (1 hr 15 mins) * Then its a brief overview of Amby's Mongolian game (1 hrs 22 mins) * Amby goes into his Primacy app game and discusses his goal of creating a stalemate line for a 4 way draw (1 hr 24 mins 30 secs) * Kaner shares a link from the Diplomatic Pouch and discusses position 7 (1 hr 28 mins 30 secs)

Amby then discusses a Feraror map also on Primacy (1 hr 34 mins)
Kaner gives a run through the Classic Chaos game at vDip (1 hr 40 mins)
The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 47 mins)

Venues: At home: Pre-lockdown, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Somersby cloudy cider

Amby: Riparosso Italian red wine

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

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

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The guys interview Osbert, a high school student on a younger player's perspective on the game Diplomacy. Plus podcast drinking game ideas, Diplomacy chat & Kaner's games.

Intro * The guys are at X-Cargo. They flag the first half of the show will be PG rated and discuss their drinks (0 mins 10 secs) * They set the stage for today's interview with Osbert, a younger person who plays Diplomacy (3 mins 30 secs)

Interview with Osbert: a young player's perspective on Diplomacy * Amby asks Osbert - a high school student - about how he got introduced to Diplomacy (4 mins 30 secs) * They explore why Osbert returns to the game (7 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks how Osbert have approached things where people don't know his age (9 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about Osbert's approach to communication in the game and what other skills he's got from the game (11 mins 30 secs) * They explore what is an ideal game for Osbert (15 mins) * They discuss using gunboat to improve tactics (17 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks where Osbert learns about improving his gameplay and gives shout outs to DBN, Legendary Tactics and Brother Bored, (18 mins 45 secs) * They discuss getting friends together to play a face to face game (21 mins 30 secs) * They talk about Osbert representing the British team for Diplomacy at the 2032 Olympics (26 mins 45 secs) * Osbert's mum joins the interview to give a parent's perspective about her son playing the game (27 mins 45 secs) * They wrap up the interview (33 mins) * The guys give their thoughts on the interview (33 mins 45 secs)

Diplomacy chat * The PG bit of the show now ends, and returns to its usual swearing and drinking (37 mins 45 secs) * They suggest a Diplomacy Games drinking game that listeners can also play (38 mins 15 secs) * The discuss the ownership of the rights to the game (39 mins 15 secs) * They discuss the board map. Apologies to Rob Schone - the drinks prevented Amby remembering his name, sorry Rob! (40 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses the Calhammer estate auction and puts out there whether anyone bought a good amount of Calhammer swag, let us know as we'd be keen for a chat. They also discuss some upcoming interviews planned (44 mins 15 secs) * Amby flags this is episode 95 and we're fast approaching ep 100. Let us know your thoughts on what you'd like us to do in our 100th show (48 mins 45 secs) * After some more drinks, Amby suggests there may be some phrases or things we do, that if we do it, the listeners need to take a drink (50 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner talks about trying to join a Primacy game. Amby discusses his Primacy game (53 mins 50 secs) * Kaner discusses his games - a Colonial 1885 game, a Classic Chaos game he's spectating and a new Europa Renovatio game (1 hr 8 mins)

Amby has some deja vu (1 hr 18 mins 30 secs)
Amby is holding off on committing to new games until he has the time to play (1 hr 20 mins)
They grab another drink before starting to wrap things up to record the Patreon episode (1 hr 21 mins)

Venues: X-Cargo, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: 150 Lashes pale ale

Amby: Sister's Run shiraz from Brisbane

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

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

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The guys interview Matt and David, creators of the Primacy app which is playable on Apple and Android platforms. Plus 2032 Olympics talk, around the grounds and Amby's Summer Classic experience.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys are at the Guilty Rogue and discuss Brisbane officially hosting the 2032 Olympics. So its time to make Diplomacy an Olympic sport (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks if Diplomacy was an Olympic sport right now, who'd be representing their players and which countries would have a team (2 mins) * They talk specialist players for each country and what would be the scoring system for Diplomacy at the Olympics (5 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about the need for an International Diplomacy Federation to advocate for the game to be in the Olympics (8 mins)

Interview with Matt and David from the Primacy App * Kaner & Amby start setting up the interview (10 mins 30 secs) * The interview starts. NOTE for listeners, Amby had some recording troubles so his audio isn't as good as normal (11 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks David about the Primacy App and why they created it (12 mins) * They discuss how the App is available on Apple and Google Play stores (14 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks about variants and Realpolitik (17 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about copyright (19 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about the forward program of work for the app (22 mins 45 secs) * They talk about what you get when you sign up and the premium version of the app (26 mins) * They discuss rule sets, number of players and feedback (29 mins) * Kaner asks about creating variants and the app (32 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks about whether Matt and David have created apps before (37 mins) * Amby asks what success would look like for the app (40 mins 15 secs) * Kaner asks Matt and David about how they got into Diplomacy (43 mins) * Amby asks about how to counter new players who NMR/civil disorder. They talk about mobile notifications (44 mins 30 secs) * During the interview Kaner downloads the app and signs up for a game and discusses his experience (50 mins 30 secs) * They talk about using their Discord server as a way for players to communicate in a forum style (52 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about the game he's currently in at Primacy (53 mins 45 secs) * They discuss visual design of maps (55 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the interview before returning to give their thoughts on the discussion (57 mins 15 secs) * Kaner talks about some of his Realpolitik experience. He gives an update on his variant creation work with David E Cohen (59 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses his observations on getting the word out about Primacy and suggestions for improvements (1 hr 3 mins 15 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner starts talking about when he created a variant that simulated the Black Death during the time of the Mongolian Empire. He talks a little about this Mongolian Empire variant (1 hr 8 mins) * After some more drinks, they talk about Amby in the Cloak and Dagger series game that has started using the Mongolian Empire. But Amby first gives a quick recap of his three way draw in the just competed Cloak and Dagger game using the Who Controls America map: Dystopian Post-Truth Knockdown-Dragout (1 hr 12 mins) * The new game is called Screaming Jugular Bloodaxe Gusher. They give an overview of the variant. For more info about the variant have a listen to our chat about it back in Episode 63 (1 hr 14 mins) * They have a chat about having a Bourse game. Kaner gives a quick rundown of what a bourse game is if you're not familiar with it (1 hr 22 mins 40 secs) * They talk about a couple of other games including Amby's Undivided States game (1 hr 30 mins 30 secs) * David E. Cohen has got in touch with some more info about pronunciation of the word "Arkansas" (1 hr 33 mins 20 secs) * Amby gives an update of which states are still in the game (1 hr 36 mins) * They start talking virtual games, turning to the Summer Classic. Kaner said he was going to play but didn't. Amby played in two rounds (although the first game he handed over midway to Jamal Blakkarly). Here's Amby's game 1 as England and his second game as Germany (1 hr 38 mins) * The guys then wrap up the show (1 hr 45 mins 40 secs)

Venues: Guilty Rogue, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Green Beacon Windjammer IPA from Brisbane Amby: Green Beacon Windjammer IPA from Brisbane

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

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

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The guys unpack Amby's draw in Media Wars 2 and get the take of the board topping Ed Sullivan/GoHornsGo and Village Idiot/Ewok in an interview. Plus much more.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys begin at Bar Brutus and do a mea culpa (0 mins 10 secs) * With some clever editing we've removed all the fucking train noises. They talk about their recent holidays that have partly delayed episodes (2 mins 10 secs) * Kaner talks about a board game he bought: Imperial Struggle (5 mins 50 secs) * Amby asks how a Diplomacy game would work if you couldn't eliminate a player in the first 3 game years (7 mins 50 secs) * Amby flags the upcoming decision on the hosting of the 2032 Olympics on 21 July 2021, where the guys are trying to make Diplomacy an Olympic sport (10 mins 50 secs) * He then goes to talk about a new Diplomacy app - Primacy. It is on iPhone and Android, but Kaner couldn't find it in the Google Play store. You can find Primacy in GooglePlay and Primacy on iPhone (12 mins 20 secs)

Media Wars 2 interview with Ed Sullivan/GoHornsGo and Village Idiot/Ewok * They start introducing the interview with Ed Sullivan/GoHornsGo from The Diplomats and Village Idiot/Ewok who both topped the board in Media Wars 2 (13 mins 45 secs) * The interview starts with some audio issues at the start for Amby, sorry folks we're aiming to upgrade some of our tech soon to improve things (16 mins) * Village Idiot/Ewok discusses his subbing in (18 mins 50 secs) * Amby asks about the coms when Village Idiot (Russia) started taking SCs from Ed (Germany) (20 mins) * Amby tries to understand how Ed worked with Ezio (France) in 1901 (22 mins 30 secs) * Ed talks about player pressure points (25 mins) * They discuss Amby's 1901 moves (26 mins) * Amby asks about their gameplay, building trust and reputation (27 mins 50 secs) * Ed reflects on Legendary Tactics approach (Austria) at the time (34 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses the transition from Lady Razor to Village Idiot before they discuss the north-south split (36 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the Commowealth vs Non-Commonwealth (40 mins 50 secs) * They discuss the fallout between Germany (Ed) and France (Ezio) over Belgium and France going quiet (43 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses the southern alliance's plans to encourage Ed's growth and why his spidey senses told him to draw (45 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks them both about their positive takeaways from the game and what they'd like to do again in the future (51 mins) * He then asks about what they learnt from the game (52 mins 20 secs) * Amby gets greedy and asks for their advice about is gameplay (54 mins 55 secs) * They discuss Media Wars 3 (57 mins 20 secs) * They guys return and discuss their thoughts on the interview and Kaner playing for the podcast next time (58 mins 30 mins)

Media Wars 2 wrap-up * Following the interview Kaner asks Amby about his take on the game as Italy. Amby starts by discussing his spring 1901 move of Venice to Tyrolia (1 hr 2 mins) * Amby discusses goals and Ed's goals at the start of the Diplomats (1 hr 4 mins) * They discuss building relationships, putting yourselves in the shoes of others and knowing how people have previously played the game (1 hr 10 mins) * Amby talks about rebuilding trust with players, particularly Legendary Tactics as Austria. Kaner asks about Amby's relationship with Oliver Lugg as Turkey (1 hr 15 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks why France (Ezio) kept attacking Amby (1 hr 18 mins) * They talk the end game (1 hr 20 mins) * They discuss Kaner's thoughts on playing in Media Wars 3 (1 hr 23 mins)

Around the grounds * Kaner talks about how he went in You Ratty Bastard where he was part of a three way draw in Italy. This was a 1898 game so you start with one unit only and its played under fog of war conditions (1 hr 24 mins 20 secs) * They discuss the interfaces to view previous maps from earlier turns (1 hr 27 mins) * Amby talks about his game as England, establishing his homeland in Scandinavia (1 hr 31 mins) * They return to Kaner's game (1 hr 32 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about being surprised when Austria starts sending fleets into the Med, after building fleets in Rumania! (1 hr 37 mins 30 secs) * They do a points update (1 hr 41 mins) * Amby discusses his Who Controls America variant that he's playing in G-Man's Cloak and Dagger series. The game is called Dystopian Post-Truth Knockdown-Dragout. Kaner talks about the players and the SC and territory names (1 hr 41 mins 50 secs) * Amby touches on his anonymous Divided States game (1 hr 47 mins) * Kaner discusses spectating other people's games (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs)

Other stuff/wrapup * They discuss the Summer Classic game (1 hr 51 mins 30 secs) * Amby does a shout out to Mad Monarch for an Apple Podcast review. You can rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts (1 hr 52 mins) * Amby does a quick correction about Primacy, which we have since found out was wrong too. You can find Primacy in GooglePlay and Primacy on iPhone (1 hr 53 mins 40 secs) * The guys conclude the show (1 hr 56 mins 30 secs)

Venues: Bar Brutus, Saccharomyces and Maeve Wine Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Balter Lager

Amby: Balter Lager

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

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

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The guys interview Isabella Vladoiu from US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights about how the game relates to real life Diplomacy. Plus they discuss their games and a public service announcement from all Mods.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys are still at the Empire Hotel. Amby disses Google. They do a drinks update (0 mins 10 secs) * They give a Diplomacy face to face update and ideas to get more people into the game (3 mins 30 secs)

Interview with Isabelle Vladoiu from US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights * The guys set the scene for their interview with Isabelle Vladoiu, founder of US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights, a not for profit organization (6 mins 30 secs) * Kaner and Amby welcome Isabelle to the show. Kaner asks about the sort of work she does (7 mins 30 secs) * Kaner reflects on reputation and asks how a diplomatic negotiation takes place (12 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about soft skills in breaking through an impasse and re-establishing trust (17 mins) * Amby asks Isabelle about her understanding of the game Diplomacy (19 mins 30 secs) * Kaner touches on Isabelle's point about linguistic barriers, and throws to Amby to discuss his previous experience with Google Translate Diplomacy (24 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks about backdoor diplomacy, they go onto discuss deliberate false statements (30 mins) * They start wrapping up the interview reflecting on the role of etiquette and where listeners can learn more about US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights (38 mins) * The guys reflect back on the interview and their thoughts on its application to the game Diplomacy (40 mins 45 secs)

Ar-Kansas chat * Amby gives Kaner an update on the pronunciation of Arkansas (45 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner asks Amby about how he's going in their joint game "Ratty Bastards 2" (49 mins 30 secs) * Amby reflects on the fog of war nature of the game (52 mins 15 secs) * Amby talks about his other anonymous game, "DSA" a Divided States game (56 mins 15 secs)

Public service announcement * As a Mod at vDip, Kaner gives an example of what NOT to do when dealing with mods at webDip, playDip, Backstabbr etc (1 hr 0 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 8 mins)

Venues: Empire Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Mahogany American Brown Ale by Brendale Brewing Company

Amby: Maxwell's Silver Hammer shiraz from the McLaren Vale

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

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

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Kaner takes on Brother Bored in a live France vs Austria game and learns a few lessons. Amby is also "learning lessons" in his Media Wars 2 game.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys discuss the venue, drinks and set the scene for today's episode (0 mins 10 secs) * Kaner discusses the Summer Classic virtual tournament being held 23-25 July (2 mins 35 secs) * They discuss work and life commitments have been getting in the way of their Diplomacy interests (5 mins 20 secs)

Kaner vs Brother Bored live game: France vs Austria * Amby sets the scene in the Kaner vs Brother Bored game of France vs Austria. Brother Bored also has the game on his Youtube channel (6 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the Spring 1901 openings (8 mins 15 secs)

Amby goes through the Fall 1901 orders (11 mins)
Brother Bored gives a fun fact about Trieste (11 mins 30 secs)
Next up is the builds (12 mins 15 secs)
Spring 1902 moves are then discussed (14 mins 30 secs)
Brother Bored explains some of his thinking as they enter Fall 1902 moves (16 mins 20 secs)
After builds they start on their spring 1903 moves (18 mins 20 secs)
After reviewing spring 1903 moves they move on. Amby gives his thoughts on the likely outcome (21 mins 20 secs)
They discuss the fall 1903 outcome. Brother Bored gives his views on Kaner's moves. The guys then do builds and prepare their spring 1904 moves (25 mins 30 secs)
The orders are in for spring 1904. The guys dissect it all before clicking away for fall 1904 moves (31 mins 30 secs)
The fall outcome is in! After builds and discussion they start preparing for spring 1905 (36 mins 15 secs)
Spring 1905 blossoms throughout Brother Bored's side of the board with all those vacant neutrals. They dissect where the game is at and start clicking away for fall 1905's moves. Brother Bored gives some perspectives on playing as Austria compared to France (42 mins 30 secs)
The game is done with Brother Bored proudly at the winner's podium! They discuss creating content in this format. They talk about doing this again in the future and decide on the highly balanced 843: Treaty of Verdun variant (48 mins)
Kaner and Amby are back and discuss their thoughts on the game with Brother Bored. Don't forget you can also watch this in Brother Bored's Youtube channel (56 mins 40 secs)
After discussing Treaty of Verdun again, they discuss deliberately balanced variants and find their not as balanced as you think (1 hr 2 min 45 secs)

Media Wars 2 * Kaner asks Amby how his Media Wars 2 game is going. The game is up to spring 1908 with only England (Floridaman) eliminated (1 hr 5 mins 30 secs) * Amby gives an update on what's been happening with hat tips to Oliver Lugg and Ed Sullivan (GoHornsGo) (1 hr 6 mins 50 secs)

Venues: Empire Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Mahogany American Brown Ale by Brendale Brewing Company

Amby: High Country Hops Hazy Harvest Fresh Hop IPA

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

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

The guys start wrapping up the show with a bit of a tease about the next episode (1 hr 15 mins)

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The guys have had a small break and come back re-energised for the game. They discuss an upcoming face to face game, Media Wars 2 and test unbreakable alliances.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys discuss the venue and throwing stones (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss they're out of lockdown and Kaner explains how he'd taken a break from the game for a little while. He talks about his decision making process for choosing a game to join (2 mins 50 secs) * Amby's had a lot going on in real life too and has reduced the number of his games (4 mins 55 secs) * Amby discusses the volume of Diplomacy content coming from the DBN and Legendary Tactics (7 mins) * Kaner asks what is Amby's worst country to play (7 mins 55 secs) * Amby discusses some of the recent Diplomacy Briefing releases (11 mins 20 secs) * The guys discuss the u/trampolinebears Diplomacy map and what Kaner did to create his board, as asked by Dan Bahler (12 mins) * They've also got an email from Daniel McNamara about playing a face to face game in Brisbane. The guys land on Saturday 29 May as a tentative date (15 mins 50 secs) * Amby discusses getting the timing right to also get a game happening at one of the local university's board games club (19 mins) * The guys give a shout out to the Minnesota Diplomacy Club for their recent COVID safe face to face game (20 mins 40 secs) * Kaner and Amby move downstairs to the La Costa bar. Audio quality warning We have no idea what happened but this part of the show sounds like it was recorded inside a tin can. Sorry folks! (21 mins 40 secs) * They discuss their drinks (22 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * While Kaner isn't in any games, Amby gives an update on his online Diplomacy games (23 mins 15 secs) * Amby's Europa Renovatio team game has ended in a draw, despite Amby feeling the game should've played out a lot longer. They talk about proposed future team games, before Amby outlines his team members: Naples, Livonian Order and Morocco (Amby was Austria) (23 mins 45 secs) * He's also in an anonymous gunboat Divided States game and is doing reasonable at the moment (31 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks about how Amby is going in the Media Wars 2 game. Amby gives an update and his thinking on recent moves (33 mins 45 secs)

Podcast survey * Amby flags they're going to be running a survey soon to help improve the podcast. Hopefully this will be ready by the next episode (41 mins 30 secs)

Unbreakable alliances: the German-Austrian Anschluss * The guys set the scene about their original moves in 1901 and where they were up to (44 mins 15 secs) * They discuss what Kaner should be building (47 mins) * The guys get peckish and order some chips (fries) that creates all sorts of confusion in the kitchen... you'll understand why soon (51 mins 20 secs) * They start their planning for spring 1902's moves (52 mins) * Then there's more confusion with the orders not being processed (56 mins 15 secs) * They try another game where their alliance is France-Germany and start planning a Sealion (1 hr 0 mins) * Their spring 1901 game orders went through only for Amby to misorder. They decide to cancel the game (1 hr 2 mins 45 secs) * So NEXT, they start an unbreakable alliance as Italy and Turkey (1 hr 4 mins) * They plan Fall 1901's moves and discuss getting an AI update from the folks at webDip. BUT they can't adjudicate orders again. They check the forums and find out its broken at webDip (1 hr 7 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 10 mins)

Venues: Cielo Rooftop bar and La Costa bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Young Henry's Pale Ale

Amby: Alpha Box and Dice grenache from South Australia

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

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

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No show due to real life stuff. Back in two weeks.

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The guys interview Jamal Blakkarly, winner of PoppyCon 2021, the first face to face Diplomacy tournament since Covid (excluding that 7 player European championship.) Plus they chat about Media Wars 2 and much, much more.

Lockdown intro and Diplomacy news * The guys set the scene about the most recent lockdown in Brisbane and their drinks (0 mins 10 secs) * They're going to do their first live interview on the show. They set the scenes for the interview (4 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses briefly the guys' France v Austria 1 on 1 game on their Patreon feed and give a shout out to our latest Patreon supporter (7 mins) * Amby flags that their $3 Patreon supporter level which used to get you a position in Kaner's presidential cabinet if he won (9 mins 15 secs) * He goes onto discuss how Brisbane now has the sole negotiating rights with the International Olympics Committee for the 2032 summer olympics. Amby proposes that we need to get Diplomacy as an offcicial olympic sport and set up a lobbying campaign (10 mins 30 secs) * Kaner outlines his decision to take a break from playing games at the moment (16 mins 40 secs)

Interview with Jamal Blakkarly * Kaner & Amby bring Jamal into the interview. He quickly grabs a beverage (20 mins 30 secs) * The guys congratulate Jamal on his win, beating Shane Cubis by one-eighth of an SC. Kaner asks which was the best game/country he played (23 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks Jamal what it was like to be at last playing face-to-face tournaments since Covid (23 mins 45 secs) * They talk about the vibe of the tournament and the players. Kaner asks about how aware Jamal was about the points (28 mins) * Jamal discuses the mistakes he learnt in the tournament (31 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks if Jamal's brother Jarni played (34 mins 50 secs) * They discuss Jamal's game style and how its developed over time (36 mins 20 secs) * They talk stabbing (39 mins) * Amby asks about the social aspect of the tournament outside the games (46 mins 45 secs) * He asks about what interaction he had with Shane as they headed toward the end of the tournament (49 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks if Jamal has a favorite country to play (51 mins 30 secs) * Amby does a couple of shout outs for the other main tournament players (54 mins 40 secs) * They start wrapping up the interview (57 mins) * Post interview Kaner discusses how he sucks as England (58 mins)

Media Wars 2 * Amby announces the Media Wars 2 game (a game of Diplomacy content creators) has now started. He gives an outline of the players and the moves at the end of 1901 (59 mins) * Kaner asks Amby why he thinks Austria tried moving into Venice (1 hr 6 mins 20 secs) * Amby reflects on the number of units in fall 1901 that just held (1 hr 10 mins 50 secs) * Amby mentions his plans for why he moved to Tyrolia will be discussed in the Patreon episode before they wrap up (1 hr 15 mins 45 secs)

Venues: Locked down at home, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Somersby cloudy apple cider

Amby: Wynns Coonwarra estate cabinet shiraz merlot

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

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

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The guys interview winner of the DBI Invitational, Peter McNamara about his gameplay. Plus Bronze Age Diplomacy, variant ideas from the guys and much more.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys talk about their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Peter McNamara * Kaner & Amby begin to introduce the interview with Peter McNamara and what's coming up (2 mins 30 secs) * The interview starts with setting the scene after Peter's win at the DBN Invitational. Amby asks how people were invited to attend the tournament (5 mins) * Amby asks about the earlier rounds and seeding (8 mins 20 secs) * They discuss why Peter went for Italy. You can read his article in the Diplomacy Briefing (10 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about where Peter planned to take things in the mid-game (13 mins) * Kaner asks about the geography of the board (14 mins) * Amby asks Peter about stabbing allies (15 mins 20 secs) * They discuss reading the board (17 mins) * Amby asks about how Peter got into the game, before asking about how tournaments extend you as a player (18 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks what Peter has learnt recently in games, before discussing Peter's game play (20 mins) * They discuss intuition vs computational approaches to the game, before discussing reputations (23 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks Peter how he finds the virtual environment (27 mins) * They discuss tournaments of the future (28 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks what Peter was looking for in an ally in the final DBN Invitational game. Peter discusses goals (32 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the length of the games in the DBN Invitational (36 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks if there was a tournament trophy before asking about whether Peter would play Italy again next time or whether he'd go for another country (40 mins 50 secs) * Kaner asks about his thinking process during the game and scope for innovation in openings (52 mins 30 secs) * Peter asks the guys when they'll have a face to face game in Brisbane again (44 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks Peter if he thinks there's different Diplomacy scenes in Australia. They talk about the upcoming PoppyCon tournament (46 mins 30 secs) * Peter discusses his plans for the upcoming WDC's (49 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the interview (51 mins) * Kaner and Amby return, with Amby trying to advocate attacking Russia from the start (52 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks Kaner what else he got out of the interview (55 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses Peter's strategy of picking Italy in the final game and patience (58 mins)

Around the grounds * Amby brings up his Europa Renovatio team game as Austria and how he went from doing well to being stabbed all round (59 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses the concentric circles on the board (1 hr 6 mins 15 secs) * The guys move bars to O'Skulligans and discuss drinks (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs) * Amby starts discussing a new variant in development he's testing. He talks about the way variant developers are doing this while Oli is unavailable on vDip (1 hr 11 mins 15 secs) * He talks about the work Fake Al has been doing on Bronze Age Diplomacy where Amby is playing as Syria (1 hr 13 mins 30 secs)

Amby discusses his decision to stab Babylonia and discusses the dynamics of the map (1 hr 20 mins)
He reads some info from Fake Al about how limited variant development can still happen at vDip (1 hr 25 mins)
They discuss possible options for which variant to develop, with a particular focus around flooding/raised water levels (1 hr 29 mins)
The disagree on what to do: a flooded planet, continent or city. Try FloodMap to have your own play with flooding maps (1 hr 33 mins)
They move again to a new bar, Greaser, but have a recording dilemma with about 15 minutes talking about Fake Al and Bronze Age Diplomacy disappearing (1 hr 37 mins)
Amby and Kaner discuss who from the podcast will be in the upcoming Media Wars 2 game and other players (1 hr 38 mins)
Amby has won a ranked game with the 1066 variant (1 hr 43 mins 15 secs)
But lost and was eliminated in his Imperial Diplomacy game where he played as Holland (1 hr 46 mins 45 secs)
The guys do a What the Dr Recommended update for vDip (1 hr 48 mins)
And then wrap up the show (1 hr 51 mins 30 secs)

Venues: Royal George Hotel, O'Skulligans and Greaser, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Five Seeds cider, O'Skulligan's house lager

Amby: Little Creatures IPA, an unknown Barossa shiraz

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

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

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The guys catch up for some drinks and a chat around their current Diplomacy endeavors and games.

Intro and Diplomacy news * The guys talk about their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs) * They were hoping to play a face to face game on Sunday but have failed to get the numbers again (3 mins 45 secs) * They also provide an update about their now non-attendance at PoppyCon in Melbourne, the first post-Covid face to face tournament in the world (4 mins 40 secs) * Amby discusses ideas on how to drum up more people to come along to a game (9 mins 50 secs) * Kaner gives a shout out to Peter McNamara on his victory at the DBN Invitational (14 mins) * He discusses some of the upcoming virtual tournaments (16 mins 50 secs)

Around the grounds * Amby gives an update about his online games - a Mate Against Mate game called Happy Australia Day and his Imperial Diplomacy II game Pointy Pointy Stabby Stabby. Kaner discusses unit icons (18 mins 30 secs) * He discusses his Europa Renovation team game where he's playing as Austria (24 mins 30 secs) * They move onto an anonymous Divided States game they're both in, avoiding discussing who is who, but doing a breakdown of everyone's openings. And in the process probably getting a few bits of geography wrong (29 mins 20 secs)

Kaner moves onto his games, starting with his webDip World Cup gunboat game where he was part of a three way draw as Austria. You can follow their discussion around key phases by going to the map history page (53 mins)
They grab some more drinks and its onto another win by Kaner as Turkey on a Classic 1897 map. They discusses the random fun bonkers of Italy in the game, paying attention to Fall 1905 (1 hr 7 mins 5 secs)
Amby asks Kaner what he's getting out of playing gunboat at the moment (1 hr 18 mins 20 secs)
The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 20 mins)

Venue: Indooroopilly Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Orchrd Crush cider by James Squire

Amby: Balter XPA and Ridoch shiraz

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

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

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The guys interview Australian Defense Force chaplain John Dansie on using Diplomacy in professional military education of officers. Plus they talk about upcoming face to face games, their online games and Kaner makes a helluva mess.

Intro * The guys restart talking about other podcasts and Amby gives a big thumbs up to Brother Bored's Diplomacy Dojo (0 mins 10 secs) * They talk about their drinks (1 min 45 secs) * Amby talks about Bin Chicken Paradise. More here. (2 mins 45 secs)

Interview with John Dansie * Amby starts setting the scene for our interview with Australian Defense Force chaplain John Dansie (5 mins 30 secs) * The guys welcome John to the show (6 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks John how got introduced to the game (7 mins) * He asks about how John brought Diplomacy into the professional military education of Australian officers and want he wanted to get out of it. You can read his article on The Cove (8 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about the feedback from players after the game (11 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about deception and lack of trust and how officers would apply that experience in a real world scenario (13 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto ask about players who didn't do well and how they related to it (16 mins 40 secs) * Kaner discusses the soft skills Diplomacy teaches when it comes to leadership (18 mins 45 secs) * They discuss playing without deception (22 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about the format of the games. John talks about the creative strategies used by players (24 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks what feedback John has received from the higher ups (26 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the use of wargaming in the military (28 mins) * Amby asks what feedback John got on the paper published in The Cove (29 mins 15 secs) * They discuss what John hopes to get out of the experience (31 mins) * They go onto ask what John would like to see in two years time (32 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about whether any players after the game maintained an interest in Diplomacy (34 mins 20 secs) * Kaner discusses about his father playing Diplomacy in the Australian Navy (39 mins) * They wrap up the interview (41 mins 30 secs) * Post interview the guys give their thoughts. Amby would like to know if other militaries use the game in a similar way (43 mins 30 secs) * The guys talk about the use of Diplomacy as a teaching tool in schools and universities (47 mins 45 secs)

Diplomacy chat * Kaner and Amby have moved to Blute's Bar. They talk about their new drinks (49 mins 40 secs) * The guys talk about the first post-Covid face to face tournament - PoppyCon in Melbourne at the end of March - and whether they'll attend. They discuss the positives and negatives (52 mins 10 secs) * Amby says they have five players who can make a 7 March face to face game in Brisbane. So they just need to get another two folk for a game (58 mins 15 secs) * Kaner flags how the virtual Diplomacy League has created a map of where players are so you can organise face to face games once Covid calms down a bit. Sign up on their Google form (1 hr 1 mins 40 secs) * Kaner and Amby are hosting their own virtual game for Patreon supporters of the show. If you're interested why not sign up as a Patreon friend of the show (1 hr 3 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * Amby starts with the Winning is for Losers game which is now over. It ended in a draw (Amby as England on 2 SCs) with gopher pulling a strong Austrian position of 14 SC's (1 hr 4 mins 20 secs) * His declaration of war game is now over in a draw, with Amby being the last knocked out (1 hr 9 mins) * He's just alive in an Imperial II game (1 hr 11 mins 50 secs) * They move onto their webDip World Cup games. Amby's game has just finished in a 4 way draw. Amby was England and ended on 9 SCs (1 hr 13 mins) * Amby discusses the liberating feeling of having 100% control of the Baltic/Gulf of Bothnia (1 hr 15 mins)

Kaner talks abut his games, but being gunboat he doesn't want to provide game links/maps (1 hr 19 mins)
Amby returns to his webDip game and reflects on a recent episode of Brother Bored's Diplomacy Dojo on how to play England (1 hr 23 mins 20 secs)
They grab some more drinks. Kaner starts talking about a Classic 1897 game and how it works as a variant (1 hr 28 mins)
Kaner gets overly excited and starts gesticulating his arms around causing a helluva mess! (1 hr 33 mins 30 secs)
They come back post beer incident (1 hr 34 mins)
Amby touches briefly on his Europa Renovatio team game (1 hr 35 mins 30 secs)
He's also started a Mate Against Mate Australian variant game, where Amby is playing as Indonesia (1 hr 37 mins 20 secs)

Venue: Blute's Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Coopers Pale Ale and Young Henry's Pale Ale

Amby: Little Creatures IPA and Angove organic shiraz

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

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

The guys then wrap up the show (1 hr 40 mins)

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The guys record a back-to-back rather drunk episode. They talk about their (at the time) current games and prove the slow but effective Juggernaut alliance, before starting on an Anschluss alliance game.

Intro & Diplomacy chat * The guys restart on their 3rd drink at Brisbane Brewing Co and talk about their planned Diplomacy Wives Club interview they planned that never happened (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby presents Kaner with his belated Christmas present (5 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * They provide (by now) a belated Around the grounds update, starting with their anonymous Europa Renovatio team game where Kaner is effectively playing gunboat despite the game being full press. Amby gives his take on how he's been going. They discuss a gentlemanly stab. (7 mins 40 secs) * Kaner briefly touches on being in gunboat games before Amby discusses some of his games (14 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses the Winning is for Losers game (16 mins) [This game has actually since ended in a draw] * The guys chat about different pronunciations in Australia. Below is the video posted by gopher on the stupidity of the discussion (and a good synopsis of two drunk Aussies talking Diplomacy - while bitching about pronunciations) (18 mins 20 secs)

After more beers, Amby talks about buying into a game (Enjoy Division) where a player CD'ed. He was eliminated and then the players drew. Amby talks about Dr Recommended's great game as Portugal (22 mins 30 secs)

Finishing off the Juggernaut * The guys return to their game against the bots in their final installment of testing the Juggernaut (32 mins) * They update the situation on the board after fall 1909 (34 mins)

Fall 1909

The guys start planning their moves for spring 1910 (39 mins 30 secs)
They then finalise, do retreats and dissect the moves (46 mins 30 secs)

Spring 1910

Next up, Fall 1910. The guys do their planning (49 mins 30 secs)
Time for adjudicating moves for Fall 1910 (54 mins)
The guys plan builds (55 mins 30 secs)
Then its onto disbands and Spring 1911 (57 mins 20 secs)
The guys finalise and discuss what happened with the Spring 1911 moves (1 hr 2 mins)

Spring 1911

The guys then plan their fall 1911 moves (1 hr 2 mins 40 secs)
We finalise orders and review what happened including Kaner's fuck up with Gulf of Lyon, before moving onto builds (1 hr 6 mins 20 secs)

Fall 1911

Onto spring 1912 with Kaner taking special care to not screw up again (1 hr 8 mins)
The guys then review what happened with orders and retreats (1 hr 10 mins)

Spring 1912

They then plan fall 1912 with the start of some breakthrough moves (1 hr 11 mins)
They review the orders after adjudication (1 hr 16 mins)

Fall 1912

And its onto spring 1913 and plan how to make the Jug unstoppable with some tricky forward retreat plans from Kaner (1 hr 20 mins)
They finalise and dissect the board after getting some more beers and discuss Amby's fuck up (1 hr 25 mins)

Spring 1913

Onto fall 1913 now with plans as they start heading toward the end game (1 hr 26 mins)
The turn adjudicates and the guys explain what happened (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs)

Fall 1913

They decide to wrap up the game, especially after Kaner's treacherous build (1 hr 33 mins 50 secs)
They acknowledge once more that while the Juggernaut is successful its a real slog. You can view the game at webDip (1 hr 35 mins)

Kaner wants to play another game: the Anschluss * They discuss the other bot games they paused and Kaner gives the go ahead for an unbreakable alliance between Austria and Germany. They plan their moves for spring 1901 (1 hr 37 mins) * The game adjudicates and they discuss the moves (1 hr 40 mins)

Spring 1901

They begin planning for Fall 1901 (1 hr 41 mins 30 secs)
They ready orders up (1 hr 43 mins 10 secs)

Fall 1901

At this point the SD card in the recorder fills up and stops recording. Amby apologies post-show about what happened and gives a tease about next week's Patreon episode (1 hr 44 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Brisbane Brewing Co., Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Walker west coast IPA from Brisbane Brewing Co.

Amby: Walker west coast IPA and the Session ale from Brisbane Brewing Co.

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

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

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We catchup with legend of the game, Edi Birsan, around so, so much about Diplomacy. Your head will spin! Plus the guys discuss their virtual WDC experience and webDip 2020 World Cup.

Intro * The guys introduce today's venue and location before discussing their drinks (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Edi Birsan * They start introducing the interview with Edi Birsan (3 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks Edi how he got started in the game in the 1960's (4 mins 40 secs) * Amby reflects on Edi's response about psychologists using the game to build resilience. Edi gives some further detail and touches on Kissinger playing Diplomacy and integration of schools in South Africa using Diplomacy (12 mins) * Edi discusses the importance of younger people being open to the game during formative learning and intervening with a player about their behavior (16 mins) * He discusses his mantra about Diplomacy (18 mins 15 secs) * He talks about using the game as a tool for learning about trust (20 mins 30 secs) * Note: around this point someone in Amby's neighborhood starts noisy gardening - takes about 20 mins for Amby to Google how to fix/mute it * Amby asks about how Edi was able to find players for his first game and playing postal (23 mins) * Edi discusses how Diplomacy helped him talk and negotiate in some of his first jobs (28 mins) * Amby asks where the game sits in popularity/awareness now, compared to previous decades. Edi discusses how word about the game got out early on and goes onto discuss tournaments (28 mins 45 secs) * He asks about how Diplomacy game style has changed over time (34 mins 30 secs) * They talk about virtual games, introducing video but what you'd miss out (40 mins 40 secs) * Kaner asks about Edi's advice for playing well. Edi discusses understanding player's motivations (44 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Edi about the first time he came up with Lepanto opening (48 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks how the Lepanto opening got its name. You can read Edi's article on the Lepanto here (55 mins 45 secs) * Edi talks about his interactions with Allan Calhamer (57 mins 45 secs) * He discusses how Calhamer didn't design for stalemate lines, draws, game culture and balance of power (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Edi about his personal experience with politics and how Diplomacy helped him (1 hr 8 mins 15 secs) * He reflects on the current situation in American politics and brings it around to the game (1 hr 14 mins) * They start wrapping the interview up, with Edi reflecting on his Diplomacy experience in Australia and when the pandemic is over, where are you going to go in the world for the game (1 hr 23 mins) * The guys come back after the interview and reflect on it (1 hr 25 mins 20 secs) * They talk about the Lepanto and Amby's ill-fated opening of Germany attacking Russia in spring 1901 (1 hr 29 mins)

News and chat * The guys discuss the current Covid restrictions and short lockdown in Brisbane (1 hr 38 mins 45 secs) * Their efforts to get the numbers for a face to face game continue to be an issue with people still a little freaky about Covid locally (1 hr 41 mins) * They talk about state border restrictions and Amby discusses the Australian Lamb Board's annual Australia Day video - which beautifully explains the current situation in Australia, fast forwarded to 2031 (1 hr 42 mins 15 secs)

Kaner's Virtual World Diplomacy Classic experience * We move onto the recent Virtual WDC and discuss how the guys went (1 hr 44 mins 15 secs) * Kaner blames Amby on missing a game (1 hr 45 mins) * Amby discusses his games, particularly his second game (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about his experience with technology and interface for his first virtual game (1 hr 54 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses his technical troubles and how to better use airpods when communicating on Discord (1 hr 58 mins 15 secs) * Kaner talks a little more about his games (2 hrs 0 mins 30 secs) * They talk about match ending times and how it impacts propensity to stab (2 hrs 2 mins 15 secs)

WebDip 2020 World Cup * The guys talk about their Democracy Sausages team and how they're going (2 hrs 3 mins 30 secs) * Amby reflects on the high calibre of the players and talking about future gameplay (2 hrs 5 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about how he's preferring gunboat now when he's playing online (2 hrs 8 mins)

Wrapping it up * The guys plan ending this recording, and next episodes to record (2 hrs 10 mins 30 secs) * They finish the episode up (2 hrs 13 mins)

Venue: Brisbane Brewing Co., Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: My Shout stout from Brisbane Brewing Co.

Amby: Tropical XPA and Walker west coast IPA from Brisbane Brewing Co.

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

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

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Due to holidays our next normal episode will be out in two more weeks.

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What makes a good Diplomacy lie and can you pick one when you hear it? The guys catchup with academics Jordan Boyd-Graber and Denis Peskov about their paper on lying and Diplomacy. Plus Sloth, a player in the study, also joins us. And don't forget Christmas 2020 and much more.

Intro * The guys have got the recorder working again, although they're trying something different so it doesn't cut out again. They discuss their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs) * They throw around a couple of jokes (2 mins 20 secs) * The guys set the scene for the interview today with Jordan Boyd-Graber, Denis Peskov and Sloth about their paper, It Takes Two to Lie: One to Lie and One to Listen. The paper discusses machine learning and the ability to detect lies through Diplomacy (3 mins 10 secs)

Interview with with Jordan Boyd-Graber, Denis Peskov and Sloth NOTE: Amby tried recording this interview in stereo for something different. Not sure it really works. Gives us your feedback (either on this page's comments area or by contacting us)

Kaner and Amby welcome Jordan Boyd-Graber, Denis Peskov and Sloth to the show before Amby asks Jordan to give the background to the paper and why it concentrated on Diplomacy as a means of concerted lying (4 mins 40 secs)
Denis discusses the process around using identifying messages and whether the sender lied or whether the receiver thought it was a lie. He also touches on his discovery and now love of the game (8 mins)
Amby tries bringing Sloth's perspectives into the game as a player in the study and his thoughts on lie detection (11 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks Denis about player prediction of lies vs the artificial intelligence's ability. Jordan gives his perspective (14 mins 15 secs)
Amby goes onto ask about factors to indicate more likelihood to lie or tell the truth (17 mins 15 secs)
They explore whether there were points of time in the game when lying was more likely to occur (27 mins 30 secs)
Amby reflects on the difference in physical presence to the game in face-to-face vs online, he asks about people blaming real life as a crutch for a lie. They also discuss people's perceptions of what is a lie. Sloth points out how people don't mind lying, they just don't want to get caught lying (30 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks about deceitful language online and its impact on machine language into the future (34 mins 20 secs)
Kaner goes onto ask about whether anyone has approached some of the big Diplomacy websites about their datasets (40 mins 20 secs)
Amby gives his thoughts about the methodology using both a combination of the words people use (eg a lie) and the ability to stab (42 mins 40 secs)
Jordan needs to leave the interview. Amby asks if there were any zones people were more likely to lie about. Denis asks his own questions to Kaner and Amby on who gets stabbed the most, and also which country was more likely to stab (45 mins 50 secs)
Denis discusses some of the lies sent through from Kaner and Amby in their recent games to see if the IA could predict if the lies were lies. You can view the questions and predictions here (49 mins 40 secs)
Sloth asks about elements of truth. Denis discusses the data rather than the emotional aspects (55 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks about future research plans in this space (57 mins 20 secs)
Amby starts wrapping up the interview. Just a reminder, you can read the paper if you want to learn more (58 mins 50 secs)
The guys return back and discuss what they got out of the interview (59 mins 40 secs)
Kaner flags how good it would be if webDip and other sites had an option to be part of the lying research so players keep records on whether they lie/predict a lie. Amby discusses the possibility of league tables for Best Diplomacy Liar or Best Predictor of Lies (1 hr 7 mins)
Amby asks about how could you apply the same Lying methodology beyond text based chat, extending to voice communication games eg on Discord, and whether their lying styles change (1 hr 11 mins)

It's Christmas time * The guys keep their annual tradition of exchanging Diplomacy themed Christmas gifts (1 hr 13 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * They talk about the bar they went to before recording and death metal (1 hr 16 mins) * Kaner grabs a round of drinks (1 hr 20 mins 20 secs) * The guys start talking about the virtual World Diplomacy Cup they're both in as team mates with the Democracy Sausages (1 hr 23 mins 15 secs) * Kaner talks about his France vs Austria game where he's playing against Austria (sorry can't link to the game as its anonymous and part of the rules) (1 hr 26 mins) * Kaner goes onto discuss his gunboat game a little (1 hr 34 mins) * He continues with a bit of Lepanto discussion (1 hr 37 mins 10 secs) * Amby starts talk surreptitiously about his full press game (1 hr 42 mins 30 secs)

Variant development * Now that Kaner is on holidays, he's back to working on the Age of Enlightenment variant (1 hr 46 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about developing it on the Russian lab. Amby wants to piggyback on this for his variants and after questioning from Kaner talks about the Ice Age variant (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs) * The guys talk Squirrel Wars and coming up with a plan (1 hr 50 mins) * Kaner plays with Amby, changing the global coast line for a variant map. Amby insists he won't change the Ice Age map, but has future plans for a Global Warming variant with sea levels rising (1 hr 51 mins 45 secs) * They grab another drink before starting to wrap up, prior to our Patreon bonus recording and wish everyone a great Christmas (1 hr 57 mins)

Venue: Jolly Roger bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Four Pines pale ale from Sydney, Australia

Amby: Three Sheets pale ale from the Lord Nelson brewery in Sydney and Bleeding Heart cabinet sauvignon from McLaren Vale

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

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

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The guys discuss their current and upcoming games, try finishing off their unbreakable Juggernaut alliance before the recorder packs it in.

Intro * The guys discuss their drinks, venue and proximity to the train line (0 mins 10 secs) * They flag there's no interview this episode. They talk about producing the show (4 mins 45 secs) * Kaner starts a discussion on having a face to face game, but it looks like the numbers aren't going to be there for a full board (6 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * Amby starts discussing a Europa Renovatio game he bought into and how he's not doing well. He goes onto discuss his Imperial Diplomacy game where he's also doing pretty ordinary (9 mins 15 secs) * He touches on his Declaration of War game (13 mins) * They move to another bar due to the train noise and discuss their new drinks and venue (19 mins 20 secs) * Amby finishes up his last game: Winning is for Losers and describes how there's many games within the game. He goes onto discuss the nature of being able to win the thread game, allowing players to force one order of a player. Amby gives credit to gopher's gameplay (21 mins 45 secs) * The guys move onto their Europa Renovatio team game that is starting, discuss the way the game works and first thoughts on gameplay (32 mins 15 secs) * Kaner goes onto discuss one of his Europa games that he's dying in (40 mins 30 secs) * They go onto discuss their local Brisbane based team being part of the webDip World Cup, participating as the Democracy Sausages. They go onto discuss the other players before discussing the tyranny of the Australia timezone (44 mins 40 secs) * Amby goes on a rant about the Chinese punitive nit-picking against Australia in the latest round of trade wars (53 mins 30 secs)

Return to the Juggernaut unbreakable alliance * The guys bring up their Russia-Turkey game where they're testing alliances to see how well they work. They reset the scene where they were last up to in Fall 1907 (55 mins 40 secs)

Fall 1907

They do builds and enter spring 1908 before planning their moves and adjudicating (59 mins)

Spring 1908

Next up is their planning for fall 1908, their moves, adjudicating and builds (1 hr 10 mins)

Fall 1908

Its spring 1909. The guys talk moves and then adjudicate (1 hr 20 mins 40 secs)

Spring 1909

Onto fall 1909. Moves are planned before... (1 hr 30 mins)
Something goes terribly wrong with the recorder and the guys have no idea how much was recorder (and lost.) As it turned out it was only about 5-10 minutes (1 hr 34 mins)
They quickly wrap up the show (1 hr 34 mins 30 secs)
If you want to help the guys with a donation to help get a new recorder, please seriously consider becoming a Patreon of the show.

Venue: Oche and Mr Chester Wine Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Oche pale ale from Brisbane and Mornington draught from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria

Amby: Balter XPA from the Gold Coast and Rossovero Primitivo from Salento in Italy

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

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

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The guys catchup with David Hood and talk about his role in DBN's Deadline News and much more. Plus a bumper amount of Diplomacy news and an Around the grounds. Enjoy!

Intro * The guys discuss their drinks and venue... which apparently they've drunk at before. They discuss their rule on not recording in the same venue twice and whether it counts if the bar has changed hands/changed names (0 mins 10 secs) * They quickly jump into the interview with David Hood (3 mins 15 secs)

Interview with David Hood * They guys welcome David to the show before Amby asks about how he got into the game (3 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks about how David got involved in the Diplomacy Broadcast Network. David acknowledges the great work being done by Brandon Fogel, Zach Moore and Bryan Pravel and that he's just the recruited "talent" before he discusses his thoughts on the DBN (5 mins) * Kaner asks how a typical Deadline News broadcast comes together (8 mins) * Amby asks about David's suited up style on Deadline News before asking about the feedback on the show (10 mins 15 secs) * David tells a story about getting the word out about the game (13 mins) * He goes onto give his thoughts on the Virtual Diplomacy League post-Covid and why the separation between face-to-face and online players went on so long (14 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks what keeps David's level of interest in Diplomacy so high for so long (19 mins 40 secs) * He asks how people's approaches to the hobby has changed over the years (20 mins 50 secs) * Amby asks what elements have had the greatest impact in the way the quality of players have stepped up (23 mins 45 secs) * David discusses how the forward plan for DBN's Broadcast News comes together (26 mins 30 secs) * Amby flags they're planning their first post-Covid face to face game hopefully in December. David talks about how DBN may have to approach coverage when face to face starts up again (29 mins 15 secs) * Kaner asks about the editing done by DBN before asking why David became the news anchor (33 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks why there's a lot of lawyers playing Diplomacy (35 mins 40 secs) * Kaner asks David about playing online. He goes onto discuss how he's enjoying a few variants on vDiplomacy and what he likes to see in variants to make it a good, playable game (37 mins) * Kaner goes onto ask about whether David has a favorite broadcasting moment so far. David discusses the "openings" discussion in October's Deadline News and its impact (46 mins 40 secs) * They start wrapping up the show (49 mins) * The guys give their thoughts on the interview (49 mins 30 secs)

Latest news * Kaner starts talking about eCarnage and gives shout outs to Bill Hackenbracht and the other top players in the tournament (52 mins) * He discusses the Bourse and how it was run on the top board at eCarnage with market game rules (55 mins) * Kaner goes onto discuss how he's keen to run and play in another Bourse game and how he's thinking of running it (59 mins) * They discuss the 2021 World Cup over at webDip about being part of a local Queensland team and including Peter McNamara as a player seeing he's from Queensland (1 hr 3 mins 20 secs) * Kaner talks about the ghost rating system being introduced at webDip (1 hr 8 mins) * He discusses his love of the Politics thread at webDip. Amby gives an update about the American presidential result. Kaner says he's pretty happy with how he performed in the write in candidate front (1 hr 10 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * The guys get some new drinks before Kaner asks Amby about his Winning is for Losers game. He discusses his thoughts on when a player doesn't respond to your messages and how it can feed your suspicions (1 hr 17 mins) * Amby discusses his Cloak and Dagger A Modern Europe game he's still in (which has since drawn with Amby as a 1 SC Germany) (1 hr 25 mins) * Kaner then asks about Amby's Machiavelli game where he was also part of the draw as Austria (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs) * Amby goes onto discuss CD'ing in an Imperial Diplomacy game due to being away camping and being outragously drunk 1 29 30 * Next is a North Sea Wars game (which he has since been defeated in) before discussing a Europa Renovatio game he bought into a vacant position, where all of a sudden he's getting his arse kicked (1 hr 30 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about Amby's last game, a Declaration of War variant played on the Fall of the American Empire map (1 hr 33 mins) * The guys flick over to Kaner's games, starting with a Europa Renovatio game (1 hr 35 mins 40 secs) * Kaner plays a Hundred Years game with Amby (not to be confused with the Diplomacy game Hundred) testing Amby's historical knowledge (1 hr 36 mins 20 secs)

More Diplomacy news * The Virtual Diplomacy Classic is being pulled together by Bill Hackenbracht 18-20 December, with five rounds being held around the world. Learn more about it on the Liberty Cup website (1 hr 44 mins 30 secs) * They touch on the Foreign Policy journal and its article about Diplomacy and its applicability to real life politics (1 hr 46 mins) * They talk about their first face-to-face game in Brisbane since Covid started. If you haven't put your hand up to play and you're around, let us know (1 hr 49 mins) * Amby does another shoutout to try to find a friend of the show who can help with a little WordPress problem for the Diplomacy Games website (1 hr 51 mins 50 secs) * They start wrapping up the show before giving a teaser for the type of content in the Patreon version of the show (you can listen for just $2 a month) (1 hr 52 mins 50 secs)

Venue: The Prince Consort, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Young Henry's pale ale from Sydney, Australia

Amby: Balter XPA from the Gold Coast, Australia and D'Arenberg Lovegrass shiraz

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

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

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The guys interview Legendary Tactics, receive a variant question from Brother Bored and continue their Juggernaut game.

Intro * The guys discuss their drinks, the big draw card for recording the show and venue. (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss the upcoming interview with Legendary Tactics and question from Brother Bored (3 mins 15 secs)

Interview with Legendary Tactics * They guys welcome Legendary Tactics (LT) to the show (4 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks about what got Legendary Tactics into Diplomacy (4 mins 40 secs) * He goes onto discuss the Legendary Tactics Youtube channel (6 mins 10 secs) * Legendary Tactics flips the table on the interview and asks Kaner and Amby about what got them into the game and the podcast (7 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks about who's behind the Legendary Tactics channel and discusses their involvement in Diplomacy (11 mins 40 secs) * They discuss the Canadian Diplomacy scene and face to face (15 mins) * Amby asks where LT finds the time (16 mins 45 secs) * LT discusses what you need techwise to run a Youtube channel (18 mins) * Amby asks what games have they covered on the channel that most resembles Diplomacy (20 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks about Twilight Struggle (23 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about which videos have proved most popular (25 mins 50 secs) * LT asks aside from Diplomacy, what other games do Kaner & Amby play (27 mins 40 secs) * They discuss having a Game of Thrones game before wrapping up the interview (32 mins)

Post interview chat * Kaner asks why Amby doesn't play many other board games (33 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Kaner about his games room (35 mins 45 secs) * Amby reflects on the Legendary Tactics theme being three people. Kaner discusses being interviewed on their own podcast (38 mins 15 secs)

Brother Bored's variant question * The guys deliver the intro to Brother Bored's question he's received on his blog (39 mins) * Brother Bored reads Ryan's question and throws to Kaner and Amby for a response (40 mins) * Kaner gives his thought on which variants match the spirit of the original game. He discusses Chaos. Amby talks about Classic Fog of War and Europa Renovatio. Kaner also discusses Modern and Fall of the American Empire. Amby touches on Ancient Mediterranean (41 mins 10 secs) * Kaner casts scorn on Fubar, before giving a big thumbs up to Greek Diplomacy (45 mins 50 secs) * Brother Bored wonders what is meant by the "spirit of Diplomacy" (47 mins 55 secs) * Kaner gives his views on variant trends and rules. Amby discusses David E. Cohen's Dawn of the Enlightenment's high seas zones. Amby talks balance with Hundred and Treaty of Verdun. Kaner talks about the historical narrative (49 mins 30 secs) * Brother Bored discusses Kaner's thoughts. Amby talks about Divided States and Kaner brings up Haven (56 mins 15 secs) * Brother Bored talks about striking what is and isn't historically accurate to achieve balance (59 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks Brother Bored which variants does he play. He discusses Fall of the American Empire * and touches on World Diplomacy IX (1 hr 0 mins 10 secs) * They start wrapping up the discussion. Kaner flags if you're interested in variants to try vDip, webDip, playDip, Diplicity and Conspiracy (1 hr 4 mins) * Kaner post interview talks about Brother Bored's costume and Halloween (1 hr 6 mins 20 secs)

How good is the Juggernaut? * The guys return to their game playing a Juggernaut against the bots at webDip, but quickly touch on eCarnage and playing a face to face game soon (1 hr 11 mins 45 secs) * After some more drinks the guys come back to their game. Kaner gives his impressions of the game as they restart looking at the map in fall 1905. They remind listeners they can hear about a far more effective alliance played out in their Patreon feed. They go onto discuss their builds and upcoming strategy (1 hr 14 mins 40 secs)

Fall 1905's map

After builds they put in their Spring 1906 moves (1 hr 21 mins 20 secs)
They give a brief update on Kaner's unsuccessful bid for the American presidency (1 hr 24 mins)

Spring 1906 outcome

After adjudication they discuss what happened for Spring 1906's moves (1 hr 29 mins 30 secs)
They start planning their moves for Fall 1906 (1 hr 31 mins 40 secs)

Fall 1906 outcome

The guys finalize their orders and check the adjudication for Fall 1906 (1 hr 39 mins 30 secs)
They discuss the options for Kaner's build (1 hr 41 mins 20 secs)
Some new drinks and new batteries later they guys return. Amby has dating questions for Kaner (1 hr 44 mins)
They start planning their spring 1907 moves and reflect on the slog that is the Juggernaut (1 hr 49 mins 40 secs)

Spring 1907 outcome

The guys ready up and go through the adjudication of Spring 1907 before Kaner makes a retreat (1 hr 57 mins )
They move onto discussing their Fall 1907 moves. Amby has a Sean Connery moment (2 hrs 0 mins 15 secs)

Fall 1907 outcome

The guys finish up their orders and walk through the adjudication for Fall 1907 and discuss build thoughts (2 hrs 8 mins)
Looking at the time, Kaner & Amby pause the game and start wrapping up the show (2 hrs 15 mins )

Venue: Bloodhound Corner Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Kenny porter

Amby: Mother's Milk shiraz

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

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

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The guys wrap-up the Media Wars game in an interview with Brother Bored, Legendary Tactics & CaptainMeme. They go onto talk about gender bias in the online game, broken websites and Kaner's final pitch to be elected President of the United States.

Intro * The guys discuss their drinks and venue. They talk about the amount of content being put out by the players, particularly Brother Bored, Legendary Tactics & CaptainMeme before kicking off an interview with them (0 mins 10 secs)

Media Wars: Interview with Brother Bored, Legendary Tactics & CaptainMeme Apologies from Amby, I thought my mike was muted at various stages, so if you hear cutlery on a plate, that was me... sorry!

Amby welcomes Brother Bored, Legendary Tactics & CaptainMeme to the show. He mentions why he didn't include the other players due to how disorganised the interview would likely be (3 mins 30 secs)
He reflects on whether the Media Wars game was meant to be winner take all, rather than allowing a draw (which Brother Bored, Legendary Tactics & CaptainMeme were part of), and asks them about their understanding (5 mins 10 secs)
Amby asks what they felt the game was going to be about when approached by umbletheheep to be involved. Captain mentions how he suggested the idea initially to umble (8 mins)
They discuss the media creation angle of the game before morphing into the game itself. They also mention Legendary Tactics' Archetypes video (11 mins 30 secs)
Brother Bored discusses the One True Style (17 mins)
Amby reflects on Legendary Tactics' War Diary video (18 mins)
He asks which content did they enjoy or learn the most from. LT mentions Village Idiot's advanced maneuvers post on Brother Bored's blog, CaptainMeme's 10 hour video and Zach Moore's videos rating players. LT also mentions Brother Bored's content (19 mins 15 secs)
They discuss identifying who was who in the game. Amby asks using content to sway views of players (22 mins 50 secs)
Amby reminds them how he was in it briefly. He discusses his plan and what could he have done better (24 mins 30 secs)
He asks about trust and whether there was a chance of a stab between Austria and Russia (31 mins)
CaptainMeme asks about Brother Bored's perspective (32 mins 45 secs)
Lying is discussed, including CaptainMeme's trickery on Amby (34 mins)
Amby asks about Brother Bored's efforts to break the Austria-Russia alliance (38 mins)
He asks about their thoughts on key turning points in the game (39 mins 45 secs)
LT gives CaptainMeme a hack to be able to go back and view press after a game has concluded (43 mins)
He goes on to give a shout out to Village Idiot for his gameplay (44 mins 20 secs)
Brother Bored discusses his thoughts on key turning points (45 mins)
Amby asks if aside from Brother Bored, did LT or Captain think they had a real chance at winning the game (48 mins 20 secs)
CaptainMeme asks a question about whether Austria had a chance for a solo. Brother Bored weighs in as they discuss soft power (51 mins)
Amby asks for final thoughts, CaptainMeme asks Amby about what he planned to do if his janissary unit picked up an SC and whether he'd use the build to stab Russia back (1 hr 00 mins 30 secs)
They discuss doing a Media Wars game again and who should be included next time around. The guys suggest Chris Martin, FloridaMan, Kaner & David Hood (1 hr 3 mins)
The interview wraps up (1 hr 6 mins)
The guys return and discuss their thoughts on the interview. Kaner suggests to find more Diplomacy media to go to the Reddit channel or the Nexus Discord (1 hr 7 mins)
On media, Amby points out that Brother Bored has a podcast out now. Visit his site or search for Brother Bored wherever you get your podcasts: Brother Bored's Diplomacy Dojo (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks where you find the time at the moment to consume all this Diplomacy content out there (1 hr 10 mins 45 secs)

Gender bias & Diplomacy * They return to discussion previous episode on the use of the word "dude" and the assumption often made in the online Diplomacy community of using the male pronoun for players (1 hr 12 mins) * They discuss their face to face games they often get two female players, and once this other local female player joins (when we start up again) we'll have three female players in a game which is pretty awesome (1 hr 15 mins) * When they restart local games (probably next month) they discuss live streaming the face to face game (1 hr 16 mins 30 secs)

WordPress callout / broken bit of the DiplomacyGames website * Amby asks if anyone listening to the show has WordPress skills. The template the site uses is no longer supported and the latest podcast section on the homepage isn't changing anymore. So if someone can help the show fix it or help move the site to a new template please contact Amby by email or Twitter (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner has signed up for a new Europa Renovatio game which he's waiting to properly get started (1 hr 20 mins 45 secs) * He talks about a new big map viewer app available at vDip created by JonasGarrigueMasaryk (1 hr 22 mins 30 secs) * After some new beers they move to a quieter section of the pub's beer garden (1 hr 24 mins) * Amby talks about his Winning is for Losers game, a classic game that is tied to a forum thread game. Players in the board game who win on the thread can force another player to make a move of the winning player's choice. Amby's taking more time thinking about the game and is finding this is helping (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs) * They discuss how the game is going. The guys discuss whether a player dead in the board game could still win the thread and decide the forced move of another player. Kaner gives his thoughts on Amby's upcoming moves (which has since happened by the time the podcast is released) (1 hr 32 mins)

Kaner's presidential campaign update * Amby asks Kaner how his presidential campaign is going (1 hr 38 mins 30 secs) * This is the last podcast before the US election so they try to get out the vote for Kaner (1 hr 40 mins) * The guys can't get their heads around why Americans use so many systems when voting. They clash though when it comes to democracy sausages. (1 hr 41 mins) * They get distracted as a magpie attacks a drone in the sky. Kaner mentions a video where a magpie is attacking a kid on a bike (1 hr 49 mins)

They work out the plan for the next recording before wrapping up (1 hr 50 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Pig & Whistle, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Roger's by Little Creatures

Amby: Newtowner Pale Ale by Young Henry's

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

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

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The guys catch up with Dave Maletsky about eCarnage and what's happening with the World Diplomacy Championship. Plus talk about Diplomacy news and discuss variant development.

Intro * The guys discuss their drinks and venue. Amby mentions how he met well known Diplomacy player, Peter McNamara at the Fox very early on in the podcast (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby introduces an interview with Dave Maletsky about November's Carnage - now eCarnage - and the roadmap ahead for the World Diplomacy Championships (4 mins)

Interview with Dave Maletsky about eCarnage and the WDC * Amby asks about what's happening with this year's Carnage (6-8 November 2020) due to Covid (5 mins 20 secs) * Dave discusses how this year's Carnage - being all online so called eCarnage - is running two rounds in the US and two rounds in the Asia-Pacific using different scoring systems, and how player' rankings determine a final ranking for the Top Board (6 mins 50 secs) * Dave flags the need to formally register and the need for a small entrance fee (9 mins 10 secs) * Amby clarifies the tournament play process (10 mins 50 secs) * He asks what's happening with the World Diplomacy Championships (WDC) and Dave outlines (12 mins) * Kaner asks about the logistics in the games (14 mins) * He goes onto ask how the broader tournament organisers are managing Carnage (16 mins) * Amby asks about the normal physical Carnage whether players walking around take an interest in Diplomacy. Amby asks about the relationship with Dungeons and Dragons (18 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about the round timings (22 mins 45 secs) * Dave discussing the seeding aspects of the games (25 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about how participation in eCarnage is reflected in a broader rating system (27 mins) * He goes on to ask about player numbers (29 mins 30 secs) * Dave talks about the cross over being successfully achieved from online players being increasingly involved in F2F/virtual events (31 min) * Amby asks about the cultural change happening in the game (32 mins 40 secs) * He goes onto ask about the resolution process for adverse behavior (35 mins) * Amby asks how many Carnages Dave has been director for (37 mins) * Dave talks about some of the awards at Carnage (39 mins 50 secs) * Amby asks about where players can find all the up to date info about eCarnage (44 mins) * Dave talks about confidence and attitude in games (46 mins) * The guys wrap up the interview (46 mins 30 secs) * After the interview, Kaner mentions a Bourse is being run on the Top Board for eCarnage (47 mins 10 secs) * Kaner & Amby quickly gives an overview about what a Bourse game is (48 mins 40 secs) * They talk about the two different time zone competitions and what's happening with WDC (53 mins)

Latest news & shit * The guys talk about the article in Popular Mechanics about Diplomacy and Andrew Goff (56 mins) * Kaner asks Amby if he's going to play in Carnage before discussing Gary Gygax (58 mins) * Amby brings up Legendary Tactics post about Twilight Struggle (1 hr) * They talk about Trump being in hospital at the time of recording (1 hr 2 mins) * Amby discusses how the Brother Bored interview on the show has been remastered to be in the Brother Board robotic voice (1 hr 5 mins 15 secs) * Kaner discusses GoHornsGo's recent post about his Diplomacy collection (1 hr 8 mins)

Around the grounds * Amby runs through the Media Wars game which has now drawn. Players in the Spring 1912 draw were: Brother Bored (Germany 14 SC's), Legendary Tactics (Austria 11 SC's), CaptainMeme/DiploStrats (Russia 8 SCs's) and Village Idiot (Italy 2 SC's) (1 hr 11 mins 20 secs) * The guys talk about the Winning game that Amby's in. This is a cross over Classic game with a forum thread at vDip. If you win the forum thread that turn, as a Diplomacy player you get the GM to request another player to make a specific move that they must do. They discuss some of the duplicity in the game (1 hr 16 mins) * Amby is also having a little opening joy in his Italian Stallions Machiavelli game. Kaner asks about the map (1 hr 25 mins) * Last up is his Declaration of War Fall of the American Empire IV game (1 hr 28 mins) * Kaner's Europa Renovatio game Lockdown Renovatio has just finished with him doing well, being part of the draw as Naples (1 hr 30 mins 30 secs) * Amby reflects in the Winning game that another one of the players - Macca - is also based in Brisbane. They discuss about getting a face-to-face game happening (1 hr 36 mins)

Variant development update * After some more drinks, Kaner discusses a message we received from Amuzet about drawing maps (1 hr 38 mins) * Amby gives an update from Flame about whether his Lab would be available for variant development (1 hr 41 mins) * They discuss what you need to do to set up a server, or whether its better to just sit on it until Kaner's next lot of holidays. They go onto discuss getting Kaner prepared to play a virtual game: Tempest in a Teapot (1 hr 43 mins 20 secs) * Amby get a message from David E. Cohen about a Classic variant but where some of the water is frozen. Kaner talks about it. Amby reflects on the Ice Age variant he started creating. He has the territory map and names/SCs maps done, but can't remember who the players are meant to be and whether there are any additional rules - pretty sure there aren't any beyond the additional impassable areas due to glaciers (1 hr 46 mins) * Amby discusses Fake Al's Tiglath-Pileser variant set at the time of Solomon in the bible (1 hr 50 mins 40 secs) * Kaner got a message from Major Mitchell at webDip and does a shout out before they wrap up the show (1 h 56 mins 30 secs)

Venue: The Fox, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Two Suns Pale Ale and Grappler lager by Green Beacon

Amby: Marty's Block shiraz cabernet

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

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

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The guys interview renown Diplomacy variant creator David E. Cohen before they test out an alliance for the ages: The Juggernaut.

Intro * The guys discuss their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs) * They introduce the interview with David E. Cohen (3 mins 40 secs)

Interview with David E. Cohen * The interview starts badly with lots of technical issues - both in the initial connection and also the quality of the recording. Bear with us listeners, slightly normal service soon returns. That said there are chair squeaks and other background noise throughout the interview at our end (4 mins) * Eventually their perseverance pays off as David explains his process for creating variants (7 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks where the idea for Known World 901 came from. David explains where it came from and how it fitted in with Western World 901 (8 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about the process of bringing together multiple maps into a single new game eg Maharaja coming together with Spice Islands to create an East Indies variant (9 mins 45 secs) * Kaner brings up the Mandate of Heaven variant and how to port it across (11 mins) * Kaner asks David about his first variant he created (16 mins 20 secs) * He goes onto ask about his latest project, Dawn of the Enlightenment (17 mins 30 secs) * David discusses his approach to breaking sea stalemate lines: High Seas provinces. They are similar to sealanes but allow multiple units in the same geographic space (19 mins) * Amby asks about what feedback David has received during play testing (26 mins) * David talks about the differing victory criteria for players and the timing of the variant (27 mins) * Kaner asks about whether anyone is planning on porting Dawn of the Enlightenment to an online Diplomacy platform (29 mins 45 secs) * He asks whether David has a rule of thumb for variant creators (30 mins 40 secs) * David touches on his new variant he's started working on, Unconstitutional (33 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks an Australia based question for Dawn of the Enlightenment (36 mins 50 secs) * David covers off what variant developers need to avoid (38 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks what pitch would David give to a classic player on why they should try playing a variant occasionally (40 mins 45 secs) * Amby double checks about adjacency between the North and South Atlantic High Sea provinces (44 mins 20 secs) * Kaner discusses how he'd approach porting the map across to vDiplomacy (46 mins) * Amby asks about whether Kaner should put his effort into Dawn of the Enlightenment or Squirrel Wars (48 mins) * Amby asks David who else's maps does he like when it comes to variants (49 mins 20 secs) * They discuss the backing up of variants over at vDip (51 mins 30 secs) * David discusses how much would be needed to buy the rights to Diplomacy (52 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the interview (53 mins 30 secs) * After the interview they give their thoughts & Kaner announces he really has started working on Dawn of the Enlightenment. They discuss how maps are constructed and displayed in the online Diplomacy environment (54 mins 45 secs) * They discuss trying to get access to the variant Lab with Flame. They talk about thoughts on the winning conditions, the High Seas provinces, the spread of SCs on the map and avoiding determined moves (58 mins 45 secs)

Alliances that work: a Juggernaut case study * The guys get some more beers while Kaner sets out the Diplomacy map on the table (1 hr 11 mins) * They talk about a recent Patreon episode where they tested what happens when you have an unbreakable alliance and which are alliances that work. The guys are testing this by playing against the Bots at webDip (1 hr 12 mins) * The discuss the random games they created and their thinking on why they chose to test the Juggernaut (1 hr 15 mins) * They discuss Kaner wanting to do a slingshot, trying to trick the Bot players to thinking an RT is not happening (1 hr 18 mins) * They discuss their potential moves (1 hr 21 mins 30 secs)

Spring 1901

The guys discuss Spring 1901 (1 hr 25 mins)
Next up they plan what to do in Fall 1901 (1 hr 28 mins)
Kaner challenges Amby's thinking on a movement (1 hr 32 mins)

Fall 1901

They finalise moves and discuss how the turn worked out - after Amby admits to a bit of a technical screw up (1 hr 36 mins 30 secs)
The guys start planning their moves for Spring 1902 (1 hr 40 mins 40 secs)

Spring 1902

They discuss the adjudication from Spring 1902 (1 hr 49 mins)
Next up is their plans for Fall 1902 (1 hr 52 mins 20 secs)

Fall 1902

They come back and discuss Fall (2 hrs 1 min)
After talking builds, its time to discuss plans for Spring 1903 (2 hrs 4 mins)

Spring 1903

After some more beers they breakdown the moves for spring 1903... including an embarrassing misorder by Amby (2 hrs 11 mins)
The guys then start planning for Fall 1903 moves. Kaner teaches Amby another lesson on move logistics (2 hrs 16 mins 30 secs)

Fall 1903

Amby discovers Kaner is right again as they examine Fall moves (2 hrs 24 mins)
After some bitching from Kaner about his phone provider, its time for discussion about spring 1904 (2 hrs 30 mins)

Spring 1904

The guys discuss the latest set of moves (2 hrs 33 mins)
Onto planning for Fall 1904 (2 hrs 35 mins)

Fall 1904

Time to unpack Fall 1904 and Amby's cheeky move pays off (2 hrs 41 mins 15 secs)
After builds, the guys plan for Spring 1905 (2 hrs 45 mins)

Spring 1905

The guys analyse the moves for Spring 1905 (2 hrs 50 mins)
And before the guys wrap it up for the night, they plan for Fall 1905 (2 hrs 52 mins)
Amby discusses a Virtual Diplomacy League game that Kaner might be interested in. Then its a little haircut talk (2 hrs 55 mins)

Fall 1905

And in the last wrap up of the night, Kaner & Amby dissect Fall 1905 before wrapping the podcast up (3 hrs 1 min)

Venue: Saccharomyces, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Black Hops Hornet IPA and Grifter Oatmeal Stout

Amby: Black Hops Hornet IPA

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

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

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Under the never-ending clickity-clack of the train line, the guys catch up in a brewery for a little Diplomacy chat... and the odd drink or two!

Intro * The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 10 secs) * They talk about surfing, waterskiing and serenity (2 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * They flag there may be a bit of train noise in the background as they're near a rail line. Kaner asks Amby how his games are going. Amby talks about the Big Hitters game (5 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses his offer to GM a Winning game for players in the Winning thread (7 mins 15 secs) * Amby goes onto discuss how badly he's doing in the Cloak and Dagger series, being played on a Modern Europe map (10 mins) * He then discusses his (surprise surprise) elimination from the Media Wars game and how the other players are going (12 mins)

Kaner in Quarantine * Amby thinks he stuffed up the recording (he didn't) before giving a drinks update (16 mins) * Kaner discusses the impact of his workplace being shutdown due to Covid-19 (18 mins 15 secs) * Amby explains why the podcast was delayed a week due to the changes Kaner needed to accommodate into at work (25 mins) * They talk about the Patreon episode they recorded while he was in quarantine. They discuss their alliance game against the bots at webDip (25 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds (part 2) and Diplomacy chat * Kaner gives an update on his "Where's Kaner" Europa Renovation games and the troubles of internet loading issues when orders are due (30 mins 15 secs) * Amby touches on his Atlantic Colonies game (32 mins 45 secs) * He goes onto mention one of the games he's trying to get started: Italian Stallions using the Machiavelli map, the first Diplomacy map Amby ever played on (35 mins 15 secs) * They talk about old military/political strategy books and whether that'd help gameplay eg Machiavelli's "The Prince", von Clausewitz's "On War", Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and the Roman general Frontinus' "Strategemata" (37 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses Aristotle's "Modes of Persuasion" in the devices of rhetoric: ethos, pathos and logos (40 mins 15 secs) * Kaner raises a Reddit post about strategy for multiple people playing together as a single country and how to approach things (44 mins 30 secs) * Amby thinks a bonus WDC day of tournament players doing this group game would be awesome (55 mins) * Kaner gives credit to the teacher/professor for creating such a game scenario. Amby touches on the playDip forum thread for teachers (56 mins 30 secs) * They touch on their upcoming interview. The guys give an apology/clarification about their comments about the Conspiracy app and its recognition of variant creators (58 mins 45 secs) * Amby brings up Kaner's United States of Panhandle t-shirt which was originally posted on Reddit. They go onto discuss the r/MapPorn thread including where in the United States you can own a kangaroo. They go onto more American/Australian crossovers with emus (1 hr 2 mins) * They mention their next interviewee is David E. Cohen (1 hr 8 mins) * The guys give another shout-out for their Patreon bonus episodes. Amby reflects on Kaner's value add to the podcast before they wrap up (1 hr 9 mins)

Venue: Stone & Wood Brewery, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Stone Rock porter and West Coast Extra IPA from Stone & Wood

Amby: Cloud Catcher Pale Ale, West Coast Extra IPA and Stone Rock porter from Stone & Wood

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

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

The Strategemata: The Stratagems (Purple Rose Publishing)

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The guys interview renown alternate history author Harry Turtledove about his love of the game Diplomacy, Amby laments his Liberty Cup gameplay, more Media Wars chat and a Declaration of War experiment.

Interview with Harry Turtledove * The guys introduce the show to new listeners as they may be Harry Turtledove fans. Harry is a renown alternate history author (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby and Kaner give a super quick crash course on what the game Diplomacy is all about (1 min 45 secs) * The interview starts with the guys welcoming Harry to the show and ask how he got into writing alternate history (3 mins) * Kaner asks about one of the characters in Harry's Supervolcano trilogy playing Diplomacy with his friends, and what his experience is with the game Diplomacy (8 mins) * Amby asks about Harry's thoughts on taking the role of different players. Harry discusses the perspectives you take in the game and how that compares in novel writing looking through the lens of other players (12 mins) * Harry discusses how he still plays the game when he can. They discuss the different between D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) and Diplomacy (15 mins) * Kaner asks if Harry has a favorite country to play on the Diplomacy board (17 mins 30 secs) * Kaner enquires about whether Harry's played any Diplomacy tournaments (20 mins 45 secs) * They touch on online and app play due to limitations caused by Covid-19 (23 mins) * Amby asks what would happen if Harry took a manuscript to a publisher in 2014 where the storyline reflects the current 2020 situation, what would be his publisher's take (24 mins) * Amby asks what happens next in such a story (25 mins) * They ask about Harry's perspective on Diplomacy variants (26 mins 30 secs) * Harry introduces a new book he's co-authored coming out in September 2020, "And the Last Trump Shall Sound" with James Morrow and Cat Rambo (28 mins 40 secs) * He discusses a baseball card simulation game he also likes playing (31 mins 50 secs) * Amby asks about the process Harry follows in producing novels and where he gets his story inspirations from (34 mins 20 secs) * Harry provides his pitch to his readers about the game Diplomacy (40 mins) * They guys wrap up the interview (42 mins) * Other books by Harry that the guys recommend: WorldWar series (Kaner) and The Guns of the South (Amby)

For Harry fans (post interview) * Amby asks Kaner whether he thought he'd ever interview Harry. Kaner talks about his first book of Harry's that he read (42 mins 30 secs) * They let readers of Harry know where you can play the game Diplomacy if they're intrigued (43 mins 20 secs): + PlayDiplomacy + webDiplomacy + vDiplomacy (for variants) + Backstabbr + Plus there are many face-to-face clubs which are now doing many games online

Diplomacy chat * The guys get onto the "normal" part of the show with where they are and their drinks (46 mins) * They let Harry Turtledove fans know how the show format works. They celebrate the podcast now entering its 4th year and 75th episode (48 mins 30 secs)

Once Bitten, Twice Die - Amby's Liberty Cup experience * Kaner asks Amby about his game involvement in Philadelphia's Liberty Cup. Amby was just in Round 2 and gives a hat tip to Advait based just up the road in Singapore who was going hard core for the tournament (49 mins 30 secs) * Amby explains he drew Germany and how two other players in his Boston Massacre game - MaxVax and Jason Mastbaum - were also in this game (53 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses his opening and why things didn't work out as he'd planned (55 mins 20 secs)

Amby explains why a happy balance is needed between being too Carebear and going full on (1 hr 1 mins)

Robotorama * Kaner has a bit of a robot moment, Amby has a helpful suggestion on whether any Diplomacy players are connected in the university space to make this happen (1 hr 2 mins 15 secs) * Kaner says he'll look into it, but makes no promises [sounds like a Diplomacy player right folks?] (1 hr 5 mins 40 secs)

Corona chat * Amby reflects on Covid's impact to the waistline (1 hr 7 mins) * He then talks about the uncomfortableness of shoes (1 hr 8 mins 20 secs) * They gave a local Queensland update on the pandemic (1 hr 9 mins 20 secs)

Media Wars game * Kaner asks about Amby's Media Wars game against 6 other players involved in Diplomacy media channels (1 hr 12 mins 50 secs) * Kaner discusses Legendary Tactics' video on the game and the nature of players (1 hr 15 mins 15 secs)

Amby starts reflecting on his position in the game as Turkey (1 hr 17 mins)
They discuss Umble's Diplomacy Briefing recruiting "journalists" for his newsletter (1 hr 20 mins 40 secs)

Shout out * Amby gives a shout out to Hal Schild who he's played against and has a cousin/family connection in Australia who runs a vineyard with Schild Estate. Amby gives it a big thumbs up (1 hr 21 mins 30 secs)

Kaner's Renovatio games/Where's Kaner? * Amby gives the feedback from listeners about which player Kaner is in Game 2 he discussed last episode (1 hr 23 mins 20 secs) * Kaner gives some further updates on his games (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs) * Amby reflects on the amazing shapes on this map (1 hr 27 mins 45 secs)

He then talks about his other games and how he's going (1 hr 30 mins 15 secs)
He's now been killed off as Lithuania in is Game 1 (1 hr 31 mins 15 secs)

More Diplomacy chat * Kaner tries to make Amby talk about his ranking plunge (1 hr 32 mins 20 secs) * Kaner mentions Known World 901 is now available on the Conspiracy app, but then puts a bit of a rocket up them for a lack of attribution for variant developers like David E. Cohen who created the game (1 hr 34 mins 45 secs) * Amby reflects on his penchant of listening to particular music when he plays his games - see the Very Superstitious episode of playing the 1812 Overture in his Divided States win (1 hr 42 mins 45 secs) * He discusses how he's really got into on Spotify a Diplomacy playlist put together by barnaby_rowe which has the traditional music of the 7 players in a Classic Diplomacy game (1 hr 43 mins) * Amby gives a shout out to Laurie Edwards for joining us on Patreon with over 6 hours of extra bonus content (1 hr 49 mins) * They start wrapping up the show... kind of (1 hr 52 mins 30 secs)

Declaration of War game * After recording the normal show and then the Patreon show, there were two things Amby had forgotten to speak about (1 hr 52 mins 40 secs) * Amby suggests having on vDip a "Declaration of War" game where you can only attack another player if you declare war on them a turn in advance. The idea is to more accurately represent the way WW1 really worked. Due to the complexities of some players not honoring the system the game would need a GM. Kaner points out some of the messiness potentially involved (1 hr 53 mins 15 secs) * [The first game is now up and running with an expanded - and much clearer - rule set. You can also read if you're interested the run up conversations in the forum thread] * Amby reflects on RUFFHAUS' Game of Thrones analogy about him being all excited at the start but can't be bothered ruling/following through (1 hr 57 mins)

Latest Cloak and Dagger game * Amby's in a new Modern Europe anonymous game in GMan's Cloak and Dagger series. Amby discusses the nature of some player's communication style pissing him off (1 hr 58 mins 45 secs) * He reflects a little where some players follow through, others that haven't and then those who stab and then you make up (2 hrs 2 mins 45 secs) * Kaner gives his views on the Modern Europe variant map (2 hr 3 mins 30 secs) * The guys alcohol consumption is starting to show as Kaner discusses a thought experiment (2 hr 7 mins) * They wrap up the show and give the game Diplomacy a shout out for any Harry Turtledove fans who made it all the way to the end of the podcast (2 hrs 11 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Alfred & Constance, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Alfie house lager and Hornets IPA from Black Hops Brewery

Amby: Tatachilla shiraz from McLaren Vale, South Australia

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

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

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The guys grab some beers and discuss a bunch of Diplomacy stuff including the Diplomacy Broadcast Network, Amby's Media Wars game and losing streak. We play "Where's Kaner?" and get back to some good old Diplomacy chat.

Diplomacy news * The guys discuss their beers, the venue and playing some face-to-face Diplomacy there in the future. Amby suggests a game on 9 August [Note: due to a flare up in Corona again, we've put that plan on ice] (0 mins 10 secs) * Kaner discusses being in stitches after watching the Diplomacy Broadcast Network's first Deadline monthly news. They talk about getting some of the people from DBN on the podcast (7 mins 40 secs)

They have a Covid update at their end before going back to discuss Deadline news again, with Kaner's idea of it having reporters (11 mins 15 secs)

Media Wars * After some new beers Amby starts discussing his Media Wars game (18 mins 45 secs) * The players are all involved in producing online media content, and the players are (21 mins): + Amby from the Diplomacy Games podcast + Brother Bored from the Brother Board blog + Zach Moore from the Diplomacy Broadcast Network + CaptainMeme from DiploStrats + Jeff Hayman, a regular contributor from the Diplomacy Briefing + Gohornsgo from The Diplomats + Legendary Tactics from Legendary Tactics * Amby accidentally outs himself as playing Turkey before pointing players to the game on Backstabbr (23 mins)

Amby's losing streak * Kaner gives his advice to Amby on what he should be doing (26 mins 45 secs) * Amby reflects on the "Kick Me" sign on his back, discussing his Another Herd Needs Culling game (28 mins 20 secs) * Kaner gives Amby some helpful rankings advice before paradoxically having a rant about rankings, before going back to more advice for Amby (34 mins)

Where's Kaner? * Kaner can't understand why he's still alive in some games. He calls for a Where's Kaner? challenge for listeners to guess which country he is (43 mins 15 secs) * In game one he's a land based power. He's gone from being small, to large and is back to small again. Who is he? (44 mins 30 secs)

In game two he's being attacked by all sides, but somehow is still alive. Who is he? (46 mins 15 secs)
Finally in game three after constant unending assault by players, Kaner has fought back and is doing well. He's relatively central but exposed. Who is he? (47 mins 30 secs)

More Diplomacy chat * Kaner tells a story before going on another robot tangent and how they help the future of Diplomacy gameplay. Amby brings him back to reality. But if you want to sponsor the show to buy robots let us know! (49 mins 30 secs) * Amby tries to get Kaner to sign up for the Liberty Cup (56 mins 20 secs) * They get more beers. Kaner starts discussing the podcast channel on Nexus (57 mins 30 secs) * Kaner discusses how he got his arse kicked in the Vietnam War variant he played on Diplicity. Amby asks how Kaner's Twenty Twenty game on the app is going (1 hour 1 mins 45 secs) * The guys start wrapping up and encourage listeners to let another player know about the show (1 hr 9 mins) * They let listeners know instead of waiting two weeks for the show, you can here us weekly by signing up to their Patreon feed for just $2 a month (1 hr 10 mins)

Venue: Netherworld, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Fantastic IPA, Karma Oatmeal stout and Liquid Amber Red Ale from Newstead Brewery

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

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

Amby: Hop Sauce Pale ale and Fantastic IPA

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The guys interview Zach Moore for a play-by-play breakdown of his Boston Massacre game with Amby. They discuss some games they're in, Kaner's Squirrel Diplomacy variant idea and an unusual England-France alliance.

Intro * The guys discuss their beers, including an earlier cheeky pint by Kaner. Plus more boom box guy discussion and Australian money (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Zach Moore * Amby gives some context about the interview, which is a play by play discussion with Zach Moore about a Boston Massacre game they were both in (6 mins 30 secs) * Amby welcomes Zach to the show. Amby played as France and Zach as Austria. They discuss the lack of collaboration between them (8 mins 20 secs) * Amby talks about the Western Triple he got in (11 mins 20 secs) * He asks Zach about his thoughts on Russia and Turkey's opening, Amby reflects on how this caused Italy and Austria to stick together and how the Western Triple solidified (13 mins)

Zach reflects on the mistake he made with Russia in discussions with John Jameson (17 mins)
Amby asks Zach whether the eastern side of the board had worked out the Western Triple. Zach discusses the moves in Fall 1902 (19 mins)
They discuss how in Spring 1903 a counter alliance in the east at last starts kicking goals. Amby talks about his conversations with Turkey (Jason Mastbaum) and the difficulty of getting a hold of him (21 mins 15 secs)
Amby talks about his first bit of paranoia in Spring 1903 about England with his commitment in the Med, they move onto Fall 1903 and possible confusion around the moves of England and Germany. They talk about the first counter attack from the east (24 mins)
Amby asks Zach about the Turkish move to Rumania (27 mins)
Amby talks about his efforts to divide up Italy with Turkey. He asks Zach about his experience playing with Jason (29 mins 20 secs)
Zach discusses an attempted stab with Turkey against Russia. They also discuss the Turkey-Austria plan against Italy (31 mins)
They discuss Amby preventing Zach making ground against Germany by moving into Burgundy so he could support hold Munich while also planning for any English stab (34 mins 20 secs)
Zach asks about why didn't Amby start coordinating with Italy against Turkey's Ionian fleet (36 mins 20 secs)
Amby reflects on his paranoia when England built a fleet in London (38 mins 45 secs)
They discuss Zach's efforts to sweet talk Amby in Fall 1905. Amby discusses where he saw the game going and why he considered stabbing England (40 mins 30 secs)
They go onto talk about England's stab on Germany and his counter to Amby, while Zach hands Venice to Turkey. Amby asks whether anyone in the east knew in advance of the stab by England (42 mins 20 secs)
Things move along further into 1906 with some builds from England that Amby thought were threatening although nothing came of it (44 mins 30 secs)
And by Fall 1907 Italy was eliminated, England was kicked out of Moscow and Germany and France were behind Austria's lines (48 mins)
Come spring 1907 everyone started reaching the point where the game could go in a very different way, or alternatively draw. Zach talks about whether there was time to continue playing with the hard ending time approaching. The game ended a draw at this stage (50 mins 30 secs)
Amby explains one problem he was having was all his verbal Discord communication was being done on his iPhone and it was almost out of batteries, using this as a further lever to draw the game (52 mins 20 secs)
Zach reflects on the game and playing on Discord (as opposed to GMing) (54 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks about the frequency of similar format games from the Minnesota Diplomacy Club, the players and any technical challenges (57 mins 20 secs)
Amby reflects on the Diplomacy Broadcast Network and livestreaming of games and asks Zach about it (1 hr 1 mins 30 secs)
Kaner flags the times in the stream where the game was discussed (1 hr 4 mins)
Amby asks Kaner when he'll start playing these types of online games through Backstabbr and Discord. Zach mentions the PTKS game (which has passed between the interview and the release of the show) and the Philadelphia Liberty Cup that players can sign up for on 1 August 2020 (1 hr 4 mins 45 secs)
Amby starts wrapping up the interview (1 hr 6 mins 40 secs)
Kaner reflects on the game and the tournament. Amby discusses it being fun having a turn by turn analysis of the game (1 hr 7 mins 20 secs)
Kaner says he would've read the board differently. (1 hr 8 mins 45 secs)

Africa variant * Amby is in a 8 player Africa game (variant created by Tristan) and discusses the variant. He likes the mix of neutrals that have standing armies and others without armies (1 hr 11 mins 15 secs) * The game is named Here Kitty Kitty. He reflects on how a number of players are responding in the game, especially when Amby is throwing him love. Kaner can't understand why some players just pick fights for no good reason in gunboat games (1 hr 13 mins) * Kaner discusses the geography of the map (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs)

Variant development - Squirrel Wars * They spot the Chris Martin look alike again. Kaner goes onto discuss a Squirrel variant idea where acorns are SCs. He talks about fat squirrels and fast squirrels and different branch types (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs) * Kaner sees the map as visually being based around fractal views of a tree - canopy, branches, trunk and base. Amby suggests using something similar where you have different layered maps (1 hr 23 mins) * Amby and Kaner discuss Australia's drop bear problem (1 hr 25 mins)

New pub and Boston Massacre game update * The guys move to a new pub: The Elephant and discuss their new drinks (1 hr 26 mins 20 secs) * Amby remembers he got a message from MaxVax who played as Italy in the game. He gives Max's perspective. Max also discusses the game in The Diplomats Youtube channel (1 hr 28 mins)

Western Quintuple game * Kaner complains about Apple products. The guys discuss this five player anonymous game by shielding who is who, and doing a but of an Around the Grounds for how each player is going. Note: since recording this, the game has since ended in a three way draw between England, Castille and Burgundy. Kaner was England and Amby was France (1 hr 31 mins) * They talk about the variant and map itself (1 hr 38 mins)

Scottish Clan Wars game * After a little light hearted banter, they return to their What's under your kilt game. At the point of recording two players were eliminated (1 hr 40 mins 30 secs) * They do an around the grounds for this game too. This game has also since finished subsequent to recording in a 4 way draw, with Kaner (Dundee) and Amby (Edinburgh) both being part of the draw (1 hr 44 mins)

England-France naval alliance? * They go off on a tangent of England threatening Italy in classic in a very unusual England-France alliance. Kaner asks if its a doable scenario (1 hr 51 mins 50 secs) * He then proposes an England-France-Russia alliance (1 hr 59 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (2 hrs 0 mins)

Venue: The Sound Garden and also The Elephant, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: Four Pines Pale ale and Newtowner Pale ale, both from Sydney, Australia

Amby: Four Pines Pale ale from Sydney, Australia, and Wirra Wirra Woodhenge shiraz from the McLaren Vale, Australia

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

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

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Kaner & Amby interview Martin Bruse, creator of the Android Duplicity app. A bit of Diplomacy chat and an update on Amby's variant development plans. And who is that boom box guy?

Intro * The guys discuss their beers, the ban on dancing and everything else being totally open now there's practically no Coronavirus in Queensland (0 mins 10 secs) * Kaner & Amby are recording two episodes back to back in different locations 3 15

Interview with Martin Bruse, creator of the Diplicity app * They begin to introduce their interview guest, Martin Bruse, the Android app developer of Diplicity (3 mins 45 secs) * The interview starts with Martin telling the backstory of creating Droidippy and how his plan evolved into Diplicity (5 mins) * Kaner discusses how easy it was to download and use for his Android app. He asks Martin how Diplicity can also be used for iOS, computers etc. However your push notifications are done as email if not using the Android app (9 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about the migration of players from Droidippy to Diplicity (12 mins 30 secs) * They discuss why Martin developed the app and what he likes about Diplomacy. Martin, Amby and Kaner go onto discuss AI (16 mins) * Kaner asks about the beautiful nature of the maps on Diplicity, he goes onto discuss where some of the variant maps came from eg Twenty Twenty and Vietnam War (22 mins 40 secs) * Kaner asks about the games engine and its hard limit on two types of units (armies and fleets), he asks whether a 3rd type of unit could be created in Diplicity's code (27 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about Martin's plans to get the word out about the app. Martin gives a hat tip to Joren Bredman who helped Martin with the UX (32 mins 45 secs) * Martin discusses investigation work into an iOS version of the app and the "funding model" for Diplicity (34 mins) * Amby asks Martin about why he moved from Sweden to Switzerland, they talk about the Swedish Diplomacy community (37 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks about whether Diplicity has a similar sandbox function as Backstabbr (41 mins) * Amby asks about Martin's views on how Diplicity is different to Conspiracy as an Android app. Martin also discusses the Tribute rating system used in Diplicity and scaring players off from the game if its not really for them (44 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks where people need to go for Diplicity. Martin points to the Diplicity website or go to your favorite Android app store and search for Diplicity (51 mins 25 secs) * The guys wrap up the interview (52 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks Kaner about his experience so far with Diplicity. Kaner gives his one criticism of the game: a lack of shading in non-SC "owned" territories (52 mins 45 secs) * Kaner is playing an anonymous gunboat Vietnam War game and is about to join a Chaos and a Twenty Twenty games that are forming (56 mins 30 secs) * Kaner goes onto discuss the Diplicity Discord forum (1 hr 0 mins)

Diplomacy chat * The guys talk about all the extra creative Diplomacy channels and offerings (1 hr 3 mins) * Amby discusses getting face to face games going again in Brisbane now Coronavirus restrictions are pretty much gone. Kaner talks about getting shit faced playing Diplomacy in a pub in Thailand (1 hr 5 mins) * They talk about whether WDC 2020 is still going to happen. Kaner discusses Americans who can't understand him and flat whites (1 hr 8 mins 45 secs) * Kaner taunts Amby about his competitive nature in the Winning thread at vDip (1 hr 12 mins 45 secs)

Amby's variant development * Amby mentions tobi has shown some interest (when time permits) to help with some of the coding aspects of his planned variants (1 hr 15 mins) * Amby discusses what elements Kaner recommended for the Black Death may in fact be possible according to tobi (1 hr 16 mins 30 secs) * The guys return to chat about Martin's inteview and the ability to have 3 or more unit types (more than armies and fleets) (1 hr 18 mins 30 secs) * This prompts Amby to discuss his Nuclear Diplomacy variant concept (see episode 41 for Amby's earlier thoughts on his Nuclear Diplomacy variant) (1 hr 19 mins) * Kaner gives his ideas on how to manage the transition of nuclear weapons from launch to detonation. They discuss whether current non nuclear powers could develop nuclear weapons (1 hr 24 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about what happens if two nukes "bounce" (1 hr 29 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses the nature of the Standing Neutral variant on a classic board. The guys talk about how not to disadvantage players (1 hr 30 mins)

Around the grounds * Kaner asks Amby about his Scottish Clans game, ''What's under your kilt?", before Kaner gets distracted and talks about his Europa Renovatio game, Lockdown Renovatio (1 hr 35 mins) * Kaner gives some side advice on leveraging the Europa map for variant development. This is a visual discussion which may not make a lot of sense in a podcast. Feel free to skip this bit if you have zero interest in the way variant maps are created. They talk about the North Atlantic, Red Sea and the Sahara (1 hr 39 mins 30 secs) * The guys elude to the guy walking around with a boom box who looks like Chris Martin (Note: this is discussed in greater detail in the Patreon episode recorded after - which was actually released last week) (1 hr 46 mins 30 secs) * Amby has a theory on why Denmark does so well in the Europa Renovation map (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (1 hr 52 mins)

Venue: Royal George, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner & Amby: James Squire 150 Lashes pale ale

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

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

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The guys interview Oliver Lugg, a Diplomacy loving guy who has created an awesome Youtube video about the game. They also discuss stupid greedy vs smart gains, the Western Europe 1300 variant and Amby's Diplomacy variant development plans.

Intro & news * The guys are recording at Malt, a serious proper bar. Kaner quickly picks on Amby's handwriting. Then they get onto drinks. Amby laments a little Covid weight gain (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Oliver Lugg: Diplomacy Youtuber extraordinaire * The guys give a full disclosure that the interview with Oliver Lugg is being recorded after they actually catch up (4 mins) * Kaner & Amby welcome Oliver to the show about the quality of his Youtube video on Diplomacy - for podcast listeners, press pause now and watch the video for context: (7 mins)

Amby asks Oliver how he got into the game (7 mins 45 secs)
Kaner asks about within the video whether Oliver was in a scene in the video playing the game (12 mins 15 secs)
Amby brings up whether there was a mathematical thread running through the video (13 mins 35 secs)
Amby asks about the nature of the game not being like chess (15 mins 40 secs)
Being an Australian who has lived in the UK, Amby asks a little about the Britishness of the video (17 mins 50 secs)
Amby asks about how much time was needed to pull the video together (20 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks about how Oliver came across the 2012 online championship - for podcast listeners, you can listen to our interview with some of the final players in episode 5 (22 mins 45 secs)
Kaner asks about Oliver's 5 rules and what is his favorite rules when it comes to cognitive biases (25 mins 15 secs)
Kaner asks about AI and manipulative behavior (28 mins 20 secs)
Amby asks Oliver about famous individuals who played the game, and where he got his research from (31 mins 45 secs)
Amby asks about Oliver's perspectives on real world events and the nature of Diplomacy skills being played out (36 mins)
They talk about the nature of loss aversion (37 mins)
Amby asks Oliver about his interests in psychology (38 mins 20 secs)
Amby asks about Oliver's plans for playing the game in the future. Amby discusses the London Diplomacy Club and also previous interviewee Garry Sturley and his plans for a Diplomacy Tour of Britain (40 mins 45 secs)
Kaner reflects on the use of Risk pieces in the video. Amby asks about Oliver's future creative endeavors. Oliver discusses his music and singing, listen on his Youtube channel (44 mins)
The guys wrap up the interview with Oliver (47 mins 15 secs)
The guys return and discuss what they enjoyed about Oliver's Diplomacy video (47 mins 45 secs)
They talk about Risk (53 mins 30 secs)

Presidential campaign update * Amby asks Kaner how his election campaign is going. The guys also give a shout out to Hal Schild, Brother Bored and Bryan Pravel, all new Patreon supporters of the show (55 mins)

Stupid greedy vs smart gains * Amby admits he's in a Diplomacy slump with his gameplay (58 mins) * He was riding high early in the year, but hasn't been following his own advice (1 hr) * He got back in with his Fake NewsLeak Interference Democalypse game where he failed to appreciate what was going on in the board, and put too much trust in allies (1 hr 1 mins) * Kaner then rubs Amby's nose in another game, A Humble Low Stakes Match where Amby had players piled onto him after being the first stabbing (1 hr 4 mins 45 secs) * Amby acknowledges maybe he's not such a great player and just had a big win (1 hr 7 mins 30 secs) * The guys then go onto to discuss that they've worked out they're in two of the same anonymous games, but don't know who is who (1 hr 8 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * In doing so Kaner & Amby transition to an Around the grounds segment, starting with the Western Europe 1300 game they're in Western Quintuple (1 hr 9 mins) * They discuss the variant map itself first for Western Europe 1300, a 5 player game with England, France, Burgundy (same as the variant Hundred) but adding in Aragon and Castile. The map was developed by Matthew Medeiros and brought to online game play by Fake Al and Oliver Auth (1 hr 10 mins) * The guys then start discussing how they're going, being mindful it is anonymous and they're both in it. To do so they examine each of the five players' positions (1 hr 13 mins 45 secs) * They then move onto their Scottish Clan Wars game, What's Under your Kilt. They discuss how the gameplay in this variant map tends to be more fighting north-south, as opposed to east-west (1 hr 23 mins) * They agree to talk about this game a little further on, as its still pretty early days in this game (1 hr 25 mins 45 secs)

New Diplomacy app: Diplicity * Kaner has discovered a new Android app for lovers of the game called Diplicity - search for it wherever you download your apps from (1 hr 26 mins 50 secs) * Amby discusses the wonderful aesthetics of the app and particularly the maps (1 hr 28 mins 20 secs) * They go onto discuss a bucketload of variants available, including two they've never seen: Twenty Twenty and a 5 player Vietnam War variant set in 1955 (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs) * Kaner loves the autogenerator for the titles of games (1 hr 35 mins 30 secs) * They discuss how it may be different to the Conspiracy app where many players would go into CD, impacting the gameplay for hardcore players (1 hr 37 mins)

Amby's Diplomacy holiday plans * Amby is heading off for a week's holiday. He discusses his plan to do some Diplomacy variant development (1 hr 38 mins) * The first one he'll focus on is a Classic Standing Armies variant. But Amby will implement Kaner's suggestion for an initial build phase so Italy can build two fleets to take Tunis (1 hr 40 mins) * His second variant idea is really dependent on the coding skills of a Diplomacy loving developer. Based on some ideas from Kaner, Amby is planning a Black Death variant. Basically a Europa Renovatio map modified back in time approximately 100 years to the starting period of the Black Death (1 hr 43 mins 30 secs) * Amby goes onto discuss how he plans to keep the board generally balanced, similar to Europa Renovatio (1 hr 48 mins) * He goes onto discuss how the randomness of the hurricane in the Pirates variant (a non playing player who moves and spawns randomly) could be bumped up to multiple units as the Black Death (1 hr 50 mins 30 secs) * Kaner gives his suggestion about plague spawning (1 hr 52 mins 35 secs) * Kaner recommends Amby plug into tobi1's coding skills instead of pushing for Oli's time (2 hr 0 mins 50 secs) * They discuss what the image should be for the Black Death. Kaner suggests you do a Google images search for Hieronymus Bosch to give an idea of what he has in mind (2 hr 2 mins 50 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show (2 hrs 5 mins 45 secs)

Venue: Malt, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner: House malt lager

Amby - Hither and Yon shiraz from the McLaren Vale, and later the House malt lager

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

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

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The guys interview prolific Diplomacy writer Brother Bored and discuss other Diplomacy stuff including the Scottish Clan Wars variant before Amby stuffs up.

Intro & news * The guys are still at Red Hook (a back to back recording) (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Brother Bored * The guys introduce the interview with Brother Bored, who plays as swordsman3003 at webDip (2 mins 40 secs) * Brother Bored discusses how he got into Diplomacy (3 mins 30 secs) * He talks about how the flexibility of online Diplomacy really worked for him, how he got competitive about the game and how he started teaching his friends about how to play (6 mins) * He discusses how this got him into blogging about Diplomacy so he could share his learnings, initially around gunboat. You can read his Diplomacy teaching blogs at brotherbored.com/diplomacy (8 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about how Brother Bored addresses different learning styles in how he writes his Diplomacy content. He touches on his Gunboat solo win guides , stalemate lines and how strategy differs in gunboat compared to normal press or face to face (13 mins) * In comparison he's also written a 80,000 word journal about the gunboat game, The Biggest Game of All Time (18 mins) * Amby asks why Brother Bored's handle is different to webDip and how he choose them both (23 mins 30 secs) * He discusses where he gets his ideas from for posts (26 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks how much time Brother Bored spends on his blog (30 mins) * Amby asks whether Brother Bored gets any weird web traffic coming through (34 mins) * Kaner asks Brother Bored about whether he has any interest in Diplomacy variants (36 mins 20 secs) * Brother Bored talks about his timing bad luck on being able to play face to face (42 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks with all the online play due to Coronavirus, whether Brother Bored has got a bump in traffic due to more online Dip interest (44 mins 45 secs) * After discussing his dream of writing more teaching blogs for other games, Brother Bored mentions he's now become a paid Diplomacy tutor (46 mins 30 secs) * The guys wrap up the interview before returning to their drinks and discuss the interview. Kaner talks about the exercise of keeping a record of each moves across all players (48 mins)

The boom in online Diplomacy * Amby discusses how when the podcast started vDiplomacy had only 500 active players, but its now up to 1,300 active players. He wonders whether this has been driven by Coronavirus limiting face to face and turning people to online platforms (53 mins 45 secs) * Kaner supports the etiquette and ethics of these players who keep the games to their friends in password protected games. He then mentions webDip is now at over 3,000 active players (56 mins)

More online Diplomacy chat * Amby's joined back into the Winning thread at vDip (58 mins) * Amby thinks he's being goaded into playing a game called "The Ambassador should join, because they need to b" (1 hr 2 mins)

Scottish Clan Wars variant * They discuss Scottish Clan Wars a new variant over at vDip which Kaner is currently playing (1 hr 6 mins)

Amby discusses the times he's been to Scotland (1 hr 10 mins)
Kaner talks about how he's finding the game (1 hr 12 mins)
And then... Amby fucked up cutting the show early, with the teaser of next episode to discuss "Stupid Greedy vs Smart Gains" (1 hr 14 mins)

Venue: Red Hook, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner & Amby - Newtowner Australian Pale Ale by Young Henry's from Sydney, Australia

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

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

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The guys are back to drinking face to face as Australia starts coming out of Coronavirus lockdown. They interview Chris Martin about his Diplomacy Academy videos on Youtube. Plus they discuss Kaner's big points draw in EU IV and more.

Intro & news * Isolation is starting to lift in Australia as the guys introduce their venue and drinks for the episode (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss the pronounciation of the vDip player ingebot, who stabbed & killed Kaner in his public press State Your Business Divided States game. Amby discusses ghee. Kaner asks about Amby's quarantine beard (2 mins 45 secs)

Interview with Chris Martin about the Diplomacy Academy * The guys introduce the interview with Chris Martin (5 mins 30 secs) * Chris discusses his year long break from Dip, before coming back strong this year with a strong focus on his Diplomacy Academy at Youtube (6 mins) * Amby asks about Chris' views on the creative impact of Coronavirus on the hobby (8 mins) * Chris talks about the use of Backstabbr, Discord and other tools in games run by the Chicago and Minneapolis Club and now DixieCon (10 mins) * Amby asks about what its like commentating on Diplomacy games. Chris mentions the DixieCon live streams will be available afterwards for round one and two (13 mins 15 secs) * Chris talks about the hardest things about commentating live games (16 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about Chris' plans for his Diplomacy Academy videos and discusses some of the most recent videos (18 mins 30 secs) * Chris talks about how he records the videos (21 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks what aspects of gameplay with Coronavirus does Chris see continuing once we enter the "normal world" again (24 mins) * They talk about online players coming to these hybrid tournaments (27 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about the various awards in the background of Chris' videos (29 mins) * Amby asks if Chris plays much now. He goes onto to discuss stabs and what experienced players pick up, and how Chris then applies this to content for the Diplomacy Academy (32 mins) * Kaner discusses the geography of the board and how it impacts movements. Chris gives his thoughts about this and variants (39 mins) * Chris encourages listeners to become Patreons of the podcast (41 mins) * Amby asks about other Diplomacy content creators and where Chris sees a gap in the market if you wanted to give back to the community. Chris gives his thoughts (42 mins 30 secs) * The guys start to wrap up the show (46 mins 30 secs) * After the interview the guys give their thoughts about what they learnt from Chris (47 mins 20 secs) * The guys mention they recorded a bonus interview with Chris now available for Patreon listeners, including what Chris has learnt in recent years from other players (49 mins) * They fill in Covid-Safe paperwork and talk about the government app (50 mins)

Diplomacy chit chat * Kaner welcomes two new Patreons to the show, although they didn't nominate which Cabinet position they wanted when we're elected President and VP (51 mins 30 secs) * They're back to mispronouncing ingebot's name and Kaner's game with him. They touch on Amby's soloed Divided States game and why he has that handle (53 mins) * Amby recently went away camping and asked Kaner to sit his games. They discuss Amby's difficulty working out how to give Kaner access with the Country Switch tool (55 mins 45 secs) * They walk through how to do this on vDip. The same functionality may also be on webDip - they're not sure (57 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks listeners on webDip, playDip or Backstabbr to let us know how to country switch on your platform using the comments section (1 hr 3 mins)

Kaner's EUIV game * The guys turn to Kaner's now finished EUIV game where he played as Hungary and got a great draw score (1 hr 3 mins 45 secs)

Kaner outlines his early gameplay goals, focusing on eliminating Venice, he discusses how surprising countries grow in this variant (1 hr 4 mins 20 secs)
He discusses how his position evolved (1 hr 6 mins)
Kaner discusses his "where to next" moment - remember in vDip you can see previous maps by going to the Archived Maps section, or follow this link to make it easy! (1 hr 10 mins)
The guys discuss a brief phallic moment on the map. Can you spot it? (1 hr 13 mins)
They discuss the rogue unit behind Kaner's line and the amount of effort to squash it (1 hr 15 mins)
Kaner discusses the new Savoy player who took over a CD position who stabbed deeply into Denmark (1 hr 19 mins)
Amby flags how Kaner has now drawn two big maps and got a big points boost. He gives a shout out to the main players in the game: Orange, Xenon Radon, Cosmopterix, Steampunk Shogun (1 hr 20 mins)
Kaner now is coming 48th in the vDip Hall of Fame - although he has dropped a little since recording (1 hr 26 mins)

Wrapping up and other stuff * Amby flags how Erik van Mechlen (see our earlier interview) now has a Diplomacy audio book that is now available. The audio book is called Diplomacy Conversations: How to Win at Diplomacy or Strategy for Face to Face, Online and Tournaments (1 hr 26 mins 45 secs) * The guys wrap it up (1 hr 29 mins)

Venue: Red Hook, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner & Amby - Newtowner Australian Pale Ale by Young Henry's from Sydney, Australia

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

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

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

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

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

Amby agrees and highlights the size of the board and territory size is pretty small in his 4th edition boards, he gets out the units to give an idea of size and how they don't very well (12 mins)
Kaner discusses how his magnet board is actually a small board that you can walk around with and plan moves on (14 mins 30 secs)
They discuss dynamism (17 mins 10 secs)
Amby returns to the canvas map they usually play on - designed by u/trampolinebears. Kaner points out that some territories have their full name as well as abbreviations so players don't get confused when writing orders (18 mins)
Amby talks about a competent player misordering at PoppyCon (19 mins 30 secs)
They grabs some more beers before Amby introduces the other board he received from Rob - a 1971 edition of Diplomacy (20 mins 40 secs)
They discuss the cartoon stylized characters on the board and the color of the players on the board (22 mins 10 secs)
Kaner asks if it is a European or American board (24 mins 25 secs)
Kaner starts discussing the board he learnt on (26 mins 30 secs)
He then talks about his dream Diplomacy board (27 mins 30 secs)
They return to the 1971 edition and Amby discusses the playing pieces (28 mins 40 secs)
They discuss a special project for Kaner (33 mins)

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

Venue: Still at home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter from Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Larry Pale Ale from the Sunshine Coast, Australia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Venue: Still at home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter from Brisbane

Amby - San Valentin grenache from Spain

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://youtu.be/tnGzmgA_sbc

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They discuss CCR's writing style (as the Golden Horde) (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs)
Amby mentions he created the game title as he wanted to recreate Shakespeare's Henry V and the English victories over France, only to find MAK (France) was a great ally. They go onto discuss Tanteno's position as Switzerland in the middle and various alliances (1 hr 10 mins 15 secs)
Kaner ponders what brought the Golden Horde to put in a draw (1 hr 14 mins 15 secs)
Amby briefly discusses his one-time plans to try to get to Jerusalem on crusade (1 hr 16 mins 30 secs)
After some more drinks, Kaner asks Amby if he's going to join any large games (1 hr 20 mins)
They discuss Kaner's EU IV game, but they give a more high level overview of the game (1 hr 21 mins 30 secs)
They move onto Kaner's Silent Europe game (1 hr 31 mins)
They discuss the changes in the game over time, including a brief Scottish attempt in 1585/1590 to create a kingdom in the Holy Land (despite losing all other SCs) (1 hr 35 mins)
They talk about ideas for what players should be doing (1 hr 42 mins)
Kaner asks Amby about his Discord Order of the Dragon game. He's playing as the Golden Horde and just stabbed his ally Lithuania. He talks about the bizarre rules and how different it is to a standard classic game: neutrals you can marry, thralls, vassal states, marrying your heirs to other players' heirs, dynasties being killed off if their heirs are killed (1 hr 43 mins 30 secs)

Venue: At home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter from Brisbane

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Venue: At home

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Cloudy Sommersby apple cider

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

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

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

View Details

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

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

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

Venue: PoppyCon, Melbourne

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - A can

Amby - A glass

View Details

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

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

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

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

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

Amby solos his 50 player Divided States game * Amby has won the Undivided States game that they've been talking about for almost two years. Amby starts discussing what worked in his favor (2 hrs 20 mins 45 secs)

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

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

Venue: Saint and Rogue, Melbourne

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - White Rabbit dark ale from Healesville, Victoria

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

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

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

View Details

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

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

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

Amby congratulates Kaner and creates a similarly with Dan Carlin's incredible Wrath of the Khans series (16 mins)
Kaner outlines the 11 powers in the game (17 mins 20 secs)
Kaner explains why the map is orientated east-west instead of north-south (20 mins)
He goes onto discuss the affect of the Black Death on units/SCs (21 mins 35 secs)
Kaner comes up with a clever plan to reduce the amount of noise coming from the tow truck (24 mins 25 secs)
He then discusses the role of the Silk Roads and Trade Winds (25 mins 40 secs)
They talk dogs in impoundment yards. Amby diverges for a moment and talks about the kids TV show "Bluey" that is created a stone's throw from many of the pubs they've recorded at in Fortitude Valley (30 mins)
Amby then has a flash back to the 70's Australian police show also called "Bluey" that was then parodied in the early 90's by Australia's The Late Show, as "Bargearse" - a fat cop whose always farting, solving crimes by accident (31 mins 20 secs)
Kaner goes back to Mongolian Empire and talks about geographic complexities from rivers, bridges, mountains, the Great Wall of China and city states with standing neutral armies (32 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks Kaner what it feels like to see something he's created now being played by people (38 mins)
The guys return with new drinks and new batteries in the recorder (39 mins 20 secs)

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

They discuss whether they should be playing more classic games online to improve their face to face gameplay and strategies (48 mins)
The guys talk about Kaner's Europa Renovatio games (52 mins)
Kaner talks about his Silent Europe game (54 mins)
Amby reflects that Kaner's ranking may soon be getting an uptick with how he's currently going in multiple game (58 mins 55 secs)
Amby talks about his Europa Renovatio game and briefly his Undivided States game (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs)
Next up is Amby's involvement in G-Man's Cloak and Dagger series in the World Diplomacy X game Fake NewsLeak Interference Democalypse (1 hr 4 mins)
They start wrapping up the show so they can record a bonus Patreon episode. Amby reminds Americans to write-in "Kaner" in their primary voting. Amby asks Kaner if he minds also running for Lord Mayor of Brisbane (1 hr 8 mins)

Venue: Doo-Bop Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's cloudy cider from Sydney

Amby - Kalleske Moppa shiraz from the Barossa Valley

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

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

View Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Venue: Empire Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's pale ale from Sydney

Amby - Maxwell Silver Hammer shiraz from the Barossa

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

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

View Details

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

Intro

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

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

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

Kaner grabs some more drinks (1 hr 13 mins)

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

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

Venue: Hotel Carrington, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

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

Amby - Saltram's shiraz from the Barossa

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

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

View Details

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

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

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

Venue: Proud Henry, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Archer IPA from no idea

Amby - Trescothic grenache from the Barossa Valley, Australia

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

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

View Details

Kaner and Amby interview Ira Hall, a Christian pastor and Diplomacy player. The guys delve into how Christians manage the Bible's strong stance on lying, deceit and deception while still playing Diplomacy. Plus they travel to Kaner's stomping ground of Ipswich and discuss a heap more Diplomacy stuff.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and the venue (0 mins 15 secs) * They correct the dates for the Melbourne Open tournament, which is actually 14-15 March (3 mins 45 secs) * Next up is confirmation of the Canetoad Classic tournament in Brisbane on 2-3 May and talk about gaming pieces. Amby discusses goal setting and his plans to attend two interstate tournaments (5 mins 15 secs) * Kaner talks about the 4th Nexus tournament coming up and an invitation to an 1812 Overture forum game. Kaner discusses being overly committed in 6 games (10 mins) * They discuss strategy vs tactics before returning to what's involved in the 1812 variant. Note, we went into more detail about this map in an earlier episode (12 mins 45 secs) * The guys talk about going to Ipswich at least once a year, before providing an update on their Presidential campaign. They discuss Kaner's latest plank allowing historical smoking in historical Federal buildings (20 mins) * They discuss jurisdictional responsibility when Cabinet titles are very similar. Kaner answers with a similar chicken analogy. When we're elected if you want to be a Cabinet Secretary it's only $3 a month by becoming a Patreon supporter (23 mins 20 secs)

Interview with Ira Hall * The guys provide the background to this interview with Ira Hall before jumping in (26 mins 30 secs) * Ira starts by discussing how he got into Diplomacy and his recent role as Alman, a playDip moderator (27 mins) * He discusses what he did as a Cheater Hunter at playDip and his thoughts on why some players cheat (30 mins) * Kaner asks about common cheating behavior (32 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about how Ira felt when busting a cheater (34 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks about whether Ira's played face-to-face (36 mins 10 secs) * The guys explore how Ira balances as a pastor the Christian Biblical teachings of not lying or being deceitful against being a Diplomacy player (38 mins 30 secs) * Ira discusses reputation and trustworthiness (41 mins 15 secs) * He talks about a number of games at playDip and the choice of language to avoid lying while maintaining a reputation (43 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about Christians who have a literal interpretation of the Bible and their views on lying and deceiving, even in a game (48 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks Ira about his advice to new, or relatively new players to the game. He discusses the importance of trying different things in your communication to someone who stabs you (56 mins) * Amby asks Ira about taking the solo win versus a draw (1 hr 0 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about what other variants Ira enjoys (1 hr 3 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks Ira if there's any other thoughts on the game (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * They wrap up the interview (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs) * They guys are back and give their thoughts on the interview (1 hr 10 mins) * Kaner discusses his more "eye for an eye" nature rather than "turning the other cheek" (1 hr 12 mins) * They discuss the "metagame" element of your reputation preceding you. They talk about blocking players' whose personality clashes with yours (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs) * They talk about reliability and going into civil disorder (CD'ing) (1 hr 20 mins) * Kaner suggests checking your block lists and if you can't remember why they pissed you off, think about unblocking them (1 hr 23 mins)

Around the grounds/variant suggestions * They come back and discuss the strength of the Golden Horde in the Cry God for Harry game, and discuss how the gameplay is not too different to real life history (1 hr 24 mins) * Amby suggests again to Technostar (the variant creator of Europa Renovatio) about whether this variant could have fog of war added (1 hr 26 mins 20 secs) * Kaner also has some improvement suggestions. For starters he'd like to see "sealane" overseer zones in the Sahara territories. Amby disagrees and suggests a chopped off Africa with sealanes at the "bottom" of Africa to connect the Red Sea and Atlantic but have travel slower than the current direct connection (1 hr 27 mins 20 secs) * His second thought is introducing geographic boundaries to allow for mountains and passes (like in the Rinasciemnto variant) and navigable rivers that could allow convoys (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs) * Kaner is thinking about whether he can make these variant changes himself (1 hr 35 mins) * Kaner brings up their fog of war Kicking Butts game, which Amby has just been eliminated. Amby laments how many games he has been recently killed off in. He's worried about his ranking (1 hr 36 mins 30 secs)

Newbie segment: Newbie negotiations * Next up is the latest installment in their newbie series, this time focusing on Negotiations (1 hr 38 mins) * Kaner reflects on his first Diplomacy negotiation and what approach to adopt when during negotiations. Amby discusses the common negotiation approaches from newbies (1 hr 39 mins 30 secs) * Amby flags that they're about to record a new intro episode to the show. They then go onto discussing a range of common terms used in Diplomacy which newbies need to learn, starting with a bounce (1 hr 41 mins 40 secs) * They grab another quick drink after being interrupted by a freight train. Amby switches his beer to XXXX Bitter. They talk about old school beers in Australia. Amby tells a story about Fosters (1 hr 46 mins 45 secs) * They return back to newbie discussions and commonly used terms, moving onto a DMZ, a NAP and an alliance (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs) * They discuss communication and developing social skills. Amby talks about keeping players in the game (1 hr 57 mins)

Celebrating 10 years of vDiplomacy * They discuss how vDiplomacy turns 10 years old this month. They talk about their personal highlights and all the Diplomacy variants there (1 hr 59 mins) * They talk about how players have come and gone during that time and its waves over time. Kaner asks Amby if he had the time, what variants would he create (2 hrs 4 mins) * Kaner brings up the Seattle variant that Ira discussed (2 hrs 7 mins 30 secs)

Wrapping up * They wrap up the show (2 hrs 8 mins)

Venue: The Commercial Hotel, Ipswich

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - XXXX Bitter by Castlemaine Perkins, Brisbane

Amby - 150 Lashes by James Squire and XXXX Bitter by Castlemaine Perkins, Brisbane

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon or you can also shop at Amazon using our affiliate link. It costs exactly the same to you, but Amazon give us a small cut and it doesn't cost you a cent more!

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

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

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It's Christmas! And the guys get very drunk talking Diplomacy. 'Nuff said!

Intro and Christmas chat * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and the venue (0 mins 15 secs) * They quickly touch on their Presidential election campaign and introduce a new Hawaiian shirt plank and discuss Kaner's new look (3 mins) * Kaner and Amby are planning to go to the next Melbourne Open tournament on 21-22 March 2020 (5 mins 50 secs) * They announce an official Queensland tournament, being run by Tony Collins. They discuss possible names for the tournament and land on The Canetoad Classic (6 mins 50 secs) * They talk about ideas for WDC 2021 and getting the word out about Diplomacy to ex-pats in Thailand. Kaner talks about when he ran a Diplomacy game when he was living in Thailand (11 mins 30 secs) * The guys grab another beer and talk home brew (18 mins) * They exchange Christmas presents. Kaner gives Amby a DMOL - Diplomatic Man of Leisure - t-shirt. Amby gives Kaner a pan with maps of Florida and the contiguous United States stuck to the pan (21 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * Amby discusses how his American Funboat and Undivided States games are going (30 mins) * Kaner reflects on the nature of the large map variants and how players can afford to lose units in their rear for much longer periods of time. Kaner uses the example of how Tiemcen has been able to sustain losses in the rear to sneak into Scottish territory (35 mins 30 secs)

Kaner discusses playing a country where you have no interest... or you don't like the color, before moving onto discuss regional dominance in a game Kaner is in and also Cry God for Harry (50 mins)
They move onto their classic Fog of War game (56 mins 50 secs)
Amby talks about a real time Germany v Italy game he played at webDip against Roadhog. Kaner discusses how great players can think 4-5 turns ahead (57 mins 30 secs)
Amby talks about the pressure of the live game and how tight to the line he took it. He also discusses a misorder that made a big difference (1 hr 1 mins 15 secs)
Kaner gets more beers and they discuss how some players' language when communicating in games online can come across very weird (1 hr 4 mins)

Newbie segment * Kaner discusses The Concise 33 Strategies of War by Robert Green. He suggests discussing the strategies in the book to help newbies. The land on Pick your battles carefully. They discuss avoiding two front wars or unnecessarily provoking players (1 hr 6 mins 15 secs) * They discuss how in their last face to face battle Sean as Germany didn't pick his battle well. Kaner goes on to read a great passage from the book about penetrating your enemies' minds (1 hr 13 mins) * Amby tells a joke (1 hr 17 mins) * They discuss going on a crusade (1 hr 19 mins)

Election and DMOL update * The guys put out a reminder you can get bonus show content if you become a Patreon supporter of the show for just $2 a month. But for just a dollar more ($3 a month) we'll let you join our Cabinet when we're elected to the White House. Just let us know when you sign up about your portfolio and how you can relate it to Diplomacy (1 hr 20 mins) * Kaner lets people know if you want a DMOL (Diplomatic Man of Leisure) shirt to get in touch with him - just use our contact form. Currently $40 Australian, which is probably about $30 US including postage (1 hr 25 mins) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 27 mins)

Venue: Soapbox Brewery, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Honey Porter by Soapbox, Brisbane

Amby - "The Rant" IPA by Soapbox, Brisbane

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

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

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This episode we have an interview with Jon, one of the developers at Backstabbr. Plus we talk recent news, around the grounds and our latest face-to-face Diplomacy game.

Intro * The guys introduce the show, their drinks and plans for their face to face game that day (0 mins 15 secs) * They discuss what to do if you get 8 players, with Kaner bringing along maps for the USA variant (classic Europe but with the USA and wrap around world) and Celtic Britain. He also brought some other maps including Ancient Mediterranean (5 players) and 1600 (9 players) (3 mins 15 secs) * Amby makes a mess (7 mins 15 secs)

News * They discuss the news before teasing the interview. Amby talks about the WDC 2021 website in Bangkok, Thailand is now live! They talk a little about the event and how playes should start thinking of putting aside some coin if you're a bit short of cash (8 mins) * Amby goes onto discuss the new Asia Pacific Diplomacy Association. This is a replacement to the less active Diplomacy Association of Australia and New Zealand (DAANZ) but with Asia now included. Its planned to be similar to the North American and European equivalents. There's plans for a Grand Prix of events across the Asia Pacific (12 mins 45 secs) * He then discusses how as part of the Grand Prix its planned to have a Brisbane/Queensland tournament (14 mins 30 secs) * Gary (Phlegmatic at PlayDip) got in touch about the upcoming MaccCon3 in the UK on the 14-15 March 2020. Its going from invitation only event to an open event. Gary also said MidCon was coming back in November 2020 and would act as the UK Championship for that year. Plus they're looking at a larger Tour of Britain with multiple tournaments (16 mins 45 secs)

Interview with Jon from Backstabbr * Amby gives the preamble to the interview (20 mins 45 secs) - NOTE: there are some very small glitches in the recording where a word or two drops out due to Skype lag * The interview starts (Amby only - the tech didn't work for Kaner) (22 mins 15 secs) * Jon explains his role at Backstabbr and discusses what the site is all about and the difference between it and the other online Diplomacy sites (23 mins) * He starts outlining the sandbox mode in Backstabbr and what you can do with it with adjudication, showing the orders in a face to face game etc (25 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the Backstabbr community and use of Discord and sub-Reddit and the developers' intent to focus on the core game (30 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks how players involved in the Diplomacy Nexus use Backstabbr (32 mins) * Amby asks about the number of players using Backstabbr - this has a one of those nasty recording dropouts, sorry! (33 mins 40 secs) * They discuss plans for the future (35 mins) * Amby asks why there's no "e" in Backstabbr (39 mins 10 secs) * They discuss whether the site's developers play face to face in the Seattle scene (seeing they're based there) (40 mins 40 secs) * Jon discusses the games the developers are now playing - while balancing real life commitments (41 mins 30 secs) * They talk about whether the developers play Diplomacy online (42 mins 15 secs) * After a rather vague question from Amby about beers, Jon leaves his parting thoughts, particularly about taking Diplomacy into different places (45 mins) * The interview wraps up before the guys return with their thoughts (48 mins 30 secs) * They talk about using Backstabbr during tournaments (53 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * They touch on anonymous games they're both in. The first one is Kicking Butts which is a gunboat fog-of-war Classic game (55 mins) * Next up is Cry God for Harry! where Amby is still slowly growing while Kaner says things aren't looking promising (58 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks for Amby's advice for a game Amby is almost out of (59 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about two Renovatio Europa games he's in and his psyche around detaching himself in a whimsy. Amby seems to be following instead a bitter strategy in some of his games (1 hr 0 mins 30 secs) * They move onto Amby's Undivided States game which he feels is starting to head toward the end game (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs) * They discuss having a post face-to-face game wrap-up and then a bonus podcast episode for Patreon supporters of the show. They also decide to hold over the newbie episode to the Christmas show (1 hr 3 mins 20 secs) * The guys discuss the idea of having a Brains Trust segment of the show with the leading players of the online sites and possibly face-to-face. Then they wrap up the segment (1 hr 5 mins) * But just as quickly... they're back! Amby remembers his WW2 Global Boogooloo game is over and forgot to talk about it. One of the players (RanseStoddard - who was playing Portugal) after finding out about the podcast covering the game, gave Amby some feedback: on Kaner's panhandle discussion (1 hr 8 mins 20 secs)

Post face-to-face game chat * The guys return post-game with Laloma who played Austria and got the most SCs at the end of the game: going from 5 SCs to 10 in the final year (1 hr 13 mins) * Kaner asks about Laloma's approach at the start, particularly her dealing with Turkey over the Balkans (1 hr 14 mins) * In the game Amby played as Russia and Kaner was Italy. They discuss the start of the game with Germany doing a reverse Alpine Chicken sending Munich towards Venice (1 hr 15 mins) * They discuss how Ty and Beth drew neighboring countries again as France and England. They discuss Ty's big beaming smile towards the end of the game when he was in the lead, until 3 players threw SCs to Laloma to spite Ty and ensure he didn't come first (1 hr 16 mins 15 secs) * Laloma talks about her plans to take Tristan (Turkey) off the board. Kaner asks Amby about a Russian northern game and his plans there, before quickly changing to a southern game. Amby talks about being stabbed (1 hr 18 mins 30 secs) * Laloma's lift turns up and she has to go. Kaner and Amby continue the show. You can check all the orders from each player in Backstabbr (1 hr 20 mins 40 secs) * They discuss Fall 1902 when everyone seemingly independently moved into Germany (1 hr 21 mins 50 secs) * Kaner discusses his thoughts stabbing Austria at one point in the game (1 hr 23 mins) * They discuss Ty's "Line that can't be crossed", which Kaner broke (1 hr 24 mins 55 secs) * The guys have a yarn about drinking and different generations' take. They discuss their Piss Fit plans for Thailand in WDC 2021 (1 hr 28 mins 30 secs) * Kaner returns to his anti reverse Alpine Chicken rant (1 hr 32 mins)

Presidential campaign update * Kaner discusses his next election plank (1 hr 34 mins 45 secs) * Amby provides some Vice-Presidential advice on another plank, before Kaner stamps his presidential authority on the situation (1 hr 35 mins 45 secs) * They discuss having some reasonable planks - learning Diplomacy and geography in Year 10 (1 hr 40 mins) * The guys wrap up the show before reminding listeners you can hear bonus podcast episodes for Patreon supporters of the show (1 hr 42 mins)

Venue: The Stanton and then post-game the Hornblower Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - The Hills Cider from the Adelaide Hills

Amby - Little Creatures Pale Ale from Freemantle

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

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

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The guys talk what makes a good Diplomacy neighbor, a new upcoming variant, bonus stuff for our Patreons and their 2020 Presidential/VP bid to Make Diplomacy Great Again #MDGA.

Intro * The guys introduce the show before Kaner taunts Amby on maths (0 mins 15 secs) * They discuss their drinks and the venue for tonight, Frankie and George. They provide a tease about a recording for our Patreons (1 min) * They talk about the recent fires in Queensland and New South Wales (3 mins)

Newbie Chat (part 3): Neighbors for Newbies * The guys introduce their 3rd segment for newbie players, this time talking about what makes a good neighbor for each player on the Diplomacy board. But first there's some 80's Australian TV trivia (3 mins 45) * We begin with Germany and talk about who would make a good neighbor to Germany (6 mins 45 secs) * Amby suggests a ballsy move for a German opening. Kaner explains his reverse experience. They argue about what "lucking out" means (12 mins 30 secs) * Austria is next (15 mins 30 secs) * They move onto Turkey. Kaner questions Amby's suggested good neighbor for Turkey (17 mins 45 secs) * Amby gives his tasting notes of Kaner's beer (22 mins 45 secs) * Next the guys talk Italy (24 mins 45 secs) * When talking Italy they touch on the Lepanto opening (27 mins) * The guys give a shout out the now defunct DiplomacyCast podcast, especially for face to face advice (30 mins 15 secs) * France is next (31 mins) * England's good neighbors (33 mins) * The guys then wrap up with Russia (35 mins)

New podcast: the Diplomacy Podcast * Amby stumbles through explaining how he found the Diplomacy Podcast from Erik van Mechelen in Minnesota (37 mins 20 secs) * Its a much shorter digestible chunk format than our show (40 mins 30 secs)

Kaner and Amby announce their potential Presidential election bid for 2020 * After some rambling they declare their potential bid for President and VP for next year's American election (41 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the need for a lawyer to justify their non-American birth still qualifying them (44 mins) * Kaner announces his first policy plank - compulsory voting (45 mins 15 secs) * The guys are keen for listeners advice and support for our bid (47 mins)

Next face to face game in Brisbane: 1 December * At the next match 3 out of the 7 confirmed players are female players, which is great to get that balance and participation in the game (48 mins) * Kaner changes beers and talks about the bartenders' recommendations (49 mins 45 secs) * If you want to play sign up (52 mins 15 secs)

Upcoming new variant - A Modern Europe * Kaner discusses the upcoming new variant which is a Europa Renovatio meets Modern map made by Kurt. Its not live yet and while Kaner can see it (with his vDip mod powers), Amby can't. So sorry you'll need to wait a little longer to see this 20 player map (53 mins 45 secs) * Kaner discusses Sealanes and Amby's original poo-pooing of them (59 mins 15 secs) * Amby is reminded by Kaner that he created the Sealanes concept (1 hr 1 min 30 secs)

Around the grounds * They briefly chat Silent Europe (1 hr 6 mins 15 secs) * Then they move quickly onto Amby's Divided States game with Montana now down to 1 SC (1 hr 6 mins 50 secs) * They talk about changes along the real life US/Canadian border; changes along the New York/Kentucky border (real life Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky); and changes down Florida way (1 hr 8 mins) * Kaner gives his second policy plank - solid black borders along rivers and pan handle reform (1 hr 12 mins 20 secs)

Amby gives an update to his WW2 Global Boogaloo game (which is now up to spring 1972), with Thailand now eliminated and Japan on the ropes (1 hr 14 mins 40 secs)
Amby has lost the fun in his Funboat game where one of his allies stabbed him for 2 SCs (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs)

What the Dr Recommended * The guys give an update in the Top 100 at vDip covering active players in positions 45-75 (1 hr 20 mins 30 secs)

Bonus for Patreons * You can support the show to donate to the alcohol tab and better audio equipment AND NOW YOU WILL GET BONUS EXTRA CONTENT! (1 hr 23 mins 45 secs) * The guys ask for feedback on what to include in the bonus shows for Patreon supporters (1 hr 25 mins 45 secs) * You can sign up at https://www.patreon.com/DiplomacyGames. They guys then start wrapping up (1 hr 27 mins)

Venue: Frankie and George, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Mexican Hot Chocolate stout and later a Witching Hour raspberry sour, Ballistic Brewery IPA in Brisbane

Amby - Hacienda Lopez de Haro Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain

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

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

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The guys start the show sober but by the end... oh dear. Part 2 of our newbie series, lots of post face-to-face game analysis and Amby learns about blocks up and blocks down.

Intro * The guys introduce the show before their 3rd face to face game in Brisbane. Amby mentions he caught up with "The General" during the week for a Diplomacy crash course reminder (0 mins 5 secs) * They are recording at the Croft House and introduce their drinks (1 min 45 secs) * They bring up the tournament being held in Canberra this weekend (3 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner talks about trialing tactics if you're behind in the board. Amby brings up his War in the Americas game "Rivers of Bruhs: David's Conquest" at PlayDip once he got boxed in (4 mins)

They digress onto Australian movies before Amby explains his off the wall tactic and how it worked out. Recommended Australian films are Bad Boy Bubby (Kaner) and The Castle (Amby) (8 mins)
Kaner gives an update on his Europa Renovatio games, starting with "Cry God for Harry!" (13 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks Kaner about what bits of his strategy are working well and what's not (15 mins 25 secs)
Kaner touches on his other Europa games, but as they're gunboats he's pretty vague (18 mins 30 secs)
Kaner brings up a text message from Amby where he listened to a different song when playing his Divided States game, testing his superstitious hoodoo. Amby goes onto discuss the latest update on player positions (19 mins 20 secs)

Advice for Newbies (part 2): Making Moves * The guys discuss the five types of moves and the nature of cutting support, choosing which unit to move if you suspect support will be cut and convoy subtleties (23 mins 15 secs)

Sample moves: * Hold: A War (hold), A Sil -> War (attack) fails

Move: A Con -> Bul, or F Ank -> BLA (both succeed)
Move: resulting in a "bounce"/stand off. A Par -> Bur A Mun -> Bur
Support move: Par -> Bur, Mar support Par -> Bur. Mun -> Bur. Paris succeeds in taking Burgundy.
Support move: failed due to a double bounce - Par -> Bur, Mar support Par -> Bur. Mun -> Bur, A Bel support Mun - >Bur
Cutting support Par -> Bur, Mar support Par -> Bur. Mun -> Bur. Pied -> Mars (cuts support); Results in effectively Mun/Par bouncing again as Mar can't help now
When deciding which unit to move and if you expect someone to break your support, look at alternatives
eg instead of Paris attacking Burgundy, could Marseilles attack if another unit moved into Marseilles?
Mar -> Bur, Par support Mar -> Bur, Spa -> Mar. Mun -> Bur. Pied -> Mars - results in France successfully taking Burgundy and preventing Italy moving Piedmont into Marseilles
More units are needed to dislodge a support held unit eg A Bur, Par support hold Bur; Germany would need to hammer Burgundy with Bel, Ruhr and Munich. Here we have A Ruhr -> Bur, A Bel support Ruhr -> Bur, A Mun support Ruhr -> Bur
Convoy: A Edi -> Norway; NTS convoy Edi - > Norway; you need to put in both. If you just move the army but don't mention the NTS fleet it is an illegal move.
Note, we're using the Backstabbr sandbox to show the moves here. They show convoys different visually with little waves for the naval unit doing the convoying.
Kaner explains how a double convoy works: Edi -> Norway, NTS convoy Edi - Nor NWS convoy Edi - Nor; if Den-NTS supported by Holland, convoy still succeeds
Multiple convoy: A Nor -> Brest; F NTS convoy Nor -> Bre, F EC convoy NTS to Brest; Belgium taps NTS, convoy still succeeds
Can only convoy through sea territories, not coastal territories/canals
Can only convoy one unit at a time
The guys wrap up the first segment of the show before heading down to their face to face game (38 mins 30 secs)

Post game analysis * The guys report back in after playing 5 hours of face to face Diplomacy (38 mins 45 secs)

They go through the players and which country they drew before the guys discuss their lack of poker faces (37 mins 20 secs)
Kaner (Austria) laments Ty and Laloma (Russia and Turkey's) efforts to remove Kaner (41 mins 30 secs)
The final make up of the board in Fall 1907 (when we ran out of time) was France and Turkey on 9 SCs, Russia on 8 SC's (43 mins)
They discuss the physical placement of playing blocks when it comes to moves, supports, retreats, how fleets are placed etc (45 mins 15 secs)
Kaner reminds Amby what the Flying Dutchman is again (50 mins 30 secs)
They discuss how social games are different to tournament games and how Loloma played a great first game (53 mins)
Kaner is thankful he survived with 2 SCs. Amby shares with Kaner some in-game discussion about Kaner (55 mins)
They discuss the new weekly Diplomacy email newsletter "The Briefing" with the most recent edition talking about the WebDip Terminator Tournament organised by bo_sox48 and won by TheGhostMaker and other things in the briefing. Sign up for The Briefing (57 mins 30 secs)
Being a bit drunk they remember toward the end to mention they're at the Hornblower Bar which they agree to keep as a "regular" bar for post face-to-face analysis. They also mention their drinks: Kaner is having the James Squire 150 Lashes at the Hornblower and had at the game Newstead Brewery's IPA and Porter. Amby is having the Chris Ringland CR Shiraz at the bar and during the game had the Newstead Brewery's Pale Ale and IPA (1 hr 1 min 30 secs)
They guys then wrap up the show (1 hr 3 mins 30 secs)

Venue: The Croft House, Brisbane (pre-game) and Hornblower Bar (post-game)

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - James Squire Orchard Crush cider, Newstead Brewery IPA and Porter, James Squire 150 Lashes ale

Amby - Tempranillo Zinio, Newstead Brewery Pale ale and IPA and Chris Ringland CR Shiraz

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

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

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The guys go back to the 1970's with an old school guide to Diplomacy from Kaner while Amby channels his Stevie Wonder "Very Superstitious" habits. They start their Newbie Guide to Diplomacy and do an updated Around the Grounds for their games.

Intro * The guys start with plastic glasses at the Wet Deck pool bar at the W Hotel overlooking the Brisbane River. Its already hot in mid-spring (0 mins 5 secs) * They discuss how long Diplomacy has been played before Kaner brings out a 1978 Gamer's Guide to Diplomacy produced by Avalon Hill. Kaner talks about how he got a hold of it (2 mins 15 secs) * Amby starts flicking through it and they discuss some of the 1970's cartoons in it. They then start talking about what's also in the guide and some strategies including options if you're down to a small number of SC's. (5 mins) * They talk about some of the variants in the guide they've never heard of, including Bid Diplomacy (13 mins 30 secs) * They've forgotten to introduce their drinks belatedly. With the heat Amby is drinking a 28 Pale Ale from the Gold Coast and Kaner is drinking a Somersby cider (16 mins 30 secs) * The guys quickly move onto an Around the Grounds digression involving a 1898 game being played by Kaner. While this variant is played on the classic board, how its different to Classic. Kaner provides words of sage advice in the fog of war 1898 game he's in and about to solo (17 mins 15 secs)

Kaner and Amby's Newbie Guide to Diplomacy - Part 1: The map * The guys introduce this new segment to help new players to Diplomacy understand the game. If you're a non-newbie feel free to fast forward this bit (25 mins 15 secs) * After some unplanned argy-bargy about what to cover off, they end up discussing initially the map, SCs, territories and how different units behave on different territory types (26 mins) * They talk about how some coastal territories have two costs and how that impacts on the game, before discussing canal zones and impassable zones (32 mins 15 secs)

Diplomacy players' superstitions * Amby starts discussing a recent habit that has now become a superstition (38 mins) * He explains how when he sticks with his superstition and plays the same song his moves go well, but when he varied it once, it went terribly (39 mins) * He talks about his Divided States two songs - the 1812 Overture and the Love Boat theme. He plays Spanish guitar songs in games where he's playing Spain (39 mins 30 secs) * He discusses what superstitions other players have expressed when asked on vDip, webDip, playDip and the DiplomacyGames Twitter account (42 mins 30 secs)

2021 World Diplomacy Championship * The guys quickly discuss the 2020 tourney at Carnage but move onto the recently announced 2021 WDC in Thailand (49 mins) * As a former Aussie expat in Thailand, Kaner gives his suggestions on where would be a good hosting location in Thailand (51 mins 30 secs) * Kaner discusses his idea for a historical 13th century southeast Asian variant (54 mins) * They briefly touch on a PM from Flame about tweaks to the Mongol Diplomacy variant (56 mins)

Around the grounds * Kaner starts the segment by discussing some quality public press in a Europa Renovatio game he's been spectating (57 mins 40 secs) * Amby kicks off his game discussion with his WW2 Global Boogooloo game (1 hr 7 mins)

The Europa Renovatio game Cry God for Harry! has kicked off. Its not a gunboat for once but its anon. The guys give their thoughts on their early moves without giving away who they are (1 hr 9 mins)
Amby's never ending Divided States game has taken a few more turns with the game dynamics changing again (1 hr 11 mins)
They discuss the anon Silent Europe game they're both in and how Amby's superstition isn't working in this game (1 hr 16 mins)
They then move onto Amby's playDip USA! game as Spain where Chile soloed. Amby gives some constructive - but positive - criticism he doesn't like about two things at playDip (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs)
Amby discusses a second War in the Americas game at playDip he's in, also playing as Spain. He discusses the brutality of having to play 12 hour phases (1 hr 21 mins)
Amby explains the main reason he joined this game is because its a "Stuff Happens" variant - and what type of crazy stuff happens (1 hr 25 mins)

What the Dr Recommended * The guys return to the vDip Hall of Fame for the 20-somethings to position 50 (1 hr 28 mins)

Wrapping up * They talk about their 3rd face-to-face game coming up in Brisbane on 27 October (1 hr 30 mins) * The guys discuss donating to Patreon for the drinking fund or buying (at no extra charge to you) from our Amazon affiliate link (1 hr 31 mins) * And then conclude the show (1 hr 33 mins)

Venue: Wet Bar, W Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Somersby cider, pretty much mass produced everywhere

Amby - 28 Pale Ale, Gold Coast, Australia

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

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

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The guys meet Matt. He's selling Amby his Diplomacy board. Why? He doesn't play Dip anymore. The guys find out why and try to bring Matt back to the game. Plus a big Around the Grounds session.

Interview with Matt * The guys welcome Matt, a lapsed Diplomacy player who is selling his board to Amby (0 mins 5 secs) * Amby asks why Matt what’s going on (1 min 10 secs) * Matt talks about how he’s turned more to Twilight Imperium as a Diplomacy engine substitute which is less “brutal” and more adaptable in gameplay (2 mins 15 secs) * Matt talks about his interest in the game as a historian (3 mins 30 secs) * Kaner reflects on his group of board game players and Diplomacy (6 mins) * Matt discusses a couple of interesting Diplomacy gameplay moments (8 mins 50 secs) * Amby raises the challenge of getting seven players actively involved who don’t disengage (11 mins 10 secs) * Amby invites Matt and few friends to upcoming Brisbane face to face games. By the way apologies for a couple of minutes of loud kitchen background noise (12 mins 25 secs) * Matt explains why he likes the purity of Diplomacy versus games with fiddly rules like Game of Thrones (13 mins 30 secs) * They talk discussions strategies if you don’t have the perfect number of seven players before going onto discuss the game dynamics (16 mins) * Amby starts wrapping up the discussions with Matt (19 mins)

Post-interview chat * Kaner and Amby discuss the interview and hopefully they’ll have a few more face-to-face players who’ll come along to the Brisbane games (19 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses marketing speak and how its easier to keep an existing “consumer” or previous “consumer” of Diplomacy rather than try to land a new “consumer” and why Craig’s List may be a way to find Dip players who can’t find enough players for a game (21 mins 45 secs) * They go onto discuss the issue of players disengaging and the purity of the game (22 mins 45 secs) * The guys talk about the idea of a series for new players about the game (24 mins)

By the way, here's a photo of Amby's game that he bought (taken drunkenly on a Brisbane bus on the way home):

What the Dr Recommended * Kaner and Amby bring back this older segment mispronouncing the top 25 players at vDip (25 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds Note: this was recorded 11 September 2019 - so the games have all moved on from when the guys discussed them.

Amby gives an update on his USA! War of the Americas game at PlayDip and his recent experience being half stabbed. They discuss the different messaging system and draw request approach at PlayDip (30 mins)
They move onto their vDip games, starting with Amby’s anonymous Divided States game which is now down to just 5 players (from an original 50 players). They go through the positions of each player to not give away who Amby is (33 mins 50 secs)

For full size map with detail go to the game map

Next up is the Silent Europe Renovatio Europa game they’re both in (48 mins 20 secs)
The guys grab another drink (by the way they’re still drinking the same) before moving onto the next Divided States game Amby is in: American Funboat (50 mins 50 secs)
Then its Amby’s Google Translate game where he is about to die playing “Ron” Burgundy (54 mins 10 secs)
Amby asks Kaner to read Ron Burgundy’s last message and whether he can work out what it means (56 mins 45 secs)
Amby talks about the imgur page he created posting his Ron Burgundy memes (59 mins)
They move onto their last game WW2 Global Boogooloo (59 mins 45 secs)
Kaner starts talking about some games he’s involved in including a Fog of War 1898 game before starting to talk about the upcoming Cry God for Harry Europa Renovatio game (this has actually started since the podcast recording). He then talks about another new Europa game where some people have dropped out. Then it’s another Kaner Europa game which he describes as like stepping in dog shit. Amby has already been eliminated from this game (1 hr 2 mins)
The guys start wrapping up (1 hr 7 mins)

Venue: Alba, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - 3 Bolt Pale Ale by Green Beacon Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Juama Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre, Barossa Valley, Australia

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

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

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What happens when a robot learns to play Diplomacy? Listen to jmo and peterwiggin (pw) from webDip on the most transformative online Dip development in many years. This is a game changer folks! Plus talk on WDC in Marseilles, DipCon in Seattle, the 2nd face-to-face game in Brisbane and panhandle closure. Phew... this is a packed episode!

Intro * The guys channel Guns’n’Roses before discussing their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs)

They discuss their previous recording with jmo and his post-interview discussion with the guys about bringing artificial intelligence (AI) to webDip. They give the context about the academic paper and the interview with jmo and peterwiggin (pw) - the techincal brains trust supporting the implementation before diving in (2 mins 30 secs)

Interview with jmo and peterwiggin about AI and Diplomacy * Amby apologises up front as the interview they recorded with jmo and pw a week ago didn’t get recorded (4 mins 40 secs) * They get straight into what the webDip crew have been doing with the University of Montreal to develop bots that can play Diplomacy at a pretty high level on the classic map. Jmo explains how it all works at a high level and how you can play games with bots (5 mins 15 secs) * He discusses the processes for drawing (8 mins 50 secs) * Conceding has also been brought into webDip from vDip, and ratings won’t be affected. He discusses how if you don’t get enough real life players you can fill it with bots. Jmo discusses it going live on “this coming Friday” which is the day this podcast episode is released (9 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about the dynamics for how the bot thinks, drawing from 150,000 games as part of its intelligence (11 mins 30 secs) * Pw talks about the machine learning process, neural networks, training the bots and reinforcement learning (13 mins) * Kaner confirms his understanding of how the bots open and pw discusses. They then discuss the bots’ “memory” and throwing support to the bots (21 mins 45 secs) * Kaner and Amby discuss their joint test game against the bots (Kaner was France, Amby was England) and reflect how quickly the bots started wiping them out. Amby asks about the extent the bots think about strategy and planning for the future (26 mins)

Kaner (France) & Amby’s (England) bot test game where it was up to in the interview

Amby asks about how the bots draw from previous game data sets to make its decisions (32 mins 30 secs)
Amby goes into more detail around the bots’ thinking and determining its own logic versus mathematical analysis of data (35 mins 15 secs)
Kaner asks about the bots’ names and how human players are likely to respond to AI players (37 mins 20 secs)
Amby asks about whether the bots recall its previous games, understanding what works and takes on a personality, or does it effectively reboot everytime (41 mins 10 secs)
Jmo expands and talks about how bots can be set up to fill games in webDip where a player goes into civil disorder (CD’s) (43 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks about whether the bots and their code will be available on other Diplomacy sites (48 mins)
Amby mentions how bot games are unranked, but asks whether there will be future tournaments/league tables for human players against the bots (50 mins 30 secs)
Amby talks about his own solo game against the bots and how he’s stalemated the bots. He asks based on what’s transpired whether that would allow for a successful draw (52 mins 45 secs)

Amby’s solo game (Russia) which he stalemated before taking up Kaner’s suggestion

Kaner asks whether things would change if Amby used his Silesia unit to do something different (57 mins 15 secs)
Amby as reflects on how has got used to the Interactive Map Order Interface at vDip and found webDip’s drop down menus not as intuitive. He asks whether there’s plans to move that functionality across (59 mins)
Amby asks whether other variants - like Ancient Med - have a sufficiently large dataset to draw on to bring across to bot games (1 hr 01 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks whether there’s any future opportunity for truncated communication for the bots. They go onto discuss avoiding Skynet (1 hr 3 mins 20 secs)
They talk about the go live date (7 pm Friday 13 September US Eastern time) and how webDip players can provide feedback on the bots before wrapping up the interview (1 hr 9 mins)

Post-interview discussion * The guys come back from the interview and discuss how badly they did (1 hr 12 mins 10 secs)

By the way, here’s the end of Kaner’s solo bot game as Russia where he got smashed!

Kaner talks about how he expected to go in against the bots for them to act like newbies but was shocked how hard they played. Amby discusses his plans to stab Kaner in the game but never got the chance (1 hr 15 mins 20 secs)
They discuss is metagaming against bots metagaming? Kaner goes onto discuss where game types could go (1 hr 16 mins 20 secs)
Amby talks about the bots doing well by drawing on data sets whose decision making would have been based on real life games which may have included negotiations (1 hr 18 mins 45 secs)
Amby encourages all players regardless of which platform you play to play the bots (1 hr 21 mins)
They talk about the names for the bots and scope for other variants eg France vs Austria (1 hr 22 mins 45 secs)

Other Diplomacy news * The guys get some more drinks, with Amby describing his wine (1 hr 28 mins) * They go onto discuss the recent WDC in Marseilles (1 hr 29 mins 20 secs) * Next up is a discussion about DipCon 2019. They discuss the black tie event (1 hr 32 mins)

The guys talk about their upcoming second face-to-face game in Brisbane for Sunday 15 September (1 hr 34 mins 20 secs)
They go onto talk about what a game organiser should do if they haven’t got seven players and their options (1 hr 35 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks Kaner if he got any pan handle emails (1 hr 36 mins 50 secs)
Amby explains why he doesn’t like the Chromatic variant (1 hr 40 mins 50 secs)
The guys start wrapping it up and discuss getting them more drunk by donating via our https://www.patreon.com/DiplomacyGames, or use our Diplomacy Games Amazon account (costs you no more!) to improve our audio gear (1 hr 42 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Alba, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - 3 Bolt Pale Ale by Green Beacon Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Juama Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre, Barossa Valley, Australia

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

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

View Details

The guys interview Nathan Barnes about DipCon 2019 in Seattle before shooting the breeze on diplomatic uniforms, face-to-face games, current online games and what exactly is the Florida Panhandle.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and flag today’s episode has an interview with Nathan Barnes who is coordinating the 50 year anniversary of DipCon at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss their drinks briefly (3 mins 20 secs) * Amby mentions this is the second time Nathan has been on the show, previously interviewed about their former podcast, DiplomacyCast (4 mins)

Interview with Nathan Barnes about DipCon 2019 * The guys welcome Nathan back to the show (4 mins 30 secs) * Nathan talks about the upcoming DipCon which is being held 6-8 September 2019 (5 mins 30 secs) * Each round is going to have a different scoring system based on the different scoring systems used over the years at DipCon and one round will be a black tie themed event and recognizing the efforts of Diplomacy folks over time (7 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks whether Nathan has a favourite scoring system (8 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks about whether the tournament is exclusively for Americans or if players from other countries can attend (12 mins) * Kaner asks about the black tie round (13 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses the photo used on the Black Tie page. Nathan discusses the Diplomatic Uniform… and swords (15 mins 30 secs)

Amby asks about the timing closeness of DipCon compared to WDC this year (19 mins)
Kaner asks about accomodation near DipCon before they talk Vegemite (21 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks about how Washington Athletic Club was chosen as the venue. Nathan talks about the grandeur and setting of WAC (24 mins 20 secs)
They discuss the impact of alcohol on the gameplay (27 mins 20 secs)
They discuss plans for celebrating DipCon’s 50th year and the scoring process (29 mins)
Amby asks if people haven’t played at a tournament, what would they expect to get out of it (32 mins 20 secs)
Kaner asks what people attending should get out of it (36 mins 20 secs)
Amby gives Nathan an update on his progression into creating a face-to-face community (39 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks about “regulars” to tournaments (42 mins 55 secs)
They talk about witnessing who is talking to who and their physical responses (44 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks about the physical space being used for games and for negotiations to occur (46 mins)
Nathan encourages folks to sign up at https://www.dipcon2019.com/ (46 mins 50 secs)

Post interview chat * The guys come back from the interview and discuss their thoughts. Kaner confuses Amby before they talk snakes (49 mins 30 secs) * Amby plugs the Diplomacy Games Amazon affiliate account. We need 2 more American sales to keep the account going (53 mins 45 secs) * The Amazon page now has a Kaner & Amby’s Book Club section for whenever we’ve talked about books on the show. Amby mentions he’s reading a biography called Bismark by Alan Palmer (54 mins 40 secs) * They return to discuss the interview again. Kaner talks about his Diplomatic Uniform - dressed as Crocodile Dundee.

Amby talks about Australian diplomat Sir Les Patterson (56 mins 20 secs)
They talk about DipCon’s scoring system (60 mins)
Amby discusses the contribution of older players to the game (1 hr 3 mins)
Amby talks about how he plays Monopoly using his Diplomacy skills. Kaner similarly talks about using his Diplomacy skills in Settlers of Catan (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs)
They discuss creating a new segment of the show for new players. The guys ask listeners to provide their suggestions for what we should talk about to help inform new players. Just go to our Contact us page to provide your suggestions. Amby discusses cutting support as a potential area to discuss (1 hr 9 mins)
The guys discuss the upcoming second face-to-face game in Brisbane for the weekend of 14-15 September (1 hr 15 mins 20 secs)
Amby suggests another way of finding new players to join a local face-to-face community: using CraigsList or Gumtree, reaching out to people selling Diplomacy boards. If they are selling because they find it hard getting 7 people for a game, invite them to join your community (1 hr 16 mins 30 secs)
Kaner suggests promoting upcoming games through flyers at board game shops and where you’re holding the event (1 hr 18 mins)
Kaner reflects on Nathan’s comments about American’s wanting a scrappy game. They discuss the different cultural aspects of the game (1 hr 19 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner asks how Amby’s Google Translate game is going. Kaner quotes one of Amby’s Ron Burgundy posts. Amby actually shares what the real message was. He talks about his approach for this game after drawing Burgundy (1 hr 22 mins) * Amby discusses Kaner’s great idea about how to deal with their anonymous gunboat games - by talking about players still in the game, which may be them or may not be them. This episode they talk about Choose Your Weapon, starting up in Scandinavia before progressing around the board (1 hr 30 mins 45 secs)

They move onto the next Europa Renovatio game that they are both in, before Kaner talks about his other Europa game (1 hr 49 mins 45 secs)
Amby suggests a few tweaks to the Europa Renovatio map to create a new variant set in the 13th century with a major Mongol player (1 hr 53 mins)
They discuss whether this would make it unbalanced or not, and if so, what variant rules would be needed to counter this (1 hr 55 mins)
Kaner digresses for a moment with a history lesson for Amby (1 hr 56 mins 50 secs)
They go back to the variant idea and discuss different concepts for how the fog of war could work, before landing on the religious fog of war concept. They discuss how great it would be if Technostar edited his existing variant to support this new variant idea (1 hr 59 mins 50 secs)
Next up, its Amby’s never-ending Divided States game (2 hrs 2 mins 30 secs)
Kaner and Amby argue about what the Florida Panhandle is (2 hrs 3 mins 45 secs)
They get back to the map (2 hrs 8 mins)
Kaner mentions a fog of war game he’s in but doesn’t want to talk about it yet. Amby’s new Divided States game “American Funboat” has started - he may or may not be in a state with a panhandle (2 hrs 10 mins 50 secs)
They discuss the frequent joining and leaving of players in the pre-start Cry God for Harry, Europa Renovatio game (2 hr 12 mins 30 secs)
Amby touches on his WW2 Global Boogooloo game (1937 World at War variant) (2 hrs 13 mins)
Amby then turns to his USA!! Game, a War in the Americas game at PlayDip. This is a non-anon game where Amby is playing as Spain (pink) (2 hrs 16 mins)
Kaner gets onto a panhandle rant again (apologies there’s some audio distortion in the background - couldn’t work out how it happened/how to get rid of it) (2 hrs 17 mins 20 secs)
The guys wrap up (2 hrs 23 mins)

Venue: Death and Taxes, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Windjammer IPA by Green Beacon Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Sh Sh Shiraz by Tscharke Wines, Barossa Valley, Australia

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

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

View Details

The guys interview Zack Twamley, the host of the history podcast When Diplomacy Fails. They talk about parallels between the game and real life events. Plus Google Translate chat and their first Face to Face game in Brisbane.

Intro * Kaner and Amby start by forgetting to introduce themselves before celebrating their 50th episode at Gilhooley’s Irish Pub and running through their drinks (0 mins 5 secs) * They then discuss their upcoming guest, Zack Twamley, host of the history podcast When Diplomacy Fails (1 min 20 secs) * Zack recently completed an 85 episode series about the Treaty of Versailles and has name dropped the game Diplomacy a number of times on his podcast (2 mins) * Amby gives a quick run down about the Delegation Game that Zack ran which involved a lot of the same set of Diplomacy skills in drafting an alternate history Treaty of Versailles (3 mins) * The guys then throw to the interview (4 mins)

Interview with Zack Twamley from the When Diplomacy Fails podcast * Kaner and Amby welcome Zack to the show (4 mins 15 secs) * Zack talks about his recent holiday in Sicily. He discusses the books he took to read: Dan Jones’ The Plantagenets and Bernard Cornwell’s multi part series about the archer Thomas of Hookton. Amby touches on Kaner’s prior recommendation about Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian series beginning with The Winter King (5 mins) * Amby touches on Zack’s show and his occasional name dropping about the game Diplomacy. Zack talks about his experience with the game in a caravan one holiday and how it was so unlike any other game he’d played before (6 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks Zack to give his perspective on what makes Diplomacy very different to any other games (10 mins) * Amby touches on the recent interview with Baron von Powell and the random element in Diplomacy being the players and their behavior (11 mins 30 secs) * Zack asks about a couple of Baron’s variants, Amby explains particularly 1900 and its more historical bent (12 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks Zack about what 2 or 3 players in history would make excellent Diplomacy players (16 mins 45 secs) * Amby quotes Zack quoting Colonel House in episode 73 of When Diplomacy Fails, talking about Lloyd George which sounds like a critique of a Diplomacy player. He goes onto discuss House’s thoughts about the main contenders in Paris after World War One (22 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks who was a poor Diplomacy player at the peace conference, Zack then discusses who was a surprisingly good player (26 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the similarities and differences between When Diplomacy Fails and Diplomacy Game (35 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about Zack’s “The Delegation Game” and to what extent it turned out the way he expected (36 mins 50 secs) * Zack discusses which players of the Delegation Game he felt would make great Diplomacy players (41 mins) * Amby touches on Zack’s other job as a university lecturer discussing European politics. He queries the nature of Brexit and how it relates to the game Diplomacy (44 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks about what historical similarities to Brexit are there (48 mins 50 secs) * The guys ask Zack where Diplomacy Games listeners can go to if they want to learn more about his show (57 mins 40 secs) * The three guys talk about an online collaboration game (1 hr 0 mins 30 secs) * Amby provides info to Zack’s audience if they want to learn more about Diplomacy Games, finding face to face communities and online Diplomacy sites (1 hr 1 min 20 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the interview (1 hr 4 mins)

Post interview chat * Kaner and Amby return post-interview and give a few apologies (1 hr 5 mins 15 secs) * They talk about how good it would be to get Zack in a game and set a goal for episode 100 (1 hr 6 mins 45 secs) * Amby reflects that in addition to this being episode 50, when this episode drops its been 3 years since the podcast started (1 hr 7 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * The guys start talking about their current online games. Kaner begins by discussing his three Renovatio Europa games (1 hr 9 mins) * Kaner poses some questions about the connection between the Red Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in this variant. Amby agrees with Kaner’s argument on the ahistorical nature of this connection. They discuss options for how to maybe manage cross-African journeys. They also touch on which powers appear to be consistently doing overly well. Kaner talks about his games (1 hr 10 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses his Renovatio Europa games. They discuss how players can “kiss and make up” in gunboat games despite initial conflict (1 hr 18 mins) * Amby turns to his anonymous Divided States game which has been going over a year in real life (over 40 game years) which is starting to plateau. He discusses the recent changes in alliance blocks on the board (1 hr 20 mins 30 secs) * Amby says he’s been eliminated in his Versailles game at PlayDip, but his War of the Americas game is still going (1 hr 25 mins) * The guys talks about Amby’s Google Translate Diplomacy game with a couple of choice quotes (1 hr 26 mins) * They agree to head to their live face to face game and come back to discuss it and the Translate game in more detail (1 hr 28 mins)

Post live face-to-face game wrap up with Tony the Butcher from PlayDip * The guys introduce Tony the Butcher (a PlayDip player) who attended the face to face game in Brisbane. He played as Austria and got the equal highest number of SCs at the end of the game. Incidentally Amby drew Turkey and Kaner got France (1 hr 28 mins) * They talks about the newer players Tristan, Beth and Ty and how they did well. Strangely enough Rob who was the most experienced player got smashed up a bit (1 hr 30 mins) * Amby reflects that he didn’t get the same adreniline rush in this game as the Melbourne Open. They discuss having regular games now in Brisbane every two months (1 hr 33 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Tony about his experiences at PlayDip. Kaner discusses using the Fog of War map as a taster for Classic players to try variants (1 hr 34 mins 30 secs) * Kaner shows Tony the Renovatio Europa 34 player variant and talks about the board and playing a map of this type. Amby explains how sealanes and overseer zones (1 hr 36 mins 30 secs)

Google Translate game * Kaner and Amby discuss the Google Translate game going on at vDip using the Aberration V map. Players need to push their message through at least seven languages. All are published on full press (1 hr 39 mins 30 secs) * Kaner reads some sample recent messages (1 hr 41 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the nature of this being an unrated game. They ask about ratings at PlayDip (1 hr 45 mins) * Kaner talks about his recent win as Russia in a 1898 Fog of War game (1 hr 48 mins) * Amby digresses about the face to face game and seeing less experienced players not understanding the rules/writing orders. They talk about what’s easy in the game to pick up and what’s not (1 hr 51 mins 30 secs) * They ask Tony about his experience playing his first face to face game in a while (1 hr 54 mins) * Kaner talks about how in face to face you notice who is talking to who and how animated they can be and how you don’t get that in online games. They talk about how the game ebbed and flowed (1 hr 55 mins) * The guys wrap up (1 hr 59 mins)

Venue: Gilhooleys, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Kilkenny, Ireland

Amby - Guinness, Ireland

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

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

Cornwell's Thomas of Hookton Three-Book Set (Heretic, The Archer's Tale, Vagabond)

The Warlord Chronicles: Books 1, 2 & 3: Excalibur / Enemy of God / The Winter King

The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England

View Details

The guys interview jmo from webDip about all the great recent - and future - developments over there and how it relates to vDip. Chat also about Minecraft Diplomacy, playing Diplomacy in the navy and much more.

Intro * Show introduction and discussion about Kaner and Amby’s drinks (0 mins 5 secs) * They are getting together before their first face to face game of Diplomacy in Brisbane. Amby suggests if trying to grow the game locally, perhaps reaching out to university board game clubs to facilitate a game (2 mins 40 secs) * Kaner talks about his father’s Diplomacy experience in the Australian navy (4 mins 20 secs) * The guys introduce their interview with jmo1121109 from webDip (7 mins 20 secs)

Interview with jmo from webDip * The guys welcome jmo from webDip to the show and asks about his role there (8 mins 5 secs) * Jmo talks about some of the recent changes at webDip and why these were made. He also discusses how the webDip code improvements can then be used by other sites like vDip, the Russian site etc (9 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about the new forum functionality at webDip (12 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks what else has been happening over at webDip. Jmo acknowledges the great coding work being done by squiggs44 to help (16 mins 50 secs) * Amby gives his thumbs up to the new rating systems for active players (18 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks about other work at webDip. Jmo talks about tobi’s reliability/excused ratings and bringing that to webDip and then discusses the new tournament functionality now at webDip (21 mins 30 secs) * Kaner explains the noise in the background, Amby flags with jmo whether the tournament functionality allows for a particular country allocation process (32 mins) * Amby asks about the webDip Discord community and how its used. (34 mins) * Amby asks jmo if people wanted to help webDip, what skill sets are needed right now. Jmo talks about the role of mentors and people with a technical interest. He touches in the positive impact doing technical work at webDip to help professionally when growing your career (39 mins) * Amby asks about how the process works currently at webDip and what’s proposed in the future for supporting mentoring (45 mins 20 secs) * Jmo talks about webDip’s School of War (48 mins) * Kaner discusses how vDip incentivize people with little icons next to their names. Jmo likes what’s suggested and says he’s going to steal it (49 mins) * Amby asks Jmo to give a quick overview about what ghost ratings are and what Squiggs44’ is doing to bring ghost ratings to webDip (50 mins 30 secs) * Jmo discusses other future work planned on webDip like “dark mode”, how to see more live games, extended phase changes and bringing over vDip’s point and click interactive orders. He then mentions his final big change: a sandbox mode (54 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about what communication is happening across the different Diplomacy site admins (59 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks Jmo how can we grow the hobby more (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs) * Jmo is asked about whether he gets to play much (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks what the numbers after jmo’s handle mean (1 hr 6 min 30 secs) * Jmo finishes up with a longer term project to improve the way misturn delays are handled (1 hr 7 mins 15 secs)

The guys return from the interview * Kaner and Amby talk about a post-interview discussion about possible future developments at webDip (1 hr 8 mins) * They discuss their thoughts about the interview itself (1 hr 9 mins)

Diplomacy Minecraft * They move onto a forum post at webDip about playing Diplomacy on Minecraft (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs) * The way the discussions are planned for the Minecraft game (using Discord), Amby feels doesn’t resemble the nature of real Diplomacy which could be achieved inside the Minecraft interface (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs)

More post-jmo chat * The guys return to the jmo interview and discuss the sharing and code between webDip and vDip (1 hr 15 mins) * They talk about the rankings changes and possibly the future application of ghost ratings. They then discuss the “in demand” skills the online community needs right now (1 hr 18 mins) * Amby talks about a mentor marketplace to match up new and existing players. Kaner talks about the positive real life career implications of participating in the community with coding and mentoring (1 hr 19 mins 20 secs) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 21 mins)

Venue: Claude and Corbett, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Amby and Kaner - Claude and Corbett Lager, Brisbane

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

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

View Details

The guys interview Baron von Powell, legendary Diplomacy variant developer of 1900, Ambition and Empire and the College of Cardinals. Plus an Around the Grounds and more. Enjoy!

Intro * The guys are still at Felon’s Brewery in a back-to-back session. Kaner talks beer yoga (0 mins 30 secs) * Amby switches to a Felon’s IPA while Kaner sticks to the Treehouse cider (1 min 30 secs) * They move onto introducing the interview with Baron von Powell (2 mins 50 secs)

Interview with Baron von Powell * + Amby explores the nature of Baron von Powell’s name (3 mins 30 secs) + Baron shares how often he has played Diplomacy (4 mins 55 secs) + Baron talks about postal Diplomacy (7 mins) + Amby reflects on Baron’s views about Slack after his experience during the Tournament of Time at PlayDip (8 mins 10 secs) + Baron discusses his fascination with the game going back to the 80’s (10 mins) + He goes onto talk about responding to an article in 1998 in Diplomacy World about improving Classic. He goes onto discussing how this became the 1900 variant, with now over 500 games played - you can play 1900 at PlayDiplomacy (premium account needed) and vDiplomacy (14 mins) + Kaner discusses his first exposure to 1900 and the concept of Siberian reserve army. Baron talks about his role and where he drew inspiration. He goes onto discussing how he tried improving the Classic map to better reflect the “powerhouse” nature of Germany. He talks about not radicalizing the game, but better reflecting the historical nature of the map for when the game starts at 1900 (16 mins 15 secs) + Amby agrees with Baron’s historical thinking (19 mins 20 secs) + Amby goes onto ask with the 500 games that have occurred, to what extent the balance is improved (21 mins 40 secs) + Baron talks about the rule changes of 1900 (24 mins 15 secs) + Kaner asks whether territories in 1900 that are impassable in Classic (eg Iceland, Ireland) are used (28 mins 15 secs) + Baron mentions how stalemate lines are rarely used effectively in 1900 (30 mins 30 secs) + Kaner asks Baron about his other well known variant: Ambition & Empire. Baron talks about partnering with Jeff Kase on developing his variant and how its different to 1900 (31 mins) + Baron discusses the creation of the Diplomacy point and how they work (34 mins 20 secs) + They touch on the Tournament of Time and the nature of how the games worked out based on team strategy (37 mins) + They discuss the Dissolution variant and why Baron loves it so much (39 mins 45 secs) + Kaner asks about Baron’s latest project: College of Cardinals (10.3 mb PDF download), a variant he’s been developing for 9 years with Timothy Hayward. He begins by talking about some of the early difficulties designing the game (41 mins 20 secs) * + He discusses the nature of the role of the Pope and the process of electing the Pope. He talks about the difference in complexity between a Classic game and highly detailed variants like College of Cardinals (44 mins 30 secs) + Kaner discusses his experience in previous Crusade variants and how difficult it is to get armies to the Holy Land. Baron talks about how the College of Cardinals tries to address this with the option of a Crusade being called and how it works (47 mins) + Amby asks about how Excommunication impacts on gameplay (48 mins 45 secs) + Baron talks about Crusade objectives and how convoys work: including effectively “land” convoys. He then discusses how Diplomacy points come into play (50 mins 45 secs) + They discuss the Islamic powers in the game. There are 7 Catholic players, 2 Orthodox players and 3 Islamic powers (53 mins 45 secs) + Baron says listeners can read the rules and view the map when he sends them through to Kaner & Amby (56 mins 20 secs) + Baron discusses Papal Bulls (57 mins 15 secs) + Amby asks about the process for electing the Pope (58 mins 50 secs) + Baron reflects how the variant evolved how the nature of the Pope changed over time (1 hr 0 mins) + Baron flags the variant is in hiatus currently, but says he’d love to see enough committed players play another game. Amby discusses how it would really suit a forum game at PlayDip. (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs) + Kaner asks whether there’s a period of history that Baron feels is crying out for a variant to be made. Baron gives his thoughts (1 hr 5 mins 15 secs) + Baron leaves us with his passion: a strategic simulation of Lord of the Rings, a game he has been developing since 1981 (1 hr 9 mins 40 secs)

Note: There are two articles about College of Cardinals in Diplomacy World from 2013 and 2014 (http://www.diplomacyworld.net/pdf/dw124.pdf page 36 and http://www.diplomacyworld.net/pdf/dw126.pdf page 39)

Post-interview * The guys are back in the brewery and reflect on the interview (1 hr 12 mins) * They both express their interest in sinking their teeth into the variant although it has 60+ pages of rules and contents. If a test game happens it’s likely to be in 2020 (1 hr 14 mins 45 secs)

Sage of the Nine - Norse mythology variant being tested * The guys talk about a new variant “Saga of the Nine” a Norse mythology variant developed by Alex Ronke with Chris Helwig that is being playtested (1 hr 18 mins * Kaner walks on the wildside - committing to FOUR games (1 hr 21 mins) * Kaner after NMRing in a game he was in with Amby, experienced the new reliability system over at vDiplomacy (1 hr 22 mins) * The guys get back to the Norse variant with Kaner really interested in the Saga of the Nine variant (1 hr 23 mins 45 secs)

Brisbane Backstabbers face-to-face game coming up * The guys have organised a local face-to-face game for Sunday 28 July at Vault Games. If you’re interested in this game or future games, please register (1 hr 25 mins 45 secs)

Around the grounds * Amby touches on a Versailles game he’s playing at PlayDip - note since recording Amby has already been eliminated (1 hr 27 mins 45 secs) * They discuss the Edwardian game at vDip that Amby was getting smashed in (1 hr 29 mins 50 secs) * They get into trouble by mostly playing anonymous and gunboat games which limits clarity of the conversation in the podcast (1 hr 30 mins 30 secs) * They get back to the Edwardian game “Smoking jackets and single malt scotch” and Amby talks about the nature of the game and the caliber of players he was trying to attract - note since recording Amby has surprisingly been included in a draw (1 hr 32 mins 30 secs) * Kaner brings up how G-Man runs a similar “Cloak and Dagger” series of high end players (1 hr 34 mins) * Amby discusses how the alliances in the Edwardian game are constantly flipping (1 hr 34 mins 45 secs) * Kaner mentions - after recounting - he’s actually in FIVE gunboat games at the moment: three Europa Renovatio games and two 1898 Fog of War games (1 hr 39 mins) * Kaner talks about one of these games where he is being absolutely destroyed (1 hr 39 mins 30 secs) * They return to the anonymous gunboat A World at War 1937 variant game: WW2 Global Boogaloo which Kaner NMRed in (as Thailand). They talk about the game as best as they can, which is easier for Kaner as everyone now knows who he was playing (1 hr 42 mins 30 secs) * Amby mentions how he’s waiting on two games to still start: American Funboat (Divided States variant) and Cry George for Harry! (Europa Renovatio variant) (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs) * The guys start wrapping up the show, reminding folks if they want to support the guys getting drunk visit our Diplomacy Games Patreon page, if you want better audio visit our Diplomacy Games Amazon page and of course rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform (1 hr 49 mins)

Venue: Felon's Brewery, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Amby - Felon's IPA by Felon's, Brisbane

Kaner - Treehouse Cider by the Granite Belt Cider Company, Warwick

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

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

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The guys interview Emmanuel du Pontavice about WDC 2019 in Marseilles, before talking about new variants including Technostar's latest massive map, Europa Renovatio, War in the Americas and 1898. Plus a bit of chatter about their current games.

Intro * The guys are at Felon’s Brewery and start the show talking about Amby’s clumsiness and glasses (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby starts with a Felon’s Australian Pale Ale while Kaner is on a Treehouse Cider from the Granite Belt Cider Company (2 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Emmanuel du Pontavice about WDC 2019 in Marseilles * The guys start introducing their interview guest: Emmanuel du Pontavice, who is one of the tournament coordinators for the 2019 World Diplomacy Championship (WDC) in Marseilles, France from 30 August to 1 September (3 mins 30 secs) * The interview begins with Amby asking about the details of WDC this year. Emmanuel points potential players to the website which is available in English, French and Italian (4 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks about budget and accommodation options (8 mins 30) * Amby asks if there are any non-Diplomacy events planned for players (10 mins 10 secs) * They then discuss the format of the tournament (12 mins) * Kaner asks about the scoring system for the tournament. Emmanuel mentions the details are on the website (13 mins 35 secs) * Amby asks about the language needs of players if they don’t speak French (17 mins 15 secs) * Kaner asks about any other plans during the tournament (19 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks about how many people have signed up, or are likely to be attending (21 mins) * Kaner asks about how Marseilles was awarded to host the WDC (23 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks if there’s anything else Emmanuel would like to cover off (26 mins) * The guys wrap up the interview (28 mins 20 secs)

Face to face and new ways you can support the show * Amby reminds listeners if they are part of a face-to-face community, or are trying to start a community, pop by our Google Map to register their community (36 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto discuss plans for a face-to-face game in Brisbane for eitherJuly 27th or 28th. People interested can go to our Brisbane Diplomacy page to register. It will be held at Vault Games at 123 Charlotte Street, Brisbane (37 mins 25 secs) * Amby discusses an email they received from Brian in Hawaii who is moving back to Brisbane in early 2020 and is looking forward to a game. They discuss the importance of sunscreen in summer downunder (40 mins 30 secs) * Amby mentions that listeners have been able to for a while donate to our Patreon account to donate as a patron (usually to get us more drunk) can now by their stuff on Amazon via the Diplomacy Games affiliate account. It doesn’t cost you a cent more, but gives us a little kick back to help improve our audio equipment (42 mins 45 secs)

The guys grab some new drinks. Amby has moved onto the Natural Ale. Kaner is still on the Treehouse Cider (47 mins 10 secs)

Around the grounds/new variants * Amby reflects on probably the longest game he’s played, now onto its second year. This is Amby’s Divided States game (48 mins 15 secs) * They touch on the other Divides States game “American Funboat” which hasn’t started yet (51 mins) * Then it’s onto the latest massive variant at vDip: Europa Renovatio recently developed by Technostar (the developer of Divided States). It’s a massive 34 player map in the 15th century Europe (52 mins 20 secs) * The guys give their thoughts on its unowned SCs - SCs that appear visually owned by a power but isn’t actually owned when it comes to builds (58 mins) * Amby talks trivia and throws in a joke or two (1 hr 3 mins) * They get back onto the map and talk about the sea lanes (1 hr 8 mins) * The guys talk about their early experiences in their two games and where conflict is less likely vs where shit fights will happen (1 hr 11 mins) * The guys get more drinks, with Amby switching to something different: a Raspberry Sour (1 hr 18 mins 30 secs) * Amby learns about vaping from Kaner (1 hr 20 mins 20 secs) * They move onto the 1898 variant: a Classic map but with just 1 SC and unit. The guys discuss how it’s similar - but a little different - to the Age of Empires rule in PlayDip. Created by Randy Davis but ported across to online Diplomacy by Flame (1 hr 24 mins) * Amby brings up a 3rd new variant: War in the Americas, available over at PlayDip. The variant was created by Macario Reyes and moved across to PlayDip by Alex Ronke/nopunin10did. It covers 10 players and features conflict across North and South America. Amby joined the game even though it was in a pre-released test mode. Amby discusses how he’s really enjoying this variant playing as Spain in “USA!!” (1 hr 26 mins 45 secs) * Kaner talks about the sea territories and rivers on the map, while Amby tells his stabbing story from the game (1 hr 32 mins 40 secs) * Amby retells Britain’s response to the stabbing. Kaner retells his response when he was stabbed in a WWIV game (1 hr 39 mins 45 secs) * The guys wrap up the show (1 hr 43 mins)

Venue: Felon's Brewery, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Amby - Australian Pale Ale, Natural Ale and Raspberry Sour by Felon's, Brisbane

Kaner - Treehouse Cider by the Granite Belt Cider Company, Warwick

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

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Kaner's work has him under the pump, so this episode is just a short intro from Amby and then an interview with Ajax about Diplomacy Nexus: a community bringing players together from the various online platforms to battle it out in cross-platform Dip tournaments.

Intro * Amby introduces the show. Kaner is busy with real life stuff so no pub recorded episodes for a couple more weeks. Amby then introduces this episodes' interviewee: Ajax from the Diplomacy Nexus tournament (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Ajax from the Diplomacy Nexus * Ajax founder of Diplomacy Nexus describes what its all about and how it supports chat across multiple players from different Diplomacy platforms. It currently has 600 players enrolled from webDip, vDip, playDip, Conspiracy, Duplicity and Backstabbr (2 mins) * He discussed the current tournaments being played on Nexus - Cold War 1v1 and a seasonal classic tournament (2 seasons a year) (3 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks how countries are assigned. Ajax describes the basics behind players joining. Players can choose whether they use their normal Dip sites' handle or can create their own if they are worried others will pre-judge them (4 mins 30 secs) * Tournament games are based on the sum-of-squares scoring system. Games automatically conclude after 10 game years. Amby asks about the proportion of games that end in solos (6 mins) * Kaner asks about the cross-platform nature of tournaments, especially how moves are made and communication is done. Ajax digresses, discussing Australian "smooth" accents (8 mins) * Amby asks about which stage players across platforms meet and battle it out, and how that works using Backstabbr (12 mins) * Kaner asks Ajax why he set up this community. He discusses his early negative experiences with Droidippy and Conspiracy - see Kaner's discussion about Conspiracy in episode 26 (14 mins 30 secs) * Amby describes the behavior in one of the classic tournament's finals, and how it is more similar to face-to-face gameplay, and asks Ajax's thoughts on this (21 mins) * Kaner asks Ajax about the differences between face-to-face and online (23 mins 15 secs) * Ajax discusses the challenges of various online platforms and the challenges of CD's or NMRs (26 mins) * Kaner talks about jumping on the Nexus Discord server and the nature of players changing their handles (27 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses the nature of multi-player conversations in the Nexus and asks Ajax about it (29 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Ajax about extending tournaments beyond Cold War and Classic (31 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about the "Diplomacy for Popes" channel on the Nexus Discord and how it works (34 mins 15 secs) * Ajax describes how the nature of the Discord server works for the Nexus (36 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about how to play and get involved in the Diplomacy Nexus (40 mins 30 secs) * Ajax talks about how new players usually get involved in Diplomacy and plans to better support this (42 mins)

Apologies again on the shorter than normal episode. Kaner should be over his hump at work in about 2 weeks, so normal service should be resumed then.

Venue: No pub this episode

Drinks of choice:

Amby - Regaleali Nero D'Avola from Sicily

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

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The guys squeeze a lot in a short time: Rebranding, getting the word out about diplomacy groups around the world, Amby shares his efforts to get a Diplomacy community going in Brisbane & how you can do the same, new variants, site updates, billionaires & the good ol' Australian democracy sausage.

Intro * The guys stuff up the podcast entry and then get into an argument about pronouncing Toowong before talking a little about the Royal Exchange hotel, known locally as the RE (0 mins 5 secs) * The guys introduce their drinks (2 mins 20 secs)

Face-to-face and old school wisdom * Amby and Kaner discuss rebranding the podcast to reflect both face-to-face and online Diplomacy (3 mins 40 secs) * The website now has a Google Map showing where people can find Diplomacy groups, or can advise their group/interest in creating a group (7 mins) * Amby talks about his efforts to get a Diplomacy community up and running in Brisbane, and what you can do to copy their strategy. The guys have almost got enough people who’ve expressed an interest in playing a game face-to-face in Brisbane (10 mins) * Amby has finished reading the Diplomacy chapter of “The Playboy Winner’s Guide to Board Games” written by Jon Freeman or… Byjon Freeman. He reads a couple of choice quotes and then discusses its strategies for playing each of the seven players’ countries (17 mins) * Kaner reads up the Italian section and after some more drinks they discuss the strategy suggested for playing Italy (22 mins)

New variants, updates & democracy sausages * Kaner discusses his anonymous games including the new 1937 A World At War variant by michael_b at vDip. They talk about the imbalances in the game and Amby puts on his history nerd hat. They find the approach to sea territories really interesting (26 mins) * While talking vDiplomacy they discuss the coding changes to the site that came across from webDip. The guys both love the changes to the Hall of Fame that now includes a list for people who’ve played in the past 6 months and kick off a run through of the Top 20 (36 mins 30 secs) * Kaner discusses forum conversation between the merits of sea lanes to break stalemate lines vs stacking. He uses the example of stacking proposed in the upcoming variant Dawn of the Enlightenment by David E Cohen. Amby mentions one of David’s variants - Conquest of the Americas - is currently being proposed over at PlayDip (40 mins 20 secs) * After lunch the guys mention they had an off-tape discussion about Amby’s Divided States game. They both mention they signed up for the Funboat game. Amby discusses a story about the ship in the “Love Boat” TV series from the 70’s (52 mins) * They talk about the idea of recording players in a game that could be used to give people an idea of gameplay. Kaner suggests doing this in an online game while Amby thought it lends itself to a face-to-face game (54 mins) * SPOILER ALERT - The guys talk about the Game of Thrones TV show (1 hr 1 mins) * They talk briefly about the similarities and differences between the Game of Thrones game and Diplomacy (1 hr 4 mins) * Amby mentions a Forbes article about a Matt Calkins, a US software billionaire, who happens to be a Diplomacy player (1 hr 6 mins) * Kaner mentions the upcoming Australian election. They discuss the Australian tradition of getting a Democracy Sausage and a politician promising to “Make Australia Great” (1 hr 11 mins) * They then wrap it all up (1 hr 14 mins)

Venue: Royal Exchange Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - James Squire's Swindler Pacific Ale

Amby - Baily & Baily, Jump N Jive Shiraz

Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune. Never know, we may get him into a face-to-face game soon!

The Playboy winner's guide to board games

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Kaner & Amby start settling back into the online scene but have started applying their face-to-face Dip ninja skills to online gameplay. Plus their current games and new variants.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and reflect the site and podcast album art probably needs to reflect Diplomacy as a whole - online and face to face (0 mins 5 secs) * They’re drinking at Finney Isles in Fortitude Valley. They talk about their drinks and settling back in. (1 min) * Amby says that family commitments in reflection will prevent him from going to the 2020 WDC in Vermont. Kaner still may go. But neither of the guys can swing Marseilles 2019 (5 mins) * Amby brings up his (failed) Montana theory about Kaner’s online handle of kaner406 and talk a little about America (6 mins) * Kaner talks about his thoughts on connecting in with local gaming groups and introducing Diplomacy. (10 mins) * Amby discusses a little keyword research he’s done about potentially targeting people interested in the game to come along to a social face-to-face game in Brisbane (11 mins 15 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner brings up a now completed anonymous game, "Big Guns" that has just wrapped up where he stabbed Amby. The game ended in a draw with both of the guys surprised the draw passed (13 mins 15 secs) * They talk about the decision to stab (15 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks Amby about his PlayDip games - they talk about the now completed Versailles game (with fog of war) called “We have a Hulk” where Amby survived to the end which was drawn with Sweden, Poland, France, Czechoslovakia and Egypt (which Amby was playing as) (20 mins 20 secs) * Amby’s also in a 1900 game which is potentially heading towards the end game. Its public press only where Amby discusses the importance of learning from face-to-face about the importance of communication. But its not working out as a public press game as half of the players aren’t communicating (24 mins 20 secs) * Kaner discusses starting a game with grey press, global posting only, fog of war, written in a Newspaper style and then dropped through multiple translations (27 mins) * Amby reminds new listeners that the way a Translation game works is covered in episode 4 of the podcast (29 mins) * Kaner asks about Amby’s anonymous Divided States game and how that’s going (30 mins 40 secs) * They talk about a new World War IV Sealanes game that has started and why Amby didn’t join (32 mins 20 secs) * After fresh drinks the guys talk hops and possums (37 mins 50 secs) * They return to the WWIV game and discuss Kaner’s plan. Amby poses two questions to Kaner around this (42 mins 30 secs)

New variants * Kaner introduces two new variants to the vDip website, starting with Caucasia... which both he and Amby mistake the name of the variant and get into the usual argy bargy on. Then Professor Kaner gives a Geography lesson (46 mins) * Then it’s onto Edwardian (3rd edition.) Kaner bitches about Christmas colors and why can’t Diplomacy maps be like Reader’s Digest maps (50 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks what the difference is in this variant to its earlier iteration. Amby discusses creating a big hitters game for Edwardian III and someone PMing about wanting to join. Kaner explains how moderators can force add people to games (54 mins)

Changes at vDip * Large amounts of webDip’s code has moved across to vDip. The guys discuss what they like and dislike (58 mins) * After discussing some of the changes in ratings breakdown for game types, they talk how Kaner has played more games than Amby and question the math behind total game stats and variant stats (1 hr 1 mins) * Amby discusses how with the changes his ranking seems to have got a bit of a boost. They also talk about removing non-active players from the rankings and Kaner’s chats to Oli about this. They discuss there being zero downside to this change (1 hr 3 mins 40 secs) * Amby suggests how can Oli (or other Dip site admins) can reach out by email to non-active players about recent improvements and coming back to the site to play games again (1 hr 8 mins) * The guys tease the audience about some prospective interview guests planned for the show (1 hr 11 mins) * Amby recalls the Flight of the Conchords episode with their French language song… a MUST LISTEN for anyone going to WDC in Marseilles this year (1 hr 12 mins)

The guys wrap up (1 hr 13 mins)

Venue: Finney Isles, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Windblower IPA

Amby - Ochota Barrels Syrah (Shiraz) from the Basket Ranges in South Australia

Thanks as always to Dr Dan for his rockin' intro tune. Used it as a segment segue this time around for something different.

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Kaner & Amby fly to play in the Melbourne Open Diplomacy tournament. They get schooled but can they come good in the end?

Intro in the airport Venue: Brisbane Airport

Drinks of choice:

Kaner & Amby - 150 Lashes Australian pale ale by James Squire Brewery

The guys are recording initially at the Brisbane domestic airport waiting for their flight to the Melbourne Open face-to-face tournament (0 mins 10 secs)
They discuss their hopes to catch up with players outside of the games (4 mins 20 secs)
Kaner talks about his return to the Melbourne “big smoke” talking about growing up in rural Victoria (6 mins 15 secs)
Kaner discusses the recently completed Divided States game drawn 3 way’s between Technostar (Kansas - 128 units), EmpireStrikesBack (Vermont - 78 units) and Tobi1 (New Hampshire - 73 units). It’s generally considered this particular game probably had the most SCs/units controlled by a player in any Diplomacy game (7 mins 50 secs - if edited out the bing bing)
They introduce their beers - more One Fifty Lashes from James Squire (11 mins 15 secs)
Kaner discussed the player positioning on the board (11 mins 30 secs)
By drawing the three players all got massive boosts to their rankings on vDip (13 mins 30 secs)
They then move onto Amby’s Divided States game and provide a brief update (15 mins)
Amby then goes onto discuss an anonymous game he’s in at vDip where he was doing well but has been massively stabbed (16 mins)
He then discusses his games at PlayDip including his 1900 game and some of the differences for this variant (18 mins)
Finally Amby moves onto his Fog of War game at vDip (25 mins 45 secs)
Kaner brings up discussions at vDip about points and suggestions (28 mins)
They touch on the Russian Diplomacy site moving web address (29 mins)
Kaner gives a long interesting story about him and ferrets (30 mins 30 secs)
They grab another beer and Kaner discusses how he hates plane flights (38 mins)
Kaner flags the search facility at vDip has recently changed (41 mins 30 secs)
Kaner is waiting on a Newspaper game to get going (44 mins)
The guys’ flight gets called but its so quiet they can’t hear the details. They wrap up this part of the show (45 mins 30 secs)

End of Day one at the Melbourne Open Venue: Hop Sing, Melbourne

Drinks of choice:

Melissa Call - Cockfighters Ghost Pinot Gris

Everyone else - Furphy’s ale

Amby introduces the after-party - a table of 9 people at Hop Sing, Melbourne. 8 were players on Day 1 of the Melbourne Open tournament. Due to the size of the table the audio is (48 mins)
People at the table are: Kaner, Melissa Call, Shane Cubas, Peter McNamara, Peter Novacco, Amby, Amelia, Tim Jones (ATinCan) and Brett Chatterton. Everyone is having Furphy’s ale and Melissa is having a Cockfighters Ghost Pinot Gris (49 mins)
Peter is topping the board for Day 1 at 30 points, while Amby is a distant 2nd. Amby discusses the experience of playing face to face (51 mins)
Melissa flags how new face to face players who normally play online usually have a lot of trouble with the deadline (52 mins)
Amby raises the issue of misorders in face to face and spelling mistakes in orders (53 mins 30 secs)
They discuss how the order pace was much faster than any other tournament players had attended (54 mins 30 secs)
Amby learns about the importance of drafting your orders at the start of the turn rather than waiting to the end (55 mins)
Brett brings up Andrew Goff’s previous Flying Dutchman move in an earlier game (56 mins)
Amby asks about people’s learnings from the day (57 mins)
Kaner discusses how he managed to pull off a Key Lepanto (58 mins 30 secs)
Shane discusses Beer Diplomacy and its impact on the game (1 hr 0 mins)
Kaner talks about the stress factor of retreats and builds eating into the normal turn’s discussion time (1 hr 1 min)
Shane asks Amby and Kaner about their prior involvement in face to face (1 hr 2 mins)
They discuss who got stabbed and who stabbed well (1 hr 4 mins)
Tim outlines the Cricket scoring system for the tournament (1 hr 6 mins)
Amby and Kaner are asked what they’ll do differently and the prospect of a top board on the final day (1 hr 7 mins)
The group discuss the rules and what is ok and what’s pushing it too far (1 hr 8 mins)
Amby flags the difference in the two boards he was on with openings and alliances in the games (1 hr 11 mins)
Amby’s observations on the dynamics of Tim and Jamal and how they coordinated their gameplay with discussions (1 hr 17 mins)
The group discuss Italy’s eventually placement in Denmark (1 hr 20 mins)
Amby explains how the gameplay in face-to-face is often totally different to online where the communication lends itself to more dynamic moves. Kaner discusses how relationships in face-to-face games seem faster to form than online (1 hr 22 mins 30 secs)
The table talks about stabbing (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks Amelia - as a non player - on what she’s expecting if she plays a game (1 hr 30 mins)
The table shares their recommendations to Amelia if she’s to play. Tim shares the best Diplomacy advice he ever received from Andrew Goff (1 hr 32 mins)
Mel suggests to Amelia that if she likes the game, to play some gunboat games with a 24 hour phase, to develop her skills and anticipating player moves (1 hr 35 mins)
Apologies as for about five minutes there are two conversations going on at the table which may sound a little confusing (1 hr 37 mins)
They talk about manipulation of players with Tim being asked his views (1 hr 42 mins)
The table wraps up its conversation, only to be followed by a brief addendum from Tim about when he realised mid-game that Amby was one of those podcast guys (1 hr 45 mins)

Post-tournament wrap up at the airport Venue: Two Johns Taphouse, Melbourne Airport

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Pirate’s Life IPA

Amby - atnook Founders Block cabernet sauvignon from the Coonawarra

The final part of the show sees Kaner and Amby catching up in Melbourne Airport’s Two Johns Taphouse post-tournament. Kaner is drinking a Pirate’s Life IPA and Amby has a Katnook Founders Block cabernet sauvignon from the Coonawarra which he describes as “doesn’t taste like victory but it tastes pretty sweet” (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs)
Amby announces he came 3rd in the tournament out of 18 players. Kaner came in 5th. And they both far exceeded their expectations. They guys talk about what a great time they had and how much of a buzz translating online experience into face to face (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs)
They talk about how online players who’ve played for a while know the rules and the game dynamics and makes it so much easier to come into the face-to-face scene (1 hr 50 mins 30 secs)
Amby describes the journey towards face-to-face he’s had over the past six months. Both of the guys talk about the lessons they learnt from the open mike table conversation that they implemented (1 hr 51 mins 30 secs)
Kaner also discusses how Amby won the tournament’s “best novice” award and how face-to-face DAANZ player scoring systems work and Master points. Due to the guy’s strong performance they’ve leap-frogged straight into Intermediate ranks (1 hr 52 mins 30 secs)
Kaner discusses the face-to-face tactics used - including “sneaky peeks” which he’d never consider previously as an online player (1 hr 55 mins)
Amby talks about how he worked up an alliance which knocked Andrew Goff off the board - although he was playing two boards at once, and running the tournament and wasn’t officially in the tournament so he wasn’t playing his normal game - so Amby didn’t get him at his best (1 hr 56 mins)
Peter McNamara came first and Melissa Call second - you can read the results online. Kaner talks about the face-to-face tactic of tying up other players’ negotiation time (1 hr 58 mins)
Amby talks about how he followed a tactic of supporting his allies to grab SCs to get them onboard and committed into an alliance (1 hr 59 mins 30 secs)
Kaner discusses the speed of the games and the speed of player’s adjudication on the board (2 hrs 1 min)
The guys thank Andrew for organising the tournament and those like Peter who helped (2 hrs 2 mins 30 secs)
They talk about attending future tournaments and discuss attending WDC 2020 in Vermont (2 hrs 3 mins)
They finally wrap up with a story from Amby about vivid dreaming of playing Diplomacy (2 hrs 5 mins)

Drinks & locations:

Venue: Brisbane Airport Kaner & Amby - 150 Lashes Australian pale ale by James Squire Brewery

Venue: Hop Sing, Melbourne Melissa Call - Cockfighters Ghost Pinot Gris Everyone else - Furphy’s ale

Venue: Two Johns Taphouse, Melbourne Airport Kaner - Pirate’s Life IPA Amby - Katnook Founders Block cabernet sauvignon from the Coonawarra

Thanks as always to Dr Dan for his rockin' intro tune. Used it as a segment segue this time around for something different.

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Coming to the end of summer, Kaner & Amby grab some beers and dream about what it'd be like to be a Diplomacy Man of Leisure. They talk the upcoming face-to-face tournament they're attending, Amby's experience with Versailles at Play Dip, their other games, vDip's 5 new variants and using Diplomacy in the classroom. Phew! A lot packed into this episode!

Intro * Kaner and Amby welcome listeners to the show and discuss their drinks (0 mins 10 secs)

Face to Face talk and being a Diplomacy Man of Leisure * The guys discuss their upcoming attendance at the Melbourne Open Diplomacy tournament (0 mins 50 secs) * Amby discusses the challenge of playing face to face for the first time in 25 years (3 mins) * Kaner brings along some 3D printed armies and navies he’s made (4 mins 30 secs)

Amby asks about what the scoring system is for the Melbourne Open (12 mins 15 secs)
They discuss other upcoming tournaments around the globe (15 mins)
They talk about the concept of being “Diplomacy Men of Leisure”, facial hair and what would a Steampunk Diplomacy variant be like (15 mins 50 secs)

Amby's experience with Versailles * Kaner asks Amby about his Versailles games over at Play Dip. One game is anon, the other is non-anon so Amby can talk about that game in more detail: Versailles Virgins. Amby discusses how contacting players varied between his major and minor power. Kaner asks how do things work at the end of the with points for major and minor powers (18 mins 45 secs) * Amby then goes onto talking about his anon Versailles game with fog of war, gunboat and age of empires (where you start with one unit). Kaner asks about the dinosaurs and sharks (26 mins) * Amby discusses the “lessons for newbies” element of Versailles about what happens when one of your powers captures the other power’s SC (eg minor capturing your major SC, or vice versa) (27 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks Amby about the order interface at PlayDip and how he’s finding it. Amby touches on some of the difficulties using your phone with PlayDip and moving around the screen. He discusses how things in PlayDip are different to the php sites like webDip and vDip (29 mins 45 secs) * The guys switch up their drinks (34 mins 45 secs) * They clash on the ability to place illegal orders (36 mins 30 secs)

Around the Grounds, can Divided States be soloed and Kaner's geography lesson * Kaner talks about joining the second Newspaper game and talks about how it works (39 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses a false start excited text he sent Kaner about his anon Divided States game (42 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks how he’s going in the game. They go onto show neither of them can count. (43 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses whether the Divided States board can ever possibly be soloed. (47 mins 30 secs) * Amby sees the light on using the interactive map in vDip and discusses his own vDip newbie moment using the interactive map (49 mins) * They talk about what the end game is for this Divided States game and how long it could go for (51 mins) * Kaner discusses his geography lesson from Mrs Kaner (52 mins)

5 new vDip variants! * They talk about the new five variants on vDip: Brazilian, Croatia Egypt, Florence and Britain (53 mins 20 secs) * First up they discuss the map, unit placement, rule and SC changes in the Brazilian edition of Diplomacy. They discuss who are the winners and the losers on this map (54 mins 30 secs) * Next up is Croatia and the changes to that Classic map (1 hr 3 mins) * Then they discuss the Florence variant. Amby discusses Apulia vs Apulgia (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * And finally the other simple map and rule changes is the Egypt variant. They discuss how the corner power mentality is changed with access in the Atlantic bringing England and France potentially into early conflict with Turkey (1 hr 8 mins) * The last variant has practically no map changes but a massive game play change. The variant Britain gives the UK 6 SC’s but it starts with only armies (1 hr 11 mins)

Joke time and Diplomacy in the classroom * The guys get another drink and Kaner decides now is a good time to tell a joke (1 hr 16 mins) * Amby discovers the recording device is flashing “battery low”, Kaner talks about using Diplomacy in the classroom based on an article from Boardgame Geek by Calavera Despierta (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs) * The guys wrap up the show, giving a reminder about supporting the show on Patreon and also now able to be heard on Spotify (1 hr 26 mins)

Venue: The Charming Squire, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - 150 Lashes Australian pale ale and the Runaway cream ale by James Squire Brewery

Amby - 150 Lashes Australian pale ale and a Malt Shovel Extra pale ale (XPA) by James Squire Brewery

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Amby visits Edinburgh and interviews two-time interviewee CaptainMeme. They discuss deceptive tactics, the Tournament of Time and how Nuclear Diplomacy could work. Then there's a post interview analysis with Kaner and Amby.

Intro * The guys introduce the show and have moved to The Terrace, a rooftop bar in Southbank, Brisbane (0 mins 10 sec) * Both guys admit to being a bit freaky with heights (1 min 10 secs) * Kaner is now drinking a James Squire Orchard Crush cider and Amby has a really enjoyable glass of Rusden Good Shepherd Malbec from the Barossa Valley (2 mins 10 secs)

Interview with CaptainMeme * + The guys introduce Amby’s interview with CaptainMeme recorded in Edinburgh. This is the second time Cap has been on the show (3 mins 45 secs) + They are The Conan Doyle pub where Cap is having a Coke as he has a Java coding exam the next day. Amby is drinking a Lia Fail amber ale from Inveralmond Brewery (5 mins) + Cap discusses his accent and the origin of his handle “CaptainMeme” and Amby explains how he got his (8 mins) + Cap mentions how one of the top PlayDip players is under a different handle at webDip (10 mins 30 secs) + They also talk about Carebear and how he manages his online versus face-to-face personas (11 mins) + Cap mentions his WDC analysis video on Youtube he did with Ezio (12 mins 30 secs) + He goes onto say that apparently the organisers of the 2020 WDC are planning on a Bourse game for the top board (14 mins) + Amby asks how long phases normally go and how are they managed in face-to-face games (15 mins 30 secs) + Cap explains how solos are very rare in face-to-face games (18 mins) + He gives Amby some helpful hints on what to watch for with Australian players in face-to-face games, and relays a story about another player’s subterfuge (19 mins 45 secs) + Cap asks Amby about whether he’ll be going down to Melbourne for an Australian tournament (22 mins 20 secs) + He talks about playing Versailles face-to-face at a convention in the UK (24 mins) + Amby talks about his recent joining of PlayDip (26 mins 30 secs) + They talk about the forum based Tournament of Time where Cap and Amby played with BigJoe on team Baratheon (29 mins) + Cap talks about the Dissolution game he’s playing for the team as at the time of recording (this has since finished) and why he really likes this variant (31 mins) + Amby discusses how Dipsy at PlayDip thinks he can bring Dissolution to life online, beyond just forum games. Cap says he would definitely buy a PlayDip membership for that (43 mins 45 secs) + Amby asks Cap about how the game differs between face-to-face and online (47 mins 45 secs) + Cap gives face-to-face games a big wrap for online players, and where they can find face-to-face games (52 mins 30 secs) + Cap talks about changes in his Top 5 variants (1 hr 00 mins 40 secs) + They discuss France vs Austria, the major stalemate line in the Diplomacy board and the France vs Austria tournament (1 hr 2 mins) + They go onto discuss Divided States and why its not in Cap’s Top 5 (1 hr 5 mins 15 secs) + Cap asks Amby about how he’s going in his Divided States game and the importance of getting behind player’s lines (1 hr 9 mins) + Cap asks Amby about unobtainable victory conditions (1 hr 15 mins 10 secs) + The difficulties of living in an Asian timezone when most players communicate when you sleep (1 hr 19 mins) + Amby discusses his Imperial game (1 hr 22 mins 30 secs) + Cap talks about variant map design and creating an unrealistic impression of who’s doing well (1 hr 25 mins 45 secs) + They talk about magnified regions in a map as a possible solution. Amby talks about this in the context of his proposed variant Nuclear Diplomacy (1 hr 29 mins) + Cap and Amby discuss how Nuclear Diplomacy would work (1 hr 31 mins 30 secs) + Cap suggests being able to potentially shoot down a nuclear missile, and how to technically code them as neutral units once in the atmosphere. He also talks loss prevention (1 hr 34 mins 15 secs) + Amby asks about the Mod space at vDip (1 hr 37 mins)

Post interview analysis and banter * Kaner and Amby return post interview (1 hr 37 mins 45 secs) * They discuss Cap’s “heads-up” about Australian player tactics (1 hr 41 mins) * Next they reflect the idea of a Bourse running on the top board of a WDC and the logistics of managing bourse orders in real-time (1 hr 43 mins) * The guys provide an update on Amby’s anonymous Divided States game (1 hr 50 mins) * Amby reflects that he’s become more ruthless in his tactics in recent games (1 hr 54 mins) * Amby asks Kaner about transforming units and when they can and can’t transform (1 hr 55 mins) * Amby has a follow up question on the process in php-style Diplomacy sites for destroying units if the player NMR’s or CD (1 hr 59 mins) * Kaner explains his new/old variant idea - a standard Dip map, but every territory - land and sea - have the “sea lanes” functionality added to them (2 hours 8 mins) * They discuss the conclusion of the Tournament of Time over at PlayDip. Amby takes his hat off to team mates BigJoe and CaptainMeme. He then discusses how nopunin10did has taken the role of online tournament director up to the next level in concluding the tournament (2 hrs 10 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses his follow up thoughts for Nuclear Diplomacy and whether it could work in a forum based game at PlayDip. He goes onto discuss issues of balance and why the World War IV map isn’t a good one to use (2 hrs 15 mins) * The guys wrap up (2 hrs 23 mins)

Venue: The Conan Doyle, Edinburgh & The Terrace, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Edinburgh:

CaptainMeme - Coca-Cola

Amby - Lia Fail amber ale from Inveralmond Brewery, Scotland

Brisbane:

Kaner - James Squire Orchard Crush cider from Australia

Amby - Rusden Good Shepherd Malbec from the Barossa Valley

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. Or if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can donate at Patreon. Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone!

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Amby visits London and interviews the code guru and go-to man at PlayDiplomacy, Super Dipsy (known at PlayDip just as "Dipsy".) They talk about changes down the pipeline and afterwards Amby's toe in the water at PlayDip.

Intro * The guys introduce episode 40, recorded the same time as episode 39, their new drinks and Kaner tries to get his head around the name of where Amby interviewed Super Dipsy (0 mins 10 secs)

Interview with Super Dipsy from PlayDiplomacy * Amby learns about glass clinking protocol from Dipsy (4 mins) * Amby mentions this is the first time we've interviewed someone for the second time, before mentioning who's next up in the interview schedule (5 mins 30 secs) * Dipsy and Amby talk about having real politicians play Diplomacy (7 mins 30 secs) * Dipsy introduces some of the upcoming changes at PlayDip, including steps to make it better for the players based on their recommendations in the forum such as mobile phone notifications (8 mins 50 secs) * He discusses moves to hunt for cheats (13 mins 50 secs) * Dipsy talks about the real challenges to keeping the hobby alive and growing (16 mins) * They talk about player behaviour (17 mins) * Amby asks about whether PlayDip allows you to ban players you have had a run-in with (19 mins 10 secs) * After a quick break in recording, Dipsy discusses Friends games at PlayDip (21 mins 15 secs) * He then discusses PlayDip's Player Classes and how they try to maintain a certain level of game for hardcore players (23 mins 10 secs) * They talk about the size of the PlayDip community (24 mins) * Amby reflects on the PlayDip ratings system (25 mins) * Amby asks about PlayDippers and face-to-face games (27 mins 45 secs) * Dipsy discusses his professional background which resulted in him becoming PlayDip's resident coder. He goes onto discuss his role in the broader PlayDip community (28 mins 40 secs) * Dipsy talks about the different types of variants at PlayDip and what goes up (30 mins 30 secs) * Amby belatedly does the drink pairings and his time previously living in the UK (34 mins 50 secs) * Dipsy teases Amby on a possible artificial intelligence (AI) solution to take over CD'ed positions/surrendered countries or if you have a "friends" scenario but are short of players and AI could significantly help (36 mins 30 secs) * Dipsy discusses how player suggestions can help make things easier in the game (41 mins 40 secs) * Amby is reminded by the Escalation variant element at PlayDip (43 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about whether adding more and more functionality detracts from the user experience (45 mins 50 secs) * Dipsy talks about what new variants may be coming down the pipeline for coding at PlayDip (47 mins 10 secs) * Dipsy - wash his mouth out - says the game he'd most likely to see brought online is a railway game! Although there IS a Dip connection (49 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks how Dipsy got into Diplomacy, before they discuss Dip in schools and its impact on the community (50 mins 50 secs) * They discuss functionality to make it easier for online tournament directors (53 mins) * In wrapping up the interview, Dipsy discusses the prospects of using the large datasets on PlayDip for someone to do a heavy statistical analysis (54 mins 45 secs)

Discussion about the interview * Kaner and Amby return to talk about the interview, jumping straight into the AI concept - apologies on the wind in the background. Kaner channels his inner Terminator (1 hr 2 mins) * Amby discusses the concept of phone based notifications and his thoughts (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * Between eating they turn to Dipsy's idea about the Dissolution variant being coded up (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about how he has signed up for a PlayDip premium membership and is waiting on two Versailles games he has joined to begin (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs) * He discusses the normal standard press experience he's craving in Versailles and the flip side of Versailles but with other variant options in PlayDip like Age of Empires and Fog of War (1 hr 13 mins 30 secs)

Around the grounds * Amby asks Kaner talks about his whole one game he's in at the moment. Kaner ignores this and instead talks about a die-off variant he has kicking around in his head (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs) * Kaner touches on the gunboat anonymous Youngstown game he's joined. Amby quickly works out he's in the same. They agree to keep mum on the topic (1 hr 20 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks Amby about his Divided States anonymous game, before agreeing to talk about that next episode (1 hr 21 mins 30 secs) * Amby touches on a standard anonymous Classic gunboat game he's in. Without giving detail about who he is, he talks about an aggressive opening strategy which while it has worked in the past, failed him now (1 hr 22 mins) * Kaner talks about improving his Classic experience before they head to Melbourne for the March tournament down there (1 hr 24 mins 30 secs) * Kaner discusses putting together a Sopwith game. Amby brings up having a Google Translate game (1 hr 27 mins) * Amby discovers his unrated Imperial Diplomacy game where he was playing as Russia just finished in a draw (1 hr 28 mins) * Amby closes the show with a joke (1 hr 32 mins)

Venue: Museum Tavern, London & Little Big House, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

London:

Super Dipsy - Sambrooke's Junction from London, UK

Amby - Greene King IPA & Sambrooke's Junction from London UK

Brisbane:

Kaner - Bulmer's cider from United Kingdom

Amby - Tequila from Mexico, fresh lime juice and soda

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Amby visits Seattle and interviews the hosts of the podcast DiplomacyCast, Eric Mead & Nathan Barnes in Seattle. They talk about what happened to their show, their thoughts on why face-to-face Diplomacy rocks and their variant suggestions. Plus Kaner discusses his efforts to get a face-to-face community started in Brisbane and Dip news.

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

Interview with Nathan Barnes & Eric Mead from DiplomacyCast * Amby introduces Nathan and Eric in what is planned to be a joint podcast (5 mins 30 secs) * Eric explains what happened technically to the site for a little while (6 mins 10 secs) * Nathan talks about the Seattle Diplomacy scene. Amby reflects how the size of Seattle & Brisbane are about the same, but the community of players' size is radically different. They talk about what you need to do to create a strong community in a local area (9 mins 20 secs) * They discuss how the 50th DipCon (the North American championship) is scheduled in Seattle for 2019 (11 mins 20 secs) * They go onto a bit more detail about the hard work needed to create a local community (13 mins) * Nathan reflects on his first games with Diplomacy, his initial online play before moved back to face-to-face with tournaments (18 mins) * Eric then discusses his first Diplomacy experiences (19 mins 55 secs) * They talk about why they no longer player online. Nathan says its due to the core nugget of interpersonal relationships being only achievable in face-to-face games. Eric says he no longer plays online as he found it sucked up too much of his time (22 mins 20 secs) * Nathan says he did enjoy the challenge of "pick up" games (taking over a CD'ed position) (26 mins 20 secs) * They talk about the high you get playing face-to-face (28 mins 20 secs) * They discuss "tells" in face-to-face and how the dynamics are different to online (29 mins 30 sec) * Eric talks about how a competitive face-to-face game forces more decisive decision making and considerate of longer-term strategy (34 mins) * Nathan discusses how its worth playing a tournament at least once (35 mins 45 secs) * They do recognize though that some of the best Dip players are online players (37 mins 30 secs) * Nathan puts forward the importance of having a nimble plan, Eric talks about listening to your gut on unit placement (39 mins 30 secs) * Nathan also discusses how face-to-face uses far more means to work out what is going on in the game with both body language and who is talking to who (41 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks how the guys use their Diplomacy skills in their careers and day-to-day dealings (43 mins 30 secs) * Nathan explains the key thing Diplomacy teaches you, which Eric describes as a "super power" (47 mins) * Eric explains what happens when players only think about their own agenda & the importance of empathy (51 mins) * Amby asks about what happened to the DiplomacyCast podcast while Eric & Nathan explain why they wanted a second Diplomacy podcast to happen. Eric goes into the detail for why the show is having a break (52 mins 45 secs) * Eric and Nathan discuss what they enjoyed most from their podcast... their April Fools shows (1 hr 7 mins) * They then discuss the shows they are most proud of (1 hr 15 mins 15 secs) * Amby learns all about how America is different to Australia when it comes to shift changes, tipping and voting (1 hr 18 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks what impact did running the podcast have on how other players treated them (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs) * Nathan discusses Seattle street life during a smoke break (1 hr 23 mins 30 secs) * Nathan asks Amby what he gets out of playing Diplomacy online (1 hr 25 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the dichotomy of players introduced to the game either love it or hate it (1 hr 27 mins) * Amby discusses how he likes the challenge and deciding when to stab (1 hr 28 mins) * Amby introduces the Divided States variant to the guys - a game with 50 players (1 hr 30 mins) * Eric discusses his life long dream - a life size real-time Chaos game... on a basketball court (1 hr 31 mins 40 secs) * Eric & Nathan ask Amby why he plays variants (1 hr 38 mins 15 secs) * They ask about whether Amby has ever played 1900 - Amby answers by discussing the PlayDip Tournament of Time and the games 1812 Overture and Dissolution (a variant based on the breakup of the Soviet Union (1 hr 40 mins) * Eric and Nathan talk about their own variant they created: Diplomacy Winks (1 hr 42 mins 20 secs) * Nathan discusses his Roulette variant (1 hr 48 mins) * After listening to the way Roulette works, Amby discusses the Versailles variant where you control one main known country and one smaller secret country (1 hr 51 mins) * Eric introduces his other variant concept: God Diplomacy (1 hr 54 mins) * Nathan explains face-to-face players don't really care too much about variants, as fundamentally they don't care about the board (2 hrs 0 mins) * They discuss how much better it is for online players turning up to face-to-face games with a plan are so much better than non-committal players, which tends to occur in online games. (2 hrs 0 mins) * Nathan and Eric give their final pitch to give a tournament a chance, if for nothing else but the chance of an intense “high” (2 hrs 6 mins) * Eric recommends their Jim O’Kelly episode that outlines what you need to do to build a local community (2 hrs 9 mins 20 secs) * Amby gives his thoughts on using digital marketing to target people interested in Diplomacy (2 hrs 10 mins 30 secs) * They talk about teachers who introduce Diplomacy to students and how they can create slow-burn players for the future (2 hrs 12 mins 30 secs) * They discuss how the game better suits non-gamers, and how it is less about winning and more about playing. Nathan suggests getting psychologists into the hobby before discussing how the game develops your skills for the office (2 hrs 15 mins) * They wrap things up, with Nathan and Eric calling for new podcast ideas… beyond Diplomacy (2 hrs 20 mins)

Discussion about the interview * Kaner and Amby return to talk about the interview (2 hrs 21 mins 20 secs) * They discuss Nathan and Eric’s variant ideas - focusing on the Chaos concept (2 hrs 22 mins 30 secs)

Kaner is trying to create a face-to-face community in Brisbane * Kaner brought together some Warhammer games & Mrs Kaner to play a face-to-face game… and they had a blast! (2 hrs 23 mins 40 secs) * The guys discuss their thoughts further on getting a local community going (2 hrs 26 mins) * Amby asks Kaner how he explained how the game works (2 hrs 28 mins)

Amby and Kaner are going to a tournament * Amby and Kaner plan to go to the Melbourne Open, a face-to-face tournament planned for mid March (2 hrs 33 mins 20 secs)

Online Diplomacy news * DemonOverlord is organising the 2019 championship and is calling for players across the different Diplomacy sites (2 hrs 34 mins 45 secs) * Interactive maps have now been coded by Tobi for all variants at vDip to make it easier to submit orders (2 hrs 36 mins 20 secs) * New ezine editions are now out for Diplomacy World and Diplomacy Pouch - which includes our interview with Andrew Goff (2 hrs 38 mins 20 secs) * Amby gives a belated apology for the gap in episodes, and congratulates Murcanic for winning the 1066 Tournament (2 hrs 40 mins) * The guys wrap up the episode (2 hrs 42 mins)

Venue: T.S. McHugh's, Seattle & Little Big House, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Seattle:

Nathan - Gin soda with a splash of tonic

Eric - Pinot Noir from Oregon; Bushmills whiskey and soda on the rocks

Amby - Charles & Charles, cabineret syrah; Washington Hills cabernet; tequila, soda water & lime

Brisbane:

Kaner - Balter XPA from Balter Brewing Company, Queensland

Amby - Rightbank shiraz from Margaret River, Western Australia

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. Or if you want to help improve the audio equipment you can donate at Patreon. Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone!

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Amby interviews Andrew Goff, winner of the 2018 World Diplomacy Championship in Washington DC. The guys then discuss Andrew's advice before talking about current games and playing small variant maps.

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

Interview with Andrew Goff Warning it sounds like the audio dropped off in a couple of spots in the recording for a few seconds. Amby went back to the original audio and it sounds like it was when recorded. No idea why. Sorry folks!!! * Kaner and Amby start discussing the prelude to the interview with Andrew Goff, World Diplomacy Champion for 2018 (5 mins) * The interview begins with Andrew setting the scene for where he currently is (6 mins) * Andrew talks about the tournament, the experience and how it compared with previous tournaments (6 mins 45 secs) * He discusses the benefit of having a round off during the tournament (9 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about the greatest challenge Andrew had during the tournament - Doug Moore's gameplay during the rounds (10 mins) * Andrew discusses surprises through the tournament - especially the online players turning up to face-to-face tournaments, and how face-to-face players are increasingly changing their styles (14 mins) * Amby asks about the evolution of gameplay in the last few years (16 mins 15 secs) * Andrew talks about game theory and broader strategy in the game (17 mins 45 secs) * Andrew discusses diversity in the game - with more younger players and women coming into Diplomacy (19 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about other's game play when it comes to excellent stabs (21 mins) * They discuss the top board and how things were different on that board compared to the preliminary rounds (22 mins 45 secs) * Andrew talks about the process for selecting the countries to play on the top board (the Paris Method) and his experience playing England - his least favorite country to play (25 mins) * You can view the top board for WDC on Backstabbr. Andrew discusses the thinking behind Liverpool holding, and why he wanted to be the first player stabbed in the west (26 mins 45 secs) * At this top level Andrew discusses the nature of avoiding being the top target, and cultural differences if you present yourself strong (30 mins) * The time limit and its impact on gameplay (31 mins 30 secs) * They talk about the end of the game (35 mins) * Amby asks about Andrew's plans to defend his championship in 2019 in Marseilles (39 mins) * Amby asks about plans for an Australian based tournament in the future. Andrew challenges Amby to get things happening in Brisbane (40 mins 20 secs) * They wrap up the interview (43 mins)

Kaner and Amby return and talk about the interview. Amby asks Kaner about his thoughts on Andrew's insights (43 mins 30 secs)
They talk about a more strategic style of gameplay (44 mins)
Kaner loves the generalisation from Andrew about what works on Americans and wonders if its true (46 mins)
Amby brings up how online players are increasingly getting into face-to-face (47 mins 20 secs)
They talk about both going to the March 2019 Australian championships (48 mins 15 secs)
Next they talk about putting on a Brisbane based game in the Australian winter of 2019.. Amby discusses the WebDiplomacy Forum thread about some Australian-New Zealand online players playing together (49 mins)
Kaner reflects how the time limit impacts the gameplay. Amby suggests a cheeky way Kaner can boost his ranking (51 mins 20 secs)

Around the grounds * Kaner starts discussing his Heptarchy IV game Hep Bros (54 mins) * Amby references the History of England podcast he's listening to, where he's currently up to the War of the Roses, and how it could be applied to the HeptarchyIV board (56 mins) * They look at the stats for the variant and find its not very balanced at all (58 mins) * Amby starts discussing one of his recent games (Salt air and Blood) that he won on the North Sea Wars variant designed by sqrg - a four player variant with some weird whacky rules around the North Sea which connect to economic supply centres. He then goes onto discuss the funny rule where once your unit takes an economic SC, you can't move it back into the Central North Sea (60 mins) * He then goes onto discuss his gameplay needed to win the game (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * Amby then talks about the normal Dip gameplay that also happened on the board (1 hr 7 mins 20 secs) * They then look at the stats for the variant (1 hr 9 mins) * After some more drinks, the guys go onto discuss their game they played together: Ver-Dunny, using the variant 843: Treaty of Verdun created by Milan Mach. Kaner makes an initial incorrect guess on which player Amby was, although Amby picked Kaner correctly (the game was anonymous.) Respect to the 3rd player in the game, lydiia. This was an anonymous, gunboat game (1 hr 10 mins 15 secs) * Kaner-Amby argy-bargy aside, they both agree this was a great map and variant and offered a lot of opportunity as a 3 player map (1 hr 15 mins) * They check the stats for the variant finding solos are frequent but the split between all three players is incredibly close, showing a highly balanced map, which would be great for a tournament map (1 hr 16 mins) * Amby talks about he's on a roll with 3 solos, bouncing up from 100 in the vDip Top 100 up to the 50's (1 hr 19 mins) * Kaner asks Amby's thoughts on the 4 player South America map (1 hr 19 mins 30 secs) * Amby brings up another game he's involved in, the 5 player variant Manifest Destiny, created by Morg and coded by Enriador. Kaner doesn't some aesthetics like the covered wagon icons and the blue used for the USA. Amby discusses the gameplay and map (while maintaining the anonymity of the game). Amby gives Kaner a history lesson about the Republic of Texas. Amby asks our Texan diplomacy players to get in touch to correct anything we got wrong - NOTE: since this podcast was recorded the game has actually ended - Amby was playing Mexico if you care to check the result (1 hr 20 mins) * Kaner says the map reminds him a bit of the variant Imperium (based on the German invasions of Rome) (1 hr 27 mins) * In preparation for his trip to Italy, Amby has been relistening to the History of Rome podcast and has got all excited again about his variant creation idea based around the Crisis of the Third Century (scroll down half way down for previous discussion about this in episode 22). The variant has Roman civil wars, barbarians and the Antonine plague - Amby later checked at it was actually the Cyprian plague. He goes onto discuss maybe having it based around the Fall of the Tetrarchy when there were four competing Roman emperors (1 hr 28 mins) * Kaner starts talking jibberish about the variant Fubar with the main player - and totally overpowered - Fatflap. They look into the variant which is totally WTF. Amby curses sqrg - making a great variant with North Sea Wars and then making something as bizarre as Fubar (1 hr 30 mins) * Kaner brings up the South America four player variant by Joe Janbu, and ported across to online Dip by Oliver Auth (1 hr 35 mins 45 secs) * More drinks arrive and the guys talk about the bank vaults and bathroom in the Boom Boom Room. Amby says he'll put up photos of them, but then when the guys left they forgot! Hopefully a couple of days after the podcast goes live he'll get some photos (1 hr 39 mins) * They get back to Diplomacy and talk about Amby's non-rated 5 day constant NMRing Imperial game. He talks about his current gameplay as Russia and his thinking when he decided to stab China - a further NOTE: due to the number of people in the Boom Boom Room the guys started talking really loud to make sure they were recorded. So unlike previous Amby advice to turn the podcast up, this time you might need to turn it down! (1 hr 42 mins 30 secs) * Amby then gives an anonymous update for his Divided States game (1 hr 49 mins) * Kaner brings up the discussion about having a Newspaper game - a grey press public posting. In this variant you can pretend to be another country without anyone knowing who it really is. Check out the grey press fog of war Classic Newspaper game thread on vDip to learn more (1 hr 51 mins 30 secs) * Amby mentions the previous By Jingo game as an example of how it works (1 hr 55 mins) * Amby talks about his world tour with the bank's money. He mentions there will hopefully one more podcast in mid-November, but then radio silence until January when Amby gets back. While he's away Amby is planning to organise a few interviews while he's away (1 hr 58 mins 15 secs) * The guys wrap up (2 hrs 2 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Boom Boom Room, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - 150 Lashes Pale Ale from James Squire, New South Wales

Amby - Terrazas de los Andes, Malbec from Argentina

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Both guys drink beer. Both guys grow luxuriant beards. And most importantly both guys talk Dip: Great discussion on the perfect stab, how to decide what game to play and the Munich Uber driver. Doesn't get better than this.

Intro * Amby ditches red wine for an episode while Mrs Amby is away and enjoys a beer with Kaner (0 mins 10 secs) * They discuss Anglo-Saxon pronunciations and how it relates to the brewery they're drinking in and start (1 mins 20 secs) * Next up is an impromptu chat about the variant Ankara Crescent and how it got inspired but a bit of silliness. Kaner explains how moves work in the variant (4 mins) * Kaner moves onto Cataclysm another silly movement rule variant where fleets and armies are amphibious and can move to sea, coastal and land territories (7 mins 50 secs) * Amby touches on Kaner's plan to try to work out what variant to play next (9 mins 10 secs)

Around the grounds * But first Kaner asks Amby about the 1066 variant Tournament and how it's going (10 mins) * Kaner proposes little icons next to player's names for winners of tournaments. They briefly digress to the Known World 901 Tournament and while the tourney is pretty much fell apart, its clear that Eki83 is the clear winner and Amby is officially the worst player of the variant (12 mins 20 secs) * Amby tries enticing Kaner to maybe play Sopwith (which we covered in episode 6), Kaner instead suggests he'd rather be game master (16 mins 20 secs) * Amby starts talking about his games, beginning with an Imperial game where he's playing as Russia. There have been many NMR's, they discuss the perils of games with long phases. Amby does a blow-by-blow account of his gameplay and what's been happening on the board. Kaner makes fun of Amby for buying into an unrated game (18 mins 30 secs) * Next up are the anonymous games Amby is in - a Divided States game (33 mins 40 secs) * Kaner takes on the role of American geography professor and Amby plays American history professor (35 mins 30 secs) * Amby then talks briefly about his anonymous Atlantic Colonies game and his strategy of trying to limit the number of Dip games he has to lessen the impact of sitters (39 mins 30 secs) * The guys get new drinks. Kaner discovers the podcast has a Twitter account (41 mins) * Next its joke time; warning the joke at 45 mins is a little rude (42 mins 40 secs)

Kaner decides what variant to play next * Kaner teaches Amby how to sort the variants table on vDip (47 mins) * Kaner decides he doesn't want to play a hot game (49 mins 15 secs) * They throw around ideas about playing Imperium, Edwardian and Spice Islands, before he decides on... Heptarchy IV. He then sets up a new game called Hep Bros (51 mins 30 secs)

Variant review: Hundred & timing for the perfect stab * Amby talks about a Hundred game called "Want a 3 player game?" - one of the few three player games - set around the Hundred Years War. Amby gives a hat tip again to the History of England podcast (59 mins) * He goes onto discuss his game play in the opening, and how he successfully timed his stabs on England (1 hr 5 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the positioning of territories, particularly the landbridge between Calais and London (1 hr 7 mins) * Amby then works out the timing to then stab France to successfully solo the game (1 hr 8 mins) * They discuss what is needed in a perfect stab (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about why he chose this variant and why it ticked all his boxes before they talk about the two things the guys don't like about the variant (1 hr 11 mins) * The guys give a hat tip to the variant creator Andy Schwartz, map designer Derek Carlson and coder Oliver Auth (1 hr 13 mins) * They compare how this as a 3 player game compares to 1066 and 843: the Treaty of Verdun. The guys then decide to play a gunboat anonymous game of Treaty of Verdun called Ver-dunny (1 hr 17 mins) * Amby gives some tasting notes before talking about a guy downstairs at the bar who looks like a modern day Munich Uber driver with a canny resemblance to Hitler (1 hr 19 mins)

Kaner is writing an article for Diplomacy World * Former interviewee Chris Martin suggested the guys write an article about the podcast for the Diplomacy World magazine. They then brainstorm what should go into the article that Kaner is going to write. Kaner learns about hashtags with the concept of #F*ckingIdiots. Amby plugs Patreon due to a drop off in people donating to the show, Amby learns about audio levels from Kaner. They talk about Brisbane's crappy train network, filming Kaner's knees and talking to players. They discuss what happened to the DiplomacyCast podcast and acknowledge our podcast should get more into the webDip and playDip space (1 hr 23 mins) * They touch on the Tournament of Time over at playDip, discuss being Old Farts and what else needs to go into the article (1 hr 34 mins) * Amby discusses General Kessad's step learning curve and absence from playing Dip. Kaner talks about playing Dip in the old days, drawing on the walls and passive rage holding (1 hr 40 mins) * Amby suggests we have a Random Questions episode where any player can ask a question - ask at the Twitter account, website, email or via the forum thread in vDip. They also suggest alternative means (1 hr 46 mins)

Is the Munich Uber driver still downstairs? * The guys make their way downstairs and Kaner casually walks past the bar to check out Herr Hitler (1 hr 49 mins)

Venue: Æther Brewing, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Miso and Honey Pilsner and the Golden Axe cider from Æther Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Pitchfork Saison, Hop Skip & Jump IPA and the Mayor of Milton lager from Æther Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

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The guys get together for a good old fashioned Diplomacy chat, but things very much take a recurring theme of the name of the bar: Sabotage! They talk sitters, tournament rule "changes" (depending on your perspective) and alcohol sabotaging Amby's brain twice when trying to remember Diplomacy players' names.

Intro * After introducing their venue and drinks, Kaner jumps straight into joke time (1 min)

Around the grounds * Kaner asks Amby about his Crusades 1201 game and his attempt to get from one end of the board to Jerusalem. When this was recorded the anon game was still going but only 2 days later wrapped up. To make it easier to understand Amby was playing England in "Remove Kebab" (3 mins) * Amby discusses the direction he gave his sitters when he went bush, and discusses the intended/unintended sabotage where the sitter ignored Amby's strategy, including this game and another. Amby had been attacking France in this gunboat game, but had made peace so they can all concentrate on the Ottomans. But his sitter ignored Amby's game plan and stabbed France taking a SC off him instead. He talks about his strategy at the end game of trying to get a draw against Ottomans, which was ultimately unsuccessful - congrats to Mephisto on the win (6 mins 15 secs) * Kaner talks about his secret fear about getting a sitter who can play better than him (9 mins 20 secs) * Amby discusses the Punic Wars game "Old Med" where he was playing as the Helleni and got eliminated. This was a public press game. Amby discusses his strategy with Puni which fell apart very quickly (10 mins 40 secs) * They discuss the default position of Dip players online always referring to each other as males. They ponder why this happens and would love to get the perspectives of a female online player abut this (13 mins 20 secs) * They return back to Punic Wars where Amby discusses his next game plan, trying to split Puni and the Romani without success. He discusses how it is an uneven number of SCs so a two way draw is impossible unless a player chooses to NOT take a neutral SC, and Amby's attempts to sway Puni or Romani. Amby was ultimately correct as Puni (LovelyPinkEgg) who was ahead the whole game but got stabbed by Romani (nikhil) who took the winner take all victory (14 mins 30 secs) * Kaner touches on the Known World 901 Tournament and asks how that is going. Amby discusses his views on the matter - a bone of contention in the vDip forum thread! (19 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks about the process Amby followed to find a sitter, and discusses the country swap tool vs giving login details to a sitter before becoming a little precious. Amby then discusses how he thought one of his sitters had changed his password to screw him over... sabotage! Or maybe not... (21 mins 30 secs) * They get another drink and after moving discuss how Amby thought the bar way have been Diplomacy focused being called Sabotage (26 mins 45 secs) * Kaner brings up Amby's slipping rankings before coming up with a cunning plan for boosting your ranking (28 mins 30 secs) * Amby brings up the Divided States game he was in where he initially did very well, only to now be eliminated. They move onto his other Divided States game (which is also anon) which he's doing not badly in... for the moment. Amby discusses how everyone, including his allies have started stabbing him like crazy (31 mins 15 secs) * Amby mentions yet another game he's been eliminated from (also now just ended) - Foggy 81 where he played as Russia. Congrats to Dr Helmut Kohl - aptly playing as Germany - who won (35 mins) * Then its onto Amby's suggestion for a new variant: Shadow Fog. A fog of war variant where the other players' units and SCs are all greyed out. In this variant idea you don't know who is who and who owns what, making it even harder to work out if another player is about to solo. Kaner suggests adding grey press into the mix (35 mins 45 secs) * After a new set of drinks they talk skate boarding (42 mins 30 secs)

Variant chat: Greek Diplomacy * It's been a while since we had a focus on a specific variant, but its back! Kaner discusses Greek Diplomacy (44 mins) * Kaner talks about the special rules: 4 coin bidding for SC's and what units can be built where. Amby gets distracted by Kaner's "300" efforts and a unique rendition of "Sweet Caroline" (46 mins) * Kaner talks hacking the system and why he thinks two wrongs make a right (52 mins) * Next he reminds Amby about the Chaoctopi variant (54 mins) * They get back to Greek Diplomacy with the amount of sea territories and Amby questions whether armies should be able to traverse small bodies of water (54 mins 30 secs)

Forum etiquette * The music goes quiet as Kaner brings up forum etiquette and forum thread management

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What is the experience of learning Diplomacy like for a newbie? The guys interview The General about his trials and tribulations in the steep learning curve of getting your head around the game of Diplomacy.

Intro * This is the first ever three way face to face episode, introducing Dip newbie “The General” and their drinks (0 mins 30 secs)

Interview with a newbie: chat with The General * The General discusses his two games he’s signed up for (3 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about how the communication is going. The General talks about being in a public press game. Kaner talks about the Diplomacy Archives and opening moves and strategies (5 mins 30 secs) * Kaner confuses The General with Dip opening strategy names such as the Lepanto (8 mins 45 secs) * The guys talk about building trust though bounces (11 mins 30 secs) * The General discusses the most critical decision: what to call himself. Kaner and Amby cover old ground about how they got their player names (12 mins 30 secs) * Kaner offers a “special prize” for anyone who guesses that the 406 stands for in Kaner’s player name (kaner406) (15 mins) * They discuss why The General signed up for vDip rather than the other Dip sites (16 mins 30 secs) * While talking The General’s first turn ticks over… only to find out he’s misordered. Kaner talks about how to check your moves (18 mins) * Kaner explains self supporting neutral units and how they work on a board (20 mins 45 secs) * Amby’s rule number 1: take shit, ideally from neutrals (22 mins) * Kaner talks about the interactive map feature before they walk brass tacks on The General’s approach (23 mins) * Kaner then explores some of the features around vDip - and a recommendation for Oli with some changed default settings (32 mins 20 secs) * Amby suggests an automated feature that could be sent via PM or email for anyone new signing up to the site (36 mins) * They talk friendship groups, avoiding meta gaming and fake accounts (37 mins) * Next up they talk the differences between public press, normal press, grey press and gunboat (40 mins) * The General asks about how things vary between the opening and the mid-game (46 mins) * Kaner talks about how to suggest intentions to players in gunboat games eg support holds, support moves (49 mins) * Kaner discusses his “crab shell” strategy in gunboat games (51 mins) * Amby switches his wine up to the d’Arenberg The Anthropocene Epoch Mencia from McLaren Vale, Australia before talking food (54 mins) * Kaner gets back to talking about the mid-game (56 mins 20 secs) * They discuss unit transformation options (58 mins 30 secs) * Next up its drunken joke time (1 hr 1 min 30 secs) * The General changes beers and starts drinking the same stout as Kaner (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * They get back to Dip talk, discussing broader strategy (1 hr 5 mins 20 secs) * The General proposes how the game would be great if it took into account geography and weather. The guys talk about the role of unpassable territory due to mountains/deserts/jungle, mountain passes in Rinascimento, how rivers are implemented, (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * Kaner shows The General how to check past games for a variant and how players approached the board. They talk about how they use this feature from time to time and then spend some time unpacking how Diplomacy is like Risks’ older brother who drinks scotch (1 hr 8 mins) * Amby introduces the concept of stalemate lines to The General (1 hr 20 mins) * They proceed onto discussing in the process the Divided States variant and the nature of creating variants (1 hr 22 mins) * Kaner touches on the upcoming World DipCon in DC (1 hr 25 mins 40 secs) * The General asks about how the guys usually construct their podcasts and what they normally talk about (1 hr 26 mins 30 secs) * Just when they guys think they’ve wrapped up the episode, they rewind and add an addendum where the General discusses how he assumed the rules of Risk were equally applied to Diplomacy, which created his misorder. They talk about how starting in the hobby can be a steep learning curve (1 hr 29 mins 30 secs) * They talk a little again about openings on the Classic board and how to interpret a player’s intentions under gunboat conditions (1 hr 31 mins) * The General asks about whether there’s a book about Diplomacy. Amby talks about it on Amazon, the Calhamer estate auction of the original boards and the different language versions of Diplomacy online (1 hr 34 mins) * They then wrap it up (1 hr 36 mins)

Venue: Isle's Lane, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - El Calavera Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout from Ballistic Beer in Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Mother’s Milk Shiraz from the Barossa and d’Arenberg The Anthropocene Epoch Mencia from McLaren Vale, Australia

The General - The Bent Spoke IPA from Canberra, Australia (although the guys misidentify it on tape as being from Newstead in Brisbane)

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Our first arse-end episode! Aired the wrong way around deliberately, Amby interviews face-to-face player Chris Martin about World Dip Con 2018 in Washington DC before they discuss their current games.

Intro * The guys explain this episode is recorded arse-end around (0 mins 15 secs) * Kaner laments his Microsoft troubles and how it prevented him participating in the interview (0 mins 30 secs) * Amby explains how the interviewee, Chris Martin, is more a face-to-face player and is the host of World Dip Con in Washington DC in October (1 min 45 secs) * Kaner talks about what interested him in the structure of the tournament (4 mins) * The guys talk about their drinks - Kaner has an El Calavera Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout from Ballistic Beer in Brisbane, Amby has a d’Arenberg The Anthropocene Epoch Mencia from McLaren Vale, Australia (5 mins 45 secs) * They then turn to American politics (from an Australian perspective) (8 mins 45 secs)

Interview with Chris Martin about World Dip Con 2018 * Then it’s back to the Chris Martin interview (12 mins) * Chris is drinking a Fourteen Hands Cabernet Sauvignon from Oregon in the United States, Amby has a coffee (seeing its morning in Australia) (13 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks about the role of alcohol at face-to-face tournaments (15 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the concept of a Drunk Diplomacy game (16 mins 50 secs) * Chris talks about the Potomac Tea and Knife Society and their role hosting World Dip Con 30 at the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC, 5-7 October 2018 (18 mins 20 secs) * They talk about the Russian connection for the tournament (19 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about the venue itself (20 mins 50 secs) * They talk about how the current sign-up rate compares to previous WDC’s (22 mins 20 secs) * Amby asks about the advantages for players who aren’t super confident about their abilities and what they can still gain, even if they’re eliminated (24 mins) * Chris talks a little about the structure of the tournament (28 mins) * Amby asks about how online players should approach the face-to-face environment and how your experience can work for you, but also how things vary (30 mins 15 secs) * Chris talks about the scoring system for World Dip Con and how it impacts on gameplay (33 mins 45 secs) * He goes onto discuss the timing within the event (40 mins) * Amby asks the role of a face-to-face tournament coordinator and to what extent you need to reinvent the wheel, and how its all managed (41 mins 40 secs) * Amby channels his inner Kaner with a series of questions. Chris drops a big hint for an Australian 2020 World Dip Con bid (44 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks how players with an online profile approach their face-to-face position (52 mins 30 secs) * Chris discusses where he plays online: Backstabbr (55 mins 10 secs) * Amby asks about Chris’ Diplomacy Academy on Youtube (59 mins) * Chris talks about the difference between a tournament host vs director and videoing the top board (1 hr 2 mins 15 secs) * To find out more about registering for World Dip Con visit the website (1 hr 3 mins) * Chris tempts Amby with an invitation (1 hr 4 mins 30 secs) * Then the interview gets wrapped up with Chris’ final thoughts (1 hr 6 mins)

The guys thoughts on the interview * Amby gives his thoughts on Chris’ offer and mentions looking into an interview with the guys from DiplomacyCast (1 hr 7 mins) * They talk about the prospect of a World Dip Con in Australia in 2020 (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about wanting to get involved in a face to face Australian game (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about his experience with Backstabbr (1 hr 13 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto discuss his thoughts on managing seperate online vs face-to-face identities (1 hr 15 mins) * They then discuss using tech to better manage the event and whether “meta-gaming” happens by default in tournaments (1 hr 17 mins)

What the Dr Recommended * They discuss heading out to suburban Brisbane in January 2019 for a recording session at Ballistic Brewery (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs) * The guys squeeze in a cheeky back end 51 - 100 of the vDip Hall of Fame with Australian accents (1 hr 21 mins)

Around the Grounds * Kaner talks about his current games and how he’s getting destroyed in Punic Wars (1 hr 28 mins) * Amby gets really surprised about Punic Wars being Fog of War at vDip, when it was non-Fog at the Diplomail Lab. Kaner gives his thoughts on who has the advantage on this map (1 hr 28 mins 40 secs) * Kaner talks about his similarly poor performance in a WWIV Sea Lanes game (1 hr 33 mins 50 secs) * Amby complains about everyone stabbing him all at once and implementing his mass migration strategy (1 hr 36 mins) * They talk about an anonymous Divided States game they are both in, but on opposite sides of the board (1 hr 40 mins) * Amby gives an evil/cheeky laugh about an anonymous Crusades 1201 game he is in and his plans for a valiant quest (1 hr 41 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about his last anonymous game he’s in and is doing well in - by the time the episode was released, Amby did in fact win his game (1 hr 46 mins 15 secs) * They then wrap things up and give a sneak peek discussion on the next episode (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Isle's Lane, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - El Calavera Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout from Ballistic Beer in Brisbane Amby - d’Arenberg The Anthropocene Epoch Mencia from McLaren Vale, Australia

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After a while between drinking sessions Kaner and Amby hook up again in a loud American bar for Independence Day before heading down to the Riverbar to throw Dip mud in each others' face.

Intro * Kaner and Amby celebrate Independence Day by starting off in an American themed sports bar called “Fat Angel”. Amby is drinking a Mojo shiraz from the Barossa Valley, Kaner is drinking the Feral Warthog IPA from West Australia. The guys felt when recording it was too loud and plan to move to another bar (although listening later, it wasn’t too bad) (0 mins 5 secs) * Now they’re at Riverbar. Kaner quickly throws in a heap of Australian colloquialisms before talking about his urinal experience (2 mins 30 secs) * The guys recognise its been a while since we last got together in a pub for an episode (4 mins 45 secs)

A long around the grounds * They talk about what they’ve learnt as a result of implementing some of Dr Recommended’s suggestion on which games to sign up to: gunboat games with longer phase periods. Amby acknowledges that he made some slip ups in his decision making on which NMR/CD games to join (5 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about his WW4 game as Japan that has just wrapped up in a draw before saying how drunk he is already (10 mins 15 secs) * The guys experience technical issues in the field being iPad-less (13 mins) * They introduce their drinks: Amby has a Malbec Tarrazas Reserva from Mendoza, Argentina Kaner is drinking a Four Pines Kolsch from Sydney in Australia (14 mins 20 secs) * Then it’s back to discussing the WW4 game. Amby asks about the strategy of throwing SCs to allies (14 mins 50 secs) * They talk words (19 mins) * Kaner discusses his desire to colour every territory on the map (21 mins 45 secs) * Amby talks about borders in maps - the border aspects he likes, the bits he doesn’t like. He references the Crusades 1201 map and games he is in (23 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks whether the Crusades map is historically accurate (25 mins 15 secs) * The guys give their thoughts on other possible Crusades variant ideas (27 mins 45 secs) * Then Amby discusses the borders in the Edwardian variant and this thoughts (33 mins) * Time for a discussion on the guys’ various Divided States, and why his “be nice to people” philosophy just does not work (39 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses very briefly the Known World 901 Tournament (46 mins 45 secs) * He then talks about the 1066 Tournament (48 mins)

What the Dr Recommended * Then its a quick “What the Dr Recommended” segment, going through the top 50 in the vDip Hall of Fame (49 mins 45 secs)

Kaner v Amby: fight time over scoring * Kaner brings up a forum discussion on points and scoring. It doesn’t take long until he and Amby disagree with each other (52 mins 45 secs) * Amby asks Kaner about Ghost Ratings (1 hr 4 mins)

Dip World, red boxes and padlocks * Kaner discusses the latest Diplomacy World issue 142, upcoming tournaments and an article from Enriador about the variant Florence on vDip (1 hr 7 mins 45 secs) * Before wrapping things up they talk quickly about the red warning box and padlock changes that have occured on vDip and to some extent webDip (1 hr 11 mins) * They then wrap up the episode (1 hr 14 mins)

Podcast bonus! But wait, there’s more! The guys add an encore jokes segment (1 hr 15 mins)

Venue: Fat Angel's (briefly) and then Riverbar, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Feral Warthog IPA from West Australia and then Four Pines Kolsch from Sydney, Australia

Amby - Mojo shiraz from the Barossa Valley, Australia and then Malbec Tarrazas Reserva from Mendoza, Argentina.

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Kaner has too much shit going on to head to the pub... the shame! But we wanted to at least share with you this interview with vDip's Dr Recommended. Everyone is drinking during the interview and its a bit of fun, especially discussion about the on again/off again relationship between Doc and Amby.

Interview with Dr Recommended * Amby asks Doc about where he hangs out in the online Dip world (0 mins 5 secs) * Kaner asks how Doc first got into Dip (2 mins 45 secs) * Kaner observes how a number of school groups have started playing Dip online and asks Doc’s take on this (6 mins) * Everyone discusses what they’re drinking while recording - Doc: Hop Henge Deschutes Brewery strong IPA from Oregon; Kaner: Mercury Hard Cider from Tasmania; Amby: Fleur de Cap shiraz from South Africa and McGuigan Brothers Shiraz from “southern Australia” (7 mins 45 secs) * Kaner asks Doc about why he and Amby never seem to get on in a game (10 mins 30 secs) * Amby gives his take on his poor gaming relationship with Doc (14 mins) * Doc talks about stabbing Amby again (19 mins) * Amby asks if his own playing style is too trusting. Doc talks about his general strategy (21 mins) * Kaner starts asking a question before Amby interjects and asks how Doc can humanly play 31 games at once (26 mins) * Amby asks about what skills from Diplomacy can be applied elsewhere (28 mins 45 secs) * Doc explains where his handle came from. Amby and Kaner discuss how they got their handles. They discuss having a thread about what the 406 in kaner406 stands for (30 mins 45 secs) * Kaner gets to his planned question, asking about communication and Doc’s decision making on allying vs not allying (33 mins 30 secs) * They talk about playing a full press game of Mate Against Mate together (37 mins) * Kaner asks about Doc’s performance stats and whether there are any spectacular wins he’s had - Doc discusses a WWIV game on vDip (38 mins) * They discuss the Google Translate game they all played together 3 years ago (41 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about the tournaments Doc is in (45 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks how middling players in the Hall of Fame can lift their game. They go on to discuss how the ratings system could be improved (48 mins 15 secs) * The guys talk about their “What the Doctor Recommended” segment and the need to give it a refresh. Doc asks for more singing (54 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about how the Hall of Fame at webDip works really well with recent changes. Doc discusses how he’s catching up with RUFFHAUS in real life with their wives (57 mins) * Amby asks relationship advice from Doc and what she thinks of his habit (60 mins) * Kaner asks Doc if there are any other form of stats that could be applied beyond win-draw-survive-defeated (1 hr 2 mins 40 secs) * Amby notes how Doc has been playing many of the new variants that have come to vDip. He asks which of the new variants really interest him (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * Doc gives his top 3 favourite variants (1 hr 10 mins 45 secs) * Amby reflects on unit expectations and feedback from David E. Cohen on his original plans for his maps to not include transform options. Doc and Kaner talk about playing a 901 Known World game with a gentleman’s agreement on not transforming (1 hr 12 mins) * They start wrapping up the interview and ask Doc if he has any further comments (1 hr 16 mins)

Venue: Sorry folks, no pub (interview only)

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Mercury Hard Cider from Tasmania

Amby - Fleur de Cap shiraz from South Africa and McGuigan Brothers Shiraz from “southern Australia”

Dr Recommended - Hop Henge Deschutes Brewery strong IPA from Oregon

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. Or if you want to help improve the audio equipment - after listening to this episode's audio quality we're sure you'll agree you can donate at Patreon. Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone!

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Amby fucked up. This was recorded over a month ago but with too much real life shit it's only going up now. Consider it a point in time episode as half the games discussed finished. But we guess its better to get it out anyway and try to get better. Good philosophy for Dip anyway! Apologies on the general drunkedness.

Intro * After a post-production issue the guys open at the Brewski, just down the road in Caxton St. The guys give their diplomacy drinks analysis (0 mins 45 secs) * They move onto discussing all the new variants on vDip (although by the time this comes out, they'll probably be only new-ish). First up is the War of the Austrian Succession which Amby play listed at the Russian Diplolab (5 mins 30 secs) * Kaner points out Amby has a fellow history buff in gopher, a vDip mod and player who has some ahistorical concerns with the variant and map (7 mins 15 secs) * Amby gives a Diplomacy player update about the Klemens von Metternich book he's reading. Kaner discusses the book he's started reading History of Eastern Europe by Vegas Gabriel Liulevicious (10 mins 15 secs)

Variant chat * Amby then discusses a podcast series he's just started: The History of England by David Crowther and its connection with the Diplomacy variant Heptarchy (12 mins 20 secs) * Kaner moves onto another book recommendation, Bernard Cornwell's The King Arthur Trilogy. The guys talk archery briefly (15 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Kaner what happened to him creating variants before being distracted by a pigeon. Then Kaner gives his new variant idea set in post-apocalyptic New York. Amby gets further distracted in a post-apocalyptic zombie style discussion about his workplace , before Kaner gets back on track with his idea (18 mins) * Amby discusses his variant Ice Age that never got finished, but discusses how close it may in fact be. (22 mins 20 secs) * Kaner talks about the new Dev Tools on vDip which explains how Enriador has pumped out so many new variants (24 mins) * Then its back onto discussing the new recent variants including Machiavelli (25 mins 45 secs) * The guys go onto discuss recent games they've played (27 mins 45 secs) * Next up is a discussion on the new map Edwardian, interesting starting positions and cool little rules (29 mins 15 secs)

Belated around the grounds * The guys talk about their Divided States anon gunboat game - without giving away exactly who they are playing as. Amby discusses how open Technostar's board is, which makes it so hard to defend yourself effectively in without opening yourself up to a stab (35 mins 30 secs) * They look at a number of Divided States games and note how in almost all games New Mexico is doing very well and question whether that part of the map favors New Mexico too much (42 mins 20 secs) * The guys start getting their 4th drink and Kaner gives a blow by blow update on his phoenix progress as Japan in the ongoing WWIV “World Amazing” game (46 mins 30 secs) * Amby builds on Kaner’s approach about sending out love and it working, but when Amby does it he keeps getting stabbed (51 mins) * Amby tries a joke on Kaner, before they exchange barbs and jokes further - with the odd screw up on delivery due to drunkedness (57 mins 45 secs) * Back to Dip, Kaner talks about a CD position he took over for a game (1 hr 4 mins 40 secs) * Amby talks about the United States of Insanity II game he's in (1 hr 6 mins) * Amby asks Kaner about his new pussy cat (1 hr 9 mins) * They digress further onto other wildlife in Australia including wombats, tree kangaroos, drop bears, cane toads and spiders. They then discuss snakes, geckos and air conditioning (1 hr 12 mins 45 secs) * Back to Amby's Divided States game where he's playing in West Virginia, talk about excessive drinking (1 hr 17 mins 15 secs) * Amby discusses the Tournament of Time at PlayDip and his more limited than expected involvement in the 1812 Overture game before the drinking monster causes them to digress again. Amby thanks team mate BigJoe for stepping in due to poor internet and doing much better than he was doing (1 hr 25 mins 30 secs) * Amby disparages the millennials behind them who are glued to their devices. Amby would post the photo except of an issue he'll mention next episode (1 hr 35 mins) * They very briefly talk about Amby's win in a Dutch Revolt game. They discuss how the borders and connections between territories aren't always clear (1 hr 36 mins 45 secs)

Venue: The Brewski, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Dainton Red IPA from Victoria, Australia

Amby - Atze's corner shiraz from the Barossa Valley, South Australia.

The King Arthur Trilogy: The Winter King, Enemy of God, Excalibur (Warlord Chronicles)

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Today we're going back, way back. 2004 and Kestas' creation of the code based that got WebDip, vDip, PlayDip and many more up and running. Plus a discussion on Bourse progress and the odd tangent or two.

Intro * The guys discuss Anzac Day in Australia and their family connections to Australia’s military participation (0 mins 10 secs) * Then it’s time to discuss their drinks and Caxton Street (6 mins 45 secs)

Interview with Kestas * Kestas talks about playing the game and why he’s not the guy to talk strategy: rather he enjoyed building the adjudicator and forum. He discusses how the community slowly built up in the early days (16 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about what issues arose during the early days of webDiplomacy (19 mins) * Amby asks where the first PHP diplomacy instance went live (20 mins 50 secs) * They discuss the rationale for why the code was made available as open source so others could download and share (22 mins 15 secs) * Kestas talks about when he does play Diplomacy, how the game filled an itch when he was at university and why he doesn’t like Turkey (23 mins 15 secs) * Kestas gives a shout out to Alex who runs Italian Diplomacy (webDiplomacy.it), he goes onto discuss how he’s happy to be contacted by others wanting to create a new Dip server, particularly in a language other than English. He talks about the translation functionality that is used on webDiplomacy.it (25 mins 30 secs) * He goes onto to discuss what it feels to have his code so widely used. Kaner asks about whether Kestas would change anything if he had the chance again (27 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about how the adjudicator and code have been used for variants beyond Classic. He asks whether Kestas considered variants in the way the code was developed (31 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks whether Kestas has chatted much with admins from Diplomacy communities online beyond webDip (34 mins) * Kestas discusses his recent work on the webDip forum (36 mins) * He describes what he enjoyed most about the recent changes he’s made to webDip and the code (39 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about how to best mitigate the use of hacks, and developing more cleaner code. Kestas gives a big hat tip for GitHub (41 mins 30 secs) * Amby raises how some forum based Dip games use more than two units as the current code doesn’t support three or more unit types. He asks Kestas whether the code could be expanded to support more than two units (44 mins 30 secs) * Then its Kestas’ ideas on how the code and forum could be improved further, including cross-server games (49 mins 30 secs) * Kestas clarifies how the relationship currently works with PlayDip (53 mins 30 secs) * Kaner asks about the old-days of webDip’s forum and how it evolved (54 mins 30 secs) * Everyone goes off to get a new drink before Kestas asks the guys about where the podcast came from and Kaner & Amby’s involvement in the face to face scene (58 mins 30 secs) * Kestas is asked about when he recognised the need to introduce moderators to the community and why multi-accounters do what they do (1 hr 1 min) * Kaner asks about what happens when people offer to help (1 hr 6 mins) * Amby asks how people can get in touch with Kestas to contribute further to the code (we won't put it here in the notes so bots don't spam Kestas!) They explore Kestas’ cultural heritage (1 hr 7 mins 30 secs) * Wrapping up Kestas thanks the WebDip donors and mentions a new server upgrade is coming (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs)

Thoughts on the interview * The guys discuss what came out of the interview they were surprised to here (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs) * They go onto discuss multi-accounters, gaming the system and opening the kimono (1 hr 14 mins 15 secs) * Then they offer for anyone caught multi-accounting, or thinking of multi-accounting, what their motivations were so they can come on for an interview (1 hr 20 mins) * Next up is their discussion about having more than two units in Diplomacy variants - which would allow online New World Order, Dissolution and Nuclear Diplomacy. Amby then goes to town on possible unit types (1 hr 23 mins) * They discuss the benefits of cross-platform tournaments (1 hr 31 mins 30 secs)

Bourse * After a new round of drinks the guys move onto discuss growlers and chat Bourse (1 hr 32 mins 45 secs) * Amby explains how he missed submitting his Bourse orders and how the strategy and value approach has totally changed compared to other Bourse games. They then talk shop about the game in progress (1 hr 34 mins 15 secs)

Wrapping up * Amby experiences the same “tech team” family issues that Kaner recently experienced (1 hr 50 mins 40 secs) * Amby then talks about his firepit and how he likes burning timber and cooking meat on the flame, before he gets distracted and starts talking about the film “Spies Like Us” and wrap up (1 hr 51 mins 45 secs)

Venue: Fitzenberger, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - No Shoes Brews' Paradise Cit(rus)y - Saison/Farmhouse Ale from Brisbane, Queensland

Amby - Berg Rue Shiraz from Heathcote, Victoria

Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. Or if you want to help improve the audio equipment (or get us more drunk during episodes) you can donate too at Patreon. Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone!

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So many variants, so many games and too little time.

Intro * The guys planned to keep the “Shit Cake” theme going from last episode by going to a cake shop bar called “Cakes and Shit”, but it wasn’t that good. Instead they’re recording from the APO (1 min) * They discuss their drinks and announce the Diplomacy Games podcast, playDip, vDip and webDip have been featured in an article by Jason4747 in the Diplomacy World quarterly magazine (1 min 30 secs) * They digress a little and talk about playing Diplomacy by snail mail (7 mins 30 secs) * Kaner has decided he’s no longer playing games with phase periods of 24 hours and less and explains why (9 mins)

Around the grounds * The guys slowly and informally segue into Around the grounds with Kaner discussing his Western Known World game. In addition to the problems with 24 hour phases he felt a little screwed on not being able to transform units, which Amby agrees particularly with Denmark’s opening position (10 mins 45 secs) * They move onto discussing the new variants rapidly popped out by Enriador at vDiplomacy including Canton Diplomacy, 1913 and Renaissance 1453. They talk a little about these new variants and their thoughts on them (14 mins 10 secs) * Then it’s onto the next variant Enriador is working on - Machiavelli (22 mins 20 secs) * Amby then starts lamenting about how he’s involved in too many games (23 mins 30 secs) * He discusses the War of Austrian Succession game he’s currently in that looks like its wrapping up. This variant has been developed by Safari (25 mins 45 secs) * Amby then goes onto lament his terrible opening in the 1812 Overture play-by-forum game at PlayDip, which is part of NoPunin10did’s team based Tournament of Time (28 mins 30 secs) * He goes on to discuss the communication impact of being away camping and trying to keep up with 1812 discussions while away and how Slack is used to manage conversations (33 mins 30 secs) * Kaner discusses the sunset from where they are, before Amby shows some of the sunset photos he took while away camping, including a special guest appearing (37 mins 40 secs)

Original photo the guys discuss: sunset at Lake Moogerah After Kaner's comment, Amby shows him this pic from the Moogerah Passion Play * The guys get back to Around the Grounds and discuss what happened with the cancelled Divided States game “United States of Insanity” (40 mins 15 secs) * They discuss the retry of the game, although Kaner has been smarter by not overcommitting himself. Kaner then goes onto show he is crap at American geography pretty much east of the Rockies (44 mins 20 secs) * Kaner discovers the player with Michigan has even less American geographic knowledge than him. Amby discusses a similar problem (51 mins 45 secs) * Next it’s onto Kaner’s Divided States of ‘Murica game and how he’s going (52 mins 45 secs) * Then its the guys’ gunboat Divided States game, Kaner complains everyone is ganging up on him and Amby talks about his new strategy that so far is working well (54 mins 30 secs) * Amby gives an update as games master for the 1066 Tournament and a couple of complications he’s noticed (58 mins 30 secs)

The guys move onto The Bowery and grab some new drinks - Kaner’s got a Bulimba Gold Top from Brisbane, Amby gives a couple of Australian beer stories and tries his Paxton MV organic shiraz rom the McLaren Vale, South Australia (1 hour 5 mins)
Amby gives Kaner further US geography lessons before a Sesame Street throw back (1 hour 9 mins)
Next up its Bourse time! (1 hour 11 mins)
Kaner gives the analogy that organising Dip players to agree on how the Bourse will be run is like herding cats. Amby shares a video about herding cats before Kaner tells a cat story about Mrs Kaner (1 hr 13 mins)
Amby thinks Kaner’s cat comments are part of a joke and starts delivering his own back log of jokes (1 hr 17 mins 45 secs)
Back to Bourse for a bit (1 hr 19 mins 30 secs)

Amby’s new variant ideas * Kaner drives Amby up the wall before they go around in circles before grabbing another drink (1 hr 28 mins 45 secs) * They sort themselves out before Amby starts discussing his new variant ideas (1 hr 31 mins 30 secs) * He starts by introducing how Mike Duncan’s Revolutions podcast series about the 1848 revolutions inspired him to consider an Italian variant based on Risorgimento (Italian unification) and how a well balanced variant could be created using the Renascimento map (1 hr 32 mins) * Next up is Amby’s thoughts based on the Inward Empire podcast on a 1 vs 1 variant based on a slightly changed Divided States map based on the 1877 Great Strikes with a capital/establishment player vs a labor/working man’s player and how railways could criss cross continent. Kaner likes this variant idea and makes a good suggestion on the rail network (1 hr 35 mins 45 secs) * Then its a 1 vs 1 “Operation Sealion” variant with Nazi Germany against the UK battling it out over Great Britain and the coastline around the North Sea and English Channel. They briefly discuss the concept of three unit types: armies, navies and airforce, before doing a bit of a prick tease about their upcoming interview (1 hr 41 mins 30 secs) * Amby mentions all his other variant ideas backing up: Roman Crisis of the Third Century, Napoleon 1 vs 1 (France vs the Sixth Coalition), Ninjas vs Samurai, Ice Age, Global Warming and Two Tribes (1984 1 vs 1 Cold War) and introduces the idea of taking a step back from actually doing all the code. Kaner talks about his five player Solar System variant while making amusing gestures to describe how it’d work (1 hr 45 mins) * Amby goes further into his plan to be more a creative ideas director and let other variant creators massage it a bit and bring it to life (1 hr 46 mins 15 secs)

Now the scene is set… * Amby looks at what types of games players are in, and reflects maybe the guys should be spending more time on Classic Diplomacy games and strategy (1 hr 49 mins) * They then suggest we go out to the Dip community on what works well for each of the seven countries during the opening, mid-game and end-game. Kaner argues with Amby about the Tyrolean/Alpine Chicken, before suggesting they go alphabetically and kick things off with Austria (1 hr 51 mins) * Kaner gives a brief film review of “Ready Player One”. Kaner gives a shout out about Honest Trailers on Youtube (1 hr 55 mins) * Amby discusses CaptainMeme’s Youtube video about the longest game of Diplomacy ever on his DiploStrat channel. It starts with a 9 minute video about this Pacifist Diplomacy themed game (1 hr 58 mins)

Patreon shoutouts! * Both jason4747 and nopunin10did have both generously donated to the show using our Patreon account to help get better audio equipment you can donate too at Patreon and choose to donate for better audio gear or buying drinks! (1 hr 59 mins 30 secs)

The last couple of things * Kaner brings along a recent copy of Foreign Affairs magazine where the editorial references the game of Diplomacy with a comparison between a player CD’ing and current US foreign policy (2 hrs 3 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses a book by Desmond Seward called Metternich: the First European and raves about Chapter 7 which sounds like the way a Diplomacy player approaches the board (2 hrs 7 mins)

Venue: The APO and then the Bowery, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Peroni lager from Italy and Little Creature's Roger's amber ale from Western Australia and Bulimba Gold Top ale from Brisbane

Amby - The APO Shiraz from McLaren Vale in South Australia and Paxton MV organic shiraz from the McLaren Vale also

Thanks as always to Rock'n Dr Dan for the intro music!

Seelöwe Nord: The Germans are Coming (Finest Hour)

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The guys keep the drinking going and Diplomacy chats rolling on Bourse, variant testing and a Conspiracy app update. Plus the odd history lesson from Amby and discussion on shit cake.

Intro * Kaner discusses how CaptainMeme and a few webDip folks recently hosted a live vidcast of an online Dip game (0 mins 30 secs) * They get around to introducing the Euro restaurant and their drinks. Amby gets a bit carried away with his wine and shares a story about his brother-in-law's bad drinking habits and how Mrs Amby's sister put in place a system to stop him drinking the expensive stuff (5 mins)

Diplomacy Chat * They start discussing the upcoming Bourse game. Amby gives his thoughts on Sealanes games and why he's shit at them (13 mins) * Amby shares another story, this time about shit cake (18 mins 45 secs) * Then its back to Kaner's learnings from the last Bourse and how he's going to correct that for the new Bourse game (20 mins 45 secs) * Amby discusses YCHTT's suggestion of a proper market driven by supply and demand for the Bourse and why he loves the idea (26 mins) * The guys pop upstairs to the Laneway Bar to find no-one there. Instead they've walked a block further to the Port Office Hotel (33 mins 30 secs) * Amby describes how on the way to the Port Office Hotel, he managed to give Kaner a history lesson about the former Queensland colonial naval dockyards (see photo.) Amby explains why he knows a heap of irrelevant shit due to an attempt to write an alternative history novel, and how the never completed novel was the inspiration for the Mate Against Mate variant (34 mins) * A small impromptu "this week in Australian politics" segment (39 mins) * The guys give a drinks update (41 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks about Amby's involvement in some test games at the Diplomail Lab including another Austrian Succession game. Amby describes how he adopted a different strategy which is working well (42 mins) * Then its onto the test game of the Mongolian Empire variant - created by Kaner but being advanced by other developers now. They discuss the impact of the bubonic plague on the game where a rapid die-off of units happens at the end of the first game year's build phase. They talk about other historical aspects of the variant and really interesting elements of the game including city states, rivers/bridges, trade winds and silk roads, Himalayan passes and the Great Wall of China (49 mins 30 secs) * After Kaner gets a tech support call from Mrs Kaner, the guys return to the Conspiracy app. Kaner talks about his first full press game ending up in a 4 way draw as Austria. He talks about side chat rooms and how they operate really easily. That said communicating can take a while with the amount of texting required. They discuss again getting the French app developers on the show (1 hr 2 mins) * The guys start wrapping things up. They discuss whether people interested in donating to the show with Patreon would prefer better audio or more drunkedness (1 hr 8 mins 45 secs)

Venue: Euro Restaurant and then the Port Office Hotel, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice: Kaner - Estrella lager from Barcelona, Spain and Little Creature's Roger's amber ale from Western Australia Amby - Marcelo Pelleriti Sol fa Soul malbec from Mendoza, Argentina and SC Parnell tempranillo from the Adelaide Hills

And thanks as always to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

Don't forget you can now donate to the show (for better audio or drunker episodes) by going to our Patreon page.

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The guys interview Technostar, creator of the "Divided States" variant and discuss their in-game experience with it so far.

Intro * The guys introduce the Buffalo Bar and how Australia doesn't do American bars or pretending to be America in movies very well (0 mins 10 secs) * They set the scene about this episode focusing on the interview with Technostar and about Divided States (5 mins) * Amby apologises about the last episode's poor audio quality and they discuss plans for anyone dead keen to donate to the show using Patreon to improve the audio quality, before jesting whether some folks would prefer to donate to getting us more drunk! (6 mins)

Interview with Techostar, creator of "Divided States" * Kaner starts giving a bit of an intro about the interview with Technostar (8 mins)

Amby welcomes Technostar and asks him about him getting into Diplomacy and what he likes most about the game (0 mins 25 secs)
Amby asks about Technostar's gameplay philosophy (3 mins 50 secs)
Kaner asks about Technostar's strong position in his WWIV sealanes game - World-Amazing (5 mins)
Techostar explains how being at school helps him play a lot of games, but has the difficulty of his school blocking vDip! (6 mins 20 secs)
Kaner asks about Technostar's love of larger maps and how that led him toward developing the Divided States variant and map. Technostar and Kaner discuss a WWIV game they're both playing in (8 mins)
Kaner discusses the geography of the map and why Technostar arranged it that way (11 mins 30 secs)
They go onto talk about the rapid speed that two games of Divided States filled up (that's 100 playing slots!) - they talk about the United States of Insanity game that they're all in (13 mins 45 secs)
Amby asks about NMR's, while Technostar introduces how the build phases works for the starting phase if a player NMRs and their position isn't filled (15 mins 45 secs)
Kaner discusses the coding and asks about the program used to create the map and whether Techno is insane for taking on a project of this magnitude. Techno touches on a "gotcha" about when creating the map files and how indexed mode works to ensure it can be run on php Diplomacy servers (18 mins 10 secs)
Techo goes onto discussing how he had to cut down on the number of territories and how we redrew the map again to further improve the balance (20 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks Techno on his thoughts on the initial opening moves in the current games (22 mins 20 secs)
Amby laments his bad start before discussing the mysteries of the Four Corner Alliance and Technostar's involvement in this as a player. He discusses the fear of large local players Texas and California and creating a block to prevent their growth (23 mins 15 secs)
Amby discusses his ongoing stabbing relationship with Dr Recommended. Technostar talks about a similar challenging relationship he seems to have with Mr Finkelmeyer (28 mins)
Kaner interjects, as an East Coast player (Connecticut), he discusses how he had no idea about the West Coast action going on and the Four Corners Alliance. Techno describes how he was inspired by some of the colors on the Monopoly board to inform his decisions on state colors (29 mins)
Kaner asks about how Technostar ended up deciding on creating a Divided States variant and the inspirations behind: the 2016 election, alternate history and a Civilization V map he created (31 mins 40 secs)
Amby asks about why Technostar didn't decide to start initially with a small variant map to see what he thought of variant development. Techno touches on New World Order being a bigger map than Divided States - a variant created by Tom Rheinecker - before they discuss the rule challenges behind that map that would make it impossibble to make web based without a very deep php skillset (33 mins 20 secs)
Kaner asks Technostar on his advice for budding variant developers, including creating his own test server (36 mins 30 secs)
Amby enquires if Technostar could turn back time would there be anything he'd change. Techno answers how he could've easily saved 3 months by doing something differently (39 mins)
Kaner asks Techno his thoughts on Divided States moving to webDip or playDip (40 mins 40 secs)
Next its on to Techno's views of variant developers using his map to create new variant versions. They go onto discuss a 1 vs 1 Red State vs Blue State civil war map and the challenges of setting orders for 100+ units each turn. Techno also talks about an idea he has on layering state names on top of the map or a compiled list of each territory abbreviation to its correct name (42 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks if Techo had more time and turned his attention to a new variant what he'd do. Techno discusses getting a better php knowledge and porting across New World Order (48 mins)
Technostar mentions a fun fact about drawing a map location where he was staying during his summer vacation. Techno talks about how Amby's Mate Against Mate variant acted as a bit of an inspiration for Divided States and how he used its non-occupied SCs in the variant (49 mins)
Kaner asks about the prospect of Fog of War on the map (54 mins)
Technostar asks Kaner about whether a new Bourse game could happen soon. Kaner runs with the idea and decides to make it happen, possibly on a War War IV sealanes map (59 mins)
They get back onto Divided States and bounce around a bit on the design considerations of the map (1 hour 8 mins)
Techno lets loose with his views about American state flags, a few bugs that have been picked up and his hopeful career path (1 hour 14 mins 45 secs)

The guys return from the interview, but with all the editing and Amby's crap maths, we haven't worried about the timestamps for this next section. It goes about 30 mins. If you made it this far, power on!

The guys discuss what they learnt from the interview. Kaner reflects that they're technologically incompetent compared to the kids these days. Amby loves the parallel between his school banning vDip and his work banning all Dip sites.
Then its onto reflecting on Technostar giving his thumbs up to the map and code being available for anyone to repurpose and create new variant versions. They then discuss though the potential headache of a 1 vs 1 Divided States game with 100+ orders needed each turn
The guys go onto talk about their experience to date in their Divided States games - Divided States of 'Murica and United States of Insanity before mentioning their Divided States gunboat game has just started
Then Kaner and Amby become introspective about whether they are a bad influence
Bourse 2018 - the great Bourse Challenge - is discussed by Kaner

Venue: Buffalo Bar, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Five Seeds Cider from some random location in Australia

Amby - Marty's Block Tempranillo from the Margaret River, Western Australia

And thanks as always to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast. And don't forget you can now donate to the show (better audio, or more drunk episodes) by going to our Patreon page.

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The guys discuss the cool Android app "Conspiracy", recent Diplomacy variants being tested and talk shop.

Intro * The guys introduce the NEXT Hotel Pool Terrace and Bar, discuss the weather, Kaner's take on the book about the Trump administration in "Fire and Fury" and move onto their drinks (0 mins 10 secs) * Amby talks about his first ever time as tournament director for the 1066 tournament at vDip. He then goes onto discuss how the tournament is being organized and his thoughts on having access to the Mods area (5 mins 45 secs)

Around the Grounds and general Dip chat * Kaner talks about how he's going in his WWIV Sea Lanes game (13 mins) * They think the background noises might be too loud and decide to go to another bar - that being said when Amby edited the podcast... it sounded perfectly fine! They then address Dr Recommended latest recommendation for them to sing more often (15 mins 30 secs) * The guys move to Ryan's on the Park as the Irish Murphy's Bar had really bad acoustics. Amby talks semantics about what a "hotel" is in Australia (17 mins 50 secs) * The guys talk about their second lot of drinks and chat about their Christmas day (21 mins) * Amby opens his Around the Grounds on his Pirates game. A player is dangerously close to soloing in this winner take all game. He discusses how the game is going (24 mins) * Next up is the Tournament of Time over at PlayDip. Amby goes onto discuss how this tournament is working and the current Ambition and Empire game and its use of the collaboration platform Slack to manage messaging. Amby's team member (Big Joe) is playing for the team as Denmark-Norway (29 mins) * Kaner then discusses the free Android app "Conspiracy" which is pretty much Diplomacy for your smart phone. The guys give it a big wrap but also talk about how it could be improved particularly around the issues of community and people NMRing and CDing. Here's some screen shots from Kaner's game interface (32 mins)

The guys talk about whether they should run some donation option for the podcast before some more drinks and belated tasting notes (52 mins)
Amby discusses his now completed test game of "Punic Wars" at the Diplomail Lab playing as the Greeks. He discusses while he won, it was an incredibly challenging map and reflects on the knife-fighting game play of the Russian players (55 mins)
Then he goes into discuss his role in the War of Austrian Succession play test also at the Diplomail Lab. Amby is playing as Piedmont-Sardinia and is also enjoying this map and variant. It follows pretty much standard Dip rules but in the first year players are limited in the number of armies they have even though they have more SCs that can support more units. That said if they retain their starting SCs they can build in the second year. Its got some wacky borders too. Amby discusses the "Borders" book Kaner gave him at Christmas (59 mins)
Next its onto the Western World 901 variant being tested in the Diplomail Lab. Its based on the map by David E Cohen but is focused around Europe, north Africa and the north west bits of the Middle East. None of the guys are in this test game but they talk about the variant anyway before a second hat tip to Dr Recommended's singing suggestion, before a tangent about the new Star Wars movie before degenerating into an argument about Leia (1 hour 8 mins)
Kaner asks Amby about how his variant development plan are going (1 hour 17 mins)
Kaner gets very excited at the prospect of "Divided States" being released (1 hour 20 mins)
After a brain lapse from Kaner he discusses the prospect of an American Civil War/Mexico variant on the Conspiracy app. Amby suggests perhaps it will be the Fall of the American Empire variant (1 hr 28 mins)
The guys give a shout out to cjuric for his awesome review of the podcast at iTunes. They strongly encourage you to pop over to iTunes and give it 5 stars (1 hr 30 mins)

Venue: NEXT Hotel Pool Terrace and Bar, Brisbane followed by Ryan's on the Park

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Mountain Goat Ale from Richmond, Victoria and the Little Creatures "Roger's" Pale Ale from Western Australia

Amby - Cape Mentelle Marmaduke shiraz from the Margaret River, Western Australia and the Shottesbrooke grenache, shiraz and mourvedre (GSM) from McLaren Vale in South Australia

And thanks as always to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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It's Christmas time! The guys exchange Diplomacy related presents, talk variants in development, the Kaner & Amby Book Club and the Colonial 1885 variant.

Intro * The guys introduce the Osbourne Hotel in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley and their drinks (0 mins 05 secs) * Amby explains the last podcast was late due to work business and then going on holiday. The guys then discuss their planned holidays including Amby's trip late 2018 to North America (2 mins 50 secs) * Kaner discusses how the mobile interface is now starting to get rolled out to webDip. Amby talks about the different nature of the forums across vDip webDip and playDip (7 mins 20 secs) * Kaner also talks about zultar's prize giveaway for Christmas at webDip (9 mins 10 secs) * Amby and Kaner give an update on the new variants in development, starting with the massive 50 player Divided States variant (11 mins) * Amby then shows Kaner the beta test game of Punic Wars over at the Diplomail Lab he's playing. The guys then discuss their thoughts on the variant (14 mins 30 secs) * Then its onto the early work being done on the Reconquista variant where the Spanish attempt to reconquer the Muslim territories of the Iberian Peninsula. This is being worked on by CCR and Benjamin Hester. Kaner compares the Variant Bank crappy map to the latest map currently in development. They then discuss the mathematics of balance in variants (19 mins 55 secs) * Then its onto Napoleonic 1 vs 1 (France against the Sixth Coalition - Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia & Sweden), the Ottomans weren't involved but will be on the map with standing neutral armies. Amby announces he's actually developing this variant after a long break from variant development using the great work done originally by Firehawk. Amby says he hasn't worked out yet whether it should be based on players choosing the units to build, or whether he sets the units and their location (27 min 50 secs) * Amby then says he's exploring the coding aspects of what is needed to create the variant Sengoku: Ninjas vs Samurai (36 mins 55 secs)

Around the Grounds * The guys on to discuss how players are approaching things with whether to build clippers or frigates in Pirates. Amby discusses what's been happening so far in this anonymous game called "Pirate's Life". He flags there seems to be some technical glitch with some moves (40 mins) * Then its back to more alcohol talk about making wine and brewing beer and how expensive alcohol is getting in Australia (44 mins) * Kaner then talks around a variant concept originating a long while ago from Oli about a Randomly generated map (48 mins) * Amby reflects on the mess on the Pirates map where many players are moving in relatively small territories, often making it hard to read. He then makes some excuses why he won't be changing it though (50 mins) * Amby then discusses the now finished 1066 game he played against Oli and Tadar es Darden, won by Tadar. Amby flags how the game could have gone either way but experienced technical problems in trying to convey the message to extend the turn. Kaner makes a suggestion which Amby should've done (52 mins) * Kaner then discusses his WWIV game that has now started and asks abut the strategy of holding back builds (55 mins 30 secs) * Kaner then talks about his camping plans (1 hour 5 mins 30 secs)

Variant review: Colonial 1885 * The guys discuss Amby's recent drawn 1885 game. He played this anon WTA game as Italy and did well enough to be part of the draw. He talks about his allies throughout the game and his approach to get to the end game (1 hr 6 mins 30 secs) * Amby then goes onto discuss the variant itself and his thoughts about it, particularly how Britain can do very well in this variant although he was eliminated in this game (1 hr 12 mins 20 secs) * Amby gives Kaner a history lesson about German New Guinea (1 hr 15 mins)

Christmas, Kaner & Amby's Book Club and other Dip stuff * Amby is taking on the role of tournament director for a 9 player 1066 tournament (1 hr 19 mins) * The guys exchange Diplomacy related Christmas presents including many evil laughs from Kaner (1 hr 22 mins 30 secs) * Amby brings up the Year in Review - by playing a little game with Kaner on who are the top 10 countries downloading the podcast. Warning: bad accent attempts and a very surprising number 10! (1 hr 30 mins) * The guys then discuss the books they've read this year that have a Diplomacy connection. Kaner suggests "Borders: A Very Short Introduction" and "The Origins of Political Order". Amby discusses "Theodore Rex", "Musashi" and "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations". He goes onto to say he plans to read "Guns, Germs & Steel" next year. Kaner recommends "Collapse" by the same author (Jarred Diamond). They also mention "Sapiens" and "Cro-Magnon" (1 hr 37 mins) * All this stone age discussion gets the guys thinking about the possibility of a Stone Age variant (1 hr 51 mins)

Venue: Osbourne Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Boston Lager "presumably from Boston" according to Kaner

Amby - Some Young Punks "Naked on Rollerskates" Shiraz Matro from the Clare Valley, South Australia and The Stag "St Hubert's" Shiraz from the Yarra Valley, Victoria

Don't forget to give the podcast a great rating on iTunes or Stitcher, it'll help get the message out about Diplomacy.

And thanks as always to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

Borders: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Theodore Rex (Theodore Roosevelt Series Book 2)

Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans

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The guys get into some serious Diplomacy chats and boozy rants covering new variants, Dip news on the web, current games (including a special guest!) & mouth off about a range of Dip topics.

Intro * The guys introduce Riverland - a bar based around shipping containers - and their excellent view before describing their drinks (0 mins 05 secs)

We have received feedback that the last podcast was a bit too quiet. Amby apologies and also mentions that things have been busy for Kaner which has caused a bit of a gap between podcasts (2 mins 30 secs)
The guys discuss the new mobile interface at vDip and discuss plans for it to be rolled out on webDip (5 mins)
They go onto discuss how vDip players can now also change the look and feel of the site from the old world feel of vDip and the webDip look (8 mins 15 secs)
Next up they discuss new and revived variants. Amby describes how we was keen to play Imperium, a variant based on the barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire, but it had been taken down due to bugs. And then out of nowhere, Oli fixed it! Kaner describes how the River rule works and how some of the coding changes to Pirates flowed onto Imperium. All players begin with no supply centres and need to grab the available Roman SCs. Amby discusses the challenges of this variant if you were playing gunboat. Amby then rides his historical hobby horse on whether the Eastern Roman Empire should have been included in the variant. (9 mins 30 secs)
On top of this a revised version of Sengoku called Sengoku: Nagashino, created by Benjamin Hester. The variant goes from 8 players to 5, and has a new set of rules around the coastal areas regarding convoying (15 mins 30 secs)
Then they discuss how Flame in the Diplomail Lab is developing a 4 player Punic Wars variant based around the central Mediterranean during the classical period. Some folks have commented that the game play is a little similar to Sail Ho II. Amby goes on another pathetic historical bent around the geography of the map. Amby gives another shout out to the History of Rome podcast (21 mins 30 secs)
Kaner discusses how Reddit is show casing WebDip which is a great way of getting more folks aware of the game and playing it online (25 mins)
Amby also mentions how Lifehacker had a story about Diplomacy (although it was more board related) (29 mins)
Amby also discusses a series of Diplomacy blog posts by Edwin Turnage which are very insightful (30 mins 30 secs)
The guys talk a bit more about cider and the podcast intro music (33 mins)

Around the Grounds * Kaner is just in one game at the moment, a WWIV sea lanes game using rulebook press. Kaner teaches Amby about what rulebook press means. Kaner gives a run down of the players, with a number of newbies around him where he's playing as Japan (35 mins) * Kaner then goes on to discuss his recently finished Known World 901 Tourney game 6 where ended in a draw as Turan. Kaner is frustrated about the stalemate line being broken at the end of the game and discusses a decision made by mouse as Wagadu that he wasn't happy about. Basically the issue related to throwing a game to better position yourself more broadly in the tournament scores. The guys give their general perspectives on the tournament (39 mins 30 secs) * Amby is in 5 games at the moment. He talks about the anonymous Pirates game he's in with the rule change for clipper retreats working well with no glitches (52 mins 30 secs) * He's also in Known World games 7 and 8 but is on a slippery slope in both. He admits he NMRed in these games and how it impacts badly on your strategy (55 mins) * Amby then reflects on all 5 games he's in are anonymous, and ponders the advantages and disadvantages of playing anonymously. Kaner discusses how some players can still identify who players are based on the way they play, write and other traits. Kaner accuses Amby of double standards (57 mins 30 secs) * Next up is Amby's recently finished game Napoleonic communication skills where he played as Spain and scored a draw. Amby gives a blow by blow account of the game from his perspective and how a strong Russia (played by LovelyPinkEgg) was prevented from winning a solo with a cessation of hostilities with Britain (played by slypups) and how Mr. Finkelmuiyer was a great ally in Italy (1 hour 2 mins 30 secs) * Finally Amby talks about the 1066 game Welcome back Tadar. Tadar Es Darden was the co-creator of 1066 with Amby and dropped off the vDip radar many years ago. Well he's now back and is playing this game with Amby and one other player: vDip's very own admin, Oli. This is in fact only the 2nd game Oli has played on the site (the other being when 1066 was launched in 2011) (1 hour 9 mins) * Kaner announces that gopher is now a Mod at vDip. The guys discuss having him on for an interview and reflect on the lack of recent interviews (1 hr 14 mins 40 secs) * The guys share a couple of jokes (1 hr 20 mins)

Online Diplomacy Pet Peeves * We've already discussed Kaner's pet peeve, so Amby talks about in the Pirates game he's in. A player CD'ed and held no supply centres, but during the build phase a new player bought in, even though it meant guaranteed elimination. They talk about why a player would do this and as a result whether this is a ethical practice. Kaner explains that it may not have the benefit the new player hoped for (1 hr 29 mins 15 secs) * Amby talks about the original intent of this segment and how the feedback from players don't require an admin's perspective (1 hr 36 mins 30 secs) * They next discuss the pet peeve of players getting angry with you when you stab, but get onto the stab wagon issue (1 hr 37 mins 40 secs) * Amby asks Kaner whether a Mod could do some analysis around the behavior of new players and their drop out rates. That way if there's a high drop out rate perhaps they need more education up front about the stabbing nature of the game and what to be prepared for. Kaner suggests perhaps a basic welcome guide. Amby suggests some user centered design, getting feedback from new players about their experience and what they in retrospect would like to have known before playing a game. He goes on to suggest as new players need to provide an email address, perhaps an email auto-responder could send them some info to prepare for games and the community (1 hr 46 mins 30 secs) * The guys discuss their own thoughts on the "sense of joy" of stabbing players before wrapping things up (1 hr 53 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Riverland, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Hills Creek Cider from the Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Amby - Kurtz Family Vineyard "Seven Sleepers Shiraz" from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below. Also, if you know how to help boost up the audio levels please contact the guys through DiplomacyGames.com.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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The guys go to another fancy pants drinking joint and jump from one Dip topic to another. Get ready for a wild ride talking rule changes to the Pirates variant and other variant development, around the grounds, the Viking variant and surrendering.

Intro * The guys introduce the Cloakroom bar, while the bartender joins them to serve orders in the JFK Room and educate the guys on glasses. This is the first time Kaner grabbed a glass of red instead of beer or cider. Plus they get a mouth cleanser rosé with ouzo spritzer and chilled towels! (0 mins 30 secs) * Oli at vDip has delivered on the money fixing a major problem in the Pirates variant Amby created. He then gives a quick overview of the dynamics of the game and Oli's coding change. As discussed in the podcast there are two types of units: frigates that move normally but attack with double strength and clippers that have normal attacking strength but can move two places. The change relates to a retreating clipper that now will retreat only 1 space, not 2 spaces, which all too often resulting in dislodged units retreating easily behind an enemies' lines (4 mins 30 secs) * With that retreating rule, it means the same can now be implemented in Chaoctopi and Germany 1648. It will also allow Amby's Ninjas vs Samurai 1-on-1 variant (8 mins) * Western Known World 901 map is currently in development at the Diplomail Lab. Its similar to half the usual KW901 map but with some other changes (10 mins 15 secs) * After another cheers they move onto talk about Napoleonic variant being live and the Sengoku version 2 progressing along well (11 mins 30 secs) * Amby talks about his ideas about having a 1066 tournament and asks Kaner's thoughts (13 mins)

Around the grounds * The guys each talk about their dismal performance in their respective games trying out the new Balkans 1860 variant. You can see their dismal performances at: Kaner's game and Amby's game (17 mins 30 secs) * Kaner gives a shout out to cjurick (sorry Amby may have written that down wrong - let us know!) after he got in touch saying he regularly listens to the podcast and enjoys it (19 mins 30 secs) * Amby clarifies he in fact is not playing in round 3 of the Online Diplomacy Championship due to serial NMRing (21 mins 40 secs) * He then goes onto discuss the Dissolution game he got eliminated in at PlayDip and how despite being removed from the board he, and other eliminated players could still allocate favor votes for the non-playing nuclear players. Amby talks about his sharing the love strategy (22 mins 15 secs) * Amby mentions how the 1898 variant being put together by Flame at the Diplomail Lab follows a similar approach to the Age of Empires rule over at PlayDip (25 mins 40 secs) * Kaner then asks about Amby's poor performance in the WWIV Furnance of Affliction game (26 mins 30 secs) * Amby flags an anon game he's in where a number of players are wanting a draw, it appears to be stalemated but another player is holding out. He asks Kaner about the process for how things like this get resolved. Amby also discusses examples in the past where he's played games where a player has held out as part of a strategy, where a bigger player in a gunboat is holding out hoping the other bigger players pick up the message to kill off the smaller players so they could share in a draw with the big players getting a bigger share of the pot (30 mins 15 secs)

The Viking Diplomacy variant + Online Pet Peeves * Kaner starts talking about a Viking game he recently won, but discusses how he was driven up the wall by a player who appeared to have given up and was just putting hold orders in (not even self supporting) but would come back in put in retreat and disband orders. This is similar to a Pet Peeve submitted by Traumatizer to the forum thread. Kaner throws in some #BadSportsmanship rants (35 mins 20 secs) * Amby talks about how Kaner brought the Viking Diplomacy variant to the community 3 or 4 years ago. They discuss the map and how you can convoy armies down rivers using code hacks. It also includes interesting twists with self-supporting neutral armies in a couple of strategic places on the board. Plus the balance between players is excellent and player positioning makes things really challenging. Kaner gives Amby a language and geography lesson (41 mins 40 secs) * Due to a segue point Amby asks Kaner if anything is happening with the Mongolian Diplomacy variant at the Diplomail Lab. Kaner says Tristan is currently doing work on it which he's more than happy to have happen (49 mins) * Amby convinces Kaner to sign up to the Pirates game (52 mins 30 secs) * The good folks at the Cloakroom misunderstood Amby's visual cue for two more red wines, and thought he meant two more folks arrived. So the guys got more cool towels, more Rose and Ouzo spritzer and then their reds (53 mins 40 secs)

Surrender option? * The guys got an email through the website from Bosch Dewalt about the idea of a Surrender button. Amby initially thought the Concede button achieves this, but the concept of how a Surrender function may work better if you don't want to play anymore and it automatically puts your units into hold (55 mins 20 secs) * They go onto discuss how the downside of this would be players could protect their NMR rating but this could be a bad thing. Players may want a game where other players are of a high calibre and won't throw a game. Having "surrender" could ruin this, unless it was part of the mix when creating a game on reliability ratings: maybe a half penalty or another method? (59 mins 45 secs) * The guys agree its got merit, although Amby and Kaner say they probably wouldn't click it for their own different reasons (1 hr 1 mins)

Other stuff * They segue onto a discussion about Diplomacy based publications with Kaner saying he owns a copy of "The Game of Diplomacy" by Richard Sharp and a board games novelette from Playboy which featured Diplomacy (1 hr 3 mins... they talk about it again 5 mins later too when Kaner says you can find it on the internet in PDF) * Mrs Kaner segue discussion (1 hr 5 mins) * Amby is trying to line up an interview with Oli from vDip, so if you're a vDipper get in touch so we can put your question ideas in the mix (1 hr 6 mins 20 secs)

Venue: The Cloakroom Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner & Amby - Rosé and Ouzo spritzer, followed by the The Other Wine Company grenache from McLaren Vale, South Australia

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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A new Diplomacy variant Renaissance dawns! The guys talk about all the new variants coming down the pipeline at vDip, "Balkans 1860", wrap up the recent massive Bourse game and talk Online Dip Pet Peeves about metagaming.

The new Dip variant Renaissance! * BIg news at vDip with variant development ramping up. The guys declare a new Renaissance while Kaner reflects on many vDip players probably never on the site when it was pumping variants out every week or two (3 mins) * Oli is updating the code base at vDip and is in contact with nopunin10did about bringing the 1900 variant across. Kaner then goes on to say that following the Balkans variant release, the Napoleonic variant is next to come to vDip. How fucking awesome! (4 mins) * Amby gives his take on a slight tweak to the Napoleonic variant at the greatest extent of Napoleon's reach. Amby reflects it would be very unbalanced but would be historically correct. The guys then go on to discuss whether you could do it as a 1 v 1 game with France vs the Sixth Coalition. Kaner then goes on to discuss how much even better the map would be if it included Egypt and northern Africa. Amby then gives Kaner a history lesson on why Napoleon invaded Egypt. Kaner then educates Amby about the Mamluks... don't worry they get back to Diplomacy eventually! (7 mins) * Then its onto more variants coming down the pipeline! Kaner delves into Flame's Lab at Diplomail about the variant Classic Home Retreats. This is a really clever sounding variant. If dislodged you can only retreat backwards, not forwards. (12 mins 30 secs) * Kaner attempts to break news on two variants which Amby quickly puts in him in his place on the Classic Calhamer Prototype/Realpolitik and a tweak to Pirates (15 mins 15 secs) * After a quick battery change Kaner goes on to quickly touch on the Troy variant... but doesn't know much about it. He mentions quickly a Westeros variant at Diplomail's Lab, but flags Oli in the past has shied away from any variants that could be seen as breaching intellectual property ownership. Kaner then goes on to explain how code snippets developed and tested at the Diplomail Lab can then be ported across to vDip (20 mins 30 secs) * Kaner also discusses how people can create their own Lab's to develop and test variants before porting them across to other sites like vDip (22 mins) * The guys then discuss even more variants in development, starting with Michael B's "World at War" variant set in WW2. Check out the draft map at Imgur (24 mins 45 secs) * They then go on to talk about Technostar's "Divided States" variant, a 50 player game where everyone is an American state after the US has fallen apart. It is a truly mind blowing map. Amby discusses how Canada and Mexico have also collapsed in this variant, but with neutral standing armies to prevent states bordering these countries growing too quickly. The variant comes with unit transform options to allow players to better move around, in addition to sea lanes (27 mins 30 secs) * The guys move on a little, with Amby discussing his tournament progress, while Kaner advises he's pulling out of the Known World tournament (34 mins 30 secs) * Amby's brain starts arguing with itself (36 mins 20 secs) * Kaner then goes on to talk about games he's since signed up for (37 mins) * Then its back again to yet another variant in development, a 4 player game called the "Corsican Revolution" by Vauban (38 mins) * And before we know it, a revised Sengoku variant is on the books from Benjamin Hester. Amby thinks this is great, plus it'll make it so much easier for his "Ninjas vs Samurai" variant (40 mins)

Balkans 1860 * This brand new variant by Benjamin Hester (he's also done the original Sengoku and Dark Ages), is a 7 player game set in the Balkan region of Europe. Amby tries remembering his Balkan history after a question from Kaner. Both of the guys have signed up for games of Balkans with Kaner in a gunboat game and Amby in a normal full press game (42 mins 45 secs) * In approaching a brand new map, the guys talk about their early strategy approaching this variant (45 mins) * Kaner and Amby disagree with each other on the nature of corner players on this new map (46 mins 30 secs) * The guys pick on Captainmeme before grabbing another drink (50 mins 45 secs)

Amby's proposed variant: The Crisis of the Third Century * Amby kicks things off with a flashback to his earlier idea about a Roman Empire based on the Tetrachy (in the 300's), but reflects in retrospect that it probably wouldn't allow for good conflict between players on the far west and far east (51 mins 30 secs) * Amby gives a shout out to the podcast "The History of Rome" where he got the idea about instead looking at the mid 200's, where for 50 years there was a period of great instability with generals declaring themselves emperor (around Britain, Germany, the Danube and Syria), the Senate anointing emperors, the Praetorian guard controlling emperor appointments at various stages, barbarians attacking from beyond Rhine, beyond the Danube and the Picts and also the Sassanid Persians attacking too (53 mins 30 secs) * Clearing things up for Kaner, Amby explains how he's trying to get gameplay balance and history right, with the Senate and the Emperor/Praetorian guard having units dispersed the empire. Kaner gives his take (again) on how he'd like to do it (1 hr) * Amby then goes on to describe the non-playing player for the variant: the Plague of Cyprian, which wipes out a random territory each game turn (1 hr 5 mins 30 secs)

The Bourse is over! * The Bourse game is at last over after almost a year with a joint win between RUFFHAUS8 and bozo. Amby ended up finishing fifth. Check out their end of game statements (scroll to the bottom of the page and onto the next page), particularly Captainmeme's extensive breakdown of the thoughts of a Diplomacy player (1 hr 11 mins) * With it now finished Kaner discusses the idea of a School of Bourse (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs)

Furnice of Affliction WWIV game * The guys are in the same WWIV game and discuss how its going for them, including the "invading assholes" all around Kaner (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs) * Kaner tries provoking Amby on his gameplay. After a while Amby goes on to discuss how he changed his strategy for this game compared to his normal gameplay... not attacking anyone (1 hr 21 mins) * Amby discusses how he decided to stab Kongo, which really didn't work out (1 hr 28 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about his safe refuge plan (1 hr 32 mins)

Online Dip Pet Peeves: Metagaming * Last episode we discussed NMRing and posted across vDip, webDip and playDip about players' pet peeves (1 hr 35 mins) * Amby forgot about getting the admins views on the issue, so we're not getting their take. But its ok as we don't really need their input on this one: Metagaming. We touched on this in Episode 16. Kaner gives a quick run through for listeners about metagaming (1 hr 35 mins 30 secs) * The guys talk about ways to try to reduce the risk of metagaming before Kaner talks about his blocked player list (1 hr 41 mins) * Thanks to Benjamin Hester, GhostEcho and Warsmith for suggesting this topic and for their comments (1 hr 44 mins)

Other stuff * Amby flags how they received an email - but lost it - suggesting they cover off some of the Diplomacy aps on the internet (1 hr 45 mins) * Kaner does a shout out about getting different points of view on the podcast for folks interested in being interviewed on the show (1 hr 48 mins 30 secs) * Amby thanks AWanderingMoose for their first iTunes review and rating. Don't forget if you're enjoying the podcast please hop onto iTunes and give us a rating and a review so we can get the Diplomacy message out (1 hr 50 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Newstead Brewery, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Newstead "Out and a Bout" Pale Ale from Queensland Amby - NBCo cabernet sauvignon from Victoria

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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The guys discuss how to develop a variant, introduce the new segment: online Diplomacy pet peeves and talk NMR's, interview Captainmeme: a player across vDip, webDip and PlayDip and talk about the Rat Wars variant. Phew! What a bumper episode!

Intro * The guys go ga-ga over the classiness of the speak-easy bar they're recording in today: Saville Row. Amby is in ecstasy with his glass of wine as they discuss it's a year since our first episode (15 secs)

How do you develop a variant? * Kaner starts discussing recent questions in the forums from MichaelB and Vauban about how do you create a Diplomacy variant (4 mins 15 secs) * MichaleB is looking at creating a global World War 2 variant. Kaner discusses at the time of recording he wasn't sure about starting positions and as a result getting the right balance vs historical accuracy (5 mins 30 secs) * Amby suggests the timeline of WW2 in best achieving historical accuracy and player balance would be around the time of maximum extent of the Axis powers, or just before it. Kaner also suggests depending on the positioning of sea territories around America you could slow down their engagement in the war (6 mins 30 secs) * Kaner discusses how do you take an awesome map and prepare it for coding. A long time ago KingAtom who created Habelya posted on forum.webdiplomacy.net about what you need to do for map names, and color coding territories to upload them into a php Lab (10 mins) * After this you need to do some work in a Diplomacy Lab using its tools to identify where each territory is (which connections that location to the color of the territory), assign whether the territories are land, sea or coast, and create connections between territories. Provided you're following standard Dip rules this is a pretty straight forward process. Its only with special rules that you need a developer. Depending on the complexity you can either (14 mins 30 secs) * Amby discusses how he really would love to see Versailles brought to vDip. We've discussed how awesome this variant is in other episodes. Having it implemented with its special rules for controlling two countries would be really handy if that code is re-used in other variants (18 mins) * Kaner discusses good variant development resources at Dip Pouch, Diplomatic Core and the Diplomacy Variant Bank - a couple of good articles about supply centre ratio to territories which you could easily find with a bit of Googling (20 mins) * He goes onto mention how a Dip Wiki could come back at some stage in the future which could help pull together even greater detail (21 mins) * Kaner brings up how he stumbled on an old archived game on the Diplomatic Core called War in 2020 by Jason Reiner, where using his Indiana Jones skills he reconstructed the variant and brought it to vDip. Jason says he made the map over 20 years ago, and is now looking at developing a Vietnam War variant (21 mins 30 secs) * Kaner likes the region and would like to create a Khmer Empire game also set in the region, but understandably hundreds of years earlier (26 mins) * The guys start fighting over how successful America's military endeavors have gone since WW2 (27 mins) * They move back to variant development talk and discuss the time they generally took to create variants (from back when vDip was regularly publishing new variants a few years ago). They talk about the prospect of a Dip variant renaissance (29 mins)

Online Diplomacy pet peeves: NMR's * We have a suggestion from Super_Dipsy at PlayDip for a new segment about frustrations of online Dip (31 mins) * Kaner discusses one that gets to him is loss of previously published info. Amby mentions the guidance on what to do isn't always clear and you repeat the same mistakes again and again (31 mins 45 secs) * They fight over the frustrations of NMR's (and Amby takes it on the chin). Kaner discusses the dilemma he has in whether he should take advantage of a NMR player's centres and whether the game should be cancelled. Amby has no problems with this at all, gobbling up SCs (32 mins 30 secs) * They talk about ways around trying to avoid this problem, or reduce the risk of it happening (34 mins): + Reliability ratings and how you can create games with high benchmarks to try to avoid this happening + Inviting players into password protected games where players are generally reliable + A pre-agreement where the game condition for playing is if a player NMR's the game will be cancelled + Set up the game settings when creating to extend the phase automatically if a player NMR's * Amby and Kaner suggest they'll go out to vDip, webDip and PlayDip and ask what are player's pet peeves, and based on that highlight a peeve each episode and look at how each of the sites deal with that (43 mins)

Interview with Captainmeme * Kaner discusses how Captainmeme has a lot of experience with iritations due to being a vDip moderator and has the Comedy Cube at webDip and also hangs out at PlayDip (45 mins) * Our interview starts with Captainmeme introducing himself and how he finds the time to be so prolific on vDip, webDip and PlayDip (46 mins 30 secs) * He explains the different styles of play across the three main sites (49 mins 20 secs) * Captain talks about his role as a moderator (50 mins 30 secs) * He goes on to discuss what he likes about PlayDip (52 mins 30 secs) * Captain touches on Mafia and explains the culture of it at webDip and PlayDip (54 mins 30 secs) * Kaner gives his thoughts and explains why Mafia sounds so attractive to Dip players. As Amby is a bit slow in learning, he keeps asking Cap more questions to better understand Mafia (57 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks what attracted Cap to Diplomacy variants and the variant that hooked him (60 mins) * Then its on to his current two favorite variant: 1 vs 1 and Chaos. He goes on to describe his role coordinating the 1 vs 1 tournament at webDip (1 hr 2 mins 45 secs) * Captain talks about the upcoming conclusion to the 1 vs 1 webDip Showdown tournament (although this is now completed since the interview) (1 hr 7 mins) * Amby fucks up on muting his mike, giving listeners an insight into what happens when his dog barks too much during Skype interviews with Dip players (1 hr 11 mins 15 secs) * Kaner gives his personal perspectives on 1 vs 1 games (1 hr 12 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Cap about his role bringing Ankara Crescent (zultar's favourite variant) to vDip and explains how you play the game (1 mins 13 secs) * Amby keeps fucking up with his mike and his dog's antics. Meanwhile in proper Dip talk, Cap takes his hat off to Kaner's gameplay in a game of Ankara Crescent they played together in (1 he 15 mins 30 secs) * Cap talks about his thoughts on preventing losing SCs in Ankara Crescent (1 hr 17 mins 30 secs) * Kaner gives his ideas of playing Ankara Crescent... with Bourse (1 hr 19 mins) * The guys then start discussing the Bourse game, Captain's strategy and where he sees the game going (1 hr 20 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks Cap why he let the cat out of the bag on Bourse strategy during the middle of the game, before giving a summary of the game's comings and goings (1 hr 25 mins) * Amby asks if Cap's strategy has changed now he's no longer on the board (1 hr 36 mins) * Amby asks Cap about his mid-game suggestion for a future game where the score is a mix between the Bourse and the board (1 hr 39 mins 45 secs) * Kaner delves into what map would be best for the next Bourse game (1 hr 41 mins 50 secs)

Post interview wrap-up * Amby discusses his conversation with Captain re: whether Ruffhaus or Bozo will win the Bourse. Amby discusses the Bourse board SC transfer which would bring Bozo up to 1st position. Amby is doing this at the same time of eliminating Axum and Wagadu and is hoping it will get him into the 5th position he has been aiming for a long time [Amby says in the podcast that RUFFHAUS didn't know about this, but in fact did... bozo just didn't tell Amby that he also told RUFF!] (1 hr 43 mins) * Kaner also says he found Captain's 1 versus 1 tournament and Mafia discussion was really interesting and he learnt a lot. Then they start squabbling about how Mafia works based on their understanding of what Captain said (1 hr 47 mins 30 secs) * Kaner says he's interested in giving a Mafia game a go (1 hr 50 mins) * Amby says he's starting to get a number of games finishing, including a Mars game - Ground control to Major Tom. And with the ratings changes needs to join some new rated games (1 hr 51 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks Kaner about how he created the Mars variant. Amby tries educating Kaner on who Kim Hughes is (1 hr 53 mins 30 secs) * They discuss the WWIV game they've both joined: Furnace of Affliction (1 hr 55 mins 45 secs)

The Rat Wars variant * Kaner created the Rat Wars variant and recently won a game! You can see this game called Ratatouille on vDip (1 hr 57 mins 15 secs) * Kaner accuses Amby of not playing his variants (1 hr 57 mins 45 secs) * He goes on to discuss the variant's fog of war nature, the two types of rat units you can build (arrow rats and spear rats) and how they differ in movement and when confronted with walls, and how supply centres work based on rat unit type (1 hr 58 mins 15 secs) * Amby expresses his interest in the way the coding for the rules works and how that code could be used in other variants. Kaner then gives a synopsis about the game he played and won. He touches on some general aspects of the variant (2 hrs 2 mins) * Amby asks Kaner how he got the idea for Rat Wars (2 hrs 6 mins 30 secs) * Amby then asks Kaner if there was a working Lab, what changes would he make to the variant now that its been played a while (2 hrs 7 mins 30 secs) * Kaner finishes up to discuss his winning strategy for the variant: luck. Amby says its Kaner's equivalent of 1066 to Amby (2 hrs 9 mins 45 secs)

The guys start wrapping things up. Kaner leaves us with a joke about heaven, old ladies and ducks (2 hrs 11 mins 15 secs)

Venue: Saville Row, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's Seasonal Brew from Victoria Amby - The Other Wine Company grenache from McLaren Vale, South Australia

Don't forget if you're enjoying the podcast please hop onto iTunes and give us a rating and a review so we can get the Diplomacy message out.

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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Kaner and Amby talk about recent Dip changes across various sites, current games and Game of Thrones/Diplomacy interview with RUFFHAUS8.

Intro and recent changes across Dip sites * The guys celebrate their 20th episode! (5 secs) * Jason4747 suggested that Kaner and Amby provide more background info on their drinks, so the guys try (2 mins 30 secs) * Kaner talks about the new webDip forum interface (4 mins) * Oli is back at vDip! Kaner discusses how Oli worked on vDip's database of games as it was getting too large and needed resetting. This flowed through to player scores and reliability rankings (7 mins) * Amby gives his thoughts on vDip using the same approach as PlayDip re: players who go away/return and how it impacts on rankings (14 mins) * Kaner goes into a little more detail on Oli's return to vDip (17 mins) * The guys talk a little about nopunin10did's ongoing plans to bring 1900 to vDip (19 mins) * Nopunin10did is also organising a multi-variant Dip tournament called "Tournament through Time". The guys discuss their thoughts on how the team structure would work if players outside PlayDip wanted to participate (20 mins 30 secs) * Amby goes on to discuss how he's been knocked out of his Dissolution game (28 mins) * He then discusses how he did a Renley Baratheon and got kicked out of the Online Diplomacy Championship due to an inadvertent NMR/couldn't be bothered ruling (31 mins)

Interview with RUFFHAUS8: a Diplomacy player's interpretation of Game of Thrones * The guys start introducing the interview with RUFFHAUS8 from vDip (34 mins) * Amby admits he banned RUFFHAUS from playing with him in games for over a year. RUFFHAUS addresses his gameplay and reputation (37 mins) * Kaner gives his perspective on RUFF's game style and asks how he got into the game, both offline and online (39 mins) * RUFF turns the table and asks Amby and Kaner about how they got into the game (42 mins) * Kaner asks how RUFF moved from the standard board to variants and how he got to vDiplomacy (44 mins) * RUFF talks about his favorite variants: Imperial II, World War IV sealanes and Versailles (49 mins) * Before coming to vDip RUFF used to play at Redscape (60 mins) * Amby asks RUFF about the Bourse game and his thoughts on how its progressing towards the end game (1 hr 2 mins) * RUFF suggests perhaps in hindsight the game should have been rated to create a more competitive environment before discussing ideas on the Bourse scoring system and how the nature of the game creates intriguing dynamics (1 hr 5 mins) * Kaner asks RUFF on his variant preference for the next Bourse game (1 hr 15 mins) * Amby discusses how he likes YouCantHandleTheTruth's suggestion of using supply and demand in the Bourse marketplace. RUFF gives his reservations (1 hr 19 mins) * Then it's Game of Thrones time! RUFF gives his perspective as a Diplomacy player about the characters in the TV show and books - SPOILER ALERT (1 hr 22 mins) * In doing so he touches on why Winner Take All is the only way of playing Diplomacy (1 hr 24 mins) * RUFF discusses his virtual "dossier" on players and how that related to his original Game of Thrones post of vDip players (1 hr 25 mins) * Then its onto the deeper analysis of show characters viewed with a Diplomacy lens (1 hr 26 mins) * Kaner asks whether RUFF will be doing an updated character list of vDip players (1 hr 42 mins)

The guys both realise they forgot to ask why RUFFHAUS has the number 8 in his player name (original 36 mins - add 2 mins on past this from interview) (1 hr 49 mins)
To start wrapping up the guys received an email about a Youtube video about the Australian bird the ibis, and what the video is all about. Profanity wording for the video (1 hr 51 mins 30 secs)
Amby realises they missed something on the run-sheet: what do you need to do to make a variant? They realise its a pretty chunky discussion topic and decide to park it to the next (1 hr 56 mins)

Ratings and reviews for Diplomacy Games * The guys have some at last: both in Stitcher and iTunes! Jason4747 has posted one in Stitcher and Amby screws up and forgot to bring the iTunes review (1 hr 57 mins)

Venue: Eleven Rooftop Bar, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Mountain Goat pale ale from Victoria Amby - Teusner Bilmore shiraz from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

Don't forget if you're enjoying the podcast please hop onto iTunes and give us a rating and a review so we can get the Diplomacy message out.

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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The guys keep the drinking going and the Dip talk rolling with variant ideas and interview Alex Ronke/nopunin10did from Play Dip, creator of the 1812 Overture and Dissolution variants and talk exciting development news.

Intro * The penny drops for Amby after Kaner's initial rambling start to the podcast (15 secs) * They provide an intro about the interview of this episode with Alex Ronke, who goes by the pseudonym on PlayDip of nopunin10did (3 mins) * But before that the guys go on a tangent about Game of Thrones and RUFFHAUS' naming of various vDip players' equivalent if they were GoT characters, and ask him to do an update of Dip players and GoT characters (4 mins) * They talk about whether they should make an effort to go to a face-to-face tournament in Australia later this year (8 mins) * Amby starts talking Bourse, even though the discussion is a little dated now due to the time delay between recording and getting the podcast out. Kaner says he's a slack bastard for NMRing (10 mins 30 secs) * Then its on to discussion about the actual map of Known World 901 and Amby hearing even more nations on the map and their SC's mentioned in the podcast "The Lesser Bonapartes" and the real life expansion of Axum and also Samarkand capital of the Timurid empire. Check out Google Images to see what Samarkand looks like (13 mins)

Variant ideas * Amby's got into another podcast called "Our Fake History" which had an episode on Ninjas which got him thinking about a new variant set on a modified Sengoku map called "Ninjas vs Samurai." (23 mins) * Kaner gets taken in by a fake concert poster (34 mins) * Amby then starts discussing his idea of a variant Century series, where the map is based on real life borders every 100 years eg building on the 901 map, having a 1001 map, a 1101 map etc. Kaner discusses how he has a program that shows this for every six months. But you can also get a feel oft this on Youtube (36 mins) * Kaner briefly discusses how he wants to make a variant based on the Khmer Empire in southeast Asia (38 mins)

The guys talk about the release of the Napoleonic variant at the Russian site, Diplomail. They talk about the challenge of a map with no neutral SCs. Kaner reckons if the variant was made available elsewhere it would get a good following. They guys discuss the play test of the map on the Diplomail dev server - Kaner as Naples NMR'ed and Amby played the Ottomans. Sweden won the game - congrats to Anglichanka who soloed (39 mins)
Amby then start talking about a PlayDip play by forum game "Dissolution" that he's currently playing and how he's going (45 mins)

Interview with Alex Ronke / nopunin10did from PlayDip * The guys introduce our interview. Alex who goes by the screen name nopunin10did at PlayDip has created both the Dissolution and 1812 Overture variants as well as helping out Baron von Powell on 1900 and The Two Towers. The guys foreshadow that there's some really exciting stuff toward the end of the interview (51 mins) * Alex starts by giving a little background about his Dip journey and how Baron von Powell's 1900 got him into PlayDip variants (52 mins) * He describes how he likes turning on and off various PlayDip rules, especially the Age of Empires option and Fog of War (54 mins 30 secs) * He goes on to discuss his views on what is the greatest Dip variant (56 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks Alex about explaining the Dissolution variant, how non-playing characters work and we take a flashback to the 1990's (59 mins) * Alex goes on to explain that the game Amby is in is the first time the variant has been played (1 hr 13 mins) * Amby asks about what possible changes to the map or rules may be incorporated into the variant after its first run (1 hr 15 mins) * Alex talks about the system he put in place for a simulated foreign relations grid vs a more complicated system of favors and Diplomacy points for non-player characters (1 hr 18 mins) * Alex explains what he has learnt along the way when it comes to variant creation and discusses 1812 Overture and balance (1 hr 23 mins) * Amby asks about the GMing role of a game and what time commitment is needed (1 hr 31 mins) * Apologies for an audio quality breakup around 41 mins 45 secs, but it only takes a moment to pass * Amby gives Alex a big thumbs up on the graphical quality of Alex's maps and asks about automating any of his variants (1 hr 35 mins 30 secs) * Then Alex drops a bomb shell on his side project plans for moving 1900 to the vDip/webDip platform and improving the way the core php code works for Diplomacy so coding hacks for variants aren't the default way of solving problems (1 hr 36 mins) * He gives an example of how be cleaning up the code it will allow rules initially intended for variants to be implemented, such as Ancient Mediterranean's rules around the Balearic Islands (1 hr 43 mins) * Alex discusses how he's already been talking to Oli about how he may be able to contribute to vDip with his coding improvements (1 hr 48 mins) * Kaner discusses Alex's plans to change the core code to be more user friendly and really likes his thought processes with variant development. Plus he's been talking to Oli (1 hr 50 mins) * The guys then start wrapping things up and introduce the idea of listeners shouting a round of drinks rather than rating and reviewing the podcast (1 hr 52 mins)

Venue: Sonny's House of Blues, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's Natural Lager from New South Wales Amby - El Hurricane pinot noir from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

Don't forget if you're enjoying the podcast please hop onto iTunes and give us a rating and a review so we can get the Diplomacy message out.

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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In this episode we take a deep dive into webDiplomacy and also one of its variants, the Ancient Med.

The guys celebrate the conclusion of the Diplomacy World Cup with a webDip player - Demon Overlord - coming in 3rd (30 secs)
Kaner discusses how one of the guys at webDiplomacy has created a pilot "Diplomacy - the Game Show". Amby and Kaner give their thoughts on it and some possible tweaks to improve it further (3 mins 55 secs)
The guys pose the question why more women don't play Diplomacy (7 mins 20 secs)
Kaner discusses the backlog of Mod issues at vDiplomacy and has discovered he's now an Admin. He talks about what magical powers he now has (9 mins 40 secs)

Interview with zultar, co-owner of webDiplomacy * The guys talk about how they both started out at webDip when they started playing web based Diplomacy (13 mins 30 secs) * After a bit of a false start Kaner kicks the interview off properly (16 mins 30 secs) * Zultar explains when he first joined webDip as a player and his role as co-owner with Kestas (17 mins) * He goes on to give a summary about webDiplomacy (19 mins) * The guys explore with zultar about the process for bringing variants to webDip and what happened with the attempt to bring Known World 901 across. He also touches on how webDip differs from vDip, and how the webDip code has been picked up and used on other Diplomacy sites (23 mins) * Discussion turns to the preference by webDip players to generally stick with Classic games (25 mins) * Amby shares his thoughts on playing live games at webDip (26 mins 45 secs) * Kaner explores with zultar how the mod system works at webDip (28 mins 20 secs) * Kaner asks zultar about how much he likes getting lots of +1's (30 mins) * Zultar talks a little around how they address meta-accounting and multi-accounting (32 mins) * Kaner asks about the forum and what happens when things get too heated in discussions (33 mins) * Zultar discusses his favorite variant at vDip but why it probably won't be coming to webDip (37 mins 15 secs) * Amby asks about the Mafia culture on webDip and if there's any connection to the actual game Diplomacy (39 mins) * Zultar gives his view about any future merge between webDip and vDip (41 mins) * Zultar discusses what's coming down the pipeline as a result of webDip's donation drive to make a range of improvements to the site (45 mins 40 secs) * Audio quality warning - a flakey bit of the recording, sorry lasts for about 45 seconds (46 mins) * Zultar describes his goal for webDip and then goes on to discuss all the updates and improvements coming up at webDip (47 mins 30 secs) * Amby asks about the process followed at webDip to prioritize the proposed features (52 mins) * Kaner asks zultar about an interesting story around his experience as a mod (53 mins 30 secs)

Following the interview the guys share their thoughts on what they learnt and go off on a little Fog of War tangent (55 mins)
Kaner goes on to discuss the webDip forum while Amby discusses how Kaner has previously talked about getting a different political view of the world from the webDip forum (1 hr 2 mins)
Amby discusses a theory around whether Putin's minions have penetrated the webDip forum to create friction within the US. He goes on to reference Dan Carlin's "Common Sense" podcast around this (1 hr 5 mins)

The Ancient Mediterranean variant * The guys discuss how the Ancient Med is one of the few variants available at webDip, and also at vDip (1 hr 7 mins) * Amby talks about why he likes this variant, and discusses he recently played a game of it (Gunboat Pizza) over at webDip as Carthage. The variant sees Rome face off against Greece, Persia, Egypt and Carthage. The variant was designed by Don Hessong (1 hr 8 mins 30 secs) * Kaner goes onto explain to Amby how to see which territories are connected in any php Dip game (1 hr 11 mins) * Amby particularly likes the territory connections for this map, saying it reminds him a lot of Indians of the Great Lakes (1 hr 15 mins) * The game was drawn between Poohbelly, Captain Tomorrow and song. Well done to them with Amby being eliminated due to poor timing and as a result getting involved in too many fights. Amby explains his bold plan of crippling Rome quickly and then turning his units on Egypt, but it didn't work out (1 hr 17 mins) * Amby gets excited discussing the game and knocks over his wine (1 hr 21 mins 45 secs) * The guys wrap things up as Amby's iPad (which had just had wine spilled on it) goes crazy (1 hr 23 mins)

Don't forget if you're enjoying the podcast please hop onto iTunes and give us a rating and a review so we can get the Diplomacy message out.

Venue: Sonny's House of Blues, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Young Henry's Natural Lager from New South Wales
Amby - El Hurricane pinot noir from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

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After a full month and a half between episodes Kaner and Amby catch up on their games, with a deep dive into PlayDip's forum game "Dissolution" - a variant about the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The guys kick things off by acknowledging YouCan'tHandleTheTruth's recent efforts to still get orders in for his game despite having a heart attack! Hope he recovers quickly (30 secs)
Kaner fills listeners in about Mrs Kaner's European trip (2 mins 45 secs)
Correction from Episode 15 about Amby's personal experience on PlayDip. Super_Dipsy provides his feedback on Amby's experience (reproduced below.) Amby also explains how he still is making the odd mistake in submitting orders on PlayDip. Super_Dipsy has provided the following screenshots to show how to not screw up as much as Amby originally did - go to the show notes at DiplomacyGames.com for these.
Kaner and Amby discuss strategy around last minute submission of orders and how it can blow up in your face (13 mins)
Super_Dipsy is rating the podcast on iTunes... and why you should too! (15 mins 45 secs)
We recently got an email from David who said he felt we have too much background noise on the podcast. Kaner explains the rationale for why we record in a pub, while Amby discusses how some players like the idea of recording in a pub. The guys ask what do you think? (16 mins 30 secs)
Kaner brings up a recent message from Dr Recommended about how the podcast is helping educate his son (18 mins 30 secs)
Amby talks about the little thrill he gets when someone emails or comments about the podcast (22 mins 15 secs)

Around the grounds Bourse

The guys kick off discussions about the Bourse game at vDip and how things have moved on since the last podcast update, including his latest flanking strategy against Leif (playing as Axum) (24 mins)
Amby discusses how YouCan'tHandleTheTruth is giving him the shits with his territory painting next to his vacant SC's (29 mins 30 secs)
Kaner provides the one an only crappy joke of the episode (31 mins)
Kaner shares a little Autumn 924 insight from Captainmeme about the board and how that creates difficulty for his bourse buy for that season (32 mins 30 secs)
Amby discusses who is the king cool kid in the Bourse, Kaner flames Amby's position in Bourse. Amby asks whether some players are no longer actively playing the Bourse (34 mins)
Kaner explains his thinking on how the next Bourse game should be run to help iron out some of the issues with this game and reflects on Captainmeme's suggestions on how the Bourse game (35 mins 30 secs)
Amby asks about what the end-game plan is for this Bourse game (39 mins 30 secs)

Known World 901 tournament

The guys move onto the 901 Known World tournament that has progressed onto Game 5 and 6 - a tournament comprising 15 games where everyone tries playing every country on the board (41 mins)
Kaner provides his view on Game 3 and turns the blow torch on Amby, much to his chagrin - check the map history to understand the discussion (42 mins 30 secs)
The guys get into a bit of a verbal bitch fight over their gameplay against each other (49 mins 45 secs)
Amby congratulates Kaner for being part of the 5 way draw 57 45
Amby discusses a recent Youtube video that mentions a number generally unknown countries in 901 (eg Srivijaya, Axum etc) are mentioned in an interesting speedy viral Youtube video called History of the entire world I guess... word of advice from Amby, the first 50 secs are a bit boring but it ramps up from there (58 mins)
Amby's been eliminated in an Ancient Mediterranean game at webDip, but as its still going and its anonymous he'll hold off on discussing until the next episode. He then touches on the Online Diplomacy Championship at PlayDip (59 mins 30 secs)

Dissolution: Play-by-Forum game at PlayDip * Amby goes on to discuss how he's recently started playing his first Forum game at PlayDip. Dissolution is based on the collapse of the Soviet Union and has many, many complicated rules. Amby was invited to sub into the game by nopunin10did as the variant developer after a player (Egypt) had to leave due to real life commitments. He outlines the countries in the game (60 mins) * He goes onto explain how there's 5 non-playing nuclear players and how they move and react based on favors accumulated by real players and what they do on the board through bidding (1 hr 02 mins 45 secs) * Amby then goes onto explain how unlike normal Diplomacy with just navies and armies, Dissolution also has airwings... which are more like air bases rather than a bunch of aircraft. He then goes onto explain how they can drop paratroopers and how the rules apply when using one or multiple airwings (1 hr 6 mins 40 secs) * He explains how the player who left gave Amby a handover, and how it aligned with what his long-term - but possibly backstabbing ally - Ethiopia said. Ethiopia went on in Amby's first season to stab him even more than he'd done to the former Egypt (1 hr 9 mins 15 secs) * Kaner has trouble getting his head around how the rules of the game work (1 hr 12 mins) * Amby explains how its a challenging variant and particularly hard coming in mid-game, but makes more sense after playing it for a while (1 hr 13 mins 45 secs) * Amby tries to help Kaner understand airwings by giving a description of how it could work if the same rules applied to a Classic Diplomacy map. Amby tells Kaner "No, no, no" a lot (1 hr 14 mins 45 secs) * Kaner at last gets it! (1 hr 17 mins 20 secs) * Amby says he'll explain the game a little more in a future episode. Kaner asks listeners to let them know whether they think Amby was right or Kaner was right, before the guys wrap it all up (1 hr 18 mins)

Don't forget if you're enjoying the podcast please hop onto iTunes and give us a rating and a review so we can get the Diplomacy message out. Super_Dipsy is.... so why aren't you?

Venue: Mr Edward's Ale House, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Mountain Goat "Crazy Mountain" special IPA from Victoria
Amby - Fat Fish shiraz from the Barossa Valley, South Australia

If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

View Details

Kaner and Amby get talking about playing metagaming arseholes, live Diplomacy games online, the variant Colonial Diplomacy, possible variant ideas and get more entertaining after many more drinks

This episode is a back-to-back recording again at the Breakfast Creek Hotel. Amby pays homage to Aussie rock band "Midnight Oil" and their lyric about the pub in the song Dreamworld, and their disappoint in the political career of its lead singer (Peter Garrett) (20 secs)

Metagaming arseholes

Kaner gets hot under the collar about his recent experience with metagamers: people who come into a game with a preconceived alliance and will not vary from it (2 mins 30 secs)
The game was the very last to be played Known World 901 game at WebDiplomacy (2 mins 45 secs)
Kaner explains the difference between metagaming and multi-accounting. He talks about a useful thread on webDip that discusses this (4 mins 45 secs)
Kaner blows off some more steam, and then explains what happened to the game after the metagaming was discovered (7 mins 45 secs)

Variant and Lab talk

Kaner goes a little off topic and discusses a new variant being put together by David E. Cohen, the creator of Known World 901 (8 mins 45 secs)
Amby discusses his recent holiday and a surprising spotting of a book written by a David Elliot Cohen - is it the same guy? (9 mins 45 secs)
Kaner talks about other great combined maps done by David E. Cohen, combining the Maharajah and Spice Islands maps (11 mins 30 secs)
Amby discusses how Flame is setting up Pirates on the Lab so he can correct some of the issues players have raised about the variant (12 mins 45 secs)
Kaner talks about how he'd like to see the minor power element of the Versailles variant brought into Pirates (14 mins 15 secs)
Mrs Kaner is going soon to France. Kaner discusses his wife's French pronunciation skills (14 mins 30 secs)
Amby discusses his other variant creation plans and ideas after reading a Theodore Roosevelt biography that touches on possible conflicts that never occured and how it'd make a fun variant. Basically it would encompass the Venezuelan crisis of 1902-03 where America and Germany could have come to war. Similar potential conflict almost happened over Morocco (15 mins 45 secs)
Amby keeps the ball rolling talking about another variant idea after listening to two podcasts (12 Byzantine Rulers and The History of Rome) about the tetrarchy of the Roman Empire when it was governed by four separate emperors. A system that eventually brought them into conflict (19 mins 15 secs)
Kaner discusses his interest in the Byzantium Empire and the Black Death (21 mins 50 secs)

Back to Metagaming

The guys talk about whether an aspect of metagaming is acceptable based on your prior experience against a player (23 mins 50 secs)
Kaner talks about players that rub him the wrong way (27 mins)
Amby explores a situation whether metagaming could be done in a potentially positive way (29 mins)
Kaner flows off the discussion with a story about his first Diplomacy game against his father and brother (31 mins 40 secs)

What the Dr Recommended update - part 2 of the Top 100 at WebDiplomacy

The guys follow on from episode 14 and attempt to pronounce player names from #20 to #50 (33 mins 45 secs)
Amby discusses how he's been thinking about playing an Ancient Mediterranean game on WebDip (38 mins 30 secs)

Live games

Amby does another holiday flashback and how with a bit of spare time on his hands, played a live Classic game at webDip (38 mins 55 secs)
Amby discusses this was his first ever live game, although he'd tried to get this happening once before on the basis of having a Drunk Diplomacy game (where all players have been drinking) (40 mins)
With so many players at webDip its a lot easier to get a live game going, the same with PlayDip (40 mins 50 secs)
Amby drew Russia and explains why he likes playing Russia in Classic (and hates Austria and Italy). Kaner also gives his views on which countries he likes playing in Classic (41 mins 20 secs)
Amby expected a 45 minute game, but found out that was not the case! (42 mins)
He talks about the challenge in a live game of competing real life demands that get in the way of preparing and submitting orders (43 mins)
Amby explains he had a lot of fun playing a live game. cspieker as Turkey won with Amby coming second (43 mins 45 secs)
The game used the draw size scoring system. Amby explains he has no idea how that works, or sum of squares. The guys talk about how they need to get someone from webDip on to explain it without too much highbrow maths. Amby asks Kaner to organise zulta or another informed webDip person on (45 mins)
Back to the live game. Amby explains how he was doing alright as Russia but Turkey was starting to make moves his way. One of the big problems was the amount of CDing in the game, although generally replacements popped up really quickly (46 mins 45 secs)
Amby explains his gameplay to avoid attacking Austria and blitzed Scandanavia and started taking SCs off England. Only for Austria to start attacking Amby, quickly followed by Germany doing the same. Amby explains his attempt to send gunboat messages of peace out to England failed. Kaner asks about Germany's rapid rise followed by rapid decline (48 mins 55 secs)
Once it became very clear to Amby he wasn't going to win, he set himself some personal goals, including Russia making its way to the Iberian peninsula. The guys then talk about their future plans on playing more live Dip games (51 mins 45 secs)
Kaner talks about the importance of hitting the refresh button in live games (55 mins 45 secs)

The guys discuss their games

Kaner briefly touches on his Sengoku tournament situation (57 mins)
Amby similarly discusses briefly his games: Bourse, WW2 and Indians of the Great Lakes (57 mins 30 secs)

The Colonial Diplomacy variant

Amby quickly segues into a game of Colonial Diplomacy he recently finished (58 mins 40 secs)
He describes how he hasn't played it for a couple of years. Kaner says the Trans-Siberian railway and Suez canal rules have been coded into the game (59 mins)
The guys give a shout out to those who brought the Colonial variant to life: Peter Hawes for designing the game, Oliver Auth for the php coding and Tobias Florin for the Trans-Siberian railway and Suez canal coding functionality (1 hour 00 mins 00 secs)
They talk about how the special rules work for the Suez canal and the Trans-Siberian railway. That said in the podcast the guys totally forgot to mention the special rule for Hong Kong: it counts as an SC if occupied by any country except China, in which case its considered a non-SC territory (1 hr 1 mins)
The guys get increasingly pissy as they move onto drink number six... and it starts showing on Amby's memory of the game (1 hr 03 mins)
Amby does however remember his overall strategy playing as Japan and what he was trying to achieve and how he managed relationships with other players (1 hr 4 mins 40 secs)
Congrats to Matticus13 who won as China with Amby coming second (1 hr 6 mins)
Amby discusses his mid-game plans and how we tried sending gunboat messages of peace to Holland and France (1 hr 7 mins 45 secs)
Amby describes how it was a really fun variant and would be interested in playing again as another player (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs)
Kaner asks Amby's thoughts on naval vs land based warfare in the variant (1 hr 11 mins)
After some initial pissy rambling, Amby reads some of the End of Game statements to explain the players' thoughts on this game and old-man flash backs from Amby about the fall of the Berlin Wall (1 hr 13 mins 15 secs)
We then get onto the EoG statement from England, the winner of the game (1 hr 18 mins 15 secs)
Amby discusses the fortress nature of Singapore as an SC (1 hr 20 mins)
After Kaner's dismal attempt at a joke, Amby slips in a drunken joke or two (1 hr 22 mins 40 secs)
After being at the pub for over 4 hours, the guys acknowledge this is a good time to wrap things up before it gets messy, before suggesting listeners send their best jokes by PMing or sending a comment (1 hr 26 mins)

Venue: Breakfast Creek Hotel, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Carlton Draft and XXXX "off the wood"
Amby - Riddoch cabernet sauvignon from the Coonawarra, South Australia

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If you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see covered in an upcoming podcast, or something you'd like to see regularly covered, please contact us or leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Dan Philip for his rockin' intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

View Details

Kaner and Amby discuss the Calhamer estate auction of original Diplomacy paraphernalia, other news and game updates before interviewing Super_Dipsy and Morg from PlayDiplomacy before Amby gives his final thoughts on PlayDip after his exposure during his Online Diplomacy Championship game. Apologies in advance, this is our longest podcast yet at around 2 hours 15 mins!

Diplomacy Games: Recent Episodes

Diplomacy Games.com - Kaner and Amby