Better late than never

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.

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