Slightly slurry Diplomacy

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

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