Interview with Ed Sullivan/GoHornsGo and Village Idiot/Ewok on Media Wars 2

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

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, 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.