Kissinger & Diplomacy + Interview with Sascha Heylmann

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.

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