Diplomacy World #121, Spring 2013 Issue
Diplomacy World #121, Spring 2013 Issue
Diplomacy World #121, Spring 2013 Issue
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the dots and realized that I had spoken to The Edi<br />
Birsan. I'm sure he probably felt the same way. I<br />
probably caught up with him again at ConQuest later<br />
the same year (before it returned to being called<br />
PacificCon) and got the bug again. I met some great<br />
people (for <strong>Diplomacy</strong> players) and had a blast. I<br />
also learned to annoy Louis Abranson, which was<br />
fun. I haven't played a judge game in a while but I'll<br />
probably pick some up again.<br />
As for face-to-face versus email, I like them both for<br />
different reasons. My play is much more measured<br />
in email games. Sometimes, I succumb to the<br />
council of Eris when I play with people in the same<br />
room. Everyone should have a Muse.<br />
For the record I have had no best results at WAC<br />
previously.<br />
But seriously, it looks like you had some tough match<br />
ups. Two draws with Doug Moore? So tell me, how the<br />
hell do you keep that guy at bay? I've played with him<br />
before and he's absolutely merciless. He's also always<br />
struck me as one of the most interesting personalities in<br />
the game. Can you talk a little bit about those games<br />
with him?<br />
Unfortunately for Doug, he was stuck with me for<br />
every round. I should probably apologize, but as an<br />
apparently wise cowboy once said: "...sometimes<br />
you eat the bar, sometimes the bar, well, eats you".<br />
So, tell me about the final board, which you topped to<br />
win the tournament. Looks like, just going by the final<br />
results, there was an E/F and R/T situation and you<br />
thought to stab your ally at the proper time. Is that<br />
putting it right, or was there more to the game than that.<br />
Talk about the top board experience in general if you<br />
can.<br />
Fascinating. (and I say that with the air of a 1950s-era<br />
psychologist wearing tweed and smoking a pipe.)<br />
So tell me about WAC. First of all, congratulations. I<br />
never doubted you had it in you! I've done some<br />
research, and I see you managed to win the tournament<br />
without soloing, beating someone that did solo! I need to<br />
move to the West Coast :-P. Tell me about the<br />
tournament in general, who runs it, its format, who some<br />
of the regular faces are, and your best result at this con<br />
up to now.<br />
I have to be honest, I am very fond of WAC despite<br />
my 50% actual versus attempted attendance. My<br />
dedicated personal research has revealed that in<br />
essence the participants spend several days at the<br />
bar during which <strong>Diplomacy</strong> happens thanks to the<br />
considerate hosting of Mark Zoffel, Nathan Barnes<br />
and Matt Shields. This year was a WACCon Redux<br />
with only three rounds as I understand they are<br />
planning something big for their 10th and final year.<br />
Consequently some of the regular travelers were not<br />
attending this year as the Triumvirate had sagely<br />
recommended attending next year over this year.<br />
They still managed a respectable showing, including<br />
the Bay Area's very own dream-crusher Siobhan, the<br />
crew from Vancouver including Chris "Very Naughty<br />
Boy" Brand, Eric Mead and Doug Moore.<br />
Drawing Turkey was not part of my plan. Chris<br />
Brand as England was vaguely enthusiastic about a<br />
1901 ET pile-on with Russia. In a fit of quiet<br />
desperation, I opened large against Russia with the<br />
Crimean Crusher of Con - Bul, Ank - BLA and Smy -<br />
Arm. Of course Russia didn't honor the DMZ we<br />
agreed either. My essential strategy was to capture<br />
Sev and Rum as quickly as possible and then make<br />
peace with an embattled Russia while I cleaned up in<br />
the Balkans. Poor Austria was abused by all of its<br />
neighbors to make a rapid, mandatory dot donation.<br />
Soon after I found myself in position to pick up<br />
Greece from Austria, and Budapest and Vienna from<br />
Russia and Italy. At that point the game was mostly<br />
done in the East. Doug Moore's Italy barred my way<br />
into the Ionian while I worked on taking Trieste.<br />
By 1906 the general consensus on the table was that<br />
I had won, so I kept pushing for a draw that I am<br />
certain Chris Brand kept vetoing as he scrambled to<br />
architect a big score in the West. I had limited<br />
opportunities to grow from then on, although Eric<br />
Mead's Germany kindly donated Warsaw after being<br />
brutally violated by England and Adam Berey's<br />
France. At some point during the chaos, Chris Brand<br />
mis-ordered his builds and allowed France to walk<br />
into London, thereby sinking his play for a win in the<br />
more fluid West. I managed to slip into the Ukraine<br />
and had enough fleets to threaten the Italian<br />
Peninsula. At that point, the draw was finally<br />
conceded.<br />
I ordered an ice cold Bombay Sapphire Martini,<br />
straight-up with two olives, from the bar just before<br />
it closed.<br />
<strong>Diplomacy</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>#121</strong> – <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2013</strong> - Page 14
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