Diplomacy

[ThorinMunro]

Australian Championship - Day 1 Saturday

As promised, Sydney showcased a very hot and humid Saturday.

And as also promised Sean supplied two mini-dalek aircon units which sat in the corner of our playing room and pumped out coolness. Late in the afternoon the wind blew in and squalling showers. By that time 13 of us were settled in at the Summer Hill hotel with Citadels, Galactica and other games, drinks and dinner.

But back to the Tournament!

I'd had an feeling we'd have lower numbers than last years boom, with a number of stalwarts taking a break. As everyone began to assemble we quickly formed two boards, with initially one extra (me) which built to four over the course of the morning. So using the continuous format, we started the first Diplomacy games, with the excess playing Iceflow, a new game from Sean's stock...

While the games were in progress, I met David Keck, a Sydney local with a long time Diplomacy gaming group (like more than 20 years) who had never encountered the DAANZ or the online hobby. David chose to observe how we ran the tournament and the play, and I'm very hopeful of a good boost to our ranks from his group. Talking about new players, Jonathan Powles travelled from Canberra, an experienced online player making his first foray into FTF. Similar story for Jeff Shafer, an American long-time resident of Sydney, trying FTF after much online play. David Kenny, another American taking some time-out for world travel after 25 years with Glaxo, arrived a little later, caught out by the trains not running and having to figure out the replacement bus service. David is an experienced strategy gamer, but new to Diplomacy and he picked the game up very quickly. Welcome all.

Game 1: Antechinus
Chris Goff ripped ahead with Russia, before being forced to draw by Steve, Charlie and Andrew.

Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906
A Peter McNamara 5 5 4 3 1 0
E Steve Lytton 5 5 4 5 7 9
F Andrew Goff 5 5 5 6 7 8
G Tristan Lee 5 5 7 5 2 0
I Charlie Akdeniz 4 4 5 5 5 7
R Chris Goff 6 7 7 9 11 10
T Geoff Kerr 4 3 2 1 1 0

Game 2: Bandicoot
The welcome return of Brett Chatterton, newcomers Jeff and Jonathan 'blooded' and Shane 'Mr Smooth' Cubis topping the board!

Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906
A Brett Chatterton 5 4 3 3 3 4
E Jonathan Powles 4 4 5 5 4 4
F Rob Schone 5 5 5 5 6 5
G Shane Cubis 5 6 6 7 7 9
I Matthew Woodburn 4 5 4 5 5 3
R Jeff Shafer 6 6 6 2 4 2
T Sean Colman 4 4 5 7 7 7

Game 3: Cassowary
Daniel 'Yoda' Pavatich, up from Wollongong and past tournaments, Leena and Thorin managed to produce an effective stalemate to stop the surging Peter (G) and Geoff (F). David worked very closely with Leena until those centres became just too tempting for her

Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906
A Thorin Munro 5 5 5 6 5 5
E Tristan Lee 5 4 2 0 0 0
F Geoff Kerr 5 5 7 7 8 8
G Peter McNamara 5 6 6 8 9 10
I Daniel Pavatich 4 4 5 6 6 6
R Leena Hu 6 6 7 6 6 5
T David Kenny 4 4 2 1 0 0

Game 4: Dingo
I overheard World Champ Goffy at game end ask Shane, "How did you get so good?" And then answer the question himself "Did you just decide to?". This after Shane's Austria stabbed Goffy for 4 centres in the final year. The game called a draw, more with a view to getting to the cooler pub and starting fresh games in the morning. There was a lot more on offer for Shane....

Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
A Shane Cubis 5 6 6 8 12
E Jeff Shafer 5 5 6 6 5
F Charlie Akdeniz 5 5 4 4 5
G Jonathan Powles 5 5 6 6 6
I Andrew Goff 4 6 7 7 4
R Matthew Woodburn 6 3 3 2 2
T Rob Schone 4 4 2 1 0

Saturday saw 4 completed games and 18 players in action. When the dust settled there were a number of surprises on the scoretable, not least being the strong showing by 16yo Charlie Akdeniz and newcomer Jonathan Powles.


Australian Diplomacy Championship 2010


Player State Antechinus Bandicoot Cassowary Dingo Total n
1 Shane Cubis NSW 13.00 16.00 29.00
2 Andrew Goff Vic 11.00 7.00 18.00
3 Charlie Akdeniz NSW 10.00 8.00 18.00
4 Jonathan Powles ACT 7.00 9.00 16.00
5 Peter McNamara WA 1.25 14.00 15.25
6 Chris Goff ACT 14.00 14.00
7 Jeff Shafer NSW 5.00 8.00 13.00
8 Geoff Kerr NSW 1.25 11.00 12.25
9 Steve Lytton Vic 12.00 12.00
10 Matthew Woodburn NSW 6.00 5.00 11.00
11 Sean Colman NSW 10.00 10.00
12 Daniel Pavatich NSW 9.00 9.00
13 Rob Schone NZ 8.00 1.00 9.00
14 Leena Hu NSW 8.00 8.00
15 Thorin Munro NSW 8.00 8.00
16 Brett Chatterton NSW 7.00 7.00
17 Tristan Lee Vic 1.25 0.75 2.00
18 David Kenny USA 1.00 1.00

[Desmond]

How are points allocated for tournament play?

[ThorinMunro]

How are points allocated for tournament play?

There are a multiplicty of scoring systems around the world. I'm using a relatively simple centre based system called "Owls".

Owls Scoring System (Modified Cricket System)
* 35 points for an 18+ centre VICTORY
* 1/4 point each year of survival in ELIMINATION or LOSS (maximum of 2 points)
* 1/2 point per centre for survivors in a LOSS (Owls variation)
* 1 point per centre in a DRAW
* 3 points for surviving in a DRAW
* 1 point for being the outright leader in a DRAW

[ThorinMunro]

ADC10 - Sunday (day 2).

Home exhausted after another active day. Three more games completed, bringing the total played now to seven. The 8th game is still in progress at 1907, and will resume at 10am.

Another player joined the tourney, Gabriel Singer, bringing the tally to 19. Also had a visit by Gary Bekker, whose son Josh was planning to play ADC as his first event, until a missed flight (out of China?) scuttled that. Nevertheless, great to see Gary in Sydney and looking forward to Josh at a future tournament ... next generation! Chris Hennessy, who played last year and is now living in Sydney working with Seropeco, called in. Was good man to have him we had a one small replacement position required (Gabriel left early). Thanks.

There is one huge result needing special mention. Tournament debutante Jonathan Powles scored 16c with Russia and was only just stopped from a solo by Goffy (E/13) and Rob Schone (G/5). After the game Goffy commented that he thought most players in the current hobby would not have been able to stop the solo. Be great if you guys would write up an "End of Game" summary for the DAANZ ezine. To the games:

Game 5: Echidna
Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906
A Steve Lytton 5 8 8 8 6 7
E Charlie Akdeniz 4 4 2 0 0 0
F Chris Goff 5 5 5 7 7 8
G Thorin Munro 6 6 8 8 10 10
I Leena Hu 4 4 4 3 3 0
R Sean Colman 5 3 2 2 2 2
T Peter McNamara 4 4 5 6 6 7

Game 6: Flying Fox
Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911
A Matthew Woodburn 5 6 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
E Andrew Goff 5 5 5 6 8 8 10 11 12 14 13
F Tristan Lee 5 5 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G Rob Schone 5 5 5 6 7 9 10 11 11 6 5
I Geoff Kerr 4 4 5 6 9 8 5 2 0 0 0
R Jonathan Powles 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 11 14 16
T Gabriel Singer 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0


Game 7: Goanna
Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907
A Daniel Pavatich 4 1 1 1 1 0 0
E Shane Cubis 5 6 6 5 6 6 7
F Leena Hu 5 5 5 7 7 7 7
G Charlie Akdeniz 5 5 6 7 7 7 6
I Gabriel Singer 4 5 4 1 0 0 0
R Brett Chatterton 6 6 6 6 4 3 3
T Tristan Lee 4 6 6 7 9 11 11

Game 8: Huntsman
In progress...

And standings / scores after day 2...

Player State Antechinus Bandicoot Cassowary Dingo Echidna Flying Fox Goanna Total
1 Shane Cubis NSW 13.00 16.00 10.00 39.00
2 Jonathan Powles ACT 7.00 9.00 20.00 36.00
3 Andrew Goff Vic 11.00 7.00 16.00 34.00
4 Charlie Akdeniz NSW 10.00 8.00 0.75 9.00 27.75
5 Peter McNamara WA 1.25 14.00 10.00 25.25
6 Chris Goff ACT 14.00 11.00 25.00
7 Steve Lytton Vic 12.00 10.00 22.00
8 Thorin Munro NSW 8.00 14.00 22.00
9 Leena Hu NSW 8.0 1.25 10.00 19.25
10 Tristan Lee Vic 1.25 0.75 1.00 15.00 18.00
11 Rob Schone NZ 8.00 1.00 8.00 17.00
12 Sean Colman NSW 10.00 5.00 15.00
13 Geoff Kerr NSW 1.25 11.00 2.00 14.25
14 Jeff Shafer NSW 5.00 8.00 13.00
15 Brett Chatterton NSW 7.00 6.00 13.00
16 Matthew Woodburn NSW 6.00 5.00 1.25 12.25
17 Daniel Pavatich NSW 9.00 1.25 10.25
18 Gabriel Singer NSW 2.00 1.00 3.00
19 David Kenny USA 1.00 1.00

[ThorinMunro]

Australian Diplomacy Championship - Day 3

Well ADC 2010 has been run and won by yours truly!

The game in progress from the Sunday, 'Huntsman' saw my Turkey emerge with a solo victory. So my three games total was good enough to win the championship and I could spend a relaxing Monday afternoon watching the final game...

The talk of the tournament was the performance of Jonathan Powles, who in his first FTF event, the Australian Championship, secured second place AND the prize of a trip to WDC 2010 in The Hague!

This came about due to the ineligibility of the TD for the prize in each of the five tourney series. [A very correct prize condition]. Jonathan also scooped the best Novice award!

Third place went to Peter McNamara who has been an Australian Championship regular, making the stop in Sydney after returning home to Perth (from Boston where he studies Mathematics at MIT) each Christmas. In the final game of the event he formed an EF alliance with Steve Lytton and stabbed first to get to 13sc. With two eliminations and two best country awards (E and G, both on tie breaks) Peter had an up and down tournament, but definitely finished on an up!

Special mention to 16yo Charlie Akdeniz who played five games with just one elimination, finishing in 7th place.

Maverick award went to Geoff Kerr for his Fall 1901 creativity as Austria in Huntsman.

Best countries:
A: Shane Cubis (12)
E: Peter McNamara (13)
F: Geoff Kerr (8)
G: Peter McNamara (10)
I: Jonathan Powles (8)
R: Jonathan Powles (16)
T: Thorin Munro (18)

Game 8: Huntsman
Started with RT solid (FANK-CON, FSEV-RUM) and Austria decided to join the party rather than be ground out. Geoff (A) worked out a very dynamic play. F1901 Turkey allows Italy FION-AEG to succeed and takes BUL & GRE, FAlb-ION and ASER-TRI to bounce the 'agreed' move Italy ATYR-TRI. No builds for Italy, two fleets for Turkey. Away we all rolled. In the West, much mutual distrust and gradual emergence of England as the big boy. Italy falls to AT, Russia has the heat applied up north by England and Germany, France moves into the MED. Austria and Turkey stab Russia. The table begs Turkey to stab Austria and it eventuates. England and France tangle and cannot work out an alliance (yet). Germany drops. Turkey eventually walks behind French lines into MAO passing up MAR/SPA etc to do so. France feels confident the solo is stopped and starts to work with England ... but the FMAO ends up in SPA and an army takes MAR. The 18th centre being WAR. Solo.

Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910
A Geoff Kerr 4 6 7 9 6 3 3 1 1 1
E Matthew Woodburn 4 5 5 6 7 10 8 8 8 8
F Sean Colman 5 6 6 7 7 8 9 9 8 7
G Daniel Pavatich 5 5 6 2 3 1 1 1 0 0
I Peter McNamara 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
R Steve Lytton 5 6 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 0
T Thorin Munro 5 5 6 8 9 10 12 14 16 18

Game 9: Ibis
Game begins just after 10am (well before the preceding solo is decided) and various combinations and possibilities for the players involved to finish very high. And a couple were able to pass Jonathan if the cards fell right. In the end EF allied and squished Goffy's Germany very quickly. Then ground on to 8sc each, before Peter stabbed Steve and held on to the draw. This play allowed Jonathan to grab some loose Austrian dots and finish on 8sc himself. More than enough to secure 2nd place (solo settled by then).

Power Player 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908
A Tristan Lee 5 6 5 4 4 3 4 2
E Peter McNamara 5 5 7 7 7 8 11 13
F Steve Lytton 5 6 7 8 8 8 7 5
G Andrew Goff 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
I Jonathan Powles 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 8
R Charlie Akdeniz 6 5 5 5 5 6 3 2
T Leena Hu 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 4

Australian Diplomacy Championship 2010

Player State Total
1 Thorin Munro NSW 57.00
2 Jonathan Powles ACT 47.00
3 Peter McNamara WA 42.25
4 Shane Cubis NSW 39.00
5 Andrew Goff Vic 34.50
=6 Steve Lytton Vic 32.00
=6 Charlie Akdeniz NSW 32.00
8 Leena Hu NSW 26.25
9 Chris Goff ACT 25.00
10 Tristan Lee Vic 22.25
11 Sean Colman NSW 20.50
12 Matthew Woodburn NSW 18.25
13 Rob Schone NZ 17.00
14 Geoff Kerr NSW 16.75
=15 Jeff Shafer NSW 13.00
=15 Brett Chatterton NSW 13.00
17 Daniel Pavatich NSW 12.25
18 Gabriel Singer NSW 3.00
19 David Kenny USA 1.00

[ThorinMunro]

There are two more upcoming events where 1st prize is a trip to the 2010 World Diplomacy Championship at The Hague, Netherlands.


DAANZ Tournament Calendar: http://www.daanz.org.au/dip-tournaments.htm

20-21 February 2010:New Zealand Diplomacy Championships
Location: ASB Stadium, Kohimarama, Auckland, NZ
Format: 3 Rounds over 2 Days
Scoring System: Detour98f
Tournament Director: Grant Steel
Cost: $30.
Run in conjunction: With BATTLECRY hosted by the AMERICA club.
Prizes: By the Australian Board Gamers League www.abgl.com.au and
Seropeco www.seropeco.com.au
1st Prize: Return Airfares & Accommodation to the Value of A$3000.00 to attend: World DipCon Championship in The Hague, Netherlands.
Registration is now open: http://theamericaclub.net.nz/battlecry2010/rego (In Which tournament you are interested in type "New Zealand Diplomacy Championships 2010")
For more information contact:
Grant Steel: moag@ihug.co.nz
Will Black: wjcblack@gmail.com

6-7 March 2010: Victorian Diplomacy Championship
Location: Melbourne Chess Club

Contact: Tristan Lee totalhomicide@gmail.com
Prizes: By the Australian Board Gamers League www.abgl.com.au and
Seropeco www.seropeco.com.au
1st Prize: Return Airfares & Accommodation to the Value of A$3000.00 to attend: World DipCon Championship in The Hague, Netherlands.

[ThorinMunro]

Victorian Diplomacy & Boardgames Convention 2010
Venue: The Melbourne Chess Club, 66 Leicester St, Fitzroy.
Dates: 6-8 March, Labour Day Longweekend (in Vic)

For more information, contact Tristan Lee: totalhomicide@gmail.com

comprising:

Victorian DipCon 2010
6-7 March (9:30am – 8pm)
Multiple Rounds of Diplomacy over 2 days

First Prize sponsored by Seropeco http://seropeco.com.au/
Return airfares & accommodation to The Hague, Netherlands, to attend World DipCon in August 2010. (Value A$3000.)
Other Prizes: Best Countries, Best Novice, the Victorian Diplomacy Champion perpetual trophy (since 1990)

Lunch and refreshments included.
Diplomacy dinner on Saturday night to be sociable.

Recommended budget hotel:
Formule 1 Hotel, city, short tramride to venue (budget room for up to 4 ppl)
http://www.formule1.com.au/default.aspx

Cheap backpackers:
Royal Derby Hotel, Fitzroy, near the venue
http://www.royalderbyhotel.com/accom.htm#accom

Further options:
Wotif http://www.wotif.com/

Billets available for interstate visitors – just ask!
For more information, contact Tristan totalhomicide@gmail.com


Victorian Boardgames Championships
7-8 March (10:30am – 8pm)
Play any multiplayer boardgame you like, and as many or little as you like.
Your best results will count towards this event (more details to follow soon).

Prizes: the Victorian Boardgames Champion perpetual trophy (since 2001), gift vouchers, games and more.
Lunch and refreshments included.

Games expected to be included:
Settlers, Powergrid, Diplomacy, Ra, Agricola, Antike, Imperial, Endeavor, Citadels, Acquire, Brittania, Dominion, Puerto Rico, Carcassonne, Game of Thrones, Big City, Battlestar Galactica... plus almost ANYTHING you want to bring along. Please email me games which you would like to add.

[Yes - you may count your best Diplomacy game result towards both event.]

[george]

hi all,

I played in the Vic Dip Con 2010 held at the MCC. Twice before over the years whilst in melbourne I had gone to MCC only to find it closed.

It was a pleasure to get inside and I caught up with Grant S and we had a chat.

The Dip tourney was not quite what I expected - i am used to Dip over the internet where you have at least 12 hours to make moves,retreats etc. the short deadline of 15 minutes to conduct diplomacy and write your orders is obviously something akin to playing good social chess then finding yourself in an Allegro tourney playing for sheep stations. I found even if I did have the ability and the strategies necessary I wasnt able to think quickly enough - however I dont think I have the quickness of mind or had the over the board experience to do well in a weekend tourney.

All that said I found the Dip folks friendly and the tourney well run despite there being no air conditioning and the atmosphere was akin to a sauna - most dip players are hardy souls I found and simply got on with playing enjoying the alliances and the sweetness of stabs.

I met the World Dip Champion who with his pink (I think it was ) mohawk was hard to miss - he was polite and friendly.

All in all a very interesting weekend spent staying with my sister playing Dip and experiencing the wild weather!

Anyway thanks Thorin for inspiring me to come even if it was for a oncer!!!

[ThorinMunro]

by Tristan Lee / TD

If one looks at the centre-counts of the Top 5, one would appreciate how hotly contested this tournmt has been!

We had 32 players, with a total of 13 games.

Congratulations to Daniel Pavatich for winning the Victorian DipCon 2010 and the First Prize to attend World DipCon 2010 in August.


The tournament was scored under OWLS, so the reference below to centre counts is as a guide only. The ‘Best 3’ games count.

Stars* indicate number of rounds, if not 3.


1st Daniel Pavatich (28c = 10, 11, 7)

2nd Andrew Goff (26c = 0, 10, 6, 10)

3rd Steve Lytton (28c = 10, 8, 9, 9)

4th Shane Cubis (26c = 7, 7, 12)

5th Rohan Flavelle (25c = 10, 8, 7)

6th Grant Steel (22 = 7, 4, 0, 11)

7th Thorin Munro (22c = 8, 0, 14)



8 Geoff Kerr ****

9 Graham Allen ****

10 Darren Koch

11 Marcus Schutenko ****

12 Rob Hadley

13 Jason Whitby **

14 Greg Breese ****

15 Phil Stott

16 Peter Schubert ****

17 Ryan Phelan **

18 Benjy Aarons-Richardson ****

19 James Bounsall **

20 Sean Colman

21 Rob Schone **

22 George Howard ****

23 Chris Core

24 Josh Bekker

25 David Blom *

26 Guy Mischlewski **

27 Joel Fallon **

28 Grant Szuveges *

29 Simon Morawetz **

30 Mike Skolnik *

31 Jeremy Stott

32 Darren Shortt *



Best Austria: Jason Whitby (12c)

Best England: Thorin Munro (14c)

Best France: Rohan Flavelle (10c)

Best Germany: Andrew Goff (10c)

Best Italy: Daniel Pavatich (11c)

Best Russia: Rohan Flavelle (7c)

Best Turkey: Steve Lytton (10c)



Best Novice (Best Newcomer to a DAANZ tournament): Greg Breese



Daniel had 28c with 38pts under 'OWLS', over 3 games.

Daniel is an all round ‘nice bloke’ and his playing style reflects that – a very popular win.



Andrew and Steve each played 4 brilliant games (with the best 3 games counting).

Andrew was very close, at 37pts and only needed 2 more centres in any of his games to beat Daniel. [1 more centre would have led to a tie break, in favour of Daniel.] Steve's position was the same.

Also, the opportunity to get in a 4th game allowed Andrew to improve by 10c, Steve to improve by 1c; and Grant to improve by 11c!!



There were 2 draw mechanisms implemented.

1) ALL games could draw from 1910, based on a dice system. This never happened.

2) The tournament would terminate – at 4:30pm on Sunday – which force all current games to end.

2-day events are tight. Perhaps in future we should run longer days on both days, rather than the usual 1.75days, so everyone can get in 4 full rounds.



Although I didn't play, I had a good time conducting the tournament and watching the goings-on.

Having 10 new players to DAANZ tournaments was very encouraging.

16 of us went to dinner on Brunswick St on Saturday night; afterwards we went to a bar 'Little Creatures' with allegedly the best beers in town. (I had cider!)



A sincere thanks to Sean Colman & Seropeco for sponsoring the First Prize.



The boardgames event was well attended by an additional 40-50 people. And it was a good opportunity for those who want to play boardgames on the side.

But I'm sorry about the heat in that room ... It was bad!



I have now scanned the centre charts Will Black for him to double-check and do updates. If he finds errors, I will assassinate him.

I am also happy to send the charts to any player who request them on today or Wed. (Before I go overseas on holiday.)



Thank you all for coming. I hope you had a great time as I did.

Cheers,

Tristan.

[ThorinMunro]

Seropeco Australia Board Game Specialists 25% to 45% off RRP Sale

Sean from Seropeco Australia, who has been a very strong supporter of Sydney boardgaming and particularly Diplomacy events, has indicated that they now have a new Discounted / Clearance Games section, which is 35% - 45% off RRP.

All their other games are 25-30% off RRP as usual.
See http://www.seropeco.com.au/category40_1.htm

Take a look; perhaps you'll find something you want.

Cheers,
Thorin

[ThorinMunro]

[Posted on behalf of Daniel Pavatich / Tournament Director]

Hi all,

Well it's that time again for the NSW Diplomacy Championships. We already have a number of interstate players planning to attend (although, I'd love to see more), along with the usual faces and some new players as well. I encourage all you New South Welshman to attend, and show those lesser states* how we diplome!

* State ranking based on gambling revenue.

I really want to highlight the fact that new players (who join DAANZ, for the paltry sum of $5) will get in for free. Get there!

NSW Diplomacy Championship
Sat 19th - Sun 20th June 2010

Location: Paddington RSL, Sydney, NSW

Format: To be determined, best 3 counted.
Scoring System: Owls System (Modified Cricket)

Tournament Director(s): Daniel Pavatich / Shane Cubis
Register: >From 10 am each day.
Playing Times: Sat 10:30 am - 10:00 pm, Sun 10:30 am - 6:00 pm

Cost: $25 for the 2 days or $15 per day, new players free

Prizes: 1st/2nd/3rd, Best Countries, Best Novice
Free Refreshments: Tea, Coffee, soft drinks and snacks.
For more information contact:

Daniel Pavatich: daniel.pavatich@gmail.com

May the rabble rousing commence! Look forward to looking at you all from the corner of the room where I'll be talking to Germany about the genius of moving to Tyrolia in S'01.

[ThorinMunro]

You know you want to ...

Yes, starting out as a newbie Diplomacy player can be a daunting exercise. You have heard all the difficulties ... needing to find seven players, that it takes a long time to play, that people tell lies and are eliminated and that all Diplomacy players are hyper-competitive.

Well, while that can all be true, Diplomacy is actually much, much more than just a nasty game where people tell lies to each other!

Diplomacy when played at its best is a vehicle for learning about human nature, about yourself, your capacity for resilience and recovery, about strategic and tactical thinking, about handling pressure and thinking on your feet, about creative negotiation and mutual gain, about trust and balance and power dynamics and yes disappointment. These aspects make it more than just a game.

Diplomacy as a phenomenon has withstood the test of time. Created in 1954, Diplomacy is played by seven players, each controlling a major WW1 European Power. Through skilful negotiation and superior strategy each aims to dominate Europe. Ultimately it is you, as a person, who determines your results. No dice, no card decks, no random events.

So, if you are at all curious about Diplomacy, why not come along to the next Diplomacy event in Sydney. New players are welcomed, can be buddied up with experienced players to learn the ropes and join 'beginners boards' for a gentler introduction.

Sydney Diplomacy Challenge
16-17th October 2010
Summer Hill Community Centre
http://www.daanz.org/dip-tournaments.htm#syd2010

Diplomacy Down Under has been organised as a hobby association for nearly 25 years.
Visit the DAANZ website: http://www.daanz.org/index.php
The World Diplomacy Championship will be held at Coogee Beach, October 2011.

[ThorinMunro]

Topline update of preparations for WDC (1-3 October 2011).

Format / Rounds.
There are 5 rounds. All players will take a bye during one of the first 4 rounds.

* Fri 30th Sept: Pre-Tournament gathering at the Coogee Bay Hotel (drinks /dinner etc)
* Registration from 9am Sat 1st (if not preregistered - we'll set up an online facility)
* R1: Sat 1st Oct, 10am
* R2: Sat 1st, ~5pm
* R3: Sun 2nd, 10am (team round)
* R4: Sun 2nd, ~5pm
* R5: Mon 3rd, 10am
* Presentation: Mon 3rd, ~6pm


Accommodation
The venue did not want to do a package deal (popular long weekend). Best to book your accommodation early as it is a busy holiday long-weekend in Sydney.
Options within short walk to venue include.

* Coogee Bay Hotel (3 star, right at the venue. Might be abit noisy for some, overlooking the beer garden...)
* Coogee Bay Boutique hotel (ditto, right behind the venue)
* Crown Plaza (4 star, 100m up the hill. Proper international accom)
* Medina Executive (4 star, easy 3min walk)

For the budget conscious....

* Surfside Bacpackers (2 min walk)
* Wizards of Oz Backpackers (opposite Medina)

Try www.wotif.com for deals. Also check neighbouring suburbs like Randwick. Even CBD accommodation would be fine if you are comfortable catching buses. (Dan Burgess of Chicago Windy City Weasels wrote (11th March): "I am going to redeem points to stay at the Crowne Plaza next door for A$60 plus 15,000 points per night. Which will make it affordable for me. I've actually been there, I hiked from Bondi to Coogee on a sunny and cool August morning in 2008 and it was a real delight.")

Registration & Merchandising
Will Black is creating an online registration page. Details to come.
WDC Sydney 2011 branded polo shirts and caps have been sourced. Bundle deals will be available on registration. Anyone wanting the goodies at WDC will need to register & order & pay at least 2 weeks before the event to ensure I can get them made. Expect to see me modelling the shirts at VDC
Discussion group: Suggesting all registered players join the DAANZ discussion group to stay in touch: http://daanz.org.au/email_zines.htm#daanz-dip

Tournament Director
Very pleased to advise Rob Schone will use his diplomatic skills and international playing experience to guide the tournament!

Promoting the Tournament
There is a good quality flyer available for distribution: http://daanz.org.au/wdc2011/WORLD%20...XI%20FLYER.pdf
The upcoming edition of DiplomacyWorld will have a number of Australian / WDC slanted articles including one by Larry Peery from the USA who played in WDC Canberra 2002. He sailed on the QE2 and spent 8 weeks exploring Australia!
Players: we have 37 confirmed and 36 maybe's. Good mix of local and international players. http://daanz.org.au/wdc2011/index.php

You can help by spreading the word. Please forward this update to anyone who may be interested.


Regards,
Thorin