Hallo zusammen,

welcome to the very first 1648 playtest! I hope we shall all find this a most enjoyable experience. Next to the nine players involved, we have three official observers on board, who are welcome to submit any press for inclusion in the adjucations (much as players may do) or simply send everyone public messages.

Now on to some critical matters:

RULES:

The game uses the v2.8 rules and maps (which I will shortly send you). They may also be found at http://www.dipwiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page , where I shall also be posting progressively more material regarding the variant. The House Rules are to be found on the game's webpage at http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/.

MAIL:

As noted in the house rules, I require players to forward (CC) all diplomatic correspondence they send to me. This is most invaluable for evaluating the playtest. For one, I mean to base some statistical analysis on the players' interaction with each other. Rest assured that all private correspondence will be kept strictly confidential.

- Any public messages need to be CCed to dc264(at)diplomaticcorp.com ([email]dc264(at)diplomaticcorp.com[/email]) . That's our online archive. Our window to the outside world, so to speak. I recommend you subscribe to the forum so you don't miss anything that might be directly posted there.

- For your orders, please send them in the following format:

1648: Sp49 A1

The above refers to the first Austrian order set sent to me for the Spring 1649 Moves.

Note that retreats and adjustments are combined into one adjucation. You may make your adjustments conditional on any retreats.

- I encourage players to also adopt the following header format for their negotiations:

1648: Sp49 AST1

"AST1" here meaning the first message sent by Austria to Sweden and Turkey in the time leading up to the Spring 1649 deadline, marked by "Sp49".

DEADLINE EXTENSIONS & TEMPORARY REPLACEMENTS:

Players ought to let me know well in advance when they might be unable to communicate. I may grant extensions if requested for good reason, but advise you to seek a temporary replacement during your absence. I mean to stick to the Wednesday-Thursday routine and do not wish to grant 24/48 hour extensions.

ADJUCATIONS:

I may publish summer and winter adjucations prior to the actual deadline unless a player required to submit orders for that season objects to that happening.

CONTACTING THE GM:

Should the need arise, you may call me under 0049(30)32664404.

I hope this covers some important ground I failed to stress in the house rules document itself. Should you have any questions regarding my GMing policies, be sure to ask.

GREAT POWER ALLOCATION:

Okay, on to the fun part. I've ranked the power preferences of all nine players from 1 to 9 (any "no-particular preferences" being considered a 9). I've added up all those ranks to see which powers were most popular. The higher the number, the less popular a power happened to be.

AUSTRIA: 68
DENMARK-NORWAY: 42
ENGLAND: 61
FRANCE: 66
POLAND-LITHUANIA: 69
RUSSIA: 52
SPAIN: 35
SWEDEN: 48
TURKEY: 41

Spain and Sweden were all the craze. Three players most wanted to play Spain and another three listed her as their second choice, while Sweden also was the favourite of three other players. I started off considering the top choices for each player and resolved any competing preferences by die roll. As a result, four players got their top choice, one his second, another his third and two other their fourth. A last player had chosen no particular preferences.

And with that, I present you with our player roster:
AUSTRIA: Saralegui, Jorge Venice, CA, US DENMARK-NORWAY: Thompson, Michael Chester le Street, Durham, UK ENGLAND: McInerney, Chris State College, PA, US FRANCE: Albright, Nathan Tampa, FL, US POLAND-LITHUANIA: Leroux, Roger Vancouver, BC, CA RUSSIA: Johansson, Mikael Karlstad, Sweden SPAIN: Kremer, Matt New Haven, CT, US SWEDEN: Bailey, Wayne Ballston Lake, NY, US TURKEY: Knemeyer, Dirk Somerville, MA, US



I hope everyone is reasonably happy and that I covered the most important ground of what has to be said.

The Spring 1649 moves are due to me NLT 6PM CET on 1 July. I strongly encourage players to every season send in preliminary moves as soon as possible. This will allow me to review your moves and point out any problems (e.g., invalid orders, missing or misplaced units, etc.) that may present themselves in sufficient time for you to correct them. And remember to CC me on all your diplomatic correspondence. Thanks!

Cheers,

Charles

----------
PLAYERS:
AUSTRIA: Jorge Saralegui <jmsaralegui(at)gmail.com ([email]jmsaralegui(at)gmail.com[/email])>
DENMARK-NORWAY: Michael Thompson <psychosis(at)sky.com ([email]psychosis(at)sky.com[/email])>
ENGLAND: Chris McInerney <c.p.mcinerney(at)gmail.com ([email]c.p.mcinerney(at)gmail.com[/email])>
FRANCE: Nathan Albright <nathanbalbright(at)yahoo.com ([email]nathanbalbright(at)yahoo.com[/email])>
POLAND-LITHUANIA: Roger Leroux <yrl1967(at)gmail.com ([email]yrl1967(at)gmail.com[/email])>
RUSSIA: Mikael Johansson <m_don_j(at)hotmail.com ([email]m_don_j(at)hotmail.com[/email])>
SPAIN: Matt Kremer <matthew.kremer(at)yale.edu ([email]matthew.kremer(at)yale.edu[/email])>
SWEDEN: Wayne Bailey <WBailey(at)nyiso.com ([email]WBailey(at)nyiso.com[/email])>
TURKEY: Dirk Knemeyer <dirk(at)knemeyer.com ([email]dirk(at)knemeyer.com[/email])>


PROCLAMATIONS:
o TENSION RISE ANEW FOLLOWING THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA

MESSAGES:

GM to the Rulers of Europe: Good luck to one and all.

CURRENT UNIT POSITIONS:
Austria: Prague, Trieste, Vienna.
Denmark-Norway: Christiania, Copenhagen, Holstein.
England: Bristol, London.
France: Brest, Marseilles, Paris.
Poland-Lithuania: Cracow, Vilna, Warsaw.
Russia: Moscow, Novgorod, Voronezh.
Spain: Flanders, Madrid, Naples, Sevilla.
Sweden: Abo, Riga, Stettin, Stockholm.
Turkey: Belgrade, Constantinople, Damascus.
Minors: FAlgiers, A Bavaria, A Brandenburg, F Candia, F Courland, A Crimea, A Ireland, A Lorraine, A Lower Saxony, A Mecklenburg, A Moldavia, A Morocco, A Papal States, A Persia, F Portugal, A Prussia,
A Rhineland-Westphalia, A Savoy, A Saxony, A Scotland, A Swabia, A Switzerland, A Transylvania, F Tunis, A Turkestan, A Tuscany, A Ukraine, F United Provinces, F Venice, A Wallachia.

SUPPLY CENTER OWNERSHIP:
Austria(3): Prague, Trieste, Vienna.
Denmark-Norway(3): Christiania, Copenhagen, Holstein.
England(2): Bristol, London.
France(3): Brest, Marseilles, Paris.
Poland-Lithuania(3): Cracow, Vilna, Warsaw.
Russia(3): Moscow, Novgorod, Voronezh.
Spain(4): Flanders, Madrid, Naples, Sevilla.
Sweden(4): Abo, Riga, Stettin, Stockholm.
Turkey(3): Belgrade, Constantinople, Damascus.
Minors(30): Algiers, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Candia, Courland, Crimea, Ireland, Lorraine, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg, Moldavia, Morocco, Papal States, Persia, Portugal, Prussia, Rhineland-Westphalia, Savoy,
Saxony, Scotland, Swabia,Switzerland, Transylvania, Tunis, Turkestan, Tuscany, Ukraine, United Provinces, Venice, Wallachia.

DEADLINE SCHEDULE: (all orders are due NLT 6PM CET...not local time)
o Spring 1649 Moves: 1 July
o Summer 1649 Retreats: 2 July
o Fall 1649 Moves: 8 July
o Winter 1649 Retreats/Adjustments: 9 July
o Spring 1650 Moves: 15 July