Greetings, and welcome to the two-hundred and seventy-fourth game of Diplomaticcorp Diplomacy - The DC Invitational! This game shall henceforth be titled “It doesn’t get any cozier than this!” For our game will be sporting 11 players, on a relatively standard map. Crowded? I’d say so! With not a single neutral center on the board, the opening rounds should be drastically different from most games.

The DCI was meant to be a game that will pull together the best of the best, the young and the old, the tall and the small… And this lineup will certainly do just that:

2008 DCI champion - Dan Dzicowicz, playing Austria, ddz999cat23(at)yahoo.com ([email]ddz999cat23(at)yahoo.com[/email])
2009 WB champion - Garry Bledsoe, playing England, kielmarch(at)hotmail.com ([email]kielmarch(at)hotmail.com[/email])
Top Provisional rated - Frank Martin, playing the Lowlands, frankmartin(at)surewest.net ([email]frankmartin(at)surewest.net[/email])
Top Regular rated - Nigel Phillips, playing Russia, nephilli99(at)hotmail.com ([email]nephilli99(at)hotmail.com[/email])
Top Companion Knight - Mikael Johannson, playing Italy, m_don_j(at)hotmail.com ([email]m_don_j(at)hotmail.com[/email])
Top Light Brigade - Jorge Saralegui, playing Norway, jmsaralegui(at)gmail.com ([email]jmsaralegui(at)gmail.com[/email])
Best Survivor - Joe Hacket, playing France, jhack16(at)gmail.com ([email]jhack16(at)gmail.com[/email])
Best Solo Victory - Matt Kremer, playing Spain, matthew.kremer(at)yale.edu ([email]matthew.kremer(at)yale.edu[/email])
Most Promising GM - Adam Martin-Schwarze, playing Turkey, smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com ([email]smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com[/email])
Moderator Pick - Drew Ott, playing the Balkans, drew3739o(at)yahoo.com ([email]drew3739o(at)yahoo.com[/email])
Moderator Pick - Max Victory, playing Germany, maxatrest(at)yahoo.co.uk ([email]maxatrest(at)yahoo.co.uk[/email])

This looks like a great group. The selection criteria was revised a bit this year to create a bit more diversity among the DCI invites. There are now categories to honor some of the newer features of the site like Mikael of the Companion Knights and Jorge of the Light Brigade, as well some unique accomplishments like Joe playing his first 10 games without a single elimination, or Adam running some outstanding games including a marathon WB game as a new GM. In addition we’ve added some Moderator Picks for a bit of a wildcard that brings Drew and Max into the fray, and the best solo without a doubt goes to Matt for beating 34 opponents in his WWIV win. Then of course we have the DCI fundamentals – last year’s champion Dan, the 2009 Winter Blitz winner Garry, and the top rated established and provisional players - which brings Nigel for his dominance over the years in speed play and Frank for his win against some great opposition in A&E.

That rounds out our group!

Attached, you’ll find the Crowded map. Things are going to get rough -fast- in this one so I can’t wait to see where things go. But with a US holiday coming up next Monday, we’re going to allow just a bit of extra time here, and set the Spring 01 deadline for: Wednesday 9/9/09, or opening night for ‘9’. If any of you are planning to go see this, be sure you’ve got your moves in ahead of time! 6pm Central / 2300 GMT.

There is also a little matter of prelims - and for the first turn, they’re required so that I know we’re off to a solid start. Whether you plan to change them or not, some set of prelim orders are due to me by this Wed 9/2/09, 6pm Central / 2300 GMT. Then the actual turn is due the following Wednesday 9/9. Press of all sorts is accepted, be sure to turn in any creative submissions with your regular orders.

Here’s to a lively and entertaining game!
-mike
Order of the Garter
www.diplomaticcorp.com