Repent, ye sinners! Your time of atonement is nigh! Flagellate thyselves and kneel thee before a vengeful God – entreat Him for mercy... though, by the looks of ye, ‘tis a fat lot of good it will do. Don sack-cloth. Cover thee with ashes. Contort thy face. And rend thy garments. Ah, what a stinkin’ unwashed lot of wretches ye be. Winter Blitz is here, and it is as cold and cruel as the Iowa winter (currently -4 F / -20 C). Be thee afraid!I am Adam, your GM. But before I can torment you, I must inform you of a series of rules, cautions, disclaimers, provisos, and other administrative details. Please read these carefully, as Winter Blitz has some rather strict rules stemming from: (1) tight deadlines, and (2) the uniformity required in tournament play.Your game number is DC 293. Please include this in all email subject lines to avoid my spam filters. Also, please make sure that my emails avoid your spam filters. There is a web page for this game, its results, its current status, and the current RealPolitik files: www.diplomaticcorp.com/?game_id=dc293.Please email me immediately to confirm receipt of this email. Include your S1901 prelims!RULESThe following rules govern DC 293. Items not covered below may be addressed on the Winter Blitz site (http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/?right=tournament). Otherwise, DC House Rules apply.SCHEDULINGThe first deadline (S1901) will be Monday, January 11th at 10:00 CST (16:00 GMT). Future deadlines will always be as follows:Spring: MondaysSpring Retreats: TuesdaysFall: ThursdaysFall Retreats & Winter: FridaysEMAILS TO THE GMMy email address is smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com I use email filters, so please include 293 in your email subject line… unless you want to end up in my trash folder. I will try to confirm receipt of all orders. I will not correct nor notify you of mistakes in your orders. I usually do, but this is a tournament game.PLAYER ASSIGNMENTSIn accordance with Winter Blitz rules, you have no choice as to your country assignment. You probably got stuck with Italy. I am laughing at you. God is not merciful. (I am not God).DEADLINESAll deadlines will be 1000 CST / 1600 GMT (let me know if this is inconvenient, and we can perhaps arrange another time). Due to the tight and rapid timeline of this tournament, do not expect reminders from me (though you may occasionally receive one). Because this is a tournament (and a blitz tournament at that), there is absolutely zero wiggle room on deadlines. If you are late, then you are late, and I am powerless to help you. Your units will NMR, they will be ordered to hold (or to disband in retreat or to waive a build…, and your allies will turn on you due to your unreliability. Put succinctly: timeliness is the greatest virtue of a Winter Blitz champion. Your timeliness will cover a multitude (but by no means all) of your other sins. As this is a Blitz game, I will not adjudicate early, except where all retreats are auto-retreats. I *will* accept orders after the deadline up until I start adjudicating (usually within a couple of hours of the stated deadline), but since you won’t know exactly when that is, you’re best served submitting final orders before the deadline.***CC: YOUR ORDERS***:You should copy ALL orders to: orders(at)diplomaticcorp.com. Period. Next to timeliness, it’s the single most important thing you can do to succeed in this tournament. Why? (1) The cc’d emails are used to settle all disputes, so you need orders(at)diplomaticcorp.com to cover your holy bottom in case of GM errors. (2) If I am unable to adjudicate (whether with or without notice), then a tournament moderator (Garry or Mike) will adjudicate on my behalf using *only* orders submitted to the confirmation address.AUTO-RETREATSAny unit that is forced to retreat with only one viable option will automatically be ordered to retreat thusly. This may sometimes lead to an early adjudication if all retreats are auto-retreats. If you would prefer to disband your auto-retreating unit, you must contact me by 1000 CST of the appropriate Tuesday/Friday. Preferably sooner.CONDITIONAL ORDERSYou may have noticed that Winter orders are adjudicated at the same time as Fall retreats. You are allowed to submit conditional builds (e.g. “If Austria retreats to Ukraine, then build an army in Moscow; otherwise, build a fleet in St. Petersburg/ncâ€Â�). For that matter, you may submit conditional orders for any season. Be forewarned that if I have difficulty deciphering the orders, I will treat ambiguities as orders to hold / disband / waive.PROTESTSYou have 24 hours to protest an adjudication. When the 1441st minute ticks away, you may no longer protest; your supplication will be denied no matter how righteous it is and no matter how wicked and perverse I am. Please direct your protest first to me. If I provide no satisfaction, then we can appeal it to a Moderator. Again, time is of the essence. Protests should be made rapidly.PROXIES / REPLACEMENTSIf you cannot submit orders for one season, you may designate a proxy (who may NOT be another player in the Winter Blitz) to submit orders on your behalf. I will need a rather explicit email from the player designating the proxy and providing contact information. Proxy orders are always overridden by player orders, even if the proxy orders were submitted after the player orders. Proxies must be renewed each game year. DC does not provide replacements. So, if one of you must flake, please at least try to find a substitute player to take over your position. Otherwise, your country will fall into eternal NMRs, which spoils the game for everybody. Quite.PLAYER ASSIGNMENTSIt is time to grovel before the unfeeling hand of Fate…GM – Adam Martin-Schwarze <smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com>Orders CC: <orders(at)diplomaticcorp.com>Austria – David Harrison <harridav(at)cox.net>England – Eric Marr <ericmarr(at)gmail.com>France – Joe Payne <josepayne(at)gmail.com>Germany – Jeremiah Lee <dadidea(at)gmail.com>Italy – Jean-Luc Granier <amenhotep13(at)orange.fr>Russia – Chris Morse <camorse22(at)yahoo.com>Turkey – Jeffrey Krause <diplomacy(at)jeffreyk.com>Please email me immediately to confirm receipt of this email. Include your S1901 prelims! Copy them to orders(at)diplomaticcorp.com!