Welcome to
the greatest show on earth!
WinterBlitz
2011!
I am happy to report to you that I get the pleasure of running your Rd 1 game for the tournament for the time being. Given the overwhelming number of entries
and boards this year (10, yes 10) we were running short on GMs so I am pulling
double-duty, GM and co-TD. So unless we get another member to step forward, I
will be running your game for the foreseeable future.
So on to
some business. Please read ALL the way through. This is a LOT of business to
attend to and important:
* Our Winter
Blitz Round 1 game has been designated as dc366. Please make sure
that I am on your "safe" list with your email box so that emails from
me do not get caught in the spam filter!
* As you may
note, WB Rules preclude country assignments and those have been selected and
are listed below. Note only one of you can say they got stuck with Italy (sorry
Benjy). It was random so blame the (at)randbetween function of Excel, not me.
Please feel free to introduce yourselves to everyone and to start your
diplomacy.
* Since this
is a tournament game, there is a common set of rules and season deadlines that
all GMs are observing. This can be found at www.diplomaticcorp.com/winterblitz
-- be sure to click the "Rules" option near the top of the main
screen once you go to this page. You can also look at my House Rules on
the DC site. Where not overruled by WB rules, these rules prevail.
* I ask that orders be precise and
appropriately labeled so I don't misunderstand them. Also, please note that I
rarely check orders ahead of time for accuracy so you may want to do so
yourself. If they are unclear, I will order them as a misorder. Typically I
give the benefit of the doubt (if you say A Ven and it was really a F in Ven
but the move order is valid for a F, I WILL move it). Thus, I have had some
players in the past who intentionally misordered (devious buggers) TELL me that
they were doing so so that I did not try to interpret their orders.
Would like you to submit in some
fashion like this:
Subject: DC366: English
Orders (1)
F Lon-NTH
A Lpl-Yor
F Edi-NWG
Note several things: a] I use both
the game number and name in the subject of my orders; b] I use a parenthetical
number to show the version number of the orders I am submitting and can then
update it in the future; c] I use ALL CAPS for sea spaces (just helps
to identify them as such); d] I used one of several alternate abbreviations for
Liverpool (I have also seen Lvp). On abbreviations, I am pretty open to most of
the standard ones (i.e. Gulf of Lyon is GOL in some versions of software and
LYO in others) but make sure the target space is clear. If you aren't sure
if the abbreviation works, ASK (or spell out the place).
* For our deadlines we will use 6pm CST as our ongoing time for orders. CST
is GMT -6 for now (I think it changes when the US jumps to Daylight Savings Time
but we can address this if it becomes an issue). I will try to confirm receipt
of orders as they come in but can't always guarantee to do so. I am running
several games and playing several too. I did not expect to be filling in
full-time as a GM for this so I did not hold my GM/play schedule accordingly.
Because you can not be sure without my receipt, you should ALWAYS heed the next
note.
* An important
note: when submitting orders, make sure to include a cc: to orders(at)diplomaticcorp.com -- this is
for your protection in case your e-mail doesn't get through to me, or if I
am not available and need a substitute GM (likely Mike) to run a turn.
Just a
reminder of the schedule as laid out in the kickoff email:
*
Spring deadlines are Mondays.
*
Spring retreats are Tuesdays.
*
Fall deadlines are Thursdays.
*
Fall retreats AND Winter builds/disbands are Fridays. Builds CAN be conditional
upon a retreat but they MUST be clear.
Don't
forget to check out the game's page on the DC web site at www.diplomaticcorp.com/?game_id=dc366 -
I will update it after each adjudication. I will also e-mail each
adjudication to everyone, as well as a .dpy game file for use in the
Realpolitik adjudication software. Additionally, my email is copied to blitz(at)diplomaticcorp.com. NOTE: this
is the message board for the tournament (all games and press get posted there)
so IF you copy it instead of the "orders" box it will be public. DON'T do
that!!! Probably hazardous to your tournament health.
Press is
allowed and encouraged. For those that are new, press is simply generic
messages that are made public as a part of the turn's results. Typically press
is just generic silliness that may or may not pertain to the game. There is
actually some good press in the DC274 game so you can read the different turns
on that game to see some examples.
OUR GAME
IS ON! The spring 1901 deadline is
Monday, January 10 at 6pm
Central (US) / 24:00 GMT.
Please
everyone send me provisional orders ASAP. Because this is a tournament game,
turns are adjudicated without full order sets; however, if I don't get
provisionals by Thursday I will enter an alternate in the game - we will not
start without a full complement of players.
PERSONAL
NOTE: I abhor abandonments and Civil Disorders. Please don't have that mar our
game. I understand that life happens and that accidents happen. NMR's sometimes
happen (turns where a player has no moves requested); HOWEVER, we do not need
them to lead to abandonment. Game abandonment WILL put you on my bad list
forever (not a good thing given that I am a site moderator). If something comes
up please write me and we can discuss options. I understand that games are
sometimes not fun if things look bleak but our DCI tournament from last year
should be a lesson to us all - holding patiently onto a bad position sometimes
yields a win (Adam won the tournament game and had a 3 center Austria DEEP into
the game). Enough said.
So let's see who got what in the
random formula!
ID : awhite
Ctry : Germany 0
Name : Andy White
Email : awhite8877(at)gmail.com
Location : Spokane, WA, US
ID : finchleywomble
Ctry : Italy 0
Name : Benjy Aarons
Email : finchleywomble(at)hotmail.com
Location : London, GLONDON, UK
ID : Godzilla
Ctry : England 0
Name : Marc Peters
Email : madpeters(at)earthlink.net
Location : Sun Prairie, WI, US
ID : initdoby5
Ctry : Russia 0
Name : Dan Sinensky
Email : dan.i.sinensky(at)gmail.com
Location : US
ID : Jeremiah
Ctry : France 0
Name : Jeremiah Lee
Email : dadidea(at)gmail.com
Location : Ann Arbor, MI, US
ID : The_Czech
Ctry : Austria 0
Name : The Czech
Email : theczechatwebdip(at)gmail.com
Location : Clarksburg, WV, US
ID : Wladimir7
Ctry : Turkey 0
Name : Wladimir Mysonski
Email : wmysonski(at)gmail.com
Location : San Francisco, CA, US
So...what now? Well, we begin. I
need ORDER CONFIRMATIONS by Thursday (Jan 6th); these will be preliminary only
but if I do not have preliminaries from everyone by then I will have to find an
alternate. Our first official Spring is next Monday. Good luck with your chats.
Welcome to the game and
WinterBlitz. I look forward to hosting you all. If you have questions,
feel free to ask me.
Your faithful GM,
garry -
lord of the march, order of the acorn, 2k9 winterblitz champion, humble tournament co-director
