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I feel ya, mate.   This is my third WinterBlitz tourney and I've had Italy all three times...
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: johnston.scott(at)comcast.net
Sent: Apr 4, 2012 6:29 PM
To: Cory Burris
Cc: Winter Blitz , Michael Thompson , Marc Peters , Michael Penner , Mick Cox , Mike Norton , Charles Welsh
Subject: Re: dc419 game start!


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NO!  Not Austria! Not again...


From: "Cory Burris" <coryfucius(at)yahoo.com>
To: "Winter Blitz" <blitz(at)diplomaticcorp.com>, "Michael Thompson" <psychosis(at)sky.com>, "Marc Peters" <madpeters(at)earthlink.net>, "Michael Penner" <mvpenner(at)yahoo.com>, "Mick Cox" <mickstagman(at)aol.com>, "Mike Norton" <mjn82(at)yahoo.com>, "Charles Welsh" <welsh_stroud(at)msn.com>, "Scott Johnston" <johnston.scott(at)comcast.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2012 2:58:24 PM
Subject: dc419 game start!





Welcome to our round 2 game of DC Winter Blitz 2012, everyone!
For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Cory Burris, and I have been a member of DC for over 5 years. Most of my Diplomacy in recent years has been limited to GM duties, as the task of locating billions of dollars for a cratering state budget has taken up much of my time. I work in the budget office of the Governor of Illinois, an unenviable task, as Illinois recently passed California as the US state with the lowest bond rating from Moody???s. Even with a big income tax increase that took effect last year, our state still can???t pay all its bills and balance its budget. Does anyone know where to find $5-$10 billion fast?
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/tournament.php -- be sure to click the "Rules" option near the top of the main screen once you go to this page. Notably, all spring deadlines will occur on a Monday, fall deadlines will be on a Thursday, and winter adjustments will occur on a Friday. GMs are able to choose the time when orders are due, so for this game, I am setting all game deadlines at 3pm Central (US) / 20:00 GMT.  (Please note that the UK is now on British Summer Time, which is 1 hour ahead of GMT. For those of us in the US or Canada, the UK is the usual number of hours ahead.)
An important note: when submitting orders, make sure to include the game identifier "dc-419" in the subject line, and also cc: the tournament's Orders box (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 moderator to run a turn. One of my players in dc-291 sent an e-mail that didn't arrive in my inbox for a day, but fortunately did reach the Orders box, saving him from an NMR.
Press is allowed and encouraged. For those who are unfamiliar with press, that 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 was actually some good press in the dc-274 game, so you can read the different turns from that game to see some examples.
Don't forget to check out the game's page on the DC web site at www.diplomaticcorp.com/game_page.php?game_id=dc419 -- 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.
And now your lineups!
  Austria: Scott Johnston  (johnston.scott-at-comcast.net)
  England: Mick Cox  (mickstagman-at-aol.com)
  France: Michael Penner  (mvpenner-at-yahoo.com)
  Germany: Mike Norton  (mjn82-at-yahoo.com)
  Italy: Marc Peters (madpeters-at-earthlink.net)
  Russia: Michael Thompson (psychosis-at-sky.com)
  Turkey: Charles Welsh (welsh_stroud-at-msn.com)
Please be sure to introduce yourselves to your fellow players. Also, take note that at least two of our players are based in the UK, so keep those time zone differences in mind when communicating with other players.
The spring 1901 deadline will be Monday, April 9 at 3pm Central (US) / 20:00 GMT. Preliminary orders are strongly encouraged! Thanks for playing, everyone, and happy stabbing!
Cory