From: Michael Sims <mike(at)southwall.com>
Subject: RE: Dip 230 - "Lost Kings of Yore" (Game-start and country assignments - redux)
To: "Babak Talebi" <babaktalebi(at)gmail.com>, "Josh E." <aramis604(at)yahoo.com>
Cc: "Bruce Quinn" <coebq(at)yahoo.com>, "230 Austria - Nathan Woll" <nwoll(at)yahoo.com>, "230 England - Aidan Slattery" <aislattery(at)aol.com>, "230 Russia - Justin Card" <jcard(at)atnex.net>, "230 Turkey - Jeffrey Clay" <jmc66(at)mac.com>, dc230(at)diplomaticcorp.com
Date: Friday, January 16, 2009, 8:55 PM


Greetings all,
My first take of this “picking a leader” concept, is neat idea! Till I realize I’ve gotten the leftovers of France … and lets face it France isn’t exactly known for its great leadership. I mean sure there’s the Napoleon types, typical little-man syndrome, expand beyond your means then implode… and then you’ve got the Louis’s, indecisive, non-committal… And of course there’s Marie Antionette, but come on “Reign of Terror”? I don’t think I exactly exude terror… And the mighty Joan of Arc? Dead at 19.

So I suppose for my homework assignment, I’ll have to take on the role of Phillip the Good of Burgundy. Why? Cuz he’s good! (Really). And I’m good too. And since it was Burgundy , it’s not really France , and the further you can disassociate yourself with France the better, right? So… Son of John the Fearless (who better to be a son of?), and is known for his efforts during the Hundred Years War, in which he vacillated between supporting the French and the English… eventually capturing and sending Joan of Arc to her death. Besides having 3 wives and 18 children (the man must have lived well), he was known for being a patron of the arts, who liked long walks on the beach and starry nights. (If you’re ever looking for a 3-player variant, Hundred is quite well balanced, and very hard to win.)

Besides all that, most of you know me. I spend my free time working on this website thingy where they play Diplomacy, and then playing Descent and other sorts of board games… and when not doing that I’m an IT Tech in the Chicagoland area. For anything else, see www.sims-family.net.

Now on to other matters, surely you’ve all been busy plotting the death of the non-existent players, but hopefully it’s not too late to circumvent that!
-mike
(the Good)



From: Babak Talebi [mailto:babaktalebi(at)gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 7:02 AM
To: Josh E.
Cc: Bruce Quinn; 230 Austria - Nathan Woll; 230 England - Aidan Slattery; 230 Russia - Justin Card; 230 Turkey - Jeffrey Clay; Michael Sims
Subject: Re: Dip 230 - "Lost Kings of Yore" (Game-start and country assignments - redux)


Lords and Kings...

I... Cyrus the Great. King of Kings. Emperor of Persia , protector of the Indus valley, lord of the Nile Delta, savior of Babylon , seer of the northern steppes and ruler of the land of two rivers come to you my vassals and ask of you to perform your duty.

All of Europe has been torn asunder by disorder, pestilence, and ignorance. Who amongst you is capable of leading this continent out of its slumber? Who amongst you will bear the drawn dagger and emerge as its master? Who amongst you is worthy of the mantle of King of Kings?

You must now march forth with your armies and your people and prove to me your loyalty through victory. FOR THE SOLO!!!!


*end character*

So we have a new France friends... Mike Sims - one of the guiding lights of the site and the hard working leader of DC has joined our game as France - it must be said that he was inspired by the dedication of the rest of you - (and maybe the theme)... so please welcome him and lets honor him with an NMR-free game.

also - to Alaric I and to King Romulus -please introduce your adopted kings so that the other players know who they are. might as well learn a bit of history while enjoying a game of diplomacy.

to those that might wonder - Mike's email is included above as well (mike(at)southwall.com ([email]mike(at)southwall.com[/email]))


we will keep the Wed Jan 21st deadline (and I have prelim orders from 5 of you).

Babak



On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 9:34 PM, Josh E. <aramis604(at)yahoo.com ([email]aramis604(at)yahoo.com[/email])> wrote:
I shall adopt the name: Alaric I.




From: Bruce Quinn <coebq(at)yahoo.com ([email]coebq(at)yahoo.com[/email])>
To: Babak Talebi <babaktalebi(at)gmail.com ([email]babaktalebi(at)gmail.com[/email])>; 230 Austria - Nathan Woll <nwoll(at)yahoo.com ([email]nwoll(at)yahoo.com[/email])>; 230 England - Aidan Slattery <aislattery(at)aol.com ([email]aislattery(at)aol.com[/email])>; 230 Germany - Josh E <aramis604(at)yahoo.com ([email]aramis604(at)yahoo.com[/email])>; 230 Russia - Justin Card <jcard(at)atnex.net ([email]jcard(at)atnex.net[/email])>; 230 Turkey - Jeffrey Clay <jmc66(at)mac.com ([email]jmc66(at)mac.com[/email])>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 5:53:14 PM
Subject: Re: Dip 230 - "Lost Kings of Yore" (Game-start and country assignments - redux)


Of course I'll select "King Romulus..."



From: Babak Talebi <babaktalebi(at)gmail.com ([email]babaktalebi(at)gmail.com[/email])>
To: 230 Austria - Nathan Woll <nwoll(at)yahoo.com ([email]nwoll(at)yahoo.com[/email])>; 230 England - Aidan Slattery <aislattery(at)aol.com ([email]aislattery(at)aol.com[/email])>; 230 Germany - Josh E <aramis604(at)yahoo.com ([email]aramis604(at)yahoo.com[/email])>; 230 Italy - Bruce Quinn <coebq(at)yahoo.com ([email]coebq(at)yahoo.com[/email])>; 230 Russia - Justin Card <jcard(at)atnex.net ([email]jcard(at)atnex.net[/email])>; 230 Turkey - Jeffrey Clay <jmc66(at)mac.com ([email]jmc66(at)mac.com[/email])>; dip 230 orders <dc230(at)diplomaticcorp.com ([email]dc230(at)diplomaticcorp.com[/email])>; Former Trout <former.trout(at)gmail.com ([email]former.trout(at)gmail.com[/email])>; Stephen Lytton <stevelytton(at)hotmail.com ([email]stevelytton(at)hotmail.com[/email])>
Cc: Babak Talebi <babaktalebi(at)gmail.com ([email]babaktalebi(at)gmail.com[/email])>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 1:05:47 AM
Subject: Dip 230 - "Lost Kings of Yore" (Game-start and country assignments - redux)
To ye, the lost kings of yore…

Three of your fellow majesties saw the stars dwindle as they lost the divine blessings which awarded them the kingdoms of France , Germany , and Turkey . In this age of turmoil… three kings were lost.

{In fact – this early excitement has been my muse, and I declare that we now have a theme "Lost Kings". Each of you should think of an ancient King or ruler - let's say… preceding the age of discovery (more on this later).}

Good tidings do however follow. Through the distress and disorder, new lords have arisen to guide these ships of state… we have a new Sultan in Turkey and a new Kaiser in Germany while we still await a new President/Emperor to take the reins in France. Below, I have updated the contact/country assignment list. For the benefit of our new German and Turkish players, I have included the 'Policies & Deadlines' section of the original email with one change. I'm changing the deadline time to 6:00pm EST (11:00pm GMT) because that works better for me – hopefully I can get the adjudication out within 6 hours of when its due this way.


Policies & Deadlines:

All deadlines will be at 6:00pm EST (11:00pm GMT). Below is an initial schedule:

Spring 1901: Wed January 21st
Fall 1901: Wed January 28th
Fall Retreats: Thu January 29th
Winter 1901: Sat January 31st

Spring 1902: Wed February 4th
Summer 1902: Thu February 5th
Fall 1902: Wed February 11th
Fall Retreats: Thu February 12th
Winter 1902 Sat February 14th


NMR (No Move Received) policy: The first missed deadline will earn you a public warning. The second missed deadline will get you replaced. (I expect prelim orders from every player for every season)

Orders: I use gmail which has a great feature that allows all 'related' emails to be stacked together. To maximize this benefit to make sure your orders are not lost, I will be sending each of you a separate individual email titled "Dip 230 - <Country> Orders". Please 'reply' to THAT email for your orders and do NOT change the subject line. In the body of the email, start off with the season and year followed by your orders. I also HIGHLY recommend that you send a preliminary set of orders every single turn so you do not get trapped in my NMR policy.

Delays: I will grant reasonable delay requests made BEFORE the deadline.

Maps: I recommend you download RealPolitik or Diplo (do a google search) which are both very useful free applications that allow you to 'map' the game on your own computer. I will attach a copy of the season's map in the adjudication as well as post it on the DC website.

Themes: Themes are meant to give each game a slight flavor – nothing deep. This game will henceforth be known as "Dip 230 – The Lost Kings" and I want each of you to give yourself the name of a historical King or Ruler (pre 1500's). It can be a ruler from your country (preferred) or from a different culture (go to wikipedia and pick an interesting character). You all can decide how to use your character or to send global/white press as that leader etc. At the very least – it'll serve as your in-game ID.

I will henceforth be known to you as Shah Cyrus the Great – King of Kings (He was the first Emperor of the unified Persian Empire . He began his 30 year rule around 560BC and ended it with the largest Empire known to mankind at the time with dozens of vassal Kings and countries under his rule – so pretty fitting for me :-p )

So I order you mere Kings of Men to send a 'group' email to introduce yourself once more, tell us how long/where else you play diplomacy, say hello, and to present to us your new persona (Please 'reply-all' to this email).

Without further ado, the country assignments are below. Enjoy the game and have fun.


Emperor Cyrus the Great – King of Kings
Game Master - Babak Talebi (babaktalebi(at)gmail.com ([email]babaktalebi(at)gmail.com[/email]))

Turkey - Jeffrey Clay jmc66(at)mac.com ([email]jmc66(at)mac.com[/email])

Germany – Josh E aramis604(at)yahoo.com ([email]aramis604(at)yahoo.com[/email])

Russia - Justin Card: jcard(at)atnex.net ([email]jcard(at)atnex.net[/email])

Austria - Nathan Woll: nwoll(at)yahoo.com ([email]nwoll(at)yahoo.com[/email])

England - Aidan Slattery: aislattery(at)aol.com ([email]aislattery(at)aol.com[/email])

Italy - Bruce Quinn: coebq(at)yahoo.com ([email]coebq(at)yahoo.com[/email])
France - **** STILL LOST ****


ps let me know if any of you have any questions.













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