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The contents for this issue are:

• Editorial
  • Games & Variants
• Letters
• Variants
  • Bourse
  • Modern Woolworth
• Dip Games: Abwehr, Bletchley, Cipher , Dauphine , Enigma, and Flanders
• Breaking Away

Editorial

Welcome to new GAME with added teeth whitener, with something for everybody (and nothing for anyone). No this is not turning into a bleughbour Party rag, but the pun was unavoidable in an election season that's affecting everything. People are ranting on about the prospect of a glorious Labour government - what's glorious about a party that is Tory in all but name. If Blair wins, there will not be any changes; no reinvestment in education, no restoration of the NHS, and no revitalisation of public transport. Why, because they are scared of blowing the election in 2002. People are crying out for change because, how does the slogan go, "Britain deserves better". It is a shame then they don't realise it's policy changes they are crying out for, not just a change of people in the job. With so much sleaze and corruption, people have numbed to politics. We have an election of sound-bites and commitment free promises. We should be looking at issues, instead we have Major desperately trying to pin the badge of socialism on any member of the shadow cabinet, but finding them too slippery for it to stick, and Blair going into hiding lest a gaff be made and they blow the election. I could start telling you why the LibDems are worth your vote, but really all I need say is look at the issues important to you, and then see what each Party is willing to do, and how committed they are, and then make your choice on that basis. The last paragraph was supposed to be a welcome to the mag now it's in Word 6 format, but I got slightly side-tracked. Not only that but I'm developing a formula scheme of things (is this a good idea??) So that each issue includes articles on Diplomacy and variants. I will be reprinting strategy articles (pause for half the readership to say Hurrah, and the other half to groan), as well as stuff on variants, such as the rules, and playing tips. This is a Diplomacy zine and so much of the stuff will be Diplomacy related, but I am interested in lots of different Board games and so will continue to bring news and reviews of games from around the world, often before other mags have even heard of it. Then again I'll probably veer from the 'formula' anyway! Normal service resumes Thought I had best stick in the usual verbose elderly relative free zone editorial you're used to somewhere.

Well it looks like I've survived and come through the other side ready for future battles. Is this a game of Diplomacy I'm on about? No, just work. Most of this year has been spent preparing for a Workshop that was taking place in mid-March. As time grew nearer the hours grew longer; things that once worked then stopped, and so had to be re-tested. Still the Workshop (whose attendants were managers of medium sized build industries, business sections of banks, and others), went quite well. The idea behind the workshop was to show a method (no by any means the only one) of showing building CAD models off to none CAD experts. How do you explain to a client or finance company that you need extra money for an unexpected alteration: show them a CAD wire-frame they can't visualise properly; a rendered video that is non-interactive and may not show something they want; an artists impression? If you could easily convert it to a solid computer model that they could wander around, then it could aide your explanation. In the months prior to the workshop we had taken a CAD model of a real building project (the model was over 100MB - it's a big building!!) and converting (a section of ) it into a distributed Virtual Reality system, we could then run it over three sites (two in the UK, one in Holland), connecting different computer networks (commercial ISDN from BT, that many businesses have, and Broad-band ATM on optical fibre), with audio conferencing. Essentially we had three people "floating" in the same building talking about it, moving furniture, changing the textures (e.g. marble or wooden floor for the entrance lobby?), whilst in reality they were hundreds of miles apart. Now most of this has been done elsewhere, but most of the people in the build industry, including the people there haven't seen this before. What was new was the putting these elements together to work on standard equipment that these firms may already use, and looking at existing applications, and using a "real" project that was being built. Now the workshop has finished, and there is just the report paper to write, though "just" is underestimating it.

On top of that is other projects that are starting, as well as all the other work that was put on the back burner over the last month. On the plus side I've been given some extra days paid holiday, so I'll be looking to attend some of the Game Conventions later this year. To start with FurryCon, and then also StabCon, ManorCon, and MidCon later. Others, well I will have to see what's going on. I will have to put on my commercialism hat if I'm to get the most out of them. How about a double postcard, half allows you to send off for a sample of GAME, and the other presses out to form an orders screen you attach to a clip board to aid privacy when writing down those stabs? Maybe an invisible ink pen with the GAME logo on and ink that disappears a couple of minutes after drying - useful for writing orders to give to an untrusting ally to give in whilst you secretly hand in a backstabbing set of orders. Then there's my all time favourite Spy-spex cardboard x-ray specs that see through paper but not ink, allowing you to read order sheets that have been folded over (I still have a bit of work to do on these, as currently they also see through cotton or woollen garments which I guess would prove a distraction to users, having the opposite effect as intended).

games and variants.

I am quite conscious of not opening too many waiting lists, for the reason that they have two negative effects: the first is they increase the amount of time taken to fill any one list so people have to wait longer before playing (the reason is left as a simple exercise for the reader); the second is that you end up with a lot of games all starting at once, which can be a shock if you are the GM. This last part is not too bad as I've got an increasing number of external GM's (cue to zine editors waving red warning flags at me). Part of my plan for the zine is to reprint rules to variants as well as publish new ones. Just publishing them is only part of the process, since it would be nice to see some of them being played, though rather than just open lists for each I will open a couple. If there are any you particularly like, ask for a list. Though I reserve the right to close any that have too little interest (so get your friends to join the list too!).

This issue I have done Modern Woolworth, which should please those who complained it didn't appear last time! This uses the map printed in issue 7. I hope there is some interest, since it only takes 5 players. To help things along I have a few Modern Diplomacy strategy articles which I will print over the next few issues to get you into the mood. I have also published the rules for Bourse which we need more players for. Also we have some articles on playing Italy (Straight from the Boot) and one on "The Good Ally" This issue also sees all the cyclists lining up for the first Breaking Away. Hopefully many of you will follow this game, and then sign up for the second list, which has already started filling. There are two adjudications for the standard game Enigma, the first was originally sent to players on a flyer a week after the deadline, and the second brings the game back on schedule. On the back page is a brief piece on CodeBreaker Diplomacy, which is developing nicely - you try and break the code the opposition uses so that you can receive their orders - but there's tons more, see the back page now. The code breaking portion of the game has been sectioned off into an all-reader game of its own called Turings 'Twixt. This has a prize for the winner. Politikin Well with election fever upon us, I thought I'd take a small side step. Issue 10 of GAME will be after the election and so I've started a free entry game with a prize for the winner. More on that on the back page. 1/2 million voters. It seems this election will be decided by just 500,000 swinging voters, who are overly concerned with high taxes (reported in The Guardian), and as a result the two tory parties are promising improvements at no cost - a better health service, better education, and even still lower taxes! They are pandering to this small section of the electorate, so much for our democracy! Now in the 1992 election the Conservatives promised no tax rises, and we've had 22. So if they are both promising improvements, without tax raises - how will either of them do it? Do we believe they'll get it from obscure source and not your taxes, instead of just slapping it on you after the election when you cannot do anything about it!! Until next time.

Letters

James Pinnion, Spilsby

Thanks for finding a replacement (in Flanders), but why did you not process the orders? Would it have unbalanced the game? Now I hear rumours of a restart... what's happening! Thanks also, go to Sean for saving the game. Please put me in for Bourse.

NC: I thought that since only one season had gone then it gives a better oportunity for all. I am also thinking of not allowing NMR's in the game what do you think? Bourse list is open, and not anonymous (could we see diploming to try and get currencies inflated?), and I'm considering allowing the Dip players to participate in the Bourse aswell as the game. I was going to link them further, but I guess Richard Sharp would say it's a variant - so the games are still separate. I could link it to a gunboat game and allow who ever has the most of any one currency to control that power???

The question has to be asked... what happened to Octarine and Modern Woolworth? And what happened to the other intimate dip player? It wasn't Steve was it??

NC: Well Octarine was undergoing changes (from v0.4 to v0.5) at the time, and well I hadn't have the time for MW due to work. As to ID no one has come forward yet - though that could be soon resolved. (Hmm cryptic!)

Kim Head, Croydon. Thanks for GAME. It'll be a shame if the passing mention on my address label means that you are cancelling our trade - especially now that LRP is back after my 'divorce'. My bit was ready for almost a week - just waiting for Tony & Louise.

NC: That's because the label for G7 was done by hand, and G8 was sent to your old address, as you had not informed me of your move (I got the change off of another zine, for G7, and it seemed to be a temporary change?). Still now you've told me, I'll ammend the database. You seem to have a very relaxed attitude to turnarounds, in that you've finished your part, as the editor, but are willing to wait a week or more for the subzines!! Quite a few zines take a fortnight or more after the deadline to turnaround the zine, usually because this is how the editor runs the show (they don't start on the zine until the deadline falls), but I would have thought that once an editor has completed the main section they'd be keen to want to get it off to the printers, and not be willing to shove it on a shelf and forget about it until the subzines shows up.

Colin Hobbs, Tottenham

Thanks for the two issues of GAME. Remembering the names of pubs is a good discipline during pub crawls. If you can remember nothing else remember the names; memorise the pub signs, take notebook and pen, write them down as soon as possible the following day, even go back and check if necessary but at all costs remember the names.

NC: Two issues?? You got two 8's in one envelope or two envelopes. If it's the former I'll have to increase the moisture level on my fingers during folding-inserting-sticking phase of my zine turnaround; and the latter means you must be in my database twice (blatent favouratism on behalf of the 'puter).
As to pub crawl discipline, taking a notebook is no good (too many beer spills) - I take one of these compact video cameras (small enough to fit in the palm of your hand nowadays), though I don't hold it in my hand (I wouldn't be able to drink and point at the same time!), so I strap it down between my legs with the lens viewing through a small view hole cut next to the fly. I find that strapping it to one inner thigh is best, as it doesn't create as many problems when you go to the lager storage bins (alternatively known as the men's lavs). The only problem is it gives you a slight limp, but that combinded with the way the camera 'hangs' isn't really a downside. Securing it to one thigh is definitely an improvement to the 'free suspended' system I used to use by hanging it from a harness - if you are not sure what I mean - think of viewing a cow wearing loose jeans from behind!

Drinking two pints in one pub is no way of conducting a pub crawl. Drink halves (of bitter - lager takes too long); that way you fit in more pubs. You should be expecting to get through at least 8 pubs in a decent pub crawl, 10-12 if you start early enough, but, whatever you do, remember the names (of the pubs and if posssible the names of those you've been drinking with).

NC: Halves! Nah, with the size of the queues at the bar, you need to buy a couple each at a time (saves on queuing). You can still have a couple in each pub and get through 8 or more pubs, so long as you start early enough. Real Ale is best - I'm not into Urine Recyke.

I was a little irked by Gihan's comments in Carpe Diem about the Rebel Zine Poll. Whether this was just a friviolous throwaway

NC: No, each issue of CD is supposed to be free. remark or just mischief making.

The fact is that Postal votes beat hand - delivered votes by a landslide.

NC: Oh, remark... Must remember type first, answer later..

I received 30 ballots, which is small beer compared to the Official Ryk Downes Polls which got 150+, but was, curiously, more than the Subzine Poll got.

NC: What do you call a 'landslide' when talking about '30'? What you do have to take into account is timing and events. You extended your deadline to incorporate the London Hobby Meet, which may have altered things slightly, but this is only a small event. (Stop it, you lot - he'll hear you say "well, it's only a small poll".) Ryk closed he's at MidCon, so I would assume that many of his ballots were from that. This also probably biases things too, depending on which editors were there giving away freebies (I was told some editors were taking it really serious and canvassing for votes there!!). I find it funny having a poll for "postal zines" at a "face-to-face" event. The reason is to increase the number of votes because not too many are motivated to actually return ballot forms, which is why quite a few zine editors say they'll forward any ballots sent to them, allowing people to include it when they send a next set of orders. Maybe another way is to incorporate it into a prize draw? If all zines were asked to carry the form, and a prize of "one years subscription to a gaming zine of their choice" (or six months or whatever) was offered as a prize draw all replies would be entered in - I am sure you would increase the rate of replies quite a bit at small cost £10? £15??

Chetan Radia, Stanmore

I've got a job! I'm a software developer with a small company called MSW Technology in London. Fortunately, it only takes me an hour to get to work, and the hours are reasonably flexible. So appologies to anyone who has to wait for replies to letters - they shouldn't take much longer than before.

NC: I'd have thought the post would be quicker from London? Anyway congratulations on the job - I guess this means you'll have access to a computer now? E-mail? I best had start reprogramming my web-bot program so it can whizz along the Internet and start hanging around on your computer - snooping on what you type. That is, if it has forgiven me for sending it to James Hardy's (fickle things these web-bot programs).

Mark Stretch, Kidlington.

Just noticed your comment on the back of game 8. Which OMR have you lost? I am upto issue 18 now, which went out on Monday. (Only 10 days after the deadline, which isn't bad even if not up to your 24 hour specials. Actually, it would have been sooner but I was awaiting Turbo).

NC: It was 17, but I've since found it. 24 hours!! My specials were 3 hours - in the post on deadline day. Now I tend not to look at the zine on deadline night, being a Friday, and so Saturday is spent completing the zine. The exception is when I'm going away for the weekend, though I usually ensure deadline weekend is free. My deadline for subzines / ext. GM's is six days before the main, and I expect them to get it to me before the main deadline. If this did not happen then the zine would go without them (I'd probably hold onto the zines of the players involved in the delayed game for a few day's if I knew the results were in the post)

Speaking of deadlines, I believe you have me slightly wrong in your last letter column. If you can manage ultraquick turnarounds, great. I will be impressed. It just becomes more difficult as the zine becomes bigger and you gain more subzines & outside GM's. I'd love to be able to turn OMR round in the time you turn GAME round in. It just isn't humanly possible with 50+ pages & 3 subzines. Oh well.

NC: Have I not been getting all of OMR then? Most issues have been less that 40 sides, except the last two (17 went up to the dizzy heights of 52 sides, but that included whole page adverts in) - all including subzines. Still I get what you mean. I am wanting GAME to carry on rattling along at a merry rate and so I am conscious of not taking on too many games that take a disproportionate amount of time to adjudicate, since this will lengthen turnaround. This is why the zine is run as mainly a Diplomacy and chat zine. At present I only have a few games running, and so they do not take too much time, but then the only way I will get more games running is if my subscribers volunteer for more games. I do like multi-game zines, and would like to have subzine in GAME to provide that part, though I would not want to GM most of the games, since I wouldn't mind playing in a few.

Keep it up - your turnaround is GAME's biggest asset at the moment.

NC:Well I appreciate it's a major attraction, I'm not sure it's the biggest - the content is a major attraction. I get a lot of good results from cold canvassing - most people who I send a sample to, reply; those that don't want to subscribe still comment on how they like the zine, and may subscribe in future. Now the cynical may think, "ah but they're just being nice", but no-one forces them to spend a stamp & time to reply. I am very pleased at the low level of non-replies, as I expected it to be higher.

Paul Barker, Worle

Regarding your house rules change, I suggest that provisional 1901 orders should be a condition of the gamestart. If everyone has to confirm their place with a set of provisionals covering the first game year there can't be any A'01 NMR's

NC: True, provisional A'01 orders stop NMR's in the first year. My garbled rant of the last issue was whether they should be compulsory? I think that I will ask for provisional S'01 & A'01 orders to be sent within a certain time from the game start -either two weeks after the zine is sent or by the outside GM's deadline. This should improve things and remove the need for standbys.

Viariants

Since I will be publishing variants most issues, then I've alocated a whole section, entitled "variants" (for the benefit of those who get so many zines they only scan the contents page). This time instead of pulling one out of the reservoir, I've one of my own - Modern Woolworth, which combines Woolworth IID and Modern into a variant for five players. There may be one slight change to the game, in that which units will be 'choice' units is not definite (I'm getting the opinion of the author of Modern, as to which will not skew the game too much). Though first we shall look at....

Acurate Bourse

The game of Bourse is a game played along side, but separate to, a Diplomacy game.. The rules were first devised by Don Miller, and the major addition to the standard set will be that currency values will be rounded to 1/100th of a cent instead of the nearest whole cent. This miricle is due to the use of an Excel spreadsheet - this is being provided by Paul Simpkins (big heavy hint to Paul - you still need to send the template to me!!)

1. Any number of players may participate. Each player starts with 1000 units of currency of each country - Austrian Crowns, English Pounds, French Francs, German Marks, Italian Lira, Russian Roubles, and Turkish Piastres. At the start of the game all currencies are equal in value and worth $1.

2. Orders are in two parts, buying and selling. Players may never sell more than 500 units of any one currency at any one time, but may buy upto as much as they can afford. Any surplus after purchases may be retained as a Dollar ballance against future purposes. There is no limit to the number of dollars that may be withdrawn from this ballance, but it may never go into deficit.

3. Each time 100 units of a currency is sold (or bought) it's value in relation to the Dollar drops (or rises) by 1¢. A currency value is only adjusted once against the dollar, by the aggregate amount bought or sold - thus if on turn one two people bought 300 and 315 marks respectively and another player sold 500 marks the adjustment would be +1.15¢ (300+315-500 = +115 more bought than sold). So the mark would raise from $1 to $1 and 1.15¢.

4. When a country is eliminated in Winter season, trading in the currency ceases and its value reduced to zero. Otherwise the value may never fall below 0.01¢. There is no upper limit.

5. Players play Bourse under a pseudoname. A player may join the Bourse at any time and is given a holding of 1000 units of every currency still in circulation.

6. Orders cannot be conditional. If orders are incorrect or illegal they will be adjusted down. Players are asked to include details of their calculations with their orders.

7. The game ends when the associated Diplomacy game ends. The winner is determined by the number of supply centres held by each country times the amount of currency held.

8. In addition: (a) Those playing in the associated Diplomacy game may play in the Bourse and (b) No Dollar surplus may be created in Spring 1901.

Modern Woolworth

((This variant by Nic Chilton., 1997. Is based on the. Rules of Modern Diplomacy and Woolworth 2d.))

1. All the usual rules of Diplomacy (1971 rulebook) apply, except where amended below.
2. Modern Woolworth Diplomacy is a five-player variant. There are ten Great Powers in the game, each player controls two of these : a 'public' power which is known to all players, and a 'secret'power known only to the controlling player and the GM.
3. The ten Powers are those used in Modern Diplomacy, and have either 3, 4, or 5 home centres. The powers are: 3 centre powers: Egypt (E), Poland (P), Spain (S) 4 centre powers: Britain (B), France (F), Germany (G), Italy (I), Turkey (T), Ukraine (U) 5 centre powers: Russia (R) The initial set up for all the powers is as follows : BRITAIN (B): F Edi, F Gib, F Liv, F Lon EGYPT (E): F Ale, A Asw, F Cai FRANCE (F): F Bor, A Lyo, A Mar, A Par GERMANY (G): F Ber, A Fra, F Ham, A Mun ITALY (I) A Mil, F Nap, A Rom, F Ven POLAND (P) A or F Gda, A Kra, A War RUSSIA (R): A Gor, A Mos, A or F Mur, F Ros, F StP SPAIN (S) F Bar, A Mad, A Sve TURKEY (T): A Ada, F Ank, A IST, F Izm UKRAINE (U): A Kha, A Kie, A or F Ode, F Sev
4. All 'choice' set-ups need not be announced until the Spring 1994 orders are revealed. Either an army or a fleet may start in these spaces.
5. Modern Woolworth uses the Modern Diplomacy map. The following notes on Geography may be useful. a.. Cairo, Hamburg and Istanbul behave as Kiel and constantinople do in Standard Diplomacy. b. There is another canal linking Rostov and Volga. This is the only method of getting fleets into and out of the Caspian Sea. c. Iran is the only territory with multiple coasts. The South touches the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf whilst the North touches the Caspian Sea.
6. The Powers are assigned to players using the following procedure : a. Each player submits a list of the ten powers in order of their preferences. Ties are not permitted. b. Control of the 'public' powers is decided first. Playersfirst choices are compared : unique first choices are granted, lots are drawn between players where their first choices are identical. c. Once a player is assigned a power, it is removed from all the players' preference lists. d. For players who failed to gain their first choices, the process as outlined in b. above is repeated, using the highest choices still available, continuing until all the players have a public power. e. When there are only five powers remaining, the process is repeated so as to assign the 'secret' powers.
7. The control of secret powers is never revealed by the G.M, though NMR's may make the relationships apparent. Players may do as they like in this regard, telling or not telling as they please.
8. As the game is based on Modern, it begins in Spring 1994.
9. There are 38 home centres and 26 neutrals making a total of 64 supply centres on the board. The victory condition is 39 centres, which may be reached by a combination of the strength of the public and secret powers belonging to a player. Adjustments are always separately counted for each power, however.

Notes