Diplomacy Games podcast: Episode 26 shownotes – Summer Diplomacy

Venue: NEXT Hotel Pool Terrace and Bar, Brisbane followed by Ryan’s on the Park

Drinks of choice:

Kaner – Mountain Goat Ale from Richmond, Victoria and the Little Creatures “Roger’s” Pale Ale from Western Australia

Amby – Cape Mentelle Marmaduke shiraz  from the Margaret River, Western Australia and the Shottesbrooke grenache, shiraz and mourvedre (GSM) from McLaren Vale in South Australia

The guys discuss the cool Android app “Conspiracy”,  recent Diplomacy variants being tested and talk shop.

Intro

  • NEXT Pool Terrace and BarThe guys introduce the NEXT Hotel Pool Terrace and Bar, discuss the weather, Kaner’s take on the book about the Trump administration in “Fire and Fury” and move onto their drinks (0 mins 10 secs)
  • Amby talks about his first ever time as tournament director for the 1066 tournament at vDip. He then goes onto discuss how the tournament is being organized and his thoughts on having access to the Mods area  (5 mins 45 secs)

Around the Grounds and general Dip chat

  • Kaner talks about how he’s going in his WWIV Sea Lanes game (13 mins)
  • They think the background noises might be too loud and decide to go to another bar – that being said when Amby edited the podcast… it sounded perfectly fine! They then address Dr Recommended latest recommendation for them to sing more often (15 mins 30 secs)
  • Ryan's on the ParkThe guys move to Ryan’s on the Park as the Irish Murphy’s Bar had really bad acoustics. Amby talks semantics about what a “hotel” is in Australia (17 mins 50 secs)
  • The guys talk about their second lot of drinks and chat about their Christmas day (21 mins)
  • Amby opens his Around the Grounds on his Pirates game. A player is dangerously close to soloing in this winner take all game. He discusses how the game is going  (24 mins)
  • Next up is the Tournament of Time over at PlayDip. Amby goes onto discuss how this tournament is working and the current Ambition and Empire game and its use of the collaboration platform Slack to manage messaging. Amby’s team member (Big Joe) is playing for the team as Denmark-Norway (29 mins)
  • Kaner then discusses the free Android app “Conspiracy” which is pretty much Diplomacy for your smart phone. The guys give it a big wrap but also talk about how it could be improved particularly around the issues of community and people NMRing and CDing. Here’s some screen shots from Kaner’s game interface (32 mins)

Main screen of Conspiracy

Conspiracy profile screen

Conspiracy screen shotKaner's profile pic in ConspiracyKaner's finished gamesWhen setting ordersProviding support

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • The guys talk about whether they should run some donation option for the podcast before some more drinks and belated tasting notes (52 mins)
  • Amby discusses his now completed test game of “Punic Wars” at the Diplomail Lab playing as the Greeks. He discusses while he won, it was an incredibly challenging map and reflects on the knife-fighting game play of the Russian players (55 mins)
  • Then he goes into discuss his role in the War of Austrian Succession play test also at the Diplomail Lab. Amby is playing as Piedmont-Sardinia and is also enjoying this map and variant. It follows pretty much standard Dip rules but in the first year players are limited in the number of armies they have even though they have more SCs that can support more units. That said if they retain their starting SCs they can build in the second year. Its got some wacky borders too. Amby discusses the “Borders” book Kaner gave him at Christmas (59 mins)
  • Next its onto the Western World 901 variant being tested in the Diplomail Lab. Its based on the map by David E Cohen but is focused around Europe, north Africa and the north west bits of the Middle East. None of the guys are in this test game but they talk about the variant anyway before a second hat tip to Dr Recommended’s singing suggestion, before a tangent about the new Star Wars movie before degenerating into an argument about Leia (1 hour 8 mins)
  • Kaner asks Amby about how his variant development plan are going (1 hour 17 mins)
  • Kaner gets very excited at the prospect of “Divided States” being released (1 hour 20 mins)
  • After a brain lapse from Kaner he discusses the prospect of an American Civil War/Mexico variant on the Conspiracy app. Amby suggests perhaps it will be the Fall of the American Empire variant (1 hr 28 mins)
  • The guys give a shout out to cjuric for his awesome review of the podcast at iTunes. They strongly encourage you to pop over to iTunes and give it 5 stars (1 hr 30 mins)

And thanks as always to Dan Philip for his rockin’ intro to the Diplomacy Games podcast.

1 thought on “Diplomacy Games podcast: Episode 26 shownotes – Summer Diplomacy”

  1. Amby and Kaner,

    Once again, Episode #26 – “Summer “ Diplomacy is perhaps the best podcast you have ever done. I loved it – and not just because it is the dead of winter here in the US and Europe (where 95% of your audience is) and it was the “summer” episode. Specifically, here’s why:

    First, maybe a bit silly, but I find it really interesting to hear about “Christmas in Summer” in Australia. I know it is normal for you, but when it is -8 C here in the US or Europe, and you are talking about going “into the shade at Christmas” —– it’s hilarious. I love that. You were talking about prawns and such on a Barbie for Christmas family dinner…. so very much the opposite of Christmas in so many places. Very cool to hear about it. Your perspective and life in Australia is great to hear about.

    Second, I literally laughed out loud hearing your tasting notes on your second round. It was exactly what I have been waiting for when I asked so many, many podcasts ago. Basically Amby was talking about how he was at some event and described the berries or other flavors in the wine at the tasting event, and then threw in something about it tasted a “hint like a dirty floor or sawdust” — perfect! Damn funny. Then, the real Queen’s Crown Jewel was Kaner describing his Pale Ale beer – I think the Little Creatures “Roger’s” Pale Ale from Western Australia, as being “bitter but not overpowering, just like his feelings about his performance in his Diplomacy games of late.” I just laughed out loud. Fantastic! Please, please keep it up. It is exactly what I was hoping for, perhaps willing to pay for and/or demand (request?). I would love similar quality comedy related to your beer/wine choice and some relation to our favorite game – Diplomacy, or your performance therein.

    Third, I think that was an insightful discussion of the “Conspiracy” App in this episode #26. Sounded like a great interface, but the point your made about the lack of community via message boards as we have in vDiplomacy, webDiplomacy and PlayDip make it not quite the same. I also find it interesting that Kaner finds the work “App” to be “gear grinding” or “limit pushing” or something indicating great annoyance. Hmmmm….. sounds like a red button Amby should push now and then in later podcasts.

    Forth, seriously guys, when most people tell you your audio is not working, the IMproper reply is Amby’s ubiquitous “turn up the fxxxing volume!” FFS, just buy a cheap set of iPad microphones, or snuggle up close to each other with your yappers 5 to 10 centimeters from the microphone….. what a lovely picture.

    So, check your Patreon funding raising app (Kaner), you will find not only am I the first (of many!) to put money down, but I put the maximum $14 on it. Please, have a round of drinks on me and get some cheap mics that are closer to your golden-throated output. The world of Diplomacy deserves it. I can seriously hear your knives and forks at a louder volume than you two, due strictly to proximity of the iPad on the table (I believe). The bar background noise is NOT the problem. If anything, funny bar noise helps as it is often hilarious to hear Australian Shelia’s and/or Paul Hogan cackling in the background. Here’s a mic I found for $10: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=600200&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItPCXre_l2QIVj0oNCh1KeQafEAYYBSABEgLdv_D_BwE

    As always, great show! Please keep it up

    A Loyal Fan,

    Jason
    jason4747

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