The guys interview Zach Moore for a play-by-play breakdown of his Boston Massacre game with Amby. They discuss some games they're in, Kaner's Squirrel Diplomacy variant idea and an unusual England-France alliance.
Intro
- The guys discuss their beers, including an earlier cheeky pint by Kaner. Plus more boom box guy discussion and Australian money (0 mins 10 secs)
Interview with Zach Moore
- Amby gives some context about the interview, which is a play by play discussion with Zach Moore about a Boston Massacre game they were both in (6 mins 30 secs)
- Amby welcomes Zach to the show. Amby played as France and Zach as Austria. They discuss the lack of collaboration between them (8 mins 20 secs)
- Amby talks about the Western Triple he got in (11 mins 20 secs)
- He asks Zach about his thoughts on Russia and Turkey's opening, Amby reflects on how this caused Italy and Austria to stick together and how the Western Triple solidified (13 mins)
- Zach reflects on the mistake he made with Russia in discussions with John Jameson (17 mins)
- Amby asks Zach whether the eastern side of the board had worked out the Western Triple. Zach discusses the moves in Fall 1902 (19 mins)
- They discuss how in Spring 1903 a counter alliance in the east at last starts kicking goals. Amby talks about his conversations with Turkey (Jason Mastbaum) and the difficulty of getting a hold of him (21 mins 15 secs)
- Amby talks about his first bit of paranoia in Spring 1903 about England with his commitment in the Med, they move onto Fall 1903 and possible confusion around the moves of England and Germany. They talk about the first counter attack from the east (24 mins)
- Amby asks Zach about the Turkish move to Rumania (27 mins)
- Amby talks about his efforts to divide up Italy with Turkey. He asks Zach about his experience playing with Jason (29 mins 20 secs)
- Zach discusses an attempted stab with Turkey against Russia. They also discuss the Turkey-Austria plan against Italy (31 mins)
- They discuss Amby preventing Zach making ground against Germany by moving into Burgundy so he could support hold Munich while also planning for any English stab (34 mins 20 secs)
- Zach asks about why didn't Amby start coordinating with Italy against Turkey's Ionian fleet (36 mins 20 secs)
- Amby reflects on his paranoia when England built a fleet in London (38 mins 45 secs)
- They discuss Zach's efforts to sweet talk Amby in Fall 1905. Amby discusses where he saw the game going and why he considered stabbing England (40 mins 30 secs)
- They go onto talk about England's stab on Germany and his counter to Amby, while Zach hands Venice to Turkey. Amby asks whether anyone in the east knew in advance of the stab by England (42 mins 20 secs)
- Things move along further into 1906 with some builds from England that Amby thought were threatening although nothing came of it (44 mins 30 secs)
- And by Fall 1907 Italy was eliminated, England was kicked out of Moscow and Germany and France were behind Austria's lines (48 mins)
- Come spring 1907 everyone started reaching the point where the game could go in a very different way, or alternatively draw. Zach talks about whether there was time to continue playing with the hard ending time approaching. The game ended a draw at this stage (50 mins 30 secs)
- Amby explains one problem he was having was all his verbal Discord communication was being done on his iPhone and it was almost out of batteries, using this as a further lever to draw the game (52 mins 20 secs)
- Zach reflects on the game and playing on Discord (as opposed to GMing) (54 mins 30 secs)
- Amby asks about the frequency of similar format games from the Minnesota Diplomacy Club, the players and any technical challenges (57 mins 20 secs)
- Amby reflects on the Diplomacy Broadcast Network and livestreaming of games and asks Zach about it (1 hr 1 mins 30 secs)
- Kaner flags the times in the stream where the game was discussed (1 hr 4 mins)
- Amby asks Kaner when he'll start playing these types of online games through Backstabbr and Discord. Zach mentions the PTKS game (which has passed between the interview and the release of the show) and the Philadelphia Liberty Cup that players can sign up for on 1 August 2020 (1 hr 4 mins 45 secs)
- Amby starts wrapping up the interview (1 hr 6 mins 40 secs)
- Kaner reflects on the game and the tournament. Amby discusses it being fun having a turn by turn analysis of the game (1 hr 7 mins 20 secs)
- Kaner says he would've read the board differently. (1 hr 8 mins 45 secs)
Africa variant
- Amby is in a 8 player Africa game (variant created by Tristan) and discusses the variant. He likes the mix of neutrals that have standing armies and others without armies (1 hr 11 mins 15 secs)
- The game is named Here Kitty Kitty. He reflects on how a number of players are responding in the game, especially when Amby is throwing him love. Kaner can't understand why some players just pick fights for no good reason in gunboat games (1 hr 13 mins)
- Kaner discusses the geography of the map (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs)
Variant development - Squirrel Wars
- They spot the Chris Martin look alike again. Kaner goes onto discuss a Squirrel variant idea where acorns are SCs. He talks about fat squirrels and fast squirrels and different branch types (1 hr 19 mins 45 secs)
- Kaner sees the map as visually being based around fractal views of a tree - canopy, branches, trunk and base. Amby suggests using something similar where you have different layered maps (1 hr 23 mins)
- Amby and Kaner discuss Australia's drop bear problem (1 hr 25 mins)
New pub and Boston Massacre game update
- The guys move to a new pub: The Elephant and discuss their new drinks (1 hr 26 mins 20 secs)
- Amby remembers he got a message from MaxVax who played as Italy in the game. He gives Max's perspective. Max also discusses the game in The Diplomats Youtube channel (1 hr 28 mins)
Western Quintuple game
- Kaner complains about Apple products. The guys discuss this five player anonymous game by shielding who is who, and doing a but of an Around the Grounds for how each player is going. Note: since recording this, the game has since ended in a three way draw between England, Castille and Burgundy. Kaner was England and Amby was France (1 hr 31 mins)
- They talk about the variant and map itself (1 hr 38 mins)
Scottish Clan Wars game
- After a little light hearted banter, they return to their What's under your kilt game. At the point of recording two players were eliminated (1 hr 40 mins 30 secs)
- They do an around the grounds for this game too. This game has also since finished subsequent to recording in a 4 way draw, with Kaner (Dundee) and Amby (Edinburgh) both being part of the draw (1 hr 44 mins)
England-France naval alliance?
- They go off on a tangent of England threatening Italy in classic in a very unusual England-France alliance. Kaner asks if its a doable scenario (1 hr 51 mins 50 secs)
- He then proposes an England-France-Russia alliance (1 hr 59 mins)
- The guys wrap up the show (2 hrs 0 mins)
Venue: The Sound Garden and also The Elephant, Brisbane
Drinks of choice:
Kaner: Four Pines Pale ale and Newtowner Pale ale, both from Sydney, Australia
Amby: Four Pines Pale ale from Sydney, Australia, and Wirra Wirra Woodhenge shiraz from the McLaren Vale, Australia
Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help improve the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes!
Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.
Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.
