How to choose a variant, stabbing, Hundred & the Munich Uber driver

Diplomacy Games

Both guys drink beer. Both guys grow luxuriant beards. And most importantly both guys talk Dip: Great discussion on the perfect stab, how to decide what game to play and the Munich Uber driver. Doesn't get better than this.

Intro

• Amby ditches red wine for an episode while Mrs Amby is away and enjoys a beer with Kaner (0 mins 10 secs)
• They discuss Anglo-Saxon pronunciations and how it relates to the brewery they're drinking in and start (1 mins 20 secs)
• Next up is an impromptu chat about the variant Ankara Crescent and how it got inspired but a bit of silliness. Kaner explains how moves work in the variant (4 mins)
• Kaner moves onto Cataclysm another silly movement rule variant where fleets and armies are amphibious and can move to sea, coastal and land territories (7 mins 50 secs)
• Amby touches on Kaner's plan to try to work out what variant to play next (9 mins 10 secs)

Around the grounds

• But first Kaner asks Amby about the 1066 variant Tournament and how it's going (10 mins)
• Kaner proposes little icons next to player's names for winners of tournaments. They briefly digress to the Known World 901 Tournament and while the tourney is pretty much fell apart, its clear that Eki83 is the clear winner and Amby is officially the worst player of the variant (12 mins 20 secs)
• Amby tries enticing Kaner to maybe play Sopwith (which we covered in episode 6), Kaner instead suggests he'd rather be game master (16 mins 20 secs)
• Amby starts talking about his games, beginning with an Imperial game where he's playing as Russia. There have been many NMR's, they discuss the perils of games with long phases. Amby does a blow-by-blow account of his gameplay and what's been happening on the board. Kaner makes fun of Amby for buying into an unrated game (18 mins 30 secs)
• Next up are the anonymous games Amby is in - a Divided States game (33 mins 40 secs)
• Kaner takes on the role of American geography professor and Amby plays American history professor (35 mins 30 secs)
• Amby then talks briefly about his anonymous Atlantic Colonies game and his strategy of trying to limit the number of Dip games he has to lessen the impact of sitters (39 mins 30 secs)
• The guys get new drinks. Kaner discovers the podcast has a Twitter account (41 mins)
• Next its joke time; warning the joke at 45 mins is a little rude (42 mins 40 secs)

Kaner decides what variant to play next

• Kaner teaches Amby how to sort the variants table on vDip (47 mins)
• Kaner decides he doesn't want to play a hot game (49 mins 15 secs)
• They throw around ideas about playing Imperium, Edwardian and Spice Islands, before he decides on... Heptarchy IV. He then sets up a new game called Hep Bros (51 mins 30 secs)

Variant review: Hundred & timing for the perfect stab

• Amby talks about a Hundred game called "Want a 3 player game?" - one of the few three player games - set around the Hundred Years War. Amby gives a hat tip again to the History of England podcast (59 mins)
• He goes onto discuss his game play in the opening, and how he successfully timed his stabs on England (1 hr 5 mins 30 secs)
• They discuss the positioning of territories, particularly the landbridge between Calais and London (1 hr 7 mins)
• Amby then works out the timing to then stab France to successfully solo the game (1 hr 8 mins)
• They discuss what is needed in a perfect stab (1 hr 9 mins 30 secs)
• Amby talks about why he chose this variant and why it ticked all his boxes before they talk about the two things the guys don't like about the variant (1 hr 11 mins)
• The guys give a hat tip to the variant creator Andy Schwartz, map designer Derek Carlson and coder Oliver Auth (1 hr 13 mins)
• They compare how this as a 3 player game compares to 1066 and 843: the Treaty of Verdun. The guys then decide to play a gunboat anonymous game of Treaty of Verdun called Ver-dunny (1 hr 17 mins)
• Amby gives some tasting notes before talking about a guy downstairs at the bar who looks like a modern day Munich Uber driver with a canny resemblance to Hitler (1 hr 19 mins)

Kaner is writing an article for Diplomacy World

• Former interviewee Chris Martin suggested the guys write an article about the podcast for the Diplomacy World magazine. They then brainstorm what should go into the article that Kaner is going to write. Kaner learns about hashtags with the concept of #F*ckingIdiots. Amby plugs Patreon due to a drop off in people donating to the show, Amby learns about audio levels from Kaner. They talk about Brisbane's crappy train network, filming Kaner's knees and talking to players. They discuss what happened to the DiplomacyCast podcast and acknowledge our podcast should get more into the webDip and playDip space (1 hr 23 mins)
• They touch on the Tournament of Time over at playDip, discuss being Old Farts and what else needs to go into the article (1 hr 34 mins)
• Amby discusses General Kessad's step learning curve and absence from playing Dip. Kaner talks about playing Dip in the old days, drawing on the walls and passive rage holding (1 hr 40 mins)
• Amby suggests we have a Random Questions episode where any player can ask a question - ask at the Twitter account, website, email or via the forum thread in vDip. They also suggest alternative means (1 hr 46 mins)

Is the Munich Uber driver still downstairs?

• The guys make their way downstairs and Kaner casually walks past the bar to check out Herr Hitler (1 hr 49 mins)

Venue: Æther Brewing, Brisbane.

Drinks of choice:

Kaner - Miso and Honey Pilsner and the Golden Axe cider from Æther Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

Amby - Pitchfork Saison, Hop Skip & Jump IPA and the Mayor of Milton lager from Æther Brewing, Brisbane, Australia

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