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  NEWS FROM THE CLASSICAL BOARD

By Douglas Mills

From Diplomacy World #20

(Transcribed by Marvelous Melinda Holley)

 

The winds of change continue to blow through the pages of DIPLOMACY WORLD, and this regular feature is no exception. Only into its third installment and our friend Michel Liesnard has already been reluctantly forced to relinquish the column due to conflict of interest, and ha finally gone NUTS!, leaving Yours Truly to step into the breach and soldier on.

 

Yes, Michel is now the big nut in Continental Europe, having been ordered into the Brussels office of Kamlag (a major importer of adult games in Benelux) and told that he was to become the full-time Editor in Chief of a professionally, bilingual (French/Fleming)wargame/hobby publication. Michel has been given a completely free hand in deciding content and organization of the mag, including the choice of a somewhat unusual name: NUTS! He tells me the name ins universal for its meaning…anyway, I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing Michel the best of luck with this new venture, and we will all wait with bated breath for the first issue’s appearance, sometime during September.

 

Turning to the more ‘fannish’ side of the hobby, some interesting things have been happening on the ‘zine scene.  If you’re interested in Diplomacy variants, then Europe’s the place to be.  Although just one year old, the Dutch CONFLICT GAZET, published by Paul Meerts on behalf of Ducosim, seems to have earned itself a good reputation and now has a circulation of around 100.  CONFLICT GAZET is currently running a regular game and a variant, Dutch Diplomacy, which is having its firstgametest .

 

In Germany, STABSANZEIGER (published in German byHartmut Halfmeier) has also just celebrated its first birthday, and has three Abstration II and a couple of Railway Rivals games in progress, not to mention Germany Politiplomacy. Openings available at the moment include regular and Multiplicity.

 

GETTYSNEWS, care of MichaelLeisnard/Belgium, is also…you guessed it !, blowing out the single candle, and pounding on at the incredible frequency of 20 issues per year. Completely dedicated to the publication and playing of variants, GETTYSNEWS has eight openings (including Treachery, Sacred Rhino, and LIMa 5), and is also prepared to consider running other variant games provided there is sufficient demand. Subscribers to GETTYSNEWS also have the added bonus of Michel’s particular brand of humor and excellent GMing capabilities – entertaining reading provided you can understand Brussels French!

 

The older long-term hobby freaks will be glad to hear that AkeJonsson of Sweden’s THE POLAR KNIGHT fame is making a comeback of sorts (in fact he never went away, but allowed publication to stand still about a year ago, continuing his games by carbon copy), and has decided to open some new waiting lists, both regular and variant, which will be GMed by him, reports being published in the pages of my own ‘zine AIDE DE CAMP. Hopefully I’ll be able to persuade Ake to donate the odd article in the form of a sort of sub-‘zine.

 

France’s VORTIGERN plods on steadily to middle-age and its 49th issue (published by RolandPrevot, the Boardman Number custodian for continental Europe). Roland, like the rest of the editors mentions, is following the trend and has decided to open a variant waiting list, though for which variant he’s still not sure.  Of particular merit in VORTIGERN is the excellent cartoon art-work, courtesy of Didier Guiserix.

 

Belgian-born and British-bred (published in French and English out of Manchester), AIDE DE CAMP has plenty of reason to celebrate – three of them in fact: 1, she’s one year old; 2, she has hit a circulation of 100+, and 3, she has 12 games in progress, of which no fewer than 6 are variants.  Currently, four openings are available within ADC’s pages: French and English languages regular, Highly Public Diplomacy, The Pleiades Cluster (a sci-fi game which has nothing to do with Diplomacy), and ‘Amazon’, a regular game reserved only for the fairer sex. Three girls still needed for this last one – anyone interested.

 

While on the subject of variants, European editors requiring Miller Numbers should contact Douglas Mills, who is the custodian for that neck of the woods.

 

The ‘zine RASPUTIN, supposedly published in Belgium and mentioned previous in this column, appears to be a hoax, or figment of somebody’s rather vivid imagination.

 

However, even vivid imagination can be catered for, and I would suggest sufferers attend the European Science-Fiction and Fantasy Convention (EUROCON 4) taking place at the Free University of Brussels, in Belgium, on November 1-5, 1978.  This event has been held bi-annually since the first one took place way back in 1972 in Trieste. Many famous writers and fantasy illustrations will be on hand, and there will be numerous film shows.

 

Another event which will have taken place by the time you read this, but which would probably have been more suited to the murderous tendencies of certain ‘diplomats’ reading this, is PRESTONDIPCON, the major Diplomacy event of the year here in the U.K., kindly organized by Bob Brown, editor of the TINAMOU, and currently the National Games Club face-to-face secretary.  Held on the premises of Preston Polytechnic, sleeping accommodations for more than 200 was made available, and most of the British hobby’s major personalities attended. I’ll tell you more about the actual events next time.

 

The International Conflict-Simulation Group Weekend ’78 Convention, held at the end of June at Waterloo (the real one!) in Belgium was a great success, with people attending from all over Western Europe, and a similar event is planned for next year.

 

Finally, a couple of new ‘zines have popped up here in Britain. They are: WHISKEY MAC, from Paul Openshaw. Already into its 6 th issue, WM runs on a 4-week deadline and has three games in progress already.  Openings now for regular, Stab and Bourse. Full of good-natured chat and Paul’s local brand of humor. A good players’ ‘zine.  The second newcomer, MEGALOMANIA from ChrisTringham, which is also up to its 6 th issue, is a completely different breedfo British ‘zine. Despite already having eight game sunder way, which is impressive by any standards, and a stream of openings which fill up overnight, MEGALOMANIA also contains several pages of pithy comments and news about the British hobby, and mostly that centered around the National Games Club. Although somewhat obscure to hobby-followers living outside the UK, it’s still well forth the 25p per issue ($0.40), especially if you’re looking for honest, off-the-cuff observations about U.K. hobby politics.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE ABOVE PUBLICATIONS AND EVENTS CAN BE OBTAINED FROM:

 

AIDE DE CAMP and THE INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT-SIMULATION GROUP: Douglas Mills,210 Bramhall Lane South, Bramhall, Stockport,Cheshire SK7 3AA UK

 

CONFLICT GAZET and DUCOSIM: Paul Meerts, Badhuiswig 211, 2597 HR, Den Haag, Holland

 

GETTYSNEWS and NUTS !: MichelLeisnard , 415 Avenue de Tervueren, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, B-1150Bruxelles , Belgium

 

THE POLAR KNIGHT:Ake E.B. Jonsson , Gruvvagen 26S-98100, Kiruna, Sweden

 

MEGALOMANIA: Chris Tringham, 25 Auciland Road, London SE19 2DR, UK

 

VORTIGERN: Roland Prevot, 16 rueDescombes , 75017 Paris , France

 

STABSANZIEGER: HartmutHalfmeier , Stapelstr. 13, 2000Hamburg 54,West Germany

 

WHISKY MAC: PaulOpenshaw, 4 Beechmont Gdns., Southend -on-Sea,Essex, UK

 

EUROCON 4: c/o MALPERTUIS, 18 rue des Eperonnier B-1000, Bruxelles , Belgium