Diplomacy A-Z: I & J Entries

Most GMs give themselves the right to impose a draw. What is generally required is 3 or 4 years without SC changes, and the inability of anyone to propose to the GM a way of breaking the stalemate line. The purpose is to avoid one side just waiting for the other side to NMR and to avoid a perpetual game.

IMPOSSIBLE ALLIANCE (1) [MB:Jun80]

An alliance which, it is said by those who do not know better, can not work. The usual examples are A-T, E-R and A-I. There are no impossible alliances.

INCOMPLETE ORDER (1) [MB:Jun80/Mar82]

An order which, though implied, appears in no specific form. Thus, A Pic-Lon, F ENG unordered is incomplete in that F ENG C Pic-Lon does not appear, and few, if any, GMs will permit the move to go through. See the related Unexpressed move and Combined Order.

INDEPENDENT ZINE (1) [MB:Jun80]

In Britain, a zine not under the NGC or BDC umbrella. Best known have included: Bellicus, Bolshevik Star, Chimaera, Ethil The Frog, Lemming Express and Our 'enry.

INDEX AND MENU (DIPLOMACY WORLD) (1) [MN:Apr94]

A 30 page index and menu listing all the articles from issues 1-39 of _Diplomacy World_ in three categories: author, subject and issue number. Invaluable for tracking down articles on particular aspects of the game and hobby. The index was written by Rod Walker, Mike Maston and Larry Peery, based upon a Rod Walker article which appeared in DW 36. The eventual aim was to allow hobby members to order any article mentioned in the catalogue. See also Diplomacy World.

INERTIA SYSTEM (1) [MN:May93]

Richard Sharp's name for the Russian opening: F(StPsc)-Fin/GoB, A(Mos)H. There is one named variant: A(War)-Ukr, the Ukraine variant. See Russian Openings (KW).

INFANTICIDE (1) [MB:Jun80]

The act of murdering a game while it is still in the crib. A classic example was 1975FX. When the GM learned after S01 that the Italian player was no longer interested in the game, rather than bringing in a substitute player, or using CD, he disbanded it.

INLAND FLEET (1) [MB:Jun80]

The building of, e.g F(Vie). A case for this is sometimes made on the basis that there is nothing in XIII.2 to forbid it. However VI.2 second sentence, pretty much rules it out, and GMs in general do not permit it.

INSTITUTE FOR DIPLOMATIC STUDIES (1) [MB:Jun80]

Larry Peery's outfit that produced Xenogogic, a zine of Diplomacy and gaming and general politics. Other products include the Novice Seminar Program, and "Strategy and Tactics of Postal Diplomacy".

INTELLIGENT WAR by AUTOMATIC PILOT (1) [MN:Dec92]

An improvement due to Robert Boyd of Mark Berch's War On Automatic Pilot. An NMRing player's last set of orders are used with the proviso that where a unit successfully captured a space with support on the previous move its order is converted to hold and the supporting unit(s) order(s) are changed to supporting order(s).

INTERMIEDATE (1) [AW:March96]

Intermediate players are victims of stupid stabs. See expert and novice.

INTERIOR ALLIANCE (1) [MB:Jun80]

The triple alliance of A, I and G. The theory is that unless the interior countries stick together, they will be crushed by outsiders, since the fall of any of the three weakens one or both of the others. Although joint military action is desirable, it is often secondary to precipitating fights among the outer powers. Special controls over Tyr are used. See Anschluss, Austrian Openings (KW), German Openings (KW) and Italian Openings (KW).

INTERNATIONAL ATTACK, SUPPORT, or CONVOY (1) [MB:Jun80]

Any of the mentioned maneuvers where units of more than one country are involved.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY

See International Game.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY ASSOCIATION (1) [MB/MN:Jun80/Sep94]

This was organized by Larry Peery and Walt Buchanan as a breakaway from the TDA. In its time, it sponsored five handbooks and some DipCons, provided some financial help to service organizations, and sponsored some novice zines. But in the later 1970's, it turned from its original goals as a service organization to a debating society, and later became entirely confined to internal bickering. Finally died in 1979.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY ASSOCIATION (2) [PB:1980]

International Diplomacy Association, meaning American Diplomacy Association, though it did have British connections, of which not much came. The IDA was the organization which held the American hobby together for many years before, as in Britain, entropy took over and everything devolved into structured anarchy (a system much more close to most of our hearts).

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY DIVISION (1) [MB:Jun80]

Buddy Tretick's unsuccessful Dip organization, founded in 1970.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY FEDERATION (1) [MB:Mar82]

The hobby's first attempt (summer 1966) at organization. It never got its constitution approved. Primarily the work of von Metzke, Ward, Cling and Naus.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY HALL OF FAME (1) [MB:Mar82]

Now in operation and run by Larry Peery, its first inductees were Edi Birsan, Hal Naus, Don Miller, John Koning, John McCallum, Walt Buchanan and Conrad von Metzke.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY TOURNAMENT RATINGS (1) [MN/DDG:Aug95]

The IDTR is run by Don Del Grande and seeks to rate tournament players around the world against each other. In the original system a player's score from a tournament was heavily dependant upon the number of players in the tournament. This system was changed when the ManorCon Champion, the largest dip tournament, won the event for the first three years. The current system is:
(1) First place is worth 100 points in any tournament with 40, or more, players (subtract 5 for each player short of 40).
(2) Subsequent players score 100*[(((N-5*P)/N)**2)] rounded down, where N is the number of players and P is the number of places below first (P=1 for second place, 2 for third, and so on). No one scores below zero. E.g. In a tournament with 50 players, the top 10 score 100, 81, 64, 49, 36, 25, 16, 9, 4 and 1.
(3) Ties are rated as if the players finished in the "average place" of the tie. In a two-person tie for second, apply the formula with P = 1.5.
(4) Places in the IDTR are determined by summing a player's score in all sanctioned tournaments.
(5) If a person competes in three or more tournaments within a 200km radius of any point, he/she can only receive points for two of them. (This is to prevent someone from attending a large number of "local" tournaments and run up points while others wouldn't have the opportunity to attend that many tournaments without an undue amount of travel.)

The system was developed to reward players who attend a large number of tournaments and is not an entirely accurate measure of how good a tournament player you are. An incomplete list of winners:
1989: Paul Oakes (UK)
1990: Harry Kolotas (Australia)
1991: Tobby Harris (England)
1992: Samy Malki (France)
1993: Samy Malki (FRA)
1994: Stephane Gentric (FRA)
See Rating Systems (KW).

INTERNATIONAL GAME (1) [MB:Jun80]

A game in which each player lives in a separate country. These usually feature much longer deadlines (e.g. 1976IP, 8 weeks). Rule is often not strictly enforced, e.g. permitting one from east and west costs of, say, Canada.

INTERNATIONAL GAMES CLUB (1) [MB:Jun80]

Appears to be the same as National Games Club. Now defunct outside of Britain.

INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE (1) [MB/MN/PG:Jun80/Dec92/Nov93]

Designed to save the cost of money orders. In the 1970's it facilitated the exchange of subs across the ocean using a central account. Kept on the US end for many years by Edi Birsan. It had became defunct by the end of the 1970's.

The ISE was re-started in the mid 1980's by Simon Billenness. This time there was no central bank. If a British hobby member wanted to subscribe to a North American zine he sent the British ISE rep a cheque. The British ISE rep would then contact the American end of the ISE who would send a cheque for the amount required to the appropriate editor. Similarly for North American's wishing to subscribe to UK zines. Hopefully the amount of money the reps were sending out was balanced by the amount of money coming in. If there is a large difference then the appropriate rep would send a cheque for the required amount to his opposite number.

Randy Grigsby ran a short lived Canadian section in 1989. Usually abbreviated to ISE.

US                                         UK       AUSTRALIA
Paul Gardener        1989    Doug Rowling 1989       John Cain
Bruce Reiff
Pete Gaughan ????-08/1993    Iain Bowen   1993
Jim Burgess  08/1993-

INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM (1) [MN:Nov92]

In most postal games run outside North America seasons are split Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. Hence if you think you might have to order a retreat in Summer you need to order it with your Spring orders and if you think you might have to make a Winter retreat and/or a build/disbands you must order it with your Autumn orders.

The International System was widely known (at least in the UK) as the British system, until several Australians complained in _Victorianna_ that this was just a touch imperialist: Not only had they independently reinvented the concept but the various European Hobbies also use this system. The Australians started to call it the International System, which is slowly catching on. See also North American System and Three Season Year.

INTERNATIONAL VARIANT ASSOCIATION (1) [MB:Jun80]

Another of Robert Sacks' variant associations, supposedly to coordinate with the DVC. Details in _DW_ 19. Now defunct. See Variant Jargon (KW).

INTERNATIONAL VARIANT COMMISSION (1) [MB:Jun80]

An outfit that sponsors awards, advises the Miller Number Custodian and arranges for Variant News to be printed in _DW_. Headed by Bob Sacks. See Variant Jargon (KW).

INTERNET GUIDE TO DIPLOMACY, THE (1) [MN:Jan93]

A forerunner to the rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ file which existed before the creation of the rec.games.diplomacy Usenet group. It was maintained by Nick Fitzpatrick and contained basic information on the working of Diplomacy over Internet. The first issue was written on May 23rd 1992 and it was posted once a month to DIPL-L and the usenet groups rec.games.board and rec.games.pbm until the 7th, and last, issue was written on 11th November 1992. The informational material from the Guide went into the rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ file whilst the statistics went into Nick's new 'zine' Diplomacy Statistics. See Zine Names (KW).

INTERNET MILLER NUMBER CUSTODIAN (1) [MN:Nov93]

Person responsible for giving Miller Numbers to diplomacy variants run over internet. First custodian was Nick Fitzpatrick, appointed in November 1993.

INTERSTELLAR DIPLOMACY (1) [MB:Mar82]

Versions I-III by Pulsipher, IV by Roland Prevot, uses a 3-dimensional map, stacked units and detailed economics. See Variant (KW).

INTER-ZINE DEADLINE SYSTEM (1) [MB:Jun80]

A format in which the games are run on a regular basis with their own deadlines, and the main zine appears at less regular intervals, and may reprint the games from the flyers on which they were run. _Spirit of the Age_ and _Brutus Bulletin_ are two examples, the latter using games on deadlines as short as 7 days.

INTIMATE DIPLOMACY (1) [PB/MB:1980/Jun80]

The most popular and sensible 2-player variant. Players each select one country and get a pile (e.g. 12) of credits (the size depending slightly on the desirability of the country). These credits are used to bid for the use (for one game year) of the units of each of the other five countries. The auction style varies depending on whether the game is played postally or Face-to-Face. After each year, funds are replenished by giving additional credit for each SC held in winter, and a new auction is held for the next year. Game end is seizure of one of your opponent's home centres. This is an excellent way to kill time waiting for others to show up, or for teaching newcomers the mechanics of the game. Created by Adrian Baird and Steve Doubleday. Revised by Greg Hawes and Steve Wyatt. The three player version is called Tadek Dip.

Became a craze in 1974, with a zine devoted solely to running it (_Orion_ from Steve Wyatt, who emigrated). See Variant (KW).

INTIMATE DIPLOMACY--KNOCKOUT COMPETITION (1) [MB:Mar82]

An I.D. single elimination tournament. First started by Shaun Derrick in _Entente_ (1975) and a second in _FOE_ by Richard Hucknall (1980). (The latter had 16 players and a 56 pound prize pot.) See Variant Jargon (KW).

INVERTED VINEYARD OPENING (1) [MN:Sep95]

Richard Sharp's name for the opening: F(Bre)-MAO, A(Mar)-Gas and A(Par)-Bur. Not recommended, in British postal games this opening has a lower CP Strike Rate than a French NMR in Spring 1901... This opening is more systematically named the Inverted Vineyard Variation of the Burgundy Opening. See also French Openings (KW).

INVITATIONAL GAME (1) [MB:Jun80]

Game in which entry is by special invite from the GM (occasionally organized by one of the players. e.g. 1980AN). See Demo Game and Restricted Entry Game.

IONIAN GAUNTLET (1) [MB:Jun80]

Edi Birsan's take-charge opening for Austria: F01 A(Ser)-Gre, A(Tri/Bud)-Ser, F(Alb)-ION. This gives Austria a more forward position for S02, at the risk of losing Gre. See Austrian Openings (KW).

IRREGULAR (1) [PB/MB:1980/Jun80]

A label attached to a game by the BNC indicating that the game does not meet certain minimum standards. Typical grounds include a player closely related to another player or GM, two players at the same address, beginning with fewer than seven players, mass resignation or CD, where one or more seasons are played FTF, one player played two countries, and gross GMing improprieties. Traditionally, ratings masters have not rated irregular games.

ISE (1) [MN:Dec92]

See International Subscription Exchange.

ITALIAN ATTACK (1) [RE:89-90]

One example of the many fully committal attacks that can be launched in Spring 1901, in this case by Austria on Italy. As such it is a suitable contrast with the Hedgehog opening, involving F(Tri)-ADR, A(Bud)-Tri and A(Vie)-Tyr. If Italy opens with A(Rom)-Nap, he's lost Venice - though the Balkans are for Russia and Turkey to carve up. This opening is invariably popular with Turkey, Italy's perennial rival in the Med, but is usually regarded as one of the more "bizarre" openings. Still more "bizarre" are the likes of the "Beaujolais Nouveau" mentioned in a very early _Vienna_ but never used (it's a French opening: all three units are ordered to Gascony in Spring 1901), and Denis Jones' Yorkshire Pudding opening for England along similar lines (F(Lon)-Yor, A(Lpl)-Yor, F(Edi)-Yor). I believe that Denis has excelled by actually using this opening once or twice. See Austrian Openings (KW).

ITALIAN OPENINGS (KW) (1) [MN:Dec93]

A list of Italian Openings named in this document: Alpine Chicken, Anti-Hedgehog Lepanto, Armoured Duck, Caporetta Opening, Classical Lepanto, French Attack, Illyrian Opening, Interior Alliance, Italian Shuffle, Key Lepanto, Key Opening, Konigratz Freakout, Lepanto, McGivern's Opening, Munich Gambit, Naples Lepanto, Northern Lepanto, Obrieni Attack, Rotation Lepanto, Stab Lepanto, Superpower Opening, Swanson Opening, Three Fleets Opening, Tuscany Lepanto, Tyrolian Attack, Tyrolian Lepanto and Western Lepanto.

ITALIAN SHUFFLE (1) [MB:Jun80]

The opening A(Ven)-Pie-Tyr, A(Rom)-Ven-Tri. The point is to confuse/delay France, while delaying the attack on Austria for a season, allowing Italy the chance to see if the diplomatic and tactical position is right, and to persuade Austria that he is friendly. The risks are that (1) The failure to attack Austria right off may antagonize Russia or Turkey, (2) by violating Pie without disabling France you have stirred the hornet's nest without setting it afire. See Italian Openings (KW).

ITALY (1) [MN:Nov93]

(1) "You may have the universe if I may have Italy". --- Verdi, Attila.
(2) "Open my heart and you will see, graved inside of it, 'Italy'. " --- Browning, Men and Women.

IWAP (1) [MN:Dec92]

See Intelligent War by Automatic Pilot

JAMUL (1) [MB:Jun80/Mar82]

Conrad von Metzke's press byline, one the first such consistent use of a press byline in the hobby (the two earlier ones were Boardman's "beauroullion" and Walker's "Poderkagg"). Used especially when he was the GM.

JDR (1) [NF:Jul93]

Traditionally for an E-mail device like judge, there is created a second account called judge-request for requests and questions. Ken Lowe used this, but judge-request was too long, and became, jdr: Judge Dash Request! If you want to send a request to the custodian of a judge send a msg to jdr@machine.domain. (Not all judges have a jdr account.)

JEDKO (1) [AoS:88]

Games distributor responsible for supplying some [Australian?--HR]

States with Diplomacy.

JELLY DUPLICATOR (1) [MN:Aug95]

An ancestor of the spirit duplicator. Used by Alan Parr to produce multi-colour maps in the early days of _Hopscotch_.

JERK AROUND (1) [MB:Jun80]

A player who is being compelled to do something by threats of another, when those threats cannot be carried out, is being jerked around. The jerkee may be cognizant of this, trying to lull the jerker into a false sense of security.

JOHN KONING BEST PLAYER AWARD, The (1) [MN:Dec92]

See Hobby Awards (KW), Koning Award, The.

JOINT ORDERS (1) [MB/TNP/MN:Jun80/1987/Aug93]

The placing of orders of two different countries on the same sheet of paper. Often used when two, or more, powers are defending a stalemate line. Sometimes they contain wording that the players agree not to change their orders and that the GM should not accept any change of orders. They provide absolutely no safeguard against being stabbed by an ally since most GMs will accept an overriding set!
A variant enforcing joint orders proved unsuccessful. Some GMs will not accept these; most do not address the issue in their HRs.

JOKE ORDERS (1) [MB:Jun80]

A form of press appearing in the orders. May involve word play (A(Rum(i-nates))), game commentary (A(Tri) notes that the game is drawn and wishes France would too) anticipation of what is to be (F(LYO) scuttles itself), nonexistent units (A(Ford) stumbles) or whatever. The order is usually treated as Hold, but a few GMs will not permit such a unit to receive support or retreat.

JOINT WIN [PB:1980]

What a big-head calls a draw.

JUDCOM (1) [MB:Jun80]

An IDA advisory committee to the Ombudsman, used primarily by John Leeder. It is the predecessor to the CDO's Ombudsman's Advisory Committee.

JUDGE (1) [DL/MN:Apr92/Apr+Dec92]

The Washington Diplomacy Adjudicator is a computer program written by Ken Lowe. It accepts electronic mail from all over the world via the address judge@u.washington.edu (.) Started in 1988, it ran only a few local games at the University of Washington. At its peak it ran about a hundred games at a time. It is equipped to handle a number of variants. It can function with or without the intervention of a human GM. Its major advantages over human GMing are: - the production of instantaneous error-free reports, - the immediate publication of all kinds of press (black, white, grey) - no need to wait until the next set of results come out, or to remember complicated addresses, - automatic game archives.

Most of the games on JUDGE are recognized by Chapter Two of the electronic fanzine _Electronic Protocol_.

On 17th November 1992 Ken Lowe announced that he was running down the Washington Judge due to burnout. After this announcement the EFF Judge was set up as the replacement North American Judge. David Kovar replaced Ken as the person with the responsibility for maintaining the official version of the Judge code. At the time of writing efforts are underway to set up a formal group of people who will oversee the evolution of the judge program.
See also Email, Diplomacy Adjudicator.

JUDGE, EFF (1) [DK/MN:Dec92+Jan93/Mar93]

The EFF judge was brought up on November 15th, 1992 by David Kovar and Chris Davis on a machine provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Chris was instrumental in convincing the EFF to provide the machine and providing accounts and support to David.

The judge was brought up in response to Ken Lowe's announcement that he and the Washington judge were overwhelmed and would no longer be accepting any new games. It was felt that another North American judge was required to take over the load. The formation of this new judge was announced with posting 181 to rec.games.diplomacy (20th November 1992)

Two major restrictions have been put in place to help prevent burnout on the new judge and to ensure that all games run smoothly - No unmoderated games and the closing of waiting lists from time to time to encourage people to take up standby positions. It is hoped that this will limit the amount of work required by the maintainer and share the load among the game masters. Originally it was intended that there would be a limit of twenty on the number of games allowed on the Judge. This limited was reached on the 6th December 1992 and drifted upwards ever since towards the current ceiling of 100 games.

The EFF judge is the official repository for the latest judge source code and the latest version of mapit. The packages can be retrieved by sending mail to judge@morrolan.eff.org. The body of the message should read:
get uudip.tar (for the judge source)
get mapit.uue (for the mapit source)

Any questions about the EFF judge should be addressed to jdr@morrolan.eff.org. The judge's address is judge@morrolan.eff.org. We are all indebted to the EFF for providing the computing resources to support this judge.

JUDGE EP# MASTER

See Electronic Protocol Number Custodian.

JUDGE MODIFICATION LIST (1) [MN:Dec93]

A list of modifications to the Judge code which would improve playability and offer more choice to users. Maintained by David Kovar. Currently seeking programmers to implement!

JUDGE OPENING LIBRARY (1) [MN:Dec92]

Danny Loeb's listing of which Diplomacy openings have been used in which E-mail games (regular Diplomacy only) based on a survey of over 200 games. This list is published in Chapter Two on a semi-regular schedule and is available directly from Danny. (loeb@geocub.greco-prog.fr) The Opening Library also includes brief descriptions of some of the openings taken from this document and from Avalon Hill's The Gamer's Guide To Diplomacy. At some stage in the future this survey might also include variant games.

JUDGE OPENING LIST (1) [MN:Mar96]

An automated listing of openings (original player, replacement positions) on all Judges. Updated every hour and available in its original format by Email/FTP/WWW. The Judge Opening List was written, and run, by Sean Starkey to help players find positions. Subsequent custodians have included Kevin Roust.

JUDGE STYLE REPORT (1) [MN:Jan93]

A Diplomacy adjudication in the same style as output by Judge. An adjudication in this format can be sent to the mapit program to generate a PostScript map.

JUGGERNAUT (1) [RE:89-90]

The notorious and widely-feared Russo-Turkish alliance, also nick-named the "Steamroller", which - if unmatched by an understanding between most of the other players - can be expected to prove almost unstoppable. In the classic juggernaut, Turkey throws himself whole-heartedly into expansion through the Med, whilst Russia, with no worries about his southern flank, rolls across the European mainland. However, the very strength of the alliance tends to be its undoing, as most Diplomacy players recognize it as a threat and are prepared to unite to stop it: alliances like the Anschluss are often intended as a warning to Russia to steer clear of an aggressive alliance with Turkey. Consequently, Russo-Turkish alliances will often be disguised by an arranged stand-off in the Black Sea, a now traditional feature of the partnership. Another failing of the alliance is the widespread belief that Russia tends to reap the greater profit, gaining access to supply centres from Scandinavia and England through Germany and Austria to the Low Countries, whereas Turkey is geographically restricted to the Balkans, Austria, Italy and Tunis - and perhaps, at a later date, Marseilles, Spain and Portugal; this encourages Turkey to stab his ally at an early date, in turn undermining Russian faith in the alliance. With other powers invariably fostering this distrust through their diplomacy, a successful Juggernaut has now become a rare thing. See Russian Openings (KW) and Turkish Openings (KW).

JUGGERNAUT (2) [TNP:1987]

Sometimes used to describe any unstoppable alliance.

JUNTA (1) [TNP:87]

A light-hearted game, popular at cons, in which players take on the role of corrupt politicians in a Banana Republic and milk the economy to make their fortunes.

JUST'S RIGHT HAND RULE (1) [MB/AP/TNP:Jun80/1986/1987]

Some GMs require retreats along with the orders, and if no legal retreat order is provided, will use this one. Instead of a unit being disbanded and excessively upsetting the play of the game (?!), this rule allows the GM to determine where the unit retreats. The unit is retreated to the province immediately to the right of the "front" of the attacker and the defeated unit. If that is closed, go left, then second closest right, etc (viewed from the attacker). ONly if there are no available retreat spaces is the unit disbanded. Used in some complicated variants where players might not yet expect to have units retreating. See Variant Jargon (KW).

JUTLAND GAMBIT (1) [MB:Jun80]

Birsan's opening for Germany which delays the choice of first victim until S02: F(Den)-SKA, A(Kie)-Den, A(Ruh)-Hol. Note that Germany writes off Bel entirely, but is a little less vulnerable to a double cross in the north. See German Openings (KW).

The whole A-Z, in pdf format, is HERE

Diplomacy A-Z, Version 6.0

I & J Entries