- Q RATING (1) [MN:Jun95]
- An attempt to find the zine which has run the 'best games'. Can also be
used to compare the 'quality' of games played over different mediums.
Q RATING = LENGTH NUMBER / DROPOUT NUMBER.
Concept introduced by Mark Nelson in _Everything_ 90
(October 1994). See also Dropout Number, Length Number and Win Number.
- Q RATING (2) [MN:Jun95]
- Some statistics!
GAME Q RATING
NAPG Non-orphaned games* 3.79
NAPG Orphaned games* 2.58
COMPU Non-orphaned games* 4.59
COMPU = Games played over Compuserve network.
NAPG = North American Postal Games
* Data from Everything 85 (May 1992) through Everything 1991 (March 1995).
- QUOTATIONS (1) [MN:Feb93]
- "The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy--
give one and take ten." - Mark Twain
"The sign of a good negotiation is when both sides walk away
aggravated." - Kevin Gershan
"If you had had the decency to lie to me, we could have worked together".
Steve Hutton, as Turkey, to Robert Lowes, as Austria, during the finalists'
tourny at Can-Con 1988. (From Passchendaele 70, October 1988.)
"Any time two allies stab a third, at least one of those allies is making
a mistake." (Michael Sany, RGD post 2nd March 1996.)
See also DIPLOMACY QUOTATIONS
and Humour.
- QUICK RETREAT (1) [RE:89-90]
- Also known as a "Rapid Retreat", this is a Diplomacy tactic for responding
to an unexpected invasion of a player's home centres, or perhaps a realignment
of his alliances and/or strategy. A unit not occupying a supply centre, and too
far from a home centre to reach it speedily, is dislodged, usually by an ally,
in an autumn season, and the player disbands it rather than order a retreat. He
is then entitled to build a replacement in a home centre, thus effectively
swapping a distant unit for one at home, and perhaps an army for a fleet (or
vice versa). See also Off-the-board retreat.
- RACE FOR VICTORY (1) [MB:Jun80]
- An alliance structure in which both parties agree not to attack each other,
but also agree that the first to reach 18 centres, wins. Thus, competition is
not so much military as diplomatic, as each tries to manipulate the board's
alliance structures so that the other fellow faces the most determined opposition.
- RAIDER (1) [MB:Jun80]
- A unit behind the enemy lines. Tactically, this can be extremely valuable,
because to snuff it out generally takes three to five enemy units. They are
sometimes generated when a dislodged unit can be retreated forward, or when a
country picks up a new puppet, or when a unit just
slips through. _DW_ demo game 1976BG had an
Italian fleet raider.
- RAILWAY RIVALS (1) [MN:Apr92]
- An 'educational' game marketed by Welsh school teacher David Watts in the
1970's which quickly attracted a following in postal circles and eventually was
published commercially by several different firms (in the UK USA by Games
Workshop). By the late 1980's it has become almost accepted
Hobby practice for every new
zine to run a game, and the game has even attracted a
cult following in the USA, where it had been popularized by
Conrad von Metzke, with several Railway Rivals only
zines.
Railway Rivals is a game of two parts. In the first half players build track
across a map (there are over 100 different maps, covering many parts of the
world) and the second stage they conduct races between the different towns. The
game mechanics are *very* simple and can be learned in 5 minutes.
FTF it is a very easy-going and sociable game which
can be finished in a few hours (2-3 typically). Postally there are only 12 turns
so a game can be finished in about a year at typical zine speeds.
A game which every gamer should own. Marvellous game to get your children
into games playing, except that they will probably beat you. Most UK dipcons
feature a RR tournament. Common abbreviation is RR.
- RAPID RETREAT (1) [MN:Apr92]
- See Quick Retreat.
- RATINGS (1) [MB/TNP:Jun80/1987]
- A system of ranking of players' postal performance. Principal problems are
how to rank outcomes other than victory, whether to include standbys, how far
back in the records to go, and finding the time to do the work. Diplomacy
rating systems have ranged from Jon Palfrey's sophisticated STAR system to much
simpler methods. See also Rating Systems and
Rating Systems for Standby Players (KW).
- RATINGSMASTER (1) [MB:Jun80]
- The person who inputs the data, decides which games are rateable, does the
calculations, arranges for publication and if necessary defends the results.
See Rating Systems (KW).
- RATING SYSTEMS FOR STANDBY PLAYERS: (1) [MN:Jan93]
- There are many problems in producing rating systems for
Standby players. How much credit should a standby
gain for taking over a 17th center position? Is it fair that a player who takes
over a "no-hope" position should suffer a loss in their rating? For some answers see
Burgess Rating System,
Marrotta Rating System,
Norman Rating System,
Rating Systems (KW) and
Rehbold Rating System.
- RATING SYSTEMS (KW) (1) [MN:Dec93]
- There are many different rating systems for Diplomacy. Rating systems exist
for FTF games, postal games, tournament games and
variant games. For more information see:
All-wine-and-no-vinegar,
Alternative HoF Ranking System,
ArGir,
ArGir II,
Berch Tournament Rating System,
Beyerlein Player Poll,
Big Brother's Rating List,
British Diplomacy Ratings,
Brobdingnag Rating System,
BRUX Tournament Rating System,
Burgess DipCon Rating System,
Burgess Rating System,
Calhamer Point Count,
Calhamer Tournament Scoring System,
Delemos Rating System,
Derrick Rating System,
Diplomacy Skill Index,
Dolchstoss Rating System,
Dragonsteeth Rating System,
Hall of Fame (Email),
Harris Rating System,
Hurst Tournament Scoring System,
International Diplomacy Tournament Ratings,
Kinzett Rating System,
Kinzett Rating System (ManorCon 1986),
Lafosse Tournament Scoring System,
Lindeberg-Selhammar Rating System,
Marrotta Rating System,
Master Points System,
NGC Rating System,
Nickie-Carlotta Rating System,
Norman Rating System,
Odd,
Oddmod,
Open Swedish Championship,
The patent olloy-o-matic rating system,
Percentage Ranking,
Ratings,
Ratingsmaster,
Rating Systems for Standby Players,
Rehbold Rating System,
Rocamora-Birsan System,
Rogue's Gallery,
Samuel Rating System,
Simple Tournament Scoring System,
Stab Ratings,
Star Rating System,
Stars and Bars,
Super Tournament Rating System,
Swedish Diplomacy Rally,
Swiss System,
Team Tournament,
Thomas Rating System,
Varioddmod,
Vega,
Walker Tournament Scoring System,
Williams Rating System,
Wilman Rating System,
YARS,
Yerkey Rating System and
Zero Sum Rating System.
See also the collection of DipCon Rating Systems in
Appendix 1.
- REACTIONARY (1) [MB:Jun80]
- A style of GMing that tends to be rigid, limiting a
player's ability to innovate and avoid the consequences of errors. Typically
such HRs would bar codewords,
joint orders, limit
conditional orders, narrowly
interprets the "badly written order rule" and impose strict deadlines.
- READJUDICATION [PB:1980]
- If the GM makes a cock-up (which he occasionally will,
although less often if all the players got their units right and wrote them
down neatly and clearly in an easily-counted column), then he may send out a
between-issue 'readjudication'. He may, on the other hand, wait until the next
issue of the zine, and 'readjudicate' there, holding the game over until the
following issue.
- REAL ALE [PB:1980]
- Like SF, something which seems to go hand in hand with games players. Many
noted breweries, but watch out for mentions of Young's (not Younger's),
Fuller's, Boddington's, Lion Ales, and various others I don't know (never touch
the stuff myself).
- REALISM/PLAY BALANCE (1) [MB:Jun80/Mar82]
- A central dilemma in creating variants based
on historical conflicts. Unless the battle really was a draw, slavishly
following the dictates of realism means that one side should have little chance
of winning, providing for an unbalanced game that will be unlikely to be
replayed. But evening things up destroys the historical accuracy of the variant.
The main problem with realism is not that it dictates one side must always
win, but rather that greater realism usually requires greater complexity.
Greater complexity means less playability at some point. See
Variant Jargon (KW).
- REAL SOON (NOW) [PG:Nov93]
- Or "RSN". SFism meaning "at some point in a logically possible future".
- REC.GAMES.DIPLOMACY (1) [MN:Jan93]
- Usenet discussion group founded by Nick
Fitzpatrick which brought the existence of e-mail Diplomacy to the
attention of many who were unaware of it. The resulting explosion of new e-mail
players was partly responsible for the sudden surge in registrations at the
Washington Judge which lead to the moratorium on game starts there and to the
formation of the EFF JUDGE. There is a
rec.games.diplomacy.faq file. The vote to form this group
was held in October 1992 and sites started carrying the group around November
9th 1992.
- REC.GAMES.DIPLOMACY FAQ (1) [MN:Jan93]
- Currently maintained by Sean Starkey, this file answers basic questions
about the internet Diplomacy community. It is posted biweekly to the newsgroup
itself, and is available by anonymous ftp from the 'usual places'. It was based
upon, and replaced, Nick Fitzpatrick's
The Internet Guide To Diplomacy file.
In addition it can be retrieved by:
1) Email: by sending a message to starkey@rmii.com with "FAQ request" in
the SUBJECT.
2) FTP: at rmii.com in pub2/starkey/rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.*
3) WWW: at ftp://rmii.com/pub2/starkey/rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.html
See Zine Names (KW).
- REFUSALS (1) [MB:Jun80]
- A few GMs will allow a player to refuse an unwanted
convoy route (which they suspect will be disrupted), either explicitly or
implicitly by permitting "via" language -- all this despite the Rulebook which
does not permit refusals. Refusals of support are uniformly not permitted.
- REGULAR (1) [MB:Jun80]
- (1) Not a variant, a standard game; (2) A properly run game, not irregular;
(3) An ordinary game, not a restricted entry game.
- REHBOLD RATING SYSTEM (1) [MN:Jan93]
- A method for rating standby players devised by
Robert Rehbold and posted on DIPL-L on 12th January
1993. The basic idea is to distribute points to players depending on how long
they played the nation (e.g. game ends in 1912, then a player who played 6 years
would get 1/2 the rating points, another who played 2 years would get 1/6 etc.).
Rehbolds's idea is to enhance this by weighting the last player(s) more than
the first ones; players would have to have played for more than a whole year to
receive any credit.
(n = number of players for the nation that played at least one year,
y[i]= number of years player i played the nation (y[i])= 1; i ranging
from 0 to n-1), y = sum over y[i]):
points-for-player-i := (y[i]- 1 + 2*i)/(y - 2*n + n~2) * points-for-nation.
This reduces to points-for-nation if n=1, i.e. one player only. For a
game that ended winter 1912 where nation X was played by two players, one
until summer 1906, the other for the rest, this would give
(5.5 - 1 + 0)/(12 - 2*2 + 2~2) = 4.5/12 = 3/8 for the first player and
(6.5 - 1 + 2)/12 = 7.5/12 = 5/8 for the second player.
See Rating Systems (KW).
- REINHARDT GAMBIT (1) [MB:Jun80]
- A method of foiling the self-standoff by supporting one of the enemy's
moves. It is a true gambit, as one is giving up a shot at the center. Can of
course be foiled by attacking the would-be supporter. Also known as
Unwanted Support.
- REINSEL, CHARLES ROBERT (1) By Hal Naus, from _ADAG_ # 108 (27-3-76)
- Editor and Publisher of Big Brother.
A much maligned personality in the World of Postal Diplomacy, Charlie as I
call him (he would prefer people to call him Norb) and I have been on somewhat
friendly terms since I started playing and publishing way back in 1966. My
first win was in Charlie's magazine. Charlie's rules at times are somewhat
strange, but I have always maintained that a Publisher has a right to do what
ever he wants with his magazine.
_Big Brother_ #1 was first published on 22 February 1966. The first
Diplomacy Rating system was invented in 1964 by Mr. Reinsel. _Big Brother_ has
run 39 Postal Diplomacy games to date. Some of the biggest names in Postal
Diplomacy have played in _Big Brother_, and as Charlie states "Big Brother: has
the distinction of never defaulting on a game nor of ever missing an issue. It
is the best gamesmastered zine in the hobby." When he is not residing in
Florida to escape the cold, and traveling around the country visiting people,
he is usually found in Leeper Pa. Charlie is a retired school teacher, who once
ran for the state assembly in Penna. Every once in a while Charlie gets the
urge and comes out to Calif; to visit and stay with me, we usually drag out new
variant games and test them until they are perfect. And so _ADAG_ in its first
of a series of its players and Traders tips its hat to Charles Norbert Reinsel
the *ombudsman* of Postal Diplomacy.
((An example of one of Reinsel's strange rules: "If all the moves come in
ahead of the deadline, they will be typed up ahead of the deadline and no
further changes will be allowed", this was in 1968 when Reinsel was running
postal games to 13-day deadlines... MN:Jun92)) See
Personalities (KW).
- REINSEL, CHARLES ROBERT (2) [EB:Jul08]
- Was a math teacher in Clarion High School, Clarion PA. His zine Big Brother
was also known for having the toughest NMR (no moves received) policy which
allowed for NO replacement players after a player missed 3 moves of any kind.
There was one game in the zine that was down to One player as the others had
been put in Civil Disorder. Charlie insisted that the player play the game out
with everyone in CD.
- RELIABLE (1) [AoS:88]
- Player with a lower than average record for NMRs
--no more than 10% (i.e. one every five game years at most). Some Reliables have
never NMRed. Some Waiting Lists are open exclusively to Reliables.
- REMAILING A LETTER (1) [MB:Jun80]
- Passing a letter along to another party is a fairly common practice, and on
some occasions you'll even get your own mail back. There is much, obviously, to
be gained, but there are some risks. Some players believe it unethical. And
even if the recipient appreciates the letter, he must surely wonder whether
it's worth the risk for him to write *you*. A careful letter writer will write
his most sensitive letters in such a way as to reduce the chances of their
being remailed.
- RENKEN, BERRY (1) [HR/JB:Aug02]
- Publisher of The Bluesmobile, an excellent
e-mail zine from 1997 (?) to December 1999. Vanished
from the face of the earth (or at least the Hobby) in 2000, ostensibly due to
Y2K problems with his computer.
- RENKEN, BERRY (2) [JB:Mar07]
- For a while there he was the heart of the hobby for postal types who were
popping into the Internet. Berry has apologized to me personally for
disappearing. He left the Internet entirely for awhile. He's probably back
in now, but I think I only have his phone and postal address; he lives in
Seattle. It seems Buz Eddy mentioned that Berry showed up at Dragonflight
there one year, I forget which one.
- RESIGNATION (1) [MB:Jun80]
- The positive step of removing oneself from a game. Most GMs
require a final set of moves (if the season calls for it), otherwise it may be
treated as an NMR. This is as opposed to chess, where
resignation implies concession to a particular player, an indication that the
game is considered over.
- RESTRICTED ENTRY GAME (1) [MB:Jun80]
- Any game where significant limitations are placed on who may enter. The
most common are demo games and
local games, others have included
novice games, all-GM
games, all-lawyers games, press games,
Amazon games and
International Games.
- RETREAT (1) [TNP:87]
- What a dislodged unit must do. Forgetting to order retreats is a common and
often costly mistake.
- RETREAT FROM MOSCOW (1) [MB:Jun80]
- McCallum's rule that a dislodged unit without
retreat orders retreats, if possible, to the province it was in before its
present space. So named after Napoleon's Moscow army retreated via the road back
to Smolensk despite the fact that they had pillaged that area coming in. The
theory is that (1) A retreating army without orders will always just want to go
home and (2) It will choose the most familiar route, the one which may have
supplies stashed along it. The rule breaks down if it arrived by convoy, if it
was built there, etc.
- RETREAT FROM PORTUGAL (1) [MB:Jun80]
- Diplomacy's most obscure maneuver. [HR:Oct02] (Portugal has only one land
neighbour...) See Humour.
- RETREAT RULES (1) [MB:Jun80]
- These include Just's Right Hand
Rule, also in Wells' version, Just's Fleeing-the-enemy,
Retreat From Moscow and others. These were once
extensively discussed and zines varied widely in
their practices. Important in some variants (e.g. Disorganization).
- REVERSE LEPANTO (1) [MB:Jun80]
- In Lakofka's unusual Austro-Turkey alliance, F01 sees A(Bul)-Gre,
F(Con)-Bul/ec, A(Arm)-Sev (or defend Ank). Austria contests Rum with Ser
(+A(Gal) if it exists) and orders F(Alb)-ION. Then in S02, F(ION) CTA(Gre)-Apu.
See Austrian Openings (KW) and
Turkish Openings (KW).
- REYNOLDS, HAROLD (1) [HR:Aug93/Aug02]
- His contributions to the Hobby (so far) consist of proof-reading the AZ
document (Versions 2.0-4.0), converting Version 5.0 to HTML, four collections of
bad jokes, a couple of limericks and a collection
of strange Diplomacy-related quotations, the latter
which were generated in fits of frustration while he was playing a beleaguered
France. Has also created a map for the Colonia VII-B variant.
Spends most of what little free time he has collecting and/or creating even
more bad jokes, maintaining his Bad Pets
lists and general humour website, child-wrangling, and wondering how he
keeps getting sucked into the Hobby world periodically [or editing the AZ!].
Mark Nelson (in 1982/83), Jim Burgess (2002) and Edi Bursan (2005) are usually
blamed. A certifiable (but mostly harmless) nutcase.
- RGD (1) [MN:Feb95]
- Abbreviation for rec.games.diplomacy.
- RHU [PB:1980]
- Often a misspelling of Ruhr. Correctly, a small town in Scotland (just
north of Helensburgh) at which seven ScotDipcons were held, from the small
gathering of the first to the fifty strong of the last one in (I think) 1978.
Ably run by Wink Thompson with first his wife Ruth and then his wife Linda (see Divorces).
- RIGHT HAND RULE (1) [MB:Jun80]
- See Just's right hand rule.
- RISK [PB:1980]
- The game. Before the days of the discovery of Diplomacy, I think we all
played this. Has many more aficionados than Diplomacy among the 'non-hobby'
(probably because of Waddington's superior marketing). Also has several sets of
rules, the earlier ones being better, the later being designed for the morons
who normally buy Waddington Games.
- ROADHOG (1) [MN:May93]
- An alternative name for Houseboat
opening. See Austrian Openings (KW).
- ROCAMORA-BIRSAN SYSTEM (1) [MB:Jun80]
- A tournament scoring system giving one point per center, and one point for
everyone playing your country that round whom you outperformed.
SCs thus are the sole measure of performance; wins and
draws do not exist. No reduced victory criterion is employed. Has been used in
several major tournaments. See Rating Systems (KW).
- ROD WALKER LITERARY AWARD, THE (1) [MN:Dec92]
- See Hobby Awards (KW) and
Walker Award, The.
- ROGUE'S GALLERY (1) [MB:Jun80]
- Len Lakofka's Rating system, giving 5
points/center plus 170 points to the winner, or divided among the drawers.
Penalties assessed for elimination. It is very similar to Dragon's Teeth, except
that RG does not factor in standbys.
- ROHAN (1) [MB:Jun80]
- A notational system in which CAPITALS are used to denote where the unit is,
lower case for where it was, $/((these symbols should be stacked together-MN))
for cut supports. Presently used in _St George and the Dragon_.
- ROMAN-STYLE DIPLOMACY (1) [EB:Dec07]
- A same board variant by Edi Birsan. Players issue their orders first and
may not change it, then they negotiate. Sometimes can be mixed in a regular
game to even up the skill difference between new and experienced players so
that some countries have to issue orders without talking first and then can
only talk afterwards. See Variant.
- ROTATION LEPANTO (1) [MB:Jun80]
- F(Nap)-ION, A(Ven)-Apu, A(Rom)-Ven (See
Lepanto). When done in conjunction with F(Tri)-Ven it
leaves Ven open, presumably making Austria feel more secure for F01. *Very*
obscure, but recently seen in 1979GZ. Also known as
Anti-Hedgehog Lepanto. See
Italian Openings (KW).
- RR (1) [MN:Apr92]
- See Railway Rivals.
- RSN (1) [MN:Jan94]
- This entry will be written RSN! (Real Soon Now...)
- RULEBOOK (1) [MB/MN:Jun80/Nov92+Sep94]
- Diplomacy was first distributed in a limited edition of 500 sets by
Allan Calhamer in 1958, and this 1958 version of Diplomacy is the
earliest one for which we have the rules. It has been reprinted several times
in zines and run by post. You can get a copy of these rules from most variant
banks. See 1958 Diplomacy for more details.
A significant revision was released in 1959 and it is these rules which are
the basis for the game played today. These rules were revised in 1966 and 1971.
Prior to the 1971 revision the Rulebook had many areas that required
interpretation, which was left to the individual gamesmaster/publisher to
handle. The 1971 rulebook made rulings such as the
Brannon Rule, the Chalker
Rule, the Koning Rule, the von Metzke rule, Miller Rule and others obsolete;
these were fixes to the old rules devised by prominant postal players and
publishers of the day. As an example of a rule which was cleared up consider the
following: FA(Bur) SA(Ruh)-Mun, GA(Mun)-Bur/Ruhr. This situation was not covered
and some players (including Richard Sharp) assumed
that if you guessed right you could cut the support against you. The old
rulebook also allowed deliberate disbandment and decline of builds.
The victory criterion was changed from a majority of units on the board to
holding 18 centres as there had been cases of powers gaining 18 or more centres
but *not* winning the game (See Majority of Units on the Board).
The 1971 rulebook was rewriten over the period 1970-71 by an ad hoc
committee of well known postal players, such as Rod
Walker, in conjunction with Games Research Inc (GRI) and was reprinted
without changes in 1976.
There were two significant changes between the 1976 rulebook and the 1983
rulebook, these changes have not been included in rule books produced in other
countries except for in Canada since 1991.
The first change is in Rule XII(4), where the rewritten form allows
ambiguous convoys to succeed unless all fleets are dislodged. Therefore "F(ENC)
F(NTH) CA(Lon)-Bel" succeeds unless both fleets are sunk. This almost never
arises.
The second change is similar: a new rule Rule XII(6) resolves the unwanted
convoy dilemma, but does so in the opposite way to that followed by most UK
GMs, saying that "one route must be considered and the other disregarded
depending upon... intent..."
There are no significant changes between the 1993
Avalon Hill rulebook and the 1983 rules, except
for a footling change in the numbering of rules.
- RULEBOOK (2) [EB:Aug07]
- The 1999 Hasbro Rulebook made written with the Assistance of Allan Calhamer
and Edi Birsan, made a significant change in killing the Unwanted Convoy
situations. Thus a unit moving from one coastal province to an adjacent
province will always go by the land route unless one of its own fleets has
written a convoy in which case it will only go by the sea route. The Rulebook
also reconfirmed Calhamer's support for the flexible alternate convoy where a
unit can be ordered to a non adjacent coastal province by multiple routes and
that as long as one of the routes remains with out a dislodged fleet the convoy
goes through.
- RULES FREAK (1) [TNP:87]
- A Player who delights in spotting loopholes in the rules and uses them at
every opportunity, even when it doesn't benefit him.
- RULES OF DIPLOMACY
- See Rulebook.
- RUMANIAN GAMBIT (1) [MN:May93]
- A series of Austrian openings named by Richard
Sharp involving the moves F(Tri)-Alb and A(Bud)-Rum. There are three named
variations: The Balkan Roadhog (A(Vie)-Gal), McGivern's Gambit (A(Vie)-Bud) and
the Tyroleses Variation (A(Vie)-Tyr). See
Austrian Openings (KW).
- RUMANIAN OPENING (1) [MB/MN:Jun80/Aug95]
- Fourth most common Russian opening, A(Mos)-Sev, F(BLA)-Rum, A(War)-Ukr.
Although apparently peaceful and concerned only with Rum, this provided
considerable scope for anti-Turkey action in the fall, provided that neither
Austria nor Turkey moved against you in S01. Russia can move F(Rum)-BLA, or
A(Sev)-Arm, or, especially if Austria is very friendly, *both*. Note that
either can provide that Sev will be open for a build. There are variations
depending upon the order of F(Stpsc): F(Stpsc)-Fin (Rumanian Opening, Finnish
Variation), F(StPsc)-GoB (Rumanian Opening), F(StPsc)H (Rumanian Opening,
Houseboat Variation), F(StPsc)-Lvn (Rumanian Opening, Livonian Variation). See
Russian Openings (KW).
- RUMPLE'S DOT (1) [AoS:88]
- Theory that in order to win, players must concentrate on reaching their
18th supply centre (Rumple's Dot) from the beginning of the game and before
they consider how to reach their 17th, 16th, and so on. E.g. instead of making
a profitable stab on France, Germany aims to squeeze a unit through to Venice
first. See "Stiltskin's Dot".
- RUNESTONE POLL (1) [MN:Mar92]
- American equivalent of the UK's Zine Poll in
which American Hobby members vote on their favourite
zine of the last year. There are also separate Polls
for best subzine and Best GM.
Started by Canadian John Leeder and ran in his dipzine _Runestone_, hence the
name. Like the British version often the reason for heated discussion on topics
such as eligibility criteria for zines and voters and what the Pollster should
do about attempts to fix the Poll. Voters are asked to give a mark between 0
(low) and 10 (high). The final score is a combination of a modified average
score and a preference matrix score. The best way to calculate an average score
and determining what ratio of average score and preference score are used in
calculating the final score are also popular areas for discussion. There are
separate Polls for best GM and best subzine. A list of winners is...
(1) BEST ZINE
Date Voters Winner Runner-Up Third
1. 1977 19 Runestone Brouhaha Diman
2. 1978 56 Brutus Bulletin Lies, Deceit, etc Diplomacy Digest
3. 1979 72 Graustark The Dragon & The Lamb Why Me?
4. 1980 93 Fol Si Fie Volkerwanderung The National
5. 1981 126 Black Frog Dot Happy Brutus Bulletin
6. 1982 99 Europa Express Paranoiacs Monthly Just Among Friends
7. 1983 76 Europa Express Diplomacy By Moonlight Snafu!
8. 1984 119 Europa Express Envoy Politesse
9. 1985 265 Voice of Doom No Fixed Address Europa Express
10. 1986 211 Costaguana Europa Express It's A Trap
11. 1987 441 Costaguana Blunt Instruments Praxis
12. 1988 508 Praxis Zine Register Penguin Dip
13. 1989 174 Fiat Bellum Perelandra Carolina Cmd & Comm
14. 1990 233 Northern Flame Upstart Zine Register
15. 1991 185 Northern Flame Perelandra Fast Trax
16. 1992 139 Perelandra Maniac's Paradise Northern Flame
17. 1993 Perelandra Maniac's Paradise Boris the spider
(2) BEST GM
1. 1978 Steve McLendon
2. 1979 John Michalski
3. 1980 Don Ditter/Eric Verheiden (tie)
4. 1981 John Daly
5. 1982 Doug Beyerlein
6. 1983 Doug Beyerlein
7. 1984 John Daly
8. 1985 Mark Larzelere
9. 1986 Gary Coughlan
10. 1987 Andy Lischett
11. 1988 Andy Lischett
12. 1989 Russ Rusnak
13. 1990 Russ Blau
14. 1991 Eric Brosius
15. 1992 Bruce Linsey
(3) BEST SUBZINE
1. 1982 Diplomatic Immunity
2. 1983 Mos Eisely Spaceport
3. 1984 Sex Apeel
4. 1985 MeANNderings
5. 1986 D-Day!
6. 1987 High Inertia
7. 1988 Shadowplay
8. 1989 High Inertia
9. 1990 High Inertia
10. 1991 DIDOES
11. 1992 The Hounds of Hell
See Hobby Awards (KW).
- RUSSIAN ATTACK/RUSSIAN DEFENCE (1) [RE/MN:89-90/Aug95]
- The two main Turkish openings. Both involve F(Ank)-BLA and A(Con)-Bul,
widely regarded as the only sensible options for these units in Spring 1901 -
with the possible exception of the Western Opening F(Ank)-Con which invariably
prompts cries of "Juggernaut".
The signature of the "Attack" is A(Smy)-Arm, which obliges Russia to give
serious thought to protecting Sevastopol in the Autumn. He may opt to use
F(Sev), assuming a stand-off in BLA in the Spring, but this means surrendering
the Black Sea to Turkey; alternatively he can order F(Sev)-BLA again, and hope
for a second stand-off with F(Ank)-BLA, but this is a gamble. One of the main
benefits of the Russian Attack is that it keeps Con free in Autumn for a
powerful F(Con) build. By contrast, the "Defence" often involves an
arranged stand-off in BLA, and uses the
move A(Smy)-Con, perhaps with a view to following through with A(Bul)-Gre and
A(Con)-Bul for two builds.
The big change in British postal play has been the switch from Smy-Arm to
Smy-Con. In the mid 1970s both openings were equally popular; between 1972 and
1977 the Russian Attack was more popular in two years (1973 and 1975), the
Russian Defence was more popular in two years (1972 and 1976) and there were
two years when the openings. From 1978 to 1992 the Russian Defence was the most
popular every year. From 1978 the Russian Attack and Russian Defence has
accounted for at least 65% of Turkish openings played each year. The Russian
Attack was named, by Mark Berch, the
Crimean Crusher. See also
Russian Defence,
Turkish Openings (KW) and
Winning With Turkey.
- RUSSIAN DEFENCE (1) [MB/MN:Jun80/Aug94]
- The opening to BLA, Con and Bul, a very flexible Turkish opening. If Turkey
enters the BLA, A(Bul) has a choice of three neighboring neutrals, with F(BLA)
SA(Con)-Bul as a backup. Other options are supported attack on Rum, or a sneak
convoy to Sev. If a standoff is arranged, Turkey may be buying time, while not
risking the Black Sea.
There is also the Ankara Variation of the Russian Defence with A(Smy)-Ank.
This is probable misnamed since Turkey would only use this opening with the
expectation of gaining BLA (?). See also
Russian Attack,
Turkish Openings (KW).
- RUSSIAN FROLIC (1) [MB:Mar82]
- Allen Wells' name for the AT opening based on A Vie-Gal, A Bud-Rum, A Con
H, A Smy-Arm, F Ank-Bla. The key here is A Con H which, by eliminating Turkey's
1901 risk to Serbia, permits Austria to move safely to Rum. Details in DW 29.
See Austrian Openings (KW) and
Turkish Openings (KW).
- RUSSIAN OPENINGS (KW) (1) [MN:Dec93]
- There are more known openings for Russia than for any other power:
Austrian Attack,
Bulgarian Gambit,
German Attack,
Hop Step and Jump Opening,
Inertia System,
Juggernaut,
Kronstadt Opening,
Lapland Lurch,
Livonian Lunacy,
Livonian System,
Northern Houseboat Opening,
Northern Opening (Galicia Variation),
Northern Opening (Ukraine Variation),
Northern System,
Octopus,
Rumanian Opening,
Russian Opening Names,
Southern Defence,
Southern System,
Squid,
StP Gambit,
Turkish Attack,
Ukraine System and
Warsaw System.
- RUSSIAN OPENING NAMES (1) [MN:May93]
- Russia has more possible opening moves that any other power. In order to
produce a rationalised system for naming Russian Openings
Richard Sharp introduced the following plan (expanded
by MN to include 6 and 7):
(1) F(StPsc)-Fin is considered to be a move to GoB.
(2) F(StPsc) H openings are known as the
Northern Houseboat Opening.
(3) F(StPsc)-Lvn is known as the
Kronstadt Opening.
(4) Misordered units are considered to have been ordered to hold.
(5) Openings are named after the order of A(Mos). There are six systems: The
Inertia System, the
Livonian System, the
Northern System,
Southern System, the
Ukraine System,
and the Warsaw System.
(6) Where the alternatives F(Sev)-BLA/Rum/Arm/H are possible these are known
as the BLA/Rum/Noah's Ark/Southern Houseboat variation.
(7) The combination of orders A(War)-Ukr and F(Sev)-BLA is known as
the Turkish Attack Variation rather than the Ukraine and Black Sea Variation.
See Russian Openings (KW).
- RUSTY BOLTS (1) [MN:Apr93]
- An exercise in irony on the hobby and its members. They were first ran,
originally intended as a one-off, by Ken Bain in _NMR_! from 1982-1985. In 1986
Nick Kinzett took them over. Each year there were ten different categories,
although the categories changed from year to year.
Example categories: The Chris Tringham Nearly Famous Award for Upstart of
the Year, The MidCon Tony Wheatley Award for Being Who They Are, The Forden's
Epitaph Award for the Least Regretted Fold or for the Most Eagerly Awaited
Fold, R.J. Walkerdine
Award for the Most Boring Topic of Correspondence, The Gary Piper Award for Tact
and Diplomacy, Fairy Sopwith Award for the most absurd game of 1985, The Andy
Blakeman "Protest in Earnest" Award for Redundant Prose, Wright-Donley Award for
the Most Spectacular Con Attendee, The Mike Benyon Brass Award for Delay or the
Least Plausible Reasons for it and The Nick Kinzett award for Anything Not Yet
Mentioned.
In 1988 and 1989 the winners received real Rusty Bolts! [Mark Nelson, your
humble AZ creator, has won a couple of them.]
See Hobby Awards (KW)
and Humour.