I vote for giving Omni France again, since he’s gotten pretty adept with it.
Just finally poking my head in here. I’m pretty busy (although procrastinating a lot today, since my daughter is home sick from school), so I’m going to take a pass on this even as an alternate. But I think it will be fun to give unsolicited advice if you post some links. Would probably be a good idea to drag in Go Alien for his advice as well. Sometimes it’s easier to see things when you’re not influenced by the Diplomacy itself.
Also Steve, who claims the hamsters are too slow and the signup sheet too intimidating to actually register, would probably make a pretty good alternate. He’s an ornery cuss when he wants to be but can also be quite influential.
When do you actually commence play and how often are rounds done, etc?
I can’t find anywhere on the site where it says when play will commence. Signup closes on November 25, so presumably not until after Thanksgiving.
Regarding Italy, I think it’s a decent choice to give a newer player, as it’s one of the harder positions to get eliminated from early. It all depends on our team strategy – we could assign it to a veteran player with the idea of getting unexpected points out of a “weak” power and hope a newer player does well with a “strong” power.
I am the man with the info.
I just got this from Rudi, one of the organizers…
Does that help out?
I assume everyone got the WM Tourney email, but I figured I’d paste in in here for a bump, and to assign SD usernames with the names. Just in case anyone is shy, I’ll leave off the proper names here on the SDMB. I’ll assign the usernames that I know.
Here’s the email:
Sorry, Russia and Turkey, I’m not sure what your handles are, so if someone wants to fill that data in, please do.
Also, can we change the team name to “The Fighting Ignorants”? That sounds more like a mascot than a slogan, and frankly I just find it entertaining. Not to mention the self-depricating tone could lull our opponents into a sense of false security. Heh heh heh. Can we get a consensus?
Russia: ppg_shg
Turkey: Bluesman
I agree with Omni about the name.
Is everyone happy with those country selections?
Oh, and I personally think The Figthing Ignorance is a wonderful double pun and much cleverer than “The Fighting Ignorants”, but I’ll put it to a vote.
I want to chime in here with Good Luck wishes to all you fine Dopers who are out to conquer the world.
You wanna be an alternate, SP?
Dave - speaking of alternates, did you get my email that Steve (Russia in 1040) volunteered to be an alternate?
I’ll go with the team name either way. And I’m happy with my country assignment.
Okay, now we need non-participants to lay odds on the outcomes?
Most likely to succeed? Most likely to be dogpiled? Most likely to start out fast and finish slowly? Most likely to screw up orders? Most likely to take a flyer? Most likely to misspell “weird”? Most likely to attack his own teammates? Over/under on survival rates?
Again, I’m looking forward to this. With 35+ teams already what are the odds I face one of you across the table in round one?
JC, I just checked the teams page, and counted 45 teams registered. Since you can’t be in the same game as Omni, as you both play France this round, I’d say you’ve currently got a 6/45 chance of being in the same game as one of us. That’s nearly 7-1 odds against. So it could happen, but it’s hardly to be expected.
As more teams sign up (deadline’s still nearly 2 weeks away), the odds will tip further against it.
I was clicking on team names, seeing where people were from, what their nicknames were, and so forth. Some teams have themed nicknames, like The Knights Who Say Ni (one of my favorite team names - surprise!) and Wooley’s Mammoths. 
Other favorite team names: Pangalactic Gargleblasters (of course), Death By Convoy, Nurse Jade’s Psychopaths, Premature Attack Elation, Semi-Conscious, The Watergate Seven, and my absolute favorite:
Is This the Risk Tournament?
The Watergate Seven is a DC-area team. Nate, did you notice they’ve got a player from Purcellville? One of their players is sufficiently Dip-obsessed that his email addy is his country preferences, and another is somewhat confused about the location of Takoma Park. 
I was relieved to see that the team with the funky Japanese name has only one player from Japan, and his first name is Walter. So far, it doesn’t look like language will be a problem, for the most part. There’s a team from Sao Paulo, Brazil, one from Austria, and one from Quebec, but mostly it’s teams whose players are mostly or entirely from the Anglo parts of the world.
I wonder if any/all of the Austrian team players want to play Austria?
I knew you’d do the math, Kim. I just knew it. Boy, I hope that pays off.
Also, I think your count is off. I show teams with a French language background, 1 with Portuguese, and a whopping 9 German teams. And, of course, a smattering of other languages.
Not that it should be a problem.
Russia? Russia? I specifically said I didn’t want to be Russia. Oh wait a minute, I said no such thing. Fine by me. Turkey here I come.
I would appreciate any and all advice, especially the kind that Abe Babe gave me in 1046. Es was wunderbahr!
Never trust a lawyer from Chicago who says he working for YOUR best interest!