# SDMB Newbie Diplomacy game **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873 "2003-01-20T22:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jessicala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jessicala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessicala)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/21 "2003-01-21T21:32:34Z")
I hope page 16 of the Avalon Hill rules is not important, because I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around it. Could someone who’s played before give a quick explanation of Press? I get that it’s a way to make announcements to the whole game about stuff, but if someone could give some examples and maybe explain when/why you’d use it, that would be really helpful to me. Also, I’m still trying to figure out what a “bounce” is. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/22 "2003-01-21T22:05:08Z")
A bounce is where more than one unit tries to move into the same square. Neither side takes it, and their units that tried to move there remain in the same spot. For instance, on the first move, if France orders Fleet Brest to English Channel, and England orders Fleet London to English Channel on the same turn, they bounce, and neither side takes it. England remains in London and France remains in Brest. I don’t really use press. I think it’s more important in games where you are anonymous players. I just send a letter to each player, or all, if it’s a general announcement. What’s on page 16? ---
**Author:** ![ppg\_shg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@ppg\_shg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ppg_shg)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/23 "2003-01-21T22:06:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Could someone who’s played before give a quick explanation of Press? I get that it’s a way to make announcements to the whole game about stuff, but if someone could give some examples and maybe explain when/why you’d use it, that would be really helpful to me. > > Also, I’m still trying to figure out what a “bounce” is. \*\* Here are some examples of press – Summer, 1907, from Great Britain: Shibb, you’re a bastard! January 1, 1907 The Turkish designates abroad wish the following to be known: The Sultan intends to see to it that the Austrian “ruler” has chosen his own doom this year. He did so once before, and the Sultan was gracious and open-minded enough to forgive past slights and take the fledgeling under his wing. There will be no such mercy this time. The Sultan invites any and all Powers with representatives in the erstwhile Austrian capital of Vienna to withdraw any valuable personnel before the carnage begins. In a similar vein, any interested Powers are welcomed and encouraged to take part in the onslaught themselves. The delegation from Constantinople lays no claims to the spoils, the damage done is all. As such, any Powers interested in Turkish support into Austrian “holdings” are desired to contact the Sultan posthaste. Regards, Representative for His Imperial Majesty Sultan WL ## (That was none too nice, but Vienna still stands) Bounce is Piedmont. It’s basically the concept that equal number of forces result in a tie, and bounce back to their originating country. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/24 "2003-01-21T22:28:16Z")
Press is something that I’ve never really seen as a major role in any of the games I’ve played. More often than not its just the formal outlet for trash talk, but there are variations of the games where it could play a major role in diplomacy between players. Perhaps for use as an open assertion of your intentions to help placate a suspicious neighbor. There are games with white, grey and black press that greatly vary the rules involving communication. Frankly, I am not that familiar with them at all, so I won’t try and explain. For the purposes of this game, press will simply be messages distributed by me (the GM) either involving game related information such as deadline or notifications, or messages distributed by me for a player (perhaps even anonymously) to all parties. Typically its included with each adjudication, unless a special case requires a more timely mailing. As for as a bounce. It simply means that a move of equal strength was attempted by two or more units into a single province, which by rule means that all the moves fail, in other words bounce. ---
**Author:** ![jessicala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@jessicala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jessicala)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/25 "2003-01-21T22:51:17Z")
Re bounce: Gotcha. The AH rules had some other name for it (standoff?) so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something specific to email games. Page 16: “A Convoyed Attack Does Not Cut Certain Supports” - probably nothing that’s going to come up in the first couple moves. I’m sure it will make more sense after watching/playing for a while. Just a little overwhelming right at first. Thanks for the examples of press and **Omni** for your clarification about how it will be used in this game. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/26 "2003-01-21T23:33:35Z")
So, when should I expect us to start? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/27 "2003-01-22T00:04:03Z")
Well, I’m waiting on confirmation here. I’ll give it until sometime tomorrow before subbing in the ever growing and eager list of alternates. I’d expect the country assignments to be dispersed by Friday and the first deadline to be the following Friday. _Everyone_ who is interested please email me with your country preferences at the email address in my profile from the email account which you intend to use as the primary contact for this matchup. Please list your full list of country preferences in the form here: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Royal Nonesuch \* > \*\*R G T A I F E \*\* Where the letters are the seven initials of the powers. Also mention any special availability or contact issues I may need to be aware of. I intend to run the game under the presumption that all players have internet access 7 days a week. I’m still waiting and hoping on the donation of some webspace for this puppy. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/28 "2003-01-22T00:17:06Z")
I-T-R-F-E-A-G Unchanged from the other thread. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/29 "2003-01-22T00:23:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Omniscient \* > _Everyone_ who is interested please **email me** with your country preferences at the email address in my profile from the email account which you intend to use as the primary contact for this matchup. I need to get a contact list going for this of reliable email addresses. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/30 "2003-01-22T00:55:48Z")
Who the hell made **Abe** the resident expert? Kids, you stick with me. We’ll go places. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/31 "2003-01-22T01:37:41Z")
Sheeet, Abe dosen’t even have a webpage for Dipping! ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/32 "2003-01-22T02:04:14Z")
Oops, **Omniscient**. Email coming. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/33 "2003-01-22T03:46:06Z")
The Doper way to do Press is to print disparaging comments in this thread. And I am _not_ a bastard, most of the time, anyway. Besides, the guy who wrote that press is no longer around to back up his bold words. Live by the pen, die by the sword I always say. **Omni** , looks like you’ve awakened a lot of expectations in the next generation; I hope you can live up to them. No pressure, no worries. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/34 "2003-01-22T04:26:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*Who the hell made **Abe** the resident expert? > \*\* The fact that I have nothing to do but sit in front of the computer all day and was the first to reply makes me the resident expert, smarty-pants. Seriously, though, **JC** is an excellent source of knowledge about the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/35 "2003-01-22T08:20:24Z")
R, T, And beyond that I really have no preference. I’m easy like a Sunday morning. This is going to be my first shot. I’ve got a board at home (but not enough pieces to play) and a copy of the rules. Eagerly awaiting the game. Sorry for the delay. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/36 "2003-01-22T13:04:10Z")
**ShibbOleth** , excellent idea. I was thinking it’d probably be easier to follow the game by sitting in on a face-to-face first, with the actual board in front of you. I’ve never played (or even seen, for that matter) Risk or Stratego, or any similar boardgame, with the exception of the **Red Dawn** inspired Fortress America, so I’d definately need assistance to hold my own the first game or two. If anyone’s interested in letting me tag along, my SDMB email’s valid and read (IOW it’s not a hotmail account I never check), drop me a note, and consider me your Grima. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/37 "2003-01-22T13:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Abe Babe \* > **The fact that I have nothing to do but sit in front of the computer all day and was the first to reply makes me the resident expert, smarty-pants.** I told you to stop talking to my pants! They get all excited! ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/38 "2003-01-22T19:11:09Z")
Well, I try to talk to where your brain is. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/39 "2003-01-22T19:49:31Z")
You’ve been talking to my wife, haven’t you? ---
**Author:** ![ppg\_shg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@ppg\_shg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ppg_shg)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873/40 "2003-01-22T19:57:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*You’ve been talking to my wife, haven’t you? \*\* You have a wife? :eek: By the way, where is the official explanation of the different types of press and their effect on the game. Abe Babe had nary a thought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-newbie-diplomacy-game/149873.md?page=3)