'Admiral' Gunboat Competition III

January Update

I hope your 2008 started well & if so, it will continue for the rest of the year. Oh, to those that haven't had a good start to the year,...enough said.

I don't care which Web site you tend to play on, as I'm afraid, the following copy/paste can exist with any form of e-mails. The Semi is Queen Mary & this is the Press I wrote:

ALB: This is something I've mentioned before but still very important so I'm re-writing it again & will add it to the January's Monthly Update, which will come out later this week.

Going back to A08 I was about to adjudicate but couldn't find any orders from Italy so I asked Andy (back-up GM) whether he got any orders but as 'no' was the reply I adjudicated & Italy NMR. Next day I looked at my 'Outlook Express - Inbox' & found that at 2.49am GMT the Italian orders arrived. I pressed 'reply' & was able to read that his e-mail left Victor Emmanuel III 'Outbox' at 4.22pm GMT on the 21st, which actually was 38 minutes before the Deadline. One or both our servers decided to use Cyberspace. Unfortunately, Victor Emmanuel III didn't Cc Andy so the back-up call wasn't used as if he had, it might be that Andy did receive them & would have been able to 'Forward' them to me. Cc the back-up GMs isn't 100% guaranteed but darn sight better than not doing it.

BTW, if reading the above you're wondering, orders must be in my 'Inbox' before the Deadline not written & sent before the Deadline but arriving in my 'Inbox' after the Deadline, e.g. Italy in A08.

As for Victor Emmanuel III, I could like to add that he fully accepted the NMR & that, to me, is honourable.

With regard to 'Admiral', now & future, you ought to follow on with that was pasted above. To those of us who also play on Dip2000, ask your GM for the best person to Cc your orders. As for other sites, I can't tell you the best method but ask your fellow players or GM or both.

To anyone who thinks that the above wouldn't matter because of things like different servers, etc, dream on as Cyberspace effects all servers.

Moving on & literally in the future, I've asked the GMs & a number of players about whether anything needs to be changed for IV. Nearly all said that they couldn't see anything that needs to be changed exempt for minor things. A couple of players did recommend other methods, e.g. use Judges, use programs that can auto certain things, etc. As I'm sure you've gathered, asking others for their opinions is a very good way of finding out if things are working well or whether things need to be changed. I'm pleased to say that the majority of those who replied said to keep things as they are so hence, it will be however based on, hopefully, the increased number of players, certain things will have to be done but that is more the benefit of us GMs & also other admin type of stuff.

Actually there is something that may affect the players & soon to be added to the Rules but before you wonder, I did mentioned it in an earlier Monthly Update. It was about the fact that we forgot to write in the Rules & up until now we haven't added it yet soon it will be. If you remember, if a player forgets to add to disbands to their orders or the country is in Anarchy, the way in which we disband is different to Avalon Hill Rules. First is that we'll look for any unit that isn't on a SC. Once found, the furthest from the home SCs comes off first & fleets go before armies. There's a bit more to it but as for this Monthly Update, that's good enough. As to the translators, yeah, soon I'll be in touch.

Changing subject, as for the site, ALB & GSB, I've been changing a few things, e.g. font, buttons, etc, so have a look & see if it's better than before. I've also updated pages & one is a page showing Medal's to players. You're name might be there.

Games

Countries shown below are those that have units on the board. In case you've forgotten, the back-up GM is shown in brackets.

Cap Trafalgar - S08 - (Andy Scott)
France - 8. Germany - 11. Italy - 2. Turkey - 13.

Hayreddin Barbarossa - A08 - (Doug Stewart)
Austria-Hungary - 5. England - 6. France - 3. Germany - 8. Italy - 3. Russia - 6. Turkey - Anarchy.

Jean Bart - A09 - (JW)
Austria-Hungary - 3. France - 15. Germany - 3. Italy - 11. Russia - 2.

Pamiat Azova - A08 - (JW)
England - 10. France - 6. Russia - 1. Turkey - 17.

Queen Mary - S09 - (Andy Scott)
Austria-Hungary - 4. England - 1. Germany - 11. Italy - 9. Russia - 3. Turkey - 6.

San Giorgio - S09 - (JW)
England - 10. Germany - 2. Italy - 7. Russia - 12. Turkey - 3.

Szent Istvan - A09 - (Andy Scott)
Austria-Hungary - 9. England - 1. France - 11. Germany - 9. Turkey - 4.

One of the player's wrote in his e-mails, the following lines, "...Quite a brain teaser this game has been".

I'm not going to state what he wrote before but will write my reply & then his reply to my comments.

From me, "This game proves how good Gunboat is".

From the player, "agreed -- I tire of the Machiavellian nature of regular Dip sometimes, but Gunboat often feels like a good, fulfilling game of chess...".

If you're a chess player & disagree about his final remarks, you can contact him by e-mailing, gunboat@chess.com

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NB If you do e-mail, notice I've changed @ to AT to stop possible e-mail spammers so before you send, swap it back.