Episodes
The guys open the show and introduce the venue, Maniax, an axe throwing bar (0 mins 10 secs) Gavin mentions a Bizarre Map originally published on X, which explains what bits of Australia are like if they were American (6 mins 15 secs) They also discuss the old pronunciation issue for “Arkansas” (8 mins 20 secs) The guys flag there’s no interview this episode, and an update where they stuffed up an interview (9 mins 30 secs) Gavin talks about setting a regularly scheduled day each month so...
Published 04/22/24
Published 04/22/24
The guys discuss their latest face to face tournament, the Melbourne Open and have an around the card table discussion with many great players. Plus Ken's shoe story. Enjoy! Intro The guys open the show discussing their drinks, Gavin's incredible rustiness and a little about the tournament (0 mins 15 secs) They mention DBN is having a chat also coming up blow by blow about the tournament  (9 mins secs) Card table chat around Melbourne Open and player experiences The guys introduce the card...
Published 03/08/24
The guys interview Zach Moore about all things NADF. Plus we talk our online games. Intro The guys open the show talking about some recent off topic discussions (0 mins 15 secs) They discuss their drinks and initial venue  (1 mins 30 secs) Loser's round stuff (3 mins 30 secs) Interview with Zach Moore about NADF The guys start introducing their interview with Zach, current NADF President who gives us a tour of his car (6 mins 30 secs) Zach explains how he took over the presidency of NADF from...
Published 03/01/24
The guys interview Chris Brand about the upcoming 2024 DipCon/Cascadia Open in Vancouver. Plus we talk upcoming tournaments and our online games. Intro The guys open the show about Gavin's wife's recent interest in Ticket to Ride and talk about a number of other board games (0 mins 15 secs) They discuss their drinks and initial venue which they last visited in episode 2 (4 mins 20 secs) Ken's been brewing beer (6 mins 20 secs) Interview with Chris Brand The guys start introducing their...
Published 01/25/24
After almost 4 years the guys bring back creator and publisher of the Diplomacy Briefing, Umbletheheap, to see where the weekly email newsletter is at and where it's going. Plus we award the end of year Best Player award between each other, the new South of Sahara variant and progress on the Big Stick Diplomacy variant. Intro The guys open the show and discuss their drinks and initial venue which they last visited in episode 14. They discuss why Russia doesn't open Warsaw to Silesia more...
Published 12/24/23
The guys interview Sascha Heylmann who they met and played at WDC. Plus we address the myth of Diplomacy being the favorite game of Henry Kissinger... unfortunately surprisingly timely. Intro The guys open the show and discuss the venue and their drinks before they introduce their interview with Sascha Heylmann, one of the behind the scenes organisers at WDC in Bangkok (0 mins 15 secs Interview with Sascha Heylmann The interview with Sascha begins (2 mins 45 secs) How Sascha got into...
Published 11/30/23
The guys interview Bradley Grace about his love of Diplomacy. Plus they discuss a great new variant devised on a mini bus in rural Thailand and their online games. Intro The guys introduce themselves, the bar and their drinks for the evening (0 mins 10 secs) They discuss what life's like now back in Australia, instead of their super chill selves in Thailand. Ken talks about some of the places he visited in Thailand after Kanchanaburi (4 mins 30 secs) Interview with Bradley Grace They start...
Published 09/24/23
Ken interviews Jamal Blakkarly, 2023 World Diplomacy Champion and co-host Gavin who also played the top board in Bangkok about the game and their similar styles and perspectices on Diplomacy. Plus, the podcast takes a new direction. Intro The guys introduce themselves in an entirely different way to the previous 120 episodes, with the cat out of the bag (0 mins 10 secs) They set up the interview today with Jamal, World Diplomacy Champ and Gavin who was also on the top board (2 mins 20...
Published 08/26/23
With the guys about to head off to WDC in Bangkok, they play a face to face game & discuss their learnings to apply. Plus updates on their podcast listener game and new variants in development at vDip. Intro The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s initial venue (0 mins 10 secs) They talk a little around their plans for Bangkok's WDC before a bit of an intro on their recent face to face game in Brisbane (3 mins) Chat with Reily Chapman on their face to face game in Brisbane The guys...
Published 08/13/23
With just a month until the first World Diplomacy Championship in Asia we catchup with organisers Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen about WDC Bangkok 2023, plus lots more. Intro The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 10 secs) They discuss why Italy doesn’t open more often to the west and some crazy openings (5 mins 35 secs) Interview about WDC Bangkok with Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen They introduce the interview today with Lei Saarlainen and Andrew Goff about WDC 2023 in...
Published 07/13/23
Kaner & Amby catch up to discuss the upcoming new official board game rules, their game with podcast listeners and much more. Intro The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 5 secs) New board game rules & face to face They talk about the proposed board updates and rule changes from Renegade, the new publisher (7 mins) Amby discusses the beer taps before they move onto the last 2 rule changes (25 mins 40 secs) They discuss whether any of the upcoming tournaments from...
Published 06/02/23
Lots of stuff been happening in the guys' lives, so they catch up to discuss the game. Intro The guys give some context for the delay in podcast episodes (0 mins 10 secs) Kaner gives Amby his belated Christmas gift (1 mins 50 secs) They discuss their face to face game in January, their first game since Covid. They discuss having another game in mid-April (5 mins 20 secs) The guys move onto discussing ChatGPT and using it for a Diplomacy game. Kaner discusses the jail breaked version (10 mins...
Published 04/03/23
The guys interview Noam Brown from Meta about all the things you don't know about Cicero. Plus a good old Diplomacy chat. Intro The guys introduce the show and venue. Amby explains his screw up pre-recording (0 mins 10 secs) Amby asks for listener's feedback on the Christmas show and they discuss their drinks (6 mins) Interview with Noam Brown from Meta The guys start introducing today's interview with Noam Brown from Meta about the work they've done teaching their artificial intelligence...
Published 01/29/23
The guys celebrate the festive season with Round 2 of Diplomacy Trivia, some Christmas gift giving and much, much more. Intro The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks. They throw in a bit of weather talk (0 mins 10 secs)   The guys introduce the 2022 Christmas Diplomacy Trivia game and contestants: reigning champ Markus Zijlstra/CaptainMeme, 3rd place 2022 WDC player Peter McNamara, variant extraordinaire David E. Cohen and podcast Patreon supporter and well known player Hal Schild (7...
Published 12/23/22
The guys interview Stephen Agar, creator of the Diplomacy Archive for zines and the Variant Bank, on getting back into the hobby. Plus the guys talk cheese and languages. Oh and their games too. Intro The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks. They grab some lunch and then return (0 mins 10 secs) Interview with Stephen Agar The guys start setting the scene for their interview with Stephen Agar, creator of the Variant Bank and collector of Diplomacy zines around returning to the hobby (4...
Published 11/20/22
The guys interview Kestas about his suggested options for how vDip and webDip could better work together or possibly merge. Plus how their games are going. Intro The guys introduce the show, venue and drinks (0 mins 10 secs) Interview with Kestas on vDip and webDip Kestas is welcomed back to the show and starts by discussing his thoughts on how vDip and webDip could possibly work better together (4 mins 30 secs) He outlines some of the challenges for vDip and how webDip may be able to assist...
Published 10/23/22
The guys interview BlueDog, an old school Diplomacy player who got back into the game after many decades. Plus Diplomacy chat, entering the Australian Podcast Awards and more drinking. Intro The guys introduce the show and an ongoing apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto discuss what Kaner's reading, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with BlueDog The start discussing the interview today with BlueDog, an ally of Amby's in a WWIV sealanes game. Amby talks...
Published 09/18/22
The guys interview Traci Brown, leading expert in detecting deception using body language. Plus two new variant maps are making the rounds. Kaner keeps on winning. And Amby screws up the tech. Intro The guys introduce the show and an apology for the break in episodes. Before they go onto the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) Interview with Traci Brown The start discussing the interview today with leading deception detection expert Traci Brown (2 mins 30 secs) The interview begins with...
Published 08/21/22
The guys interview Joren, one of the Diplicity app's incredible map creators. They talk all things Diplomacy maps. Plus all the cool updates over at webDiplomacy will blow your mind. And Kaner picks on Amby's 1066 variant. Intro & webDiplomacy awesomeness The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks. They then go through how the show will run this episode (0 mins 15 secs) Kaner introduces a new games engine introduced to webDiplomacy: a great new click interface, against bots...
Published 07/10/22
The guys interview Tejas Patel, who is DARPA's the project lead for SHADE: an AI research initiative using Diplomacy to better understand the nuance of communication intent behind actions. Plus the guys games and how does a famous UK Diplomacy player get himself a novice rank in Australia's Diplomacy association. Intro The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They discuss getting how to get a French fleet into Tunis. Hint hint, they're wrong! (Spring 1901...
Published 06/26/22
The guys get into the new Bourse game, talk Amby's happy little accident, games and much much more. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) Bourse 2022 Kaner kicks off discussions on the new Bourse game he's adjudicating and Amby is playing. Kaner reminds listeners if they missed previous shows what a Bourse game is (5 mins 45 secs) They discuss pumping up the value of currencies (9 mins) Amby discusses how he's previously...
Published 06/04/22
The guys discuss Amby's attendance at PoppyCon in Melbourne with round the table interviews, tournament results and a live Wilsonian game of Diplomacy. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They give a quick run down of how today's episode is going to work this episode, and Kaner provides a pronunciation correction for the Mayans. Amby shares a partial Arkansas update, with the Twitter pic he shares from @TerribleMaps with Kaner ...
Published 05/14/22
The guys interview face to face Macca, a local vDiplomacy player over a drink about all things Diplomacy. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They discuss being involved in the most recent DBN Deadline News as guests in a panel discussion about Diplomacy variants (3 mins) Amby recently got Covid and talks briefly on that (4 mins 40 secs) He goes onto discuss his excitement about attending PoppyCon this weekend (10 mins 50...
Published 04/22/22
The guys invite Kestas back onto the show to discuss webDip's partnering with Facebook. Plus lots of Diplomacy chat, including variants and Kaner's great game result. Intro & Diplomacy talk The guys introduce the show, the venue and their drinks (0 mins 15 secs) They reflect on last episode where they misheard what was happening in Ukraine at the time (4 mins) Interview with Kestas Amby welcomes Kestas back to the show after an absence for 4 years on the podcast. He asks about some of...
Published 04/08/22