The NADF

I was traveling last week and also battling the mother of all colds, so for this issue at least, This Week covers a fortnight.

 

Sundstrom Wins His Second CODCon Open

They say the best baseball players fail two-thirds of the time. That same math applied at this year’ CODCon Open, played April 21-22 at the College of DuPage in the west Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn.

 

The tourney field did a fair job of containing Matt Sundstrom, the 2009 champion and two-time Weasel of the Year. In Round 1 on Saturday morning, we held his Italy under 6 points in the Sum of Squares scoring system. And in Round 3 on Sunday, we sent his France to an early shower. But in Round 2 Saturday night, Sundstrom drew Turkey, got a pitch he could hit, and for the third time with the Weasels, knocked it out of the park. Sundstrom also soloed as Turkey at Weasel Moot III in 2009 and at a game at his home in 2010.

 

He grabbed his 17th and 18th centers (Tunis and Marseilles) in 1911. Meanwhile, in the only remaining game of the round, John Gramila was driving toward his own solo as France. (The competing bids entertained those of us from the other board who had the good sense to draw in Spring 1908.)  Gramila’s bid fell short, however, and he settled for a draw in Spring 1913.

 

Gramila and Amanda Baumgartner had the best shots at catching Sundstrom on Sunday. On Board 1, Baumgartner’s Austria was on the verge of breaking out in 1903, but she was beaten back and finished on one center. On Board 2, Gramila’s Turkey almost escaped the box, but he was shoved back in. He finished with three centers, and Sundstrom won the tournament by a comfortable margin.

 

We fielded a total of seven boards in the three-round event, with 21 unique players participating. The top seven were:

 

1. Matt Sundstrom
2. Aash Anand
3. Peter Lokken
4. Amanda Baumgartner
5. John Gramila
6. Jim O’Kelley
7. Nate Cockerill

 

While Sundstrom finished first by more than 30 points, only 1 point separated third and fifth place. The Best Countries went to:

 

Austria: Jim O’Kelley

England: Peter Lokken

France: John Gramila

Germany: Amanda Baumgartner

Italy: Don Glass

Russia: Aash Anand

Turkey: Matt Sundstrom

 

Check out the complete standings, as well as supply center charts for each game, here.

 

Next up on the Grand Prix Circuit

The Grand Prix continues this weekend in San Francisco with the BADAss Whipping. It will be followed at the end of the month by the venerable DixieCon in Chapel Hill.

 

May 5-6:BADAss Whipping, San Francisco, diplomacyblog.wordpress.com/whipping-2012/.

May 25-27:DixieCon, Chapel Hill, N.C., dixiecon.com.

 

Let the Countdown Begin

The 2012 World Diplomacy Championship will tip off in Chicago in 100 days. Preregistration is now open for Weasel Moot VI, which also will play host to the North American Championship. The event will be held Aug. 10-12 at the historic Congress Plaza Hotel in downtown Chicago. Preregistration will save you $10. For more information, please visit windycityweasels.org/wdc. Check us out on Facebook here. 

  

Hobby Roundup

Here’s what’s going on in the hobby hotbeds. If we’ve missed your hobby, let us know!

 

Bay Area

The BADAss Whipping is this weekend at the Hotel Tomo in San Francisco. Check out the website at diplomacyblog.wordpress.com/whipping-2012/. The club’s Yahoo group is games.groups.yahoo.com/group/bayareadip. The BADAss website is bayareadiplomacy.org.

 

Central Iowa

For more information about the hobby in Central Iowa, email Russ Dennis at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Chicago

In the wake of CODCon, the Weasels scheduled two house games per month for May, June and July. Learn more about the Weasels at www.windycityweasels.org.

 

Columbus, Ohio

Organizer Thomas Haver will run two Diplomacy events in Columbus: Origins May 31 through June 2, and the Buckeye Game Fest tournament Sept. 21 to 23. Contact him at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

 

Dallas

Doug Kent is thinking about hosting a round or two of Diplomacy at TexiCon in Fort Worth, complete with awards if there’s sufficient interest. The Texas Yahoo group is here: games.groups.yahoo.com/group/texas-diplomacy.

 

D.C.

Nothing new to report. Check out the Potomac Tea & Knife Society’s website at ptks.org. You can subscribe to the group’s Diplist at ptks.org/community.php.

 

Detroit

Nothing new to report. If you’re in the Detroit area, check out their Yahoo group at games.groups.yahoo.com/group/detroitdiplomacy.

 

Houston

Nothing new to report.

 

New England

Nothing new to report. The list is here: groups.yahoo.com/group/MADip-L. The New England website is nedip.org.

 

New York City

Nothing new to report. Follow the New Yorkers on Twitter @DiplomacyNYC. New York has a Yahoo group here, games.groups.yahoo.com/group/NYC-Diplomacy. In addition, there’s a Meetup group here, www.meetup.com/diplomacy-6, and a Google group here, groups.google.com/group/new-york-diplomacy.

 

Pacific Northwest

The Vancouver guys are shooting for a board this Saturday at noon at Jay Heumann’s apartment. The Pacific Northwest Diplomacy community has a Yahoo group here, games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Northwest_Diplomacy, but its Facebook page, the Greater Cascadia Diplomacy Consortium, is much more active. Check it out here.

 

Philadelphia

Nothing new to report. The group’s Meetup page is here: www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Diplomacy-Club.

 

Toledo

Nothing new to report. Check out the group’s guild page at www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/1171.

  

See you next week, when we’ll have the Whipping results to report.

 

Jim O’Kelley

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