The NADF

Sorry I’m so late this week. I didn’t have much news to report, other than a recap of last week’s Weasel Pyle season finale, so I decided to wait until I had some new WDC news to report.

 

Also, a quick update on my life. For those of you who haven’t heard, in an extremely unfortunate (but also welcome!) case of bad timing, my wife, Meghan, and I are expecting our first child on Aug. 6, four days before WDC tips off. Now, as long as the baby arrives on time or early and everything goes smoothly, I’ve been cleared for the weekend.

 

On Friday, the doctor told Meghan that the baby likely will arrive this week, which was welcome news for both of us. If it does happen this week, I’ll probably skip This Week. I hope you’ll forgive me.

 

And now, here’s the latest news from the hobby. Because I have a lot going on right now, it’s going to be a brief one. Again, please forgive me.

 

Seventh Time is the Charm

On the 14^th, the Windy City Weasels held their seventh annual Weasel Pyle, the season-ending celebration. Rather than rehash it all, I’m going to direct you to our website, where I posted three articles last week. Here, I’ll just say that in our seventh year, which was shortened by a month to accommodate WDC, we played 44 games, with 82 unique players participating. It was our best season yet.

 

If you’d like to read about the four boards at the Pyle, click here. If you want to know who captured the coveted Weasel of the Year title, as well as our other annual awards, click here. And if you want too see who qualified for the Weasel Royale league championship game, click here. 

 

Two Champions Will Be Crowned

Three weeks from today, we will crown the new champions of North America and the World. In case you haven’t read the fine print at the WDC website, the format this year could result in two different titlists.

 

On Sunday, we will seed the top board based on the best three out of four rounds. The winner of the top board will be crowned World Champion. However, the North American championship and the general classification for the tournament, will be based on best three out of five rounds. The format should make for some interesting conversation that weekend.

 

And for most of us, the weekend will begin on Thursday when the travelers begin to arrive. We’re thinking about welcoming them with a party at the Exchequer Restaurant and Pub, which is about three blocks from the Congress Plaza Hotel, site of the tournament. The party would be in a private room from 8 to 10 p.m. and would feature a trivia contest conducted by Tournament Director Dan Burgess, who left his job as a nuclear engineer to start up a trivia business in the western suburbs.

 

The cost would be $26 per person, which includes tax and gratuity. For that price, you’ll get plenty of food plus all you can drink (soda, coffee, tea, house wines and domestic draft beer). We need to guarantee 20 people, so if you’re interested, please let us know by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or commenting on the Facebook page. 

Check out windycityweasels.org/wdc for more information on the World Diplomacy Championship at Weasel Moot VI.

 

August Gauntlet Looms

The August gauntlet is almost upon us. In two weeks, a stretch of three tournaments in three weekends will begin at the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, Penn. Take a look at the upcoming schedule:

 

Aug. 3-4: World Boardgaming Championships, Lancaster, Penn., www.boardgamers.org/wbc/schedule.htm.

Aug. 10-12: World Diplomacy Championship at Weasel Moot VI, Chicago, Ill., windycityweasels.org/wdc.

Aug. 17-19: HuskyCon X, Setauket, N.Y., huskycon.com.

 

WBC is making its first appearance in the Grand Prix since 2008. Giants WDC and Husky, meanwhile, will go a long way toward deciding this year’s circuit. The Grand Prix standings have been updated through the Boston Massacre, the sixth step of the circuit. Check them out here.

 

Hobby Roundup

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

 

Bay Area

Nothing new to report. The club’s Yahoo group is games.groups.yahoo.com/group/bayareadip. The BADAss website is bayareadiplomacy.org.

 

Central Iowa

Nothing new to report. For more information, email Russ Dennis at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Chicago

See the lead story. Learn more about the Weasels at www.windycityweasels.org.

 

Columbus, Ohio

Organizer Thomas Haver will run another recruiting event at the Buckeye Game Fest, Sept. 21 to 23. Contact him at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  

 

Dallas

Nothing new to report. The Texas Yahoo group is here: games.groups.yahoo.com/group/texas-diplomacy.

 

D.C.

Nothing new to reportThe Potomac Tea & Knife Society’s website is ptks.org. You can join their chatty mailing list here ptks.org/community.php.

 

Detroit

Nothing new to report. The Detroit Yahoo group is here: games.groups.yahoo.com/group/detroitdiplomacy.

 

Houston

Nothing new to report.

 

New England

Carl Ellis of Vermont is driving to WDC and is offering up floor space in his room for a modest donation. It’s not too late to get to Chicago on the cheap. Contact Carl on the New England list, which is here: groups.yahoo.com/group/MADip-L. The New England website is nedip.org. There’s a Meetup page here, www.meetup.com/New-England-Diplomacy/.

 

New Haven, Conn.

We’re adding a new city to the roundup, courtesy of Evil Phil Weissert , who found a group in New Haven on Meetup. Their effort to organize a game last Sunday with some New Yorkers fell through. However, they played a game a month for the first five months of the year.

 

In June, organizer Eric Tillberg went to Massacre with Weissert and finished third. Weissert is hoping to coax him into going to WDC. Follow the New Haven group on Meetup at www.meetup.com/New-Haven-Diplomacy-Club/.

 

New York City

The New Yorkers played yesterday in Central Park. No word yet on how the game went. 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

Nothing new to report. 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. And Chris Brand created a Meetup group for the region. It’s here, www.meetup.com/Pacific-Northwest-Diplomacy.

 

Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Meetup group fell short of seven for their first event in more than a year, yesterday at Redcap’s Corner. But they go together, that’s the important thing, and they seem determined to field a seven-player game before the end of the year. 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.

 

Toronto

Nothing new to report, except that Mike Hall will be thrilled to hear that three other players from his neck of the woods, plus a fourth guy from Ontario, are either in or are strongly considering coming to WDC.

 

That’s all for this week. See you next week!

 

Jim O’Kelley

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