Author/Editor | Rod Walker (author) |
Publisher | The Avalon Hill Game Company |
Year | 1978 |
Release Notes | First edition |
Description: This 36-page guide, written by Rod Walker, provides an overview of Diplomacy (both the game and the hobby). The sections of the guide are (I) Introduction, (II) Elements of the Game, (III) Playing the Game (The Strategy & Tactics of Diplomacy), (IV) A Sample Game, (V) Postal Diplomacy, (VI) Diplomacy Variants, (VII) Clubs and Tournaments, and (VIII) Questions and Answers. The guide is from the author’s individual perspective, which I’ve heard described as somewhat biased (as anyone’s individual perspective would be) as well as dated (particularly regarding the Diplomacy hobby information, much of which has changed over the past 20 years). Nevertheless, it’s a good overview for somebody who is new to the game.The first edition of the Gamer’s Guide to Diplomacy came out in 1978. It had a couple of problems that were the result of an inadequate editing job or that were introduced during production. On page 12 in the Playing the Game article there is approximately two columns worth of material from the Playing England section stuck right in the middle of the Playing Austria section. That incorrectly-placed material appears again, verbatim, where it belongs in the Playing England section. Second, from pages 33 to 34, there are over 1 1/2 columns of text in the section on Publishing a Club Bulletin that should actually appear before that section in the section on Tournaments. | |
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Author/Editor | Rod Walker (author) |
Publisher | The Avalon Hill Game Company |
Year | 1979 |
Release Notes | Second edition |
Description: The cover of this edition is marked “2ND EDITION-MARCH 1979”. This edition corrects the errors that were present in the 1978 edition (see above). In addition to those corrections, there were a couple of other minor changes made. The first was an advertisement on page 35 for the zine Diplomacy World, which did not appear in the first edition. Second, the sidebar that described the magazine The General was modified. Additional details regarding the content of the magazine were included, and interestingly, between 1978 and 1978 the magazine started charging a “minimal fee” for listings in the “Opponents Wanted Column” (they were noted as being free in 1978 edition of the Guide). | |
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Author/Editor | Rex A. Martin (editor) |
Publisher | The Avalon Hill Game Company |
Year | 1993 |
Release Notes | Not a third edition |
Description: In 1993, Avalon Hill released a new Gamer’s Guide to Diplomacy, which is not a revised edition of the earlier one but is a completely new guide. Edited by Rex A. Martin, it contains articles by people who are (or were) prominent in the hobby. The contents are: The Art of Diplomacy by Lewis Pulsipher (introduction), European Tour by multiple authors (opening strategies), Stages by David Hood (midgame and endgame), The Power and the Glory by Mark L. Berch (triple alliances), Spice of Life by Fred C. Davis Jr. (story of variants), Abstraction II by Fred C. Davis Jr. (a popular variant), Clubs & Tournaments by Buzzard W. Eddy, Diplomatic Postal Past by Jim Meinel (history of postal Diplomacy), Diplomacy On-Line by Peter T. Szymonik, I’m Glad you Asked by Steve Langley (frequently asked questions), Leviathan by Gary Behnen with Rex A. Martin (a GM’s view of a specific game), The Invention of Diplomacy by Allan B. Calhamer.By virtue of having been contributed to by well over a dozen people, the guide presents a more balanced view of the game. This guide is also a bit dated, but much less so than the 1979 edition. This is inevitable since a community evolves with time while a printed book does not. As with the earlier guide, this too is more useful for people who are relatively new to the game. | |
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