December 2002 Armchair General's Revue Our esteemed President

The snow is falling and Christmas will soon be upon us. Members go to sleep at night and hope to wake in the morning and find that Santa has left them Heavy Bombers in their stockings. That is, if you have been nice. If not, he'll just leave you Super Subs...

From the President's Desk:

With Fall comes the winds of change. Leaves change colour, then fall from the trees, and things begin to cool down. The winds have been blowing quite strongly at IAAPA this year. As many of you know, two of our prominent government members left IAAPA. Warren (RedDwarf) resigned from both the Presidency, and as Minister of Tournaments. Also John (Blackdog) resigned from his position of IAAPA Herald, and Minister of Members. IAAPA took a blow from this, as both were very dedicated to their jobs. I've never seen the tournament section or the Legislature run as smoothly as they did. I'd like to thank both of them for their contributions. I would also like to extend thanks to all the current government members volunteering their time to help out the club. If you think you can help the club out in any way or just have some spare time you are willing to donate, just send me an email.

During the last couple months however, there have been some changes for the good. Michael (Nemo) has taken over the Campaign League and has been working furiously to keep it up to date. Jochen (GroeFaz) has moved up from his Draft Officer position to take over the Minister of Tourneys. Jochen has also enlisted the help of Tim (Byrons_Brigade) to help out. I would also like to welcome back Randy (Rewstr) to the ranks. Many players have already lined up to take a shot at the GEN****.

Another change that we are anxiously awaiting is the completion of the upgrades to the server. Once these upgrades are complete, many of the ranking bugs will be gone, and the logs will be posted within a week of receiving them. At last communication, testing had begun, and the switchover would take place in mid December.

On a final note, I would just like to make add a little about John and Warren. I have recently talked with both of them, and John is planning on returning soon, and may resume his role in government. As for Warren, I'll let you read his last Revue post, for now anyways. We may drag him back in the government..=)

** THE LAST POST **

Greetings IAAPA members,

This is my last official communique to you all (hence the title, clever no?). I am lowering the flag on what I feel has been a successful and often enjoyable stint in the IAAPA govt dating back to August 2000.

Throughout this period I have had the opportunity to be part of a small team of volunteers whose commitment to the club and its members cuts right through all of the BS. I am talking about the kind of guys who do a job day in day out with little or no complaint, these are the people who implement the solutions while others can only comment on the problem. You've done a great job fellas and your integrity is untouchable!

Quite a few of you may have been unaware of my retirement as others before me have occassionally gone out with a rather melodramatic exit. All I want to say is that I leave the IAAPA govt after doing what I consider to be a damn fine job over an extended period of time and have been associated with some great guys whom was it not for the obstacle of distance I dare say we all would have become even closer friends.

I am glad that I made the decision to be an active participant in the running of this club and while it was not great times every day I often felt a tremendous satisfaction from the work I had done. I hope that current and future members will also make a similar decision and ensure the continuation of our club for years to come.

So, while I am no longer part of the IAAPA Government don't be too surprised to see me on the message boards or playing a game or two in the future.

rgds,

RedDwarf


Senate Reports

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER - Michael (micwil) - webmaster@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Work continues on testing the new server, and the first two code enhancements should enter final testing in the first week of December. Hopefully we will be able to move to the new server by the 3rd week of December. In terms of other happennings, I haven't had much time to tackle anything lately, but traffic on the site has been steady."

Regards,

micwil
IAAPA Prime Minister

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION - Gil (Tusk) - who@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

HEY!!!!! Put down that Turkey leg for a minute....

IAAPA Revue notes: This is a big month for the IAAPA. We should be on the new server very shortly if all goes well. I have agreed to stay on as the IAAPA mailman. I am here to help our new president move the club into the future.

Office duties:

IAAPA Communications: All mass mails have gone out without error.

IAAPA Senate representation: Legislature has re--elected David (Starchild) as it's new leader.

IAAPA tip of the month: Do you want to see your club get better? Volunteer to help your club.

I wish you all a safe and Happy Holiday Season.

Gil/Tusk

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF LAW - John (JohnPin569) - law@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

From the Law Office...

Scales of Justice John has been enjoying holidays overseas when the request for Revue submissions was sent. However, he did mention "You'd be amazed at what you get get for $50 US in Amsterdam...;)"

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF STATS AND LOGS - Eric (Raist) - logs@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net - stats@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

1) Logs are a little (2 months) backlogged, as we're awaiting the upgrades to the server to be completed.

2) Please include both game start and game finish notices in the logs.

3) We've cleared the 10,000 game mark, and are now at 10,337.

4) Players CANNOT null games. If you want to null a game, email law@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net . He will then approve the null, and pass it on to me. I will then enter it.

Eric AKA Raist
Minister of Stats & Logs

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF MEMBERS - David (Starchild) - herald@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings,

Hello everyone, due to unforseen circumstances our esteemed Minister of Members Blackdog had to bow out for a time. In light of this, I Starchild have taken over this post. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email cutthroat@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net I will be more than happy to help in any way that I can.

Thank you,
David (Starchild)
Minister of the Members

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF RECRUITING - Alan (Spud) - recruiting@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings from the Recruiting Office.

New members continue to knock on my door, begging to join the high and might ranks of the IAAPA....our newest recruits include cdnkossak, Nightwing, vkrooster, BaronVonKardos, Long_Shot, sonofek, jahgger, pallinar, gandolf, vidiot, kaizen, labour, B-shido, Radioactive_Man, churitler, hitman25, hardcore, Sveinung, aris, cubo_maniac, and Gefreiter...welcome aboard privates....now get to work scrubbing the office floors!

We also had a few members return from being AWOL...we forgive you Foo_Fighter (aka AschB), Thorongil (aka Mablung) and Einswine.

And perhaps the biggest news...the return of Rewstr, resident 4star general and IAAPA legend. Welcome back Randy.

That brings the active membership up to 226 and counting.

And as a closing note, remember that if you change any personal info, or if you password doesn't work, or if you are not sure when your membership expires, drop me a line and I will get it sorted out.

Spud
Minister of Recruiting
IAAPA


REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF TOURNAMENTS - Jochen (GroeFaz) - tourneys@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings all,

On behalf of the whole tournament crew I welcome you to the latest Battlefield Revue! You will find here news and stories from the ongoing tournaments. Let me introduce you the newest member of the tournament team: Nemo. He has volunteered to manage the Campaign League. Thank you, Nemo!

Many have noticed that the tournament pages are not as up-to-date as they should be. In the future we will update in a more timely fashion. I also plan to redesign the tournament section. This is your chance to tell me what enhancements you would like to have there. If you like, write me an email at tourneys@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net.

And now, enjoy the lecture…

Index:

Tournament Player of the Year

2001 Fall Classic Stampede

2002 Masters Invitational Tournament

2002 Veterans Classic Tournament

2002 Combat Pro Tournament

2002 Summer Open: A Bridge too far.

2002 IAAPA World Cup

2002 Fall Classic: Blitzkrieg!

The ITSL

The Campaign League

Tournament Player of the Year

Here you find the Top Seven Tournament players so far:

1. Nieles (3.1 points)
2. HighCmmdr (2.1 points)
PSU_SigEP (2.1 points)
Starchild (2.1 points)
Swordplay (2.1 points)
Thorim (2.1 points)
TELINTEL (2.1 points)

The race is very tight anything could happen in the future; AATorpedo, Elind and cnty9047@ also have excellent chances to take over lead as they are active in three tournaments. You will find more information in the next Battlefield Revue.

2001 Classic Fall Stampede

This tournament is the last round with AATorpedo and Col. Hogun fighting for the title. The game is still in the early stages. AATorpedo commands the Axis with a bid of 5 Inf in Libya, 1 Inf, 1 Arm in Asia.

The Russian opening saw the invasion of Ukraine and the consolidation of the key territories Karelia and Yakut. Germany countered in Ukraine, took Egypt with a large force and was able to clear some transports, while leaving the Home Fleet intact. UK responded by taking Western Europe and added transport capacity to the navy. Japan was able to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and took the Hawaiian Islands. The Asian theatre saw advances into India and China. Burma was reinforced with new industrial production capacity.

Stay tuned for news from this game!

- 2002 Masters Invitational Tournament

The semifinals have started in this year’s Masters. Nemo has to handle Starchild, while HighCmmdr gets a rematch for the lost 2001 Fall Classic semifinal against AATorpedo. Two high class games, and I don’t dare to make any predictions.

- 2002 Veterans Classic Tournament This inaugural tournament has reached the final game. From 28 players Nieles and HoganS are remaining. Here is a report from the Battlefield:

The bid in this game are 21 IPCs – 1 Inf in F/N, 5 Inf in Ukr, 1 Inf Lib, which gives Nieles the Axis.

Very interesting bid placement in F/N, going against standard doctrines. HoganS’ allies were impressed by the surprising reinforcements in northern and eastern of Europe, and concentrate on the seas. The German U-Bootwaffe in the Baltic Sea and off the French coast are sunk. Karelia is stacked, while troops from Russia, Evenki, Yakut and the Far East are commanded to march westward with all possible speed…

Germany was able to sink all British battleships and transports, leaving the Royal Navy with a single sub and transport. Troops advanced into Egypt/Sudan, the Caucasus, Gibraltar and West Africa. Eastern Europe was stacked and the Kriegsmarine placed into WMD sz. UK rebuilt the Homefleet, countered in Egypt and reinforced the Russians in Karelia with the RAF. Japan launched a big offensive on the ground, taking India, SFE, Yakut and China, as well as surprising the US pacific fleet with a light force of 1 Sub, 1 BB and air support, while the rest of the fleet gathered in the Sea of Japan. The US Army landed in Africa to weaken the Germans there and began to mobilize additional army and naval units. The Russians use their transport to invade Algeria, while regular army units regained control of Caucasus. Germany consolidates in Europe while invading Syria and sinking allied shipping in the Red Sea and off the coast of Spain. UK destroys the Kriegsmarine at Trafalgar and the Africa Corps is beaten near Damascus. Japan is on the march, the yellow dwarf turns into a giant, at least on the map. Evenki, Novosibirsk and Sinkiang fall, while the last allied BB is sunk near Panama. The Americans decide to invade Finland to open a way for reinforcements to the besieged Karelia, but the GI’s were not able to take the country. Japan is beaten in Novosibirsk. Russia takes the empty Scandinavia and attacks the Axis successfully in Caucasus, Ukraine, Evenki and Libya. Germany counters in Ukraine while adding troops to Eastern Europe. The United Kingdom fights its first battle in Europe and takes Ukraine back while retaking Equatorial Africa for the crown. As the Germans are thrown out of Africa, Japan shows up by taking Egypt. In asia Novosibirsk and Evenki are re-conquered, Hawaii is also added to the Empire. The Axis now controls countries worth 71 IPCs, and controls the largest fleet ever seen. The US high command decides to try a new tactic: Strategic Bombing Raids. Germany is hit for 6 IPCs, a full success! Troops are shifted to Europe. The Russians fight the Japanese troops at the gate of the Russian heartland and win these critical battles. Germany, cut off from Africa, is reduced to trading Ukraine, which works well. Fortress Europe is established. UK brings troops to the new African Front and prepares to fight the Japanese Army there. In Europe, they attack Ukraine again, destroying the German troops stationed there.

- 2002 Combat Pro Tournament

It was short, it was hard and at the end only one man was still standing… the final in this tournament ended after UK 1. Thorim’s allies had to concede after taking heavy blows from the dice and seeing the Germans advance on many fronts. I am sure everyone would have loved to see a longer game, but that’s A&A some days. Congratulations to Swordplay to his first tournament victory! He is a fine example of a relatively new player having huge success! Now we will see how he handles the high expectations after his victory and his appearance in the Top 30…

- 2002 Summer Open: A Bridge too Far.

One of the major events in the tournament schedule, the Summer Open is in the 3rd round. There were some surprises so far. Starchild, one of the top rated players, lost to Novi, who is currently battling with ArAmesh, who is a famousand high ranked player in the AAMC. I am sure we will hear much more from ArAmesh in the future. Another interesting game is the one Raist and Boromir play. Both are very good players and I still accept bets as to which player will advance. There are still some top players in the tournament like Steiner, AATorpedo and Byrons_Brigade. Personally I fear that the last mentioned players will not advance very far in the tournament, as they happen to be in the same bracket as me J.

- 2002 IAAPA World Cup

The World Cup, a special tournament which was introduced in summer by Telintel, is different from the usual tournaments held at IAAPA. The football (soccer to you North Americans) world championships in Korea / Japan this year were the model for the system:

There are 8 Divisions with 4 players each. Everyone plays a gain against the each of the other players in the Division. The two highest placed players advance to the final round of 16 players, which a single elimination tournament.

The idea behind this that a single loss does not mean the end, at least not in the round robin. I plan to hold this event bi-annually, or even only when a real football world championship are held.

Inside the tournament:

All eighth final round games are started and the last 16 players are fighting for a place in the final game. We see many good players in this last round, such as hot shots like AATorpedo, Byrons_Brigade and Blackwatch. My personal favourite is AATorpedo… he will have a hard quarter final, facing either cnty9047@ or Frogman10. Come on, Bob, don’t disappoint me ;-), and the rest of you: show me that I am wrong!


- The last tournament of the 2003 season is the Fall Classic. This year’s motto is “Blitzkrieg”. We had 51 sign ups, which left some spaces open, but I am very content and happy with the level of participation.

rgds,
Jochen
(MoT)

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF THE ITSL - Brian (Sephorin) - league@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings fellow warriors all! The top two positions in each of the three IAAPA Team Super League divisions are still up for grabs. The Legion of Doom holds first place in Division C at this moment with 10.1 points. The Ponderous Barrage leads Division B with an impressive 12.4 points, while Engineered Victory in Division A is currently on top with 12.3 points. As more games close, I will be able to determine which two teams in each division will square off for the finals. Note that games must be finished by around the third week in February in order to avoid adjudication; any that are not finished at that point will be sent to the judges.

I will soon begin putting together the divisions for next year, so if your team is interested in continuing on to the third season of ITSL play--or if you have a new team you'd like to register--, please send me an e-mail at league@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net. It does not look like I will actually be able to run the League next season. However, we have already found potential replacements.

Good luck to all teams in the final phases of their games.

Happy Gaming!

~Sephorin
Minister of ITSL

REPORT FROM THE CHANCELLOR OF ADJUDICATION - Peter (Boromir) - adjudication@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

The Tourney office is in the midst of revamping the adjudication rules. Before the end of the year there will be an official process whereby players can file and record grievenaces with respect to game delays in tourney games... this will allow us to award adjudicated wins to one player over the other based on unwarrented delays...details to follow... this process will have some concrete guidelines, and will involve the Minister of Law and the Minister of Tourneys

I encourage players to ask me questions if they do not understand the adjudication process.. important considerations are that the panel does not here of delays, alleged poor sportsmanship etc.. just the facts of the game.. so don't send anything to me with that kind of info, for the big eraser will come out. :o)

I am still tracking Adjudicated vs actual game results, but without much data yet to show the accuracy of panellists. I can say that in about 3/4 of cases all three choose the same side (the remaining 1/4 being 2-1 splits)

Back to the trenches....

Boromir

REPORT FROM THE CHANCELLOR OF IAAPATV - Currently Vacant - iaapatv@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

This position has recently become vacant as Peter has now taken over the Mentorship Coordinator position. If you are interested, email help@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net.

REPORT FROM THE CHANCELLOR OF MENTORSHIP - Peter (Boromir) - mentors@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

I've only held this job for about two weeks. So far I've sent notes to six prospective players who have passed the Final Hurdles, with no response thus far. I'm in the process of revamping the documentation associated with the Mentorship Program... which shall hopefully be complete in 2002.

Always interested in folks who might like to mentor a player, or oversee a game between two prospective members.... All ya gotta do is know the rules, and be happy helping them through their issues... they need a guide and not a drill sargeant....

Boromir

REPORT FROM THE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT OFFICER - Robert (Highcmmdr) - strategy@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

No Submission

HighCmmdr
Strategy Development Officer

REPORT FROM THE IAAPA HERALD - Currently Vacant - herald@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Currently vacant. Feel free to apply for the position at help@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

REPORT FROM THE CUTTHROAT OVERSEER - David (Starchild) - cutthroat@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings warriors, cutthroat is alive and well. This format of Axis&Allies gameplay is far different than regular gameplay and if you have questions you may email cutthroat@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net. Ever wonder what would happen if Germany allied with the UK? USA? Russia? or any country combination? It all happens in CT, you start with NO alliances and build those for yourself at the same time watching out for who will "cut throat" first!! Interesting and a change from regular gameplay. Five players are needed as each country is its own entity. If you want to give it a try email me at the above address. If you want to check out the rules go to http://www.axisandallies.net/public/variants.html

I look forward to hearing from you

Starchild

REPORT FROM THE HELP DESK COORDINATOR - Lee (Hess) - help@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings all. I've spent the last several months answering a lot of questions from new members or from people considering joining, or from people from God-knows-where popping in from Cyberspace asking questions about A&A. I also send out a congratulations message to all those who have passed the final hurdle, encouraging them to join. For everyone's information, we've had new members join in the last five months from the following IAAPA territories: WUS, EUS, WCa, ECa, Australia, WEu, SEu, Norway/Finland. Please contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Lee Hess, Harare, Zimbabwe

REPORT FROM THE NEW MEMBER COORDINATOR - Robert (AATorpedo) - newmember@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Here are some of the recent new members:

September 02:
Gandolf - Moose Jaw, Sask
pallinar - Lafayette, IN
kaizen - Berkeley, CA
jahgger - Los Cruces, NM
B-shido - Gaithersburg, MD
labour - Ontario, Canada
Nightwing - Kingston, ON

October 02:
Foo_Fighter - Roy, UT
hitman25 - Bremerton, WA
Radioactive_Man - Marysville
hardcore - Marshfield, MO

November 02:
hardcore - Marshfield, MO
Thorongil - Wilmore, KY
Sveinung - Trondelag, Norway

~Bob aka AATorpedo, IAAPA NewMember Coordinator

REPORT FROM THE DRAFT OFFICER - Currently Vacant - draft@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Currently vacant, as Jochen moved up to Minister of Tourneys. Apply to help@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net if you would like to help out.

REPORT FROM QUALITY CONTROL MANAGER - Omar (Airship) - qualitycontrol@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

I did some simple Black Box test of the die roller - it performed according to expectations. I have also done some analysis of 30000 rolls using some Python scripts I wrote. The scripts looked for simple patterns or trends in the dice rolls. Again the roller passed with flying colors. I have not, however, done any QE work on the website itself for several months.

Airship
Quality Control

Closing comments:

On behalf of all of the IAAPA Government, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

rgds,
Eric (Raist)
IAAPA President