Welcome to the Armchair Revue special election edition. The votes are in and democracy prevails throughout the land. By now our newly elected and crusty old salts alike are settling down into their respective offices and gearing themselves for what I hope to be another great year for the IAAPA.
Congratulations to the winning candidates. Thanks go out to all members who voted in the recent elections, your participation is appreciated. Special thanks also to the candidates who were not elected, especially Eric (Raist) who deservedly accumulated many votes making the Presidential race a close run event, it is guys like these that make our club a great place to play.
My primary goals for 2002 are:
Thank you all. Now lets hear from our other goverment members.....
Not much has been happenning on the web site in the last couple months. As
you know we had a poll on changes to logs in the election this year which
provided some interesting results which will be taken into consideration by
the new administration. There have been some changes 'behind the scenes' with
our server which should help to maintain its reliability. With the election of a new Quality Control Manager, you will be noticing
a steady improvement in the accuracy of the web site. Already Omar has pointed
out a number of minor errors which although not critical did need to be addressed,
and I look forward to working with him over the ensuing months to make sure
that the IAAPA site maintains its professional approach and design. We also have improved a number of areas including the game challenge scripts
(to include tourneys) and the member stats areas. There are also discussions
about reviving the seminars (using IRC) which is good news for members who
missed them when they stopped.
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER - Michael (micwil) - webmaster@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net
I should also indicate that I will be increasingly delegating my workload to other individuals wherever possible. I am hoping to delegate sufficiently to allow me to continue playing in the club, but I may end up following my other assistants and become completely inactive and just assist with administrative matters as needed. Warren will be handling uploads of basic areas of the site (tourney pages and revues for the moment) but as his knowledge increases, more areas will be able to be handled by him (and others I train).
I had initially decided I can't place club business at a higher priority level than my games, as I find myself in the situation of taking more than 5 days to submit a turn fairly regularly (and then have had forfeit requests on the game which are justified according to the rules of IAAPA). However, I am unwilling to let something I have spent so much effort in building collapse (by failing to place club business ahead of gaming), so the necessary result of this is that I will likely stop playing games altogether. Unfortunately this is likely the first step in phasing out my involvement in IAAPA, as if I can't play, what is the point in staying involved. Anyway, I will continue to perform my duties whenever I can, but spending 2-3 hours a day is no longer an option for me. Perhaps with enough delegation, things will once again become manageable, but I am not entirely convinced of this.
Some have proposed that exceptions be made for members of government when one takes into account their workload. A very important aspect of holding an office in a volunteer organization is to ensure that everyone feels that the club is run fairly and equitably, and part of that involves not making any special rules or exceptions for members of the IAAPA government.
If we go down that road in any way, then there is potential (however remote) in the future for abuse of that. THAT is why we have never put anything in the rules about allowances for members of government, and I won't support any move towards this. We rely on members to be reasonable and make allowances for people who donate their time to provide an environment to play.
Finally, I have a huge number of business committments through April, including several major trips, and as such will have almost no free time to handle IAAPA business. Things should return to normal in May, if all goes well.
Regards,
Micwil
Greetings Fellow IAAPA Members... The Elections are over and it is now time for to get to work. I'd like to take this time to remind all members that these elected members are all volunteers. They are sacrificing their time, effort and patience for YOU! So please bear that in mind when asking for assistance. My office is generating internal mailing lists for communications. All mass mails have been sent without a problem. The new legislature is opening up for business.
Tusk's 'TipOfTheMonth'
Did you forget your Password or Player Number?
You can find it here:
http://www.axisandallies.net/cgi-local/public/index.cgi
That is all for this month. Good Luck and Good Dice to all (except Vs me ;)
Gil/Tusk
Greetings Fellow Warriors,
I want to take a minute to discuss the "closing" of a game. When a game is
over, the winning player is to go to the website and close out the game. To
"win" a game is to complete the Magic 84 requirements, capture the required
number of capitals, having your opponent resign, etc. A player may not close
out a game as a forfeit or a null. Only the Minister of Law can do so. Currently,
the forfeit button is blocked from the member screen, but the null button
is still active. Let me again emphasize that a null, like a forfeit, must
be declared by the Minister of Law. Now, let's talk about some upcoming rules changes. All of you should have
received a mass mailing outlining some battle resolution suggestions. Based
on member feedback and further thought, I have decided to implement them in
stages. We will then reevaluate them after a few months and then add more
as needed. I believe that the initial proposals have the potential to drag
out one battle for a long time, hampering game play. We will try to balance
this playability. Please watch for them shortly and please read them carefully
as they will have an impact on gameplay. Take care,
John
1) All logs are current as of 2/19/01. If you have sent in a log prior to
that date, resubmit it, as I do not have it. The logs may be more current,
but that date is what I am going to guarantee for now. 2) Please include both game start and game finish notices in the logs.
5) Just for everyone's interest, since last Revue there have been 376 gamestarts in IAAPA (9601 to date) - a very healthy level of play. And for those wondering, our database as able to handle 5 digit game numbers.
6) For ANY game where you need the stats changed i.e. entered the wrong winner, you want to declare the game a draw, etc., e-mail me at stats@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net, and I will change it for you.
7) Please go through your ranking and make sure everything is entered. For each game played there should be a game number, both players names, winner name, winning side, GM, Has log, and start/end date. Simply go to the ranking database and enter your name. Then make sure all the fields are entered (for all your completed games). If there are any game(s) which are not complete, email me and I will add in the information that is needed.
8) 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.
I will be looking for a helper in the next little while, as I have another project that I want to work on. So anyone interested in helping out can email me at stats@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net
Also, using the input from the questions from the elections, I will be making a motion to the government regarding logs.
Eric AKA Raist
Minister of Stats & Logs
Gentlemen,
I am humbled that the current Legislature has chosen me to lead them over the course of the upcoming year. I am also honored that the Executive and the Senate has affirmed my appointment. I would like to thank those who have shown faith in me by this selection, and I also send my congratulations to David, who I am replacing, for doing a fine job these past six months. I hope that I will faithfully represent the membership in my duties.
As I am writing this, the legislature is voting on our selection for the available seat in the Judiciary and the reaffirmation of the IAAPA Exchequer. Currently, Jochen has received 7 of 9 possible votes, thus he will continue in his duties as Exchequer. For the Judiciary, Eric (Molotov Cocktail) has received 5 votes, and Ron (Einstein) has received 2 votes. With two legislators yet to vote, Eric will fill the last seat in the Judiciary. I would like to thank Ron for his past service, welcome Jochen back to his duties, and congratulate Eric as he takes his post.
When I resigned my office in the AAMC to become a legislator in the IAAPA, I wasn't certain that the Legislature would continue as a fully functional body. Last term, despite being short one member, we were able to accomplish quite a bit. I can't tell you how happy I was to see that we had a few actual contests for seats in the government this year. That, more than anything reflects great credit upon our club and the members. I hope to see this type of dedication continue in the future. What follows are my views and philosophy of what the Minister of the Members is and what the role of the Legilature is in the IAAPA. I do not believe that the Legislature is responsible for creating and over seeing rules in the club. That is for the Senate and the Executive to handle. The Legislature has the responsibility of representing the wishes of the membership, even views that are in the minority. Under my leadership, we will attempt to take every effort to define the wishes of the membership, by creating clear and distinct bills which will be presented to the Senate for consideration. It is not the Legislatures job to decide whether a proposal is good for the club, but to make a good faith effort to create a workable proposal. As your Minister of the Members, I will follow through with the support of our members in the Senate, despite what my personal views may be on a subject. You can count on myself and the Legislature to represent you in the government.
Besides my monthly report, here in the Revue, I will be posting the weekly activities of the Legislature on the Message Board. I will also be frequently found in mIRC, our latest attempt to revive on-line chat and hopefully bring back the seminars that were so popular in the past. I encourage you to stop by and talk, or send me a message with any comments or concerns which you might have.
Thank you for your time,
John
Minister of the Members
Greetings from the Recruiting Office.
Greetings, We survived our first big renewal drive, as about half of our membership
was up for re-enlistment at the end of 2001. 75 of the 144 members have re-enlisted
for another 1 year tour of duty. The next set of renewals will come in July..those
that are due will receive a series of reminder emails from the recruiting
office starting in June, with instructions on how to re-enlist. If you think
your membership expires this July but don't receive an email from me in early
June, give me a shout to check up on your status, or check on-line at http://www.axisandallies.net/members/members.html. Since the last Revue we have had 32 more members join our ranks. Welcome
to Schlag, Liberator, thorfinn, Facil, Danyred, Warpig, Nord, TBM, haggis-1,
EnderWiggin, Martok, DavyJ0427, Deadly, OVIDIO777, Laser, Speer, Rane, Wulfe,
Ralf31, w0nderd0g, Red_Baron, hundy, Yarnspinner, mode, Worf, jkylefulton,
Bomber_Harris, limboguy, Attila, Doughboy, SBeagle, AAASteph, Cthulhu, and
ecmalcore..welcome warriors. . And a special prize goes out to AAASteph as our 200th member....President
RedDwarf will soon be knocking on your door to personally deliver you a big
wet Aussie kiss. [Editors Note: That sounds more like a punishment than a Special Prize, Maybe
AAASteph would like a big Canadian cuddle from our Minister of Recruiting
instead?]
This now brings our total active membership to 202 and growing. That's all on the recruitment front... Spud Minister of Recruiting
Greetings all,
The 2002 Tournament Season is moving along at an unprecedented pace. Guderian's panzers romping through the French countryside couldn't keep up with the speed of which the Veteran's Classic Tournament is progressing. I have played a role in this in an unfortunate way, I lost to my ITSL counterpart, Sephorin on something like J3 in the first round of the tourney. I'd like to say that bad dice were the only cause but bad planning on my part had quite a lot to do with it as well.As I move into my new role as Prez of the IAAPA I will still maintain control of the Tournament office however I will have the assistance of Tim (Byrons_Brigade) who is running the 2002 Masters Invitational plus the Spring Classic and Jochen who will run any interclub events that we have in 2002.
The new tournament rule regarding adjudication is now fully in effect. The rd5 rule is in place to encourage players to firstly, turn out as many rounds in their game as possible and make a good fist of completing their game before the call for adjudication goes out or failing this reporting slow opponents to me (before the two month time limit is upon them)
Lastly I wish to remind players that there is a new addition to the gamechallenge and finish forms, players can now mark their games as a tourney game as well as select the name of the event from a tournament list present on the form. I am CC'd on all gamestarts and finishes that are marked as tourney games.
If you make an error while filling out the form then please contact Raist, Minister of Stats and Logs, who will be able to correct your error. You will then need to email me your game number as I might not have been cc'd it depending on where you made your error.
Thats all from the tournament office, good luck on the battlefield.
rgds,
RedDwarf
(MoT)
Greetings, fellow members!
The second season of IAAPA Team SuperLeague is now underway! This is an extended tournament format in which teams of three players each compete in divisions for trophies and individual awards. I plan to make this year's competition very interactive by sending all players frequent updates via e-mail. I will also profile individual players and keep everyone abreast of team standings as the season progresses.
More information on the ITSL can be found at http://www.axisandallies.net/public/tourneys/team/2002_rules.html
If you have any questions or comments about the League, please don't hesitate to contact me at league@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net. Good luck to all of this season's teams!
~Sephorin, Minister of Team Play
The round 5 rule (wherein a tourney game must reach the end of round 5 within the allotted time or less) has probably made for smoother flow of games, but it is still new, and there has not been a lot of direct feedback to date. We will continue to work at streamlining the tourney and adjudication process as we go. I can safely say that things are certainly running a lot smoother and more efficiently than even two years ago.
On a final note, my usual bit about what I will not consider with respect to adjudications: the adjudicaiton deadline is not the time to complain about slow play, or delays. Please use either the forfeit procedure, or the process outlined by the Minister of Tourney's with respect to meeting the round 5 rule.
Happy Gaming to All
Boromir
The mentorship program is still going strong. Since last Revue, 13 new trial
games have started (76 total), with 26 new recruits taking advantage of the
game. Some new recruits have chosen to pass on the trial game and just jump
into the fray. For anyone wishing to join up as a mentor, or as an opponent,
feel free to contact me at mentors@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net.
Also, I'm looking for a volunteer for this position, which I will train to
be my successor. I would like to concentrate more time to the stats/logs area.
Eric AKA Raist
Mentorship Coordinator
First, thanks to all who voted in the election, and thanks for allowing
me to serve on the Supreme Court. IAAPA TV remains a work in progress, with
slow progress being made, but nothing yet to show for it. I like to think I
have contributed in other ways, through a proposed bill, numerous Legislative
debates, and two or three Supreme Court issues. Looking forward to serving IAAPA
as best I can.
Boromir
Greetings,
The Commander is in the process of several tasks at the moment. Opponents for playtesting some bid scenarios are being gathered and work will commence on this topic. If you have a bid package/scenario and/or would like to participate send me your name and rating and info for consideration. All play testing will be non official, i.e. not for rating points. Our current and first project is presently titleless and has the following scenario:
Axis:
Germany: 1trn/1bb in Wsp sz, 1arm in Lib, 2inf to bid, Germany has Supersubs
Allies:
UK: 1trn in Uk sz, 1inf in Uk, 1inf to bid, Russia has Jet Power
This is a test scenario only and is designed for our entertainment of our game. The overall idea will be to have a 2 game matchup where both players play each side with the same scenario. Consider it a package deal yet the scenario is not something that can just be 'thrown together'. Each unit placed and the techs are designed to maintain game balance yet add some spice to the game. Of course the scenario can and will most likely be changed in order to maintain game balance. More will be sent on this subject later.
Germany is the Leviathian of strategy pages and work continues albeit at a slower pace. Plans are to revamp the formatting and look of the strategy home page for easier reading, clicking and access not to mention making things more accessable and interactive.
Finally once things quite down a bit I hope to get with our IAAPA TV man for some HMTL 'pics' of different strategies etc. which will be included in the web site. We need to add some spice to the bland stew.
Congrats to our newest members and as always see you on the BBS or send me emails to any strategy questions you may have.
Until then,
Robert aka HighCmmdr
Strategy Development Officer
[Editor's note: See also Closing Comments section]
Hear Ye, Hear Ye.
Let it be known that the IAAPA has a new voice to inform, and may I dare hope, to entertain you as you gain respite and recover from your ongoing battles. I am trudging through the muddied streets, looking for a place where I may rest my weary soul, and perhaps garner a bit of sustenance in exchange for my tales of wondrous accomplishments on the battlefield. Perchance someone yet resides in yonder castle and would take pity on this poor, but humble traveller?
Ah yes, the introduction of the IAAPA Herald, the newest office of our legislature. The purpose of this office will be to review the lists of members and report on significant changes in rank and rate. Promotions (and demotions) will be announced when appropriate. Losing streaks, winning streaks and other interesting accomplishments will be announced. He is a bit of a wanderer, so you never know where or when he may show up. If you see him, be sure to buy him a drink. You won't be dissappointed. In fact, I encountered him just the other night, and he spoke to me of an amazing occurence. Here is his story:
And now for the hot-player of the month. In an unprecedented 29-0 run, our esteemed micwil has blasted his way to the top spot of the club. During his blitz, he mashed a Spud, rung a Bell or two, lowered a Commander, unhorsed a Knight, and split the Horn of Gondor. When asked about how Germany falling to Russia on round one 27 times in a row seems suspicious, our new top General replied, "It only proves the randomness of the dice roller. A suspect program would never roll like this." Micwil was Allies for 27 games, his two Axis wins came as a result of England falling on Germany 1.
Until next month....
Hello from the Help Desk. First of all, to all of you that voted for me Thank you very much for your confidence. All is slowly but surely getting figured out here. The first thing I have figured out is another name for Help Desk is Club Junk mail.
The majority of requests this fall have been for locating the CD version of the game. Lately the requests have been from new members seeking assistance. If you were one who did not hear from me, please write again so that I can help you enjoy playing in the IAAPA.
Some things that I will be implementing during my term in office are 1) Sending all new recruits that pass their tests a "welcome to IAAPA" e-mail from the Help Desk to let them know that if they have any site related questions that I am here for them. 2) In the next few weeks I will be picking a question that I receive each week and posting it on the BBS with the answer as kind of a "FYI" 3) A way to take care of my club duties, play a few games, and keep my wife from killing me for being on the computer to much all at the same time.
Wrec_ItI want to begin by thanking everyone who voted for me. I look forward to continue serving not only new members of IAAPA, but also the membership as a whole in the upcoming legislative term. As the title suggests, NewMember Coordinator contacts all new members who have recently paid their dues, giving them an initial welcome to the club, an email address they can contact at anytime when they need help getting started, plus links to the website and the playerpool to get them started in finding opponents.
Since the new year, there have been 21 new members joining the club. Recently, I was a mentor to a rookie game, and what immediately stood out was that the players were rookies only in the sense of using the dice server and writing combat/non-combat/OOL emails for the first time. The players were both very experienced AA board players with new and interesting strategies. I encourage members to go to the playerpool, and challenge our new members; you will be in for a dog-fight!
Best Regards to all members of IAAPA
Bob aka AATorpedo, IAAPA NewMember Coordinator
Hi,
I'm Airship, your new Quality Control Manager. In general, my job is to find problems so that you won't be frustrated by them yourself. My primary duty is to find any problems with the club's website and then report to the webmaster.
I have started to map the site in order to find out its exact size. During the course of mapping, each page will be looked at in detail for "bugs". So far I have found half a dozen problems, most of which are very minor. Once the site is mapped I will do regular maintenance sweeps. You probably have a few pages in the site that they go to regularly and have forgotten about the rest of the site. For the record: IAAPA has a GREAT BIG website (and micwil has done a god job of building and maintaining it).
Another of my duties is to test any large changes to the site before they reach the membership at large. Some large changes are being contemplated, but none have yet reached a testable form.
A task I have set for myself is to test the dice roller to see if it is biased in some way. Tests will include both large and small battles and will include some specific scenarios that members have complained about. To supplement these tests I will also look at several game logs for possible dice bias in actual games. The test results will be posted online.
I am confident that I can perform these duties as well, or better than, my predecessor (this position was previously vacant ;-)
Cheers,
Airship .:. Quality Control
The IAAPA's most fun and exciting annual event is on the verge of not taking place in 2002. I am talking about the IAAPA Convention. IF we have it, it will probably have to be very late summer or fall. Last year we really had pitiful attendance. It takes a lot of time and money to organize it and pull it off.
JohnPin conducted a survey to assess the feasibility of continuing to hold the Annual Conventions. While the results were varied the core problems are:
One interesting comment was that many thought that the Con should be held in conjunction with another gaming convention with the specific intent that the IAAPA Con be more of a social gathering and not focused on FTF gaming.
The big problem for 2002 is that the main organizer of our CON, JohnPin, may not be able to attend due to work commitments and graduate school. Organising the CON takes a lot of effort. John will still assist in organizing the event. If you guys want it to be held this year then, we need some volunteers to make it happen.
To get the ball rolling, we need a volunteer to "host" the Con. There
are several things for the host to do, among them:
1. Scout for a decent hotel and negotiate for a meeting room.
2. Provide info about the host city, local attractions, directions, etc.
3. Send info about time the Con for that particular city. I.E., what's a good
time, a bad time, etc.
4. Help to organize local excursions.
If you are interested in hosting the Con, here are some suggested requirements
for the host city:
1. Easily accessable by plane, train, and automobile.
2. The member should live close enough to be able to make the arrangements.
3. The city, or its adjacent suburbia, should be affordable.
4. There should be some area attractions.
5. It is helpful if it is a place that people would really want to go.
If you are interesting in hosting, please send your info to John at law@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net
Finally, I want to close out this Revue by commenting on the bid Scenarios mentioned by our Strategy Officer, HighCmmdr. In my opinion this project is the start of some major possibilities for the development of the IAAPA and particularly how we play the game. Micwil has indicated that coupled with a successful outcome automation a second database could follow.
This is exciting news and I hope this project will develop rapidly so we can implement it in some form before the second half of the year. (See the Strategy Office section if you are interesed in assisting).
rgds,
RedDwarf
IAAPA President