Wait! What? There was a ‘zine’ (a what?) for new players to Postal Diplomacy? I was in!
In the previous post I wrote about the early days of my Diplomacy life. Face-to-face play wasn’t working for me. But here, on a flyer in a game of Diplomacy, was the key to quenching my Diplomacy thirst – playing by post!
The zine in question was – eventually – called “Springboard” and I remember it comparatively well. Comparatively because I don’t really remember the names of any of the people I played against in the game I played in that zine, and I don’t remember the game, but I do remember the zine itself and how it impacted me.
“Springboard” was published by Danny Collman. Sad to say, I don’t know where Danny is now; I believe he’s no longer with us. His wife, Kath, is still mentioned in Diplomacy circles.1
Danny was the perfect person to do the job. He obviously cared about Diplomacy and introducing new players to the Hobby. He’d clearly reached out to Gibsons (the manufacturers of Diplomacy in the UK) and had them place flyers in games. Was this a response to the apparently dwindling numbers of new players entering the Hobby? Or was it simply a way to ease players into PBM (Play-by-Mail) Dip? Either way, he did a brilliant job. “Springboard” featured articles, often written by Danny, and it started with discussions on each power, one power an issue. It had explanations of the difficult rules. It had articles on playing well written by luminaries of the UK Diplomacy Hobby at the time: Richard Sharp and Stephen Agar wrote articles, I remember. There were others, but these two stick in my head, probably because they remain such well known figures within the Hobby today, although Richard, again, is no longer with us.
The key to “Springboard’s” impact on me, though, was that I could play Diplomacy against people who wanted to play the game, rather than being press-ganged into playing. And, honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as excited about starting a game of Dip since, despite the fact that I look back on PBM Diplomacy with something of a shrug these days.
I wrote a blog post about how I felt tournament and league Dip games needed longer deadlines. In the post I mentioned about how long PBM games were. It was pointed out to me in a comment on the post that I’d been overly harsh, and I had.
One of the problems with PBM play was that games moved at the deadline of the zine. In the post I mentioned that zines had publication schedules that were often quarterly; in fact, most were monthly (or thereabouts). This meant that game deadlines were also monthly. For Diplomacy phases, this wasn’t a problem.
For Retreat and Adjustment phases, it was. To circumvent this problem, GMs often used ‘conditional’ orders. This meant that, when you sent in orders for, say, Fall (or, being a UK zine, Autumn) 1901, you sent your move orders and orders for what you wanted to build in Winter 1901. This was fairly simple at that stage of the game. However, for me, entering conditional Retreat orders, and Adjustment orders in later stages, was more about being able to read a crystal ball than skill playing Diplomacy.
Danny ran his games – and the zine – perfectly. His games were what I now know to be simplistic. You weren’t allowed to impersonate other players – no grey or black press. You had a ‘call sign’ that meant that any public press you sent definitely came from you. Remember, this was an introduction to the Hobby. He’d answer any questions you had, without affecting the game, and he explained adjudications. He is the example I look to follow today.
To some extent, what Danny was aiming for, worked. I was hooked on playing Dip, not just on the idea of the game. I subscribed to a couple of other zines and entered a couple of other PBM games. But I didn’t stay around the Hobby for long. I was working and that work took up a lot of time, including personal time. Despite the fact that postal Dip took up less time than the online format does on a daily basis, I really didn’t have time to play.
What I remember, though, was the thrill of an envelope being on my doormat that contained a letter from a player, or the latest copy of the zine itself. The excitement of reading what the other player had to say. The astonishment that my orders had succeeded, or the dismay to find that French army occupying my SC. Brilliant.
These were the days when the face-to-face Hobby was at its strongest in the UK. ManorCon and MidCon were strongly supported and the UK Diplomacy Championship was an annual event.
I never really became involved with the FTF Hobby, I have to say. I didn’t have the money or the time to take part. I regret that. These days the FTF Hobby in the UK is comparatively weak, although there are different types of events. Some are used to introduce people to Diplomacy, which is brilliant. Back then, it was more about the tournament that was played at meets.
“Springboard” is the inspiration for the subzine I published ‘within’ “34”. With “SEND NOOBS” I’m starting somewhere different and I’m aiming for something different. My aim is to provide information about the Hobby as it is today, FTF and Online. I want to bring a more up-to-date feel to any games I run there (and, potentially, here). However, the idea is also to get Diplopups into the Hobby in some form or another.
I’m no Danny Collman. But he is the reason I’m in the Hobby today.
NOTES
1. I had two letters about Danny and Kath Collman. It’s worth publishing them here. The first is from Mark Boyle, the second from Stephen Agar.
“Danny Collman as far as I am aware is still around, but more involved in charity work these days around Brum for its talking newspapers for the blind and visually impaired, plus doing stuff for Holocaust Day touring schools telling the kids about what happened to his Jewish relatives (think Danny was a born again atheist) and knowing him doing about a billion other things at once to perfection as per bloody usual. He probably bench presses a hundred without a bead of sweat and never gets a skin on his morning coffee either. I spoke to him once over the phone, as a result of which I’ve never been able to picture him as anything else ever since but Sir Harry Seacombe’s character of Neddie Seagoon. Needle-nardle-noo.
That Danny’s no longer involved in the Diplomacy board game hobby may have more to do with him simply having had enough of it. With everything in life you reach the stage where you just think, “screw this for a game of soldiers” and pack it in. The place I do voluntary work for managed to crash in one year from over thirty helpers to eight when we reopened in the spring – part of the general UK malaise in volunteering in general speeded up by the Covid years, but that’s another story.”
“Danny started “Springboard” back in the late 80s, a few years before “Spring Offensive”. Kath is still around on Facebook, but I don’t know what became of Danny. “Springboard” managed over 100 issues and was a reliable zine, but a little contentious as it was perceived to be hogging newcomers to the hobby. On balance, I think it was a good thing. When I get a chance, I’ll upload “Springboard” to the Archive.”
So far, Stephen hasn’t been able to upload these issues (I’m writing this on 29 January 2024).
First published in “34” #2, September 2023.
POSTS IN THIS SERIES
- Beginnings
- Into the Hobbiverse
- Play Diplomacy Online!
THE DIPLOMATICON 
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