With just a month until the first World Diplomacy Championship in Asia we catchup with organisers Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen about WDC Bangkok 2023, plus lots more.
Intro
The guys introduce their drinks and tonight’s venue (0 mins 10 secs)
They discuss why Italy doesn’t open more often to the west and some crazy openings (5 mins 35 secs)

Interview about WDC Bangkok with Andrew Goff and Lei Saarlainen
They introduce the interview today with Lei Saarlainen and Andrew Goff about WDC 2023 in Bangkok (14 mins)
We discuss what’s planned (16 mins 40 sec)
They discuss how language is approached at the tournament (20 mins)
Andrew and Lei discusses what makes this WDC different to previous tournaments (25 mins 10 secs)
Kaner asks about what Bangkok is like for visitors flying in and what to do. Andrew gives some tricks to remember for visitors (29 mins 45 secs)
Lei also mentions there is a side tournament being held a week later in Siem Reap in Cambodia including visits to the Angkor Wat temple complex. Andrew also gives context for scheduling during the tournament and a WhatsApp group (33 mins 50 secs)
They discuss time limit plans for the games (38 mins 20 secs)
Kaner asks about the tournament scoring system (41 mins 20 secs)
Amby goes onto discuss which official version of the rules will be used - the new board or rules played for many years (44 mins 10 secs)
Amby asks about the cultural style of the tournament gameplay (48 mins 20 secs)
He goes onto ask about the local climate and how should people be packing (52 mins 30 secs)
They discuss some of the challenges maintaining momentum for the tournament during the pandemic (56 mins)
They begin wrapping up the interview (1 hr 1 min)
They goes give their thoughts on the interview (1 hr 2 mins 30 secs)
Amby incorrectly says the Siem Reap tournament will be in a temple - he misheard Lei - ignore this bit folks! (1 hr 7 mins)

Diplomacy chat
Kaner asks about getting a face to face game in Brisbane (1 hr 13 mins)
Amby discusses the Curious Western Triple  (1 hr 14 mins)
The guys talk houses and the Kaner & Amby Gardening Show (1 hr 28 mins) 

Around the grounds
The guys discuss their Nine Dash Line game (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=55953) which they’re playing with podcast listeners (1 hr 33 mins 40 secs)
vDip has new variants again thanks to tobi1 and Enriador. Kaner talks about his anonymous East Indies game where he’s getting screwed over (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=55953) (1 hr 41 mins 50 secs)
Amby touches on some of his games. First up is an email only game run by David E Cohen for the Mandate of Heaven variant. He discusses his interesting gameplay strategy - big shout out to his ally Rob (1 hr 46 mins 20 secs)
Amby talks about his American Conflict game - a Civil War variant with the European powers joining in at the same time (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=56035#gamePanel) (1 hr 51 mins 15 secs)
Next is his Imperial game as Britain (https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=55996) (1 hr 54 mins 30 secs)
The guys wrap up the show (2 hrs 2 mins 30 secs)

Venue: Babylon, Brisbane
Drinks of choice:
Kaner: 150 Lashes pale ale
Amby: Kaesler shiraz from the Barossa Valley
Just a reminder you can support the show by giving it 5 stars on iTunes or Stitcher. And don't forget if you want to help pay off the audio equipment... or get the guys more drunk, you can also donate at Patreon, plus you get extra podcast episodes!
Lastly, don't forget to subscribe so you get the latest Diplomacy Games episodes straight to your phone.
Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.