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 aleAmby: Kaesler shiraz from the Barossa Valley

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Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.