by Derek William

Introduction
1876 : a little known part of New Zealand history, as the white colonists were arriving, a group of locals gathered together to decide who should show the white man how football should really be played. The debate soon came to blows. 100 years later that legendary battle would be commemorated with the inauguration of the National Provincial League in 1976. This variant takes you back to those historic days when warriors of the great tribes (iwi) performed fearsome haka and paddled mighty canoes (waka) around the Land-of-the-Long-White-Cloud
Apart from the map, all rules are the same as Standard Diplomacy except:
1. The terms ‘Waka’ (W) and ‘Iwi’ (I) are used instead of ‘Fleet’ (F) and ‘Army’ (A)
2. Starting year is 1876
3. Each player starts with 2 SCs and no units
Blues – Auckland (AKL), Chatham Islands (CHA)
Chiefs – Hamilton (HAM), New Plymouth (NPL)
East Coasters – Rotorua (ROT), Napier (NAP)
Hurricanes – Wellington (WGN), Porirua (POR)
Westies – Greymouth (GRE), Tasman (TAS)
Crusaders – Christchurch (CHC), Hanmer (HAN)
Southlanders – Milford (MIL), Te Anau (TEA)
Highlanders – Dunedin (DUN), Invercargill (INV)
4. Before Spring 1876 commences, the players decide whether to build a Waka or Iwi in each of their 2 SCs
5. Victory condition is control of 13 SCs at end of any Autumn move
6. A player may build in any vacant SC that he/she owns (not restricted to ‘home’ centres)
Map particulars as follows…
The following rivers are used as boundaries: 1. Waikato; 2. Clutha (they are used as boundaries only, and a waka cannot travel up-river, whereas an iwi can freely cross the boundary like any other boundary).
There are no ‘land bridges’ (i.e. an Iwi cannot occupy Cook Strait)
There are four areas of impassable terrain, which are not named on the map, as follows:
1. Lake Taupo
2. Three sections of the Southern Alps around the following mountains: a. Mount Travers; b. Mount Cook; c. Mount Earnslaw
Bi-Coastal Areas are:
Northland (NOR) ec & wc
Auckland (AKL) ec & wc
Waikato (WAI) nc & ec
Thames (THA) ec & wc
A Waka cannot move directly from west cost to east coast, nor vice versa, nor north coast to east coast, nor east to north.