By Steve Doubleday
A game for 21 players, each to represent different aspects of the nation’s military effort. Each nation is governed by three peoples:
The Chief of State (could be a king, emperor, president) His principle duties are to communicate with other nations, formulates the general policy for his nation. Co-ordination of units. One of his functions, in normal circumstances, is to countersign the orders of the Admiral of the fleet, and the Marshal of the Army. (Orders for the Army, must be signed by the Marshal, and can only be approved, in the case of the Admiral and the Chief of State signing orders for the army, if the Marshal has been exiled….This functions in the same way as the deposition of the Head of State.) The gamemaster can accept one set of orders, when only one is received. The Chief of State is alone responsible for the allocation of builds, and the decisions as to what should be built and where it should be built. The Chief of State can be deposed by a formal statement signed by both Admiral and Marshal. In the event of a deposition the position of Chief of State need not be filled. If it is the case that there is no Chief of State for a nation, when the builds come to be constructed, then there shall be no builds that Spring (Winter). A new Chief of State (or the Old Chief of State) can be elected by the two representatives of the armed forces. If this is an already existing Chief of State of a different nation, the countries of which he is Chief of State, being under a joint crown are considered as being one nation.
The Joint Crown Chief of State….(designated King-Emperor)….decides what builds take place and where. If country A’s armies capture a supply center, Country B can gain an extra army or fleet, according to the wishes of the Chief of State, King-Emperor. The victory requirement is held to be fulfilled if both nations, in too, achieve the necessary numbers of units. For the Chief of State of a joint crown nation to be deposed, it needs the compliance of the two Administering officers for the armed forces of the seceding nation and the original Chief of State. For the Chief of State to be deposed of the Joint Crown nation it needs a 3/5ths majority. And the same rules apply to the Joint Crown nation is apply to a normal nation.
Admiral of the Fleet….He is responsible for the naval forces of the country and as such decides, with the Chief of State that action is to be taken by the naval forces. He can be deposed, exiled in a similar fashion to the Chief of State.
The same rules apply, by analogy, to the Marshal.
No person can hold more than two offices, at the start of the game and these position must not be in countries which have a common border. There is no such restriction, once the game has started.
Hidden Movement (considered as an Optional Rule for Cabinet Diplomacy and NOT as a separate variant)
At the start of the game, each nation places it’s units anywhere inside it’s borders. Only when units are next to each other, and on land, are the two adjoining units informed of another others existence. Only when a naval unit is at sea, it is only informed of another unit’s existence, if they attempt to move into the same province, attach the same spot, or one attacks the other. On land, the naval unit is considered as an army, so the normal rules apply, but that naval unit is not informed of the presence of a naval unit in the contiguous sea province, unless it fulfills the conditions set out for notification of another unit’s presence at sea. In Cabinet Diplomacy, if a naval unit comes into contact, the Admiral is notified of the contact, but not the other members of the Government. If the armies come into contact with other forces, only the Marshal is informed of the contact. When the fleet is at sea and the army manoeuvreing on land they have to scout their way like a real army. The gamemaster only publishes what supply centers are held, not the movement.
The idea of all these various rules is to simulate the various clandestine activities of an intriguing set of nations. Is one really certain about Richard Sharp? Is he really giving the true information being found by his fleets, or is he angling for a post in another government?