by Michael Zmolek
MULTI-COASTAL PROVINCES:
Three provinces on the map have more than one coast; players must specify which coast they are occupying when moving a fleet into such a province.
BULGARIA is a province and a supply centre, with a south coast that opens to the Aegean Sea and an east coast that opens to the Black Sea.
ANDALUSIA is a province and a supply centre, with a west coast that opens to the Mid-Atlantic Ocean and an east coast that opens to the Western Mediterranean and the Alboran Sea.
ST. PETERSBURG is a province and a supply centre, with a south coast that opens to the Gulf of Finland and a north coast that opens to Lake Onega.
CANALS AND ‘POROUS’ PROVINCES
Three provinces are marked with canals, two others are land provinces which can be traversed from entered from a body of water on one side, and exited by way of a body of water on the other side. Note that canals do not permit a fleet to move from one side to the other without first occupying the province (e.g. a fleet may not move Aegean Sea to Black Sea in one turn, it must first occupy Constantinople). No coastal specification is necessary as these provinces (save one, see Egypt below) are ‘porous’.
ARKHANGEL’SK is a province divided by the White Sea Canal. Note that the western part of the province separates Murmansk from St. Petersburg. A fleet may enter and occupy the province from the White Sea, and exit via Lake Onega, or vice-versa.
CONSTANTINOPLE is a province divided by the Marmara Denizi (not marked), a lake which sits between two narrow channels, connecting on each side respectively to the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. A fleet may enter and occupy the province from the Aegean Sea, and exit via the Black Sea, or vice-versa.
DENMARK is a province which combines a peninsula with islands, these being divided by several channels. A fleet may enter and occupy the province from the Baltic Sea in the East, and exit via the Kattegat, Skaggerak, North Sea Central, or Helgoland Bight, or travel vice-versa.
EGYPT is a province divided by the Suez Canal. In this variant, the canal does not lead to anywhere, so treat Egypt as you would any normal province, and ignore the canal. [The canal will be used in the global variant].
KIEL is a province divided by a canal. A fleet may enter and occupy the province from Helgoland Bight, and exit via the Baltic Sea, or vice-versa.
MOUNTAINOUS PROVINCES WITH MOVEMENT RESTRICTIONS:
Four provinces on the map are mountainous, and pose special problems for armies. Each province has unique rules which apply as follows:
KURDISTAN is a mountainous province. An army occupying Kurdistan may not offer support to any unit.
NORSE COAST is a rugged province which is cold, mountainous and riven with fjords from the Norwegian Sea. No army may enter or exit this province on a Fall or Winter turn. One exception applies; during a Fall turn, an army may enter or exit Norse Coast if successfully supported by a fleet occupying the adjacent Norwegian Sea. Also, an army occupying the Norwegian Coast on a Fall term may not offer support to another army or fleet unless that fleet is attempting to enter the same province that the army entered the Norwegian Coast from.
SWITZERLAND is a province with a supply center, and is mountainous in its southern half. Unlike in standard Diplomacy, it is passable at certain times. Switerland can be played like any other province on any spring or winter moves. However, on Fall and Winter turns, the borders between Switerland and its four neighbouring provinces to the south: Marseilles, Piedmont, Milan, and Tyrolia, cannot be crossed by any army, and no such orders will be allowed. Likewise, support cannot be offered to any armies or fleets attempting to enter the said provinces on a Fall turn.
TYROLIA is a mountainous province, with a line of mountains running east-west through its center. If an army enters the province from Munich on a spring move, it may not move to–or offer support to any unit attempting to enter–Milan or Venice on the following Fall Move. The opposite also holds true: if entered from Milan or Venice on a spring move, on the next Fall move an army may not proceed to–or offer support to any unit attempting to enter–Milan or Venice. Note that if the province has been held by the same army for more than one turn, no restrictions apply whatsoever.
RAILROADS:
There is one railroad line on the map stretching between Moscow and Omsk via Perm. The railroad will transport one army from Moscow to Omsk, or vice-versa, in one turn, so long as none of the spaces moved through or into is attacked or occupied during that turn, in which case the army bounces back to the last province it traversed or started from.
[This is a vestigial element intended for common use in the global game and borrowed from Colonial dip; the GM recognizes it is largely useless in this game.]
UNMARKED SPACES:
Any unmarked spaces on the board are not playable.
STARTING YEAR:
[For reasons having to do with the status of the colonial possessions of the European powers in the year in which this game begins:]
The starting year for this game will be 1890, and NOT 1900. The game will proceed year by year, with two movement turns per year (Spring and Fall) and two retreat/build turns per year (Summer and WInter). The year 1900 will be considered the period for the first round of negotiations before any moves have been made. The first movement phase will be Spring 1891.
STARTING POSITIONS AND HOME SUPPLY CENTRES:
For this variant of Diplomacy, the seven original powers will start with the same number of pieces and in the same positions as in standard European Diplomacy:
Austria: F Trieste, A Vienna, A Budapest
France: A Marseilles, A Paris, F Brest
Germany: F Kiel, A Berlin, A Munich
Great Britain [England]: F London, A Liverpool, F Edinburgh
Italy: F Naples, A Rome, A Venice
Ottoman Empire [Turkey]: F Ankara, A Smyrna, A Constantinpole
Russia: F Sevastapol, F St. Petersburg, A Moscow, A Warsaw
The new power, Spain will start:
Spain: F Malaga, A Barcelona, A Madrid
All of the SC’s where the units begin are home SC’s and new units may be built on these SC’s by the home power throughout the game. In addition, however, each power will have one additional SC which must first be occupied like any vacant SC, after which it can be used to build on. These new additions to the standard home SC’s are:
Austria: Prague
France: Lyon
Germany: Frankfurt
Great Britain [England]: Belfast
Italy: Milan
Ottoman Empire [Turkey]: Iraq
Russia: Minsk
Spain: Tangier
Players will note that there are further new additions to SC’s WITHIN the territory of some countries. These SC’s are NOT home SC’s, however, and cannot be used for building armies throughout the game [for the simple reason that it would give some powers too great an advantage; in the global variant, however, these will become home SC’s]. SC’s located within the territory of certain powers which will not act as home SC’s for building new units are:
Italy: Sicily
Russia: Khar’Kov, Odessa
Ottoman Empire [Turkey]: Tehran, Egypt
CONCLUSION OF THE GAME:
The game will end when:
A. A unanimous vote for a draw is made by all players;
B. One player gains control of a majority of supply centres (28 of 54); or
C. After the 27th year or 54th turn ends (Winter 1917),
whichever of these three options comes first.