Fall of Rome (ar08)

by Christopher Hunt

1. All the rules of Diplomacy (1971 rulebook) apply, except as amended below.

2. The game uses the board of Regular Diplomacy with few alterations. The Great Powers are renamed as follows:

EASTERN EMPIRE (Turkey) under Arcadius

GAUL (France) under Arbogast and Eugenius

RUNS (Russia) under Attila

ROMANO-BRITISH (England) under Constantine

VANDALS and others (GERMANY) under Radagaisus

VISIGOTHS (Austria) under Alaric

WESTERN EMPIRE (Italy) under Honorius (really Stilicho)

3. The starting supply centres remain the same, but players may choose what type of units (armies or fleets) they wish to start the game in each of their starting supply centres.

4. It is no longer possible to order a convoy, instead of this both armies and fleets may be ordered to ‘convert’ into the other type of unit. A unit which has been so ordered (order abbreviation ‘C’) must stand in the province in which it started the turn whilst it converts. Other units may give support to the converting unit.

5. Units in the process of converting have no strength and their province may be occupied by a single, unsupported attack by an opposing unit, unless the converting unit has been supported. If a converting unit is required to retreat, it is instead disbanded.

6. The Kiel canal has not yet been built, thus Kiel becomes a two-coasted province like Bulgaria and Spain.

7. The Spring Raid rule is in effect, that is players lose control of supply centres they own, which are occupied by other powers during the Spring turn. It is still necessary to occupy a centre in the Autumn to gain or regain control of it. New units may be built in any empty supply centre the player owns; there are no ‘home’ centres.

8. Where a power is in Civil Disorder or has NMR’ed, and the GM must remove units due to the results of the adjustments, units are removed according to the alphabetical order of the provinces they occupy.

9. The game starts in Spring 401 A.D., the second turn is Autumn 401 A.D. and so on.

10. Optional Rule: All orders are adjudicated as in the regular game, however, only the location of those units which end the turn occupying provinces adjacent to any foreign units are reported. All attacks are fully reported, but support or hold orders are not revealed and can only be judged by the results of attacks (if any). All other results are individually reported only to the relevant players or assumed to have succeeded (players must then keep individual records of their orders). At the end of the Autumn moves, players are not told which supply centres they control, only the total number of them (here again, players should keep their own records).

This variant originally appeared in Shellshock 3 produced by Tony Marchese. This version differs in that the hidden movement features have been left as optional, as they would complicate the game considerably and may deter players from trying it out.