by Richard Young

This variant has been designed to allow a game of diplomacy to be played to a conclusion perhaps twice as quickly as the normal game.  It also introduces more opportunity for surprise attacks.

1. The 1971 Diplomacy rulebook applies except as amended below.

2. The first game turn consists of orders for both Spring and Autumn seasons of 1901.  Players must submit orders for both seasons in the same letter.

3. The second game turn consists of:

i) orders for the 1901 builds/disbands,
ii) orders for Spring 1902; and
iii) orders for Autumn 1902.

Players must submit orders for all three phases of the game turn in the same letter.  Subsequent game turns consist of three phases in the same way.

4. Orders may not be made conditional on the outcome of moves made in the previous season or on build/disbands.  No conditional orders are allowed.

5. Each unit on the board must be given two orders corresponding to the two seasons being played  a game turn.  Below is an example of how the game might work in practice:

Spring 1901

France – A Paris – Burgundy
Germany – A Munich – Burgundy

Fall 1901

A Burgundy – Munich
A Munich – Burgundy

The French player here guesses that his Spring move to Burgundy will succeed and so orders the unit a second time from a new location for the Fall move.  The German player guesses that his Spring move to Burgundy will fail and so orders the unit a second time from the same location for the Fall move.

6. Adjudications will give details of all the ordered moves, underlining those that fail and indicating where the player has ordered a unit that does not exist by (nsu).  Adjudications will also give details of unordered units (u/o).  An adjudication of the above moves would read:

Spring 1901

France:  A Paris – Burgundy
Germany: A Munich – Burgundy

Fall 1901

France: A Burgundy – Munich (nsu); A Paris st. (u/o)
A Munich – Burgundy

7. Players may write a retreat for a unit in the normal way each turn (stating order of preference of retreat), however retreats must not be conditional on orders or the outcome of orders.

8. For the sake of clarity, players are asked to submit their orders in the following format.  This is France in the first game turn:

1. A Paris – Burgundy / A Burgundy – Munich (retreat, Bel, Pic)
2. A Marseilles – Spain / A Spain st.
3. F Brest – ENC / F Brest – ENC