Allen Wells and Don Woods
The main difference in this variant is that, for the most part, no player will know where (or what) any other country’s units are. The game thus bears some resemblance to the Chess variant known as “Kriegspiel”-; hence the name “Kriegsplomacy”.
Though it is possible to concoct extremely elaborate rules based on this premise of lack of information, we decided it would be better to keep the differences from normal Diplomacy to a minimum for easier play by experienced Diplomacy players.
The basic idea is that you only know:
– which of your orders succeed or fail,
– what units of yours are attacked,
– what moves of yours were opposed,
– what centers you own,
– what the supply center totals for the other players are. Any other information must be learned through espionage or diplomacy.
Note that retreats can be sticky, even if there are no retreats. This is because admitting that there are no retreats is telling people information about the moves that they should not know. The best way to handle this is to do the following:
Summer retreat: Send out moves as usual leaving all retreats as ???. Have a very short 1/2 month deadline for retreats which is part of your 1 month deadline for the next moves, thus the moves are due 1/2 month after the retreats (if any). As soon as this mini-deadline passes, inform people whether their retreats succeed and complete the information for people who had espionages.
Autumn retreats: Have two 1/2 month deadlines. the first for the retreats and the second for the builds. It is important not to release information about supply center ownership until after the retreat deadline, even if there are no retreats, since you should not know whether you have a supply center threatened by a retreat.
The complete rules follow. They may look long, but they cover all contingencies and even tell how the games are adjudicated. In addition, they contain many examples for clarity and I have even added a sample adjudication for a game-year. This game has been play tested under these rules.
Rules for Kriegsplomacy
1) The rules for Kriegsplomacy are the same as the rules for regular Diplomacy except as stated below. The regular Diplomacy board is used.
2) Builds and Removals: (This describes “Flexible Build Diplomacy”)
2.1) The game starts in Winter ’00. Each country owns its home supply centers and NO units. There is an initial period of diplomacy before the Winter ’00 builds.
2.2) A country can build in any unoccupied supply center(s) it owns, NOT just home supply centers. This is because it’s too easy to lose control of your home centers when you cannot see what the other countries are doing.
2.3) If a country fails to order a winter disband, the unit removed is that furthest from any center controlled by that country. In the case of a tie, fleets are removed before equally distant armies. In the case of a further tie, alphabetical order is used.
3) Normal Information: In the normal course of adjudications you will receive the following information:
3.1) What supply centers you own previous to each winter.
3.2) The supply center totals for all countries after each winter (only the totals, NOT what centers they control).
3.3) When a unit of yours is attacked (but not by whom, from where, or even by how many). If your unit successfully moves, a simultaneous move into its former space is NOT considered an attack. You are NOT considered to attack your own units since moving against your own units does not cut support or threaten to dislodge the ‘attacked’ unit.
3.4) When a unit of yours is opposed in a movement (whether you succeed or fail in the move, but again, not by whom). A unit holding in the place you are moving to, another unit moving to that place, a unit trying to move from that place to yours (unless at least one of the moves is convoyed), or a unit trying unsuccessfully to leave that place, is considered opposition. A unit successfully leaving the place you are entering is not considered opposition. You can be opposed by your own units.
3.5) Which of your moves succeed.
3.6) When a unit of yours is dislodged and forced to retreat (but not where, or even whether, there are possible open places to retreat), and whether the subsequent retreat was successful. If you attempt to retreat to an occupied space, the space your attacker came from, or the space another unit is retreating to, your unit is disbanded.
4) Suppressed Information: Some of the things you are NOT automatically given information about are important enough to warrant explicit mention. Except for espionage, you are NOT told:
4.1) Whether your own supply centers are being attacked or occupied, though you do learn during the Winter about which of your centers have been lost.
4.2) Whether any of your units received foreign support.
4.3) Whether a foreign unit receiving your support was ordered in such a way that the support was invalid, or even whether the foreign unit exists at all.
4.4) Whether an attack has cut an attempted support (that is, you’re told of the attack, but you don’t get to know whether it came from the space into which support was being given).
5) Spying: There are two additional orders, ‘espionage’ (E) and ‘counterespionage’ (CE). I will call these two functions ‘spying’.
5.1) If a unit ordered to spy is attacked then the spying is ‘cut’ (prevented) and the unit is considered to be holding.
5.2) A unit ordered to spy can be supported, but this support will be support against a possible attack and will not increase the effectiveness of the spying or allow the spying to take place despite an attack.
5.3) A unit ordered to spy will give information or obscure information about all places into which the unit so ordered could give support. Thus, F Spa(SC) could not spy on Gas, but F Gas could spy on Spa(SC). It follows that a fleet cannot spy into an inland province and an army cannot spy into a sea province.
5.4) The set of places into which a piece can spy is referred to as the ‘range’ of the spying.
6) Espionage: A unit ordered to espionage will learn of movements from, to and through the range of the espionage, as well as supports from or into those places, and which units (if any) in those places also attempted espionage.
6.1) You are told the type and country of the units involved, but you are not told of any locations not covered by the Espionage. Thus, Ger F Spa(SC) E might learn:
Ita F ???-Wmd* Italian fleet from out of range moves to the Western Med (the * indicates where it ended up).
Eng F Wmd-Mid* English fleet moves from the Western Med to the Mid Atlantic.
Eng F ??? S Eng F Wmd-Mid Some English fleet from out of range (perhaps Bre, Naf, Eng, or Nat) supports the English fleet movement.
Ger A Mar S Ita A ???-??? German army in Marseilles supports another Italian army to move from a place out of range to another place out of range.
Fre F Mid-??? [r-???*] A french fleet in the Mid Atlantic tried to move to somewhere out of range and failed. It also got dislodged from the Mid Atlantic and retreated out of range.
Fre F Lyo* C Fre A ???-??? A French fleet in the Gulf of Lyon tried to convoy an army between two places which are out of range.
6.2) If a support order, revealed or partially revealed by espionage, was in support of a non-existent order, this is indicated. For example:
Eng F Wmd S Ita F ???-Lyo [nso]
6.3) If a unit outside your range attempts to support a unit or movement within your range, but the support is cut, then it is not revealed.
6.4) A unit ordered to espionage will also learn the ownership of any supply center in range (including one on which it is sitting). Ownership of supply centers changes only at the start of Winter, so a Fall espionage order will reveal who owned the center for the year just past, as well as revealing whether any other country has now occupied that location. Thus, the Ger F Spa(SC) E might learn:
Spa = Ger, Por = Ger, Mar = Fra Spain and Portugal are owned by Germany, Marseilles is owned by France.
7) Counter-Espionage: A unit ordered to counter-espionage essentially ‘hides’ all information about any place in the range of the CE. Any E order covering a place that is also covered by a CE learns nothing about that place; that is, places in the range of the CE are considered to be outside the range of any E.
7.1) Espionage can reveal a CE order, but only if the CE (and any other CE covering that place) is cut by an attack so the espionage can succeed.
7.2) A unit attempting espionage is not affected by CE by the same country. However, CE will always interfere with all other countries’ espionage. You cannot exempt your allies.
7.3) Examples of counter-espionage:
France: A Bur E
Germany: A Ruh CE, A Hol-Bel In this case, the French piece learns nothing, but he knows a CE is in effect because he does not find out the ownership of Mun and Bel.
France: A Bur E
Germany: A Ruh CE, A Bel-Pic France learns “Ger A ???-Pic”. Again, france knows there was a CE.
France: A Bur E, A Mun-Ruh
Germany: A Ruh CE, A Hol-Bel In this case, the CE is cut so France learns “Ger A Hol-Bel, Ger A Ruh CE, Fre A Mun-Ruh” as well as the ownership of Mun and Bel.
Sample Adjudication:
Spring ’01 (after Winter ’00 Builds)
Here is how the moves might look normally. Note that the *’s are where the unit ended up:
Austria: A Bud-Ser*, A Tri-Alb*, A Vie* E;
England: F Lon*-Eng, F Edi-Nth*, F Lvp-Iri*;
France: F Bre*-Eng, F Mar-Lyo*, A Par-Pic*;
Germany: A Mun* E, F Kie-Hol*, F Ber-Bal*;
Italy: A Ven-Tyo*, F Rom-Tyh*, F Nap-lon*;
Russia: F StP(NC)-Nwy*, F Sev*-Bla, A War-Sil*, A Mos-Ukr*;
Turkey: F Ank-Bla*, F Con* S F Ank-Bla, F Smy-Aeg*;
Here is what a few countries see as their results:
Austria: A Bud-Ser*, A Tri-Alb*, A Vie* E (sees: Vie = Aus, Tri = Aus, Bud = Aus, Ita A ???-Tyo*, A Tri-???, A Bud-???); You must also find out about your own moves when doing an E because this might show a CE in the area.
Russia: F StP(NC)-Nwy*, F Sev*-Bla [opp], A War-Sil*, A Mos-Ukr*; Note that while he knows he was stood off in the Bla, he does NOT know that Turkey made it in).
Turkey: F Ank-Bla* [opp], F Con* S F Ank-Bla, F Smy-Aeg*;
Fall ’01
Austria: A Ser*-Bul, A Alb*-Gre, A Vie-Tri*;
England: F Lon-Eng*, F Nth* E, F Iri*-Mid;
France: F Bre*-Mid, F Lyo Spa(SC)*, A Pic*-Bel;
Germany: A Mun-Ber*, F Hol*-Bel, F Bal-Den*
Italy: A Tyo*-Mun, F Tyh-Tun*, F lon*-Aeg;
Russia: F Nwy* CE, F Sev-Rum*, A Sil*-Mun, A Ukr* S F Sev-Rum;
Turkey: F Bla-Sev*, F Con*-Bul(SC), F Aeg*-Gre;
England: F Lon-Eng*, F Nth E (sees: Edi = Eng, Lon = Eng, Den=unowned, Hol=unowned, Bel=unowned, Ger F ???-Den*, Ger F Hol*-Bel, Fre A Pic*-Bel, Eng F Lon-Eng*), F Iri*-Mid [opp]; Note that England does not see the Russian F Nor or find out the ownership of Nor due to the Russian CE.
Russia: F Nor* CE, F Sev-Rum*, A Sil*-Mun [opp], A Ukr* S F Sev-Rum; Note that Russia learns nothing about the Turkish move to Sev until Winter.
Turkey: F Bla-Sev*, F Con*-Bul(SC) [opp], F Aeg*-Gre [opp; att]; Note that the F Aeg is both opposed in the move to Gre and attacked in the Aeg by Italy. Note that the F Bla-Sev received no opposition since the Russian F Sev successfully left Sev.
After waiting 1/2 month for retreats (even if there are nont, the players mustn’t know that!), each player is given a list of the supply centers he controls and is asked for his Winter ’01 Builds. After the build, everyone is given the chart:
Austria: (4) + 1;
England: (3) NG Change;
France: (4) + 1;
Germany: (5) + 2;
Italy: (4) + 1;
Russia: (5) + 1;
Turkey: (4) + 1;