by Mikko Saari

Summary

Rapid Development Diplomacy is for those who think the standard Diplomacy is too slow. Well, that is no more a problem – in Rapid Deployment Diplomacy, every unit may move twice each turn. That fleet in Brest could be in Naples by the end of 1901. Prepare to forget all you ever knew about opening theory, there are plenty of new opportunities now.

Rules

1. Standard Diplomacy rules apply except where amended below.

2. Each unit may move twice during each movement phase. Both movement orders are given at the same time. Double movement is not obligatory, however. The second province moved to can be any province that can legally be reached from the target province of the first move (even the original province).

Example:
F Bre-MAO-Por

Fleet in Brest would first move to Middle Atlantic Ocean and from there to Portugal.

F Bre-MAO-Bre

This is legal and sometimes tactically quite good order.

3. When adjudicating, the orders are split up. First orders are adjudicated as usually and then follows another movement phase for those units with second orders. If the first order fails, the second will automatically fail as well, even though the target province were possible to reach from the original province. If the first order fails, the second is not revealed.

Example:
F Bre-ENG-MAO
F Lon-ENG-NTH

Fleets bounce in English Channel and will hold at Brest and London, even though F Bre-MAO and F Lon-NTH are both legal orders. The results will read:

F Bre-ENG (bounce)
F Lon-ENG (bounce)

4. If double movement is used, both orders must be move orders. No holds, supports or convoys. Not as the first order or the second (an exception: hold as a second order is obviously legal). Thus, second orders cannot be supported and armies cannot be convoyed as a second order (however, armies can be convoyed and then move another time).

Example:
F Bre-MAO S A Gas-Spa
F Bre hold -MAO

Both are illegal.

F ENG C A Pic-Wal
A Pic-Wal-Lon

This is perfectly legal.

Designer’s Notes

The rules are quite simple, there should be no problems with them. If you play this variant, please tell me what you think (at the moment it’s totally untested and all feedback is welcome) and also if something in the rules is unclear and I’ll clarify.

One thing I was thinking about is if supporting and convoying should be legal second orders, but that might things a bit too complicated and difficult. Tell me what you think