by Rudi van Hal

Revolutionary Modern Diplomacy is in most aspects normal Modern Diplomacy. The same map and the same rules apply. The Revolutionary part of this game is added to implement variation and civil unrest in occupied areas.

Revolutionary Diplomacy is based upon ideas implemented in Organic Diplomacy, but I made a few changes. Organic Diplomacy was created by James Eli Ewing. He also created a new map of Europe. Though I enjoyed playing in the test game, I disliked the map that the game was played on. Since the concept of Organic Diplomacy is indepent of the Map, I decided to create a variation of the well known and much played Modern Diplomacy. I figured that the balance between powers and the map have been stable long enough to allow for this experiment. After the first initial set of rules and some feedback I got, I decided to make the revolutionary part a more dominant part of the game. Hence I adjusted a few rules and called it Revolutionary Diplomacy

What is Revolutionary Diplomacy?

In Revolutionary Diplomacy each land-province has a owner and a controlling power. The controlling power is the power that had a unit in that area latest (SupplyCenters ofcourse only change hands in Winter). The Owner of the province, is the power that rightfully owns the province, ie the power that would control the province if it was up to the people living there. The Revolutionary part of the diplomacy comes from the interaction between the province and its controller. The population of a province would rather be part of their Owning Power, and resent occupation. If the people get a chance, they will liberate themselves from the occupying power. However, the people can also learn to appreciate their new ruler, and thus decide to change their allegiance. The game can therefor indepently evolve (ie it is organic) to a new state due to Revolutions and changes of ownership.

Possible Stati of a Power

A Power in the game can have a few different stati:

Active Power The Power exist and is controlled by a player Defeated Power The Power no longer has SupplyCenters or units There are still provinces with this Power as HomeNation Power has no votes in Draw Proposals Eleminated Power The power has neither SupplyCenters, Units nor Provinces. Power will not return in the game Inactive Power Power exists but is not controlled by a player

At game start, all 10 normal powers in a Modern Diplomacy game are Active Powers. Next to that there are also 16 Inactive powers. Inactive powers can become active powers after Winter 1994

Provinces and States

A province can be in 1 of 5 different states: HomeOwned The province is owned/controlled by the owner, and the population is happy Occupied The province is occupied by a foreign unit. The population is not 100% happy, but the presence of the military unit prevents any form of Civil Unrest Controlled The Province is under control of a foreign nation. Due to the absence of a military unit in the province, the population will slowly start to stir and look for ways to improve their situation. Revolt The people are not happy with the occupation and actively try to liberate themselves, trying to rejoin/reform their home nation Revolt/Occupied The province is in revolt, but the presence of a military unit prevents anything serious from happening (in most cases)

Changes in States

A province always starts in the HomeOwned state. The state is changed to occupied as soon as a foreign army/fleet enters the province. A province changes its state to Controlled the moment the Occupying unit leaves the area. A Supply Center will revert to it’s latest controller if the area is vacated. A non-SupplyCenter will become controlled by the power that last had an army there. Control of a SupplyCenter is, as usual, only changed in early winter. A Controlled province can go in revolt if there has been no occupying, controller owned army for at least 5 consecutive seasons. Only Spring and Fall Seasons are counted for this purpose. Please note that a SupplyCenter only changes controller in a Winter. If a unit of a different Power occupies the center in the Spring, but vacates it in the Fall, this presence will NOT effect the count for 5 consecutive seasons. While a province is in revolt, it actively tries to liberate itself and become part of their Owning nation. As soon as the occupying nation sends a military unit into a revolting Province, the state changes to ‘Revolt and Occupied’. Under normal circumstances this will prevent further escalation. Check the section: ‘Spreading the Revolution’ for exceptions. A Revolt can be quenched if a military unit spends a season in that province. During this season the military unit is allowed to give support, but any attempt to move will void the attempt to quench the revolt. After a revolt is quenched, the provice returns to an ‘occupied’ state.

Changes of Ownership

A province can change allegiance if it recognizes the benefits of the new ruler. In game terms, a province will become HomeOwned if it has been controlled/occupied for 10 consecutive seasons (Only counting Spring and Fall) without ever being in revolt or occupied by another nation. Besides the obvious advantages of no longer to have to watch for a revolt, the Power also gains a new center in which units can be build, ie a Home Center

Revolution

If a SupplyCenter is in Revolt for 3 consecutive seasons, it will start a Revolution. Please note that this will only happen in SupplyCenters. Non-SC’s don’t have enough resources to mount a Revolution. Revolution will result in the province declaring itself independant if their Home Nation doesn’t exist, or become a part of their Home Nation. The supply center will immediately build a new unit, and the new ruler decides what type of unit to build. If there is an occupying unit present during the Revolution, ie the unit just marched in or was too busy with other things to quench the revolt, that unit is dislodged and will be forced to retreat. A military unit ignoring the population can NOT stop a Revolution.

Spreading the Revolution

Once a SupplyCenter starts a revolution, the Revolution will automatially spread through all provinces of the same allegiance that are are controlled by the same nation. Only the presence of a military unit that was holding will prevent the revolution from spreading to that specific province.The revolution will continue to spread to ALL connected provinces of the same allegiance. Example, if a Revolution starts in Czech Republic, then the Revolution will spread to Slovakia and from there to Hungary. For each effected province, Revolution will be initiated with all normal effects (ie dislodging of units). A revolution will also spread to a province of the same Allegiance, but controlled by a different power, that are in revolt. Example: CzechRepublic and Slovakia are controlled by Germany, and Hungary is controlled by Italy. If both Hungary and CzechRepublic are in revolt, then a revolution starting in CzechRepublic will spread to Hungary. If Hungary is not in revolt, Hungary will be unaffected by the Revolution in the Czech Republic. The new Ruler of the involved provinces will build new units in every area just liberated by the revolution. Please note that a following a Revolution, the new Power may have to disband because his number of units is larger than the number of his centers.

Initiating a Revolution

Outside influences and the emergence of leaders can initiate a Revolution before it would normally happen. Any outside player can join the game by starting a revolution in a supply center that is in Revolt and whose allegiance is NOT to an existing and active power. A new power will then be created and the Revolution can spread. Only an Inactive Power can initiate a revolution in provinces controlled by another existing power. For example, Germany can not initiate a Revolution in Munich, even though it is in revolt and controlled by Italy. Munich might start a Revolution on its own in due time, but the Ruler of Germany can’t influence it.

Adjustments based upon Revolutions

As said before, the new controller of a SupplyCenter can build 1 unit for each SupplyCenter liberated. In order to keep the number of units limited, the Power that just lost a center, will have to disband. This will happen in both Summer and Winter. A newly formed power could possibly have more units than centers. In both Summer and Winter, the newly formed power will have to adjust his number of units to match the nmumber of centers controlled. Please note that only adjustments caused by Revolutions will be made in Summer. Since control of centers normally only changes at the end of the Fall (after retreats), this will have no effect on adjustments needed because of Revolutions.

Game Mechanics

To incorperate the rules of Revolutionary Diplomacy, 2 new sub-seasons will be created. After both Spring and Fall (but before the retreats for these seasons), there will be a subseason RevolutionarySpring/ RevolutionaryFall. In these subseasons all changes with respect to the state of a province will be made. If a new player wants to join, he will initiate Revolution in these seasons. The new units for this nation will be created in this season. The normal retreats AND the retreats caused by revolutions will then be done in the normal Fall/Spring retreat seasons. Winter and Summer are then used to adjust the number of Units (if needed). These seasons will also be used to allow replacement of units by a newly formed government (if applicable).

So, in short we have the following seasons: Spring, Revolutionary Spring, Spring Retreats, Summer, Fall, Revolutionary Fall, Fall Retreats,Winter Example:

Czech Repulic, Hungary and Slovakia start a Revolution in Spring Spring Adjustment: New armies in Czech Republic,Hungary and Slovakia Spring retreats: German army retreats from Hungary Summer: Germany disbands 2 unit (1 when retreated OTB) Czech/Hungary Republic must disband 1 unit.

Elimination of players

Players are only truly eliminated if they no longer control a SupplyCenter or a Unit AND no SupplyCenter has this player’s Power as a HomeNation. If a Revolution is started in a center of a ‘Defeated’ Power, then the most recent player of that power has the first right to claim control of that power again. Example: If Russia is a Defeated Nation, and StPetersburg starts a revolution, then the former Russian player is the first candidate to control of the newly formed Russia.

Please note that as long as there are SupplyCenters with the Defeated Power as HomeNation, the power still exists and is only defeated. As such, the rule that an existing power can not initiate revolutions applies.

Entrance of Outside players

New players can enter the game in 2 ways: 1) Initiate a Revolution 2) Claim leadership of an Inactive Nation This will only be allowed AFTER the first year, ie 1995 or later Leaders of an Eliminated Power are not allowed to return as a leader of a different power. Obviously, no player that is still part of the game can take control of an inactive power. Please note that a Defeated Power is still part of the game.