Jef Bryant
0. All the rules of Classic Diplomacy (Version 1971) apply except for the modifications below.
1. The world has suffered from the greenhouse effect and all the oceans have dried up, which means there are no fleets in this variant. The only unit is an army which can move to any named province on the classic map, including all the sea spaces.
2. The game will be anonymous with press. No black press will be permitted although anonymous press will be allowed.
3. The game will start in Winter 1900 when the players press will be published (This season is perhaps the most important of the game!). Movement will start in the following season, Spring 1901.
4. The “Spring Raid” rule will be used: A player captures a supply centre by occupying it in a Spring OR Autumn season. Consequently, there will be two build seasons per year in Summer and Winter.
5. During the Summer and Winter build seasons a player may build an army in any vacant supply centre he owns.
6. The British system of movement will be used; i.e. conditional Summer retreats AND constructions will be sent with Spring orders and conditional Winter retreats and constructions will be sent with Autumn orders. Two sets of orders per game year.
7. The ‘Automatic Pilot’ rule will be used for units which NMR and ‘Just’s Right Hand’ rule will be used for units which have not received a retreat order. The game report will not indicate if a player is NMR. If a player forgets to build an army, one will be automatically built in his starting home province, if possible. If occupied, any other vacant supply centre he has previously captured will be used for the construction chosen in chronological order of capture.
8. This variant is © May 1992 by Jef Bryant, and can be published only if a copy of the publication be sent to Rue Jean Pauly 121, B-4430 ANS, Belgium. Copies can be distributed freely for postal play and variant banks. Any modification of this variant is prohibited without permission of the designer.
9. At the start of the game every player will be designated one starting home supply centre province on a random basis by the GM. This means up to 34 players may be accommodated. Any supply centres not designated will become neutral supply centres.
If this occurs the GM may re-arrange the starting supply centres of the players so that a fairer distribution of neutral centres is obtained.
All the neutral supply centres will contain ‘Lebling’ units; i.e. an army in civil disorder. This army simply holds in place and cannot retreat. If a superior force is directed at such an army it is removed from the board. Other players can support a Lebling unit in place.
10. If a player is eliminated from the game; i.e. by having all his supply centres captured during a Summer or Winter season he may start again by asking the GM for a new starting supply centre as a new player, providing there are still neutral supply centres available.
11. Once the game has started, new or previously eliminated players may join in by being given, on a random basis by the GM, a supply centre that hasn’t been already captured. If there are no supply centres left the GM will then choose, in a random manner, amongst the following new potential supply centres:
Ireland (Ire), Iceland (Ice), Crete (Cre), Cyprus (Cyp), Sicily (Sic), Corsica (Cor), Sardinia (Sar), Switzerland (Swi) and the Caspian Sea (Cas).
Only the selected home supply centre for a new player will become a new passable space on the board, the remaining spaces staying impassable until such time when another new player requires a starting centre.
12. A player’s country or power uses the name of the initial supply centre he starts or re-starts the game with. In order to avoid confusion on the map each power will also be designated a 2 figure number which will be also mentioned in the game report.
13. There are 34 centres at the start of the game with a possible maximum of 43 centres, if all the extra supply centres become activated. Victory criterion will be decided by one of the following possibilities:
a) A solo win can be achieved by capturing 17 centres after any Autumn or Spring season.
b) A 2-way win can be declared by each of the two players concerned if each has at least 13 centres after any Autumn or Spring season.
c) A 3-way win may be declared by each of the three players concerned if each has at least 10 centres after any Autumn or Spring season.
If 2 players manage to capture 17 supply centres at the same time the game will continue until one has more than the other or a different criterion is reached.
Alternatively, voting for a game-end proposal is also possible after the game year 1905 according to the house rules, if none of the above criterion have been reached.
Terrestrial Chaos – Rule Clarification
A. Some players who lose their supply centre can still write press. This is in line with the rules. Some of these players may start again with another power and will write press under their new country. Therefore, some players may be writing press using two, three or even more call signs! All press from powers that have been eliminated will be written with the prefix “Ex-”.
B. I have considered a potential problem in the game about Spring 1903 when the number of players will start to be reduced significantly. New (or recently eliminated) players have the right to play (again) at any time taking over either an unowned supply centre still neutral or a new, previously impassable supply centre mentioned in the rules. Assuming a player starts in 1903 with his one unit, it will be very difficult to survive with adjacent players controlling 2 or more units. Bearing this in mind I will consider the possibility of designating 2 (or more?) initial units relatively close together, if possible. This would depend on the number of units of the powers in the adjacent areas to the starting player.