Welcome To Diplomacy
The game of international intrigue
At the beginning of the 20th century. Europe was a complicated cauldron of political intrigue. You are about to travel back to that time and change the course of history in your favor.
The Overview
Diplomacy is a game of negotiations, alliances, promises kept, and promises broken. In order to survive, a player needs help from others. In order to win the game, a player must eventually stand alone. Knowing whom to trust, when to trust them, what to promise, and when to promise it is the heart of the game. Remember, you are a diplomat first, a commander second.
The game of diplomacy is played by seven players. Each player represents one of the seven "Great Powers of Europe" in the years prior to World War I. These Great Powers include Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Italy, France, and Austria-Hungary. At the start of the game, the players randomly decide which Great Power each will represent. This is the only element of chance in the game.
The Objective
As soon as one Great Power controls 18 supply centers, it is considered to have gained control of Europe. The player representing that Great Power is the winner.
However, players can end the game by agreement before a winner is determined. In this case, all players who still have units on the map share equally in a draw.
The Map
Boundaries between major countries are marked with heavy black lines. All provinces are separated by thinner black lines. All provinces (land and water) are identified by name.
There are three types of provinces: Inland, water, and coastal. Only Armies move on inland provinces and only Fleets move on water provinces. A coastal province is land that is adjacent to one or more water provinces. Either an Army or a Fleet can occupy a coastal province.
34 inland and coastal provinces on the map are designated as supply centers. Each supply center is marked with a square containing the color representing the Great Power that controls it. A Great Power has as many Armies or Fleets as the number of supply centers it controls at the end of the last Fall turn. Consequently there will never be more than 34 Armies and Fleets on the map at any one time. A country gains or loses units in accordance with the number of supply centers it controls.
At the start of the game, each Great Power controls three supply centers, with the exception of Russia, which controls four. The 12 remaining supply centers are not occupied at the start of the game.
The Units
Each Army unit is represented by a rectangle with an X through the middle. Each Fleet unit is represented by an anchor.
All units have the same strength. No one Army is more powerful than another. No single Fleet is stronger than another. During the game, various units will support each other to increase their strength and attack weaker adversaries. There can be one unit in a province at a time, no exceptions.
The Turns
The game is divided into two turns. Each turn represents six months of time. The first turn is called a Spring turn and the next a Fall turn. After each Fall turn, each Great Power must reconcile the number of units it controls with the number of supply centers it controls. At this time some units are removed and new ones are built.
The Phases
Each turn has a series of phases. Each phase will last for 24 hours.
Spring:
1. Diplomatic and Order Writing phase
2. Order Resolution and Retreat/Disbanding phase
Fall:
1. Diplomatic and Order Writing phase
2. Order Resolution and Retreat/Disbanding phase
3. Unit Creation and Disbanding phase
The Diplomatic and Order Writing Phase
Players may discuss their plans for upcoming turns via private message or publicly in the thread. During diplomatic negotiations, players may say anything they wish. These conversations usually consist of bargaining or joint military planning, but they may include exchanges of information, denouncements, threats, spreading of rumors, and so on. Public announcements may be made and documents may be written, made public, or kept secret as the players see fit. These discussions and written agreements do not bind a player to anything he/she may do with his/her orders.
Each player sends orders for each of his/her units via private message to the GM. The GM will reveal all orders at the same time. A legal order must be followed, even if there is a mistake. An illegal or ambiguous order must be ignored. A unit that is given an illegal or ambiguous order will instead resort to the default order of "Hold". Each Great Power can order all, some, or none of its units to do one of the following, and will send orders via private message to the GM in the following way:
(Hold): Army "Province X" hold
(Move): Army "Province Y" move "Province X"
(Support Hold): Fleet "Province A" support Fleet "Province B"
(Support Move): Army "Province Z" support Army "Province Y" move "Province X"
(Convoy): Fleet "Province B" convoy Army "Province N" move "Province Y"
(note: only Fleets can be ordered to convoy)
The Order Resolution and Retreat/Disbanding Phase
After all the orders have been revealed, the GM will resolve all conflicts. Resolution will result in successful moves, failed moves, standoffs, retreats, and disbandment.
After all orders have been revealed, any dislodged (defeated) units make their retreat. These retreats are sent via private message to the GM in the following way:
(Retreat): Army "Province X" retreat "Province W"
A dislodged unit must retreat to an adjacent province that it could ordinarily move to if unopposed by other units. Sometimes a retreat is made deeper into enemy territory. A unit cannot retreat to a province which is occupied by another unit, the province from which the attacking unit came, or a province that was left vacant due to a standoff during the same turn.
If there is no available province to retreat to, the dislodged unit will be immediately and automatically dislodged. If two or more units are ordered to retreat to the same province, they must all be disbanded. If a player fails to order a unit to retreat when neccessary it will be disbanded. A unit can always voluntarily disband instead of retreating.
The Unit Building and Disbanding Phase
After each Fall turn, the GM will list how many supply centers each Great Power controls, along with how many Armies and Fleets. Players will then send build or disband orders to the GM so as to bring their number of Armies and Fleets to an equal or lesser value than the number of supply centers. Build or disband orders will be submitted via private message to the GM in the following way:
(Build): Army "Province E" build
(Disband): Fleet "Province F" disband
The Orders
Players should make a list of their units and the provinces they occupy for easy reference. In each set of orders the type of unit is written first ("Army" or "Fleet") followed by the province that each unit occupies ("Army Paris" or "Army Par"). This is followed by the order that the unit is given ("Army Paris holds" or "Army Par hold").
Players may refer to the abbreviations shown on the map when writing their orders. Keep in mind that a number of provinces begin with the same three letters, so many may have special abbreviations. When in doubt, write it out.
Keep in mind that only one unit can be in a province at the same time, so there should be no confusion as to which unit is being ordered.
The Hold Order
You can attempt to keep a unit in place by ordering it to "hold". Not giving a unit a command, or giving a unit an illegal command, will be interpreted as ordering it to hold.
("Fleet London holds")
The Move Order
An army can be ordered to move into an adjacent inland or coastal province. Armies cannot be ordered to move into a water province. Since no two units can occupy the same province at the same time, an Army that is ordered to move to an adjacent province may end up not moving at all.
A fleet can be ordered to move to an adjacent water province or coastal province. Fleets cannot be ordered to move to an inland province. When a Fleet is in a coastal province, it can be ordered to move to an adjacent coastal province only if it is adjacent along the coast (example, a fleet in Rome may not move to Vienna).
Any location on the map that is not named cannot be moved into or occupied in any way. Switzerland is impassable and cannot be occupied. With the exception of England, islands cannot be occupied.
Certain provinces have two separately identified coasts. A Fleet on one of these coasts can move only to provinces adjacent to that coast only, and may not move through the province to go to the other coast in the province. The Fleet is nevertheless, considered to be occupying the entire province. If a Fleet is ordered to move to a province with multiple identified coasts, and it is possible for the Fleet to move to either coast, then the order must specify which coast that Fleet moves to. Otherwise the order will be ambiguous and dismissed.
Kiel and Constantinople are considered as having one coast, due to waterways that run through them. Sweden is considered to have one coast, despite bordering Denmark's coast.
Sweden and Denmark are considered to share a coastline. A Fleet may not move from the Baltic directly to the Skaggerak province without going through Sweden or Denmark first. The border of Sweden and Denmark does not split Sweden's coast into two coasts. Denmark does not have any border with Berlin.
Units may never move to switch places with one another, unless they do so with the help of convoys.
("Army Paris move Burgundy")
("Fleet Kiel move Berlin")
("Fleet Constantinople move Bulgaria east coast")
The Support Hold Order
Since all units have equal strength, one unit cannot attack and advance against another without help. That "help" is called support. If an attack is successful, the attacking unit moves into the province to which it was ordered. If the unit that was attacked had no orders of its own to move elsewhere, it is defeated and dislodged from the province. The dislodged unit must retreat or be disbanded.
An Army or Fleet can provide support to any other Army or Fleet. A unit holding with two supporters has a strength of three, itself plus the two supporters. Support can be provided to a fellow unit or to another Great Power's unit. Support can be given without consent and cannot be refused.
A unit will defend with the strength of itself plus any supporting units. One unit holding and one unit defending has a strength of two, and will hold against any attack of strength two or lower.
A unit gives up the chance to move on a turn in order to support another unit's order. The province to which a unit is providing support must be one to which the supporting unit could have legally moved during that turn. Thus, an Army in Brest cannot support into a water province. Likewise, a Fleet in Kiel cannot support an Army moving inland.
A Fleet that can move to a province with two separate coasts can support another Fleet in that province without regard to separate coastlines.
A unit may not support a unit in holding a province if that unit is given an order to move to a different province. If the unit receiving defensive support attempts to move, then the order for the unit to give support will be invalid. Likewise, a unit may not move to a province and then receive support to hold there on the same turn.
("Fleet English Channel support Army Belgium hold")
("Army Picardi support Fleet Belgium hold")
The Support Move Order
A unit will attack with the strength of itself plus the any supporting units. One unit attacking and two units supporting has a strength of three, and will dislodge any holding unit with a lower strength.
A unit ordered to move can only be supported by a support order that matches the move the unit is trying to make. A valid support order must name the province the unit is attacking from, as well as the province the unit is attacking to. An invalid support order to move will not become a support order to hold. It will become a hold order for the would be supporting unit.
("Fleet English Channel support Army Picardi move Belgium")
("Army Rome support Fleet Adriatic Sea move Venice")
The Convoy Order
A Fleet in a water province (not in a coastal one) can convoy an Army from any coastal province adjacent to that water province. To do this, the Army must be ordered to move to the intended province, and the Fleet must be ordered to convoy it. A Fleet cannot convoy a Fleet.
A Fleet cannot convoy more than one Army during the same turn. The order to the Fleet must contain both the location and the destination of the Army being convoyed. Just as with support orders, the convoy order must match the move order given by the Army being convoyed. Only Armies can be convoyed. "Support" from those Armies cannot be transported via convoy to another unit. If Fleets occupy adjacent water provinces, an Army can be convoyed through all these water provinces on one turn, landing in a coastal province adjacent to the final Fleet in the chain.
An Army may be convoyed via two or more seperate convoy routes. The convoy will be successful so long as at least one route is not broken.
("Army Tunis move Smyrna, Fleet Ionian Sea convoy Army Tunis move Smyrnia, Fleet Eastern Mediterranean convoy Army Tunis move Smyrnia")
("Army Rumania move Constantinople", Fleet Black Sea convoy Army Rumania move Constantinople")
The Order Resolutions
"conflicts" occur when multiple units move try to move into the same province, or one unit tries to move into the province of another unit.
"conflict" is resolved through the following rules
The Cut Support
If a unit providing support gets attacked by any unit other than the one it is providing support against, it will be forced to hold and the support order will fail.
If a unit providing support gets dislodged in any way, by any unit, then the support order will fail.
Even if a unit gets dislodged, it may still cut support to a different unit, so long as the unit it moves to is not supporting against it.
The Standoff
A standoff occurs when two or more units attempt to move into the same province, all with the same strength. When two units both try to move into the same province with no support, or when two units both try to move into the same province, both with one support, or when three units both try to move into one province, a standoff is the result.
The result of a standoff is that all units ordered to move into the province will not move, and will remain in their original province.
The Push
When two or more units both try to enter the same province, and one unit moves with more support than the others, then the unit that moved with the most support will move into the province and occupy it. The other units will remain in their original province.
The Dislodgement
Dislodgement occurs when an attacking unit moves with more strength than a holding unit. The attacking unit will move to and occupy the province, and the dislodged unit will be forced to retreat during the next phase.
The Hold
The hold occurs when an attacking unit fails to move with more strength than a holding unit. If both a moving and a holding unit have the same amount of supports, then the holding unit will hold, and the attacking unit will remain in its original province.
The Convoy Disruption
If any one Fleet in a chain that is convoying an Army gets dislodged, then the Army will remain in its original province. If the Army being convoyed is in some way prevented from moving to its destination, by a hold or a standoff, then the Army will remain in its original province.
The Weird And Interesting Situations
If one unit is holding in a province, and two outside units both move into that province with equal numbers of supports, the holding unit will
not be dislodged, and the two units attempting to move into the province will have a standoff. The two moving units will remain in their original provinces.
A dislodged unit can still cause a standoff, so long as the province it creates it in is different from the one that dislodged it.
A Great Power can never dislodge its own unit through any orders given. It can not move to dislodge its own unit, and it cannot support to dislodge its own unit. If it is the Great Power's unit moving then the moving unit will remain in its original province. If it is the Great Power supporting a different unit, then that support will be removed.
A Great Power can, with support of its own units or support from a foreign Great Power, create a standoff with itself, or otherwise push itself into a provence despite moving there with another one of its units.
If an Army tries to move to a destination, and a convoy is set up, and yet it is possible to arrive there through a land route, then that Army will use the land route unless the player specifies that he/she wants to use the convoy. This is to prevent "kidnapping" of Armies.
A convoyed Army will not cut the support of a unit that is supporting an army that is moving against the only convoy. A convoyed Army will cut the support of a unit if it arrives there by a different convoy than the one it is supporting against.