So what better way to celebrate our collective villainy that by playing a healthy game of Diplomacy? "But Triskelli, you dashing rapscallion" I hear you ask, "How does one play this marvelous sounding game?". I'll let Bellmaker from Something Awful explain:
Rules Summary
SpoilerShowObjective:
The object of the game is to control 18 Supply Centers (territories marked with a circle, shaded by their controller). You do not have to have a unit in a supply center to control it. It belongs to the last person to occupy the territory.
Each turn covers half a year- Spring 1901, Fall 1901, Spring 1902, etc. On each turn, you will get time to discuss strategy, alliances, and double crosses. You will then submit orders for your troops. All orders will resolve simultaneously, resulting in some unexpected surprises for everyone involved.
There are two types of units- Armies(A) (marked with a tank) and Fleets(F) (marked with a ship). Only one unit of a given player may occupy a territory (no stacking). Each can only move one space a turn (unless a convoy occurs, see below).
A unit can be given one of four orders each turn:
-Hold
-Move
-Support
-Convoy (fleets only)
Hold:
If you do not give a unit an order, it is considered to be holding. It will defend to the best of its ability.
Move:
Armies can move between land spaces. For example,
Austria: A Vie-Tyr
means the army in Vienna(Vie) will try to move to Tyrolia(Tyr).
Fleets can move from coastal space to coastal space, ocean space to ocean space, or one to the other. The fleet currently in Brest at the start of the game can make any of the following moves:
F Bre-Mao, F Bre-Eng, F Bre-Pic, or F Bre-Gas. Note that France cannot do F Bre-Par as you cannot move a fleet to an inland space.
Moving into a contested/occupied space results in combat. Combat is a simple numbers game. Every unit is of equal strength. If a unit tries to move into an occupied space, it fails. If two units try to move into the same space, they both fail. If the following orders were given...
Germany: A Ber-Sil
Russia: A War-Sil
Austria: A Vie-Boh
...the German and Russian units hold position as it is a standoff (they have the same strength, so neither is allowed to conquer Silesia). There is no one stopping Austria's unit from moving into Bohemia, so that order succeeds. This is what the result would look like.
Support:
The key to combat is support. You can have an unit support a move action into a space that they could move that turn, giving the moving unit more "strength". In that same scenario, if the orders were like this...
Germany: A Ber-Sil
A Mun S A Ber-Sil
Russia : A War-Sil
Austria: A Vie-Boh
...the army in Berlin would move into Silesia, as it has the "strength" of two units with the support of the unit in Munich. The Russian army in Warsaw is forced to hold, and the Austrian move into Bohemia is unaffected.
A unit cannot support a moving unit if it is under attack from a country it isn't supporting an move towards. This is commonly referred to as "cutting support".
For example, if Italy had an army in Tyrolia and ordered A Tyr-Mun that turn, the unit in Munich could not support the unit moving into Silesia (it's preoccupied with the attacking unit). This would result in a standoff for control of Silesia, forcing the units in Berlin and Warsaw to hold.
A unit can also support a holding unit, giving it the "strength" of an extra defender. It would take three units (one attacking, two supporting) for the attacking country to overcome the defender in this case, and one more supporter for each additional "defender".
Your units can be supported by another Power's units with or without your consent. Sometimes your "friends" may give you a hand just to get you out of the way...
Convoy
An army can move more than one space via a convoy. In this example, Italy has a fleet in Tys.
Italy wants to set up a base in Africa this turn. He could write the following order...
Italy: A Rom-Tun
F Tys C Rom-Tun
...to move his army in Rome(Rom) to Tunisia(Tun) in one turn.
If Italy had a fleet in Wes as well, he could use this order...
Italy: A Rom-Spa
F Tys C Rom-Spa
F Wes C Rom-Spa
...to move his army from Rome to Spain in one turn. Another Great Power can help convoy your army, but make sure all the fleets involved give the correct orders. "Mistakes" have been known to happen...
Retreating:
All dislodged units must retreat one space simultaneously after all orders have been executed. They may not move into the space the attacker just left or into a space left empty because of a standoff. If they can't move, or if two retreating units move to the same space, they are disbanded (removed from play).
Reinforcements/Disbanding
Each Supply Center you control supports one of your units. After each Fall turn (every other turn), you will gain or lose units based on the number of Supply Centers you have. If you have more Centers than you did last Fall, you may place new units in your unoccupied home Supply Centers. If they are all occupied, you will have to wait until next Fall.
If you have less Centers than you did last Fall, you will have to remove units from the board until you have one for each Center you control.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the key to the game. You are only bound by your submitted orders each turn. You are not required to follow any other verbal or written agreements. Promises, lying, manipulation, and backstabbing are all fair game. However, they're also fair game to everyone else...
That's pretty much it! This should get you through about 95% of all movement and conflict resolution, barring more complicated chain reactions and stuff. You shouldn't have any problems following along at home :)
Ah, you're back! Don't worry if this seems like too much to digest all at once, I'll be more than happy to explain any part of the rules to anyone at any time. Once you're able to wrap your head around the rules it's rather intuitive. The complexity comes from the other players, not from the rules. Even with all my cunning I've only managed to win one game, and I've been betrayed, doublecrossed, and stabbed countless times. Then again, I've managed to achieve my own share of puppetry, swindling, and stabbing as well...
Hopefully we'll be able to generate enough drama to make this entire operation worthwhile. It takes a certain type of person to enjoy this kind of game... And I think the Better Than Wolves forum is exclusively populated by them! =]
