Diplomacy: Float Like A Butterfly, Stab Like A Well-Placed Dagger

[Moody the Wise]

This is to be a playing of the Avon-Hill board game Diplomacy. Players will take the reins of one of seven major powers in 1901 Europe and must outwit, outplay, and outlast their opponents to be the sole Survivor! Or ... something like that.

Link to the rules here.

Starting map as below:



Germany - 101jir
France - Pahvimato
Russia - Makleveh
Turkey - thewamp
Austria-Hungary - Show
Italy - Bobby Archer
England - The Grimmace

Ready-and-willing-substitute - Murska

*I'll answer any questions you may have, but you need to be responsible for your own knowledge of the game's mechanics.

*It ruins games when people decide not to see them through.

Spring 1901 orders due Monday, September 5th, 2400 EST. PM them to me with the subject line: "Diplomacy: FLAB [insert season] [insert country name]

[Makleveh]

I will post my interest and dig my diplomacy shirt out of the closet! If you need to to pick a country to lead to ruin success, let me know, otherwise I'm content with random.

[Zjoot]

I'd love to play this. It'll be my first time, so I'll probably fail to some extent, but I'd still love to play.

[Murska]

I am already playing in the other two games (well technically I'm kind of dead in one) so I won't hog a spot here. I'll sign up as a replacement if needed, though.

[101jir]

I'm in!. If we get to call our countries, I call Russia! NM< just saw that countries are random. Little differance to me!

EDIT: OK, some of the diagrams confuse me, mostly the ones about special circumstances. Could I recieve some clarification on that?

Also, just to clarify, you CAN have territories counted as yours, as long as you were the last one to claim them, and no force has attempted to take it, correct?

Q3: What happens if a unit that you intended to convoy gets attacked on the square it was convoying from? Does the convoy get voided, or does it work?

[thewamp]

I'm in! And Moody, how the hell are we going to abbreviate this in our PMs with orders? FLABSLAWPD?

Wait hold on, that's FLA BS LAW PD. I'm calling this this Florida Bull**** Law Police Department.

[Show]

I'm in!
I'd be fine as an alternate if lots of people show up- I'd rather give a more dedicated player the chance to play rather than chance throwing off the entire game with my general confusion.

It's my first game, so I'm not very confident, as you can see.

(and that lets me get off to a (hopefully) good start without moving a finger! Yess!)

[Murska]

I'm in!
I'd be fine as an alternate if lots of people show up- I'd rather give a more dedicated player the chance to play rather than chance throwing off the entire game with my general confusion.

It's my first game, so I'm not very confident, as you can see.

(and that lets me get off to a (hopefully) good start without moving a finger! Yess!)

Generally if a nation needs a substitute leader, that means the previous player didn't send in moves. Which usually hurts a nation quite a bit, especially early on.

[Bobby Archer]

So definitely in. I've wanted to play Diplomacy again for a long time now.

[Pahvimato]

Posting interest. First game that I'm actually playing, so I doubt I will last long.

[Moody the Wise]

Sorry about not posting again until now, I actually didn't see the thread appear until somebody pointed it out in the Diplomacy Central thread. I guess I just assumed it was taking a really long time to be approved by the moderators, or something. And we lost power here yesterday, so that didn't help.

Anyway, it looks like we've got our starting (and hopefully finishing) 7 now.

Germany - 101jir
France - Pahvimato
Russia - Makleveh
Turkey - thewamp
Austria-Hungary - Show
Italy - Bobby Archer
England - The Grimmace

I'll allow about one week for the opening negotiations, so

Spring 1901 orders will be due by Monday, September 5th, 2400 EST
*Actual turn resolution will be done on Tuesday - I can't promise a specified time on Tuesday, so get them in Monday night, that's the deadline.

[101jir]

Um, my questions?

[Moody the Wise]

I'm in!. If we get to call our countries, I call Russia! NM< just saw that countries are random. Little differance to me!

EDIT: OK, some of the diagrams confuse me, mostly the ones about special circumstances. Could I recieve some clarification on that?

Also, just to clarify, you CAN have territories counted as yours, as long as you were the last one to claim them, and no force has attempted to take it, correct?

Q3: What happens if a unit that you intended to convoy gets attacked on the square it was convoying from? Does the convoy get voided, or does it work?

1) Special circumstances:

• Spain has a North and South coast. A fleet on the North coast (nc) can move to any coastal or sea region adjacent to the (nc). These are Gas, Mao, or Por. A fleet on the South Coast (sc) can move to any coastal or sea region adjacent to the (sc). These are Por, Wes, Lyo, and Mar.
• When moving a fleet to a province with multiple coasts (as described above, you *must* specify which coast you're moving to. ex: F Mao-Spa is an invalid order because we don't know which coast of Spa you're trying to move to. You must write F Mao-Spa(nc) or F Mao-Spa(sc).
• If you can't move to a territory, you can't support any actions on that territory, and this applies as well to bi-coastal provinces. Ex: F Spa(nc) S(upport) F Mar is an invalid order; while Spain and Marseille are adjacent by land, the North coast of Spain is NOT adjacent to Marseilles.
• St. Petersburg and Bulgaria likewise have two coasts (Bulgaria has East and South), and everything said above applies equally to them.
• There are three territories that look like they should have two coasts, but don't. They are Kiel, Denmark, and Sweden. The Kiel Canal runs through the territory of Kiel, and so it is considered to have only one coast.
• Sweden and Denmark are considered to be adjacent by land as well as by coast. A fleet can move from one to the other, and so can an army.
• If it does not have a 3-letter territory designation, you can't move there. Ireland, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, and the Caspian Sea do not exist. Sevastopol has only one coast, and Moscow has no coast.
• Switzerland is impassable, despite having a 3-letter territory designation assigned to it.

I think that about covers the special circumstances. Anything else, Diplomacy vets? Or any further questions about that, 101jir?

2) Yes, I think you have the right of it. To be clear: Only territories with Supply Centers (SCs) really meaningfully change ownership; non-SC territories never really belong to anyone. SCs only change ownership if at the end of a Fall turn (after any Fall retreats, if necessary) there is a unit in the SC that does not belong to the country currently owning the SC. You don't need to keep units in your own SCs in order to maintain control of them - as long as enemies don't sneak in there! Supply Centers do not change hands after the Spring seasons, only after the Fall seasons. Ex: France moves to Spain in the Spring, and then on to Portugal in the Fall. That Winter, France only gains control of Portugal, because he didn't have a unit in Spain at the end of the Fall season.

3) If the convoyed unit has enough support to succeed in going where it wants to go, it will go there, regardless of any attacks on its territory of origin. The same goes for land-based maneuvers - if you move from Berlin to Kiel, and Italy (who's at war with you) moves from Munich to Berlin, then both moves succeed. If, however, there's a unit in Kiel and the Berlin-Kiel move bounces, then the Berlin army stays home and can fend off the Munich to Berlin move.

[101jir]

1) Special circumstances:

• Spain has a North and South coast. A fleet on the North coast (nc) can move to any coastal or sea region adjacent to the (nc). These are Gas, Mao, or Por. A fleet on the South Coast (sc) can move to any coastal or sea region adjacent to the (sc). These are Por, Wes, Lyo, and Mar.
• When moving a fleet to a province with multiple coasts (as described above, you *must* specify which coast you're moving to. ex: F Mao-Spa is an invalid order because we don't know which coast of Spa you're trying to move to. You must write F Mao-Spa(nc) or F Mao-Spa(sc).
• If you can't move to a territory, you can't support any actions on that territory, and this applies as well to bi-coastal provinces. Ex: F Spa(nc) S(upport) F Mar is an invalid order; while Spain and Marseille are adjacent by land, the North coast of Spain is NOT adjacent to Marseilles.
• St. Petersburg and Bulgaria likewise have two coasts (Bulgaria has East and South), and everything said above applies equally to them.
• There are three territories that look like they should have two coasts, but don't. They are Kiel, Denmark, and Sweden. The Kiel Canal runs through the territory of Kiel, and so it is considered to have only one coast.
• Sweden and Denmark are considered to be adjacent by land as well as by coast. A fleet can move from one to the other, and so can an army.
• If it does not have a 3-letter territory designation, you can't move there. Ireland, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crete, and the Caspian Sea do not exist. Sevastopol has only one coast, and Moscow has no coast.
• Switzerland is impassable, despite having a 3-letter territory designation assigned to it.

I think that about covers the special circumstances. Anything else, Diplomacy vets? Or any further questions about that, 101jir?

2) Yes, I think you have the right of it. To be clear: Only territories with Supply Centers (SCs) really meaningfully change ownership; non-SC territories never really belong to anyone. SCs only change ownership if at the end of a Fall turn (after any Fall retreats, if necessary) there is a unit in the SC that does not belong to the country currently owning the SC. You don't need to keep units in your own SCs in order to maintain control of them - as long as enemies don't sneak in there! Supply Centers do not change hands after the Spring seasons, only after the Fall seasons. Ex: France moves to Spain in the Spring, and then on to Portugal in the Fall. That Winter, France only gains control of Portugal, because he didn't have a unit in Spain at the end of the Fall season.

3) If the convoyed unit has enough support to succeed in going where it wants to go, it will go there, regardless of any attacks on its territory of origin. The same goes for land-based maneuvers - if you move from Berlin to Kiel, and Italy (who's at war with you) moves from Munich to Berlin, then both moves succeed. If, however, there's a unit in Kiel and the Berlin-Kiel move bounces, then the Berlin army stays home and can fend off the Munich to Berlin move.

For the first question, I meant more the stuff labeled as "complicated situations" on the instructions. I did not quite understand the diagrams. THX.

Oh, and a further question, can coastal areas be used to build ships, even if they did not originally have a fleet on them in the opening setup?

Also, could I convoy my berlin army to Denmark via my fleet? in my first move?

[Moody the Wise]

For the first question, I meant more the stuff labeled as "complicated situations" on the instructions. I did not quite understand the diagrams. THX.

Oh, and a further question, can coastal areas be used to build ships, even if they did not originally have a fleet on them in the opening setup?

Also, could I convoy my berlin army to Denmark via my fleet? in my first move?

Ah, I'll go through the rulebook later and see if I can elaborate on those. It's been a while since I've actually looked at it, since the rules are at this point just firmly ingrained into my head. Probably not until later tonight. (Unless someone else very familiar with the rules wants to tackle that project. Wamp?)

The two specific questions can be answered quickly, though. You can build a fleet in any supply center you own with at least one coast. When building a fleet in a bi-coastal SC, though, you do have to specify which coast you build it on.

As for the convoy, fleets need to be in open waters to convoy. You can't convoy along the coast. If you had a fleet in the Baltic, then you could convoy an army from Berlin to Denmark.

[thewamp]

Sultan Wamphamid here, please contact me by PM. I expect cookies and flowers from all.

[Moody the Wise]

Since I've gotten a lot of orders already (which is a good sign), I feel obligated to mention that I did mean NEXT Monday, not tonight. Will edit the OP for clarity.

[Show]

Austria-Hungary greets its neighbors, hoping for peaceful relations and fruitful compromise. Our embassies are always open to those willing to speak.
-Show, Foreign Minister of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

[101jir]

Der Held der Zeitschrift

Today, in international news, Kaiser Johann Ingemar Roush the 101st has traveled to our European neighbors to discuss the modern political complexities. According to Kaiser Roush, "It is in dealing with those with the most dangerous, that peace might finally prevail. In the words of Otto the Great, 'Diplomacy is the study of the possible.'" Please be sure to read our article about UFOs spotted over Japan.

[thewamp]

Turkey Declares War on India

"We have nothing but peaceful intentions for our European friends," says foreign minister Abwamp, "and we hope that throughout Europe, a friendly peace can be maintained."

"But," he continues, "these treacherous Indians have transgressed one time too many! Since they broke ties with England, they have become a less and less trustworthy nation. And soon, all of Europe may celebrate as India is crushed like tea leaves."

(OOC: Screw history, this is how it happened)

[Bobby Archer]

The newly-crowned King Roberto of the recently unified Kingdom of Italy wishes peace and prosperity upon our gracious cousins and neighbors. We thank you for the gifts, well-wishes, and ambassadors already dispatched to our doorstep and assure your august personages that such kindnesses shall be very swiftly returned. Personal messages and courtesies are in the process of being prepared for all the great empires of Europe, near and far.

May the blessings of God and the Pope (may he live forever in Rome) be upon you all.

[Makleveh]

Hello! Welcome! Russia here, and all channels are open! I hope everyone has fun and we have an enjoyable and memorable game!

[Show]

Austria-Hungary mobilizes against obscure philosophy

The formidable military might of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was roused today for the first time in almost six days. Outlining a plan to annex nearby territory, the foreign minister explained that the gesture was only the first step in an aggressive anti-existentialism campaign. The campaign, which is planned to delay the birth of Jean-Paul Sartre by over three years, will not be a permanent measure, officials insisted.

"Despite our efforts to the contrary, all of Europe will eventually have to consider the human condition and submit to introspective thought eventually," one dissenter said. "The only way to truly ensure that existentialism stays out of our great Empire would be enlisting the help of all nations."

According to some reports, existentialism had already arrived in the country as early as the nineteenth century, but a clearly disgruntled press official denied such speculation.

[Inanisvoid]

This is Inanisvoid here... Show showed me the breadcrumbs and now I am interested. I understand the game is already underway, so I would like to insert myself as Switzerland, if possible. Go away, as our policy is complete neutrality when it comes to the barbaric tenancies of our war-mongering neighbors!

I would like to simply be a spectator (Total neutrality ensured) and perhaps play in an upcoming game after this one.

Thanks and best of wishes, the peaceful and glorious country of Inani-Switzerland.

[thewamp]

This is Inanisvoid here... Show showed me the breadcrumbs and now I am interested. I understand the game is already underway, so I would like to insert myself as Switzerland, if possible. Go away, as our policy is complete neutrality when it comes to the barbaric tenancies of our war-mongering neighbors!

I would like to simply be a spectator (Total neutrality ensured) and perhaps play in an upcoming game after this one.

Thanks and best of wishes, the peaceful and glorious country of Inani-Switzerland.

I'd personally prefer to have no posting spectators. No offense, but unbiased observation is never unbiased. Anyway, I'm possibly starting up (another) new game soonish, and in general, if you're trying to find new games, this is the place to go to. Not this thread.

[Makleveh]

Summon the Postmaster General! My mail doesn't seem to be returned!

It's not really diplomacy if people barely talk! Besides, no one can win by themselves!

[Show]

Inanis... always posting in my threads.

All right, maybe it isn't that bad, but...

Russia... I'll answer in a minute! I've just had a busy day.

[Makleveh]

That was more of an in general post. I'm sitting here in my high backed chair, petting my cat and contemplating my master stroke.

[Zjoot]

Don't worry, I'll reply to all of the hello's I've recieved. I'm really busy this week with tennis and school (particularly European History. We're about 300 years early for this though.) I'll have a bit more time for such things ar world conquest tomorrow, so I'll start major negotiations, plots, bake sales, etc. then.

[thewamp]

bake sales

This is good. The Sultan demands cookies for his third and fourth wives, to accompany any communication. He also demands flowers for his first wife.