To regulate the game, Chestnut Diplomacy will be run by the Games Master (GM), who is responsible for holding orders issued by each piece, executing the moving of the pieces, enforcing rules, answering any questions and maintaining this website. The GM will also keep record of all orders and moves made to ensure there is no sabotage of the game.
Orders must be issued to the GM by ______ on each move night to either the official e-mail account ( chestnutdiplomacy@hotmail.com ), to the GM in person, or to the WAR ROOM. Orders may be issued to the GM earlier at the player's convenience. Orders not given to the GM on time will not be accepted and the player will miss their turn.
THE RULES
WARNING: These rules may be slightly altered to fit a CHESTNUT DIPLOMACY GAME. Please see Games Master for questions.
RULES For Diplomacy Diplomacy is the Avalon Hill Game Company’s Trademark for its game of International Intrigue.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
“Diplomacy” is a game of skill and cunning negotiations. Chance plays no part.
In “Diplomacy”, each player guides the destinies of one European power through the intricacies of the international politics. By negotiating alliances with other players and careful planning, each player seeks control of Europe. “Diplomacy” tests your ability not only to plan a campaign, but also to outwit your fellow players in diplomatic negotiations.
“Diplomacy” is a realistic game of strategy without dice, and nothing left to luck alone. “Diplomacy” pits man against man in an exciting battle of wits. Up to seven can play.
1. Players and Countries Diplomacy is best played by seven players, though as few as two may play. Each player represents one of the Great Powers of Europe in the years just prior to World War I: England, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, Italy and France. Each is independent of the other. At the start of the game, the players draw lots to determine which Great Power each will represent. This is the only element of chance in the game.
2. Object of the Game As soon as one Great Power controls 18 Supply Centers, it is said to have “gained control of Europe,” and the player representing that Great Power is the winner. Players may terminate the game by mutual agreement before a winner is determined, in which case all players who still have pieces on the board share equally in a draw.
3. Short Game Since gaining control of 18 supply centers takes a long time, players may agree beforehand to stop the game at a certain time. Players may agree to regard the player who has the most pieces on the board at that time as the winner.
4. Diplomacy
1. Combinations and agreements among the players may affect the course of the game a great deal. These are determined during the diplomacy period which takes place before each move. This period lasts 30 minutes before the first move and 15 minutes before each move thereafter. These periods may end sooner if all players agree at the time.
2. During diplomacy periods, a player may say anything he wishes. Usually, the players go to another room or off to a corner in twos and threes. They try to keep the content of their conversations secret. They may try to overhear the conversations of others. The conversations usually consist of bargaining or joint military planning, but they may include such things as exchanging information, denouncing, threatening, spreading rumors, and so forth. Public announcements may be made and documents may be written and made public or not, as the players see fit. The rules do not bind a player to anything he says; deciding whom to trust as situations arise is part of the game.
5. Underlying Economic Structure of the Game (Supply Centers) Certain provinces on the board, 34 in all, are designated “supply centers.” Supply centers are marked with a black dot. Each of these provinces produces supplies sufficient to keep an army or fleet in being. A country may have only as many armies and fleets on the board as it controls supply centers. Consequently, there may never be more than 34 armies and fleets (hereafter called “units”) on the board at one time. A country gains or loses units in accordance with the number of supply centers it controls.
6. The Board and Set 6.1
THE BOARD
The physical features shown on the board, except for the coastlines, are purely decorative. The countries are set off by heavy, solid, black lines. The Great Powers are also cut into “provinces” by light, solid, black lines. The smaller countries are each one “province.” The seas are divided into “bodies of water” by light, solid, black lines. Each province or body of water is a “space.”
6.2 UNITS “Armies” are denoted by square blocks and represent control of a province by military forces. “Fleets” are denoted by long blocks and represent control of a body of water or a coastal province by warships or their associated land forces. The set contains 112 Markers: 8 for armies and 8 for fleets for each Great Power. If any Great Power grows until it runs out of markers of either kind, some other country will probably have been eliminated from the game, and its markers may be used by the growing Great Power.
6.3 STARTING POSITION At the start of the game each Great Power, except Russia, controls three supply centers and has three units. Russia controls four supply centers and has four units. These units begin play, one in each home supply center, in the following positions (where A means army and F means fleet):
England (dark blue): F London, F Edinburgh, A Liverpool Germany (black): A Berlin, A Munich, F Kiel Russia (white): A Moscow, A Warsaw, F St. Petersburg (South Coast), F Sevastopol Turkey (yellow): A Constantinople, A Smyrna, F Ankara Austria-Hungary (red): A Vienna, A Budapest, F Trieste Italy (green): A Rome, A Venice, F Naples France (light blue): A Paris, A Marseilles, F Brest
The twelve remaining supply centers are not occupied at the start of the game.
7. The move order and the mechanics of writing orders
7.1 MOVEMENT
Only one unit may be in a space at a time. On each move each Great Power may order all its units, or some, or none of them. A unit may be ordered to do only one thing on each move: an army may be ordered to move, hold, or support; a fleet may be ordered to move, hold, support, or convoy. An army may move to any adjacent province unless this move causes it to conflict with another unit, under the rule that no two units may occupy the same space at the same time. A fleet may move to any body of water or coastal province which is adjacent to its current location, unless this move causes it to conflict with another unit. When a fleet is in a coastal province, the warships are assumed to be at any point along the coast of that province. The fleet may move to an adjacent coastal province only if it is adjacent along the coastline, so that the vessels could move down the coast to that province; for example, a fleet may move from Rome to Tuscany or Rome to Naples, but not from Rome to Venice, because these two provinces, although adjacent and both coastal, are adjacent only along an inland boundary, not along a coastline. Units may not move to islands, except to England, nor to Switzerland, nor to any location not specifically named on the playing board.
7.2 ATTACK A move order, correctly given, will sometimes in these rules be called an attack upon the space to which the unit has been ordered to move.
7.3 MOVEMENT IN CERTAIN UNUSUAL POSITIONS ON THE BOARD.
7.3.1 KIEL AND CONSTANTINOPLE. By virtue of the waterways through these two provinces, fleets may enter them along one coast, and , on another move, leave from the other coast. Armies may also pass into and out of these provinces, freely bridging these waterways. Note that this does not mean that pieces may jump over these spaces.
7.3.2 PROVINCES HAVING TWO COASTS Bulgaria, Spain, and St. Petersburg. A fleet entering one of these provinces enters along one coast and may then move only to a space adjacent to that coast; it nevertheless occupies the entire province. If a fleet is ordered to one of these provinces and it is possible for the fleet to move to either coast, the order must specify which coast, or the fleet does not move. A fleet which may move to on e of these provinces may “support” an action in that province (see section 9, THE SUPPORT ORDER) without regard to the separation of the coastline. Thus, because a fleet in Marseilles may move to Spain, although only to the south coast, it may nevertheless support an action anywhere in Spain, even if that action is an order to a fleet to move to, or to hold in, Spain (north coast). It should be clear that the converse is not true: a fleet in Spain (north coast) cannot support an action in or into Marseilles, because it cannot move to Marseilles at all in a single move.
7.3.3 SWEDEN AND DENMARK An army or fleet may move from Sweden to Denmark, or vice versa. A fleet moving from the Baltic Sea to the Skaggerak or vice versa must first move to Sweden or Denmark. The common border with Denmark does not separate the coast of Sweden into two coastlines; and Denmark does not border on Berlin.
7.4 MECHANICS OF WRITING ORDERS Each player writes his “orders” on a slip of paper, usually keeping them secret, and these orders to the armies and fleets are all exposed at once. Each player reads his orders while the others check to be sure that he is reading what he actually wrote. An illegal order is not followed, and the unit so ordered simply stands in its place. A mistaken order, if legal, must be followed. An order which admits of two meanings is not followed. A badly written order, which nevertheless can have only one meaning, must be followed.
7.5 GAMESMASTER If sufficient persons are available, it may be found convenient to have an eighth person, a “Gamesmaster,” who could collect the orders and read them, adjudicating the resulting situations and making rulings when necessary. His role should be strictly neutral; he could also keep time for the diplomacy periods. He could keep a running tally of ownership of supply centers.
7.6 DATES Orders for the first move are dated “Spring 1901”; for the second, “Fall 1901”; for the third, “Spring 1902”; and so on.
7.7 FORMAT In each set of orders, the space each unit is in is written first, followed by its order. It is convenient to make a list of your units and their spaces for easy reference during conferences and then to write your orders on the same list. The first three letters of any space will almost always form an unambiguous abbreviation, except for spaces beginning with “Nor.” In this rulebook, the following abbreviations will be used: North Sea, Nth; Norwegian Sea, Nrg; Norway, Nwy; North Atlantic, Nat; North Africa, Naf.
8. Conflicts If two or more units are ordered to the same space, none of them may move. If a unit is not ordered to move, or is prevented from moving, and other units are ordered to its space the other occupies, neither may move. These three situations are called “standoffs.” Like the other rules governing conflicts, these rules apply whether the units involved are armies or fleets, which are essentially equal in power and different only in the spaces to which they may move. These rules also apply (with two minor exceptions noted in 9. 3. And the note to 9. 6.), whether the units involved belong to the same or different Great Powers.
9. The Support Order.
9.1 ORDERING SUPPORT A unit may give up its move in order to support another unit trying to hold or enter a space. This space must be one to which the supporting unit could have moved if not opposed by other units; that is, the space which is the destination of the action being supported must be adjacent to the space in which the supporting unit is located, and must be suitable for an army or fleet, whichever the supporting unit may be. To order a support, it is necessary to write the location of the supporting piece, the word “supports” or its equivalent, and both the location and destination of the piece receiving support. The letter “S” may be used to means supports. Thus, A Tyr-Mun, A Bur S A Tyr-Mun; or for units of another country, A Sil S RUSSIAN A War-Pur. Fleets may support armies and vice versa; but, as implied above, a fleet may not give support into an inland province, nor into a coastal province not adjacent along the same coast, and an army may not give support into a body of water, because it cannot move there even if unopposed.
9.2 EFFECT OF SUPPORT A unit moves with the strength of itself and all its valid supports. Unless it is opposed by a unit equally well or better supported, it may make its move, the rule under CONFLICTS above notwithstanding. Equally supported units which conflict in the situations described in Section 8, CONFLICTS, Follow those rules. A unit which otherwise would have remained in the space attacked by a better supported unit is dislodged and must retreat or be disbanded.
9.3 SELF-DISLODGMENT PROHIBITED One exception mentioned in Section 8, CONFLICTS, is that an order to move into a space occupied by another unit of the same country may not succeed if the second unit fails to leave that space. The order would still be valid for other purposes, however, such as standing off an equally well or less well supported attack on the same space by units of other countries. Similarly, an order by one country which supports an attack by another country against a space occupied by one of the first country’s units does not permit a move dislodging that unit, but may be valid for other purposes.
Example 1 ENGLAND: F Den-Kie, F Nth-Den, F Hel S F Nth-Den. RUSSIA: A Ber-Kie, F Bal S F Ska-Den, F Ska-Den. Underlined move fail. England cannot dislodge his own unit, but his supported attack on Denmark is sufficient to stand off the supported Russian attack on the same space.
Example 2 FRANCE: A Bur Holds. GERMANY: A Mun-Bur, A Kie S AUSTRIAN A Boh-Mun. AUSTRIA: A Boh-Mun. The German support for the Austrian unit does not enable it to advance so as to dislodge a German Unit. Note, however, that if Austria had supported its attack on Munich with one of its own units, say AUSTRIA: A Tyr S A Boh-Mun, then the German unit in Munich would have been dislodged and forced to retreat.
9.4 SELF-STANDOFF While a country may not dislodge its own units, it can stand itself off by ordering two equally well supported attacks on the same space. However, if one of the attacks has more support than the other, it will succeed.
Example 3 AUSTRIA: A Ser-Bud, A Vie-Bud. RUSSIA: A Gal S. AUSTRIAN A Ser-Bud. The Austrian move A Ser-Bud succeeds due to the Russian support. It would not succeed if there were an Austrian army already in Budapest. Note that the move succeeds whether the support is from a foreign unit as illustrated or from a unit of the same country.
9.5 BELEAGUERED GARRISON Since dislodgment occurs only when another piece enters the space in question, as indicated in IX. 2., above, it follows that if two equally well supported units attack the same space, thus standing each other off, a unit already in that space is not dislodged.
Example 4 AUSTRIA: A Ser Holds. RUSSIA: A Rum-Ser, A Bud S A Rum-Ser. TURKEY: A Bul-Ser, A Gre S A Bul-Ser. Note that nothing happens to the Austrian Army. If it had tried to give support, however, its support would have been cut by either or both of the two attacks.
9.6 HOLDING AND RECEIVING SUPPORT A unit not ordered to move (i.e., one that is ordered to hold, ordered to convoy, ordered to support, or not ordered at all) may receive support in holding. A unit ordered to move may receive support only for its attempted movement. It may not be supported in place in the event that its attempted move fails. Thus, A Mun Holds, A Boh S A Mun is valid, but if A Mun-Ber, the A Bot S A Mun is not valid because A Mun was ordered to move.
Note that a unit need not be next to a unit it is supporting; it must be next to the space into which it is giving support and it must be able to move to that space if unopposed by other units. Support cannot be convoyed. A player may not, by an attack, cut support being given by one of his own units (see 10, CUTTING SUPPORT).
9.7 DISLODGMENT OF A PIECE PARTICIPATING IN A STANDOFF It follows from the above rules that, where two or more equally well supported units are ordered to the same space, neither may move, even though one of them has been dislodged by a supported attack on the same move. However, if two units are ordered to the same space, and one of them is dislodged by a unit coming from that space, the other unit may move.
Example 5. TURKEY: A Bul-Rum. RUSSIA: A Rum-Bul, A Ser S A Rum-Bul, A Sev-Rum. Again, underlines moves fail. The Turkish A Bul is dislodged. The Russian A Sev, even though ordered to the same space as the Turkish A Bul, nevertheless moves because A Bul was dislodged by an attack from that space (i.e., both the Turkish A Bul and the Russian A Sev are ordered to Rumania, but since the Russian Army moving from Rumania is able to dislodge the Turkish A Bul, the Russian A Sev is then able to move into Rumania).
Example 6. TURKEY: A Bul-Rum, F Bla S A Bul-Rum. RUSSIA: A Rum-Bul, A Gre S A Rum-Bul, A Ser S A Rum-Bul, A Sev-Rum. Even though it has support, the dislodged Turkish unit fails to prevent the unsupported Russian move into Rumania because the Turkish unit was dislodged by a unit coming from Rumania. Note that in each example above, if Russia had not ordered a Sev-Rum, Rumania would have been vacant for purposes of another unit's retreat because Rumania was not vacant due to standoff. It may be said that a dislodged unit has no effect on the space its attacker came from.
10. Cutting support If a unit ordered to support in a given space is attacked from a space different from the one into which it is giving support, or is dislodged by an attack from any space, including the one into which it is giving support, then its support is "cut". The unit that was to have that support the does not receive it.
Example 7. GERMANY: A Pru-War, A Sil S A Pru-War. RUSSIA: A War Holds, A Boh-Sil. The Support of the army in Silesia is cut by an attack from Bohemia.
Example 8. GERMANY: A Pru-War, A Sil S A Pru-War. RUSSIA: A War-Sil. The German support is not cut by the attack from Warsaw because that is the space into which support is being given.
Example 9. GERMANY: A Ber-Pru, A Sil S A Ber-Pur. RUSSIA: A Pru-Sil A War S A Pru-Sil, F Bal-Pru. Here the German army in Silesia is dislodged by the Russian army coming from Prussia. The support of the Silesian army is thus cut and the German A Ber can only standoff the Russian F Bal.
Example 10. GERMANY: A Ber Holds, A Mun-Sil. RUSSIA: a Pru-Ber, A Sil S A Pru-Ber, A Boh-Mun, A Tyr S A Boh-Mun. Note here that the German army in Munich is dislodged by a Russian Attack, but that it is still able to cut the support of the Russian A Sil and thus prevent the Russian A Pru from entering Berlin.
11. Retreats After all the orders have been read, the conflicts resolved, and the moves made, any dislodged unit makes its retreat. It must move to a space to which it could ordinarily move if unopposed by other units; that is, to an adjacent space suitable to an army or fleet, as the case may be. The unit may not retreat, however, to any space which is occupied, nor to the space its attacker came from, nor to a space which was left vacant due to a standoff on the move. If no place is available for retreat, the dislodged unit is "disbanded"; that is, its marker is removed from the board.
11.1 WRITING RETREATS If two or more units must retreat after a move, the retreats are written down immediately by the players concerned, without diplomacy, and simultaneously exposed, as with movement orders.
11.2 OTHER RETREAT RULES A player may choose to disband a unit rather than retreat it. If two or more units may retreat only to the same space, they are all disbanded, unless only one of the units is ordered to retreat and the others are ordered to be disbanded. In that case, the unit ordered to retreat may do so. If two or more units are ordered to retreat to the same space, they are all disbanded. Retreats may neither be convoyed nor supported.
12. The Convoy Order 12.1
CONVOYING AN ARMY ACROSS A BODY OF WATER A fleet in a body of water may convoy an army from any province on the coast of that body to any other province on the coast of that body. To do this, the army must be ordered to the intended province and the fleet must be ordered to convoy it. The letter “C” may be used to mean “convoys.” The order to the fleet must give both the location and the destination of the army being convoyed. The orders must specify the same destination or the army may not move. Thus: A Lon-Bel, F Nth C A Lon-Bel. Foreign armies may also be convoyed: for clarity the player may wish to indicate the foreign nationality, as F Nth C ENGLISH A Lon-Bel.
12.2 CONVOYING AN ARMY ACROSS SEVERAL BODIES OF WATER If two or more fleets control adjacent bodies of water, an army may be convoyed through all these bodies of water on one move. Thus, ENGLAND A Lon-Tun, F Eng C A Lon-Tun, F Mid C A Lon-Tun; FRANCE: F Wes C ENGLISH A Lon-Tun.
12.3 DISRUPTING A CONVOY If a fleet ordered to convoy is dislodged during the move, the army to be convoyed remains in its original province and has no effect on the province to which it was ordered. An attack on a convoying fleet which does not dislodge it does not affect the convoy.
Example 11. FRANCE: A Spa-Nap, F Lyo C A Spa-Nap, F Tyr C A Spa-Nap. ITALY: F Ion-Tyr, F Tun S F Ion-Tyr. The fleet in Tyr is Dislodged; Consequently, the army does not move from Spain to Naples.
12.4 MORE THAN ONE CONVOY ROUTE If the orders as written permit more than one route by which the convoyed army could proceed from its source to its destination, the order in not void on account of this ambiguity; and the army is not prevented from moving due to dislodgment of fleets, unless all the routes are disrupted.
Example 12. ENGLAND: A Lon-Bel, F Eng C A Lon-Bel, F Nth C A Lon-Bel; FRANCE: F Bre-Eng, F Iri S Bre-Eng. The army had two convoy routes, of which only one was disrupted.
12.5 A CONVOYED ATTACK DOES NOT CUT CERTAIN SUPPORTS If a convoyed army attacks a fleet which is supporting an action in a body of water; and that body of water contains a convoying fleet, that support is not cut.
Example 13. FRANCE: A Spa-Nap, F Lyo C A Spa-Nap, F Tyr C A Spa-Nap. ITALY: F Ion-Tyr.
Without this rule, France could argue that the army support of the fleet in Naples, thus protecting the convoying fleet from dislodgment, while Italy could argue that dislodgment of the fleet disrupted the convoy so that the army could not arrive at Naples to cut the support.
12.6 BOTH A CONVOY ROUTE AND AN OVERLAND ROUTE If an army could arrive at its destination either overland or by convoy, one route must be considered and the other disregarded, depending upon intent as shown by the totality of the orders written by the player governing the army.
13. Gaining and Losing Units.
13.1 OCCUPYING SUPPLY CENTERS Occupation of a supply center by a Great Power occurs when one of its units is located in that supply center after a Fall move has been played, complete with retreats. Once occupation has been established, the center may be left vacant for as long as the player sees fit and the occupying Great Power may continue to maintain one unit on account of this supply center so long as this center is not occupied by another Great Power at the close of a Fall move. Note that occupation occurs only during the Fall move; a unit which moves into a supply center during a Spring move and moves out of it during the Fall move of the same year does not affect the occupation of the center. The current owner retains occupation of the center so long as, at the end of each Fall move (with retreats), the center is either vacant or is occupied by one of his own units.
13.2 BUILDING AND REMOVING UNITS (ADJUSTMENTS) After the Fall moves have been played, and the retreats (if any) made, each player’s number of units must be adjusted to equal the number of supply centers his Great Power controls. If he has fewer centers than units, he must disband the excess units only, by removing them from the board. The units removed may be any of his units he chooses. If he has more centers than units he may build units by placing them, one in each unoccupied supply center, in his home country only (provided that such supply centers are still under his control). He must specify a fleet or an army in a coastal supply center (if Russia builds a fleet in St. Petersburg, he must specify the coast on which it is to appear, or the build is invalid). If his home supply centers are all occupied by his own units, or owned by other players, he must wait until the next Fall move on which this situation can be corrected to raise any unit to which he may be entitled at the time, though by occupation of supply centers he may reduce the forces of some other country. From this it should be clear that if a player has lost all his home supply centers, he may still fight on with the units and supply centers remaining under his control, but he may not gain units until he recaptures a home supply center and leaves it vacant at the close of a subsequent Fall move. As with retreats, builds and removals (adjustments) are written and exposed simultaneously, without any preceding diplomacy.
14. Miscellaneous. 14.1 LENGTH OF GAME It is wise to set aside four hours, even for a short game. No more than five minutes should be allowed for writing the moves after the diplomacy period has ended. Diplomacy and other conversation should not be allowed during the writing and reading of moves, between moves and retreats, during and after retreats, ordering adjustment. Newcomers should be instructed for a half-hour or so in the rules of the game before the other players assemble. They should then each play a country, without diplomacy, for a few moves to become familiar with the rules before the first game.
14.2 ALTERNATIVE RULES FOR SIX TO TWO PLAYERS. Six Players. Eliminate Italy. Italian units hold in position and defend themselves, but do not support each other. They may be supported by units belonging to any of the players, as with any other units ordered to hold. If they are forced to retreat, they are disbanded.
Five Players. Eliminate Italy and Germany as described for Italy above. The first year may be thought of as 1801 and in the six player game as 1870.
Four Players. One player plays England, and the other three play the following pairs: Austria/France, Germany/Turkey, Italy/Russia.
Three Players. Two alternatives: 1. 1. One player plays Russia and the other two play the following triples: England/France/Germany and Austria/Italy/Turkey; 2. 2. One person takes England/Germany/Austria, the second, Russia/Italy, and the third France/Turkey.
Two Players. (World War I). One player plays England/France/Russia and the other plays Austria/Germany/Turkey. Italy is neutral and Italian territory may not be entered. The game begins in 1914. Before the Fall 1914 adjustments, a coin is flipped. Italy joins the winner of the toss in Spring 1915. The victory criterion is 24 units actually on the board. This is a good game for getting to know the rules.
Note that in games for four, three, and two players, supply center ownership is computed for each individual country, even though two or more may be played by the same person. As under the regular rules, adjustments must be made by each country in accordance with its supply center holdings.
14.3 CIVIL DISORDER If a player leaves the game, or fails to submit orders in a given Spring or Fall season, it is assumed that civil government in his country has collapsed. His units hold in position, but do not support each other. If they are dislodged, they are disbanded. No new Units are raised for this country. A player who temporarily fails to submit orders may, of course, resume play if he returns to the game and still has some units left. It is probably more desirable, if sufficient persons are present, to allow a person who has not previously had a country (or failing that, whose country has already been eliminated from play) to replace any player who has left the game. Players should decide what policies they will follow in this regard in advance of starting the game.
14.4 CIVIL DISORDER REMOVALS If a country in civil disorder has to remove units, because it has lost supply centers, the unit farthest from home (most distant from the nearest home supply center as computed by the shortest available route, including convoys) is removed first, the fleet before the army. If more units are equally eligible for removal than should be removed, priority is established by the names of the space in which they are located, the earliest in alphabetical order coming off first.
14.5 PLAYERS SHOULD NOTE THAT Fleets in Kiel and Constantinople, and in any other coastal province, may not convoy.
The rule that “if two units are ordered, each to the space the other occupies, neither may move,” does not apply to three or more units exchanging positions in rotation: A Hol-Bel, F Bel-Nth, F Nth-Hol.
Two pieces may exchange places if either or both are convoyed. Thus, ENGLAND: A Lon-Bel, F Nth C A Lon-Bel; FRANCE: A Bel-Lon, F Eng C A Bel-Lon
