Anyone play Diplomacy?

(for the not knowers is an old but very well known strategic board game played nowadays mostly by e-mail)

Just curious.

I like specially historical variants. I'm now playing a Sengoku version (1500 Japan) and and Ambition & Empire version (1763 Europe).

I have played it over the internet too. I think is one of the best games ever made.

Maybe we can get a diplomacy game going with people from AE.

Cool that some are interested. Hugoestr already knows how to play, excellent! For those that could be interested, this is probably the best link to learn: Diplomacy Archive.

It is in appearece somehow like Risk but actually the game mechanics are way much more simple. Though tactics can weight, the truly important thing is in the diplomacy.

The traditional (usually called standard) game represents more or less the situation of Europe in the early 20th century, just before WW-I:



This is the standard board. The 7 players play with each of the major powers: England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey. The dotted provinces are called Supply Centers and they entitle to support one army or fleet for each one you control.

Armies can only move through land provinces and fleets can only move through sea provinces or castal land ones (notice that three provinces have two separated coasts and that two provinces have "canals" on them: Kiel and Constantinople).

One very important feature is that orders are adjudicated (unveiled) simultaneously each turn, so there is no need for dices. In fact there is no randomness in the gameplay of Diplomacy.

Both armies and fleets can do the following:

• Move (normally represented by a slash: A Par-Bur - means army in Paris moves to Burgundy)
• Support (represented by the letter S: A Mar S A Par-Bur - means army in Marseilles supports the move above)
• Hold (represented by the letter H: A Ven H - means army in Venice holds)
  

Additionally fleets can convoy (C): been used to transport an army from one coastal province to another through the seas. This is a little tricky, so I recommend you to read the rules on it throughtly. Fleets that convoy don't move but succesive fleets in adjacent seas can be used to convoy an army far away. Example:

A Lon-Por (army at London moves to Portugal)
F Eng C A Lon-Por (fleet at English Channel convoys A London-Portugal)
F Mid C A Lon-Por (fleet at Mid Atlantic Ocean convoys A London-Portugal)

All the three orders must be correctly stated in order for the operation to work. Furthermore Portugal must be empty (or the move supported) in order to succeed.

Support is what actually decides superiority. In the first example we saw a typical French opening (called Maginot) to Burgundy. If German A Munich is also ordered to Burgundy both armies would bounce (both movement orders would fail: 1 vs 1) but, with the also exemplified support from A Marseilles, A Paris wins the battle (2 vs 1).

The game is played in succesive turns that are grouped in years:
- Spring 1901
- Fall 1901
- Winter 1901
- Spring 1902
- etc.

Spring and Fall are movement turns, that means that after some time for diplomatic bargaining (and possibly deceit), the orders should have arrived to he Game Master (GM) who then adjudicates them carefully revealing them to all and stating which ones work or fail. Sometimes a defending unit is dislodged and then has to retreat, a small time for this purpose is allowed (being created a retreats' subturn). Retreats are also simultaneous.

Winter is not a normal turn but the moment when, according to the  centers owned after the Fall, builds or disbands (collectively called adjustments) are ordered. For instance, if France would have conquered Spain and Belgium (these center are occupied in the Fall) the French player would be entitled to build tow new units in his home centers. If in 1902, he loses Belgium and conquers nothing else, he must the disband one of his units at will.

The game is won when one (and only one) of the players controls 1/2 + 1 of all supply centers in the board (in standard, 18).

In standard Diplomacy, the powers start with predefined units but can build/disband at will.

The initial setup is as follows:


This image is taken from the electronic board/adjudicator Realpolitik (RP), that also enables most variants. To download this excellent freeware check here: Realpolitik.

For other variants (with RP files) check here: Graue Substanz.

If there are 7 serious people interested in playing an All Empires Diplomacy game, I would gladly GM it. The only thing you need is interest and an email adress. Adjudications and press (proclamations) would be posted here but the real diplomacy must be made by direct email (or face to face, of course).

As I guess there would be many new players, a whole game year would be played for training (without diplomacy), so the newbies get used to the basics of game mechanics (once you get used they are truly simple, what isn't that simple is to carry on a succesful diplomacy or win the game).

Interested players, please post below.

The basic scenario of Diplomacy is Europe at the beginning of WWI. Each player controls a country. To increase your armies or fleets, you need to be in control of supply centers by the end of the year.

Before the deadline to submit your moves, you get to negotiate with the other powers treaties, deals, and alliances There is a catch though: no player is forced to follow through with his agreements

Maju can correct me, but I believe that we need six people to get the game going. Is that right?

I count two, maybe three (if Emperor Barbarossa confirms) now. For all those that have never played I encourage you to read the rules at least once and post any doubts. We will be playing a whole game year (2 normal turns plus winter) without diplomacy to get you started with the movement routines, then we will start the true game.

So if you want to play, post here and PM me with an email adress (that will be distributed to all other players for the diplomacy, my own adress will serve to send the sets of orders). Also list your preferences of powers.  I will try to be a benevolent GM but persistence is required: a PBEM game can be long: several months, maybe up to a year. To make it shorter we can agree to play only 10 years (about 5 months) and give victory to the one that holds more SCs in the winter of 1910 (oficial short game victory rules) or to accept some kind of lower ammount of SCs to get victory (for instance 12: more than 1/3) - in this case, I would consider anyone over 9 SCs (1/4) a secondary or minor winner as well.

Some comments on the different powers:
- France (F): the easiest one: good survivor and pretty good winner
- England (E): the Western witch has a slow start but good possibilities long term
- Germany (G): has a very good start but its central position is difficult mid-term. Its mostnatural ally is Austria-Hungary
- Italy (I): it has the poorest performances reagrding wins but it is a good survivor thanks to its peninsular position, unlike most other countries can play in the east and in the west.
- Austria-Hungary (AH): the biggest danger is to fall victim of a triple attack early on but after the first year can be considered a strong power, with the difficulties of being in the center. The alliance with Germany is almost compulsory.
- Turkey: the Eastern witch has a difficult start but, like England can take advantage of its corner position and recover in the mid-game
- Russia: it is the power with more victories registered but it can also fall easily. Its size (starting with 4 centers) can confuse the novice: Russia has too many things to take care of, playing in Scandinavia, Balcans and Central Europe (and even in the Caucasus!) and has dificulties managing all. But well managed and with some fortune can roll over the board eventually.

You can read a lot about typical alliances, openings, strategies for each power, etc. in the Diplomacy Archive

Fine.

By the moment the only one with all the requirements is Zagros. If someone is reluctant about sharing an email, guess that Diplomacy could be also carried on through PM, but it seems less eficient to me, specially if, acting as GM, I need to touch the shoulder of someone to remind that his/her orders haven't arrived or why he/she missed a deadline, etc.

Ok, we got 3!

For novices, please read the rules (I think we will use the 1992 edition, as that of 2000 is quite confusing) and ask whatever questions. If you use RP electronic board, you can practice moves on your own with automatic adjudication, so you see easily what happens if...

We still need 4 more. And much better if we have one or two observers in case a replacement is needed.

I was away for a day lads. As for a game of diplomacy, count me in, sounds interesting. I hope i can get to be the UK or the US, if the countries are up for choice.

This looks fun, but good Lord what is with all the rules?!  Am I expected to read all of that?  Oh well, I shall continue reading.

Oh, ok, perhaps I was reading too far into the rules there.