WW2-1931
A Diplomacy variant by Nick Higgins
Variant website: http://ww2-1931.tripod.com/index.html
BACKGROUND
My goal is to create a global World War II variant for Diplomacy that attains the elusive perfect balance between history and gameplay. The variant is set in 1931 because this is a starting point for World War II with the Japanese annexation of Manchuria. The unit composition of each power is often unrealistic, such as China having significant naval and aerial power, and having the ability to build aircraft carriers at all. Also, chaos builds leads to some odd situations, for example the French could build an aircraft carrier in Vietnam. However, I believe that these concessions to gameplay are necessary in order to make the game more playable.
My hope is that the variant will play "smaller" than its size. Every player on the board has reason to interact with virtually every other player. While there are more SCs than Standard, there is a similar ratio (~2/3) of starting player-owned SCs to total SCs, meaning that players are forced to clash early. Offensive play is encouraged in many ways. First, there are no corner positions, which limits the effectiveness of defensive tactics. Chokepoints are kept to a minimum. "Chaos builds" ensures that players are not waiting for years to move units to the front lines. Aerial units are far more useful in attack than defense, and should be helpful in breaking any potential stalemate lines. Finally, a relatively short victory line (1/3 instead of 1/2 of the total SCs) should encourage players to go for the solo victory, instead of the alterative where players decide that victory is impossible on such a large map, and then play for the draw.
Conceptually, the variant is built around numerous diplomatic triangles, as triangles are generally the most dynamic configuration in Diplomacy. These triangles are: Africa & Med (B/F/I), Atlantic (B/F/A), North Sea (B/F/G), Scandinavia (B/G/S), Western Europe (F/G/I), Balkans (G/S/I), Central Asia (S/C/B), SE Asia land (B/F/C), SE Asia sea (B/J/A), and East Asia (C/J/S). The one area that couldn't be "triangulated" was the Pacific, where America and Japan are the only two significant powers.
There are some key relationships that will go a long way in determining the shape of the game. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, America and Japan is one, because an alliance leaves each with a free hand to go all-out in the opposite direction. To a lesser extent, the Soviets and Germans have a similar relationship. Because they are the strongest powers on the board and they are entangled everywhere, the British-French relationship is probably most important. If they work together, they own 1/4 of the SCs on the board to start, and are a juggernaut to be feared. If they fight each other, then a frantic wooing of allies (particularly Italy) will ensue by both parties.
I welcome any feedback on the variant. Please contact me at congressofvienna1814@yahoo.com.
RULES
- There are 8 players:
- Britain (B, 13)
- France (F, 11)
- Germany (G, 6)
- Italy (I, 6)
- USSR (S, 9)
- Japan (J, 8)
- China (C, 7)
- USA (A, 6)
- Britain and France start with more supply centers because of their colonial empires.
- There are 96 supply centers, with 39 in Europe, 38 in Asia, 10 in the Americas, and 9 in Africa.
- The victory condition is 32 SCs (one-third of the total).
- There are chaos builds, meaning that units can be built in any open supply center.
- There are two new types of units: planes and aircraft carriers. These units do everything with a strength of 0.5, including movement, support, and defense. To compensate for this weakness, they can support actions that are two spaces away. Example: Plane Gorky can support A Moscow to Poland, and this attack would now have a strength of 1.5.
- For a plane unit, use the abbreviation P (e.g. P Gor S A Mos - Pol). For an aircraft carrier unit, use the abbreviation Q (e.g. Q Liv S F Lon - Eng).
- Denmark, Gibraltar, Turkey, Suez, and Panama are all canal provinces. This means that both an army and a fleet can move through these spaces.
- Any unit can move across the "red arrows". However, a unit cannot retreat across a "red arrow". "Red arrows" connect the following pairs: Scotland and Ireland, Taranto and Sicily, Abyssinia and Yemen, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Kyoto and Hokkaido, Hokkaido and Sakhalin, Sakhalin and Vladivostak, and Kamchatka and Alaska.
- Denmark borders Oslo, and an army can move from Denmark to Oslo. Essentially, Denmark comprises both Denmark and Skagerrak from Standard Dip.
- Gibraltar is a much larger space than just the British colony of Gibraltar, extending from the Bay of Biscay and East Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Lyon and Tyrrhenian Sea, while bordering both Iberia and Casablanca as well.
PROVINCES
Abyssinia: Aby Adriatic Sea: Adr Afghanistan: Afg Alaska: Ala Alberta: Alb Alsace-Lorraine: Als Amazon: Ama Angola: Ang Aquitaine: Aqu Argentina: Arg Arabian Sea: ArS Atlantic Southern Ocean: ASO Austria: Aus Azerbaijan: Aze Azores: Azo Baltic Sea: Bal Barents Sea: BaS Bavaria: Bav Bay of Bengal: BBg British East Africa: BEA Beijing: Bei Berlin: Ber Bering Sea: BeS Birmingham: Bir Bismarck Sea: BiS Black Sea: Bla British New Guinea: BNG Benelux: BNL Bay of Biscay: BoB Bolivia: Bol Brazil: Bra Burma: Brm Beirut: Brt Bulgaria: Bul Burgundy: Bur British West Africa: BWA Cameroon: Cam Caribbean: Car Casablanca: Cas Ceylon: Cey Chad: Cha Chicago: Chi Columbia: Col Belgian Congo: Con Corsica: Cor Coral Sea: CoS Cape Horn: CpH Caspian Sea: Csp Dakar: Dak Denmark: Den Dutch New Guinea: DNG Dunkirk: Dun Dutch West Indies: DWI Danzig: Dzg East Atlantic Ocean: EAO East China Sea: ECS El Alamein: ElA Eastern Mediterranean: Eme English Channel: ENG East Pacific Ocean: EPO East Prussia: Epr East Sea of Japan: ESJ East Turkestan: ETu Finland: Fin Gansu: Gan Guadalcanal: Gdc Gibraltar: Gib Gulf of Alaska: GoA Gulf of Bothnia: GoB Gulf of Guinea: GoG Gulf of Lyon: GoL Gulf of Mexico: GoM Gorky: Gor Gulf of Siam: GoS Gulf of Tonkin: GoT Greece: Gre Greenland: Grn Guangdong: Gua Hamburg: Ham Hanoi: Han Hawaii: Haw Hefei: Hef Hiroshima: Hir Hungary: Hng Hokkaido: Hok Houston: Hou Hunan: Hun Iberia: Ibe Iceland: Ice India: Ind Inner Mongolia: Img Indian Ocean: InO Inland Sea: InS Ionian Sea: Ion Iran: Ira Ireland: Ire Irish Sea: IRI Indian Southern Ocean: ISO Iwo Jima: Iwo Jubaland: Jub Kamchatka: Kam Kiel: Kie Korea: Kor Kyoto: Kyo Labrador Sea: LaS Leningrad: Len Libya: Lib Lithuania: Lit Liverpool: Liv London: Lon Madagascar: Mad Mali: Mal Manchuria: Man Mesopotamia: Mes Mexico: Mex Malaya: Mly Mongolia: Mon Moscow: Mos Mozambique: Moz Murmansk: Mur Mozambique Channel: MzC Nagasaki: Nag Nanjing: Nan North Atlantic Ocean: NAO Novosibirsk: Nov North Pacific Ocean: NPO Normandy: Nrm North Sea: Nth Norwegian Sea: NwS New York City: NYC New Zealand: Nze Okinawa: Oki Okhostk Sea: OkS Oman: Oma Ontario: Ont Oslo: Osl Ottawa: Ott Panama: Pan Pacific Ocean: PaO Paris: Par Peru: Per Philippines: Phi Philippine Sea: PhS Piedmont: Pie Poland: Pol Pomerania: Pom Persian Gulf: Prg Pacific Southern Ocean: PSO Red Sea: Red Rhineland: Rhi Rhodesia: Rho Rome: Rom Rumania: Rum South Africa: Saf Saigon: Sai Sakhalin: Sak South Atlantic Ocean: SAO Sardinia: Sar Saudi Arabia: Sau Sichuan: Sch Scotland: Sco South China Sea: SCS Sudan: Sdn Seattle: Sea San Francisco: Sfo Shanghai: Sha Siam: Sia Sicily: Sic Silesia: Sil Somalia: Som Solomon Sea: SoS South Pacific Ocean: SPO Spratly Islands: Spr Stalingrad: Sta Sudentenland: Sud Suez: Sue Sweden: Swe Switzerland: Swi Sydney: Syd Taiwan: Tai Taranto: Tar Tashkent: Tas Tibet: Tib Timor Sea: TiS Tokyo: Tok Toulouse: Tou Transjordan: Tra Turkmenistan: Trk Trondheim: Tro Truk Lagoon: Tru Tsushima Straits: Tsu Turkey: Tur Tuscany: Tus Tyrrhenian Sea: TyS Urals: Ura Venice: Ven Vladivostok: Vla West Atlantic Ocean: WAO Western Australia: Wau Washington DC: WDC West Indies: Win West Pacific Ocean: WPO West Sea of Japan: WSJ Yakutsk: Yak Yalta: Yal Yemen: Yem Yellow Sea: YeS Yorkshire: Yor Yugoslavia: Yug Yukon Territory: Yuk Yunnan: Yun
