Imperial1840

Created: July 2007

Creator: Gerald Todd, Maryland, USA

Introduction

Imperial 1840 is a variant of Avalon Hill/Hasbro's game of Diplomacy by Allan B. Calhamer. It is based on another variant by Michael David Roberts called Imperial. Both variants are global versions of the original game.

Imperial 1840 was meant as a lighter version of Imperial requiring fewer players and having fewer provinces and supply centers.

This variant begins with an historical setting, but is not designed to recreate historical events. The names and borders are based on maps from the 1840's with their some of their misspellings and misplaced borders.

Imperial 1840 is actually a beta and is replaced by Imperial1841 which incorporates changes gleaned from play-testing of Imperial 1840.

Statistics

Number of players: 9

• Austria-Hungary
• Great Britain
• China
• France
• Holland
• Ottoman Empire
• Russia
• Spain/Portugal
• United States of America

Number of supply centers: 111

Rules

This variant follows all of the rules in Standard Diplomacy, with the following exceptions.

Start Date: The game begins in Spring 1840. The Seasons work just like Standard Diplomacy (Spring-Fall).

Victory Conditions: To win, a single player must possess a majority of supply centers (56) at the end of any fall retreat.

Map Clarifications

Impassable: (Casbian Sea, Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Deep Desert, Himalayas, and Deepest Darkest Africa) These zones act exactly like Switzerland in Standard Diplomacy.

Island Chains: (The Azores, Hawaiian Islands, the Bahamas, the Antilles, Java, Seychelles, the Solomons, Maldives, Marshalls, and New Zealand) Island Chains are coastal territories that may be entered through any adjacent sea zones. They may be occupied by either armies or navies.

Denmark & Constantinolpe: In order to move a Fleet directly from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, a player must move into Constantinople, just like Denmark in the standard game. Imperial 1840 doesn't require "ownership" of Constantinople

Land Bridges: (Florida-Bahamas; Bahamas-Cuba; Bahamas-Haiti; Cuba-Haiti; Haiti-Antilles; Antilles-Venezuela; Dublin-Edinburgh; Denmark-Sweden; Formosa-Guangdong; Kagoshima-Edo; Edo-Sapporo; Sapporo-Sakhurlin; Sakhurlin-Yongmingcheng; Malaysia-Sumatra; Sumatra-Java) These land bridges work exactly as they do in Standard Diplomacy. Though the provinces mentioned are separated by water, Both Armies and Fleets may move from one to the other.

Multiple Coasts: (Guatemala, Honduras, Columbia, Kiel, Rome, St Petersburg, Egypt, Syria, Hadramaut) These zones are played just as Spain and St Petersurg are in the standard game. Note: The Kiel canal was not built yet in 1840 which is why Kiel has two coasts in this variant.

Wraparound: (Bering Sea, West Pacific, South West Pacific, Antarctic Pacific) You will note that some sea zones can be found on both ends of the map. They are actually the same sea zones. A Fleet coming from Kuril Sea could move into the West Pacific Ocean on the right side of the map and would be adjacent to the Hawaiian Islands on the left side of the map.

1.This is a large map as most global Diplomacy maps tend to be. To make the map smaller the Atlantic was narrowed a great deal, the poles were cut down, and the ends were brought in somewhat.

2.The Earth, being a sphere, and the map being flat means going off the right side bring you onto the left side, and vice-versa. ALL of the Pacific spaces at the left side of the map are merely place-holders, to show the connections. For example: the space that RP considers to be "WPA" [Western Pacific Ocean] is located on the right side of the map -- but there is a self-same "WPA" on the left side.

3.There are 2 kinds of SCs in Imperial 1840: Home Centers and Not-Home-Centers. Players may build in any unoccupied home center they own, be it one they started with, or one they captured. Realpolitik doesn't allow for this build rule, so it is currently set to allow building in any unoccupied, owned SC. The GM will have to monitor builds received to ensure builds only occur in home centers.

4.Direct movement between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea is through Constantinople - like Denmark, ie you move BLA-CON, and next turn you move CON-AEG, and so forth. "Ownership" of Constantinople not required.

The Player Powers

• Austria-Hungary: Ferdinand I
• Great Britain: Albert of Hanover Prince-Consort
• China: Min Ning
• France: Louis Philip of Bourbon
• Holland: William II of Orange
• Ottoman Empire: Abdülmecid I
• Russia: Nicholas I
• Spain: Francis of Assisi of Bourbon
• Portugal: Ferdinand of Braganza
• USA: Martin van Buren