Maharajah
Created by: David Cohen
Variant Rules:
All rules are as in Standard, except as follows:
1. The victory criterion is ownership of a majority of the Supply Centers (19 out of 37).
2. Navigable Rivers/River Convoys. The rivers on the map, representing the Indus, the Ganges/Brahmaputra/Patna/Hooghly, and the Irrawaddy are available for fleets to travel up to the interior, and they can be used to convoy. The fleets will be on the provinces, as the rivers are not spaces themselves, but merely indicators. If a fleet attacks a convoying fleet in a river province, the convoy is disrupted whether or not the attack is successful, but an attacking army must dislodge the fleet for the convoy to be disrupted. *For a clarification and examples of this rule, see below.
3. Additional Home Centers. If a power leaves a specific unit on a Supply Center whether owned by that power or not) for an entire game calendar year (consecutive Spring, Fall and Winter turns), then that Supply Center becomes a new Home Supply Center for that power. Moving a different unit onto the Supply Center in the fall is not effective for this purpose. In that case, just as in Standard Diplomacy, the Supply Center is a Home Supply Center for the original owner, but presently belongs to a different power. A Supply Center can only be a Home Supply Center for one power at a time, so if power A converts power B's Home Supply Center to a Home Supply Center for power A, then power B must recapture and reconvert the Supply Center in order for it to once more be a Home Supply Center for power B.
4. The starting year of the variant is 1501.
5. The adjustment phase or turn, commonly known as "Winter", may be called "Monsoon".
Navigable Rivers/River Convoys Clarification:
In response a a few questions, I want to clarify the rule on navigable rivers and river convoys a bit.
1. In order for a province to be an origin or destination province for a convoy, it must either (a) border a water province, or (b) border or contain a river. Thus, inland provinces that border river provinces (such as Kandahar, Jaipur or Warangal) may not be an origin or destination province of a convoy.
2. For a fleet to move from one river province to another (or to convoy directly from one river province to another, as opposed to using a chain of fleets), the two provinces must be adjacent either by coast or by river. Therefore, fleets may not move directly between Assam and Ava, or between Agra and Lahore.
3. A convoy may contain river province and sea province components. For example:
A Assam-Jaffna F Bengal-Convoys A Assam-Jaffna F Bay of Bengal-Convoys A Assam-Jaffna F Nicobar Sea-Convoys A Assam-Jaffna
would be a valid order set.
4. A fleet in a river province may convoy directly (as opposed to being part of a convoy chain) only from provinces that border it by river. For example, a fleet in Bengal may convoy directly from or to Assam, Benares, Muzaffarpur, Orissa and Sambalpur. It may not convoy directly from or to Pegu, which it borders by coast, but not by river.
5. An attacked fleet does not the have enhanced power to disrupt river convoys that is otherwise available to fleets in this variant. For example:
Delhi: F Benares - Sambalpur
Gondwana: F Sambalpur Convoys A Orissa - Benares A Orissa - Benares A Jabalpur Supports A Orissa - Benares
F Benares does not disrupt the convoy.
Variant Hall Of Fame:
The first playtest, game 1051 on Cat23, was won by Suzanne Castagne, playing the Safavid Empire (Persia in Version 2.0).
The second playtest, the gunboat-nopress game "maj" on the USTV judge, was won by Kwok-Sum Poon, also playing the Safavid Empire.
The third playtest, the gunboat-nopress game "corp" on the USTV judge, was won by Reg Racine, playing Gondwana.
The fourth and final playtest, game 1129 on Cat23, was won by Mike Morris, playing Vijayanagar.
