The Rules of the Diplomacy Game

Welcome to the exciting and strategic world of the Diplomacy game! In this game, you will take on the role of a powerful European nation in the early 20th century. The fate of the continent is in your hands! So, let’s dive into the rules and get started on our diplomatic journey.

The Basics

In the Diplomacy game, you will engage in a grand battle for supremacy with other players. The game is played on a map of Europe, divided into regions. Each player controls one or more nations and moves their units strategically across the map.

At the beginning of the game, you will negotiate and form alliances with other players. These alliances are essential for your success, as they will help you conquer regions and ensure your survival. But remember, trust is a delicate thing. It can be broken or betrayed, so choose your allies wisely.

Your Units and Orders

As a ruler of a nation, you will command three kinds of units: armies, fleets, and a capital. Armies can move over land, fleets can move over water, and capitals are essential for holding territories.

To give orders to your units, you will write them down on a piece of paper or use an online platform. You can order your units to move to neighboring regions, support other units, or hold their current position. Be careful with your orders and plan your moves wisely, as you can’t change them once they are submitted.

Negotiation and Diplomacy

Negotiation and diplomacy are the keys to victory in Diplomacy. In this game, you will spend a significant amount of time talking and negotiating with other players. Forming alliances, making deals, and strategizing together are vital for your success.

You can send messages to other players, either in person or through a game interface, to express your intentions and propose alliances. However, remember that not all players will be truthful or honorable. It’s a world of intrigue, betrayal, and backstabbing, so be cautious and don’t always take everything at face value.

Resolving Orders and Resolving Conflicts

Once all players have submitted their orders, they are resolved simultaneously. Units can move, support other units, or hold their position. If two units try to move to the same region, a conflict arises.

Resolving conflicts is done by comparing the total strength of the units involved. Armies and fleets each have a strength value of one. If a unit receives more support than its opponent, it wins the conflict and forces the opposing unit to retreat to a neighboring region.

Victory and Defeat

The game continues until one player achieves their victory condition. The most common victory condition is controlling a majority of the supply centers on the map. However, players can make alliances and negotiate other victory conditions, so be open to alternative strategies and keep your options open.

Remember, the Diplomacy game is as much about personal relationships and negotiations as it is about military strategy. Be prepared for unexpected twists and turns, alliances formed and broken, and the ever-changing political landscape.

Now that you understand the basics, it’s time to gather your allies, sharpen your mind, and conquer Europe through cunning diplomacy and strategic maneuvers. Good luck, and may the most diplomatic player win!

In the game, there are two types of turns: “spring” and “fall.” The game begins in spring 1901.

So, here’s how each turn goes down:

Spring 4 phase turn:

1. Diplomatic phase
2. Order Writing phase
3. Order Resolution phase
4. Retreat and Disbanding phase

Fall 5 phase turn:

1. Diplomatic phase
2. Order Writing phase
3. Order Resolution phase
4. Retreat and Disbanding phase
5. Gaining and Losing Units phase

I. Diplomatic Phase

Alright, first things first, let’s talk diplomacy. During this phase, we all get together to hash out our plans for the next moves. We form alliances, we strategize, and we try to outsmart each other. This part usually takes about 15 minutes, but it can be shorter if we all agree to wrap things up.

Hey there! Welcome to the Diplomacy Game! I’m here to guide you through the Order Writing phase – the second step of the game.

II. Order Writing Phase

Now, it’s time to get strategic! In this phase, each player has to secretly write down their “orders” for every unit on a piece of paper. Make sure to date your orders, like “Spring 1902” or “Fall 1903”. It’s important to keep your orders hidden until the big reveal!

But remember, there are some rules to follow. If your order is illegal, miswritten, or too ambiguous, your units will have to hold their positions. We can’t have players changing their orders after seeing everyone else’s moves – that would ruin the whole game!

And don’t take too long to write your orders! You only have 5 minutes after the diplomatic negotiation period is over. So make sure to think fast and act decisively!

Order Format

When playing a game of Diplomacy, it’s essential to understand the different units and orders that you can use. Let’s go over the basics.

Units

There are two types of units in the game: armies and fleets. Both have equal strength and play a crucial role in your strategies.

Orders or Moves

In each turn, you can choose to give your unit one of the following orders:

Move

A move order is represented by a dash. For example, if I want my army in Paris to attack Picardy, I would write A Paris-Picardy.

Army Movement

An army can move into any adjacent province that is either inland or along the coast. However, armies cannot move into water. If the target province is already occupied by another unit, your army’s move will be unsuccessful.

Fleet Movement

Unlike armies, fleets have the ability to move into both coastal and water provinces. They can navigate the seas and support your strategies from afar.

Hey there! Let’s talk about how fleets move in this game. So, fleets have the ability to move to a nearby water or coastal area, but they cannot move to inland locations. Keep in mind that certain areas on the map, like Switzerland or Corsica, cannot be occupied and are off-limits. It’s important to note that armies have more flexibility than fleets. For example, armies can move between Sweden and Denmark in just one turn.

Standoffs

When two forces of equal strength try to occupy the same province at the same time, it can create a bit of a pickle. This kind of situation can happen when there are multiple countries involved. Here are some rules to keep in mind:

• If two units of equal strength try to occupy the same province, they will stay in their original provinces.

Hey there! Let me explain how a standoff works in our little game here. It’s pretty interesting stuff! ��

So, imagine this: we have a bunch of units moving around the board, trying to take control of provinces. But sometimes, things don’t go as planned, and we end up with a standoff.

What happens in a standoff is that the unit that’s already in the province where the standoff took place doesn’t move. Yep, it just stays right there. Let’s say we’re looking at Diagram 1, and the unit in Silesia will simply hold its position. No movement whatsoever.

And here’s where it gets really interesting – just one unit that decides not to move can stop a whole bunch of other units from moving as well. It’s like a chain reaction! ��

So, my friend, now you know the deal with standoffs. It’s pretty nifty, right? Remember, in our little game, it’s all about strategy and outsmarting your opponents. Those standoffs can definitely throw a wrench in your plans, but hey, that’s all part of the fun! Good luck out there on the board!

Did you know that in the game of Diplomacy, units cannot switch positions unless they are supported by a convoy? It’s one of the game’s rules that often confuses players and adds an extra layer of strategy. Without a convoy, units are stuck in their current locations.

Did you know that you can rotate provinces in a game? That’s right! When you play, you have the power to make three or more units rotate provinces during a turn.

Get Support

Hey there! Let me break down the game of Diplomacy for you. It’s super interesting, trust me!

So, in this game, all units have the same strength. Now, imagine one unit trying to attack another. Well, it can’t just do that on its own. It needs “support”. Support is basically help from other units. If an attack is successful, the attacking unit will move into the target province. And if the unit being attacked doesn’t have any other orders to move, it gets defeated and kicked out of the province. Ouch! The dislodged unit then has to retreat or get disbanded. Tough break, huh?

Support can be offensive or defensive. You can give support to your own units or to units that belong to other players. And let me tell you, when units support each other, they become stronger. It’s like having each other’s backs, ya know?

Now, here’s the interesting part. When someone supports you, you can’t say no. Support from other players is mandatory. Gotta respect that!

So, how does a support order look like? It’s pretty simple. You use the letter ‘S’, like this: S.

For example, if we have an army in Paris and it wants to support an army in Marseille to attack Burgundy, we write it as: A Paris S A Marseille-Burgundy.

Now, if a unit doesn’t have any orders to move, it can still get supported. The other unit doesn’t even need to mention moving. It just has to mention the province. Like this: F Denmark S F Baltic. So, the fleet in Denmark is supporting the fleet in Baltic, as long as the fleet in Baltic doesn’t move. Easy, right?

But wait, there’s more! If a unit is ordered to move, it can only be supported by a matching support order. So, if we have an army in Paris and it wants to support the attack on Burgundy, it can only be supported by an army from Marseille, like this: A Paris S A Marseille-Burgundy. See how it works?

Okay, let’s talk about what happens when a unit is dislodged. It can still cause a standoff in a different province. Interesting, right? For example, let’s say an Austrian attack from Bohemia dislodges a German army in Munich. Even though the army in Munich is dislodged, it still causes a standoff with a Russian army trying to enter Silesia. Those dislodged units still got some oomph, huh?

But here’s the kicker – a dislodged unit, even with support, can’t affect the province that dislodged it. So, if two units are ordered to the same province and one of them gets dislodged by a unit from that province, the other attacking unit can still move. No standoff there! The dislodged unit doesn’t matter in that province. Make sense?

Here’s an example. Let’s say the Russian Army in Rumania dislodges the Turkish Army in Bulgaria. Now, both the Turkish Army in Bulgaria and the Russian Army in Sevastopol are ordered to attack Rumania. Normally, this would cause a standoff. But, because the Turkish Army in Bulgaria was dislodged, there will be no standoff. The Russian Army in Sevastopol can enter Rumania, and the Turkish Army in Bulgaria must retreat.

Cutting Support

Did you know that support can be cut? And when that happens, your support order fails and you won’t receive the support you were counting on. It’s pretty sneaky, to be honest. Support gets cut when the unit providing the support is attacked from any province other than the one it’s supporting. Take a look at this image:

In this example, the support from the Army in Silesia gets cut because it gets attacked by Bohemia. It’s important to note that you don’t even have to dislodge the supporting unit to cut its support. Just attacking it is enough. Sneaky, right?

There’s another way support can get cut: when the unit giving support gets dislodged. Check out this image:

Here, the Russian Army from Prussia dislodges the German Army in Silesia. And what happens? The support of the Silesian Army gets cut, leaving the German Army in Berlin to face off against the Russian Fleet in the Baltic. Talk about a tough situation.

Here’s an interesting point: even if a unit is dislodged by one province, it can still cut support in another. It’s like a domino effect. So, even if a unit gets dislodged, it can still put a crimp in someone else’s plans. Just make sure that the dislodgment doesn’t come from the province where the unit is giving support. Sneaky, sneaky.

Remember this rule: When a unit is dislodged, it doesn’t have any impact on the province it was dislodged from, even if it had support. In complex situations, it’s helpful to first figure out if any supporting order is being cut. Once you determine that, resolving orders becomes easier.

Convoy

Conveying an Army Across Water

If there’s a fleet in a water province, it has the ability to transport an army from any adjacent coastal province to another coastal province adjacent to that water province. Fleets in a coastal province are unable to perform this action. It’s important to note that a fleet cannot convoy more than one army at a time. A convoy order is written with a C. For example, an order could be “A Ankara-Sevastopol, F Black Sea C A Ankara-Sevastopol.” The fleet must specify both the location and the destination of the army being convoyed. It’s not possible to convoy support, only attacks can be convoyed.

Moving an Army Across Multiple Water Provinces with Fleets

When fleets control neighboring water provinces, you can use them to transport an army across all of those provinces in a single turn. The army will then disembark in a coastal province adjacent to the final fleet in the sequence.

Interrupting a Fleet Convoy

When a fleet in a convoy is dislodged, the convoy fails. If a fleet that has been ordered to convoy is dislodged during the turn, the army that was supposed to be convoyed remains in its original province. Let’s say there’s a fleet in the Tyrrhenian Sea that gets dislodged; in that case, the French army won’t move from Spain to Naples.
An attack on a fleet that is convoying, but successfully defends itself without getting dislodged, doesn’t affect the convoy. If a convoy causes the army being convoyed to end up in a standoff at its intended destination, that army stays put in its original province.

Hold.

III. Resolving the Orders

After all the orders have been revealed and read, we need to resolve all conflicts.

Resolution leads to successful moves, failed moves, standoffs, retreats, and disbandments.

The units on the map will be moved and removed as we go through the next two phases of play.

IV. Retreat and Disbanding Phase

Once the conflicts have been resolved, I must make my retreat if I have been defeated.

I write down my retreat orders without any discussion or diplomacy, and reveal them immediately.

Remember, I can’t receive any convoys or support during this retreat.

When I retreat, I must move to an adjacent province.

However, there are certain places I can’t retreat to:

• I can’t retreat to a province that is already occupied by another unit.
• I can’t retreat to the province of the attacker who defeated me.
• I can’t retreat to a province that was left empty because of a standoff during the same turn.

If I find myself in a situation where I can’t retreat for any reason, I will be removed from the map.

For example, if two or more units are ordered to retreat to the same province, all of them will be removed.

In addition, I always have the option to voluntarily disband and be removed from play instead of retreating.

Phase V: Gaining and Losing Units

Controlling Supply Centers

After each Fall turn, I check to see how many supply centers I control or occupy.

Once I have control of a supply center, I can leave it vacant and still keep control until another player occupies it after the Fall turn.

In other words, I can only gain control of a supply center when I occupy it after the Fall turn.

Adjusting the Number of Units

After each Fall turn (including retreats), I adjust my units to match the number of supply centers I control.

This means that if I have lost supply centers, I will have to remove some of my units. I can decide which ones to remove.

If I have gained supply centers or have more supply centers than units, I am allowed to build extra units.

When it comes to the game known as Diplomacy, it’s important to understand how new units are placed and the rules around building and disbanding them.

First off, let’s talk about placing new units. In each unoccupied supply center of its home country that is still in control, a player can put a new unit. It’s worth noting that only Army units can be built on an inland province supply center.

Now, here’s where things get interesting. A player has the choice to decline building a unit. This can be for any reason at all. Maybe they feel they have enough units already, or maybe they have other plans in mind. Whatever the case may be, it’s completely up to them to decide.

So, how do players go about writing builds and disbandments?

Well, each player writes down which units they want to remove (disband) and what type of units they want to build in their home supply centers. It’s important to note that this happens in secret and there is no prior discussion or diplomacy allowed during this process.

Once everyone has finished writing their orders, they are revealed simultaneously. Any vague or invalid orders are simply ignored. That means you need to be clear and specific when writing your orders to ensure they are followed.