In case anyone wants to spectate the current game, click here.
So a couple weeks ago,
Tau suggested a new game we try out:
Diplomacy. The original game requires up to 7 players (with 7 being optimal), and I was wondering if there's any interest in it. We could either play just using the forum here (as it is famed for being played through postal mail before the Internet), or we could use a Diplomacy website, such as
Backstabbr. Below is an overview of the game.
DIPLOMACY is a game of negotiations, alliances, promises kept, and promises broken. In order to survive, a player needs help from others. In order to win the game, a player must eventually stand alone. Knowing whom to trust, when to trust them, what to promise, and when to promise is the heart of the game. Remember, you are a diplomat first, a commander second.
Simply put, Diplomacy is a game of communication, cunning, strategy, and treachery. Oh, the treachery.
Not so simply put, Diplomacy is a game that pits players against each other as they vie for control of Europe in the years before World War I. However, unlike other similar games like Risk, Diplomacy is every bit about negotiating with other players as it is about militaristic strategy.
The following is an overview of the rules of Diplomacy to get you started (specifically, formatted in a forum-based game).
At the beginning of each turn, players meet together one-to-one (PMs) or small groups to discuss their plans and suggest strategies. Alliances between players are openly or secretly made, and orders are (hopefully) coordinated. Immediately following this period of "diplomacy," each player sends the host a PM with an order for each of his/her units. When all players have sent their orders, the host reveals all orders simultaneously, and then the orders are resolved. Some units are moved, some have to retreat, and some are removed. Resolving orders is the most challenging part of the rules, requiring complete knowledge of the rules (but don't worry, that's the host's problem
).
Each turn represents six months of time. The first turn is called a Spring turn and the next a Fall turn. After each Fall turn is the Winter turn, when each player must reconcile the number of units it controls with the number of supply centers is controls. At this time some units are removed and new ones are built.
Each turn has a series of phases. Here are the phases in a complete year.
Spring turn
1. Diplomatic Phase
2. Order Writing Phase
3. Order Resolution Phase
4. Retreat and Disbanding Phase
Fall turn
1. Diplomatic Phase
2. Order Writing Phase
3. Order Resolution Phase
4. Retreat and Disbanding Phase
Winter turn
1. Gaining and Losing Units Phase
After a Fall turn, if one player controls 18 or more supply centers, the game ends and that player is declared the winner.
You can find more detailed rules from the
board game, on
Backstabbr, and elsewhere on the Internet.
And here's an example of what the game looks like at the start.
Since I doubt anyone's played it before, we can just try a practice game. And if there's interest enough that more than 7 want to play after that, we can try using alternate rules. So let me know what you think.
