WHAT IS DIPLOMACY? - Part 1: A Brief Intro to Diplomacy

Let's get started by discussing the game itself.

The Board

The map Diplomacy is played on is based on Europe at the start of the Twentieth Century.  It doesn't reflect Europe literally but is stylised.  Not all the countries are there and some of the spaces are given names that are a little... questionable.

The Diplomacy Board

The map I've used above is something like the original board published in Europe.  In the Americas (well, North America, I'm not sure about anywhere outside of USA and Canada) the map was less colourful and more a physical map.  But the spaces are roughly the same.

Players control one of seven major powers in Europe:

• England (yes, not Britain or, even more accurately, the UK)
• France
• Italy
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary (usually shortened to Austria)
• Turkey
• Russia

There are 56 land spaces.  34 of these spaces are called Supply Centres (SCs) that, when controlled by a major power, support an army or a fleet on the board.  These spaces are marked by a circle (eg Spain).  Land spaces can be occupied by an army or - if the space neighbours a sea space - a fleet (these are often known as 'coastal' spaces).

Each power controls three SCs at the start of the game, except Russia which controls 4.  This means that each power starts with three units on the board (Russia, yep, four).  There starting positions are:

• England: fleets in Edingburgh & London, an army in Liverpool
• France: armies in Marseilles & Paris, a fleet in Brest
• Italy: armies in Venice & Rome, a fleet in Naples
• Germany: armies in Berlin & Munich, a fleet in Kiel
• Austria-Hungary: armies in Venice & Budapest, a fleet in Trieste
• Turkey: armies in Constantinople & Smyrna, a fleet in Ankara
• Russia: armies in Moscow & Warsaw, fleets in Sevastopol & at St Petersburg's south coast.

The other land spaces aren't occupied by any units at the start of the game and are known as 'neutrals'.  These can be occupied and controlled by units and, if your unit occupies a neutral SC at the end of the Fall Retreats space, you control (or own) the space.

Building your Power's Empire

The idea is to gain control of Supply Centres on the board.  You gain control of another SC if you occupy it at the end of Fall Retreats, as briefly explained above.

In Diplomacy the game is split into 'years'; years are split into 'turns', and turns are split into 'phases'.  The game starts in 1901, progresses to 1902, then 1903, etc.  There is no last year, unless you're playing in a tournament when games may be played until the end of a certain year.

Each year is split into two turns, Spring and Fall (in UK Fall is known as 'Autumn' but, certainly online, the term Fall is normally used).

Each turn is split into phases, which use various names to identify them.  There are classically two or three phases to each turn, although it is increasingly common to split the first phase of each turn into two phases.

The Negotiation phase

A turn always begins with the phase when the players communicate with each other and submit the orders for their units.  This phase may be known as the Movement phase, the Orders phase, or the Negotiation phase.  Sometimes, the phase is split into two: the Negotiation phase and the Orders phase.

Orders can be recorded at any time in this phase.  Online, players may record their orders at the very start; in Face-to-Face games (see the next post in this series for an explanation of these formats) players may write their orders down before communicating.  These orders are not the final orders the power may use, however.  It is only when the phase is over that a player's orders are taken as being their final orders for their units.

Occasionally, the phase is split into two, as explained above.  In the first phase, players communicate with each other.  When this phase comes to an end, players then record their orders.  If this is the case, players aren't allowed to communicate during the Orders phase.  This rarely happens in Remote play, simply because there is no need for the extra phase.

Face-to-Face (FTF) play has a time limit of 15 minutes for the Negotiation phase (followed by a short time to write orders if the phase is split into two).  The first Negotiation phase is 30 minutes long, however, which makes sense because this is the phase where every player should be communicating with every other player.

Once orders have been finalised or submitted, they are resolved.  One of the unique features of Diplomacy is that each set of orders are taken as being executed at the same time - there are no turns as in many other board games.

If two units move to the same space they 'bounce' (colloquially; in the official rules this is known as a 'stand off').  In other words, they don't move.  This means that invading a space occupied by another power will mean that you will need to use multiple units to successfully occupy the space.

There are four types of orders:

• Movement: Units may be ordered to move from the space they are in to a neighbouring space; armies may move from a land space to another land space, fleets from a sea or coastal space to another sea or coastal space.
• Hold: Units may be ordered to stay in the space they occupy, usually for defensive reasons.  If a unit isn't ordered to do anything else, or if it is given an order that can't be followed, it is given a Hold order automatically.
• Support: Units may give up their Movement order to stay in the space they occupy and support another unit into a space.  A unit given a Support order can only support a unit in a space it could have moved to.  Units can be supported to move into a space or to hold in a space.  A unit that is given a Support order is also automatically given a Hold order, as it isn't moving.
• Convoy: Fleets (only fleets) may give up their Movement order to stay in the sea space they occupy and convoy an army across that sea; a fleet in a coastal space isn't allowed to Convoy.  A fleet can only Convoy if it could move into the space the army is moving into; however, if a number of fleets are all ordered to convoy the same army from the same land space to the same space to which it is moving - this is commonly known as a 'Convoy Chain' - an army can move across multiple sea spaces.  An example of a regular convoy could be an army ordered to move from London to Belgium, and a fleet in English Channel or North Sea being ordered to convoy the army from London to Belgium.  An example of a convoy chain could be an army ordered to move from Spain to Greece, and fleets in Western Mediterranean (or Gulf of Lyons), Tyrrhenian Sea and Ionian Sea all being ordered to convoy the army from Spain to Greece.  Again, a fleet ordered to Convoy is also automatically given a Hold order.

You can see a map of the board here and read a proper explanation of the rules of Diplomacy here.

The Retreats phase

This is a phase that only happens if a space a unit occupies is successfully invaded by another unit.  In this case, the unit that was originally in the space is 'dislodged' and has to retreat.  This is what happens in the Retreats phase.

In FTF play, the Retreats phase lasts for 5 minutes and there is no negotiation between players in this phase.  Players with units to retreat record their orders and submit them at the end of the time limit.  From then, the units are moved, using the normal movement orders, from the space they were expelled from to another space.

If multiple units are ordered to retreat to the same space, both (or all) units are 'disbanded' (or 'destroyed' - removed from the board).  If a unit that has been forced to retreat doesn't receive an order in this phase, it is automatically disbanded.

In Remote play, the process is the same.  In Webplay it is common that powers can still communicate in the Retreats phase, so watch out for this.

At the end of a Fall Retreats phase, any SC a power occupies, that it didn't occupy at the end of the previous year's Fall Retreats phase, is now controlled (owned) by that power.

The Adjustments phase/Winter turn

This phase only happens in a Fall turn, once the Retreats phase is over.  It is sometimes known as the 'Winter turn' and I actually prefer that description.  The Adjustments phase may also be called the 'Builds' phase.

It is only in this phase that players can add more units to the board.  A disbanded unit can only be replaced at this stage (so a unit that is disbanded during a Spring Retreats phase can't be rebuilt until the Winter turn).

At this point, players count how many units they have on the board and how many SCs they control.  SCs that were under the control of a power previously are taken as remaining under the power unless it is now occupied by another power (so that the new power controls it).

If a power controls more SCs than it has units on the board, it can build more units.  If a power has fewer SCs under its control than it has units on the board, it has to disband (remove) units from the board.

As in the Retreats phase, in FTF play communication between players isn't allowed.  Orders are recorded and submitted.  Unless the game being played is a variant, players can only build in a 'home' SC (one of the SCs it controlled at the start of the game), and only if the power still controls a home SC and the SC isn't occupied by another unit.  So, if Germany has the chance to build a unit, it couldn't build the unit in Munich if another power controlled Munich or if Germany had a unit of her own occupying Munich.

Players may choose to not build additional units, and if they have more units to build than they have SCs to build them in (for instance, if England could build four units, or if she could build two units but only had one SC available to build in) then the build is lost.

Winning the Game

A game ends when, at the end of a Fall Retreats phase, a power controls 18 or more SCs.  There are 34 SCs on the board, so this indicates that the power now controls a majority of SCs and therefore has achieved hegemony over Europe.  A power doesn't need to have 18 or more units on the board to achieve the victory.  This is known as a 'Solo'.

As I mentioned above, in tournaments this may never be achieved because a game may have a 'Game End' point: once play has ended in a defined year, the game is over.

A game can also end if all the surviving players (those with units still controlling an SC) agree to end the game early.  This is known as a draw.  All the surviving players share the draw, regardless of the number of SCs they hold.  There is (or I should say there shouldn't be) any differentiation between players with more or fewer SCs under their control at this point.

This kind of draw is known as a 'DIAS' draw: Draws Include All Survivors.  You may find that some games can end if all players agree to a draw in which not all survivors are awarded a draw result.  In other words, if there are four players surviving at the end of the game, a draw could be agreed between three or even two of those players, providing all the surviving players agree to it.  I call this kind of draw a 'DINS' draw: Draws Include Nominated Survivors.  Even in a DINS draw, there should be no qualifying number of SCs required; for instance, there is no requirement for players with a collective number of SCs to be involved in the draw.

Occasionally, game may end if a single player is accepted as the winner.  Again, this requires all the surviving players to concede the game to a single player, regardless of whether or not she has control of 18 SCs.  I call this a 'Conceded Win' as it isn't a Solo victory and it isn't a draw.

Not a War Game

Diplomacy is often portrayed as a war game.  Given that it features military units as playing pieces, and that powers invade each other and other states in order to build an empire, it isn't surprising that this is the case.  This, however, ignores the most important aspect of the game, communication and agreements between players.  And, let's face it, as a war game it is pretty simplistic.

There are seven players in the game.  Each player aims to achieve a victory, a win in which they achieve hegemony over Europe.  There are no set alliances or teams.  For a player to achieve a Solo, she has to have defeated six opponents.  (Not very) feasibly a player could approach a position where she has a chance to win without receiving the cooperation of anyone else, but why would those players not act together to prevent this from happening?

Diplomacy is about communication, negotiation and persuasion... it's about diplomacy (shock, horror!)  Granted, you need to have a tactical concept about how to play on the board, but you cannot do well in Dip without working with your opposition.

WHAT IS DIPLOMACY? series:

1. A Brief Intro to Diplomacy
2. Formats
3. Tournaments
4. Philosophies of Play
5. Variants