The Imperial Variant
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Contents Basic Rules
· Basic Rules
· Map Notes
· Design Notes
  1. The normal rules of the game of Diplomacy apply, with the following additions, exceptions, and clarifications.

  2. The standard map is replaced by the a global map roughly representing the political state of the world in the mid-19th century.

  3. There are thirteen great powers: Britain, France, Russia, Holland, Turkey, China, Prussia, Austria, Japan, USA, CSA, Mexico, and Brazil. Powers begin the game with a number of units representing their relative strengths in the middle of the nineteenth century, and many powers begin with far-flung units in their historical colonial territories.

    Austria Army Vienna Army Venice Army Budapest Fleet Croatia
    Brazil Fleet Recife Army Brasilia Army Oliveira Fleet Rio de Janeiro
    Britain Army Delhi Fleet Gibraltar Fleet London Fleet Falkland Islands
    Fleet Aden Fleet Bombay Fleet Singapore Fleet Nova Scotia
    Army Dublin Army Quebec Army Vancouver Fleet Hong Kong
    Army Perth Fleet Edinburgh
    China Army Peking Army Shanghai Army Manchuria Army Canton
    Army Wuhan Army Chungking Army Sinkiang
    CSA Army Richmond Army Atlanta Army Austin Army New Orleans
    France Army Paris Fleet Nantes Army Cambodia Fleet Society Islands
    Fleet Corsica Fleet Cayenne Fleet Monrovia Army Grain Coast
    Army Marseilles
    Holland Fleet Holland Fleet Ceylon Fleet Sumatra Fleet Cape Town
    Fleet Java Army Transvaal Army Borneo Army Paramaribo
    Japan Army Edo Fleet Sapporo Fleet Okinawa Fleet Kagoshima
    Mexico Fleet Merida Fleet Mazatlan Army Mexico City
    Prussia Army Berlin Army Prussia Army Silesia Army Ruhr
    Russia Army Warsaw Army Georgia Army Orenburg Fleet Port Arthur
    Army Irkutsk Fleet Sevastopol Army Anchorage Fleet St Petersburg/sc
    Army Omsk Army Moscow Army Vladivostok
    Turkey Fleet Angora/nc Fleet Cyprus Fleet Baghdad Army Constantinople
    Army Sofia Army Cairo
    USA Army Detroit Army Chicago Fleet Oregon Army Washington DC
    Fleet New York Army San Francisco

  4. The standard game phases (Spring, Fall, Winter) are used, with the first game-phase being Spring, 1861.

  5. A short game requires a player to possess 70 supply centers at the beginning of any Winter Adjustments phase. A long game requires a player to possess 84 supply centers.

  6. A power may build in any vacant supply center it owns, as long as that supply center is either one of his own home supply centers, or is the home supply center of any other power.
Map Notes

  1. Impassable Spaces. The following areas are impassable: Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Andes, Switzerland, Sahara Desert, and Himalayas. These areas are exactly like Switzerland in standard Diplomacy.

  2. Island Chains. Island Chains are coastal territories that may be entered through any adjacent sea zones. They may be occupied by either armies or fleets. However, they do not act like canals. The island chain spaces are: Hawaiian Islands, Galapagos Islands, Society Islands, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Azores, Cape Verde Islands, Falkland Islands, South George Island, Corsica, Crete, Seychelles, Maldives, Andaman Islands, Okinawa, Carolines, Marshalls, Fiji, and New Zealand. For example, a Fleet in the Andaman Islands may move to Gulf of Manaar, Bay of Bengal, Andaman Sea, or the East Indian Ocean. Similarly, a Fleet in Gulf of Manaar may convoy an Army to the Andaman Islands. However, a Fleet in Gulf of Manaar may not move to Andaman Sea.

  3. Large Island Chains. Large Island Chains are essentially two coastal provinces surrounded by water and attached by a land bridge. Both armies and fleets may move from island to island. However, a fleet may not move from one sea zone to another on the opposite side of the Large Island Chain. The two Large Island Chains are Cuba/Haiti and Luzon/Mindanao). For example, Luzon is attached to Luzon Strait, Philippine Sea, Bismark Sea, and Mindanao. An Army may move from Luzon to Mindanao. A Fleet may move from Luzon to Mindanao. A Fleet may move from Luzon to Luzon Strait. However, a Fleet may not move from Bismark Sea to Luzon Strait.

  4. The Bosphorous. The player that owns Constantinople (and only that player) may move a fleet directly from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, or vice-versa.

  5. Land Bridges. There are a number of land bridges on the map. These are pairs of land provinces which, although separated from each other by water, still allow both army and fleet movement from one to the other. The land bridges are: Victoria/Vancouver, Victoria/Washington, Detroit/Minnesota, Nova Scotia/Quebec, Atlanta/Bahamas, Bahamas/Cuba, Cuba/Haiti, Hait/Virgin Islands, Dublin/Edinburgh, Gibraltar/Morocco, Denmark/Norway, Denmark/Sweden, Cypress/Angora, Cypress/Syria, Singapore/Malaysia, Luzon/Mindanao, Kagoshima/Edo, Edo/Sapporo, and Sakhurlin/Vladivostok.

  6. Wraparound. Some sea zones can be found on both the left and the right side of the map. These are actually the same sea zones on both ends of the map. So in effect, a fleet coming from Kuril Sea could move into the Westerlies on the right side of the map and be adjacent to the Hawaiian Islands on the left side of the map. The wraparound spaces are: Bering Sea, Westerlies, West Pacific, Equatorial Counter Current, South West Pacific, and Antarctic Pacific.
Design Notes

The Imperial variant was created by Michael David Roberts. More information can be found at The Variant Bank.

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