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The Aberration variant of diplomacy follows the most of the rules as standard
diplomacy with a modified map. The idea behind the game was to have powers
which history had basically passed by. Each of the 9 great powers is a nation
which might have become a great power in the modern period if history had gone
a little differently than it did.
The judge version was designed by Nicholas Fitzpatrick, based very heavily on
Rod Walker's Aberration III (NAVB CN ca01).
Rules:
1) Except as noted below, the standard rules of play for Diplomacy on the
judge apply.
2) There are 9 great powers. The Sicilian player must use the letter "C"
rather than "S" when signing on since "S" is reserved for Spain, and the
Byzantine player must use "Z" rather than "B" as "B" is reserved for
"Burgundy". The starting units are as follows:
B-BURGUNDY C-SICILY E-EIRE
A Dijon A Rome A Alcluyd
A Brussels F Naples F Dublin
F Hague F Palermo F Edinburgh
H-HUNGARY I-ISRAEL P-POLAND
A Budapest A Damascus A Warsaw
A Szeged A Jerusalem A Riga
F Zara F Cairo F Gdansk
S-SPAIN U-UKRAINE Z-BYZANTIUM
A Toledo A Kiev A Athens
F Santander A Odessa F Constantinople
F Valencia F Yalta F Smyrna
3) A player may build on any supply centre he/she owns which is vacant as
long as he/she still own atleast one of his/her original centres.
4) Six provinces have interior waterways, inland canals, or bordering canals.
Each of these provinces operates exactly as does Kiel, Constantinople or
Denmark in the regular game. They are: Cairo, Constantinople, Denmark,
Holstein, Sinai, and Taurida. The Suez canal separates the provinces of
Sinai and Cairo, units can pass from Sinai to Cairo. So in one turn the
moves F Delta Sea-Sinai and F Red Sea-Cairo would both succeed.
5) The Caspian Sea, Crete, Iceland, Corsica and any other unnamed space is
not passable.
6) There are 52 supply centres. The victory criterion is possession of 27
supply centres at the end of any Fall retreat.
7) The game begins in 1901.
Province Abreviations
All province are abbreviated by the first three letters of the province,
except the following:
ebs East Black Sea
ems Eastern Mediterranean Sea
gob Gulf of Bothnia
gol Gulf of Lyon
pal Palermo
plm Palma Sea
nao North Atlantic Ocean
nor Norway
nmk Norromark
nth North Sea
nwg Norwegian Sea
tyr Tyrol
tys Tyrrhenian Sea
wbs West Black Sea
wms Western Mediterranean Sea
Scenario
Here are some brief suggestions to what may have happened to these powers such
that they achieved greatness, while those that we know so well didn't.
Burgundy The final confrontation between the civilization of the Seine and
the Saone was no sure thing for the Parisian monarch. In this
instance the victor was the Burgundian dynastic state, stretching
from the Rhone to the North Sea.
Byzantium This empire might have survived had the Turks failed to make a
landing in Europe. The population of western Asia Minor was
still basically Greek in the 1400s. Some strong emperors could
have given the Greek state a new lease on life.
Hungary She was a budding great power until the Turkish invasions. A
strong Byzantium would have prevented that and Hungary, not
Austria, could have become the great Danubian power.
Eire If Irish missionary activity had been followed by political
action on behalf of their fellow celts, the Anglo-Norman imperium
at London might have been still-born. All the Irish needed was
some real unity, which the almost achieved on occasion.
Israel This could be a continuation of the ancient dynastic state under
descendants of the Maccabees, or the Herods. More likely,
however, it would be representative of the final victory of the
Crusaders in the Middle East. It might therefore be called the
"Kingdom of Jerusalem"
Poland The Poles had many opportunities to overwhelm both the Russian
and the eastern Germans. We must here assume that one
opportunity finally worked.
Sicily This island once had an excellent chance of gaining control of
most of Italy under a powerful and aggressive Norman dynasty.
These rulers died out, and Sicily became the pawn of others.
Here we assume that the Norman dynasty did not die out.
Spain The could be a Christian Spain which somehow remained powerful
despite a long succession of cretinous monarchs. Perhaps they
were spared the third-rate Hapsburgs and Bourbons which were
thrust upon them. OR this is a Muslim Spain, which case we
should refer to it as the "Caliphate of Toledo" (a change of
capital from Cordova).
Ukraine The original Russian state was centred at Kiev, and we suppose
here that this southern centre remained dominant rather than
losing out to the northern centres at Vladimir and Moscow. These
people would, however, continue to call their land "Russia" or
something like it.
Differences from Aberration III
Some changes were made to Aberration III, to allow it to be played on a judge.
The West, South and East Africa spaces were eliminated. The naval shipyard
in Karelia was removed. In addition, some spaces had their names altered
or changed, and a name Lemberg was given to a province whose name had
been left off the NAVB map.