The Twentieth Century


Michael David Roberts

This is a global variant designed to give players a fun game set in the 1930s. The map is set up to reflect the political situation of 1933, but it is not designed to recreate the events of the following decade. It only has the potential to. Hopefully players will enjoy all that this variant has to offer.

Introduction

The Imperial era ended with the death of a generation in the First World War. In an effort to escape the horrors of the War, the survivors buried themselves in the rampant consumerism and hedonism of the 1920s. That and the harsh treaty terms at Versailles caused a global economic collapse. As more and more people found themselves without homes, the old order was called into question. To stabilize themselves, many nations attacked their weaker neighbors. By the mid-1930s, Communism and Fascism were seriously considered as the only way modern industrial nations would survive. The militaristic policies of the aggressor nations in the 1930s lead the world to a new global conflict, and ended with the creation of Superpowers and the destruction of Fascism.

Rules

This game runs entirely under Standard Diplomacy rules, with a few exceptions concerning the starting date and the number of supply centers involved.

Start Date

The game has the same seasonal phases as Standard Diplomacy. The game begins in Spring 1933.

Victory Conditions

In order to win, a single power must own 74 Supply Centers at the beginning of a Fall turn.

Map Clarifications

Island Chains - (Hawaii, Carolines, Marshalls, Fiji, New Zealand, East Indies, Seychelles, Maldives, & Azores)

Island Chains are coastal provinces. Both Armies and Fleets may occupy an Island Chain. These provinces are accessable from any bordering sea zone. Fleets may not pass through as if Island Chains were canals, though.

Example: East Indies has access to Java

Sea, Timor Sea, Bay of Bengal, East Indian, and the Southeast Trades. A Fleet may occupy East Indies. A Fleet in Java Sea may convoy an Army to East Indies. A Fleet may not move from East Indian to Java Sea.

Large Island Chains - (Luzon\Mindanao & Cuba\Haiti)

Large Island Chains operate under the same rules as regular Island Chains. However, there is a province border that runs through Large Island Chains, and the two islands are connected by a land bridge. It effectively turns them into two province islands.

Example: Fleets and Armies may move freely between Cuba and Haiti. However, a unit may not move directly to Cuba from the Northeast Trades. Likewise, a unit may not move to Haiti from Gulf of Mexico or Florida Channel. Cuba and Haiti both have access to Sargasso Sea and the Caribbean.

Straits & Canals - (Bremen, Ankara, Cairo, & Panama)

These work the same as canals do in Colonial Diplomacy. The owner of these provinces may send fleets to neighboring sea zones without having to move into the canal zone first. Owning players may also allow other players to send fleets through.

Example: Britain owns Cairo. The Britain player may order F(Aegean Sea) to Red Sea. If there was an Italian fleet in the Aegean, the Britain player may also allow Italy F(Aegean Sea) to Red Sea.

Land Bridges - (Ireland<->Glasgow, Sicily<->Salerno, Denmark<->Norway, Denmark<->Sweden, Karnataka<->Ceylon, Singapore<->Malaysia, Kagoshima<->Tokyo, Tokyo<->Sapporo, Luzon<->Mindanao, & Cuba<->Haiti)

Land bridges work as they do in Colonial Diplomacy. Armies and Fleets may move from one province to the other connected by the land bridge.

Example: A valid move, A(Salerno) to Sicily.

Wraparound - (Bering Sea, Westerlies, West Pacific, Equatorial Coutnercurrent, South Pacific, & Antarctic Pacific)

These sea zones connect both ends of the map. A Fleet may move or convoy from one side of the map to the other in these sea zones.

Example: Japanese F(Kuril Trench) to Westerlies. Japanese F(Westerlies) to North Pacific.

Starting Positions

BRITAIN
F London (LON)
A Edinburgh (EDI)
F Glasgow (GLA)
F Quebec (QBC)
A Toronto (TOR)
A Cairo (CAI)
A Cape Town (CAP)
A Delhi (DEL)
F Bombay (BOM)
F Hong Kong (HK)
A Singapore (SG)
A Sydney (SYD)
 USA
A Washington DC (WAS)
F New York (NYO)
A St. Louis (SLO)
F New Orleans (NOL)
A San Francisco (SFR)
A Anchorage (ANC)
F Hawaii (HAW)
A Panama (PAN)
A Luzon (LUZ)
F Mindanao (MIN)
 FRANCE
A Nantes (NAN)
A Paris (PAR)
F Marseilles (MAR)
A Conakry (CON)
A Damascus (DAM)
F Madagascar (MAD)
A Hanoi (HAN)
F Saigon (SAI)
F Fiji (FIJ)
USSR
F Leningrad[wc] (LEN)
A Moscow (MOS)
F Sevastopol (SEV)
A Orenburg (ORN)
A Omsk (OMS)
A Tashkent (TAS)
A Irkutsk (IRK)
A Vladivostok (VLA)
A Kamchatka (KAM)
 JAPAN
A Tokyo (TOK)
F Sapporo (SAP)
F Kagoshima (KG)
A Okinawa (OKI)
F Taiwan (TA)
A Seoul (SEO)
A Harbin (HAR)
 ITALY
F Rome (ROM)
A Salerno (SAL)
A Sicily (SIC)
A Tirana (TIR)
F Tripoli (TRI)
A Mogadishu (MOG)
GERMANY
F Bremen (BRE)
A Berlin (BER)
A Dresden (DRE)
A Stutt. (STU)
TURKEY
A Ankara (ANK)
A Antalya (ANT)
F Ordu (ORD)
A Van (VAN)
 CHINA
A Nanjing (NNJ)
A Shanghai (SHA)
A Hefei (HEF)
A Wuhan (WUH)
COLUMBIA
F Cartenega (CRT)
A Buenaventura (BUV)
A Bogata (BOG)
A Mitu (MIT)
 PERSIA
A Tehran (TEH)
A Esfahan (ESF)
F Bandar Abbas (BAN)
MEXICO
A Mazatlan (MAZ)
A Mexico City (MEX)
F Merida (MER)
BRAZIL
A Brasilia (BRA)
A Recife (REC)
F Rio de Janeiro (RDJ)

Final Notes

This variant was designed for GM'd PBEM play, You'll note that there are two maps for the game. The larger map has the complete names for each province. However, its size is somewhat difficult for players to use. The smaller map is like a conference map for Standard or Colonial. It is fairly easy to read, but all of the territory names are their three letter abbreviations. Both maps have legends to make them easier to undertand. Graphic icons for the Armies and Fleets are provided in the legends. It's best to look at either map on a 1-1 or 2-1 ratio, any smaller makes them difficult to read.

I'd also like to thank you for downloading this variant. I hope that you and your friends enjoy playing with this map. If you have any questions, comments, or information, go ahead and email me at: mikedr@gte.net.