Imperial Diplomacy
A Two Player Solution

By Edi Birsan


In the 60's in New York we often would play a lot of games very quickly and frequently get to a situation where there are two power blocks or one block vs. one big player and social desires to drag the game on would be low, though there was plenty of discussions on what could have happened here and there. There were a few cases where the tactical situation was rather interesting and we shifted to an ‘Imperial Diplomacy’ mode. In this situation, there would be one player on each side of the line and they would play for all the countries involved in the alliance. The conditions were that you could not take a center intentionally from your ally so as to throw the game, but you could retreat into a center if it made sense. This way, the secondary players could all go on about their business or start another game while the two intense players could play out the tactical solution before them.

One of the situations to which this might be applied is the following oddity:

Power Block #1
Goal: An Italian Solo
England (4/4)
Fleet Norway
Fleet London
Army Liverpool
Fleet Irish Sea

Owns: London, Liverpool, Norway, Brest

Italy (13/16)
Fleet Mid-Atlantic Ocean
Fleet English Channel
Fleet Western Mediterranean
Fleet Spain (south coast)
Fleet Greece
Army Paris
Army Munich
Army Tyrolia
Army Budapest
Army Vienna

Owns: Spain, Tunis, Marseilles,
Paris, Rome, Venice, Naples,
Trieste, Vienna, Budapest,
Greece, Munich, Serbia

Power Block #2
Goal: Prevent a Solo

Austria (1/1)
Army Sevastopol

Owns Sevastapol


France (1/1)
Army Picardy
Owns Portugal


Germany (6/6)
Fleet Holland
Fleet North Sea
Army Belgium
Army Berlin
Army Ruhr
Army Edinburgh

Owns: EDI, Belgium, Holland,
Kiel, Denmark, Berlin

Russia (1/1)
Fleet Gulf of Bothnia

Owns Sweden


Turkey (7/8)
Army Livonia
Army St. Petersburg
Army Warsaw
Army Rumania
Army Constantinople
Army Smyrna
Fleet Black Sea

Owns: Bulgaria, Rumania,
Constantinople, Smyrna,
Ankara, Warsaw, Moscow,
St. Petersburg

And now...here is your question: Can Italy force a win with England as his toady or can the grand alliance roll them back? Mail your answer to The Pouch! And be sure to remember that allies cannot take a center from each other.



Edi Birsan
(edi@mgames.com)


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