Casus Foederis

We have all heard of the Golden Age of Diplomacy when press releases were extensive and the story and style of the game seemed to take on more importance than the simple movement of pieces and a result. We have also heard of team games of Diplomacy where players assumed different roles within the game. Within the web pages of Casus Foederis you will find the best of both those game aspects. In addition, under the direction of Claudio Miscia, it is the only site in the world where the game is reported in English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Macedonian and Catalan. Because the team members are drawn from all over the world with different native languages the site has its own movement notation, and the GM is very strict on using it to avoid misunderstandings because of language.

The Teams:
Each country has 3 players as "Ministers." The players pick their own Prime Minister. The Prime Minister assigns duties within the cabinet. Typically the Prime Minister commands the Armies, the #2 Minister has the Fleets, while the third minister is the back up for the entire position and can be assigned additional jobs such Ambassador to France or whatever. The players can all negotiate with each other and within their own team. Generally because of the international nature you may get different negotiation assignments because of language skills. This also sets up a whole of lot of 'good guy/bad guy' techniques. One of the most interesting aspects for me is the internal communication within a team to analyze not only the tactical and strategic situation but to also go over the personalities- communications with other players to discuss what is being said between the lines. In each of the last few games the most cohesive teams won.

The Press Releases:
The current game started in the East, with the Russian players declaring a revolution brought on by the assassination of the Tsar and his noble leaders. The revolution was blamed on the Turks by another press release. The new Russian government was clearly of the Soviet style. Meanwhile the Turks announced their own revolution with the return of the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy. The Austrians were obsessed with activities in Transylvania. The use of the web also allowed for the publication of various pictures; some from World War One archives in black and white, and in other cases from graphic files to go along with the story lines. For example, to demonstrate the Turkish fleet moving into the Aegean a stock MAC .gif file of a row of yellow rubber duckies was used. In the following turn when the Turkish fleet was crushed it showed a Rasputin type chewing on a rubber duckie.

Simulation and Links is one of the more interesting aspects of the site for those who are students of history or want to get into the role-playing atmosphere of the era. Here you will find a full list of things such as:

Along with these there is a reference area with links to treaties of the World War One era and references to relevant history sites. The web site encourages journalists and outside commentaries which you are certainly welcome to try out.

Edi Birsan
(edi@diplom.org)

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