Last issue, we presented five simple tactical Diplomacy puzzles for your enjoyment. We're sure you managed to get the write answers on your own: but just for the sake of completeness, here are the official solutions!

1. Defending France

France:	F(Lon), A(Bre), A(Par), A(Mar)
Germany:	F(ENG), A(Pic), A(Bur)
Season to play:	Fall
You are:	France

You have been caught out of position by Germany. Germany can attack Brest or Paris with support, and your units in Lon and Mar are too far away to support them.

How can you guarantee to keep Brest and Paris this year, against any possible German attack?

Clouseau's suggestion was simply to order Army Brest support Army Paris, on the grounds that a static defense is always best. Unfortunately for him, that's entirely untrue! In this particular case, Germany can cut any defensive supports easily. For example, the Kaiser could order anyof the following attacks:

The key to defeating all of these attacks is to use a dynamic defense, by ordering France's units to cut all possible supports. The French player should order:

Note that you have to order both Army Brest and Army Paris to Picardy to be sure of cutting that possible support, since a unit cannot cut the support for an attack on the territory it occupies. If you order A PAR-PIC but not A BRE-PIC, then Paris Attack 2 will succeed; similarly, A BRE-PIC cannot cut the support for Brest Attack 2.

2. Italian Infiltration

France:	A(Par), A(Pic), A(Bel), A(Ruh), A(Mun), A(Mar)
Italy:	A(Bur), A(Pie)
Season to play:	Fall
You are:	France

Italy has managed to sneak a unit into Burgundy, and unfortunately, you haven't got a unit next to Marseilles to support it. You can cut Burgundy, but Italy might use that as the moving unit (or of course, he might use Burgundy to support Piedmont in).

How can you guarantee to keep Italy out of Marseilles this year, against any possible Italian attack?

Although Clouseau seemed to think the solution was necessarily diplomatic, really you can guard France's home centers purely through a tactical defense.

Italy has two possible attacks on Marseilles:

Naturally, with four armies surrounding Burgundy, you have plenty of resources to cut the support in Marseilles Attack 1. However, the problem is that you must also counter Marseilles Attack 2. You can do that by ordering your own supported attack on Burgundy from Marseilles:

This counters Marseilles Attack 2 easily. However, if Italy uses Marseilles Attack 1 instead, your move on Burgundy succeeds, and Army Piedmont marches into Marseilles as you vacate it!

To counter both possible attacks, you must add a second supported attack on Burgundy, to ensure that yourmove from Marseilles is bounced regardless of what Italy does:

Given the concentration of French units in the area, you could actually use different armies for this defense. The main point is to have two two-unit attacks on the Burgundy space.

3. Mediterranean Stalemates

France:	F(Mar), F(GOL), F(WMS), F(NAf)
Italy:	F(ION), F(TYS), F(Nap), A(Tus), A(Pie), A(Ven), A(Tyr) Italy owns Tunis.
Season to play:	Fall
You are:	Italy

France is pushing for the solo. He's got you slightly outnumbered in fleets, although you've clearly got the army advantage!

How can you stop him making any progress? That is, how can you stop him getting a unit into Pie, Tus, TYS or Tun, against any possible French attack?

Defending Piedmont is relatively simple: there are two French units that can attack it (F LYO and F MAR), and three Italian units that can defend it. If you order Army Tyrolia to support Army Piedmont to hold, France can't get any further on that front.

No, the real challenge here is to defend Italy's position on the seas. How can you prevent France from advancing into the Tyrrhenian Sea, while still covering Tunis?

Clouseau's solution was to use Fleet Tyrrhennian Sea for a supported attack on Tunis. Unfortunately, this is incorrect! In fact, if you follow Clouseau's suggetions and order:

…then you risk losing either the Tyrrhenian or Tunis to a supported French attack! Consider:

If you order Fleet Naples to support Fleet Tyrrhenian Sea in place, then you have covered that space but the attack on Tunis will still work.

You can ensure that France fails to take Tunis by ordering the attack the other way round:

Unfortunately, this doesn't defend against the French attack on the Tyrrhenian. So how do you launch an attack whose support cannot be cut through a sea space? With a convoy, of course! A convoy cannot be cut unless it's dislodged, and is able to accept defensive support. So the key is to convoy Army Tuscany to Tunis while supporting Fleet Tyrrhenian Sea in place:

This defense counters against the attack on Tunis; and if France tries the Tyrrhenian attack instead, the convoy to Tunis succeeds.

4. Turkish Defence

Turkey:	F(Con), F(Smy), A(Ank)
Italy:	F(Bul/sc), F(AEG), F(EMS), A(Syr)
Season to play:	Fall
You are:	Turkey

Italy has you outnumbered, and is slowly pushing you back. However, from your negotiations, you've found out that Italy is ordering:

F(Bul/sc) - Con,

F(AEG) s F(Bul/sc) - Con,

A(Syr) - Smy,

F(EMS) s A(Syr) - Smy

Given this information, how can you hold all your home centres this turn?

Forewarned is forearmed, as they say! Although Clouseau was convinced that you'd need outside intervention, it is possible to defend against this Italian attack, as follows:

Note that F CON S A ANK-SMY would fail, because Fleet Bulgaria's unsuccessful attack on Constantinople will still cut any support from F CON.

Note that in this case, Italy got a little greedy. He could be absolutely sure of seizing Smyrna with the following orders:

The move comes from the Aegean rather than the Eastern Med or Syria because the latter are uncuttable supports, while a support from Fleet Aegean can be cut by a Turkish move of Fleet Constantinople to Aegean Sea.

5. Holding Rumania

Turkey:	F(BLA), A(Bul), A(Gre), A(Tri)
Russia:	A(Rum), A(Gal), A(Vie), A(Sil), A(Lvn) Russia owns Rum and Sev, Turkey owns Ser.
Season to play:	Spring
You are:	Russia

You are under attack from Turkey. From your negotiations, you've found out that in the Spring, he will be ordering A(Bul) - Rum, F(BLA) s A(Bul) - Rum, A(Gre) - Ser, A(Tri) s A(Gre) - Ser.

You can easily stop him taking Rum in the Spring — just support it with Gal, But if he gets into Serbia then he will have three units to attack it in the Fall. So how can you ensure that both Rum and Sev are still yours at the end of the year?

Once again, foreknowledge proves useful!

The key here is to realize that this is a Spring move. You can afford to let Turkey into Rumania temporarily, as long as you eject him again in the Fall. So you can use Army Rumania to keep Turkey out of Serbia in the Spring; that way, even if Turkey dislodges you from Rumania in the Spring you will still have superior numbers available to retake the center in the Fall.

Since you know Turkey's plan of attack, you should order the following:

These orders counter the Turkish move on Serbia, but Army Rumania is dislodged. However, you are free to retreat it to Sevastopol.

In the Fall, you should be able to retake Rumania while still guarding Sevastopol with the following orders:

Unfortunately, with these moves it's still possible for Turkey to gain some ground in the Fall by ordering A TRI-VIE instead of supporting A GRE-SER (which at this point becomes a wasted support), or A TRI S A RUM-BUD. However, Rumania and Sevastopol will be guaranteed.

So there you have it!

If you've enjoyed these little tactical problems, I highly recommend that you look at Matthew Self's Library of Diplomacy Tactics, which contains a whole bunch of similar tactical puzzles that can help you sharpen your game.

David Norman (david@ellought.demon.co.uk)

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