UKDP: 1897 Overview

The 1897 Variant

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Contents Basic Rules

The normal rules of Diplomacy apply except where amended herein.
The game starts in Winter 1897, when each player reveals which of their regular home supply centers will be their initial home supply center. However, Russia may not choose St. Petersburg. In Winter 1897, each player builds a unit in their chosen initial home supply center.
The game then proceeds as normal with the exception that all centers owned by each player at the beginning of the Winter 1899 Adjustments phase become the player's home supply centers for the duration of the game.
If a player holds another player's originally chosen home supply center in Winter 1899, it becomes a home supply center for the owning player and is no longer a home supply center for its original owner. Players are referred to by their country of origin, even if they do not own any centers within their original homeland.
Regular home supply centers that are not captured before Winter 1899 are not home centers in this variant.

Examples

England selects London as her initial home supply center. She builds an army there, and moves to Liverpool by Fall 1898. Having two centers and one unit, she builds a fleet in London in Winter 1898, and moves the fleet into Norway in Fall 1899 via the North Sea, moving the army into Edinburgh in Spring 1899 and holding there in Fall 1899. She now controls London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Norway: these are her home centers for the remainder of the game, and she may build units in any of these when she is entitled to do so (including during the immediately following Winter 1899 builds).

Phase	Orders
Winter 1897	`Build A Lon`
Spring 1898	`A Lon - Yor`
Fall 1898	`A Yor - Lvp`
Winter 1898	`Build F Lon`
Spring 1899	`A Lpl - Edi F Lon - NTH`
Fall 1899	`F Nth - Nwy A Edi H`
Winter 1899	England's home supply centers are `Edi`, `Lon`, `Lvp`, and `Nwy`

Austria selects Trieste as his initial home supply center. He builds an army there, and moves to Serbia in Spring 1898, holding there in Fall 1898. He builds a second army in Trieste, and moves it through Serbia in Spring 1899 into Greece in Fall 1899, while his first army moves from Serbia into Rumania in Spring 1899, and holds in Fall 1899. However, Germany, who began with an army in Munich and built a second one there in Winter 1898, moves into Tyrolia in Spring 1899, and into Trieste in Fall 1899. Austria's home centers become Serbia, Greece, and Rumania, while Germany's include Munich and Trieste. With three centers and two units, Austria may build one unit in his only open home center, Serbia.

Phase	Orders
Winter 1897	Build A Tri
Spring 1898	`A Tri - Ser`
Fall 1898	`A Ser H`
Winter 1898	`Build A Tri`
Spring 1899	`A Tri - Ser A Ser - Rum`
Fall 1899	`A Ser - Gre A Rum H`
Winter 1899	Austria's home supply centers are `Gre`, `Rum`, and `Ser`

Design Notes

This variant is a revision of 1898. In 1898, players have to recapture their regular home supply centers. This revision gives players the option of deciding which centers they want for their home supply centers.

In August 1992, Rick Westerman suggested a revision of 1898 along these lines. His ideas were discussed in the rec.games.diplomacy newsgroup. The main contributor to this discussion was Mark Nelson. The first person to codify the discussion into a set of rules was Josh Smith. This set of rules is a revision by Mark Nelson and Josh Smith of Josh's set of rules.