Forum Diplomacy: Spring 1903 orders posted!

[NotASenator]

We are playing Forum Diplomacy.

I am the game master. I am the judge and jury on all disputes and questions about rules and gameplay.

If you do not know how to play, this is where you will find out more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_(game)#Game_play

And the official rules we will be using are here (Version 4, pdf file)
http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/diplomacy_rules.htm

The game begins in the year 1901 and there are seven players, representing the seven following powers:

THE CONTESTANTS FOR GAME 1:
Austria-Hungary - Joint Leadership: undulatingUltimatum/Archduke_Ferdinand
England - diacritical
Italy - Stephen
Russia - nopad
Turkey - Unlicensed Busdriver
France - Solaris
Germany - BSBen

The first turn will begin today (10/7) at 2:00pm EST and end two days later at 12:00 noon EST. This means that if a turn begins on Thursday at 3pm, orders are due in NO LATER THAN noon on Saturday. Once orders are submitted, there will be no more than a few hours for me to collect the orders and post the moves and the updated map. The map will always be up to date on this post, and the OP will contain links to the posts in the thread where each set of moves is posted.

Role-playing is not required, but is not frowned upon.


The winner of the first game will be automatically included in the second game with his choice of nation, and then all other positions will be new players. I will consider variations for future games, such as the Medieval one or a Homestuck-themed one.

If you are not playing, you can still play! Find some way to get involved, narrate the game, pick a territory to live in and write your impressions of the changing regimes or just cheer on your favorite player.

If you are playing as Turkey, I would suggest you watch out for the Lepanto opening.


CURRENT TURN: Spring, 1903

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TURN ARCHIVES:
Spring 1901
Fall 1901
Spring 1902
Fall 1902
Spring 1903

I found this PSD version of the map, I was hoping it would have the nations split out so I could color them to show control, but oh well. The pieces weren't standing out that much so I added drop shadows which just made them ugly, but I guess we'll have to deal.

[Moh Tzu]

EDIT: since nopad wants to play i'll withdraw my entry. instead i shall be a nihilist political activist spreading manifestos and generally hating everything Russia does. basically just writing poems, "articles", and rants about what's going on within Russia while the war is going on.

it's always good to have some flavor for a diplomacy game

[3 Sided Die]

I will take lead of France, I am pretentious and practical and just a little hotheaded, and I can never get anything done. The French Third Republic will be lead into glory and victory, we will colonize the new world even more extensively than we already have and we will gain vast swaths of land from our neighboring countries, whether they agree with it or not.
Colonization is on our forefront, and our soldiers will be the best trained and the best equipped. We will work to strengthen ties with the Americans in the west, and work to keep our republic free from oppressive outside influences. Vive la démocratie française!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Ive never played before but i pick things up quickly, lets game duders)

[Frankie the Tomboy]

I had a whole post typed up for England, but then I remembered Lord Salisbury was a Tory and I am from South Wales and the Torries generally hate the Welsh because we vote labour. OH WELL.

[diacritical]

I've never done this before but it looks hella interesting!

I would like to assume the role of England. As a fancy-ass motherfucker with a stiff upper lip, I have what it takes to lead the Empire to victory. If we're talking Edward VII, shit, we're basically the same guy. For one thing, everyone loves me. I'm a popular guy. I'm just a nice dude in general. I think Britain's army and naval fleets are totally rockin' and I'm going to command those guys flawlessly. We will obliterate everyone in our path and leave only us, us and the enemies' broken bodies! We will conquer every region and supply station. We will, to put it simply, own.

[Moh Tzu]

I had a whole post typed up for England, but then I remembered Lord Salisbury was a Tory and I am from South Wales and the Torries generally hate the Welsh because we vote labour. OH WELL.

you could always be italy!

[3 Sided Die]

italy is a hella cool place imo, would be second on my list after france.

[KevKevOnFire]

I am intrigued, but I will probably just observe this first game to get a better feel for it than the rules list allows.

[Moh Tzu]

italy is a hella cool place imo, would be second on my list after france.

if you want to play to have fun and don't care about winning necessarily it's pretty good, but just fyi for all future applicants it's harder to win with italy

it's also harder to win with russia, but not as hard as italy.

[Stephen]

Oh man I just learned about Diplomacy and would love to play because it sounds incredible. I'm going to do some quick research before I write my treatise so I don't embarrass myself.

I have one remaining question about gameplay, though: I take it from the wikipedia article that you build new armies only in Home supply centers. What if your only remaining supply centers are ones that started Neutral? Can you build your new armies in Home supply centers that originally belonged to another player?

[Moh Tzu]

nope, only in your home centers. and if you lose those you can't build armies.

i think, notasenator probably remembers better

[Stephen]

O.K.

Also, can I move a unit into a space that I am attempting to (but might fail to) vacate?
For instance, say I'm Germany, and I order an army to move from Belgium to Picardy (which is empty), and another army to move from Ruhr to Belgium. Is this legal?
If the former move fails (because France moves an army to Picardy with support), does the latter fail as well?

[NotASenator]

O.K.

Also, can I move a unit into a space that I am attempting to (but might fail to) vacate?
For instance, say I'm Germany, and I order an army to move from Belgium to Picardy (which is empty), and another army to move from Ruhr to Belgium. Is this legal?
If the former move fails (because France moves an army to Picardy with support), does the latter fail as well?

Yep. All moves happen simultaneously, so all moves must be legal.

[NotASenator]

So, we're going to use the 4th edition rules from here:

http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/diplomacy_rules.htm (it's a pdf file)

[Stephen]

But I'm allowed to attempt that move, even though the region isn't empty yet, right? Just making sure my understanding of this is thourough.

When first reading about Diplomacy, the point where it said moves are simultaneous is the point I became completely enamored with the game. I love it.

Right now I'm learning a lot about WWI. I am very glad to be filling in awful deficiencies in my knowledge of history.

[NotASenator]

But I'm allowed to attempt that move, even though the region isn't empty yet, right? Just making sure my understanding of this is thourough.

When first reading about Diplomacy, the point where it said moves are simultaneous is the point I became completely enamored with the game. I love it.

Right now I'm learning a lot about WWI. I am very glad to be filling in awful deficiencies in my knowledge of history.

Yeah, you can order a chain of moves (Unit in region 2 moves into region 1, unit from region 3 moves into region 2, 4 into 3, etc) but if any of them fail, the rest fail behind it in the chain.

[NotASenator]

Basically, you are allowed to order anything you want, but only legal moves end up going through.

You can order your troops to turn into superman if you want.

[Stephen]

I will apply for the part of Luigi Cadorna, commander of the Italian armies. Heartless, brutal, shortsighted, with rare and minor but key moments of military insight. He failed miserably, but I will absolve him by playing his strategy and succeeding at it. Hopelessly overextending forces, scuttling morale with absurdly cruel discipline, leaping for long-term goals with little or no subtlety to strategy: I will take these seemingly hopeless approaches and make them inexplicably work, using sheer force of will and a winning smile. This game of Forum Diplomacy will force historians and military strategists everywhere to reevaluate what they know. This fall, Luigi Cadrona will make you cry.

Looking at the game map I probably would prefer France, but I don't feel like challenging another application yet, and Italy's great too.

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EDIT: I won't actually be role playing as a shortsighted, ruthless chief of staff, I will be playing the game straight. My description of Cadrona was based entirely on a few wikipedia articles, anyway. Still, I think I would make a pretty good Cadrona.

[HellaBro]

Can I do Switzerland as a joke or would that just be dumb? Like no effect on the game, just being Switzerland for flavor/jokety joke purposes

[NotASenator]

All of your moves will have to be about how you aren't actually doing anything in terms of the war.

[HellaBro]

Okay I am going to read all the rules and stuff now, I will be the most official neutral dude there ever was

[3 Sided Die]

swiss legion a: ride bikes to balkans, report back, collect sweet lookin flowers for your glorious leader

[Acionyx]

Looks interesting. Gonna watch the first round before I make any attempt at playing though.

[undulatingUltimatum]

I would like to take the position of Franz Josef, King of Austria-Hungary and uncle of Franz Ferdinand, whose death was a contributing factor to the start of World War I. I may not be a gifted leader, but I will try my best to lead my people to victory.

Plus, look at that kicking facial hair:

[NotASenator]

swiss legion a: ride bikes to balkans, report back, collect sweet lookin flowers for your glorious leader

make some chocolate milk, do some banking.