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My goal is to create a global World War II variant for Diplomacy that attains the elusive perfect balance between history
and gameplay. The variant is set in 1931 because this is a starting point for World War II with the Japanese annexation of
Manchuria. The unit composition of each power is often unrealistic, such as China having significant naval and aerial power,
and having the ability to build aircraft carriers at all. Also, chaos builds leads to some odd situations, for example the
French could build an aircraft carrier in Vietnam. However, I believe that these concessions to gameplay are necessary in
order to make the game more playable.
My hope is that the variant will play "smaller" than its size.
Every player on the board has reason to interact with virtually every other player. While there are more SCs than Standard,
there is a similar ratio (~2/3) of starting player-owned SCs to total SCs, meaning that players are forced to clash early.
Offensive play is encouraged in many ways. First, there are no corner positions, which limits the effectiveness of defensive
tactics. Chokepoints are kept to a minimum. "Chaos builds" ensures that players are not waiting for years to move units
to the front lines. Aerial units are far more useful in attack than defense, and should be helpful in breaking any potential
stalemate lines. Finally, a relatively short victory line (1/3 instead of 1/2 of the total SCs) should encourage players
to go for the solo victory, instead of the alterative where players decide that victory is impossible on such a large map,
and then play for the draw.
Conceptually, the variant is built around numerous diplomatic triangles,
as triangles are generally the most dynamic configuration in Diplomacy. These triangles are: Africa & Med (B/F/I), Atlantic
(B/F/A), North Sea (B/F/G), Scandinavia (B/G/S), Western Europe (F/G/I), Balkans (G/S/I), Central Asia (S/C/B), SE Asia land
(B/F/C), SE Asia sea (B/J/A), and East Asia (C/J/S). The one area that couldn't be "triangulated" was the Pacific, where
America and Japan are the only two significant powers.
There are some key relationships that will
go a long way in determining the shape of the game. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, America and Japan is one, because
an alliance leaves each with a free hand to go all-out in the opposite direction. To a lesser extent, the Soviets and Germans
have a similar relationship. Because they are the strongest powers on the board and they are entangled everywhere, the British-French
relationship is probably most important. If they work together, they own 1/4 of the SCs on the board to start, and are a
juggernaut to be feared. If they fight each other, then a frantic wooing of allies (particularly Italy) will ensue by both
parties.
I welcome any feedback on the variant. Please contact me at congressofvienna1814@yahoo.com.
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