Overview

Diplomacy is a board game set in 1901 on the European stage. You play one of 7 factions referred to as England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia and Turkey. Each player controls a faction starting with either 3 or 4 units, armies (land units) and fleets (ocean going units).

Every unit in the game has a strength of 1 which means no unit is more powerful than another. In order to take over a new region, your unit must be supported by other units (either your own or willing neighbors) to increase your strength to greater than that of your opposition. Hence, the game is not a military simulation, it is purely a diplomatic game where alliances and backstabs are necessary for victory.

Game turns are played simultaneously with orders being resolved at the end of a predetermined time. Resolutions and conflicts are calculated at the end of each turn. Turns are divided into the Spring and Fall of each year.

In some of the regions, there are supply centers. For each supply center you control at the end of the Fall phase, you are allowed a unit. If your number of supply centers exceed that of the number of units you control, you can gain new units. If, on the other hand, the number of supply centers you control is less than the number of units you have, you must destroy excess units.

The object of the game is to control 18 supply centers.

I've just started playing 2 games of Diplomacy online called "Worst Case Ontario" as Italy and "Closing Curtains" as France and I'm going to document them both here.

For more information and rules, check out playdiplomacy.com.