1897

1. The normal rules of diplomacy apply except where amended herein.
2. The game starts in Autumn 1897 when each player reveals which of their regular home supply centres will be their initial home supply centre. However Russia may not chose StP.
3. In Winter 1897 each player builds a unit in their initial home supply centre. The game then proceeds as normal with the exception that all centres owened after the Winter 1899 adjudication become home supply centres for the duration of the game.
   1. Regular home supply centres that are not captured before Winter 1899 are *not* home centres in this variant.
   2. If you hold another player's initial home supply centre at the end of Winter 1899 it becomes a home supply centre for you and is not a home supply centre for the original owner.
4. Players are referred to by their country of origin, even if they do not own any centres within their original homeland!

Example (1): 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 centres 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).

By-season summary of orders:
Autumn 1897 : Select London
Winter 1897 : build A Lon
Spring 1898 : A Lon - Yor
Fall 1898 : A Yor - Lpl
Winter 1898 : build F Lon
Spring 1899 : A Lpl - Edi, F Lon - Nth
Fall 1899 : F Nth - Nwy, A Edi hol
Winter 1899 : England's Home Supply centres are Edi, Lon, Lpl and Nwy.

Example (2): 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.

By-season summary of orders:
Autumn 1897 : Select Trieste
Winter 1897 : build A Tri
Spring 1898 : A Tri - Ser
Fall 1898 : A Ser hold
Winter 1898 : build A Tri
Spring 1899 : A Tri - Ser, A Ser - Rum
Fall 1899 : A Ser - Gre, A Rum hold
Winter 1899: Austria's home Supply centres are Gre, Rum and Serbia.

Design Notes

This variant is a revision of 1898. In 1898 players have to recapture their regular home supply centres. This revision gives players the option of deciding which centres they want for their home supply centres. In 1898 players start from a pre-fixed initial home supply centre. In 1897 they decide for themselves, as a result of diplomacy, where to start from.

In 1898 players spend the pre-1900 seasons recapturing their original Diplomacy boundaries. In this variant players have the option of going for different boundaries.

In August 1992 Rick Westerman ([email protected]) suggested a revision of 1898 along these lines. His ideas were discussed in the dipl-l listerv group. The main contributor to this discussion was Mark Nelson ([email protected]). The first person to codify the discussion into a set of rules was Josh Smith ([email protected]). This set of rules is a revision by Mark Nelson and Josh Smith of Josh's set of rules.