The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Unsurprisingly, this game is a variant on the old armchair general's favourite, Diplomacy. It basically follows the same rules structure as it's parent but utilises a different map. The original Diplomacy covered Europe from Great Britain up in the North West, down to Turkey in the South East. This variant covers South East Asia and the Middle East.

As in the original, the game is played with 2-7 players, but the best games are those played with a full complement of seven. Each player takes the part of one of the world powers of the mid 19th century and gets to place their units in the colony of that country.

The different starting positions are certainly quite varied. Russia and China, predictably enough start with large land based armies in their own territory. Holland starts off in the islands around Java and Borneo with a predominately water based force. The most interesting start is that of Great Britain, which starts with most of India, and a single fleet in both Singapore and Hong Kong.

The game impresses with it's quality straight out of the box. The full colour board comes in two thick pieces and folds out to a good size and the playing pieces are made of painted wood. The rules are reasonably clear, and there are small copies of the map for players to take away and huddle over whilst making negotiations.

The premise of the game is relatively simple, to capture as many supply centres as possible within the time limit, or number of turns agreed by the players beforehand. The turns are given a fixed time interval to allow players to negotiate with each other and form pacts or alliances. These alliances are the key to winning the game. It is reasonably important to be quite strict on these time limits, unless time isn't an issue. We played for about 2.5 hours with a full complement and managed to get 8 turns played.

Before the end of each turn, each player must hand in a description of their orders. These orders are then read out and acted upon simultaneously, and the results determined (usually accompanied with loud shrieks of laughter or groans accordingly).

At the end of every second turn, players have to re-evaluate how many supply centres they have captured, and adjust the number of units they have accordingly. If the player has gained supply centres, they may construct new units. These new units may only be built on a player's home territory, and only if that territory is vacant. A player who loses all his home territories is, to put it politely, shafted.

Units capture a supply centre by being on the territory containing the centre at the end of an even turn. They do not lose the supply centre, even if vacated until another unit captures it.

http://homepage.virgin.net/martin.grimes

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Colonial Diplomacy
Author: Avalon Hill Category: Board Game Company/Publisher: Avalon Hill Cost: n/a Page count: n/a Capsule Review by Martin Bailey on 02/02/99. Genre tags: Historical	Unsurprisingly, this game is a variant on the old armchair general's favourite, Diplomacy. It basically follows the same rules structure as it's parent but utilises a different map. The original Diplomacy covered Europe from Great Britain up in the North West, down to Turkey in the South East. This variant covers South East Asia and the Middle East. As in the original, the game is played with 2-7 players, but the best games are those played with a full complement of seven. Each player takes the part of one of the world powers of the mid 19th century and gets to place their units in the colony of that country. The different starting positions are certainly quite varied. Russia and China, predictably enough start with large land based armies in their own territory. Holland starts off in the islands around Java and Borneo with a predominately water based force. The most interesting start is that of Great Britain, which starts with most of India, and a single fleet in both Singapore and Hong Kong. The game impresses with it's quality straight out of the box. The full colour board comes in two thick pieces and folds out to a good size and the playing pieces are made of painted wood. The rules are reasonably clear, and there are small copies of the map for players to take away and huddle over whilst making negotiations. The premise of the game is relatively simple, to capture as many supply centres as possible within the time limit, or number of turns agreed by the players beforehand. The turns are given a fixed time interval to allow players to negotiate with each other and form pacts or alliances. These alliances are the key to winning the game. It is reasonably important to be quite strict on these time limits, unless time isn't an issue. We played for about 2.5 hours with a full complement and managed to get 8 turns played. Before the end of each turn, each player must hand in a description of their orders. These orders are then read out and acted upon simultaneously, and the results determined (usually accompanied with loud shrieks of laughter or groans accordingly). At the end of every second turn, players have to re-evaluate how many supply centres they have captured, and adjust the number of units they have accordingly. If the player has gained supply centres, they may construct new units. These new units may only be built on a player's home territory, and only if that territory is vacant. A player who loses all his home territories is, to put it politely, shafted. Units capture a supply centre by being on the territory containing the centre at the end of an even turn. They do not lose the supply centre, even if vacated until another unit captures it. http://homepage.virgin.net/martin.grimes Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Colonial Diplomacy