Contents:

1.0 Diplomacy Rules
2.0 Tournament Format (Games; Scoring; Playing Time; Late Players)
3.0 Game Format (Diplomacy Periods; Changes to Timing; Stopping the Clock; Country Allocations)
4.0 GM Positions (Number of Players; Scoring GM Positions; Standing Aside)
5.0 Orders (The Deadline; Lodging Orders; Security of Orders; Late Orders; Valid Sets of Orders; Multiple Sets of Orders Lodged; Invalid Sets of Orders)
6.0 Resolving Orders (Speed of Resolution; Determining the Active Power; Duties of The Powers; Retreats, Builds and Disbands; Failure to Disband; Handling Illegal Orders; Pandin's Paradox; Correcting Errors)
7.0 Ending a Game (18 Centre Victory; Agreed Draw; Time Draw; Final Centre Count)
8.0 Replacement of Players (Quitting Before the End; Player Unable to Continue; Abandoned Countries; Selecting a Replacement Player; Reinstatement)
9.0 Disputes and Penalties (Disputes, Disputes Committee, Misconduct and Penalties)
10.0 Tournament Results
11.0 Tournament Director's Reserve Powers

Suggested Tournament Rules

1.0 Diplomacy Rules

1.1 The Rules of Diplomacy, 2nd ed. (Baltimore, The Avalon Hill Game Company, 1982) will be used throughout this tournament and will apply except where the Suggested Tournament Rules contradict them, in which case the Suggested Tournament Rules shall apply, overridding the Rules of Diplomacy.

2.1 Games: [Number] rounds will be played over [number] days.
2.2 Scoring: The [name] scoring system will be used, with a player's best [number] rounds scored.
2.3 Playing Time: The first round starts promptly at [time and date]. Subsequent rounds start at [times and dates]. ((See the Tournament Director's Guide  for assistance with the timing of rounds)).
2.4 Late Players: The Tournament Director may disqualify or replace latecomers.

3.1 Diplomacy Periods: Diplomacy periods will be [20] minutes per turn, reducing to [15] minutes after [Fall 1902]. Games will be played with a Spring negotiation period and a Fall negotiation period. The time allocated to the Fall negotiation period starts immediately after the time for the Spring negotiation period finishes, and vice versa. Resolution of orders, any resulting retreats and (in a Fall turn) any subsequent adjustments will take place during the negotiation period allowed for the following turn. There is NO negotiation during move resolution, retreats or adjustments: players may begin negotiating only when all move resolution, retreats and adjustments have been completed.

3.2 Changes to Timing: At the Tournament Director's discretion, Diplomacy periods may be increased or decreased to no less than 10 minutes and no more than 20 minutes. The Tournament Director will loudly and clearly announce the new length for each turn. Any decrease to less than 12 minutes per turn must be unanimously supported by all players still playing in all games still underway. With that proviso, the final decision on reductions and increases will always be made by the Tournament Director.

3.3 Stopping the Clock: At the Tournament Director's discretion the clock may be stopped if exceptional circumstances arise. If so the Tournament Director will announce loudly and clearly that the clock is being stopped, the clock will be stopped for all games, not just one game, and the stoppage will be as brief as possible.

3.4 Country Allocation: The Tournament Director will make every effort to ensure that no player plays the same country more than once unless that player has played more than 7 games.

4.1 Number of Players: Where the number of players in the round is not evenly divisible by 7, GM positions may be required to make up the numbers so that all games have 7 players. These positions can be filled by the Tournament Director, the Tournament Director's assistants or competing players who volunteer to play two games simultaneously.

4.2 Scoring GM Positions: No competing player may play more than 1 scored game in any 1 scored round. Where a player plays in a second game during the round as a GM position, that player will score the better game as the player's scored game at the completion of the round.

4.3 Standing Aside: There may be times when a multiple of 7 players cannot reasonably be made up using GM positions. Players will be asked to stand aside at this point, and if there are not enough volunteers to stand aside the Tournament Director will be forced to exclude some players from the round.

5.1 The Deadline: The Tournament Director will endeavour to give time warnings at 10, 5 and 2 minutes before the deadline. At the deadline, the Tournament Director will call TIME. A countdown to the deadline is not required and does not excuse late orders.

5.2 Lodging Orders: Players must finish writing their orders and place them in the orders folder/box for their game before the Tournament Director calls TIME. Each player may only lodge one set of orders in the orders folder/box (see rule 5.6). Once the Tournament Director calls TIME, the orders are removed from the orders folder/box and the turn resolved (see rule 6.0).

5.3 Security of Orders: Players are responsible for the security of their own orders. Orders placed in the orders folder/box may only be retrieved before the deadline by the player to whom they belong. No player may retrieve another player's orders from the orders folder/box, and those who do may be penalised at the Tournament Director's discretion as specified in rule 9.3.

5.4 Late Orders: Any orders not in the folder/box when the Tournament Director calls TIME are late. Late orders may be ruled invalid by the Tournament Director (see 5.7) or, if ruled valid, may be penalised at the Tournament Director's discretion as specified in rule 9.3.

5.5 Valid Sets of Orders: Every set of lodged orders should include the game's name, country, season, year and be signed by the player; if not they may be ruled invalid at the discretion of the Tournament Director (see rule 5.7). No joint, multiple, proxy, phased or over-riding orders are allowed; all such orders are invalid.

5.6 Multiple Sets of Orders Lodged: A player may only lodge one set of orders per season. If more than one set of orders for a country have been lodged the Tournament Director will examine the orders and determine whether one or more of the sets of orders are invalid (as defined in rule 5.5). If the Tournament Director finds more than one set of valid orders lodged by the player concerned all orders for that country will be ruled invalid.

5.7 Invalid Sets of Orders: Orders which are ruled invalid will not be followed. All units with invalid orders will hold as per the Civil Disorder rule in the Rules of Diplomacy.

6.1 Speed of Resolution: All players have a duty to ensure the resolution of orders -- including any retreats, builds and disbands -- is carried out speedily and accurately. Players are reminded there must be NO negotiation during resolution of orders, including during retreats, builds and disbands. This includes discussing the various options available to a retreating player. If players want to know their options they can ask the Tournament Director, but not the other players.

6.2 Determining The Active Power: Each turn one player is the active power. On the first turn the active power is Austria, followed on subsequent turns by Italy, then France, England, Germany, Russia and Turkey, before returning to Austria and so on in a cycle. If the player due to be the active power is no longer in the game or not available when the orders are due to be read, the next available player on the list becomes the active power instead.

6.3 Duties of the Powers: Once the Tournament Director has called TIME the active power will retrieve the orders from the orders folder/box and read them aloud -- audibly, clearly, in a timely manner, and as they are written. The active power must read out its own orders first. The other players in the game should move the pieces on the board as the orders are read out.

6.4 Retreats, Builds and Disbands: After the movement orders have been resolved, any players with units forced to retreat will secretly and quickly write retreat orders and reveal them simultaneously. The supply centres controlled by each power will be totalled and entered on the Supply Centre chart after retreats have been resolved in every Fall turn.  Then, any players due builds or disbands will secretly and quickly write orders for these and reveal them simultaneously.

6.5 Failure to Disband: When a player fails to issue a legal disband order, units sufficient to meet the required disbands will be removed according to the Civil Disorder provisions of the Rules of Diplomacy.  That is, the unit the greatest distance (counting the number of spaces) from its nearest home supply centre is removed first; if multiple units are the same distance, fleets are removed before armies; remaining ties are broken by ascending alphabetical order of the names of the spaces occupied by the units.  When a player fails or is unable to issue legal build orders, those builds are simply left unused.

6.6 Handling Illegal Orders: A unit issued with an illegal move order (an order to move to a space to which it cannot legally move, e.g. A CON-SER) has attempted to move and thus cannot receive support to hold. Note that fleets issued with illegal convoy orders (e.g. F NTH C A MOS - BER) and units issued with illegal support orders (e.g. A MUN S A BUR - SWI) may still receive support to hold, as they have not attempted to move.

6.7 Pandin's Paradox: In the event that the situation commonly known as 'Pandin's Paradox' arises, then the convoy does not succeed, but neither is the fleet dislodged. That is, all units concerned hold, but since the army tried to move it cannot receive support to hold.

6.8 Correcting Errors: Any errors in move resolution must be pointed out to the Tournament Director immediately for rectification. Errors which are pointed out before the next Deadline will be corrected. Errors which remain undetected until after the next Deadline will stand unless the Tournament Director rules that correcting the error will not cause a major disruption to the game. However, if a player has failed to make a required disband, sufficient units will be removed according to Rule 6.5 at any time up until the next Fall Deadline.

In tournament play, a game will end as an 18 centre victory, an agreed draw, or a time draw.

7.1 18 Centre Victory:  A player wins by controlling 18 or more supply centres, as specified in the Rules of Diplomacy.

7.2 Agreed Draw:  When all surviving players agree to a draw. Agreed Draws must not be proposed or discussed during move resolution, retreats, or adjustments. A surviving player includes any player who, at the time the draw is proposed, owns at least one supply centre, regardless of who occupies that centre or whether the player has a unit on the board. If the draw vote is carried, the game ends immediately. The most recently completed Fall turn is used as the final position for scoring purposes.

Throughout the tournament, draws should be consistently run by either open vote or closed ballot: methods for both can be found in the Tournament Director's Guidelines.

7.3 Time Draw: A Time Draw occurs when a round needs to be cut short to allow the next round to start or the tournament to finish. Tournament Directors should try to avoid calling Time Draws whenever possible. When the Tournament Director calls TIME at the end of the last Diplomacy period, the Tournament Director will wait for all moves and any necessary retreats to be resolved and then loudly and clearly announce that the round has ended in a Time Draw. If this is a Fall turn, control of supply centres will determined as usual. Then the most recently completed Fall turn is used as the final position for scoring purposes.

For a method of determining when a Time Draw will be called see the Tournament Director's Guidelines.

7.4 Final Centre Count: There are no conceded centres. All results, even agreed results, must be played out on the board, and subject to submitting orders (Rule 5.2) and game timings (Rule 2.2). Any game which finishes in an agreed draw or a time draw will use the centre count for the most recently completed Fall turn, as recorded on the supply centre chart, as the final centre count for that game.

8.1 Quitting Before the End: Players who leave a game for any reason before it finishes in a draw or win or before they are eliminated will score no points for that round. The Tournament Director may select a Replacement Player (see 8.4).

8.2 Player Unable to Continue: Players who know they will need to leave early or who are unable to continue should inform the Tournament Director in a prompt and timely manner. They should not reveal this information to other players. The Tournament Director may select a Replacement Player (see 8.4) who will take over the country as soon as the original player stops playing or place the country concerned in Civil Disorder as per the Rules of Diplomacy.

8.3 Abandoned Countries: When a player whose country is still in play seems to have left the game without informing the Tournament Director, that nation will be placed into Civil Disorder as per the Rules of Diplomacy. Immediately after the first turn in which the country is in Civil Disorder, and not before, the Tournament Director may select a Replacement Player (see 8.4) who will take control of the abandoned country.

8.4 Selecting a Replacement Player: The Replacement Player will be selected by the Tournament Director, who will try to choose a person who is not competing in the tournament. The Replacement may be the Tournament Director, one of the Tournament Director's assistants or a competing player who volunteers. In no case will the Replacement be a player who has already played in that particular game. The Replacement will not receive any score for the country they take over.

8.5 Reinstatement: At the Tournament Director's discretion, the original player may be reinstated after a Replacement has been inserted.

9.1 Disputes:  Players are encouraged to amicably resolve disputes without the intervention of the Tournament Director.  If called on to intervene, the Tournament Director may seek advice from any other person before making a ruling.  The following guidelines apply:

• If the set of orders as a whole is not valid, see rule 5.5.
• A valid order for a unit includes, at the minimum, the location of the unit and what the unit is ordered to do.
• A unit without a valid order holds in place and is eligible to receive support to hold.
• An order with bad or incomplete syntax which nevertheless admits only one meaning is followed.
• A mistaken order, if valid, must be followed.
• If an order is valid but illegal, see rule 6.5.
• If a unit has more than one valid order and any of those orders differ, all its orders are ignored: the unit holds in place and is eligible to receive support to hold.
• If an order is illegible (and the Tournament Director cannot determine a single possible meaning) it is invalid: the unit holds in place and is eligible to receive support to hold.
• An order which admits more than one meaning is invalid: the unit holds in place and is eligible to receive support to hold.

The Tournament Director's decision may be appealed to a Disputes Committee with the Tournament Director's permission.

9.2 Disputes Committee: Potential Disputes committee members are [names of at least four people, plus the Tournament Director]. A Disputes Committee may be formed:

• to assist the Tournament Director in resolving a dispute; or
• at the request of a player who disagrees with a ruling by the Tournament Director.

However, in all cases the forming of a Disputes Committee is solely at the discretion of the Tournament Director. If a Disputes Committee is formed, the following procedure will apply:

• The clock will be stopped and play suspended on all boards. The stoppage will be kept as brief as possible (see 3.3).
• The Tournament Director will select three people to form a committee, preferably from the list above.
• The Tournament Director may be a member of the Disputes Committee, but should be part of a Disputes Committee dealing with a player's protest against a ruling by the Tournament Director only if doing so is necessary to ensure that the Committee has three members.  Other Disputes Committee members must not be playing in the game in dispute.
• The Disputes Committee will hear the opinions the Tournament Director and of those involved in the dispute, then retire to discuss the situation.
• The Disputes Committee's decision on the resolution of a dispute is final.
• The Disputes Committee may also choose to recommend the imposition or retraction of a penalty by the Tournament Director. The final decision on the imposition of any penalty will be made by the Tournament Director.

9.3 Misconduct and Penalties: A player may be judged guilty of misconduct if, in the Tournament Director's opinion, they have:

• contravened the Rules of Diplomacy or of the Tournament
• behaved in an unsporting manner
• deceived or misled the Tournament Director
• disrupted the tournament
• physically assaulted or restrained another person at the tournament
• damaged property belonging to another

The Tournament Director has complete discretion to impose any penalty for any type of misconduct.  Whether the misconduct was intentional or unintentional will be taken into account by the Tournament Director when deciding the appropriate penalty. Possible penalties include:

• Warning for first offences
• Invalidate the last valid non-hold order (see rule 5.6)
• Invalidate all orders for that season
• Deduct points from the player's tournament score
• Disqualify player from that round
• Disqualify player from the tournament

Players will usually receive a warning from the Tournament Director for a first offence, but more serious penalties may be applied immediately for more serious instances of misconduct. Misconduct involving physical assault, damage to property, deception of the Tournament Director or deliberate disruption of the tournament may result in immediate disqualification from the tournament. Players disqualified from the tournament must leave the premises immediately and will not be refunded their entry fee.

10.1 Final Results: The results as announced at the award ceremony are interim results only. Every effort will be made to ensure that the announced results are the correct results. However, if an error is noted in the announced results and the final results have not yet been published, this error will be corrected and the awarded places amended. The Final Results will be posted on OZDIP-L by the Tournament Director by [a specific date one or two months after the tournament] and published in the next DAANZ RAG. If no such Final Results are posted on OZDIP-L by this date or published in the next DAANZ RAG, the results as announced at the award ceremony are the final results.

The Tournament Director may rule in areas not covered by these rules. The Tournament Director may over-ride these rules if doing so is necessary for the good of the tournament in the opinion of the Tournament Director.

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Last modified: 9 September, 2009
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