London Nights by Andy Mansfield Imagine. It's a hot August night, the temperature is still rising even as night
draws in. Temperatures are running
as high as the mercury. South of
the river is quiet, all the good citizens are asleep at home behind the chintz
curtains. However, north of the
river the atmosphere is tense. Seven
groups of people are hot, angry and organised. Flash points all along the river Thames are patrolled by the Special
Patrol Group primarily to stop the trouble spreading over the six main bridges. As the sun sets the battle begins. 0. All usual regular Diplomacy rules apply, save where amended below. 1. There are seven players who each control a faction: A.
Theatre-Goers. Due to the cancellation of all performances by wild cat electrical
strikes, disgruntled customers are now out for revenge. They have supply centres in Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Shaftsbury
Avenue and Russell Square and start the game with a unit in each of them. Due to their ability to blend in with the background, the Theatre-goers
orders are only reported when they are in conflict with the other players or
their supply centres. All retreats
and adjustments are reported in full. B.
Shoppers. Cut off from returning home by transport strikes a huge band of shoppers
have joined together for retribution. They
have supply centres in Knightsbridge, Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Circus and
start the game with a unit in each save that the unit in Knightsbridge is a 2A. A 2A can always be built in Knightsbridge if a player uses two builds to
do so. C.
East Enders. Disgruntled at the goings on in the night, the residents of the East End
are out in force. Their supply centres are Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and
Spitalfields, though the start the game with only a 3A in Shoreditch. This 3A cannot be rebuilt. D.
Nurses. Angry because of harsh working conditions and low pay the Nurses are on
strike and have taken to the streets. They
have supply centres in Gray's Inn Road, Kings Cross Road and Clerkenwell and
start the game with a unit in each. Every
season the Nurses can elect one of their units to be a 2A and other player's
orders cannot be made conditional on their choice. E.
The Royals. Threatening to abdicate or even get a divorce unless they are left in
peace, the Royals seek revenge on the tabloid readers. Leaving behind the most fortified area in london they raid and pillage. The area of The Mall and the Palace Gardens are fortified and
have an inherent defensive value of one unit. Their supply centres are The Mall, the Palace Gardens and Trafalgar
Square and they start the game with one unit in each. F.
Taxi Drivers.
Furious over loss of business due to the recession, the taxi drivers are out to
clean up the streets. Their supply
centres are in Barbican, Charterhouse and Goswell Road and they start the game
with a unit in each. One unit each
move can make a double move as follows: the first move is made before all other
movement is adjudicated and thus will always succeed provided the destination
space is vacant; the second move is simultaneous with usual movement and is part
of usual combat etc. The Taxi
Drivers must always try and make use of their double move option. G.
City Boys. The City Boys are the unemployed Stock Exchange workers left out in the
cold due to the crash. They are
very violent and know where 50% of all hidden supply centres are (see below). They begin with units on their supply centres in Old Street, Finsbury
Circus and Threadneedle Street. 2. Multiple Armies. Multiple
armies (2A or 3A) move and support with all their value, but a single attack on
a multiple army will cut all support. Multiple
armies can never be split. 3. The Police. Each space adjoining the north bank of the Thames is defended
by a Police unit (St. James Park; Whitehall; Victoria Embankment; Strand; Queen
Victoria St.; Blackfriars; Canon Street; Cornhill; Traitor's gate and The
Tower). A Police unit cannot move
more than 2 spaces away from the river. The GM will write the orders for the
Police with the rationale of protecting south London before seeing any of the
player's orders. No diploming is
possible with the Police, although the Police may support the other layers if
they choose to do so. 4. The Bridges. There are six bridges across the Thames: WEB = Westminster Bridge; WAB = Waterloo Bridge; BLB = Blackfriars
Bridge; SOB = Southwark Bridge; LOB = London Bridge; and TOB = Tower Bridge. Movement on to bridges always succeeds and any number of
units can co-exist on a bridge. No
fighting takes place on a bridge. However,
the normal movement rules apply to all spaces adjoining bridges. 5. Supply Centres. There
are 22 home supply centres, 19 neutral supply centres south of the river and 10
hidden supply centres north of the Thames. The hidden supply centres are distributed by the GM at the beginning of
the game randomly and the GM then informs the City Boys player where five of
them are (chosen at random). If a
hidden supply centre is discovered, its existence is revealed in the game
report. Ownership of a supply
centre only changes on the hour. 6. Timing and Builds. Each
round (Diplomacy season) is 30 game minutes in duration, starting at 19:30,
August 3rd. Adjustments take place on the hour. The game ends at dawn
which is 06:00 August 4th. Builds
may be made in any supply centre owned by the player concerned which is north of
the river. 7. Victory Criteria. The
winner is the player who scores the most at the end of the game according to the
following formulae: [northern s.c.'s held] x
[southern s.c.'s held] | 
