Origins of World War II

PBM by Howard Bishop 10-Nov-2024
Copyright was originally Avalon Hill, so it's probably now Hasbro.
These rules are for PBM only. There is no attempt to infringe the copyright

OVERVIEW

Over the course of 6 turns the players are attempting to achieve their national objectives in the years leading up to World War 2 through the placement of political influence and diplomatic conflict, thereby gaining diplomatic understanding and outright control of important geopolitical areas. The rules are reasonably consistent with the original version, but with slight modifications for running by post (including espionage) and a small negative impact of placing Control markers to slightly improve game balance.

1. CONCEPTS

1.1 The game board is a map of the 13 nations and contested areas which were prominent in the political disputes which led to the outbreak of war. Each of those 13 spaces are called AREAS.

1.2 The five players represent Germany, USSR, Great Britain, France and USA. There are special rules for the "home" areas of these five countries.

1.3 Influence over areas is achieved through the placement of POLITICAL FACTORS (hereafter PFs).

1.4 Other players' influence may be removed through DIPLOMATIC CONFLICT by comparing the number of friendly PFs against the defending PFs and rolling on the Diplomatic Conflict Table.

1.5 Once a certain amount of PF has been placed in an area, a player country may be able to establish DIPLOMATIC UNDERSTANDING or CONTROL in that area. Presence of a country's Understanding and Control markers are compared against the National Objectives Chart at the end of the game to determine the number of points scored.

1.6 A DIPLOMATIC UNDERSTANDING marker (equal to 5 PFs) does not preclude subsequent placement of PFs by that or other players. A CONTROL marker represents a physical takeover of that area by that player. No further placement of PFs can occur in that area, by any players, from the moment it is placed.

2. NATIONAL OBJECTIVES

2.1 The National Objectives Chart shows each player which Understanding or Control markers they must have in each of the 13 areas to score the number of points indicated (e.g. the French player has U1 in the Austria row of the table, so they would score 1 point if France had an Understanding marker in Austria at the end of the game).

2.2 The US player scores points for the absence of Understanding and Control markers from the other players within specific areas rather than for markers their own.

2.3 If a player doesn't have a Control entry in the objectives table for a particular area, then they may not place a Control marker in that area.

3. ORDERS PART 1 - PLACING POLITICAL FACTORS

3.1 At the beginning of each turn each player refers to the Base PF Allocation Chart to determine how many PFs they may place that turn, and to the Bonus PF Allocation Chart to determine the number of bonus PFs they receive based on the placement of opponents' Control markers on previous turns.

3.2 The player indicates how many of these PFs they will place in each area. They may also move PFs from their home area to other areas on the map.

3.3 Once placed in an area outside the home area those PFs may not be moved voluntarily.

3.4 PFs can be placed in any area (exception 3.5) even if that country can't score points for that area.

3.5 PFs cannot be placed in an area containing a Control marker (even its own).

3.6 The specific number of PFs placed in an area, or moved from the home area is hidden to other players. They will only know whether ANY PFs have been placed in an area and/or moved from a rival player's home area.

4. ORDERS PART 2 - DIPLOMATIC CONFLICT

4.1 Players provide orders indicating the areas in which they will be conducting Diplomatic Conflict and which opposing player or players they will target.

4.2 Each single attack in an area can be against a single opposing player or multiple players.

4.3 Each player may only attack once in each area.

4.4 They may choose not to use all their PFs.

4.5 Understanding markers may participate in an attack and are worth 5 PFs in that case.

4.6 Players may not combine their attacks in an attack.

4.7 Conditional orders can be provided, but note that players are not aware that other players have conducted Diplomatic Conflict in an area until all attacks are complete. Thus, they can only make their attacks conditional on which players have placed PFs in that area this turn.

4.8 If a player has an Understanding marker in an opposing player's home area, the opponent may not conduct Diplomatic Conflict against the first player (except in that home area), until the Understanding marker is removed.

5. ORDERS PART 3 - PLACEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING/CONTROL

5.1 Players provide orders indicating the areas they wish to place an Understanding or Control marker.

5.2 To place an Understanding marker, they must be able to score points for that area (either as Un or Cn in the National Objectives Chart). They simply remove 5 PFs and place an Understanding marker instead. The marker is equivalent to 5 PFs for all other game purposes.

5.3 To place a Control marker, a player must meet the following three conditions:

    5.3.1 They must have a Cn entry in the National Objectives Chart.

    5.3.2 There must be no opposing PFs, or Control/Understanding markers (except sharing control below).

    5.3.3 They must have at least 5 PFs in the area. All PFs are then removed.

5.4 When providing instructions to place a Control marker in an area, the player must also indicate whether they will also share control with any other players who meet conditions 5.3.1 and 5.3.3 above. If all such players agree then both place Control markers. If they don't agree then the players just retain their PFs in the area and no Control markers are placed.

6. ORDERS PART 4 - ESPIONAGE

6.1 Each player may indicate one area on the board, and one opposing player in that area against which to conduct a spying mission. They may also choose two players in their home area to spy on.

7. ADJUDICATION

7.1 The GM updates the map with the PFs placed/moved by the players. The specific values of PF placements/moves are hidden.

7.2 The GM then executes the Diplomatic Conflicts one-by-one (starting with the US player), in the order indicated by the player. Once all the US attacks are complete, the same process is performed for the French, British, Russian and German players. The map is updated accordingly.

7.3 Orders for placement of Understanding and/or Control markers are considered to be simultaneous.

8. GAME REPORT

8.1 The game map visible to all players will include the placement/move of PFs by players in each area, but not the specific values.

8.2 The result and Diplomatic Conflict Table odds column used for each attack conducted that turn will be reported to all players, but only the two players involved will see the specific numerical values. Understanding markers removed if losses cannot be satisfied from that nation's other friendly PFs in that area. If an Understanding marker is part reduced, it is converted into a single PF marker containing the remainder.

8.3 Placement (and any subsequent removal through conflict) of Control and Understanding markers will be indicated on the map.

8.4 There is a box for each nation's influence in a particular area on the map. It will be empty if the nation has no influence, otherwise it will contain an X, U+, U or C indicating PFs, an understanding marker + extra PFs, an understanding marker only, or a control marker only respectively.

8.5 The exact values of PFs held by targets of Espionage are revealed to the spying player in relevant areas.

9. BOARD IMAGE