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'Admiral' Gunboat Competition

Rules

If you're interested in this competition, e-mail me, Ally Bain.

Translation

Even though 'Admiral' will be played in English, I know that some of you have a native language that isn't English. A number of friends have written it into their own language & by clicking on the links below, you can read it in those languages.

As for the names of the translators:

Jan Willem Omlo (known as JW) - Dutch. Cyril Cottet - French. Frank Bacher - German. Filippo Lucchini & Andrea Ziffer - shared the Italian translation. Ricardo Moraes - Portuguese with a Brazilian touch. Mitya Kletka - Russian. Fede Hermo translated & Ariel Max Sanchez Romero (known as Max) edited the Spanish & the pair showed their Argentinean Spanish.

Thanks to those for translating it!

Dutch | French | German | Italian | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish

For those who wish to see the abbreviations, click here & for the starting positions, click here.

Introduction

'Admiral' Gunboat Competition is played via emails {PBEM}. Gunboat is a variant of Diplomacy with the difference being that all players' identities remain secret until the end of the competition & the only communication is through orders to the GM.

It’s played using the Two-Season Diplomacy style & details are below.

The co-authors, of the rules, are Andy Scott, Doug Stewart, Kester Bearne & myself.

General Rules

• E-mails {Orders}
- Gamemasters (GM) have many games or orders to check so include the following in the Subject line of every e-mail: "Game-name, your country & the season together with year".

The GM must be able to see ALL your orders required for the season in one e-mail. When you submit changes to a season's orders, include all the updated details to the same e-mail. The body of the e-mail should include your:


• orders;
• possible retreats or disbands;
• possible builds or disbands {if an Autumn season};
• vote for an EGP if requested by GM.

In A01, the GM will warn you if you fail to submit those with your orders. S02 & onwards it is your fault if you forget.

It's recommended that players write their orders by using the full words not abbreviations, e.g. write Army Liverpool - Yorkshire not A(Lpl)-Yor. The reason behind that is players sometimes write incorrect abbreviations.
• E-mails {Confirmations}
– You'll receive a confirmation from your GM, stating they received your orders, etc. Expect the reply to be within a day or two & maybe three due to weekends. If you don't receive a confirmation, please re-write & re-send it to the GM but also cc one of the other GMs.

It's the player's responsibility to ensure that a GM has received their orders each season before the deadline.
• Country Allocations
- To allocate players' countries & games, all players' names will go in a hat with them randomly pulled out. It's intended that no player will play the same country in consecutive rounds, however some combinations may not be avoidable, e.g. in the Semis, if four Austria-Hungary players get through to the Final.
• Deadlines
- Deadlines are weekly but the GM may adjudicate earlier if they receive a full set of orders unless any of these are marked provisional. If any set of orders is marked as provisional, the adjudication will not happen before the deadline.
• Deadline Delays
- Each player is allowed up to a one-week delay per round. In other words, suppose you're going on holiday, you can use the delay to call the next deadline two weeks away but only once in each round of the competition. The delay must be requested together with your orders for the season before the turn you want to delay. The GM may extend deadlines in what he considers appropriate circumstances.
• Diplomacy
- There is to be no diplomacy between players other than through orders. If you accidentally find out who a fellow player is, then you must not communicate to them about the game. If you do & are found out, you'll be ejected.
• End Game
- The last season in the games will be Autumn 1912 with the exception of the Final, which will be Autumn 1915. Games can only end before these times by one player getting their 18 Supply Centres {SC} or an agreed End Game Proposal {EGP} {See Rule 8}.
• End Game Proposals {EGP}
- Players aren't permitted to request EGPs. Only the GM can display an EGP. When an EGP is shown, players must submit their vote together with their orders, etc. Failure to vote equals 'yes' to the EGP.
• Identities
- All players' identities will be kept secret until the end of the competition. End Game Statements {EGS} are appreciated but when shown, the players' real names will not be displayed with the exception of the Quarters. Any player that doesn’t make it to the Semis will have their real names shown.
• Misorders {Invalid}
- An invalid misorder will be shown as though the unit held.

{Example 10a: Italy orders, for Spring 1901, A(Ven) s RUSSIAN A(Gal)-Vie {to tell Russia he wants an alliance against Austria}. This will be reported as “A(Ven) Stands” because Venice is unable to support any action in Vienna}.

{Example 10b: Specifying the wrong type of unit, e.g. A(Lon) – ENG, when you have a fleet, will be classed as an invalid misorder & will only be displayed as F(Lon) Stands}.
• Misorders {Valid}
- A valid misorder will be shown with (MISORDER) beside it.

{Example: Italy submits A(Ven) s AUSTRIAN F(Tri), but Austria orders F(Tri)-Alb. The support was possible, but because the Austrian unit did not hold, this is a valid misorder & will be shown A(Ven) s AUSTRIAN F(Tri) (MISORDER)}.
• No Moves Received {NMR}
- If a player doesn't submit their orders by the season's deadline, their country will be shown as NMR. {See also Anarchy rule 13}.
• Anarchy
- If a player fails to submit orders for two {2} consecutive seasons {e.g. NMRs twice in a row}, the player will be ejected from the Competition, & their country will be in Anarchy for the remainder the game. No replacement players will be permitted under this rule.
• Replacements
- If a player does't submit Spring 1901 orders, they will be replaced by another player.
• Press
- Press is additional material sometimes submitted by players or GM or both to be displayed alongside the adjudication. No such press is allowed from players in this competition.
• Additional Rules
- With the exception of the above, all other rules are the same for standard Diplomacy & can be read in Avalon Hill's Rules.

Supply Centre Counts

17. Final SC
- When the game has finished, the number of Supply Centres (SC) owned by a player is his Final SC.
18. Total SC
- The total number of SC, per Autumn, for each player.

{Example: For a game ending in A03: France had 5 SC in A01, 6 in A02 & 8 in A03 = a total of 19 SC. Russia had 4 in A01, 6 in A02 & 8 in A03 = 18 SC. So France would be placed higher than Russia}.

Ranking of Players

19. 1st Placed Player
- The player on the board with the highest Final SC in the last season is ranked as the 1st placed player. {This also applies for an 18-centre victory}.
20. 2nd & 3rd Placed Players
- The players on the board with the second & third highest Final SC will be the 2nd & 3rd placed players respectively.
21. Order Of Merit
-
• Where multiple 2nd or 3rd placed players have the same Final SC, their order of merit is resolved for each player, by dividing the Total SC for each player by the number of autumn seasons played. The higher number has a higher order of merit.
      {Example:
         Game A: Turkey had 6 Final SC when the game ended in A03.
         Game B: Austria had 6 Final SC & finished in A04.
         Turkey's Total SC was 16, & Austria's was 18.
         Divide Turkey's 16 by 3 = 5.33 & Austria's 18 by 4 = 4.5.
         Turkey goes through with the higher Order of Merit.}
• If a game isn't won, the position of 2nd or 3rd placed players is higher than the 2nd or 3rd in a game where one player did win by having 18 SCs.
• If multiple players remain in contention for advancement to the next round & in the ranking, using Rules 20 – 23, they cannot be selected in the ranking; the names will then be selected at random.

Rounds & Qualifications

22. Up to 168 Players - The exact number of players will not be known until the Waiting List is closed, but will be limited to a multiple of 7. The table below gives an example of rounds & qualifications. The table starts at the same number of players who started in 'Admiral' I.

    Plys	Quarts	Quals for Semi	Semi	Quals for Final
    84	12	12 x 1st + 12 x 2nd + best 4 x 3rd = 28	4	4 x 1st + 3 x 2nd = 7
    91	13	13 x 1st + 13 x 2nd + best 2 x 3rd = 28	4	4 x 1st + 3 x 2nd = 7
    98	14	14 x 1st + 14 x 2nd = 28	4	4 x 1st + 3 x 2nd = 7
    105	15	15 x 1st + 15 x 2nd + best 5 x 3rd = 35	5	5 x 1st + 2 x 2nd = 7
    112	16	16 x 1st + 16 x 2nd + best 3 x 3rd = 35	5	5 x 1st + 2 x 2nd = 7
    119	17	17 x 1st + 17 x 2nd + best 1 x 3rd = 35	5	5 x 1st + 2 x 2nd = 7
    126	18	18 x 1st + 18 x 2nd + best 6 x 3rd = 42	6	6 x 1st + 1 x 2nd = 7
    133	19	19 x 1st + 19 x 2nd + best 4 x 3rd = 42	6	6 x 1st + 1 x 2nd = 7
    140	20	20 x 1st + 20 x 2nd + best 2 x 3rd = 42	6	6 x 1st + 1 x 2nd = 7
    147	21	21 x 1st + 21 x 2nd = 42	6	6 x 1st + 1 x 2nd = 7
    154	22	22 x 1st + 22 x 2nd + best 5 x 3rd = 49	7	7 x 1st = 7
    161	23	23 x 1st + 23 x 2nd + best 3 x 3rd = 49	7	7 x 1st = 7
    168	24	24 x 1st + 24 x 2nd + best 1 x 3rd = 49	7	7 x 1st = 7

23. Over 175 Players - If there are more than 175 a decision will be made as to the number of rounds played & the qualifications into the next round. All players will find out in the Competition Gamestart.

GMs

Due to the number of games, several GMs will be required. The Gamestart will list their names together with their e-mails addresses.

We don't use judges as the GM will adjudicate the moves & announce them together with an attached map. The reason for not using judges is that the GM adjudicating, etc, is a human touch.

Games' Names

To promote the spirit of the competition name 'Admiral', games' names will refer to Naval Terminology as used by the Great Powers. Due to the ongoing competition, references may not be limited to the turn of the 20th Century. By clicking on Naval Terminology, you can see those already used together with a brief description of them.

Leaders' Names

During adjudications, the following names will appear for each country:

Countries & Leaders
Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph	England Marques of Salisbury	France Émile François Loubet	Germany Wilhelm II

Italy Victor Emmanuel III

Russia Nicolas II

Turkey Abd al-Hamid II

If you're lost with the names, those were the leaders for their country, even if England was really the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland.

If you're wondering about Marquess of Salisbury, he was the Prime Minister (PM). In the 17th Century, there was an English Civil War (which did involve Scotland & Ireland) between King Charles I & the Royalists (Cavaliers) against the Parliamentarians (Roundheads). The conflict took a few years but the result was that the Roundheads defeated the King & executed him. For a while there was no monarch however for other reasons, Parliament accepted the country to have a monarch however no real power. King Charles II took the re-invented role.

You can read about all can be read by clicking on Leaders.

Winner

Going back to part of the title, 'Admiral', the winner of the final will be given the title:

Admiral of the European Fleets

Conclusion

If you’re interested in this competition, e-mail me, Ally Bain.

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