ARMY/FLEET RULES MODULE

By Fred C. Davis, Jr.

1984 Revision

  1. Convoy by the Diplomacy Rulebook method is allowed only for the crossing of a single sea space.

    1. A Fleet may convoy an Army belonging to its own country or to any other Power across this single space. This one-space convoy will be called the "Fast Ferry," and the order for its use should include that term.
    2. In an unsuccessful disembarkation when both units belong to the same Power, the Army will remain aboard the Fleet, to become an Army/Fleet. If the units belong to different Powers, the Army must return to the land province from which it started, since an A/F cannot consist of units from two countries.

  2. Army/Fleet Convoys:

    1. All convoys involving the crossing of more than one sea space may only be undertaken by the formation of an "Army/Fleet" to carry the Army by piggyback. On a given move, an Army in a coastal province adjacent to a Fleet at sea may board the Fleet, which becomes an A/F. The A/F may then move to another sea space, and may then also disembark the Army into any land province adjacent to the second sea space. An A/F can only consist of two units belonging to the same country. (i.e. "A Marseilles boards F Gulf of Lions; A/F Gulf of Lions Western Med; A disembarks Tunis.")
    2. An A/F can remain physically intact on the Board for 3 consecutive moves, excluding Build periods. Thus, an Army can be on the seas for a total of 4 consecutive A/F moves before exhausting its rations. If the Army is not successfully disembarked before the end of the 4th move, it is annihilated by starvation. e.g. An A which boards a F in Spring 1902 could stay with that F for Spring, Fall, and Spring 1903, but must be landed before the end of Fall 1903, or it will be removed from the board. Removal of the Army will not affect the existence of the Fleet.

  3. Army/Fleet Combined Operations:

    1. An A/F has the same combat factor as a single Fleet. It may attack, support, and be supported. It cannot convoy another Army via the Fast Ferry, since its transports are already fully loaded. An A/F can exist only in a sea space. It cannot be ordered into a land province as an entity, but it may support some other unit into a land province. (See IV. a. for Retreats.)
    2. If an Army is ordered to board a Fleet, and the A/F is then prevented from moving to another sea space, the A/F remains intact. If the Fleet is ordered to "Hold," the A/F will also remain intact.
    3. If an Army is ordered to board a Fleet, and the Fleet is simultaneously attacked and required to defend its sea space against another Fleet, or Fleets, the Army fails to board, and remains in its previous land province. This is true even when the Fleet is successful in defending its sea space against its attacker(s). The Army will also fail to board if the Fleet is ordered to support another unit.
      Clarification: "Defend" means where the A/F was given an order to "Hold" after boarding the Army, or the A/F was forced to remain in the original sea space for any other reason. This rule does not affect the A/F convoy when the A/F moves successfully to another sea space, and another Fleet moves into the original sea space afterwards. It is assumed that the second F moved in after the A/F moved out; therefore, the first F did not have to "defend" the space.
      (This is different from the Regular Diplomacy Rule, where an unsuccessful attack upon a Fleet never disrupts a convoy. The rationale here is that an A/F is a much more complex animal than an ordinary convoy. If the F has to run off and fight a naval battle at the edge of its space, it does not have time to regroup and obtain the necessary .... still run a "Fast Ferry."
    4. If an Army's attack (disembarkation) on a land province fails, the A/F remains intact. Any order for the Fleet to move elsewhere will not take place, as the F is forced to remain in place to reboard the Army.
    5. An Army which is landed after spending one, two or three consecutive moves with an A/F may be again picked up by the same Fleet on the next move.
    6. A Fleet may not simultaneously land one Army and pick up another. All boarding must be made at the beginnings of turns. (See Sec. IV. d. & e. for how attacks on a F at start of a turn prevent a disembarkation).
    7. A Fleet which lands an Army in a land province before making its own move may then support that Army into the province for its move. Or, having landed an Army before moving, it may then move elsewhere. It may not support another unit elsewhere.
    8. Any A/F Convoy or Disembarkation order which results in a Paradox (a movement which cannot be adjudicated due to circular reasoning) will result in a GM finding that all involved units Hold. This includes situations where two different units of equal strength attempt to occupy a space from the same sea space, as can happen when an A/F moves into a space vacated by a F, and attempts to disembark its A into the same space the F has just moved to.

  4. Retreats, Dislodgements, Annihilation, Removals

    1. A dislodged A/F must attempt to Retreat to a sea space. If the only space open for a Retreat is a land one, only the Fleet will survive, and the A is annihilated. (In a naval battle, warships would have a higher chance of survival than troop transports, tankers, etc.)
    2. If an A/F is annihilated, including by an "off-the-Board" move, both units are removed.
    3. If the loss of a Supply Center requires the removal of a unit from the Board, and the player fails to submit a removal order, the Rule of "Fleets before Armies" may be changed by the Gamesmaster in the case of A/F's, since the literal application of this rule would also result in the destruction of the Army. The GM may, instead, remove an Army which is part of an A/F.
    4. When an A/F attempts to disembark its A, with F support, and the F, instead, is dislodged from its sea space, the disembarkation order will fail, even if the A could otherwise successfully disembark in the land province to which it has been ordered. The dislodged A and F must retreat together to the same sea space. If the only available space for a Retreat is a land space, the F will retreat, and the A is annihilated.
    5. If the A/F attempts to disembark its A and have the F simultaneously move to a different space without supporting its A, and the F would lose its original sea space due to a move with support by units of other Powers, the disembarkation order will fail, even if the A could otherwise successfully disembark in the province to which it has been ordered. This is because the initial space in which the A/F was located is being occupied by an "attack," which disrupts the disembarkation; and also to be consistent with Sec. d. above.* In any such case, the A will accompany the F in its ordered move, providing the F was ordered to a sea space. If the F was ordered to a land space, the GM will move the A/F to the nearest sea space in accordance with the Right-Hand Rule, if no Retreat orders are on file.
      * But see "f" for single unit movement.
    6. However, if the A/F merely disembarks its A into a land province and then moves away without supporting the A, and the initial sea space is then occupied by another F or A/F of any nationality, which takes the space without support, the disembarkation succeeds. This is because a single unit moving without support could not have dislodged the A/F. The presumption is that there was no real "attack", and the disembarkation was completed before any other units entered the sea space.