Lol what is this about ...

AHA! Under rule #6 of the Venetian Convention of 1662, an interruption featuring question ending with an ellipsis makes the provinces of North Korea, Western Australia and Lesotho impassable! This means you have no option but to disband your unit in Prague!

I'll move from Beijing to Silesia via intercontinental ballistic paradrop. Your move.

AHA: Force disbanding an enemy on your opening move forces you to cede one of your units to them.

I chose Bulgaria and move to Valencia.

My move was in accordance to the 1939-1940 Stockholm Revision. Though I mentioned that, but I realized I didn't.

Ouch... I'd forgotten about the Stockholm revision. Darn those Swedes!

In that case, I force Fasces to make an alliance with me under the 1857 'Treaties' version of the rule book, and converge all forces on Silesia to rid the world of the Chinese paratroopers.

We should be thanking those Swedes. They're the reason the game lasted through the war.

I build a fleet in Sevastapol.

You can't do that - The Stockholm revision (the same one you quoted earlier, so you must know this and be deliberately rule-breaking) states that fleets must be built on inland provinces and airlifted to coastal locations, not directly built on coasts. Sevastopol is a coastal province and so what you just did breaks the rules.

Under the oldest rulebook found to date, the 950 AD edition, rule-breakers are to be punished by having one of their units sent to the middle of Switzerland, condemned never to move past the impassable borders. I hereby send your unit in Valencia there.

Given that the 1857 'Treaties' version is in play, I invoke the 'balancing provision' of the 1982 Zurich Accords that states if any alliance or treaties version is in play that the number of players must increase to balance any unfair advantages one coalition has against another. Thus I enter the fray with two units of Covert Elite Finnish Alpine troops in Latvia and Prussia support holding the Chinese balistic paratroopers in Silesia.

Do you guys made up all these conventions and treaties and covenants (or whatever)? lol

Morningstar to Berlin. Tunnels allowed under the Franklin-Jefferson sub committee to the continental congress, Philadelphia, 1775 (they had to do something, while the southern colonies debated how slaves would be handled in the new nation)

I build really high walls in Monterrey, Uganda, and Bavaria.
Additionally, I build 35 indestructible militia units in Reykjavik, as made legal by the 25½ BC Babylon Deluxe Convention of the Ugly Mothers. Furthermore, I move my Praetorians in Canton to the Sea of Tranquility.

Shit! My last move disqualifies me! I was going for the tie-in to the original game, and my damn phone autocorrected Mornington to Morningstar.

Does anyone here know how to play?

@Captainmeme: Everyone knows that the oldest preserved set of rules is the 26 BC book. I also have never heard of this 950 BC rulebook, but from what I have heard so far the is clearly preposterous. Not only is it suggesting anything other then skipping turns as a punishment, but your even going as far as claiming that Switzerland is impassible (I had to read your post 3 times to make sure you weren't joking. I mean Switzerland impassibe? lol). He have serious reasons to doubt the existence of this rule book, however should it turn out to be real I will have to exclude it from future games.

@Leif: The Zurich convention only allows for one of your 2 units to be moved. It was deemed to be two powerful otherwise. According to the Bern Convention, when someone gives too many orders, only the first order he mentioned can move. So I'll regard your move as a move to Latvia

@King Atom: Since this is your first turn of the game no punishment will be carried out, but violating more then 3 rules on a turn (in this case you violated at least 7), will prevent you from making orders until at least page 3, and up to page 8.

@Philcore: The 1986 Vienna Accord states that a movement opening is not allowed to include Mornington. The Mornington-Rome-Ankara is the fastest known way win the game, and in the early 80s too many people used it. As you clearly noticed, Morningstar doesn't border Berlin, so it is an illegal move. However we're playing with the 2009 London convention, not the 2007 Paris convention (they get confused a lot for some reason) so in this circumstance you get to redo the turn.

London convention? I thought this was the Berlin convention!

In that case, Intercontinental Ballistic Paradroppers fortify in Silesia, automatically gaining them a free support hold until they are issued another order - under section 13, art. 51 of the London '09 Convention Amendments regarding airdrops.

I also move atmospheric drop troppers (ADTs) in from moon to Warsaw by warp drive, causing a disturbance in the time-space continuum.

I'd like to interject to quote the Warsaw Convention of 1882. The rules clearly state that a player may join the game on any spring turn given they agree to build a fleet in Timbuktu. I wish to join this game and shall abide by this rule. However I am allowed to trade places with a coastal area so long as both parties agree, as stated in the 1912 San Marino Accord. Would anyone be up for such a trade of spots once spring roles around?

I will be moving Valencia to Belgium, will be attempting the Spanish Scissor Move, with a slight variation taking into account the number of units that are stationed near Silesia.

@Halt: 2009 London did allow for air drops, but it requires a token, something that you haven't gotten yet.

You also forgot the two most notable rule changes during the 2009 London Convention was the map and technology changes. The convention removed the Moon from the map, as well as Australia for some reason (might have had something to do with the ashes that were being played during the convention). It also removed all futuristic/sci-fi units and warp lanes.

However the 1970 Bern convention allows for exceptions of each rule based on the time and number given by the Storvold number. According to the Storvold numberr, IBPs are allowed, but provided they abide by the movement restrictions laid out in the 1986 Vienna convention.

Fasces - You know as well as I do that the credibility of the 26BC rule book is disputed. Some of the rules in it are simply ridiculous and it is universally ignored by serious gamers.
There are several other rule books which have been found that date back to before the 950 one, but the 950 one is the earliest one that is ever taken into account.

With regard to Switzerland being impassible, there are four conventions/revisions which say that it is (Pretoria 1933, Vienna 1547, Vienna 1647, and Miami 2003 - I know we are not actually using the last one as it is later than 1991, but I will include it anyhow to make my point) as opposed to just one which says it is passable (London 2009) so by weight of numbers I am in the right, and I send your unit in Belgium back to Switzerland again.

For my move, I summon the TARDIS (allowable under the London 2009 Revision, corporate sponsors section) and transport all my units to Silesia just before the Chinese Paratroopers arrived.

Oh hey guys, I'll just join in the madness.
Build 2 fleets in Java ans Sumatra, would that be legal or something?

I'm quoting from the London 2009 rulebook and note that, "it is illegal to BUILD two units in south east Asia". (page 76. para. 5). So DoubleCaps we can only assume that you wish to build ONE fleet in Java. You cannot build in Sumatra because my army that has been on tour in Borneo has recently returned for R&R and the boys are currently enjoying the sights and smells of the Sumatranese ladies.

I'll take advantage of the standstill in Silesia and move Belgium to Piccadilly.

I want to applaud Kaner for his last turn. While it wasn't a very strategic one (I don't see how your going to get to Ankara from Borneo), it didn't break any rules, which sad to say is a rarity this round.

@Captainmeme: I think I need to remind you that this is a game of Ankara Crescent not a game of making up names of conventions and rules that support your current moves.

We are dealing with an illegal build order, the most recent convention (that we are using) that refers to punishments of illegal build orders is that of the 1970 Bern Convention. For units being build on the black sea, an illegal build order causes to violator to lose 3 turns (I gladly waited it out, you'll notice my first post after the illegal move didn't ). I should also remind you that should you make 3 unjustified accusations regarding the same move, then under the 1970 Bern Convention, you would lose two turns. You have now made 2 unjustified accusations concerning whether my unit should be in Switzerland or elsewhere, keep that in mind before bringing it up a 3rd time.



While the TARDIS summoning is allowed and is a great strategic move, your move is still completely invalid because the 1970 Bern convention made it illegal to give vague orders. One cannot say "all my units", when giving orders but has to specificity which units he wished to order.

This is especially important given that we are playing with the 1986 Vienna Accord, which decreased the limit on the number of orders one can give each turn. When using the Vienna Accord (this is what makes 1986 Vienna one of my favourites) it is very rare for someone to be able to gives orders to all his units at once, which adds a whole new component to the strategic side of the game.

I should also remind you that Tardis is only large enough to transport 1 unit per turn and my only time travel a maximum of twice per turn. As a result this makes the 'all' order you gave even further illegal.

Fine kaner, I shall not build in Sumatra.
By the way, could I have links of all the conventions that is involved with this game?

@ Fasces, good catch on the single move allowed, however I'll point out that I only gave support hold orders from units that originally began in Latvia and Prussia.

(Btw, was that the Bern Convention or Berlin Convention you were referencing for the single move? I can't ever keep those two straight since they were released on exactly the same day in '87 and are nearly identical in most editions except for that whole disagreement on the status of Bavaria as a supply center in games played in a 1945 setting which hardly applies to most games.)

Anyways, The Helsinki Addendum of 1981 states that any Finish alpine troops must be built as a pair and can only be built in empty non-SC territories.

Also, the 1983 Revision of the Berlin Convention in section 3.0.96 indicates that while multiple movement orders are not allowed, multiple support orders are.

Since entry into the game counts as both a build and allows issuing orders, I can both build the two troops and give them their first orders, only one of which as you correctly pointed out, can be a movement order. Thus my play was indeed actually valid.

Anyways, despite your misapprehension of the correctness of my play, I must congratulate you on the move to Piccadilly, nicely done there that will be hard to block

Since my support of Silesia was simply invoking an entry clause to join the game, I will now (according to that single move clause) drop Prussia to Bavaria while Latvia holds. A desperate attempt to block you, but I have to try. I can only hope the rest of the board decides to join in.

@ Firehawk, I would have waited for a different entry clause if I were you. Timbuktu is much too far away from Ankara for anyone to willingly trade with you. Unless of course you are aiming to invoke the African Unrest clause of the Khartoum Mkutano of 1956, and while incredibly difficult to put in effect, if successfully done will put you leagues ahead of the rest of us. I've only seen it done once, and that was because the guy who held Kalamazoo couldn't figure out the business end of a 'hold position' order and soon found his unit in upside down in a tub floating down the Kalamazoo River. Quite embarrassing.

@ Captainmeme, regardless of the invalidity of your TARDIS invocation, I must say that you've gone and thoroughly made a mess of things by bringing in the corporate sponsors section. Now we'll have to listen to advertising between every move!! Thanks a heap for that! Sigh...

Damn it, I wasn't expecting Alpines to be this far west this early on in the game. I'll have to retreat to Edinburgh to prepare a counter-attack.

"was that the Bern Convention or Berlin Convention"
Actually it was both. The Berlin Convention revised what moves are and aren't allowed for newly built or summoned units.

The Bern convention standardized the interpretation of opponents orders. So, in this example where you gave more orders then your allowed to, the Bern Convention states that only the first unit you mentioned receives orders.

"Also, the 1983 Revision of the Berlin Convention in section 3.0.96 indicates that while multiple movement orders are not allowed, multiple support orders are. "
My apologies, I misread the orders and thought they were move orders not supports, it was then, a perfectly valid move.

@DoubleCapitals
Try to track down the book Ankara Crescent: Rules and Origins by NF Stovold. It gives a history of the game, as well as as provides a list of the rules in use assuming a game using all conventions between the 1399 Madrid Convention and 1965 London Convention.

Other then that, you'd have to find copies of the final report for each Convention sine then.

Since the game is so popular, they shouldn't be that hard to track down, they're found in many bookstores.

I personally purchased most of them on eBay, however I purchased the 2011 Chicago and the 2012 Atlanta conventions on Amazon. I would high recommend doing the same, since they provide a copy of both the eReader and the hard copy versions for the same price as you would find hard copy versions at local bookstores.

I didn't think I was allowed to invoke the African Unrest clause without first holding Wagadugu for three turns. Perhaps my knowledge of the rules is a bit rusty. Seeing as no-one is willing to trade I will have to disband my own unit as is stated in the rules and regulations handbook signed by Winston Churchill at the Norwich convention of 1950. I am technically allowed to disband my unit and build an army so long as Algiers and Senegal are both free of European influence, and since Austria relinquished it's claim over Algiers in order to enact their move to the Red Sea as sighted in the 1233 Winchester Convention, this move should be legal.

My move was illegal? Guess I have to miss a turn under the London Convention rules... =(

Tunnels fasces, did you miss the part about tunnels? Read up on your American history! Anyway, sorry for sounding so bitter, I just can't stand losing due to technology. I'm sure Franklin didn't anticipate Autocorrect during the 1775 sub-committee.

@ Firehawk

Yes, it's a minimum 3 turns before you can invoke the African Unrest clause, hence the difficulty, but had you been successful, before the rest of us knew it, you would have been sitting pretty in Rostov with a solid strangle hold on Ankara and control of the endgame.

However since Philcore can't operate his technology correctly, you still have a very good chance. The possibility of you building in Morocco and pushing under the strait to Gibraltar (thanks to Philcore reminding us of that obscure tunnels rule..) is a very real threat.

@ Halt, what do you mean 'you guess'? Of course you have to miss a turn! (you guess.. ha! you crack me up..) You should count yourself lucky that you didn't also attempt to roll for Czech solidarity or you'd be out for the next 3, and if Fasces successfully raises cossacks to try to combat my alpine troops, you can still probably count yourself out this game. Seeing that we're using the London Convention as a mainstay of this round, you should have seen this coming and escaped to Berlin while you still had the chance!

Anyways, I'm still waiting for Captainmeme's turn before I can take mine. Meanwhile I guess I better get my corporate sponsorship out of the way.

My participation this round is brought to you by Nolan's Cheddar.. Seriously Strong Cheese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L6UWk6-Hg8

Sorry Leif - I've been trying to roll a seven on this dice for the past twelve hours so I can have a go - According to the Pretoria convention Section B, someone who incorrectly uses a Sci-Fi/Fantasy unit must roll a seven to continue playing. Somehow it doesn't seem to be working :(

The alternative (as laid out in the Corporate Sponsorship section, London 2009 Revision) would be to give advertisements in 5 seperate posts for one of the companies who sponsored the London 2009 Revision. I guess I'd better make a start on that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-DmwiAKDd8

I invoke the New York 1946 convention rule which allows me to build the UN Headquarters and a Short-Range Nuclear Missile (BUDDY) in Pyongyang. My dictator is preparing to make hollow threats at Europe.

Well Ninjanrd, it appears that the threat of hollow threats has essentially incapacitated Europe. Nicely done.

No one seems to be willing to make a move!

Where the fuck are these fabled rules to this game? I google it over and over and I get nothing. I don't find any of these "books" or "conventions" people speak of. I want to know how to play so I can learn and join in!!!

butterhead I'm sure you can find a compilation of short summaries of major rules from these various conventions. This should be enough to get you started. Of course you may break a few rules at first, but you'll get there eventually. I'm going to break this threat of hollow threats by taking Leif's advice and building in Morocco. Remember that according to the extension of the tunnels rules made in Vladivostok in 1999, I am allowed to make use of a tunnel on the same turn as a build, as long as that tunnel has not been used previously. To my knowledge, the tunnel has never been used, so I am free to move my army into Gibraltar. I'm finally into Europe!

@everyone who would like to know the rules of the game
I found a decent (but not perfect) description of the rules here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Enjoy!

There's a couple obscure settings in your google account that you have to tweak to adjust the search parameters to get the results to show up. I can't remember exactly how to get to them but from what I remember..

--'Relevancy' needs to be turned down to 'medium' instead of 'high'
--The "Trusted Websites" filter (not on your browser but on google accounts) needs to be set no higher than 'medium high'
--Your "I'm feeling lucky randomizer" needs to be turned completely off otherwise you will never get any results.
--Lastly, you need to check the box for 'Include obscure results'.

One final note: search terms such as 'Ankara' 'Crescent' 'Diplomacy' typically end up yielding much less relevant results than you are expecting (due to google's arbitrary coding of what they feel is 'relevant'), and so you will likely have to page through multiple pages of entries to find anything useful. Many of the conventions are filed electronically under different names than we've referenced, so including exact names of the books and conventions doesn't always yield stellar search results either. Some times it takes a few hours and a good deal of luck to find the particular addendum or revision to the rules you are looking for.

Best of luck!

So basically it's a wild goose chase...

Only if you are activating one of the three 'wild goose' provisions.

For a complete list of all three, see Sir Edward Sutton's "A Compilation of Ankara Crescent side games: A mystery wrapped in an Enigma," published in either '71 or '73 I can't remember.

My favorite is the European Carnival variant, where everyone not in Europe basically sits and waits till the wild goose chase is over. Each player in Europe builds a poacher, and takes turns moving their poacher to an empty non SC territory to check for the goose. (All other ankara crescent rules being ignored till the goose chase is over). Once someone finds the goose, all the poachers are immediately disbanded, and whoever found the goose first gets to build an additional shock troop in that territory and take an extra turn.

The original Ankara Crescent game then resumes from there.

I've read Sir Edward Sutton's book, which was published in '73, my favourite is personally "Goose on the Green". It involves a chase with each country building a gatling gun in a home supply, these don't move but have a limited range of 5 spaces where they can fire. The goose moves randomly through neutral supplies and non supply territories and the first to hit the goose keeps their gatling unit, which can dislodge units from range but is destroyed when dislodged. It creates an interesting dynamic, as players choose to side with, or take out the goose chase winner. The gatling gun definitely has a lot of fun uses.

obviously it's played as fog of war for the goose change

Butterhead, it's a wild goose chase that starts in Mornington and ends in Ankara. That should help.

"Remember that according to the extension of the tunnels rules made in Vladivostok in 1999"
I said were playing with the rules as of 1991, that is why your move is illegal, because were playing without the extensions...

"Butterhead, it's a wild goose chase that starts in Mornington and ends in Ankara. That should help."
It doesn't start in Mornington, as I've said earlier, the Morntington opening was banned by Vienna in 1986.

It starts wherever the opening player wants it to start, in this case we started in Prague.

I feel like playing without the recent extensions really limits the game, but ok. I'll just build this turn.

Sorry faces, on that account I'm still a Purist. I go back to the 4000 bc convention at mt Sinai where Moses got a tablet for the Lord thy God which said "one crescent picks up where the first left off" all later modifications are fine, but the old testemant speaks the truth about the opening moves ... Actually now that I think about it, it could have been Gandolf that said that ... Either way, gotta adhere to the original opening!

QED