Origins of World War I
Origins of World War I Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Number of Players, 2-7
Assign randomly the countries for each player. The game shines better with five or more players.
| Number of Players | 1st player | 2nd player | 3rd player | 4th player | 5th player | 6th player | 7th player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | United Kingdom, France, Russia | Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey | |||||
| 3 | United Kingdom, France | Germany, Austria-Hungary | Russia, Italy | ||||
| 4 | Russia, France | Germany, Austria-Hungary | United Kingdom | Turkey |
2. The Map Board
The map board depicts Europe in 1913/1914. The Flags of 11 countries represent Embassies from those countries (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece); there are also "Embassies" for Africa and the Far East. Players place Political factors on these Embassies during the game. The Map provides also spaces for the initial distribution of PFs, a Turn Track and a Victory Points table.
Note: the Diplomatic attack table, the national Objectives Table and the Turn phases from the previous edition were retired as these tables /charts are available in the Player's Aids cards.
3. The Playing Pieces
- 40 markers of Political Factors (12 of 1PF, 12 of 2PFs and 16 of 5PFs) and 10 Treaty Markers for each country. Political factors' markers function like money, they are interchangeable; a treaty marker is equivalent to 10 PFs. United Kingdom are dark red, French blue, German dark grey, Austrian-Hungarian yellow, Russian dark green, Italian light green and Turkish light red. Note: markers are not limited, if an improbable shortage arrives during the game, players should improvise some adequate annotation.
- Each Country has a Victory Points marker with its flag to place at the Victory Points Chart.
- There is a Turn track marker to use on the map board turn track.
- 7 cards with country flags to use to determine randomly the turn order (not shown).
- 7 Player Aid cards with the Turn phases chart, the diplomatic attack table (to figure the odds) and the national objectives for all countries (not shown).
4. Political Factors Simultaneous Placement Sheet
Each player will have a Political Factors Simultaneous Placement Sheet, one for each country that he controls. During Phase 4: Simultaneous assignment of Political Factors (see below) he writes down, at the proper turn column, the number of political factors that he wants to place in each Embassy on the map board.
5. Set Up
- Place the map board on the table.
- Place the turn marker on October 1913 of the turn track table.
- Place the Political factors (PFs) markers for each participating country besides the map board.
- Place the markers for Countries' VPs on the zero case of VPs track.
- Give each player a player aid-card, a pen or pencil and a sheet for each country he controls to record placement of PFs each turn.
- Assign a player to distribute each turn Political Factors to the players.
6. Duration of the Game / Game Turn Phases
The game lasts 10 to 12 turns, each turn represents a month, from October 1913 until June or September 1914 (the end turn is decided randomly, see below). Each turn has 4 to 6 phases.
Turn Phases
| Phase | When | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Every turn | Distribution of Political factors (PF's) |
| 2 | July 1914 & next turns | Determination of game end |
| 3 | Every turn | Determination of Diplomatic attacks order |
| 4 | Every turn | Simultaneous assignment of Political Factors |
| 5 | Every turn | Diplomatic Attacks |
| 6 | Jan 14, Mar 14, May 14, Jul 14 | Determination of Victory points and Diplomacy |
Phase 1 – Distribution of Political factors (PF's)
Each player receives the number of PF's assigned per turn to his country (or countries): Germany 16, United Kingdom 14, and France 12, all others 10. These PF's are placed on the spaces provided in the Map Board.
PF's cannot be transferred between countries (even if both countries are controlled by the same player) or combined to make an attack.
Phase 2 – Determination of game end
This phase only happens in July 1914 and subsequent eventual turns; the turn track on the map board signals this action. A single die is rolled. The game ends at the end of this particular turn (end of phase 6) with the following results:
| Turn | Die roll required to end game at the end of the turn |
|---|---|
| July 1914 | 1 or 2 |
| Aug 1914 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Sep 1914 | Game automatically ends this turn |
During the last turn each country may place 10 PFs maximum instead of 5 PFs in each Embassy and is allowed to make 3 diplomatic attacks instead of 2.
Phase 3 – Determination of Diplomatic attacks order
Shuffle the cards from each participating country and place them randomly face-up besides the map board in column; the upmost card is the first country conducting diplomatic attacks this turn, and going further down, the next cards determine the order of the next diplomatic attacks.
Starting from the player who owns the country from the most bottom card, each player bid PFs (minimum 1 PF) to move 1 card from the order established, up or down any number of cards; in clockwise order all players have the opportunity to outbid in order to rearrange the position of a single card until all players pass. A player may first pass and then reenter the bidding later; the bidding just finishes when all players have passed in a row. All the bidding PFs are lost regardless of the final order established.
To bid a player may use PF's that were distributed during Phase 1 (not yet placed on the map board) and / or PF's that he has at his own country Embassy on the map board. He cannot use PF's that are placed on the map in other Embassies nations.
Phase 4 – Simultaneous assignment of Political Factors
Each player writes secretly on his countries' sheet the number of Political factors (PFs) he wants to place at each Countries' Embassies on the map board (from the PF's he has available for this turn, i.e. the ones he received this turn and the PFs that he owns in his own country). The assignments are then simultaneously revealed and the PF's markers are placed on the map board by the player sitting right to the player who have assigned them.
A player cannot assign more than five PFs to each Embassy's country per turn (even in his own country) and he is not obliged to place PF's in any particular Embassy. Exception: during the last turn a player can assign 10 PF's maximum to each Embassy.
Non assigned PFs or PFs assigned to a country in excess will be placed on the original Player's country, up to five per turn; if, by mistake, a player is left with more than five (or 10, during the last turn) political factors to place in his own country this turn, those excess PFs are eliminated.
Eliminating own's PFs: a player can eliminate up to 5PFs previously placed in a Country Embassy (in as many Countrie's Embassies that he wishes); this is noted on the sheet of placement by writing the number of eliminated PFs crossed with a trait. This action may be done in order to sometimes comply with agreements with other players.
Phase 5 – Diplomatic Attacks
In the order established by the Country cards, each player may conduct up to two diplomatic attacks. Each Attack is always done by a single country against another single country. A player may conduct more than one Diplomatic attack in a single Embassy country but into different countries and he has to split the available PFs he has on that country before determining the attacks. If the result of the combat is "exchange" (see below), the PFs available for exchange are only those that participated in that single attack.
If a player decides to conduct one or more Diplomatic attacks in a single Embassy country, all his PFs must be used (i.e. you cannot have PFs in reserve for further turns).
Note: if it's the last turn (as determined during Phase 2) each country is entitled to an additional Diplomatic attack (i.e. 3 attacks). This simulates the frantic diplomatic activity immediately before the onset of war.
Phase 6 – Determination of Victory points and Diplomacy
This phase only happens during the following turns: January 1914, March 1914, May 1914 and July 1914 (this is noted at the turn track table).
According to the conditions of victory points for United Kingdom, this is the last country to determine its victory points (it receives 5 VPs if no other nation has more than 14VPs).
After determining the provisional victory points players have up to 10 minutes to conduct diplomacy; they can leave the room to engage in conversations; players may try to overhear ongoing conversations among other players. There are no binding agreements. There is no need to spend 10 minutes in this phase, it is only the upper limit of time allowed.
During other phases players are allowed to engage in brief agreements but without leaving their places at the table and without delaying the game.
7. Diplomatic Attacks
In each turn a player may, if he wishes, make up to two diplomatic attacks on embassies from nations whose influence he wants to reduce. Exception: during the last turn of the game each player may make 3 attacks.
In order for an attack to take place the two players involved must have PF's in a common nation Embassy which may be the same as either of the nations in conflict or may be different from both. The result of an attack is obtained from the "Diplomatic Attack Table". To use this table the "odds" are determined by dividing the total number of PF's that the attacker possesses in the common nation by the total number held by the defender in that nation. If, as is usually the case, the result is a fraction, it is rounded out in favor of the defender.
After the odds are determined, the attacker rolls two dice and the value is matched to the proper column to obtain the result.
Diplomatic Attack Table
| Die Throw | <1:2 | 1:2 | 2:3 | 1:1 | 3:2 | 2:1 | 3:1 | 4:1 | 5:1 or > |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | AE | AE | AE | AE | AE | AE | AE | EX | EX |
| 3 | AE | AE | AE | AE | AE | AE | EX | EX | EX |
| 4 | AE |
The possible results are:
- AE – Attacker eliminated – remove all the attacker PF's that participated in the attack.
- DE – Defender eliminated – remove all the defender PF's that participated in the defense.
- EX – Exchange – the country that has less PF's remove them all and the other one removes the same number of PF's.
2 or 3 attacks in a same embassy nation: The active player may split the total number of PF's he has in that Embassy's nation to attack different countries and conduct 2 attacks (or even 3 attacks if it is the last turn). He may not left PF's in reserve to be used in later turns, all PF's in an Embassy's nation must be assigned to one of the attacks. 2 or 3 attacks in a same nation must be conducted against different nations. The defender must use all its PF's that he has in that nation.
8. Obtaining Treaty Rights
When a nation has ten or more PF's in its embassy in another nation, it has obtained "treaty Rights" from that nation. A treaty rights marker is used to replace ten points in that nation to make it easier to check. If the nation suffers an attack that reduces its points to less than 10 points, it no longer has Treaty Rights with that nation.
9. Determining Victory Points
At the end of the last turn the victory points of each player are checked. During the game there are "provisional determinations of victory points" during the following turns: Jan 1914, Mar 1914, May 1914 and July 1914 (this is marked at the turn track table on the map board). These provisional assessments are made in order to aware the players of "what is going on".
With 4 players, when 2 player control 2 countries (Germany / Austria-Hungary and France/Russia) and 2 players control a single Country (United Kingdom and Italy), United Kingdom and Italy VPs are doubled.
Each country receives victory points if he has treaty rights with other nations, according to its own National objectives, which are checked according to the following table.
National Objectives: to have Treaty Rights with
| Country | UK | Fra | Ger | Rus | AustHung | Ita | Tur |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| France | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Germany | 4 | 2 | 2 |
A nation receives points for exclusive treaty rights only if no other nation has treaty rights from that nation. For example, if at the end of the game, United Kingdom is the only nation with treaty rights from the Far East, United Kingdom receives 5 points. If however, any other nation also has treaty rights from the Far East, United Kingdom receives only 2 points.
The winner is the player who collects more victory points at the end of the game. If players control more than one country, their countries' victory points are added. In a game where some players control two countries and others a single country (i.e. a 4 players game) the single players VPs are doubled. If two or more players end the game with the same number of victory points then they are tied in winning.
Determining the winner – optional Rule: to win the game a player needs to have three Victory points more than the 2nd player, otherwise there's a tie. This favors the possibility of players to form an alliance and winning tied.
Revision Edition Designer's Notes
I've found this precious gem of a game from Jim Dunnigan browsing through Boardgamegeek.
This game has all the potentialities that can be found at the classic "Diplomacy" from Allan B. Calhamer but it can be played in less than two hours. I'm surprised that is so less known. Avalon Hill published, from the same author, Origins of World War Two in 1971, but the diplomatic activity previous to world war one is far richer and complex than it was in 1939. All wars are stupid, but the stupidest of them all was, unquestionably World War I; it is however fascinating all the diplomatic activities and blunders that preceded the onset of the "Great War".
The game was originally devised for 5 players but I wanted the possibility to adapt it for 7 players including two "minor" powers from WW1 which I'm very fond of: Turkey and Italy.
I've made some minor adaptations from the original game whose original rules can be found at boardgamegeek (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17967/origins-world-war-i).
I've decided to adapt simultaneous written orders for placing political factors on the map; as the orders are just assigning these points to the different countries' embassies on the map by numbers, it actually speeds the game. Thus the player order only influences Diplomatic attacks; I've also introduced a random factor in this player order and a more "modern" way of changing this order by a simple bidding method using political factors.
The original game has 10 fixed turns; I prefer instead a randomized game end starting at the 9th turn by a simple die throw. The players get to know that the game is going to end but only at the start of the last turn.
I also introduced the possibility of each country making two attacks instead of a single one each turn, although from my limited experience, this is rather an exception (but a useful one). I've also decided that in the last turn players will have the possibility of doing 3 instead of 2 attacks and placing 8 PF's at each Embassy instead of 5, thus simulating the frantic diplomatic activity that happened after the Sarajevo's murder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
I made alterations in the diplomatic attack table; using two dice instead of one makes the possibility of finer results and allows further refinements at the odds between attacker and defender. Besides it's much more fun: the childish way of tinkling two dies against each one or rolling first a die and then the other, is far more exciting than the dry roll of a single die.
As I've adapted the game for 7 instead of 5 players I needed also to change the national objectives for each country. I've found the "exclusive treaty rights" condition too harsh to get any points so I've decided to add some points even if the country doesn't attain the "exclusive" goals. I've changed the conditions to Germany and France that could get some points for avoiding respectively United Kingdom and Germany to have treaty rights from any other nation, which I found almost impossible; with this revision they only need to avoid treaty rights from their enemies with major countries (defined as the countries controlled by players). I've also added some points for some countries to have treaty rights from France as this was a country that was seldom used with the original rules. Adding Italy and Turkey to the game gave me the opportunity to refine things around the Balkans also.
In this edition I wanted to incentive the use of Diplomacy meetings. In order not to drag on, I've limited to ten minutes each diplomatic round, only happening during 4 turns; in this way 40 minutes maximum are spent in these conversations (if there were Diplomatic phases in all turns that will consume 90 to 120 minutes). Players can skip this part although I think that it adds a lot of interest in the game; as the mechanics are so fast I still think that the game can be easily played in around 2 hours.
I would like to know your opinions if you're so kind to try them.
December, 2020
Editor's note: the designer's notes above say 8 PFs per Embassy in the last turn. The Phase 2 and Phase 4 rules state 10 PFs, so the rules text is followed. The inconsistency is in the source.