yeah, don't quit over that.

You'll find that the more you play, there are a few more clever tricks you can employ with the rules.

An army can retreat anywhere. If you're not sure don't take the risk, and ask on the forum.

By anywhere, I mean where it could move to.

well frankly look at the game, as austria I'm feeling screwed!

http://www.phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=11457

Please don't advise though, as I dont' want to be accused of gettign outside help.. but I have few options!

You can ask for rule clarification. As a general rule try to make sure that you create a fictitious scenario to ask about.

You can google a full rule book for diplomacy if you want to find out more.

Please don't quit the game however, it ruins it for other players.

You look absolutely fine to me. You're not getting attacked by *everyone*, which is more than enough to ask for.
Try to get some allies to attack the people who are attacking you

Forget the rules, just look at it logically. Why wouldn't an army be able to retreat anywhere there wasn't another army?

That lesson about having someone retreat to your SC is a rule most people have to learn the hard way...

My guess is this will never happen to you again! I supopse it teaches you to consider the idea that sometimes going for broke in grabbing SCs is not the best route if you don;t have the resources to protect the gains you have already made.

Nah, it will happen again. And it will be worse next time, because you will know the rule and you will have overlooked it anyhow.

hahahh

To : DingleberryJones Simply because retreatign Armies are usually running, away from the enemy that has just knocked them black and blue, and is in a disorganised, uncontrolled state. It is not unreasonable to imagine that a defeated army woudl have to retreat to it's own territory, but the rule is the rule! and so I must carry on!

Defeated armies generally retreat to any safe direction. If their advance scouts say a large city to the east is undefended and full of food and women, that's where they can be expected to go.

I do not know of any other war game that allows a routing army to capture enemy territory!

Not necessarily to capture enemy territory, but to move to vacant land, yes? Like DJ said, there's nothing there but food and women. Well, there WAS nothing there but food and women, now there are twitchy Italians added to the mix. You should have been more careful.

Patton believed in the strategic retreat. He always looked for ways to take the fight to the enemy. This isn't just some fluke of the game - a retreating army causing pain for the enemy is very real.

That's funny, I didn't think Patton believed in any retreat...

Well regardless, now you know, and in the future can use it to your advantage and try to guard against it. That's one of the more devious tricks you can use to your advantage, there are a number of other ways to use retreats and self bounces and such to your advantage that even experienced players sometimes overlook. That's what I love about this game, there are such simple rules and so many clever ways to use them to your advantage.

Whenever someone does it to me, I feel dumb for not guarding against it, but I also enjoy it because I know I've just learned or or been reminded or something I can do too!

What DrOct said!

I've been victim to many a clever move that I had not thought of before. To give you an idea...if you know your enemy plans on bouncing himself by moving two armies into the same territory, you can support one and completely foil his plans.

There is definitely some context to consider here, but there are plenty of devious moves you can pull just based on the simple rules of the game.

There is also the use of the retreat to destroy an opponent's unit who must retreat to the same space you are going to. Granted, it rarely pays for you to cause both you and your opponent to lose a unit each, but sometimes the tactical situation may mean it is worth losing a unit if you can prevent your opponent from using a space more critical to him than it is to you.

By the same token, it is critical that you remember that dislodged armies do not show up on the board here until they are retreated somewhere. If you have to retreat, make sure one of those invisible armies can't retreat into the same place you are going to, or you will get a nasty shock!

@MoridinUK: Just to respond to comment on a couple of things you've said:

"Simply because retreatign Armies are usually running, away from the enemy that has just knocked them black and blue, and is in a disorganised, uncontrolled state."

"I do not know of any other war game that allows a routing army to capture enemy territory!"

Not all retreats are disorganised routs. Many an astute commander would consider retreating in an orderly fashion rather than stand his ground until his forces were broken and routed.

In other war games, the retreating unit does not 'control' themselves or the territory during the retreat. This is the same as Diplomacy. It is not until the unit is rallied, then they come to terms with their surroundings and proceed.

In the "RETREAT" phase, you do not control the territory. The territory (and unit) is controlled at the beginning of the next phase. The retreat is more or less, "No trouble west? Let's run!"

in a 48 hour (slow) game that you italian didn't even move (or take tunis) really says a lot about his activity.

still diplomatically *OUTSIDE INFORMATION WARNING*




turkey and russia are working together, so he needs a strong austria to help him stop them. You should try talking to italy.
*/OUTSIDE INFORMATION*