The British developed tanks in WWI so you're right, they wouldn't have existed in 1901 lol ^_^ but I personally love the image of tanks more.Also, for games that last awhile they make sense.

Then again since there wasn't a WW in 1901 who is to say the tank wouldn't have been created then, when it became needed?

Then again, why start this game in 1901 in the first place? Doesn't make sense to me other than the fact that some games do last longer than others.

The 1901 start was chosen because of the balance of power that existed then. Go later and a realistic map would be somewhat lopsided power wise.

Yeah, I get the 1901 start, but just not the tanks. Doesn't really matter, I was just interested if there was a known reason (again, since tanks didn't play a major role in WWI).

The reason Germany was able to walk over Poland was two fold:
1.) Germany had to rebuild its army from WWI, which meant heavy use of armor (tanks). Tanks vs the Polish Calvary (Men on horses kinda calvary) was a pretty nice matchup for Germany.

2.) Lightning warfare, which wasn't something anyone prepared for since WWI was mostly trench warfare.

So, yeah, I agree with TheSleepingBear... no idea why we have tanks other than they are more recognizable(?)

Was there really a balance of power though? I thought Britain was the most powerful country in the world at that time... a bit of a superpower even..

Speaking of WW1, did anybody think of what kind of a world we would live in if Central Powers won?

maybe a world where the holocaust didn't happen... israel might not exist... the middle east and north africa would probably look totally different on some level... german and italian might be spoken by far more people especially in africa and maybe southeast asia... ???

In the set I owned the armies were sort of helmet shaped things. I think in even earlier versions they were wooden cubes. This tanks rubbish must be a modern abomination like those wossnames, computers.

I have the wooden cubes version! Cubes are armies, long stick thingies are fleets.

maybe that should be in the next update, kestas - replace the tanks with cubes and the fleets with long stick thingies. it does make it feel more like another strategy game like chess or go or checkers than a wargame with those little army dudes and stuff.

It would be the Cubist variant of Diplomacy.

actually it's the original version - this version is the non-cubist variant ;)

They steered clear of foot soldiers to steer clear of Risk.

The board I have came with little artillery pieces for armies.

But the original Risk also had wooden cubes. There was an amoeba/slug looking piece that stood for 10 armies.

This was, of course, before the version I had - plastic roman numerals. At least a huge mound of blocks on a map can be imposing. Try to look threatening by building up I I I III V III I I on someones border.

The wooden cubes are the best. There's just something about them that make the game more enjoyable, in my opinion.

1. The map does not portray Europe in 1900. (http://www.euratlas.com/history_europe/europe_map_1900.html) The year represented is 1914.

2. Tanks would not have looked like they do in this implementation until WWII

3. The board game now has cannons for armies and battleships for fleets. (http://www.cuhkacs.org/~henryporter/blog/up/1123413026_10633281571063328157diplomacy+game.jpg) In case you are confused, light blue = France, black = Germany, yellow = Turkey, green = Italy, red = Austria-Hungary, dark blue = 'England' and silver/white = Russia.

I like the metal pieces best, if you ask me.

On the Central Powers winning WWI:

Italy was not a Central Power then; they were with the Allies (and so won, in particular picking up the city of Trieste). In Churchill's words (paraphrased): ‘We got Italy last time, to it's only fair that they get Italy this time.’

It's cannons in the board game

I have the British board with bullets and ships. Its the one that looks like an old fashioned poster with cartoon drawings on it and a pink (rather than blue?) England.

Here, its simply because the graphic was available freely to add, and doing your own wasn't worthwhile.

the FTF game i played contained fat rectangular army blocks and skinny rectangular fleet blocks (i think thats how the original format was too). i also have the cannons/ships board game version.

@Toby Bartels: Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria; they just didn't support them when the war began. They didn't join the Allies until 1915, either.

That map that JECE posted looks EXACTLY like the 1900 variant! wow, i guess that one really is accurate.

Yeah, except for Norway being independant, Montenegro not existing, Libya not being Ottoman and Egypt not being diputed, sure.

By the way, this is as late as 1911: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Europe_1911.jpg

I like the old wood blocks. The game is just an abstract game like chess anyway. As to the what if of the Central Powers winning, they would have to done so before the US got involved. There could not have been a Holocaust. Hitler might have been at best just some obscure sidewalk artist.

I think it's just a question of aesthetics. The tanks look good. I am interested in the side discussion of Europe as of 1900. What are the specific differences? If memory serves, Albania was created a few years after 1900 to cut off Serbian access to the Med. Anyone an expert on this? Thanks for the map link.

Albania I believe was created right before World War I as a result of the Second Balkan War, but I may be wrong. I think you are right about cutting Serbia off from the Med., though. I'm too busy to check at the moment.

I have to agree. The wood blocks are the best pieces to use for the game. Exactly as warsprite says, the game is very abstract. The meat of the game lies in the diplomatic machinations between the players. The game mechanics themselves are fairly simple and are meant to be an abstract representation of warfare. Much like leaders of old would push pieces of wood over a map indicating the location and disposition of units.

I would much prefer those cubes to these hideous tanks, but I still believe the cannons of the knew board game are nicer. H ha, except back then they actually pushed little miniatures.