Strategic Focus, hereafter referred to as SF, are special meta-unit tokens. Each player owns a single SF token; this single token cannot be lost, and new ones cannot be produced. SF appears as a unit to which orders can be given just like a normal unit; unlike a regular unit, however, SF can be ordered to support-hold or support-move any territory or unit on the board. An SF token appears on the territory next to the unit to which it is attached for the season, then removed from the board before the next turn.

SF do not count as units during the end-of-year unit-count/supply-center-count logistics phase, so they will not interfere with your actual unit production and supply.

FURTHER OPTIONAL RULES:

To make SF a little less of a game-breaker, each player may us Strategic Focus once per year -- either during the Spring or Autumn turns, not both -- due to the level of planning required to gain such an advantage. Of course, one could, for example, use SF during Autumn 1902 and again during Spring 1903, as the Winter allows time to plan (Summer is just too hectic to re-organize SF).

To make SF more of a game-breaker, a player may order SF to hold an otherwise empty territory which they own; this represents last-line defenses, civilian militias, et cetera, organized expressly to repel an invasion against them.

Also consider using SF to convoy units where no real Fleet exists -- consider it to take the form of co-opted merchant marine or fishing vessels, zeppelins, extremely tricky high-speed fleet maneuvers, whatever.

What are your thoughts on this?

If I was to add to the rules I would implement propagando which allows you to build in a non home SC at the cost of one build

My only thought is that it'd really mess with some core adjudicator code (there are different types of strengths that are matched up in different ways, all sorts of complications. there's no neat strength multiplier method I can think of that'd fit this)

That having been said variant support is coming, and adjudicator changes are supported, and I think this would at least make those unbreakable lines that can form more easily broken, but it's not a typical variant rule addition

gnome de guerre , c'est marrant comme p'tit nom !

"those unbreakable lines that can form more easily broken" - also making those unbreakable lines easier to form. though i suppose if two players have a long stalemate line and both use SF in different places they might both break the line...

@ denis -- I like that elegant idea, too; is it from a Global Diplomacy variant?
@ kestasjk & orathaic -- Yes, one of the intents of SF is to break stalemates.
@ frenchtourist -- Merci!

....and, further ideas for Strategic Focus use (only if SF is usable once per year) as follows:

You may spend Strategic Focus at the end of the year to increase your Supply Center count by one as far as unit building/disbanding is concerned. In other words, you may spend SF to reduce the number of units you must disband by one, or increase the number of units you may build by one. This does not actually give you an additional real Supply Center, so you'd best hustle to capture more before the end of next year.

At year's end, you may spend SF to place one of your builds on a non-home SC.