Dissolution: Diplomacy Variant Rules

Dissolution Logo

What is Dissolution?

Распад, or Dissolution, is a Diplomacy variant set in 1992 immediately after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The First Gulf War is over, and the first of multiple conflicts in Yugoslavia is just beginning. Players take on the role of former Warsaw Pact states, former Soviet states, and other influential states of the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.

In the chaos and power vacuum left in the Soviets’ wake, who will rise to prominence? Will your nation become yet another failed state? Will you receive assistance from the international community, or will they thwart your ambitions?

Will your fledgling nation conquer, or be conquered?

Variant Features

Major features of Dissolution that depart from classic Diplomacy rules include:

  • Stationary Wing units that behave like airbases
  • Supply Centers of varying point value and a point-based victory condition
  • Neutral Minor Powers & DP allocations (adapted from Ambition & Empire)
  • Neutral Nuclear Powers with Invulnerable Units (an extension of the Minor Power / DP ruleset)
  • The Favor Map, which abstracts the diplomatic relationships between the players and the neutral Nuclear Powers using Embassy units
  • Optional continued participation from eliminated players

Supply Centers

In Dissolution, each Supply Center (SC) is worth either 1 or 2 Victory Points (VP).

Players start with 2-4 SCs, with a total score of 3-6 VPs.

There are 57 Supply Centers on the map, worth a total of 75 Victory Points.

  • 39 SCs are worth 1 VP, and are represented as a single dashed circle.
  • 18 SCs are worth 2 VPs, and are represented as a pair of concentric dashed circles.

A player’s total VP also determines the number of units they can have on the map (half their total, rounded up).

Victory Conditions

To win, a single player must control supply centers worth at least 27 VPs.

That player must also have the highest VP total of any other player, with no ties. If there is a tie for highest total at 27+ VP, the game continues into the next game-year.

Dissolution Full Rules (Version 2.1)

Rules documents for Dissolution are linked below:

Maps

Thumbnails below should link to higher-resolution and full-resolution copies of the geographic and favor maps.

Dissolution v2.1 - Starting Geographic Map
Dissolution v2.1 Greyscale Map
Dissolution v2.1 Map with Full Region Names
Dissolution - Starting Favor Map v2.1
Dissolution Favor Map (Blank)

Boilerplate

Dissolution is a variant of the board game Diplomacy by Allan B. Calhamer & Avalon Hill / Wizards of the Coast. Dissolution is the creation of W. Alex Ronke, copyright 2017-2021.

The copyrights for all maps and text associated with Dissolution are held by W. Alex Ronke.

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses:

Source works and attributions can be found in the final section of the full rules PDF linked above.

Legacy Rules and Images

Dissolution Full Rules PDF (version 2.0, deprecated):
Dissolution Full Rules 20180822

Imgur Album (deprecated):
Dissolution Rules and Examples (Imgur)