Variant Rules:

All other rules are as in Standard Diplomacy.

1. Builds will be allowed on any owned SC.

2. The Hsiung-Nu (barbarian power).  As nomads, the Hsiung-Nu will start with 3 armies.  They may place these armies anywhere in any of the vacant provinces which will lie in the north and west of the board which are bordered by the black band.  Since they live off the land, the barbarians will not need SCs to keep their units on the board initially.  For every 2 SCs captured by the Hsiung-Nu, an army may be built and
placed on the board as with the 3 initial armies (so owning 2 SCs gets them 4 units total, owning 4 gets them 5 units total, and owning 6 gets them 6).  If the Hsiung-Nu get to 6/6, any further builds will be made on a 1 for 1 basis, and must be made in a vacant, owned SC. If at the end of the second game year, the Hsiung-Nu do not have at least 2 SCs, they must remove an army.  If they do not have at least 1 SC after the third year, a second army is removed.  If they do not have at least 1 SC after
the fourth year, the last army is removed.  This is to simulate the
opportunistic nature of the nomadic horsemen.  If the initial raiders are successful, more will join.  If not, the armies start melting away.  Once the 6 SCs are reached, the nomad population is exhausted, and only native Chinese troops can be raised.  All builds up to 6 must be placed in the initial placement area. 

3. Neutrals will all be armed, and mobile, under certain circumstances.  Each player, in addition to writing orders for his own units, will write orders for all neutral powers.  If a majority of players, having a majority of player units on the board at the beginning of the turn, agree to an order for a neutral unit, the unit will be so ordered (i.e., 7 players having 21 units on the board-if at least 4 players having at least 11 units total agree, the unit moves).  This could conceivably result in builds for neutral powers, which will also be allowed.  If a neutral power grows from one to three SCs, it will be "activated", and a new player will be called in to play it.  Eliminated players will not be
allowed to play former neutral powers newly grown to player status.

4.  In keeping with Sun Tzu's maxim that armies should always be allowed to retreat, rather than be cornered, since if cornered they fight much harder, when the last unit or units of a non neutral power would be annihilated as a result of an attack, the defensive strength of the unit or units will be increased by one.  Therefore, a successful attack on such a trapped unit would need one more unit than an attack on a unit which has an available retreat space.

5. Victory criterion will be 14 SCs, however, non-Chinese SCs (Choson, Pei Choushi and Tung Yueh) do not count toward this total.  Victory may also be by concession.

6. River Convoys:  Convoys by fleets in river provinces are allowed.  If another fleet attacks a convoying fleet, the convoy is unsuccessful whether the attack succeeds or not, whereas, if an army attacks a convoying fleet, the attack must be successful to disrupt the convoy. 

The play starts in Winter 369 B.C.(Hsiung-Nu unit placement only).  First full year for all powers is Spring 368 B.C. 

For additional historical flavor, the Chinese Zodiac Calendar may be added as an additional descriptor, to the western game year notations.  The first year (369 B.C.) would be the year of the Rat, and after that, the calendar progreses in a 12 year cycle.  Here are the signs: