This variant is based on Scenario I (The Balance of Power) from Machiavelli Version 2.

The start date is Spring 1454.

Every country can build on all supply centers they own.

Starting Positions:

Austria (A), A Austria, A Hungary, A Tyrol

France (F), A Avignon, A Swiss, F Marseilles

Florence (L), A Arezzo, A Florence, F Pisa

Milan (M), A Cremona, A Milan, A Pavia

Naples (N), A Bari, A Messina, F Naples, F Palermo

Papacy (P), A Bologna, A Perugia, A Rome, F Ancona

Turkey (T), A Albania, F Durazzo, F Tunis

Venice (V), A Padua, A Treviso, F Dalmatia, F Venice

Background: About the year 1454, the five major Italian powers, having reached a rough parity in strength, sought to create an anti-aggression peace alliance among themselves. The geopolitical situations had advanced a great deal since 1400. Many independent states had been absorbed, and five great states now dominated the political scene: Venice, Milan, Florence, Naples and the Papal States. Venice was now a major land power, as well as retaining much of her sea empire and mercantile wealth. Florence had expanded and now was a sea power as well as a mercantile power. The Papacy had been restored to Rome, and under such dynamic Popes as Martin V, reasserted its sovereignty over the Papal States. With the resources and contributions of the faithful all over Europe, the restored, renewed, but now thoroughly secular Papacy was a force to be reckoned with. Milan, having failed in its bid to dominate the peninsula was still, under Francesco Sforza, one of the most powerful centralized Italian states. Finally, Naples, after being unified once again with Sicily by Alfonso of Aragon, was now a major maritime and land power. A new complicating factor was the interest in Italy by outside powers such as France and Austria, but especially by the Ottoman Turks. The Turks, unified and eager to expand, fresh from victory at Constantinople, were ready to move against Venice in the Balkans or Naples in southern Italy.

Province abbreviations:

Austria (A)

TYR - Tyrolia

AUS - Austria

HUN - Hungary

CRI - Carinthia

France (F)

AVI - Avignon

SWI - Swiss

MAR - Marseilles

PRO - Provence

Florence (L)

FLO - Florence

PSA - Pisa

ARE - Arezzo

PST - Pistoia

Milan (M)

MIL - Milan

PAV - Pavia

CRE - Cremona

PAR - Parma

FOR - Formova

Naples (N)

CAP - Capua

NAP - Naples

AQU - Aquila

SLE - Salerno

BAR - Bari

OTR - Otranto

MES - Messina

PAL - Palermo

Papacy (P)

ROM - Rome

PER - Perugia

PAT - Patrimony

SPO - Spoleto

ANC - Ancona

URB - Urbino

BOL - Bologna

Turkey (T)

TUN - Tunis

DUR - Durazzo

ALB - Albania

HER - Hergozovina

BOS - Bosnia

Venice (V)

VEN - Venice

DAL - Dalmatia

PAD - Padua

TRV - Treviso

VER - Verona

FRI - Friulia

BER - Bergamo

IST - Istria

Neutral Provinces

SAV - Savoy

SLU - Saluzzo

TUR - Turin

MON - Montferrat

GEN - Genoa

MOD - Modena

MAN - Mantua

TRN - Trent

CRN - Carinthia

SLA - Slavonia

CRO - Croatia

FER - Ferrara

LUC - Lucca

PIO - Piombino

SIE - Siena

RAG - Ragusa

SAR - Sardinia

COR - Corsica

Seas

GOL - Gulf of Lyon

LIG - Ligurian Sea

WES - Western Mediterranean

TYN - Tyrrhenian Sea

GON - Gulf of Naples

CEN - Central Mediterranean

ION - Ionian Sea

LOW - Lower Adriatic Sea

UPP - Upper Adriatic Sea