It 's a shame that the 6x6 tiny variant doesn't exist. ;)
I like Fast Espionage the most (yup, with the volcanoes), or Open Small Espionage.
For time control you should have the vacation on, as the new format only allows 45 vacation days (60 if they would pay another membership) . If those are all gone, that's over for them. It's fair to assume that players visit the site daily, so use a fixed time per turn, say 1,5 days per turn. If you hate the vacation system, do fixed weekends only or even no days off.
Dark Prince: Always on the middle ranks, but placed after both players set up an army. I think it would be a big improvement to alreadt place volcanoes on the map before setting up an army, as a player can set up accordingly to the different terrain.
How about a tiny Espionage game which features only a 6x6 square board and a piece set like this:
yyyyyy yyyyyy ------ ------ xxxxxx xxxxxx
1 Base 2 Mines 2 Saboteurs 2 Spies 2 1's 2 2's 1 3 ( or a 5, it does not matter since it should be just the highest level piece) I do not know if this is te best piece setup, maybe remove a mine in favor for another 1 or 3. The 3 can be captured by a Saboteur. Two moves per turn, no volcanoes. The game should go really fast as there's nowhere to run in this game.
Edit: If this set is used, with spies on B2 and e2 white can move those spies in such way that Black's pieces are revealed inmediantly as they move. That should not be possible, so maybe remove the extra spy as well in favor to another 1 to have a set like this:
1 Base 1-2 Mines 2 Saboteurs 1 Spy 3 1's 2 2's 1-2 3's ( or a 5)
@dAGGER: I like the idea to remove a rank and file to get the armies closer. The idea at IYT is also good to play I think.
The 28 X's represent Black and the 28 Y's represent white. The way different setup can change the strategy of play using the same Espionage rules (but removing a 1 and 2 soldier from the original 30 pieces). And of course, no one says you have to put the main base in the corner!