I noticed something strange while rereading the rulebook’s section, “China Rules”. The following sentence is present in both the original rules and the reprint.
The IPC values printed on the Chinese territories indicate the number of IPCs an Axis player will receive when taking control of the territory.
Previously, I’ve unconsciously assumed this means that the Axis player adjusts their national production level when they capture a Chinese territory, just as they do with all other territories.
However, that’s not what the text actually instructs the player to do, which is to take IPCs (presumably from the bank) at the moment the territory is captured.
I would chalk this up to the rules being sloppy (as I’ve complained about previously), but the normal rules (p. 20) are unequivocal that the reward for capturing territories is increased production, not IPCs themselves:
If you have captured the territory, place your control marker on the territory and adjust the control markers on the national production chart. Your national production increases by the value of the captured territory; the loser’s production decreases by the same amount.
The contrast is surprisingly clear.
There’s a further complication, which is that receiving IPCs and adjusting a national production level are not innately incompatible–so perhaps the Axis player is supposed to do both.
This leaves me with three interpretations of the rules:
A. The Axis player takes IPCs from the bank.
B. The Axis player increases their national production level.
C. The Axis player takes IPCs from the bank and increases their national production level.
Which is correct?
