[AA50/Anniversary] — "G40 Lite" Setup with France, ANZAC, Canada, Aligned Neutrals, and Map Modernizations

[vodot]

For getting started with setups and units, I’m considering two separate ideas;

1. First, a setup that could arrive at the proven AA50 1941 setup of the game after a couple turns with low-luck and nominal purchases and strategy.
2. Second, a setup that closely mimics G40.2, with or without the rebalancing efforts/“G40.3” improvements that have been suggested here over the years.

Thoughts for the Axis:

1. Germany starts the game with the world as its oyster. In the West, it should comfortably take France and expand into pro-axis neutrals turn one, while laying the ground work for overall strategy next. A slow-starting USSR means that aggressive early pushes into Russia could yield incredible gains, but this lack of pressure from the East also means that ahistorical strategies like a decisive win in the Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Sealion, or a huge Southeast Europe/Mediterranean/Mideast presence are all possible.
2. An empowered Italy can meaningfully aide Germany in a several theaters of war, but as always can easily become overly stretched. Western Europe defense, African domination, control of the the Mideast, Southeastern Europe, or the Atlantic… all are possibilities for Italy.
3. Japan also has a larger range of options but also stronger foes: both China and Australia are much more lucrative but also tougher. There is much more money in the Pacific in general- at least 10 IPCs, depending how you count- and then there are the Aleutians to suddenly threaten the US. A quiet start for the USSR and especially the US gives the Japanese player a full couple turns to start the steamroller with only the UK in opposition.

On the Allied side, the game starts grimly indeed.

1. For the UK, things are promising at first- more money to start and much more flexible and capable options exist around the Empire: South Africa, India, and Australia each have Recruitment Centers that can be quickly scaled up into regional power centers to resist Axis expansion. But the threats are real: Japan will be gigantic in the Pacific if the UK pulls out entirely or too early; an empowered Italy is much more threatening to Africa and the Middleast; and Germany starts the game with a huge French payday and minimal pressure from the USSR. There’s also the sideshow struggle of the Free French to consider, which depending on the Vichy rolls could be a worthwhile investment or a pointless distraction. All this while a slumbering US only slowly awakens…
2. For the USSR, a slowed start coupled with initial frontline weakness means an open-door invitation to the Germans, even before the third turn. Huge territorial losses are likely until the reinforcements start arriving to stem the tide, unless Germany turns its gaze elsewhere. Looking eastward the Soviets also have the option to train infantry and create factories East of the Urals to take the fight more directly to Japan.
3. Finally, the US will need several turns to get going, unable to affect the starting course of the war at all. When they do enter the game in earnest, it is likely to be immediately after a crippling attack that sets them back even further. The US will face an immediate and urgent choice of which coast to invest in first, or to attempt to support both fronts at once.

In any case, the aim of the setup is to achieve the dramatic scenario below:

The Allies begin in control of the vast majority of Territories and with far-superior income, but the Axis have the initiative, multiple viable attack vectors, and vastly superior starting unit counts. Assuming they apply all three advantages well, they will quickly take significant territory and sometime around turn 4 will reach parity with Allied income and/or position.

At this point the game reaches the critical point: will the Allies, through a judicious allocation of combined resources and energies leading up to and especially at this moment, begin inexorably pushing the Axis back? Will the two sides trade advantages to remain poised in perfect balance? Or will the Axis gradually or suddenly push the Allies beyond the point of no return?

[vodot]

ANZAC-ification!

This modular overlay for G40 Lite adds ANZAC as a potentially playable power, giving them three extra IPC to play with for a total of 10:

• ANZAC roundels and a recolor for Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the Solomons.
• New Zealand boosted to 2 IPCs.
• Northern Territory boosted to 2 IPCs
• Western Australia boosted to 1 IPC

Preview:

Full overlay download (17MB):
https://www.mediafire.com/view/64s28ot0aw7tusu/G40_Lite_ANZAC.png/file

Analysis and initial thoughts on mechanics/impact:

• Removes 7 IPCs from the UK income, reducing total purchasing power but focusing their colonial spend on India and S. Afr.
• Pulls any extant South Pacific UK units out of their control/turn, weakening them overall as they can no longer attack in concert.
• Forces some direct Australian investment by the Allies, while also…
• Limiting the direct Australian investment by the Allies to the ANZAC income— no more Bombers or fully loaded Carriers dropping into the South Pacific out of nowhere.
• Forces both sides to may a modicum of attention to the South Pacific, which previously could be (and usually is) tacitly ignored by both sides via mutual neglect.
• Adds 3 IPCs to the Allies total income (more money is is fun!) but also siphons it off into a minor power which have a greatly diluted effect on the game due to the principle of concentration of force.

[vodot]

Playtesting notes…
It’s turn 4 and Game 1 is already turning into a rout in favor of the Axis. Starting Conditions:

1. Setup mirrored G40.2 as closely as possible on this new board with no bid for the Allies, which should give the game a solid pro-axis tilt.
2. My (8yo) son took the Axis with his usual handicap:
   – Germany +10 IPC/turn and1 free infantry to be placed in any controlled territory each turn
   – Japan same as Germany
   – Italy same as Germany/Japan but only +5 IPC/turn

Rules for game 1:
3. US starts with 0 IPC, half income until turn 3 or attacked per the above, but also gain half income as one-time bonus when attacked *(we changed this on the fly as their position looks utterly desperate). I wanted their full income as a bonus, but was voted down.
4. USSR as above (starts with half income until turn 3 or USSR is attacked). He attacked me turn 2.
5. We used G40 AAA rules (5 IPC instead of 6, taken as casualties, roll 1@1 up to 3x for each AAA unit, etc.)
6. Battleships repair at the beginning of your turn (instead of at the end). Damaged BB fight at -2/-2.
7. One non-Capital originally-owned TT per turn can be “Developed” at a cost of 5 IPC. Development raises the effective IPC Value of a TT by 1, including for the purpose of placing units there. Only one TT per turn can be Developed, and a TT may only have one Development in it at a time. If the territory is captured, any Development there is destroyed. In our game India was Developed by the UK on turn 1.

Current state: It’s the end of UK4.

Japan is making 40 IPC, has 7(!) carriers in the pacific and is halfway across China and Russia. He neglected the money islands until just last turn and has not threatened India (where UK made an immediate, huge investment), but has a ~200 IPC fleet at Hawaii that dwarfs the US pacific fleet by 2:1.

Germany has 10+ fighters and 40+ infantry on the Eastern Front. G and R are trading Caucasus. R hoping to hold Moscow with UK help (UK invading Scandanavia and coming down from Karelia & up from Iran).

UK is still the income leader (not for long with Japan taking DEI) which has allowed them to fight well on two fronts. They just sunk both the German and Italian navies… but my son rolls ridiculously well (which I publicly decry but secretly enjoy) and both uk fleets (India–>Med and England–>Baltic) took significant losses and may be wiped out in retaliation next turn. They’ve been stymied in Western Europe by a huge luftwaffe and a large German naval investment in the baltic (2 carriers?!) and had to resort to Norway.

US only just lumbering into the war. Feels extremely underpowered with an income in only the high-30s and a roaring japan on the doorstep. We gave the US a half-income war bonus, but that’s 18IPCs of peanuts. I think that for this to work without a bid the US wants an income boost of at least 5 and perhaps a fat bonus when/if attacked as well.

ANZAC in the pacific has done exactly zero except to hold the Australian mainland and vaguely threaten Japan’s far south perimeter, which feels… right.

Vichy vs Free France has been a back and forth, feels very good. At the start the map split 50/50 (expected) but the navy split in the Axis favor with two defections, a couple scuttles, and only a single destroyer joining the Free French.

Italy ignored the European Neutrals and made a big push into Africa instead, quickly swept the UK out of Cairo but have not yet been able to cross Suez (UK holds mideast). The combined Free French and British have also been able to hold them at FEA and Rhodesia while pushing Vichy out of lower Africa. LOVING how Africa has played out so far in this game with landings and battles on both sides up and down the African coast.

Currently the Axis have 12 VCs to the Allies 9 (Rio still Neutral), and halfway though turn 4 are almost in a state of Minor Victory according to my revised victory city chart:

I think the game is playing OK, and it’s always hard to account for the handicap & skill effects of having an 8yo at the helm-- although, if I can brag on my son a bit, he does his own Punch, Count, and Skew calculations before every major attack.

I’ll be curious to see how hopeless the US situation is. If my son’s Japanese can take US territory on the west coast, I think some kind of adjustment is warranted even with his handicaps.

[vodot]

Start of Germany 6 - Moscow has fallen (for good). Paris has been liberated but will be re-taken.

The US fleet was trapped in the north Pacific and then suicided into the Japanese armada. Gave my son a brief and ultimately futile lesson about blockers as mine were at first mocked, then explained, then admired… and summarily swept away.

At the end of J5 he ended up with 4 carriers and a wounded Battleship off the coast of Southwestern US, but no surviving destroyers within 4 Sea Zones… so on US5, instead of staffing transports headed for Germany, I built 7 subs underneath his carriers out of spite and a desire to educate >:)

Italy has been pushed nearly out of Africa and is turtling.

Japan has been pushed almost completely out of China, has 6-7 IPCs in Russia, and is outrageously strong at sea.

UK has remained very strong, which has been extremely fun and unusual.

French/free french struggle was good, although Vichy did not take much action.

ANZAC cat and mouse game with Japan feels great, could see them being a pest for a Japan that goes hard into china/russia/mainland IC.

Russia pathetically weak with no hope of survival, adjustments needed. Maybe start with half income and a 1-turn income delay instead of 3.

US very weak, unable to defend coastline against determined Japan even with 100% pacific investment. adjustments needed. With a slow start and half income with no NOs for help they needs more money on the board, also probably a significant bonus once at war. Not sure how to pull that off in a middleweight map.

Allied surrender looms.

[vodot]

Oh, Canada! Here are some overlays that add Canada as a playable Major Power.

For expediency, have Canada be controlled by the ANZAC player, moving together and sharing a turn but remaining separate in every other way (capitals, treasuries, purchasing, placement, etc.).

Similar to adding ANZAC, this has the effect of reducing the British paycheck by 5 and adding 3 IPC to the Allies overall… while also shunting it off into a relatively ineffectual power, again due to concentration of force mechanics.

Creating minor powers like this forces (and limits) investment into a particular area.

Need some roundels? Print these on 4x6 photo paper and stick 'em on extra roundels you have lying around:

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@vodot Is there a setup yet or no? If so where is it? If you do not have one yet I would be happy helping creating one.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@vodot Have you printed this off yet or made it a actual board yet or no?

[vodot]

@FranceNeedsMorePower

I posted the link to the latest full map file in the OP, but for myself no, no full printout or board yet. Just printing out the overlays and sticking them atop a normal anniversary map like this while we playtest:

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@vodot Is this the board state setup or no?

[TitusJames]

@vodot Thats awesome! I plan to print out a number of your changes for my copy of the game. Do How do you scale all of your printouts?

[vodot]

@FranceNeedsMorePower said :

@vodot Is this the board state setup or no?

This was close to the endstate for our first playtest. This is the end of I6, Allies conceded after J7.

@TitusJames said :

@vodot Thats awesome! I plan to print out a number of your changes for my copy of the game. Do How do you scale all of your printouts?

Almost all of them should be able to be printed exactly as posted to the forums here - at 400 DPI (dots per inch). This would match the original game board as shown above. If your map is larger than the OOB board, you would have to scale the printouts yourself to match. The OOB board is 24 x 46in, so your printouts should be scaled by whatever the ratio is of the dimensions of your map to those of the original board.

For example, I printed Tjoek’s AA50 map files out at 300DPI, producing final printed dimensions of 32in x 61.33in. That’s a ratio of 4:3 compared to the OOB board, so if you were trying to match my overlays to that printout you would need to scale your prints up by that same ratio (4/3 or 1.33x ). In this case, that would mean printing the overlays at 300 DPI (fewer dots per inch = more “inches per dot”), rather than their native 400 DPI.

[vodot]

@FranceNeedsMorePower
Here’s what we started with. I tried to meld in the G40.2 setup, combining and splunching unit groups where needed:

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@vodot Nice!

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@vodot Are you planning on making a official setup for it or no? I would love to see this adapted to Triple A. @barnee Has this been adapted yet?

[vodot]

@FranceNeedsMorePower I haven’t put this on triplea, but @Argothair has created a similar 1941/2 map based off of my overlays, find that here: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/post/1771557.

[vodot]

previous pics were missing the German naval setup, this one should be better (yes, that’s a sub in SZ 8):