Here’s the brief of the pitch, assuming G40 rules: Allies and Axis alternate with a very significant buff. For now, simplistically, lets say all of their units roll at 1 value higher than ordinary–a tank scores a hit on a 4 or lower, an infantry attacks at 2 and defends at 3. Axis gets the buff on odd-numbered turns and Allies on even turns.
The long of the pitch:
Currently, the concept of “initiative” is vaguely modeled by turns. Germany has the initiative on Germany’s turn. If we accept that as true, then we also accept that there is no initiative in the defense. This is also supported by the general advantage of the attacker, in that defenders can’t retreat or reinforce, and so are almost always guaranteed to lose battles and suffer disproportionate losses.
I find this somewhat jarring. Germany seems strong at the end of their turn, and Russia seems strong a moment later. Both sides tend to attack frequently. Sometimes, it can be advantageous to hold in reserve and gather forces, but it is somewhat niche; the opportunity cost is just so high, the enemy can do so much if you leave their forces alive. More frequently, you hold back from attacking just so that you can hold the enemy at risk—a tank army in Leningrad is more valuable if it is NOT used.
So why do I think a seasonal advantage would help? For one, it guardrails opponent behavior somewhat, which makes the game slightly easier to forecast, therefore enabling longer-term strategy. You can predict that on turn 5, the Allies will tend to hold their positions. You can bet that Japan will go after a big fleet on turn 3 or 5, but not 4.
Two, it directly encourages both sides to carefully gather up forces for a big “pulse” of action, rather than continuously expend forces for incremental gains (on the reference set of the game, not real life—capturing all Belarus in a round is not incremental by real-world standards). Pull back and organize on the enemy’s advantage, then expend the effort you’ve gathered on the turn of your advantage.
To better address the issue of defense, perhaps we add another, greater rule: the defender can retreat on the turn of their initiative. If Germany exposes itself to take Ukraine, and the Russians have a correlation of forces sufficient to overcome the dice modifiers, then even still, the Germans are able to preserve their forces if not their territory. Without this rule, perhaps I’ve created a misaligned incentive; since the enemy has a positive dice modifier whether they are attacking or defending, perhaps it is better for the disadvantaged side to pitch everything into attacks, where at least they can control the correlation of forces and advantage themselves.
To talk specifics: I would suggest that the game switch to d12s, and every unit’s attack and defense value is increased by 1. So a tank attacks at 7, while the enemy tank only defends at 6. A boost of +1 on a d6 might be too severe. Though, I’m open to dissent there. Maybe 1 point on a d12 is too subtle.
I also think that the Axis advantage should last slightly longer at the start of the game. Perhaps they get the bonus on turn 1 AND turn 2, and Allies get it on turn 3 and all odd turns thereafter. Or, Axis gets odd turns, but Allies skip their first advantage and only get the initiative starting turn 4.
Perhaps the idea needs a larger adjustment, and it should just focus on the weather? What if odd turns occur during pleasant summers, so planes, tanks, and ships get a +1? Winters similarly penalize ships, tanks, and planes with a -1 modifier. Infantry and artillery are more durable and less affected by storms. This would produce very different incentives: rather than favoring one alliance at a time, it favors certain units. Infantry armies lead the way during winter, then tanks strike back in summer. Navies steer clear of each other on odd turns. Perhaps some combination of both rules, where odd turns are Axis-initiative summers, and they are encouraged to leave Allied tanks and planes alone since they get debuffs in winter. On the Allied initiative, they should favor infantry armies and go after Axis armor specifically.
This is a rambling post, containing a lot of somewhat separable ideas. I would love to hear the thoughts of the board on part or all of these concepts.
