Balancing Cruiser (CL) and Battleship (BB) units with other A&A units

@Pitt79 please elaborate the usa russia scenario thanx

Sounds good. I think I’ll go with that.
Thank you all for the input.  :-)

Let`s say a word or two about Axis bid strategy in the Balanced mode version of A&A Global.

Usually, players bid for Axis, so well stick to them first. Which nation is the best for giving bid to it? Which are the best bids for each nation? Lets see…

I) Germany

Definitely the best option for the Axis bid. It plays first, it has numerous attack options on it`s first turn, and it has to defend against UK ships and air early on.

What are the best bid options for Germany?

1) A sub (or two)

A sub is the best bid for Germany. Germany faces 5 UK navies that can be striked on G1. Having an extra sub (or two) really helps, especially since 2/5 of that navies do not have a destroyer with them.

2) Land unit/s for striking France

An infantry or artillery in Holland Belgium and/or Western Germany, a mechanised infantry or tank in Germany and/or Greater Southern Germany can really help while attacking Paris on G1.

3) Land unit/s for attacking Russia

If Germany goes after Russia on G1, it is good to have an infantry or artillery in Poland/Slovakia Hungary/Romania.
A mechanised infantry or tank in Germany or Greater Southern Germany can be of help too.
Also an AA gun in Romania would be of help to move it to newly conquered Bessarabia.

II Italy

The next Axis power to which is good to give bid to it is Italy. Why Italy? Because it faces severe threats on land, air and sea from UK eary on. Also, Italy needs more transports and sea units to strike at UK faster and stronger. Let`s see what the best bid(s) for Italy would be…

1) 2 marines

A very good bid that helps Italy to strike Gibraltar, Malta, Crete, Cyprus early on. It also can be used for striking and/or taking (depends on Vichy) territories of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Syria. It gives wideness to the Italy early on.

2) 1 transport, 1 infantry

A similar bid that helps Italy to strike strong early on with more land troops.

3) 1 submarine or 1 destroyer

A ship more can aid in the defense of sz 97 that is sometimes attacked by UK on UK1. It can also help in later Italian moves, both for attacking and defending purposes.

4) Land units to North Africa

An infantry or artillery to Tobruk and/or mechanised infantry or tank to Libya can help a lot to strike Britain strong early on. The unit in Tobruk can also help to defend Tobruk on UK1. That seen, it is a good idea to put an AA gun there, to help defend on UK1, and in later turns, since UK has a powerfull RAF group near.

5) 1 fighter

A decent help from the air in attacking & defending against UK in the Med.

III) Japan

Japan is the last Axis nation that U will be bidding with. But, still it also can benefit from the bid. Japan does not need air units. It does not need more sea units too.

It needs more land units to strike China stronger. So, the bids would be:

1) An infantry or artillery

Put it to Kwangsi and/or Kiangsi to strike Yunnan and Hunan more stronger.

2) A mechanised infantry or tank

Put it to Kiangsu to strike Yunnan and Hunan more stronger.

3) An AA gun

Best to put is to Kwangsi and/or Kiangsu to move it to Yunnan and Hunan and prevent Chinese to take those territories (easily).
It can also be put to Jehol to move to Chahar for the same purposes.

@CWO:

Depicting a single regiment would be problematic in terms of game scale.  In general terms, a game on the scale of Global 1940 represents (admittedly in very abstract terms) the actions of units that are mostly the size of army groups and fleets – and, furthermore, of army groups and fleets which have no specific identity other than their nationality.  It would be hard to justify saying that one particular regiment-sized unit, with a specific name, ought to be added to the game; by that rationale, there are hundreds of other regiments that could be added too.

The obvious exception to the above principle is the single fighter which represents the Flying Tiger squadron in China…so it’s not an ironclad rule that units smaller than army groups and fleets are never represented in the game.  It can be argued, however, that the Flying Tigers are a special case because of their high profile, and because in the game China lacks aviation forces of its own.  China doesn’t lack infantry, however, so adding a USMC unit doesn’t bring anything distinctive to China’s forces.

Additionally, Global 1940 has no rules that govern riverine operations – which is understandable, because the game map doesn’t depict any rivers.  Even the Saint Lawrence, which is huge in real life, isn’t depicted: on the map, it looks like a strip of land.  There are a few lakes depicted, plus a few canals and narrow straights, but no rivers.  So a river patrol unit in China would literally have nowhere to go.

If you just using A&A Pacific, 1940 (2nd Edit.) as a “Stand Alone” game only, and using this as a “Special House Rule” scenario it wouldn’t be problematic and would make this interesting for the folllowing reasons - By the rulebook, the U.S. and Japan are not a war yet until Japan attacks first (which would be stupid to do outright) and if this is played in the “House Rules”, Japan may place their all of their units in the Sea and Land zone of Kiangsu Province. HOWEVER, they DO NOT recieve the IPC for it until either ALL American Forces in China (the 4th Marine Regiment and the Yangtze River Patrol at Shanghai) are either evacuated out of China and headed towards either the Philippine Islands (which both actually did do in 1941) or eastward towards Hawaii or one of the outlaying Island outposts before war is declared or Japan decides to “sneak attack” and goes after the American Forces in China and wins, that is when they finally recieve the IPC for the Province. Until then NOTHING, it would be a “Eyeball to Eyeball” scenario in the “Special House Rules” to see who blinks first. And thanks for reminding me about the AVG (the Flying Tigers") in China, i will definitely add them in the “House Rules” as well.

From my previosu thread:

Start date May 1917

The first Russian Revolution has occurred, but really makes little difference to the military situation. So continue using RR rules as normal.

America is at war, so we’ll assume that Germany has already declared USW.

Territorial changes are surprisingly few; I’d say they were:

Assume all aligned neutrals have been activated.

The only non-aligned neutrals violated are:

Persia: contested Turkey & Russia/Britain

Greece: contested Britain/France & Germany(Greeks)

Other tts not under original control:

Picardy & Lorraine: contested France & Germany (BEF in Picardy)

Belgium: German occupied

Poland: German occupied

Livonia & Belarus: contested Russia & Germany

Romania: contested Russia & Austria

Serbia: Austrian occupied

Albania: contested Italy & Austria

Togoland & Kamerun: French occupied

SW Africa: British occupied

Galicia: contested Austria & Russia

Mesopotamia & Trans-Jordan: contested Turkey & Britain (poss Russians in Armenia?)

America gets its draft of X infantry, but only the regular 20 IPCs to spend.

Tanks are available, probably only B & F have any just yet.

Fighters should be up to 3-3 by this stage.

Bombers should just be coming on line for both sides.

Edit: Or possibly consider July 1st 1917 as the start date: in something of an A&A tradition the game begins with a Russian great summer offensive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerensky_Offensive

I prefer simplicity. I prefer to have them operate like minor ICs except their bonus is one research die per turn instead of producing units. (when not damaged). I’m okay with a cap of 1 tech per turn. I’ll pass on the captured technology raid rule. I think having your enemy capture your research facility (and the free roll each turn after that) is reward enough.

Having them operate like minor ICs let’s you build them on 2 iPc territories, which is necessary if someone like Anzac hopes to ever acquire any technology.

Overall it’s a great concept.

@Gargantua:

Also… the research facility cost the same as all the other facilities for simplicity sake (15), not that it’s a huge deal…  and they also operated the same (built in AA, up to 6 damage, operable at 2 or less damage).

I think handing out free research facilities at the beginning of the game may make things very tech heavy, but I understand the need to get some of the smaller nations involved. I suggest a price ladder for multiple facilities…

1st Lab = $5
2nd Lab = $10
3rd Lab = $20
4th Lab = $40
5th Lab = $80
6th Lab = $160

This way, 1st Labs are practically free for UK, Russia, Italy, and India, but there is still a small risk for having one. It also makes nations who want more research rolls, to pay accordingly for them. I would still like to see ANZAC, France, and China ineligible, however, I like your idea of an invading nation choosing to steal a tech by destroying the captured facility, or keeping it for themselves, it solves some issues when capturing.

I could be mistaken… but Purchasing TECH, might actually come BEFORE the repair units phase… in which case, a bombed facility, wouldn’t be able to roll for tech - until AFTER repairs, and a turn where it isn’t damaged again.

Don’t we want players to spend for repairs, roll for research, and purchase developed weapons all in the same turn?

we have a house rule that captured majors turn into fully damaged minors and captured minors are destroyed.
i have also seen rules that when you capture IC you role a D20 for major and D6 for minor to determine how much damage it received during the battle.