VIDEO: Grasshopper's G40 Custom Table

Hi all, my first draft map for an AA50 1940 + France Setup (v0.5) is ready to rock. G40 Lite, anybody?

This idea was born and first discused two years ago in my “[AA50/Anniversary] Modular Map Overlays” thread. Becuase this is a whole new kettle of fish, however, I am splitting this realease off into it’s own thread for further discussion, new rules, setup charts (oof), and of course playtesting/refinement.

Backstory:
My indomitable son-- lover of the color blue and Axis and Allies— and therefore of France, bless his mistaken 8yo heart— has worked his way up to playing Anniversary with me. He grieves for the neglected G40 French soldiers sitting in their box. And so, I’ve atempted to tackle the addition of France and the creation of a plausible Middle-weight 1940 setup that includes the French Empire and his precious blue troops.

Project Objectives:

Placate my child and get some blue units and TTs on the map. K.I.S.S. Add choices/fun, but maintain middle-weight status. Maintain loose tether to historical reality… meaning I need more or less 1940 borders.

To pull this off on an AA50 map, I need two things:

France-related map & rules updates Non-France 1940-related map & rules updates (aligned neutrals + dispossing various powers of their 1941-42 territorial gains)

Rules additions:

This is a Middle-weight map, so we need some Very Simple Rules™ for the inexorable fall of Paris and the subsequent creation of Free France
– I like GW36’s dieroll mechanic wherein you roll for TT + contents and individual ships to see what happens: Vichy, Free French, or Scuttle (for ships).
– For our middle-weight case here, “Vichy France” simply becomes German
– For Free French, the UK can command ala the US command of China.

In my first attempt to satisfy the above criteria, I present: v0.5!!

G40 Lite v0.5 contains:

The French Empire, c. ~spring 1940:

France proper split into Northern (capital) and Southern (becomes Vichy) France Six discrete French African colonies and protectorates
– Morocco
– Algeria
– French West, Central, and Equatorial Africa (which gets RC and becomes capital of Free France)
– Madagascar Syria (maybe relevant with pro-axis Iraq next door?) French Indochina (Frenchified; remains ahistorically merged with Thailand; no game-reason to split them) French Guiana (maybe relevant now that we have a VC-posessing pro-allied Brazil?) New Caledonia in the South Pacific …mostly for flavor/possible IPC balance

Lots of other changes to create viable 1940 setup:

Addition of Albania Addition of British Guinana (Suriname) Splitting Iraq (2, pro-Axis) off from Trans-Jordan (0, UK) IPC-ifying of many “True” (or game-functionally true) Neutrals:
– Sweden
– Turkey
– Saudi Arabia
– Spain
– Argentina Chile
– Afganistan
– South American amalgamations
– Angola
– Mozambique Addition of “Impassible” to a few important regions:
– Sahara
– Himalaya
– Mongolia (functionally)
– Switzerland (functionally) De-possessifying of various “Aligned” Neutrals:
– Finland (pro-axis)
– Romania Bulgaria (pro-axis)
– Iraq (pro-axis)
– Brazil (pro-allies; drops to 2 IPC, a Neutral VC? Whaaat?)
– Yugoslavia (pro-allies) (no more “Balkans”)
– Greece (pro-allies)
– Persia (pro-allies)
– Eire (pro-allies)

And finally, a totally unrelated change that actually belons in this thread:

In China, split off “Jehol” (1, Japan-occupied, China Roundel) from Manchuria (3)

…and probably many others I’ve forgotten.

Below are a couple preview images as well as the link to the full file.

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AA50_1940_East.png

Full Size Download (v0.5):
https://www.mediafire.com/view/eyjoqlytf4ag9k3/AA50_1940ed_v0.5.png/file

TRICK OUT YOUR OOB MAPS WITH ARTWORK CUT FROM YOUR SPARE/DUPLICATE RULEBOOKS, LINK IS HERE!!! https://youtu.be/QMkfdDdvqus

To fit the entire G40 game pieces, you will need 2 boxes and that will include space for alot of HBG printed pieces, etc including roundels, etc

Thank you for the positive feedback! I forgot to say that in the previous post, and it’s very important that I do. It’s very encouraging and motivating to get good feedback, and we certainly appreciate it. The above mentioned four Essex class carriers are complete, a long with several other ships of the US Navy, so its time to update the thread. Just ships by FOlewnik in this post. More aircraft are almost done but I haven’t put magnets in them yet (so not really done), so no aircraft pictures this post.

We’ll start with the two “odd men out” of the HBG sculpt Baltimore Class Heavy Cruisers. Why “odd men out”? Because in the below picture we have on the left, the USS Unnamed Baltimore Class Cruiser Wearing Measure 31a, Design 9C, and on the right is the USS Columbus (CA 74), which wasn’t commissioned until June 8, 1945. The cruiser with the long name is wearing a design that was never used, but was taken from a period design found at https://www.wikiwand.com/en/World_War_II_US_Navy_dazzle_camouflage_measures_31,_32_and_33:_cruisers. The USS Columbus is wearing a Measure 12 Modified designed by FOlewnik to match the pieces we’ll be using for the US Atlantic fleet. These will get aircraft added, but at the time of the photographs the decals on the wings of the aircraft were drying.
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Next up are some metal destroyers from GHQ. Below on the left, the very brave USS Johnston (DD-557) painted in MS-3_/6D as it looked when it was “Sunk by Japanese Warships off Samar October 25 1944,” and next to it is USS Van Valkenburgh (DD-656) painted in camouflage Measure 31, Design 9d. All Wartime photos taken from Navsource.org, a great resource for US Navy history buffs.
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Below, the real USS Johnston shortly before her final battle, and the official design sheet:
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A great wartime picture of the USS Van Valkenburgh, which is the same on both sides:
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Now on to these two. From GHQ, USS The Sullivans (DD-537) painted in Measure 1, and the HBG sculpt light cruiser USS Marblehead (CL-12) who always wore Measure 2 throughout the war. If I can get FOlewnik to put the Shamrock on the first stack of The Sullivans when he puts the scout aircraft on the Marblehead, as seen in the below wartime photograph, I’ll come back and edit the post.
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The post previous to this post showed four Essex Class sculpts from HBG getting prepped and started with a base coat. Those are now completed and I had too much fun playing with them and the aircraft (that are complete so far) while I was taking photographs. I’m pretty sure I didn’t make any wooshing sea or aircraft noises or FOlewnik would have laughed at me. I was tempted though, and here’s why:
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Above we have the first of the Long Hull Essex Class, USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) on the left looking as she did after her April 1945 refit from suffering a Kamikaze Attack on January 21, 1945, and USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) on the right. The Bunker Hill is wearing Measure 33, Design 6A, of which Navsource says, “Her port side camouflage pattern was the most intricate design applied to any carrier.” One glance can confirm that!
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The final two Essex Class carriers are the USS Essex (CV-9) herself, and the USS Bennington (CV-20). The Essex is wearing a unique pattern, Measure 32v6, Design 10D, adapted from a destroyer pattern specifically for the long hulled Essex. The Bennington is painted in Measure 32, Design 17A.
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Finally, some group pictures just for fun:
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Thank you for checking out the post! If you liked it, please click the little heart. I’m trying to figure out why our post is only rated with a 2 when it seems it should be a bit higher if the other likes are any indication.

The best approach I’ve seen was a friend who cut his factories in half with a hacksaw. Large factories are majors, while the smaller, halved factories are minors.

I’ve got mine painted three different colors. Bought a lot of 50 for a few dollars from a vendor at Nashcon in May 2016.

Before Nashcon, I used red Monopoly hotels for the major factories and the green hotels for minor factories. I still like to use the green ones every now and again because I think they’re nifty.

Regarding prices, here are some quotes that I got from two different Southern California print shops  (I had posted this also on the thread entitled Ambilzi & Grasshopper’s 1940 Global Map)

The first print shop provided the following estimates (note the $52 set up fee):

SET UP:  $52.05 ( digital color file set up, latex printer set up)

48" x 105" vinyl $142.63  print digital color 4/0 on white smooth vinyl (15oz)

48" x 105" canvas  $300.13  print digital color 4/0 on canvas

48" x 105" versa fabric  $273.88  print digital color 4/0 on versa fabric

53" x 116" vinyl  $174.63 print digital color 4/0 on white smooth vinyl (15oz)

53" x 116" canvas $368.13  print digital color 4/0 on canvas

53" x 116" versa fabric $335.88 please note: print cannot be any larger, printing on a 54" rolld

A second set of quotes from a different Southern California printing company for printing on vinyl (the type of material used for advertising banners):

48"x105" ,  white 64" Roland EcoSol Banner, solvent 6 color Roland 4sf  $230.80

53"x116",    white 64" Roland EcoSol Banner, solvent 6 color Roland 4sf  $258.78

56"x122.5",  white 64" Roland EcoSol Banner, solvent 6 color Roland 4sf  $277.42

(I might check on the AliBaba website to see what I can find for printing services in China.  Also, I’m checking on the possibility of printing on upholstery vinyl and marine vinyl).

jwo1984 and others,

––This thread shows the SHAPEWAY Capitals, Air, and Naval Bases that were designed by Ebard. Enjoy.

Tall Paul