Delta Deck: cards for playing G40 Delta house rules

Hey Young Grasshopper,

Can you say a few words about why you’re writing these house rules, who they’re for, or what you hope to accomplish with them? Hard to offer comments in a vacuum.

Because there are no neutral victory cities in Anniversary, I’m not sure your VP system changes anything beyond just counting up each victory city as one point. Any time I take a city, that means you lost a city, and vice versa. Normally, when I take a city, I gain +1 VP and you lose -1 VP, so the total VP swing per city is 2 points. Under your system, when I take a city, I gain +2 VP and you lose -1 VP, so the total VP swing per city is 3 points.

That’s it – you’re changing the swing from 2 points to 3 points, but it’s not like you can conquer half a victory city, so it really doesn’t matter if the swing per victory city is 2 points or 3 points or 50 points. I’m pretty sure it all works out the same in the end. No? I imagine you’re trying to reward players for being aggressive/proactive, but I don’t think your rule actually accomplishes that.

Also, to echo Baron Munchhausen’s concern, I don’t like the idea of allowing intercepts against bombers that only deal 1d6 damage, because then it virtually never makes sense to launch a bombing raid. It really doesn’t pay to launch more than 2 bombers against the same factory (you wind up wasting some of their power because the damage gets maxed out, but you still risk losing them to flak). So if I can defend my home factory with 2 or more fighters (really not that hard) then there is no point in bombing anything – between the 2 pips on the fighter and the 1 pip on the AAA gun, you have almost a 50% chance of losing your bomber on each run. 50% chance of dealing 3.5 damage vs. 50% chance of losing a 12 IPC bomber is a terrible trade-off. Sure, you could escort your bomber with fighters – but nobody in Anniversary has that kind of air power to spare. If you can spare 4 planes for a mediocre bombing raid, you should be using them to take territories. Just my two cents. If you’re going to import the interceptor rules, I’d like to see some kind of buff to the bombers.

@Young:

@CWO:

I think Michelangelo (or some other famous artist) once said, “No work of art is ever finished – only abandoned.”

If I conceive a child, and than a second child a year later… did I abandon my first born?

8-)

If your first child is an art of work, then yes ……

Good points, General Veers.  Thanks for your insights.

You’re correct CWO marc, that was more or less exactly what I was suggesting.  :-D But its just a suggestion.

I find that a collaborative approach is generally stronger, than trying to strike off and develop a bunch of independent competing systems that are trying to achieve similar goals. House rules likewise are more fun when you get a couple houses trying the same thing to see how it plays out.  Forums communication is slow sometimes, since we have lives outside of A&A, but I’d trust YG to pull in the reigns, or excise the extraneous, if I’ve gone too far left field.

The main reason I think it’s cool to try and attach values to the standard deck, is that it’s very easy to tweak and test the advantages this way. So from a development standpoint, it is possible to test things right away before we plug in values and set the deck. Rather than drafting rules first and sending it out to the printers in China, only to find a week or two later, that it would be awesome to add something or tweak some aspect of it.

@Young:

Sorry for my absence here, I’m working on many different things at once.

My plan is to create a deck with 54 cards…

2 of each nation specific strategic advantage cards = 32 3 of each community specific strategic advantage cards = 15 1 of each nation specific progressive advantage cards = 7

If all this can be easily translated into a generic playing card deck, than all is good… However, my custom cards look much better than a regular deck.

Thanks for all the comments and interest in this idea, I will address all your post’s in detail soon.

Cheers.

Oh cool there’s the man! So with a 54 card deck planned that matches exactly a full deck including jokers! I expect also that the printers print with those numbers in mind for their boxing. This is a strong start because it means you’d have the same number of total fortunes cards as you have in a normal deck.

So picture this, to achieve a specific 1:1 card to card ratio, all you’d have to do is flag the joker… (You mark it with a felt pen on the face side.) Now you have 54 distinct cards, and you could match every card in your fortunes deck to a card in the flagged standard deck (both jokers in play.)

Now consider that all you would need at that point, to make the fortunes deck a standard deck (a deck that could function just like a real deck as well as a fortunes deck), is to include one small graphic in just one corner of the card!

It could be very small, and doesn’t need to be mirrored (not on two sides,  head and foot, just at one or the other.) Tiny as you like.

Envision a small K inside a Heart, or an A inside a spade, a 10 inside a diamond,  or a 2 inside a club. All small and tucked off to the lower right hand corner of the card.

These symbols would look badass anyway, like tiny war code designations!  :-D The sort of thing one might paint on the side of a bomber, or draft up in a patch. It could look cool and unassuming, but provide addition functionality, while retaining the overall aesthetic cohesiveness of a WW2 era Fortunes Deck. It could even provide a shorthand reference for the individual cards.

Manhattan Project = Suicide King, K inside the Diamond
Or things of that sort. For each card

You know like code hehe

It wouldn’t dominate the card aesthetically, it only needs to be large enough that it can be read by the player holding the card. This doesn’t seem like too tall an order, considering that this one minor addition of suit/number info, would expand the potential use of the deck considerably.

Think of all the things you could do with a standard deck of cards, one that had cool art and cool R&D bonus rules. It just seems fairly easy, so I thought I would make the case. Not only could you use it for R&D, but you could do R&D and anything else you can create with a full deck of playing cards. It just seems like an easy win on all counts.

And it would make testing the fortunes pretty easy.

There are only two conditions you need to meet for this to hold up in translation.

First: Uniform backs
If the backs of the cards in the fortune deck are not uniform,  then the fortunes deck could not function as a normal deck (even if they all have suits/numbers). However, a normal deck could still have the fortunes values translated onto it in that case. Going one direction fortunes translates to standard (but not the other way round unless the backs are uniform.)

Second: Each card is distinct.
No two cards in the fortunes deck are exactly alike. (Unless you want just 2, in which case you could use unflagged jokers.) This would make translation pretty simple. We could start playing with it tonight if wanted :)
Again you could translate one direction, but not the other unless all cards are distinct.

Anyhow, these are just suggestions, but I think it could be cool. I like the first edition Delta deck a lot. I’d play black jack with it or crazy 8s or poker, if I could!

G40 DELTA HOUSE RULES (2nd Edition)

The Research and Development phase from the regular A&A G40 2nd Edition rules has now been removed and replaced by the Fortunes of War phase. This new phase and other new elements listed below work together to create G40 Delta:

1. The “Fortunes of War phase” is when most of the new activity happens.
2. “Strategic Advantages” give nations special abilities that improve their overall war effort.
3. “Progressive Advantages” are additional abilities that must be earned over the course of a game.
4. “Strategic Objectives” are either new or modified National objectives.
5. “City Objectives” are bonus rewards in addition to the Strategic Objectives
6, “Optional Rules” are a mix of rule modifications to help balance the game on different levels.

THE FORTUNES OF WAR PHASE

The “Fortunes of War” phase (FOW), happens once each game round just before Germany’s turn sequence. During each FOW phase, nations choose strategic advantages and make progress rolls for progressive advantages.

STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES

During each FOW phase up to R10, a predetermined nation will automatically gain a “Strategic Advantage”, but may only choose from the 2 advantages available at that time. Strategic advantages become effective immediately once chosen, and nations will benefit from their advantages for the remainder of the game. However, once an advantage has been passed, it will never again become available.

For example: during R1, every nation except China will choose between Airborne Assault Troops and War Time Production, also, eligible nations will make their first progress roll. During R2 FOW phase , only Germany may choose between Enigma and Blitzkrieg, however, eligible nations will make their second progress roll… and so forth.

Some advantages become void when that nation losses their capital city. Advantages that become lost due to their capital being captured are noted in the advantage description, and they become reinstated once the capital city is liberated, all other advantages remain unaffected when the capital is in enemy hands.

Here are the available strategic advantages, and the game rounds (R#) they are eligible to be chosen in:

R1 - Germany / UK / Russia / Japan / USA / Italy / ANZAC / France

1A - Airborne Assault Troops
Up to 2 infantry units from a friendly operational airbase may attack an enemy territory up to 3 spaces away, provided that territory is also being attacked by land units coming from an adjacent territory, or sea zone.

Airborne Assault troops may not retreat once deployed, or be supported by artillery units during the resolve combat phase. The territory under attack must contain at least 1 enemy land unit, and the attacking force must have air superiority (meaning they must have equal to, or more air units attacking than the enemy has defending).

or

1B - War Time Production (void with loss of capital city)
Major ICs may now produce a maximum of 12 units, and minor ICs may now produce a maximum of 4. The maximum damage that can be applied to these facilities has not changed, however, ICs must be fully operational (zero damage) in order to produce the extra unit/s.

R2 - Germany

2A - Enigma
German submarine units now attack at 3 or less, and receive 3 dice each when disrupting convoys.

or

2B - Blitzkrieg
Each German mechanized infantry unit may now blitz alone, and transport an artillery unit up to 2 spaces during their combat movement, or non-combat movement phase.

R3 - United Kingdom

3A - Radar (void with the loss of capital city)
All British interceptors, AA artillery units, and built in AA guns now defend @2 or less. Also, operational airbases may now scramble up to 4 fighters to defend adjacent sea zones.

or

3B - Commonwealth Aid
All units (except infantry) produced by original minor ICs in Canada, and South Africa are now 1 IPC cheaper.

R4 - United States

4A - War Bonds Campaign (void with loss of capital city)
America now rolls 2 dice every round during their collect income phase, and may collect that amount in additional IPCs +1.

or

4B - Uncle Sam Campaign (void with loss of capital city)
America now receives 3 free infantry units every turn during their place new units phase (1 in Eastern United States, 1 in Central United States, and 1 in Western United States).

R5 - Japan

5A - Long Lance Torpedos
All hits from attacking Japanese destroyers must be applied to enemy capital ships first.

or

5B - Tokyo Express
Japanese destroyers may transport one infantry unit each provided they are offloaded on to Japanese controlled Islands. Also, all Japanese infantry units on Islands now defend @3 or less.

R6 - Soviet Union

6A - Tankograd
All Russian ICs now have a non-combat movement value of 1, and may now produce tanks for 1 IPC less.

Russian ICs that have made a non combat movement may still build units during their place new units phase. Also, Russian ICs must be fully operational in order to move, and two ICs may never occupy one territory at the same time.

or

6B - Trans-Siberian Railway (void with loss of capital city)
Any number of Russian infantry units, artillery units, and/or AA artillery units may now move from Russia to Novosibirsk, Timguska, Yenisey, or Yakut S.S.R within a single non-combat movement, provided the line to their destination is not broken, the destination is under Russian control, and the movement originated from Moscow.

R7 - United States

7A - Super Fortresses
When American strategic bombers attack (weather in a battle or SBR), they now receive 2 dice each and the attacker may select the best result. Also, American strategic bombers now hit at 2 or less when defending against interceptors, and are now immune to built in AA guns during SBRs.

or

7B - Essex Class Carriers
All American aircraft carriers now have an attack value @2, and their maximum capacity has now increased to 3 air units.

R8 - Germany

8A - Dora
Germany may bombard an enemy territory or hostile sea zone during each combat round @3 or less, provided the battle contains at least 1 German unit, and is adjacent to a German controlled territory in Europe.

or

8B - V-Rockets
Germany may launch a rocket attack from each operational airbase under German control, towards an enemy facility up to 4 spaces away. Germany rolls 1 die per rocket causing that amount of damage to the targeted facility +1, provided it can survive all SBR defences (interceptors and built in AA guns).

R9 - Japan

9A - Banzai Attack
For the 1st combat round only, all Japanese Infantry units attack @2 or less, and @3 or less when supported by artillery (mechanized infantry units non applicable).

or

9B - Super Submarines
Japanese Submarines perform as normal, however, they may now carry 1 fighter each (all aircraft carrier rules apply, however, tactical bombers may not be used, and super submarines do not block enemy naval movements).

R10 - Germany / UK / Russia / Japan / USA / Italy / ANZAC / France

10A - Long Range Aircraft
The movement value of all air units has now increased by 1.

or

10B - Modernized Shipyards (void with loss of capital city)
Sea units are now cheaper to build:

Battleship = $17
Aircraft Carrier = $13
Cruiser = $9
Destroyer = $7
Transport = $6
Submarine = $5

PROGRESSIVE ADVANTAGES

During each Fortunes of War Phase, all eligible nations will make a progress roll using 1 die. Each nation will add the results from their progress rolls during each FOW phase throughout the game until they reach a total of 25 progress points. Once a nation has accumulated 25 progress points, their designated “Progressive Advantage” will immediately become available (or effective).

To track this progress, players shall place their progressive advantage card face up on the table, and than stack chips on it in the amount of progress points achieved throughout the game rounds. Nations may not make progressive rolls during FOW phases in which their capital is under enemy control.

The progressive advantages “Russian Winter”, “Manhattan Project”, “Flying Tigers” and “Kamikaze Honor” are advantages that have a special one time effect, therefore, they will become effective again if the Soviet Union, United States, China, and Japan can reach 25 progress points a second time (progress points gained from one roll exceeding 25 will carry over and count towards the next 25).

Here are the Progressive Advantages available, and the eligible nations assigned to them:

Germany

Jet Fighters
All German fighters now attack at 4 or less, they also intercept and escort @2 or less.

Soviet Union

Russian Winter
Russia rolls 2 dice, and Germany must remove from original Russian territories that many infantry units +1.

Japan

Kamikaze Honor
All Kamikaze tokens are reloaded to 6, and now hit @3 or less. Also, Japan may now use kamikazes to attack in designated kamikaze sea zones as well as defend.

United States

Manhattan Project
America chooses an enemy capital and may then roll 3 dice to damage the IC, 2 dice to remove IPCs, and 1 dice to destroy units on that territory (enemy chooses which casualties to remove).

China

Flying Tigers
China will receive one free fighter during their next place new units phase, but only if they control at least 1 of their original territories.

United Kingdom

Around the Clock Bombing
All British strategic bombers departing from an operational airbase may now conduct SBRs on America’s turn as well as their own.

Italy

Self-Propelled Guns
Each Italian artillery unit may now support up to 2 attacking infantry and/or Mechanized infantry units

France

Viva La France (control of Paris is not required to gain this advantage)
During each place new units phase, France may build 2 free infantry units on any original French territory or territories they still control, or original French territory or territories occupied by their Allies.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

Strategic Objectives are a modification, or a replacement of the original national objectives in the regular rules. Strategic objectives rewarding nations for owning all their original territories, are specific to the roundels printed on each territory. Also, the Japan strategic objective “Trade With America” is the only objective that is collected during a nation’s peace time.

Germany

Deutschland
$5 - Germany controls all their original territories

Caucasus Oil Fields
$5 - An Axis power controls Caucasus

Africa Korps
$5 - Germany has 3 or more land units in Africa.

Soviet Union (When at war with Germany)

Motherland
$5 - Russia controls all their original territories

Lend Lease Act
$5 - The Allied powers control Archangel and there are no axis warships is sea zone #125

Communist Pride
$5 - There are no Allied units on original Russian territories

United States

The Far North
$5 - US controls Alaska and the Aleutian Islands

North America
$5 - US controls Western United States, Central United States, and Eastern United States

Central America
$5 - US controls Mexico, Southeast Mexico, Central America, and West Indies

The Outer Perimeter
$5 - US controls Midway, Wake Island, Hawaiian Islands, Johnston Island, and Line Island

The South Pacific
$5 - The Allied powers control The Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes

Japan

Trade With USA
$5 - Japan has not attacked FIC, and is not at war with the Pacific Allies

Chinese Capitulation
$5 - Japan controls all Chinese original territories

The South Pacific
$5 - Japan controls the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes

China

Chinese Domination
$5 - China controls all their original territories
(China may now attack Korea, and may also liberate FIC)

The Burma Road
$5 - The Allied powers control the Burma road
(China may now produce artillery units and tanks)

United Kingdom

British Empire
$5 - The United Kingdom controls London, Calcutta, Quebec, and South Africa

The Burma Road
$5 - The Allied powers control the Burma road

Operation Ultra
$5 - There are no Axis submarine units in the Atlantic

Italy

The Mediterranean Coast
$5 - The Axis powers control 3 of the 4 following territories, Gibraltar, Southern France, Greece, and/or Egypt

The Mediterranean Sea
$5 - There are no Allied warships in the Mediterranean

The Middle East
$5 - Italy controls Iraq, northwest Persia, and Persia

North Africa
$5 - The Axis powers control 6 of the 7 following territiries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Tobruk, Alexandria, and/or Egypt

ANZAC

Pacific Gateway
$5 - ANZAC controls all their original territories

The South Pacific
$5 - The Allied powers control the Philippines, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes

Expeditionary Force
$5 - The Allied powers control Malaya, and Egypt

CITY OBJECTIVES

A city is considered active once it has been captured for the first time, and will remain active for the rest of the game no matter which nation controls it. Once activated, capital cities are each worth a $5 city objective bonus, and non-capital cities are each worth a $2 city objective bonus. Shanghai is the only city that begins the game active, which will give Japan a city objective bonus of $2 to start the game. Capital cities, and non-capital cities that have never been captured at least once, are inactive and have zero city objective value.

Axis Capital Cities

Berlin
Rome
Tokyo

Axis Non-Capital Cities

Warsaw

Allied Capital Cities

Washington
London
Paris
Moscow
Sydney

Allied Non-Capital Cities

Ottawa
Cairo
Leningrad
Stalingrad
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Calcutta
Manila
Honolulu
San Francisco

OPTIONAL RULES

Base Command
Strategic Bombers conducting SBRs only receive a +2 damage bonus if they have departed from an operational airbase.

Deep Decent
Air units may fire upon submarines during the 1st combat round only. Attacking or defending warships may continue to target enemy submarines, however, submarines may not be used as casualties from hits by air units after round 1.

Limited Action
Damaged battleships may no longer bombard during an amphibious assault.

BCATP “The Plan”
A British fighter has been added to the initial set up in Ontario.

War Economy
The British economy is no longer split between London and Calcutta, instead, the United Kingdom will now collect one income for all territories owned on the map with London as it’s capital. All IPCs must be relinquished each time an enemy power captures London, however, Calcutta is no longer a capital city, and the major IC on India has been downgraded to a minor. This optional rule is highly suggested due to the strategic objective card “British Empire”.

Political Sovereignty
A change in the neutrality status of Strict Neutral territories in South America has no influence over Strict Neutral territories anywhere else, and vise versa.

Global Victory
The following victory condition has been added to the regular rules: The first side to claim a combined 12 victory cities including 1 enemy capital city will win the game.

Mutual Allies
In the event of a 6 player game, the Soviet Union will play China, the United States will play ANZAC, and the United Kingdom will play France.

What about giving it the ability to fire first in battle, defender removes casualties, then normal combat begins. Or what about being able to fire from adjacent territory. Also can it be used as AA and land combat at the same time or do you have to designate in defense.

But doing that does not model the capabilities of these units. The game OOB permits the preemptive firing because it is against just air units that are flying over to attack. It is marginally acceptable to allow this, but realistically these are just basic artillery.

Since they were made as a new unit it stands to bring it fully into the fold as a normal combat unit.

To allow preemptive fire every round is too strong for a 5 IPC unit IMO.

Plus this unit needs to be 3-2-5 as the other units took the other values, so the value of a 5 IPC unit must balance out and preemptive is worth more.

no fractions. make it easy.

Naw its a small point… let it stay how it is… I guess its a balance issue vs. Historical thing and a minor one at that.