Global 1943 Expansion, Revised

Re: https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/37319/canada-s-distinct-ownership-icons

We did create Canada as a distinct power and the extra ally does create imbalance- we took the money from UK so they are slow to do much. But my son was geeked up to order some UK troops and paint them cherry red.
We haven’t quite found a counter balance for the axis. Maybe we shall try Vichy France.
I lose more than win but my kid knows his ww2 history and world geography pretty well, so…

@mkgionet Hey all, I’ve been super busy and don’t really have time to do a full game report, but here’s a quick synopsis of what transpired during Day 2 of continuing this modified Europe game.

Germany kept troops in place along the north and east coasts, fully expecting D-Day to come, but it never happened. Instead, the UK focused mostly om North Africa and USA focused on East Africa, Spain, and to a lesser extent Gibralter. Germany harassed the UK/USA navy in the English Channel to interfere with landing boats and bombardment for any amphibious assault that may take place. Troops marched relentlessly toward Moscow with heavy casualties on both sides. By the end of Day 2 Germany is sitting with a large force 2 territories away from the Russian capital with amassed Finnish troops ready to swoop in behind them. Russia has lost a lot of territory, but has a sizeable air force so it will take constant pressure for the Axis to keep advancing.

The UK & Italy built massive navies in the western med., with the UK and USA briefly taking Greece before Germany recaptured. On the last turn of the day Italy took a gamble and attacked the UK navy, earning a major victory. The UK has significant ground troops in Africa, but thier navy has been wiped out.

Gibralter has gone back and forth between sides, but neither side kept enough troops there to hold it for a full turn. Germany currently holds it, but fully expects to lose it shortly. Spain is divided with one half housing a large amount of Allied troops, and the other a large amount of Axis - big battle coming!

USA has a massive fleet sitting off Africa just waiting to get in the Med. Massive force in Western Africa that keeps advancing. Only thing Axis can do is slow them down. Another massive force on its way from Brazil. An Atom bomb has been built and is sitting in Greenland. Where will the Allies choose to drop it next turn?

France has helped with Africa and Spain as they are able. Romania has pushed Russia back slightly on the southern front, but doesn’t have the firepower to take important territories.

Will the USA & UK be able to put pressure on Germany before Moscow falls? We should find out on Day 3 - 8/30

… Back to the European half of the G40 board…

Another intriguing possibility arising out of a significant Axis presence in South America is a pathway to an option for German Government in Exile in… you guessed it: Argentina.

@magnum I’m not yet convinced that letting them pick what they want, and potentially the same thing, is a problem. If anything, this will give them the opportunity to try out different strategies, involving research, and see how they work.

@Black_Elk:

I think we’d probably only need to go down to 12 ipcs for the cost of the factory to make it a viable purchase option in a place like Africa. Or if there was a 2 ipc space in Australia, a factory there might be feasible if they only cost 12. At 15 the only players that have much use for them are Japan and the USA.

For a while now, I have definitely been in favor treating IPC values more like “abstract game points” than actual industrial production, so I really don’t have an issue with concepts like increasing or decreasing the value of specific territories, if this serves the gameplay.

In the post above I tried to confine my suggestion to the one area of the gamemap that has been a consistent disappointment for me and that is the valueless Pacific. I know there are people who believe that these territories can be made “valuable” in other ways, but I just don’t see it. Until they have a value of 1 ipc, I think they will be ignored. USA has no strong incentive to take them, and Japan has no strong incentive to hold onto them. Just making them worth 1 would make all the difference.
That would put 6 ipcs into contention, in areas that the USA can reach early on, so the first 4 rounds of the game aren’t so boring to play as USA.

I picked the 5 Japanese territories that I feel should have a value of 1, due to their historical significance in the war. And Midway too, because it’s Midway! That’s 6 territories that are currently worthless, which would be brought into play. The island of Formosa is less important to me.

If I had my way, every territory on the map would have a minimum value of 1, but I would be happy enough if the main Pacific islands that were contested during the war had a value of 1. Basically I was trying to find a simple way to keep the game at a similar economic scale, but with a more compelling Pacific distribution.

I tend to agree with wittmann, USA feels pretty cash strapped compared with Japan. I think there are two ways you could approach it, either more total IPCs or more starting ground units in North America (so you don’t have to buy them.) I think either approach to balance might work.

I would like to see Hawaii at 2 as well, just to give the territory more potential significance as a factory location, or as a target/springboard for Japan against North America. I’m not looking for huge changes to the map, I think we could accomplish a lot just in the range of +1 or -1 ipc in a few specific places :)

If you add 3 IPCs to USA, rising the starting money to 45 IPCs, maybe you can give 31 IPCs to Japan. How?

+1 IPC to Hawaii, Midway and Alaska while keeping Central US at 6 IPCs.
(less change on the original board, simpler to make the calculations).
Now, Formosa can rise to 1 IPC. (All “No IPC” Islands have a worth of 1 IPC.) Simpler to calculate.

If you think USA need another 1 IPC (46 IPCs) gives 1 to Greenland. And all 0 IPC islands will have their value.

And where is the escort carrier. The escort and the heavy cruiser?
I also had merchant marine and german raiders in my game….german player love that boat!

once you got the rules worked out, it will fly really fast. you still have lots of questions so well address them here and get you going. Tekkyy will make clarifications when issues warrant them.