AARHE: Rule files

I have posted many ideas on house rules, some good, some not so. But, at a minimum, do this…

Setup: Add 1 GE CA in SZ26 - represents German presence in Indian Ocean. Setup: Add 1 GE AR in GEA - represents gun boats on Lake Tanganyika (can also add rule this unit cannot move). Setup: Change GE AR in SWA to IN. Setup: Add 1 GE IN in KAM. Setup: Add 1 FR IN in FEA. Setup: Add 1 GE SS in SZ18 - represents German presence in Mediterranean. Setup: Change 1 OE CA to TR in SZ20. Setup: Change 1 RU CA to SS in SZ21. Setup: Change UK TR to SS in SZ2. Switzerland is impassable. Mobilization territories: Following can mobilize max of 2 x IPC value, plus restrictions. Bombay: Min. build 1 unit; Cannot build ships or tanks. Munich: Infantry, artillery only. Ottawa: Min. build 1 unit; Cannot build warships. Tatarstan: Infantry, artillery only. Marseilles: No restrictions. Mines vs. Transports: Allow mine hits to absorbed by loss of a load.

Good point in the last paragraph, a turn does encompass multiple months and you would expect some sort of naval engagement if both forces were conducting active operations and not sitting in home port. Adding a dice roll to determine if a naval battle occurs adds too many variables for the moment. But I’d certainly like to add a retreating rule in my next home game. I think this would create a much more aggressive game if the risk of losing your entire fleet on one bad round of dice was limited.

Does anyone have any experience with this? How did you do it? What did you do with transports? etc.

Hey Folks,

has anyone of you ever tried HBG “Battle Shapes (3D)” rules (fortifications, rockets, etc.) in your 1940-Global games? (www. historicalboardgaming.com/Battle-Shapes-3D-printed_c_425.html)
If ‘yes’, what are you’re experiences with them? Are they a great imrpovement? Or to expensive, unbalanced or simply unrealistic?

Played our first game of 1914 tonight and had a blast. Afterwards, we brainstormed some additional house rules (because gamers, I suppose), and one stuck out. Before I say this, let me note this is a very casual crowd.

Rule: A neutral minor power when attacked by one faction or the other sides with the one that did not attack it. If it is able to repel the invasion, it becomes a fully functioning member of the alliance it joined. It has IPCs, builds units, deploys them, and attacks.

Cause: Almost no reason not to attack some of these nations. Defeat means nothing- the scale of units involved means a small handful of units lost is not a true blow. The potential IPC gain outweighs the risk in all but a few instances. By making neutral powers a bigger threat, hopefully players will only attack those they deem important to a war winning strategy and not just as random acts of violence for IPC gain. This can lead to silliness with Switzerland and the Nordic countries along with Spain among others.

Mechanics: New factions get 6/8 IPCs plus whatever IPC total is on their territories. From this point we had some disagreement:
1- They are a fully active faction with no restrictions.
2- They can only attack the faction that attacked them and their territories.
3- They can only counter attack into the territories that the attack against them was launched

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I posted this in the 1914 forum, then I saw the House Rules forum.  I believe that is the forum suited for the idea. I would message the mods to move this thread but their profiles indicate they’ve been gone for a while. I apologize for my faux paus.

@knp7765:

That is a good idea about limiting the Japanese Kamikaze use until they are kind of pounded down to a low income. The Kamikaze was a weapon born out of desperation after all.

Yes, and in addition to the pressure of Japan being in such a desperate situation, there was another related factor at play: the more the war progressed, the fewer top-notch pilots Japan had at its disposal.  Japan’s training philosophy prior to the war had produced an elite corps of pilots, which gave Japan an initial advantage but left it in a worsening position as the years went by and their casualties mounted.  The US Navy, by contrast, figured out that training large numbers of competent pilots was a better investment than training a small number of superb ones (especially since the US could produce enough aircraft to take advantage of its abundant pilot supply).  When Japan’s situation became dire enough in late 1944 for it to consider extraordinary measures such as kamikaze tactics, one element which worked in favour of the kamizaze concept was that it required very little pilot training: the pilots basically just had to learn how to take off, how to fly to their targets and how to go into a steep dive.  This kind of rudimentary flight instruction was the opposite of the elite-oriented training philosophy Japan had followed prior to the war, so it would make sense to have a rule saying that Japan can only make kamikaze attacks late in the game once Japan is on the ropes.  Maybe this could even be seen as a kind of tech – a capability which isn’t available at the start of the game, but which becomes available later when certain conditions are met.  With a normal tech, you need to invest money to gain the new capability; in this case, kamikaze attacks (a kind of reverse tech because it reflects a training downdgrade) would become available when Japan’s economic and strategic situation drops below a certain threshold.

"END TIME RULE: (See End Time Rule Handout) this is how game will end within the time constraints of the event.
"

Do you have any idea where to find this End Time Rule Handout?

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=10338.30

Remove heavy bombers technology and do the following

Replace Heavy Bomber tech with Atom Bomb /  One successful Strategic Bombing attack per turn destroys everything in enemy province.

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Additional Ally advantages

Superfortress / USA starts with bombers (B-29 superfortress) that move at 8 spaces and have an attack value of 5. (only 1 roll per bomber)

Marines / USA player can designate all Infantry units (beginning of the turn) in one amphibious assault as Marines. Attack at 1-2. (artillery does not increase attack value)

Home Guard / UK player Infantry on the United Kingdom territory defend at 1-3.

Industry Movement / Soviet player may move one of his Industrial Complex units each turn at a rate of 1 movement point. (cannot move and produce on the same turn)

USSR economic penalty / (ally disadvantage) Allied forces occupied in the USSR or occupying USSR Territories prevents USSR from collecting IPCs from these territories. The reasoning behind this is the cost of feeding and caring for the foreign forces and also the cost of countering the anti-Communist political propaganda that these forces would introduce to the Soviet populace.

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Additional Axis Advatages

Kamikaze / Japan player may move one Ftr per turn its full movement allowance and attacks at 1-4. Whether it survived the attack or not it is eliminated after the battle.

Panzerkorps / German player may designate one of his armour as SS Panzerkorps during each of his player-turns. May designate any Armour as SS at beginning of the turn. Attacks at 1-4 and defends at 1-5.

U-Boats / Germany builds these subs at 6 IPCs, but must be deployed in the Submarine Pens. Encourages Germany to expand its Navy

Submarine Pens / The territory of Germany has a built in Sub Pen. The Sub Pen works by giving shelter from air attack to Subs in the Baltic Sea Zone. New U-boats must be placed here.

Kiel Kanal / With this variant Germany can still move ships from the Baltic to the Atlantic to avoid the North Sea and UK waters. Must control Western Europe. Germany navy can avoid sea zone surrounding the UK. The Kanal counts as 1 movemnt space. And Axis must control Germany and Western Europe to use it.

Just like actual war, USA will be encourage to spend money to research A-Bomb tech and drop them over Japan with its superior bombers, or possibly Germany.