National objectives

Hi everyone,

I have been enjoying using these unique units for 1942 Second Edition Tournament Rules.

Russia:
Cavalry c3/a2/d1/m2, can Blitz. Max 5 on the board at any time.
Purpose: Allows Russia some more attack power. Sometimes it is really difficult to buy tanks with the USSR’s limited income but you need still need the ability to move 2. Since they defend at 1, they won’t make the final battle for Moscow any more difficult for Germany. This unit adds some interesting attack possibilities especially if Russia has a decent air force.
HBG has some pretty sweet cavalry sculpts and they have colors that match nicely with the OOB sculpts.

Germany:
Maus Tank c8/a3/d3/m2, 2HP, can Blitz. Max 5 on the board at any time. Can only be built after Round 4. Repairs for free if it starts its turn on a friendly IC.
Purpose: Gives Germany another hard hitting unit. This one is mostly for fun and I don’t think the stats are very overpowered since I’ve put a limit of 5 on the board at any time. I also wanted to give Germany a bonus since I gave Russia Cavalry.
HBG has a Maus tank sculpt I use. I think Germany only built like 4 of these tanks irl but they’re fun to have in the game. If you prefer you can call them heavy tanks and use a sculpt of a tank that was actually produced in earnest.

US:
Marines c3/a1/d2/m1. Attacks at 2 on amphibious assaults (not supportable by artillery on amphibious assaults) Max 5 on the board at any time.
Purpose: Represent the US Marine Corps and allow Island Hopping to be a bit easier for the US player.
I used HBG’s dark green Marines for these units.

To balance these units, I also play with the “Tokyo Express” rule which gives Japanese Destroyers the ability to transport 1 Infantry. I haven’t figured out a good UK bonus which would balance well with these small tweaks.

My group also really enjoys the “free factory” House Rule, which gives each player (besides Russia, we decided the Russian extra factory does nothing but help the Axis) a free IC before the game begins with the condition that it must be placed on a territory worth exactly 1 IPC. Typically, Germany puts theirs in Libya, UK chooses either Persia or Belgian Congo, Japan places theirs on Malaya, and the US chooses Sinkiang (sometimes West Indies if the US player is wary of Japan producing on the free factory). We enjoy this rule because it keeps Africa interesting for quite a while. Sometimes the US will get to place a fighter or two in China.

As another house rule, we often give each player one tech token at the start of the game as well. Russia is typically excluded because the Axis players in the group contend that a) Russia had a dearth of scientists at the time due to purges, and b) they would rather each side only get two tech tokens, and I tend to agree with them.

@GigaSmoot Hey, since no one has answered yet, I figured I could leave you some feedback… Although take it with a grain of salt, because I am not that experienced in Global 1940.

First, I really like the idea of simplified National Objectives! It is true that the basic Axis and Allies is already complicated and Global 1940 tops that.

However, I think the NOs favor the Axis too much in Europe. Germany will push the Soviets to Moscow and occupy so many allied-territories that it will drown in IPCs. Russis however wont get any additional income through NOs until Germany has already been pushed out of its territory. I think with your NOs, Germany will snowball pretty hard.

But again, I am not an expert in Global 1940, but that’s my first inpression.

Okay so I that title sounds kinda clickbait-y and I apologize for that. To get it said and done, no I don’t think France should be scrapped entirely replaced with Britain or something. I just think that as is, it needs way more to be an actual nation worth having a person play if you have a lot of people while still being balanced. So we all know that 99% of the time, France is gonna fall on the first turn to Germany. Maybe they pull some weird new mega brain ultra plan but that’s pretty unlikely. Paris falls, Germany gets cash money and the French are left playing the most minor and conservative support role known to man.
This really sucks for you when you first pick up the game and think maybe there’s gonna be some interesting new faction with special rules like China but instead you’re just a stepping stone. So here’s what I would suggest:

Instead of having just France it be France and a collection of the other minor allied powers in exile. So France, Dutch, Poland, etc. Change Congo to this new faction and place an infantry down there. Maybe one infantry in Indonesia and one in Indo China, an extra fighter in Britain, and maybe a Transport in either the Atlantic or Med.
But that still isn’t really much of an improvement for the player, so similarly to China I would say that the exiled Allies should get some special way of recruiting units. It’d be very small like at the end of every turn roll a die and if you roll a one you can place one infantry down in any territory of yours worth at least one IPC. While I do want to make it more interesting for the exiled Allies player, I don’t want to make them too powerful to significantly hurt the Axis. To counteract this maybe make a few territories they own worth an extra IPC? They won’t be making money once Paris falls and a few more IPCs I think would add up to a rough equivalence. Territories like Normandy, Indochina, Tunis, etc.

I’m not gonna pretend like I’ve actually tested this yet and I’m also fully admitting that I might be accidentally suggesting some horrible completely unbalanced idea that would throw it to the Allies. But this is just a little idea I thought up to try and help make things slightly more fun for the poor French player. Is this a good idea? Am I a big dumb-dumb? (Those are not mutually exclusive.) I really want to know your guys’ thoughts on this before I actually try it or anything I could do to change or fine tune it so please let me know!

Sub: (Classic) National Advantages - A new way to help balance Classic

Here is 7 of n for discussion of my Classic House Rules

Here are my optional rules for national advantages for the different national powers in the Milton Bradley edition of A&A. These rules are not completely developed and need more play testing. These rules are meant for two purposes - to add some flavor to the various powers and to give a boost to a less-experienced player. A veteran player can give a new player a boost by letting them pick a couple of these advantages before play begins.

I don’t recommend using National Advantages and Research in the same game as that can lead to some wonky results.

Soviet Union
Penal Battalions: Gives a +1 to defense rolls of Infantry, Paratrooper, and Trooper units in the second round of combat (not the first round, the second).

Treaty of Non-Aggression with Japan: If Japan attacks, it will have blood on its hands. If this happens, the Soviet Union will receive three infantry units, to be placed in Yakut, Soviet Far East, or the territory under attack if it is not one of the proceeding two, as the Soviet Union sees fit. The advantage Penal Battalions will not be usable against Japan on the first turn of defense against Japanese aggression. The treaty expires on the turn after Germany is conquered by the Allies. (To be paired with Japan’s “Treaty of Non-Aggression with the Soviet Union”.)

Germany
Panzers and Panzergrenadiers: The elite armored troops of the Wehrmacht - Panzers (Attack 4, Defend 3, Move 2, Cost 6); Panzergrenadiers (Attack 3, Defend 4, Move 2, Cost 6). Not more than a combined total of 5 Panzers and Panzergrenadiers may be active at one time. The German player may re-designate up to 3 Armor and up to 2 Troopers, of player’s choice, as Panzers and Panzergrenadiers before the start of play.

Stuka Dive Bombers: German Fighters are especially potent in the attack. For each attacking German Fighter that rolls a 1 for its attack roll, 2 enemy defenders are destroyed.

Wolf Packs: German Subs cost 6 IPC and whenever two or more are attacking in the same sea zone, they each attack on a +1.

United Kingdom
Commonwealth of Nations: UK may place purchased infantry units in the Commonwealth Nations (Eastern Canada, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand) without needing a factory to be built. One infantry placed per territory per turn, UK must have current ownership of the receiving territory, not more than three infantry total per turn. If a factory has already been built in the target territory, then the one infantry placed in that territory due to Commonwealth of Nations will not count against that territories normal placement limits.

RADAR: UK Anti-Aircraft fire defending the United Kingdom territory hits on a roll of a 1 or a 2.

Empire of Japan
Banzai Charge: Gives a +1 to Infantry, Paratrooper, or Trooper attacks for the first round of combat.

Long Lance Torpedoes: Gives a +1 to Cruiser and Submarine attacks for the first round of combat.

Treaty of Non-Aggression with the Soviet Union: If the Soviet Union attacks, it will have blood on its hands. If this happens, Japan will receive three infantry units, to be placed in Manchuria, Kwangtung, Japan, or the territory under attack if it is not one of the proceeding three, as Japan sees fit. The treaty expires on the turn after the last of the United Kingdom and the United States are conquered by the Axis. (To be paired with Soviet Union’s “Treaty of Non-Aggression with Japan”.)

Unites States of America
Legacy of Kitty Hawk: Gives a +1 to all regular combat rolls (attack and defense) by US air units, and a +2 per bomber to IPC damage inflicted by successful US Strategic Bombing raids.

Old China Hands: US may place purchased infantry units in Chinese territories (Sinkiang, China, Kwangtung, Manchuria, and Indo-China) without needing a factory to be built. One infantry placed per territory per turn, US must have current ownership of the receiving territory, not more than three infantry total per turn.

The original idea for these dates to from before A&A Revised produced its own version of National Advantages. The intent with these rules is not to rewrite the Milton Bradley edition of the rule book into the Avalon Hill edition of the rule book but to discuss a modern version of my rules from 2003. Some of these are similar to Avalon Hill’s ideas for National Advantages and some are quite different. If players prefer an admixture of the A&A Revised National Advantages and this list, there’s no reason why those National Advantages that are not similar to each other couldn’t be compiled into a larger list of National Advantages.

-Midnight_Reaper

OK I am going to give that one its own thread in house rules so it doesn’t get lost and forgotten.  Simple fix to a few issues.  Sorry I didn’t mean to hijack this thread, but it seemed to have already switched topic from the Murmansk NO

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=35771.0
I also added the phrase “on the Europe map” so Russia can’t get the NO for its cities by declaring war on Japan.

OK please go back to Murmansk

@NilOGrav:

Big thanks for Young Grasshopper,

Played this last weekend in combination with the Halifax rules (option 2, the greater Commonwealth). Fantastic. We have added a ton of luxury materials (NO-cards, scoreboards, country sheets, , IPCs, tokens, etc) to help speed things up and are looking for a year now how to create a one day game w/o losing the characteristics.

This completely answered our questions! Congratulations on a job well done.

chrz Eppo

Thanks for the comments NiIOGrav, glad to help… I honestly think these VOs are a no brainer for those that want to sum things up in a 10 hour day. I will be releasing my new game accessory card deck soon, keep an eye out for my next “essential customizations” video.

Cheers.

With the political exile option for the UK, our group has decided to give Germany a 10 IPC NO for control of London.

@Gargantua:

By adding the dutch capital… you add them to the GAME.

if amsterdam falls, we can put their(our, i am dutch) in either the DEI or suriname.