Global 1940- Income Increases

[AxisAndAllies1940]

The United States and the Soviet Union have to reach a certain level of income before they can declare war on the Axis. Income increases are caused by Axis actions.

The USA has a specific series of events that they can use to propel them towards war. They have to get to an income of 52 IPCs per turn before they can declare war. The USA starts with 12 IPCs per turn. These income increases are triggered by Axis aggression. Income increases are immediate (for example, if Germany captures London, the United States would immediately get the +20).

Japan builds a battleship, aircraft carrier, or cruiser: +3 IPCs per ship
Japan controls Szechwan: +3 IPCs
Axis invade any strict neutral: +5 IPCs per attack
Japan declares war on the Soviet Union: +7 IPCs
Japan captures French Indochina: +10 IPCs
European Axis declare war on the Soviet Union: +15 IPCs
Axis capture London: +20 IPCs
Japan controls New South Wales: +20 IPCs
Japan makes an unprovoked declaration of war on Britain: +25 IPCs
Axis control any North or South American territory (including Iceland and Greenland): +25 IPCs
Axis declare war on USA: Raise to 52 IPCs Income

When the USA reaches certain income levels per turn, they may do certain things:

20 IPCs: The USA may move naval units around the Pacific. They must still avoid sea zones adjacent to Japanese territories.
The USA may also move units between Pacific territories. They still must remain out of China and Japanese territories

30 IPCs: The USA may move naval units through the Panama Canal and into sz102. They may also move units into Greenland.

40 IPCs: The USA may lend-lease* to the Allies and research technology.

50 IPCs: The USA may move units into Iceland.

52 IPCs: The USA may declare war on all Axis powers and move units into China.

The Soviet Union has signed separate treaties with Germany and Japan. This places them in a unique position with regards to going to war. The Soviet Union starts with 8 IPCs, and has to get to 37. Like the USA, the Soviet Union�s income increases are triggered by Axis actions. In Europe, the Soviets receive income increases in the following situations.

Axis activate Bulgaria: +3 IPCs
Germany declares war on the United States: +3 IPCs
Japan declares war on Britain, France, or America: + 3 IPCs per declaration of war
Japan attacks Sikang, Tsinghai, or Kansu: +7 IPCs per territory
Axis activate Finland: +10 IPCs
Axis capture London: + 20 IPCs
Japan attacks any Mongolian territory: +15 IPCs per territory

If rearmament rolls push the Soviet Union to 37 IPCs, the Soviet Union may declare war on the European Axis or Japan without provocation. If the European Axis push the Soviet peacetime income to 37, then the Soviet Union may only declare war on the European Axis, not Japan. The same is true in vice versa. The other power must do one more of these actions before the Soviet Union can declare war on them. Income increases are immediate (for example, if Germany activated Bulgaria on the Non Combat Move phase of G1, the Soviet Union would immediately gain the 3 IPCs).

The Soviet Union, like the United States, has several income-determined actions:

25 IPCs: The Soviet Union may move the units in Amur, Buryatia, and Sakha into the Europe map

30 IPCs: The Soviet Union may activate Persia and Greece.

35 IPCs: The Soviet Union may invade Finland (even if it is Axis occupied), without declaring war on Germany.

IMPORTANT!!! These income increases are given immediately, once the trigger actions are taken. War can be declared as soon as your power’s income has reached wartime level (even on another power’s turn).

[AxisAndAllies1940]

I should probably give my personal Lend-Lease rule, but feel free to substitute your own! These rules can easily be combined with other house rules (for example, French Indochina becoming Vichy-controlled could trigger an American income increase).

The USA may move one unit per turn from Eastern or Central United States to London as long as it is possible to trace a path through:

A: sea zones 101, 102, 103, 104, and 109
B: sea zones 101, 102, 103, 104, and 110
C: sea zones 101, 106, 107, 108, and 109
D: sea zones 101, 106, 107, 108, 104, and 110
E: or sea zones 101, 106, 107, 108, 104, and 109
without encountering an Axis naval unit (other than a transport), and London is under Allied control.

Alternatively, the USA may move one unit per turn from Eastern or Central United States to Archangel, as long as it is possible to trace a path through:

A: sea zones 101, 106, 117, 123, 124, 125, 126, and 127
B: sea zones 101, 106, 117, 118, 119, 124, 125, 126, and 127
C: or sea zones 101, 106, 117, 118, 119, 111, 112, 125, 126, and 127
without encountering an Axis naval unit (other than a transport), as long as Archangel is under Allied control.

Along with one of these two options, the United States may send 1 unit from Western United States to Amur, as long as Japan is not at war with Russia. This is also possible if Japan is at war with Russia, but does not control Amur and does not have any naval units in sz5. The US may send lend-lease through this route even if Japan and the United States are at war.

[simon33]

Too complicated.

[AxisAndAllies1940]

How do you propose I simplify it?

[Ichabod]

@AxisAndAllies1940:

How do you propose I simplify it?

Play standard G40 and give the allies a bid. Simplified.

[AxisAndAllies1940]

@Ichabod:

@AxisAndAllies1940:

How do you propose I simplify it?

Play standard G40 and give the allies a bid. Simplified.

That’s not really the point of the rule.

[DessertFox599]

Adding a bid might be simple, but not really what hes looking for. I think alot of ppl who play axis and allies forget that board games rely on mechanics. Adding a new mechanic like lend lease always makes each version of axis and allies unique.  Player probably forget this because most of the mechanics in global are soo one sided (the political situations ) or useless ( convoys most of the time. Germany cant but us can). We also get caught in the strategy part too much too. Recently ive been playing the old europe and pacific games and i like them better than the current one and they had great mechanics convoys, allis send troops to russia then russia taking them, Japans vp, turn one attack, and so forth. Always try to innovate when you can. If you want lend lease use the europe one. Its great and works!

[Argothair]

As a concept, these income increases are really cool. I like the way you can model the US’s growing intolerance for Axis aggression, or Russia’s growing nervousness about Axis presence on their borders, and that the path to war isn’t all-or-nothing for the Allies. Many of the specific triggers (Japan building capital ships, Australia falling, Germany activating Finland and Bulgaria, etc.) are both realistic and original. I don’t think the concept is necessarily too complicated, because it’s aiming at something much bigger than just balancing the game – it’s trying to add some fun new dynamics around when and why powers go to war, and I like that.

That said, the current rules are very easy to exploit, and the system is complicated enough that it would be quite difficult to playtest a complete set of triggers to the point where they could be used reliably and safely. If you hand me the Axis with this setup, I will have the Soviet Union invade Szechuan (+3 IPCs) and Russia (+7 IPCs) while ignoring the western allies. Meanwhile, Germany will also invade Russia (+15 IPCs) while avoiding all other USA triggers. The USA permanently stays at 12 + 3 + 7 + 15 = 37 IPCs…not even enough for lend-lease, let alone a declaration of war. The USA will spend the entire game on the sidelines, building boats that aren’t even allowed to border Japanese territories, and there’s nothing the Allies can do about it. Moscow will inevitably fall as it gets triple-teamed by Germany, Italy, and Japan with no US support. The UK can declare war against Japan, but then Japan can switch to going after India / Singapore / Borneo, which is free of charge. You don’t really need capital ships to do that, because the UK Pacific navy is weak – you can get the job done with transports, a few destroyers to protect your transports, and your massive airforce.

Alternatively, you can keep the Soviets out of the war with a Sea Lion attack. If you’re doing a Sea Lion, Germany has no particular need for Finland or Bulgaria – Russia can’t attack them either until it declares war. Have Japan stay out of northwest China and Mongolia – with only 3 protected territories, China will be dropping 1 infantry a turn, and thus, not a significant threat once you airblitz the sole Flying Tigers unit. Japan declares war on Britain and America for +6 IPCs (ignore France), and Germany sacks London for +20 IPCs. That leaves Russia at 8 + 6 + 20 = 34 IPCs, i.e., not enough to declare war. With all the time in the world to mop up Africa, Persia, and India, Germany/Italy will be enormous. America alone can’t stop them without the threat of a Russian invasion, and, anyway, America will be somewhat busy with Japan.

You mention “rearmament rolls” in your original post, but you don’t say what rearmament rolls are or how they work, which makes me think that maybe you’ve got some larger set of house rules, and you’re clipping this section out of it to show us. If every country increases its income a bit each turn based on a die roll, even with no triggers, then that can help balance some of the above.

I still think you would need to clarify and reconsider the rule about the Soviet Union only being able to declare against one front or the other depending on where the triggers are coming from. Are you saying that they can only declare war against whoever triggered them most recently? Or just that there must be at least one trigger from a side before you can invade that side? If the latter, do you really mean it? Like, you really want to say that Russia can’t ever declare against Germany if Germany stays out of London, Finland, and Bulgaria and avoids declaring a war against the USA (why would Germany ever want to declare war against the USA?). That seems like it makes it too easy to protect Germany against a Russian invasion.

[AxisAndAllies1940]

Rearmament rolls are a ‘bonus’ at the end of every round, and are designed to represent a shift in the USA/USSR towards war. As an example, on the Collect Income phase of turn 3, the USSR has the basic 8 IPCs, plus 20 for Axis control of London, plus 7 for Japanese control of Kansu=35. After collecting this money, they have a rearmament roll on a d6, and they get a 4. They add 4 IPCs to their income for the turn, propelling them to 39. However, since peacetime income cannot exceed wartime income, they just have 37.They may declare war immediately.

As for the USSR’s triggers, they may only declare war on the Axis power* that caused the most recent trigger and propelled their income to 37.  They are still neutral with regards to the other power. As an example: Germany has taken London (+20, so the USSR is at 28), but avoided all other triggers. The USSR does their rearmament roll, and gets a 6, bringing them up to 34. The next turn, Japan attacks Sikang, bringing the USSR up to 43, but since peacetime income cannot exceed wartime income, the USSR has 37. Since Japan’s aggression pushed the USSR to 37, the USSR may declare war on Japan immediately. The USSR may declare war on the European Axis on the next turn.

@Argothair:

I still think you would need to clarify and reconsider the rule about the Soviet Union only being able to declare against one front or the other depending on where the triggers are coming from. Are you saying that they can only declare war against whoever triggered them most recently? Or just that there must be at least one trigger from a side before you can invade that side? If the latter, do you really mean it? Like, you really want to say that Russia can’t ever declare against Germany if Germany stays out of London, Finland, and Bulgaria and avoids declaring a war against the USA (why would Germany ever want to declare war against the USA?). That seems like it makes it too easy to protect Germany against a Russian invasion.

I agree. The USSR can’t just stand by and let the Allies fall because Mongolia and Finland stay neutral, or London will fall every turn. With no Eastern Front pressure, the Germans can build an Afrika Korps and take Cairo. Finally, the Germans can declare war on Russia and take Leningrad and Stalingrad. So how about this: so long as at least three trigger events have taken place on one map, they can declare war on that map on the Collect Income phase of turn 4. I haven’t yet play-tested this, but I’ll be able to over the weekend. This seems like it could work, because the USSR would still be wary of Axis aggression.

@Argothair:

If you hand me the Axis with this setup, I will have the Soviet Union invade Szechuan (+3 IPCs) and Russia (+7 IPCs) while ignoring the western allies. Meanwhile, Germany will also invade Russia (+15 IPCs) while avoiding all other USA triggers. The USA permanently stays at 12 + 3 + 7 + 15 = 37 IPCs…not even enough for lend-lease, let alone a declaration of war. The USA will spend the entire game on the sidelines, building boats that aren’t even allowed to border Japanese territories, and there’s nothing the Allies can do about it. Moscow will inevitably fall as it gets triple-teamed by Germany, Italy, and Japan with no US support. The UK can declare war against Japan, but then Japan can switch to going after India / Singapore / Borneo, which is free of charge. You don’t really need capital ships to do that, because the UK Pacific navy is weak – you can get the job done with transports, a few destroyers to protect your transports, and your massive airforce.

I think that extending the rearmament roll system to America could help. Again, perhaps if three or more triggers have taken place on one map, the USA may declare war on the Axis of that map on the Collect Income phase of turn 3.

*In this system, Germany and Italy are considered one power with regards to ‘triggers’. If Germany pushes the USA to 52, then the USA may declare war on both Germany and Italy.

[Hambone]

I like the concept. Maybe not so much if I’m the U.S. or Russian player unless there is some option or hope of getting in the war sooner.  But, varying their  entry into the war mixes up each game.