Honolulu

[Bjn]

Why is Honolulu marked on the map if it isn’t a VC city……at least not according to the rule book? And what is the reason for some cities being marked with a square others with a roundel? Thanks

[CWO Marc]

Basically, all the cities indicated with a red dot or a red square are victory cities, but the ones with red squares are (more or less) also the national capitals of the player powers.  The Pacific 1940, Europe 1940 and Global 1940 sections of the rules specify which side needs to control which cities in order to win, and what special rules govern capitals and what’s considered a capital. The “national capitals of the player powers” concept is a little fuzzy, as illustrated for example by the red-dot cities Calcutta and Sydney.

[Bjn]

Ahhh thanks, I see the point of the squares and dots.
The VC status of Honolulu is a bit more peculiar to me. The city is not mentioned on page 6 of the rule book as a Victory city……

From page 6:

“On the map are twelve victory cities crucial to the war effort. As the game begins, each side controls six of these cities. The Allies begin the game controlling Washington, London, Leningrad, Moscow, Calcutta, and San Francisco. The Axis powers begin the game controlling Berlin, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Manila, and Tokyo. The standard victory condition is if your side controls nine (9) victory cities at the end of a complete round of play (after the completion of the U.S. turn), you win the war.”

[CWO Marc]

I can’t really address the game-design rationale for how these cities are handled (Krieghund might be in a better position to do so), but from a real-world perspective the seven cities marked with red squares correspond to the real-world capitals of seven of the game’s nine player powers:

Washington (United States)
London (United Kingdom)
Moscow (Soviet Union)
Paris (France)
Berlin (Germany)
Tokyo (Japan)
Rome (Italy)

The two player powers which are excluded from the red-square club are China and ANZAC.  In the case of China, the rulebook’s China Rules treat China as having no capital.  The reasons given (“China is not an industrialized nation and has a rural economy and decentralized government; as a result, China does not have a capital like other powers do.”) are arguable.  While it’s true that China at the time had a rural economy and was not industrialized, that in itself has no bearing on whether a nation has a capital or not; if that were true, you could argue that ancient Rome and, for that matter, every pre-industrial state in history (including the US in the 18th century) lacked a capital.  The part about China having a “decentralized government” is a more solid argument, but it oversimplifies the situation.  The Republic of China did in fact have a capital, Nanking, from 1927 to 1937, but China wasn’t entirely unified at the time; following the Japanese invasion in 1937, and the establishment of a collaborationist government in Nanking, the Nationalists set up a wartime capital in Chunking (which on the Pacific 1940 map very roughly corresponds to the black dot at the northern end of the Burma Road).

I don’t think the rulebook gives any rationale for ANZAC’s exclusion from the red-square club, but this actually makes sense because “ANZAC” is strictly speaking a two-country military entity, not a nation or a multi-national political entity like the European Union, and thus it doesn’t have a national capital.

[CWO Marc]

I just realized that your question is posted in the 1942 thread, but that I was assuming that you were referring to the 1940 game.  Sorry for the confusion.

[Bjn]

No worries, someone might have an answer to the question……thanks for pitching in anyway😊

[Panther]

@Bjn:

Why is Honolulu marked on the map if it isn�t a VC city……at least not according to the rule book? And what is the reason for some cities being marked with a square others with a roundel? Thanks

The official FAQ clarifies that Honolulu is a victory city

@official:

Page 6 - How the War Is Won: The listed victory conditions are incorrect. Honolulu is also a victory city.

[Bjn]

Fantastic👍 Thank you very much!