This is a comprehensive list of suggested changes to the mapboard. Some are on historical grounds, some are aimed at balancing the game, but all have a purpose.
The attached map illustrates all these changes, this doesn’t mean that they are all intended to be made together.
In no particular order:
1. Make Munich a Production Centre. This is mainly to give Germany a chance to reinforce the western front, but can also aid an ailing Austria to the South.
2. Give Germany and Livonia a border, i.e. restore East Prussia. Note that it does bring Petrograd closer to Berlin, but then the sea route is closer anyway.
3. Make Petrograd a Production Centre and initial Russian Capital. Since Moscow remains a PC, the correct capital can now be used; Russia can move the capital to Moscow once in a game. Separate Petrograd from Karelia; they now each have a NB.
4. Add the Pripet marsh as an impassable tt. It existed in 1914, armies had to go around it or drown.
5. Add an extra SZ in the Arctic. The British fleet being able to sail from SZ 9 to 6 in one turn is too powerful; it can effectively reinforce two fronts at once. It can drop of new units in Picardy one turn, then Karelia the next. How long does it take Germany to move units between these two tts? Having to spend a turn at sea between gives the U-Boats a chance to attack the Russian supply route.
6. Take away Finland’s fictional (in 1914) Arctic coastline. This creates a small Norway-Karelia border which could be an imbalance; a “4 corners” solution is an acceptable compromise.
7. Change the SZ 8/9 border to meet at the border of Brest/Picardy. I don’t like Canadian arrivees disembarking straight into Picardy; they should have to report for training at Brest first.
8. Make Switzerland worth 4 IPCs. This country should be hard to invade, certainly as difficult as Norway! I imagine the designers thought that the western front needed to be extended south, but allowing Switzerland to be so easily taken changes the very nature of that theatre.
9. Give Rome an Adriatic Coastline. That Tuscany-Naples border looks silly, and it all makes Rome very cramped when there are 14 stacks of units contesting it. Do you really think Austria is going to take Rome from the sea? Also make Rome worth 6 IPCs like other capitals (should be combined with it losing Albania as an ally).
10. Extend SZ 18 further south. Gives the Austrian navy some breathing space, and makes Albania less of a back door for the Allies into the Balkans.
11. Make Albania a 1 IPC non-aligned neutral. There is no evidence of Italian military influence here in 1914. Even 1 IPC is generous, I’d be tempted to make it 0 with a defence of just 1 infantry.
12. Restore Bulgaria’s Aegean coastline. Because it was there. But it makes Greece a viable target for the Allies wanting to grab a toehold in the Balkans; if it borders Constantinople its too hot to hold.
13. Make the Arabian desert (Nejd) impassable; the British should have to go around it.
14. Rearrange Arabia around the desert, with Syria moving south and TJ becoming Hejaz.
15. Add Armenia to the Turkish provinces, essentially the northern half of Mesopotamia.
16. To balance (15) create a Caucasus tt from eastern Sevastopol.
17. Print minefields & USW zones on the map.
18. Restore the Caprivi strip to South West Africa (historical).
19. Get rid of the useless production chart in the Sahara; replace with a turn record track.
20. Add Mexico (German ally).
21. Add a SZ, essentially the Aegean Sea, with a Turkish NB at Smyrna and mines. Constantinople now controls passage through the two SZs surrounding it.
22. SZ 18/19 border cleared up meeting the Libya/Egypt line.
23. Add Tsaritsyn as Russian southern production centre; (the three RPCs are the centres of Bolshevism under my RR rules). A slight readjustment of Russian IPCs.
24. Rationalize SZs 8 & 9 so that they completely surround the British Isles.
25. Controversial one - get rid of Lorraine. Moves Paris nearer to where it should be. Once less French tt, so redistribute IPCs.
26. Rationalize SZ 20 to cover the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
27. Create new SZ 17b; a neutral sea zone between Italy and Austria; should make this naval confrontation more dynamic.
28. Divide SZ 16 north/south, again more room for maneuver in the Med. France and Italy cannot just “bridge” units across the Med. Get rid of Balearic Islands tt (what is it good for?) Now only European and American coastlines have mines.
29. Give Morocco correct borders.
30. Extend the Sahara to the Atlantic. Many more African tts could be added, left these out here.
31. Add the Persian Gulf (1b) for Germany to do the “Mexican Run”.
32. Askari recruitment markers (for my suggested native infantry).
33. Add Urals region to Russia (this is more than a little with The Russian Civil War in mind).
34. Eritrea added to cut off Ethiopia’s fictional coastline.
35. Denmark. Yes, Denmark. The border is in the wrong place, but I can’t yet decide how it should be done.
36. Depending on changes to the USW rule, add more such zones.
37 Add Don tt to Russia.
I’ve not changed any tt names here, though I find the random mix of regional and city names incongruous.
