Hey, I’m trying to create some house rules for me and my play group to use. Currently I’m trying to create a little rule book regarding these house rules for reference sake. Unfortunately I don’t believe some of them are balanced and not worded very well, or has completely missed something that makes that rule not work in the way that it was intended. Anyway, read along and advise me.
Simple rule changes:
Adding rail-road movement
Adding physical convoys
Turning Germany into the monster it should be
Adding dynamics to neutral powers
Colonial mobilisation
Adding ‘docked’ navy
Separating India
Complicated rules/changes:
Adding Zeppelins, Bombers, battle trains, armoured cars, torpedo boats, destroyers
Adding Australia and Japan
Adding dynamics to Italy
Adding dynamics to U.S.A
Adding national unity/moral/surrendering
Adding a research tree
Adding ammunition
Adding Manpower limits/war exhaustion
Some rule changes due to the house rules/setup changes
You can play with any or all of these rules if you choose to do so.
Simple rules:
These rules require little keeping track of, and generally don’t require not nearly as much understanding with Axis and allies as the complicated rules do
Adding rail-road movement:
Every country now has a railroad capacity, listed below
Britain: 3
Germany: 3
Austria-Hungary: 2
Ottoman Empire: 1
Italy: 1
France: 1
Russian empire: 1
U.S.A: 0
During a nations turn, it may move a unit three spaces. Units that are moved two or more spaces are considered to be units that have ‘railed in’. It costs 1 ‘railroad capacity’ to ‘rail in’ units. Railed in units cannot rail into enemy territory, but CAN be railed into contested territory, however they attack at 0 for the remainder of the turn. Units that use railroads must start in, move through, and end their turns in territories that are considered to have railroads.
During the collect income phase, nations ‘collect’ railroad capacity until they reach their maximum limit. EG: Germany has 3 railroad capacities, uses 2 during his turn, therefore, he regains 2 during his collect income, and therefore players cannot build up rail road capacity.
ALL regional territories and capitals are considered to have railroads. Following territories are also considered to have railroads:
Spain
Portugal
Serbia
Bulgaria
Albania
Romania
Greece
Holland
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Egypt
EXAMPLE:
Its Germanys turn and the German player’s wishes to attack Poland which is currently housed with 9 Infantry and 4 Artillery
Germany moves 6 Infantry and 3 Artillery from Prussia into Poland, and moves 6 Infantry and 3 artillery from Silesia in to Poland.
The German player now decides to move 3 Infantry from Berlin into Poland paying 3 railroad capacities in the process. Germany would be unable to do this if any of those territories were not considered railroad territories.
Now combat, all of Germany and Russia’s units participate; HOWEVER, the German units that were railroad in are considered to have an attack of 0 (they may still be chosen as casualties, however)
NOTE: units draw upon rail-road capacity belonging to the nation corresponding to the FRIENDLY owner of that territory. EG if Germany was to move units that are in Austrian-Hungarian territory, then the German player would use Austrian-Hungarian Railroad Capacity.
A nation may purchase additional MAXIMUM railroad capacity at the start of its turn during the purchase unit’s phase. Thus they collect rail road capacity until they reach their new maximum. ONLY 1 RAILROAD CAPACITY MAY BE BOUGHT PER TURN.
Every time a railroad capacity is bought, its price increases as follows
0 railroad capacity 1 railroad capacity: 8IPCs
1 2: 16IPCs
2 3: 29IPCs
3 4: 40IPCs
5 6: 50IPCs
6 7: 60IPCs
After that it’s +10 IPCs per new railroad capacity.
EG: Germany starts the turn with 3 max rail road capacity, he decides he is going to build another and therefore pays 40 IPCs, now his maximum is 4. During his collect income he would collect railroad capacity until he has 4.
Adding physical convoys:
Transport ships are no longer transport ships, instead they are considered to be convoys. Convoys will ‘appear’ on the board in certain places for certain nation to represent their colonial possessions support. Here’s a reference chart
Britain:
Convoy in sea zone 2, every second turn, with 2 counters, (Canada)
Convoy in sea zone 25, every third turn, with 1 counter (African possessions)
Convoy in sea zone 29, every third turn, with 4 counters (Australia/India)
France:
Convoy in sea zone 24, every second turn, with 2 counters (African possessions)
Germany:
Convoy in sea zone 26, every third turn, with 1 counter (African possessions)
Italy:
Convoy in sea zone 27, every third turn, with 1 counter (Somaliland)
Explanation:
Convoy in X tells you where to put the convoy. Every X turns means that’s when the transport gets placed. With X counters, counters mean how many counters you put under the transport, these counters more or less mean how many convoy ships that spawn there (+1 for the transport figure as well). And the (territory names) means which territories you must control in order for that convoy to be built. E.g. If Britain lost control of Gold coast, Nigeria, Union of South Africa, Rhodesia, British East Africa, Anglo Egyptian Sudan, AND Egypt, then no British convoys would appear in sea zone 25.
What do convoy ships do?
Convoy ships move 1 space per turn, attack and defend at a 0, and give nations IPCs. During a players collect income stage, a player can remove from the board any convoy belonging to him in a sea zone adjacent naval base and collect 2 IPCs for every convoy removed (and another 2 for every token).
EG, during Britain’s collect income stage, he collects 30 IPCs normally from the total IPC value of his territories, but he also has a convoy unit with three light blue counters under it. This means that convoy can be removed for 8 IPCs (2 for the convoy figure, and 6 more for the tokens). Thus, Britain now collects 38 IPCs.
Convoys can also be attacked. Whenever they are attacked by ships (either on their own or with others), they only participate for 1 round of combat, after that, they are considered to have ‘escaped’. They may also be chosen as causalities like other ships during battle, removing them as casualties as normal.
You can also build convoy ships for other powers. For 2 IPCs (+2 for every token you want to put under it), you can build a convoy ship in a friendly powers colour. This convoy ship is then controlled by that friendly power.
EG, Britain has 29 IPCs during the start of its turn; the British player decides to give some IPCs to France. Therefore, he builds a Convoy ship with 1 dark blue token under it. This would represent 12 IPCs worth of convoys, thus costing Britain 12 IPCs to build. Now Britain may mobilise this convoy ship AS A FRENCH CONVOY. This convoy follows the same rules as all the other convoys.
Players may only create a maximum of 12 IPCS worth of convoys per turn.
So how do I transport men?
With TRANSPORT CAPACITY, reference chart:
Britain: 5
Germany: 2
Austria-Hungary: 2
France: 2
Italy: 1
Russia: 1
Ottomans: 1
U.S.A: 1 (gains 5 immediately upon entering war)
…what’s Transport l capacity?
Transport capacity effectively means how many land units you can have on sea zones at any one time. Units that are in a territory that contain a naval base may move into the adjacent sea zone for their movement.
E.g. Its Germanys movement phase and they wish to transport some units across the ocean. Since Berlin has a naval base, it is able to move units into sea zone 11 from Berlin, Germany has 2 transport capacities and has no other units already being transported/in a sea zone, therefore they are able to move two units from Berlin into sea zone 11.
Land units in sea zones act the same way they do on land, except they defend and attack on a 0 (they still move only 1 space). When a land unit moves into an enemy land space, this is considered an amphibious assault, and standard rules apply accordingly.
E.g. Germany has 2 naval capacity, therefore the can only have a total of 2 land units in sea zones at any one time.
Like railroad capacity, nations can purchase additional transport capacity (and only 1 may be bought per turn). Transport capacity is purchased during the purchase unit’s phase and takes effect after the mobilisation phase. Purchasing chart:
0 Transport capacity 1 transport capacity: 10IPCs
1 2: 18 IPCs
2 3: 30IPCs
3 4: 45 IPCs
After that, they continue on as being 15 IPCs more expensive than last time.
NOTES: land units in sea zones act the same way the original transport ship does. E.g. they cannot be chosen as a casualty until all other ships have been destroyed, they are also immediately destroyed by attacks when left alone.
Turning Germany into the monster it should be:
Berlin goes from 8 IPCs to 10 IPCs
Munich: 4 IPCs 8 IPCs
Ruhr: 6 IPCs 8 IPCs
Kiel: 2 IPCs 3 IPCs
Hanover: 2 IPCs 3 IPCs
NEW IPC COUNT: 45 (old one was 35)
Adding dynamics to Neutral powers:
Whenever a neutral power is attacked (invaded by an enemy nation) (aliened or not), all territories of that power mobilise.
E.g., if Belgium (or Belgium Congo) was attacked by an enemy power or mobilised by a friendly power, you would place 3 British Infantry and 1 British artillery. ALSO Belgian Congo would mobilise, so you would place 1 British infantry and 1 British artillery.
This also happens if an aliened neutral is mobilised by placing a friendly unit in it.
Also, some neutrals automatically mobilise during certain turns. Some neutrals now also get custom mobilisations.
Romania: during 2nd Russian purchase unit’s phase, place 6 Infantry and 2 Artillery.
Bulgaria (German ally): during 2nd German mobilise units phase, place 10 Infantry and 2 Artillery.
Portugal (British aliened): during 3rd purchase units phase AND there is no central power navy in sea zones 14 or 13, place 1 cruiser in sea zone 14, 2 Infantry. 2 Infantry in Angola, and Portuguese East Africa
Arabia: (considered a full-neutral until Britain’s 4th purchase unit’s phase, place 4 Infantry.
Greece: during Austria-Hungary’s purchase unit’s phase, Greece gets a naval base into sea zone 20. This naval base can ONLY be used by allied warships unless Greece is captured by the central powers.
Sweden: (only works with physical convoy rules) Sweden creates a 1 counter convoy in sea zone 12 every 2nd turn owned by Germany. If Sweden’s neutrality is Broken, then add 1 cruiser to sea zone 12.
Norway/Denmark: as long as 1 of these 2 nations is neutral, allied ships may not move from sea zone 10 to 11. (Germany still can due to the Kiel Canal)
Belgium: considered to be a British aliened.
U.S.A: (Dynamic U.S.A rule only): place 5 U.S Infantry and 3 Artillery. (Intended to repel Mexico)
Colonial mobilisation:
During a nations mobilisation new units phase, players may place units with IPC values in all the colonial territories that you can trace a line though, and have an IPC value higher than the IPC value of all units that nation wishes to mobilise in that group of colonies. Conquered territories can also count towards this value. Colonial territories can only mobilise Artillery, or Infantry.
e.g. Its Britain’s mobilisation phase, since Egypt, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and British East Africa are all adjacent/can trace a line through one another, the British player can add their IPC values together and place units with the same amount of IPCs in any of those territories. since there is a total of 4 IPCs when added together, it means Britain man mobilise up to 4 IPCs worth of units in any of those three territories.
Another E.g., if the German player was to take Union of South Africa and Rhodesia. Then Germany can add all the IPCs of South West Africa, Union of south Africa, Rhodesia and German East Africa together to get 4 IPCs, therefore the German player mobilise units in any of those territories
Adding docked navy:
Naval units may move into land territories if the sea zone they are in is adjacent to a territory that has a naval base YOU CONTROL leading into that sea zone. Enemy naval ships may not move into the land territory, and therefore your navy is safe from the enemy navy. However, your ships can be destroyed in a ground battle.
Ships participate in land battles as normal land units.
E.g. If an Austrian-Hungarian Battleship was to dock in the Trieste naval base, then you would move those warships in the Trieste territory. Then, it Italy was to attack Trieste with 6 Infantry and 2 Artillery, against the Austria-Hungary’s 4 Infantry, 2 Artillery and battleship, then battle could go like this:
Italy scores 2 hits, Austria-Hungary decides that 1 hit will be directed at the battleship, therefore it is tipped on its side to represent damage, and the other hits an Infantry. Then the battleship rolls along with the rest of Austria-Hungary’s land units and deals casualties to Italy’s troops.
If you are using this rule, then battleships can ONLY be repaired by docking.
Separating India
India is considered to have 6 IPCs; these do not count towards Britain’s IPC count.
India is controlled as normal during Britain’s combat phase and any territory captured with Indian troops will count towards the British IPC count.
Place 2 Infantry in India during Britain’s mobilisation phase every turn.
India is also considered to have a naval port leading into sea zone 29.
Complicated rules start here:
These rules often require lots of paper (or a laptop) and quite a lot of experience with Axis and Allies in general.
Adding Zeppelins, Bombers, battle trains, armoured cars, torpedo boats, destroyers:
ALL these units listed here require the research rule.
Zeppelin: defenseless, cost 6IPCs
Characteristics:
Zeppelin bombing: during your battle move, you can move this unit into territory 3 spaces away. During the conduct combat phase, for 3 ammo, you can reduce territories IPC by 2. After your combat move phase and before you conduct combat phase, your opponent can move planes from adjacent territories to the territory that’s getting bombed. During combat, all these planes may roll and on a 1, they successfully shoot down the Zeppelin without it being able to bomb. On a two they manage to destroy it, but not before it are able to damage the territory. If the Zeppelin survives, it is able to return to the territory it started in.
E.g.: Germany decides to move a Zeppelin from Hanover to Picardy. Now Germany ends its movement phase. Now France decides that it’s going to move a plane from Paris and a plane from Belgium into Picardy. Now its Germanys conduct combat phase, the two French planes then roll a dice each, once French plane gets a 4 and the other a 3. The Zeppelin survives and deals two damage to Picardy, reducing its IPC value to 0. The Zeppelin then returns to Hanover.
Defenceless: Zeppelins are defenceless, and therefore will never roll dice. In battle, they cannot be taken as casualties until they are the last units remaining.
Zeppelins have a movement amount of 2. (3 if strategically bombing).
Torpedo boat: attack and defend at 1, cost 4IPCs
Characteristics:
None:
Destroyers: attack and defend at 2, cost 8 IPCs
Characteristics:
Sub-marine search and destroy: this unit can attack sub-marines for 1 more round of combat AFTER they have sub-merged and have effectively exited battle.
Note: this unit is largely useless and only useful when your enemies begin fielding large amount of subs.
Bomber: attack at 4 and defend at 1, cost 8 IPCs
Characteristics:
Strategic bombing: during your battle move, you can move this unit into territory 2 spaces away. During the conduct combat phase, for 2 ammo, you can reduce territories IPC by 1. After your combat move phase and before you conduct combat phase, your opponent can move planes from adjacent territories to the territory that’s getting bombed. During combat, all these planes may roll and on a 1, they successfully shoot down the Bomber without it being able to bomb. On a two they manage to destroy it, but not before it are able to damage the territory. If the Bomber survives, it is able to return to the territory it started in.
Defenceless during air supremacy: bombers do not roll dice for air supremacy, but they can be chosen for casualties and do create air supremacy battles even without friendly airplanes present. HOWEVER, bombers will only participate for the first round of combat, after that, they are considered to have bombed, and have returned to base. Therefore, after the first round of air supremacy, they roll a dice and kill on a 4 or less. Then they retreat to another adjacent friendly territory. If no territory can be provided, then this unit is destroyed.
Bombers can move 2 territories per turn.
Battle trains: attack and defends at 6IPCs
Characteristics:
Train unit: this unit uses up 1 railroad capacity every turn after the collect income phase, if no rail road capacity can be supplied. At this stage, players can also opt to destroy it.
This unit can move three spaces per turn.
Armoured car: attack and defends at 1, cost 5IPCs
Characteristics:
Transport: Armoured cars can allow two Infantry in the same territory to move two spaces that turn, IF they are moving into the same territory as this unit.
This unit can move two spaces per turn.
Adding Australia and Japan:
New nation: Australia/Japan (Auspan, Jastralia, Justpan, etc.)
This nation is considered to be ‘off board’. Therefore their territories and additional sea zones will need to be represented in some other way.
Australia/Japan has a total of 16 IPCs, and 3 Transport capacities.
Use Japanese and Australian units from A&A 1940 Pacific if possible, if not, then just find SOME way to tell them apart from the rest of the other units. (you could get some pieces of paper, right ‘Australia/Japan’ and place a little piece that you have another copy of (like a black pawn from a chess game) on it and the other on the board, thus representing the Australian/Japanese forces there).
Australia/Japans turn goes between Ottoman Empire and Italy.
Australia/Japan units that are built are considered to be 4 sea zones away.
Visual help:
Sea zone 29 sea zone 31 sea zone 32 sea zone 33 sea zone 34 Australia and Japan (16 IPCs) with a naval port leading into sea zone 34. So you would build a battleship on turn 1 in sea zone 34, then next turn you can move it into sea zone 32, and next turn you can move it into sea zone 29 (which is one the board, right next to India).
Adding dynamics to Italy
Italy is considered a neutral power throughout the game until it joins either the Allies or the Central powers.
While Italy is neutral, place 1 Infantry unit in Rome during Italy’s mobilise units phase. Since no one is controlling Italy until is joins a side, it means Italy will not purchase units on its own, move units on its own, or collect IPCs (EVER) on its own until its joins one of the sides. (However, they still go through all stages of a normal tern, AND their units can be moved when certain circumstances are met).
Italy’s setup remains unchanged, Italy’s Sea units are considered friendly to all powers, and therefore do not participate in any combat of any kind, while neutral.
Also, while playing with this rule, another sea zone is added which is intended to half the giant sea zone 17. This new sea zone is considered ‘sea zone 17.3 while the other is sea zone 17.6.
Sea zone 17.3 is connected to Piedmont, Tuscany, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, Rome (and the naval base there), sea zone 17.6 and sea zone 16.
Sea zone 17.6 is connected to Sicily, Naples, Albania, Greece, Egypt, Libya, Sea zone 17.3, sea zone 16, sea zone 19, and sea zone 20.
For reference sake, draw a line between the very edges of Naples closest to Sicily, and draw a line from Sicily onto the edge of the nearby line of sea zone 16.
Get a piece of paper, write ‘ITALIAN ALLINING’ and:
Allies: -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Central powers: -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Get two Italian roundels and place 1 on ‘Allies -2’ and ‘Central powers +2’ at the start of the game.
Italy is considered neutral until one of the following happens:
Italy is attacked by central powers: join allies immediately
Italy is attacked by allies: join central power immediately
Italy has a total of 14 points difference between central powers and allied counters: they join the side that is in the positives. (e.g. allied has -8 and the Central powers have 8, that is a 16 point difference in the Central powers favour, therefore Italy joins the Central powers)
Note that this potentially means that Italy might not join the war all together.
Italy’s entrance into the war is/can be influenced by:
During a nations turn, it may choose to ‘influence’ Italy, thus, that nation can choose to either make Italy get a -1 on the enemy powers chart, or +1 to your own. EG: BEFORE Germanys ‘purchase units’ phase, Germany can choose to modify Italians entrance or not. If yes, then Germany can either force the Italian marker on the allies’ side to go down by 1, or make their own roundel go up by 1. Also, Britain and German get to modify it twice to represent the sheer amount of political involvement they had with Italy. Russia may not modify if they have surrendered (or gone into revolution). And U.S.A may not modify unless in the war.
For every 10 IPCs worth of units on the Italian border that belongs to the Central powers, +1 to the central powers Italian roundel. (Threatening military)
Giving Italy 6 IPCs, (THIS REQUIRES THE TRANSPORT CAPACITY RULE) players may choose to create an Italian convoy at their docks with 2 light chips under it during their purchase unit’s phase (and deploy it during mobilisation). These convoys are immediately absorbed by Italy during the Italian collect income phase, every time Italy takes a 6 IPC convoy, +1 to those sides Italian roundel.
Represent which side that created the convoy by using the red/blue chips under it. The convoy ship moves towards Rome via the shortest route every turn during Italy’s movement phase.
Every turn, as long as Austria-Hungary controls Tyrolia AND Trieste, -1 to Central powers Italian roundel.
+1 every turn to the allied Italian roundel if the allies control Tyrolia AND Trieste.
-3 to any power who attacks Albania. (E.g. if the central powers attack Albania, -3 to central powers Italian roundel).
+1 every turn towards the power that controls Switzerland. (Italy wants as small of a front as possible).
+1 towards the central powers for every allied nation that has surrendered/had its capital captured
During Italy’s turn, it will move units if:
There is a difference of +8 as the Central powers compared to the Allies, doing this means all Italian units on Venice move to Piedmont
There is a difference of +6 as the Allies compared to the Central powers, doing this means all Italian units on Piedmont move to Venice
Upon entering war:
If on the allies, then Italy is to be controlled by the Russian/U.S.A player, if on the central powers, it is controlled by the Ottoman Empire player. Italy conducts its turn separate just like every other power.
Italy works just like every other power, its purchases units, it moves and conducts combat, it collects income, it mobilises units ETC.
Adding dynamics to U.S.A
U.S.A works in a similar fashion to Italy, but instead of working out which sides it’s on; U.S.A works out when it will join the Allies. And the Kruger telegram.
Get a piece of paper and write:
U.S.A entrance chart:
–8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Place a U.S.A roundel on 0
U.S.A is controlled by the Russian player.
U.S.A may not move any warships beyond sea zone 1.
U.S.A is not allowed to move any land units beyond sea zone 1 (physical convoy rule)
U.S.A CAN build convoy’s ship belonging to Britain (ONLY). (And because they belong to Britain and NOT the U.S.A, it means they can move past sea zone 1)
U.S.A will enter the war when:
Mexico attacks U.S.A via the Kruger telegram
When U.S.A reaches 10 on the U.S.A entrance chart
U.S.A gains IPCs based on the amount under the U.S.A roundel X2 (except when it’s in the negatives).
E.g. If U.S.A was on 4, and then U.S.A would gain 8 IPCs during their collect income stage.
This limit is removed and U.S.A gains is 20 IPCs when it enters the war
Things that influence U.S entry:
Every turn, move the roundel 1 space towards 0 IF the roundel is between -4 and 2
Every turn that Germany does unrestricted submarine warfare, move the roundel up 1
Whenever an ally influences Italy, move the U.S.A roundel down by 1
Every time a full-neutrals power is violated, +2 if central power, -2 if allied
Every time a central power aliened neutral joins the war, +1 if it joined by itself or when a central power nation moves units into it. -1 if it joined via the Allies attacking it.
+20 if attacked by a Central power
+12 if the Kruger telegram is intercepted
-20 if attacked by an allied power
If a CP declares it is using gas during a battle, +1
If an ally declares it is using gas during a battle, -1
Sending the Kruger telegram:
If the US is not at war, then Germany may send the Kruger telegram at any point during their turn.
Now roll three dice and add their scores together and use the chart below to see what happens:
3-5: Mexico agrees, U.S.A does not intercept, place 3 German Infantry and 1 Artillery in U.S.A.
6-8: Mexico agrees, U.S.A intercepts, place 3 German Infantry and 1 Artillery on U.S.A.
9-10: Mexico Denies, U.S.A does not intercept.
11-17: Mexico denies, U.S.A intercepts.
18: U.S.A is frenzied; place 3 German infantry and 1 artillery in U.S.A. If no central power unit occupies U.S.A during ANY nations purchase units phase, then increase U.S.As IPCs from 20 24 (representing U.S.A taking Mexico)
If Mexico (represented as German units) are unable to take U.S.A unless additional Central power units arrive. This prevents the awkward situation where Mexico is able to beat the US.
Adding national unity/moral/surrendering
This defiantly requires a laptop. Also, if this rule is applied, remove the Russian Revolution rule.
National moral Reference chart:
U.S.A: 100% (cannot be reduced until at war, once at war, increase by 100%)
Germany: 130%
Austria-Hungary: 130%
Britain: 100%
France: 100%
Ottoman Empire: 80%
Russian empire: 60%
Italy: 70%
These figures represent national moral figures show how much of a percentage of IPCS a nation can lose before surrendering.
E.g., it’s the Russian empires collect income phase, they collect 10 IPCs, now the Russian player checks their national moral, and it’s at 50%. It started the game with 25 IPCs, and since 10IPCs is below 50% of the amount of IPCs Russia started the game with, this means Russia is forced to surrender.
EG, if the Ottoman Empire had a national moral of 70%, then the Ottomans could lose up to 70% of their IPCs before they would be forced to surrender during their collect income.
Note: a nation cannot surrender if it has 100% or more national moral, because a nation cannot lose 100% of its IPCs. (Although they would probably have their capital captured if they did)
If any of the following events happen, adjust your nation national moral immediately:
Lose a battleship; reduce your nation’s moral by 5%
Lose a territory, reduces your nation’s moral by the amount of IPCs that territory was worth X2
Losing an ally (through surrendering or having its capital captured), reduce your moral by 20%
Minor neutral allies to your side, +10% moral
Minor neutral allies to your enemies’ side, -10% moral
Major neutral allies to your side, +20% moral
Major neutral allies to your enemies, -5%
Losing your own capital, -80% moral
Losing a naval base, -5% moral
If 30 or more IPCs worth of troops are lost in a single battle, -2% national moral
Killing 40 or more IPCs worth of troops in battle, +2% national moral
Every time a convoy is absorbed into IPCs, +1% national moral for each IPC
If your nation has surrenders, get 10% national moral per turn
ITALY ONLY: gain +2% every time a nation gives you 6 IPCs
ITALY ONLY: gain +20% when you join a side
BRITAIN ONLY: having a total of more IPCs worth of warships mean you get 2% moral every turn
It worth to note that potentially, there can be a chain of events that can cause all powers to ‘surrender’, if this is the case, then players must simply ‘wait’
When a nation surrenders:
When a nation is forced to surrender, every turn a nation is considered to have surrendered, they must ask the other side if they are allowed, if yes:
You remove all of those nations’ pieces off the board. All enemy units in territories that are contested territories are placed into the mobilisation square, and can be mobilised during that nation mobilisations phase as normal.
If no:
Move your national moral to 200%, collect double income this turn.
Surrendered nations are also considered to be neutral and follow standard neutrality rules. If any of their territories are attacked, they immediately enter the war again with 100% moral and the amount of IPCs they currently have are considered to be their new ‘original’ value. Also, a major nation re-joins the war, all their territories are separately mobilised as if they were their own entire minor neutral, however they do not get twice the amount of the territories IPC value.
EG. If France were to surrender with Paris, Marseilles, Bordeaux, and Brest remaining, and Germany was to attack them again, then Paris would mobilise with 5 Infantry and 1 Artillery, while the three other territories (all with 2 IPCs) would mobilise with 1 Infantry and 1 Artillery.
Adding an expansive research tree
This defiantly requires a laptop
Reference chart:
U.S.A: 50 points (increases to 200 when in war), 10 lands, 10 artillery, 20 navies, 10 Aircraft
Germany: 150 points, 50 Land, 40 Artillery, 20 navy, 40 Aircraft
Austria-Hungary: 120 points, 40 Land, 40 Artillery, 30 Navy, 10 Aircraft
Britain: 120 points, 30 Land, 20 Artillery, 60 Navy, 10 Aircraft
France: 100 points, 30 Land, 20 Artillery, 20 Navy. 30 Aircraft
Russian empire: 70 points, 20 Land, 20 Artillery, 10 Navy, 20 Aircraft
Italy: 50 Points, 10 Land, 10 Artillery, 20 Navy, 10 Aircraft
Ottoman Empire: 50 points, 20 Land, 0 Artillery, 20 Navy, 10 Aircraft
This chart refers to the amount of research points each power get per turn in each category at the start of the game. Every ‘10’ in each category is considered 1 research lab. Players can buy new research labs for one of the 4 charts, with the cost depending on how many research labs are already present in that category.
0 labs 1 lab: 6IPCs
1 lab 2 labs: 12 IPCs
2 labs 3 labs: 20 IPCs
3 labs 4 labs: 28 IPCs
4 5: 40 IPCs
5 6: 50 IPCs
6 7: 60 IPCs
7 8 72 IPCs
8 onwards: every lab after 8 is 10 IPCs more than the last
Every turn, during the collect income phase, you also collect research and add them to their respective charts by player’s choice. every piece of research is 100 points total. When a research is completed, its effect immediately takes place. Any leftover research is can be added to another category immediately.
Note: some research isn’t scientific research, but instead tactical research
Reference chart for research:
Land:
Machine guns Land mines barbed wire the sub-machine gun
Going over the top Zigzag trenches Passchendaele flamethrowers
Armoured cars armoured train caterpillar tracks tanks
Artillery (or chemical warfare, if you like):
Creeping barrage Range finding Spotting counter batteries
Tear gas chlorine Mustard gas Phosgene gas
Anti-gas measures Hypo helmet canister gas mask
Navy:
Depth charges Torpedo boats hedgehog mines Destroyers
Hydrophone radio telegraphs Sonar Radio
Turbines Gyroscope Centralized fire control Anti-torpedo hulls
Aircraft (most tech here is for Zeppelins and Bombers):
The pusher solution large aircraft Machine gun synchronisation twin machine gun synchronisation
Zeppelin Bomber optimised bombs long-range bombing
Anti-air guns steel cabled balloons Anti-air gear Air-cover
And this chart tells you what this research does:
Machine guns: for every three Infantry you have in defence, you can roll 1 extra dice that hits on a 1
Land mines: whenever your opponent attack, roll 1 dice and destroy 1 enemy unit on a 2 or less
Barbed wire: whenever your opponent attacks, every third Infantry has its attack cut down by 1
The sub-machine gun: when you attack, every third Infantry is promoted by 1
Going over the top: when attacking, you can choose to have a second round of combat, during this second round, the attacker cannot attack with any Artillery. Artillery is also unable to support Infantry for that round.
Zigzag trenches: roll dice equal to the amount of enemy dice rolled for Artillery. For every 1 you roll, remove one casualty dealt by the enemy artillery.
Passchendaele: the attacker can choose how many units he attacks with, if he declares an attack. The defender must then place the same number of units into defence against these attack units, these units then conduct battle for 1 round. Winning this battle does nothing, except surviving units may return to the reminder of the army. This attack can only be initiated if the attack has a lower amount of men than the defender.
EG: Its Germanys turn and he has 10 Infantry and 3 Artillery in Ruhr, while France has 10 Infantry and 4 Artillery, Germany has less troops total and therefore is able to Passchendaele. Germany chooses to attack with 3 Artillery and 3 Infantry, France must now choose 6 of his own troops to defend. France chooses 4 Artillery and 2 Infantry, now the battle commences, Germany gets some lucky rolls and is able to wipe out the French units, while taking 3 casualties. Germany chooses 3 Infantry while the 3 Artillery return to the board with the rest of the army. The French units remain dead.
Flamethrowers: effectively machine guns, except for attack. For every three Infantry you attack with, you can roll 1 extra dice that kills on a 2 or less.
Armoured cars: allows armoured cars to be built.
Armoured train: allows armoured trains to be built.
Caterpillar tracks: increase armoured cars attack and defence to 2.
Tanks: allows tanks to be built.
Artillery (or chemical warfare, if you like):
Creeping barrage: Artillery can support two Infantry at a time.
Range finding: Airplanes can now support Five Artillery at a time
Aerial photography: a Single plane can support all Artillery
Counter batteries: roll 1 dice for every 2nd Infantry you have on defence, every 1 result in 1 enemy unit be ‘supressed’, every unit suppressed get -1 to its attack.
Note for gas: players must declare whether or not they are using gas once they have declared battle, but before any dice have been rolled. (Dynamic U.S.A only)
Tear gas: while attacking, artillery is able to roll a second dice for gas which ONLY hits Infantry on a 1.
Chlorine: gas hits on a 3 or less.
Mustard gas: Artillery can now roll for gas on defence at a 1.
Phosgene gas: gas on offence hits at a 4 or less, gas on defence hits on a 2 or less.
Anti-gas measures: +1 to enemy offensive gas attack rolls. (Enemy gas dice get a +1 modifier)
Hypo helmet: +1 to enemy offensive and defensive gas attack rolls.
Canister gas mask: +1 the enemy offensive and defence gas attack rolls.
High-explosive shells: Every third artillery piece gets a +1 on attack and defence
Navy:
Depth charges: Sub-marines that attempt to move under surface warships are forced to roll a dice that kills the sub on a 1
Torpedo boats: allows you to build Torpedo boats
Hedgehog mines: every time an enemy sub-marine submerges, roll a dice that hits that sub on a 1
Destroyers: allows you build Destroyers
Hydrophone: enemy sub-marines can only sub-merge 1 at a time
Radio telegraphs: Cruisers can defend at 4 or less when paired with a battleship
Sonar: enemy sub-marines cannot submerge
Radio: a Sub-marine can attack at +1 when paired with battleship
Turbines: For every cruiser chosen for a casualty, roll 1 dice. Every 1 prevents a cruiser from being destroyed.
Gyroscope: Convoys may move 2 spaces per turn. Ships may leave port without using movement points.
Centralized fire control: battleships can repair themselves without a naval base for 1IPC
Anti-torpedo hulls: torpedo boats are unable to damage battleships.
Aircraft (most tech here is for Zeppelins and Bombers):
The pusher solution: Aircraft can deal casualties against other aircraft at a 3 or less on defence.
Large aircraft: Planes can roll 2 dice during ground attacks
Machine gun synchronisation: roll an additional dice during air supremacy for every two planes you have, this dice kills on a 1.
Twin machine gun synchronisation: Planes can deal casualties against other aircraft at a 3 or less on offence, and 4 or less on defence.
Zeppelin: allows you to build Zeppelins.
Bomber optimised bombs: Bombers deal 2 (zeppelins 3) damage to territory during strategy bombing, and roll a 5 or less to kill on ground attacks.
Long-range bombing: zeppelins can bomb from 4 away and bombers from 3 away.
Anti-air guns: territories can roll dice equal to the original amount of IPCs of that territory; these dice kill aircraft during strategic bombing on a 1.
Steel cabled balloons: All territories that get strategically bombed can roll a dice that prevents the territory from getting bombed from 1 bomber/zeppelin on a 2 or less. This roll comes before anti-air guns and anti-air guns cannot shoot against aircraft that have already retreated.
Anti-air gear: when enemy attacks ground units with aircraft, roll 1 dice for every TYPE of unit you have on the ground, 1s destroy aircraft. EG: if you had artillery and Infantry on a territory that’s getting air attacked, you roll 2 dice.
Air-cover: +1 to enemy rolls against your troops from the air. (EG if your opponent needed a 3 to hit and rolled a 3, +1 would make it 4 and therefore it would not hit.)
Note: due to research, it’s possible to have units that fight on a 0/0. Therefore, units may not go below 0 in either category, and will stay yon a minimum of 1/1. (Except for Infantry attack)
Adding ammunition
This defiantly requires a laptop.
Every turn, during the collect income phase, players can convert IPCs on regional territories ONLY, into ammunition instead.
EG: its Germanys collect income phase, Germany decides that Ruhr will create 4 ammunition instead of collecting the 4 of the 6 IPCs that territory has. Germany then collects 2 IPCs from Ruhr and places 4 ammunition tokens on Ruhr.
During combat, offence or defence, a players unit suffer a -1 on all units that are not supplied with ammunition for that battle. The following reference chart shows how much ammunition units use:
Infantry: 0.5 on attack, 0.25 on defence
Artillery: 1 on attack, 0.5 on defence
Planes: 0.10 for every turn of air combat on attack and defence, 0.25 for ground attack/defence
Bombers: 0.10 during each round of air supremacy, 1 on ground attacks
Zeppelins: cannot attack. 3 for strategy bombing
Tank: 0.50 on attack, 0.25 on defence.
Armoured car: 0.25 on attack and defence.
Armoured battle train: 0.50 on attack and defence.
Battleship: 0.25 on attack and defence for every round of sea combat. Battleships can also attack land units without the need of amphibious assaults for 1 ammunition.
Cruisers: 0.20 on attack and defence for every round of sea combat.
Sub-marines: 0.10 on attack and defence for every round of sea combat.
Torpedo boats: 0.10 on attack and defence for every round of sea combat.
Destroyers: 0.20 on attack and defence for every round of sea combat.
Ammunition has a movement speed of one, and is controlled by the owner of the territory the ammunition is in. Three ammunition can be moved for only 1 rail road capacity. Three ammunition is treated as a single Infantry unit for transport capacity/physical convoys. Ammunition is defenceless; it does not participate in battle, and is immediately consumed by however the amount a player wishes to before dice rolling. Ammunition that’s being transported or is in contested territory has a national marker of the last person who controlled the ammunition pile. Because its owner of the territory that the ammunitions in that is able to control/move/consume it, it possible for ammunition to be captured and used by the other side, as well as ammunition lend leasing (just move the ammo into friendly territory). Players choose how much ammunition they wish to consume before any dice rolling and after the other player declares battle, therefore players can choose to only partially consume ammunition. ALL ammunition left overs are rounded up into full ammunition.
Adding Manpower limits (complicated)
This defiantly requires a laptop.
Man power limits create a sense of war exhaustion in a nation. It also helps represent the sheer number of people some nations could recruit. As well as the economic implications mass conscription produced. Reference chart:
Berlin: 16 man power/2 (20 with monster Germany rule)
Prussia: 8 man power/1
Silesia: 7 man power/1 (8 with monster Germany rule)
Hanover: 5 man power (8 with monster Germany rule)
Kiel: 7 man power
Munich: 16 man power/2
Alsace: 7 man power
Ruhr: 10 man power/1 (14 with monster Germany rule)
Paris: 10 man power/2
Burgundy: 5 man power
Brest: 4 man power
Bordeaux: 6 man power/1
Picardy: 6 man power/1
Lorraine: 6 man power
Marseilles: 4 man power/1
Rome: 6 man power/1
Naples: 3 man power
Tuscany: 3 man power
Venice: 4 man power/1
Piedmont: 4 man power
Sicily: 1 man power
Vienna: 12 man power/2
Tyrolia: 6 man power
Bohemia: 6 man power
Trieste: 6 man power
Budapest: 6/1
Galicia: 6/1
Moscow: 12/2
Karelia: 6/1
Tatarstan: 6/1
Belarus: 8
Poland: 10/1
Livonia: 8
Finland: 6
Ukraine: 10/1
Stastopol: 8
Kazakhstan: 8
Constantinople: 8/1
Smyrna: 4
Ankara: 3
Syrian Desert: 1
Mesopotamia: 6/1
Trans-Jordan: 2
U.S.A: 40 (they may also build up to 7 Infantry per turn)
London: 8/2
Wales: 6/1
Yorkshire: 6/1
Scotland: 5/1
Ireland: 2
Canada: 8/1
India: 8/1
Egypt: 3
Japan/Australia: 16/3
Spain: 6/1
Empire of Ethiopia: 2
Greece: 4/1
Serbia: 4/1
Albania: 3
Bulgaria: 6/1
Romania: 6
Persia: 4
Afghanistan: 2
Saudi Arabia: 4
Sweden: 7/1
Norway: 7/1
Belgium: 3
Netherlands: 3
Denmark: 3
Portugal: 2
These figures represent the population of each territory. Most colonial territories are not represented because they are considered to be unable to join the main conflict in Europe; they do however still produce their IPCs for the controller of the territory. Whenever a player decides to build an Infantry unit OR battleship, the player must choose 1 population from a territory to remove. A territory cannot produce more IPCs than the amount of population they have. Only a maximum of 1 population can be ‘conscripted’ at a time from each territory. The little /X on the end of some territory’s means how much population increases on that territory each turn.
EG, Germany may choose to create 5 Infantry and use chooses Ruhr, Berlin, Silesia, Prussia, and from Kiel. Now the population of each country is reduced by 1 in each of those territories. Now, during Germanys collect income phase, Germany checks to see if the population of a territory is less than the amount of IPCs that territory makes. If, let’s say Ruhr, had only 4 population now, it would mean Germany would only be able to collect 4 IPCs from Ruhr.
During the non-combat move, a player can move 1 population from a territory to another, adjacent one. Players may NOT choose to use population from captured territories; however they DO still produce IPCs AND still suffer from lack of population. Players cannot move population in captured territory. Players also can’t use population from contested territories.
Any neutral that joins the war can also have its population choses for conscription.
Players can also use railroad capacity to transport up to 3 populations from a single territory to another territory up to 2 territories away.
Also, for every battle that is declared in a contested territory, lower its IPC value by 1. Contested territories cannot repair.
Manpower/war exhaustion (simple)
You need a calculator for this:
Germany: 125
Britain: 70
France: 85
Italy: 50
Russia: 280
Ottomans: 65
Austria-Hungary: 100
U.S.A: 100
Whenever a player builds an Infantry OR a battleship, reduce the corresponding score by 1. Players get a reduction to the amount of IPCs based on the percentage of lost population compared to their starting population in increments of 80%, 60%, 40%, 20% and 0%. (Rounding up)
EG: Britain has 35 populations during the collect income phase, since 35 populations is 50% less than their starting population, you would round up to the higher increment, so Britain has ‘60%’ of population than what they started with, therefore they only collect 60% of the IPCs they would normally collect.
Round up any left over IPCs.
Rule changes/setup changes:
Some general may be required due to some of these house rules, REQUIRED rule changes will have a required mentioned, ones that do not are up to the players in a play group to decide whether to include them or not
Other things mentioned in this section are house rules that need to be accompanied with others in order to work properly. This can be due to some house rules being directed towards a certain side more than the other.
Aircraft can only support 2 Artillery at a time (expansive research rule). REQUIRED.
Austria-Hungary does not start with any units in Bohemia (Dynamic Italy rule)
It may be necessary to remove some of Italy’s starting units, as to not make Italy so important to bring onto your side (dynamic Italy rule)
It may be necessary to modify the convoy spawning system. (e.g., Britain’s African possession convoys could be modified so they only spawn when Britain control Union of south Africa AND Rhodesia.
If players are playing with the ‘turning Germany into the monster it should be’ rule, then it may be necessary to add an Allied friendly house rule. (Such as the convoy system)
Remember, these are HOUSE RULES. They were made to be modified; therefore your group may deem the rule to unbalanced, or broken. Therefore, any suggestions that helps adds balance to some of these rules would be greatly appreciated.
For the convoy rule, players could potentially add that convoys can only go a certain route. (Physical convoys)
DR De Mole’s/ Lancelot De Mole: this man is not represented anywhere in the rules, but players may feel free to add him in some way in conjunction to the expansive research rule. (This man created the first designs for some very good tanks; he sent in his idea to the British about 3 times throughout the war and was ignored three times by the allies. His friends often urged him to take his idea to Germany, but he declined due to patriotic reasons.)
Territory’s repair themselves by 1 IPC after the end of the U.S mobilise units phase. (Strategy bombing, REQUIRED)
And that’s it, sorry for the wall. :oops:
I don’t have any comments on the specific details of your individual house rules, but I’d like to offer some thoughts on a couple of more general issues. One issue is the number (and complexity, which you mention yourself) of house rules you’re proposing, and the other issue has to do with integrating them with the official rules. The two issues are related, but I’ll address them separately.
First the matter of quantity. You mention that “You can play with any or all of these rules if you choose to do so” – so it’s good that you’re giving players the option of selecting which of the house rules they’ll use. I think it’s overly optimistic to think that all of the house rules (or even a large percentage) can be used in a single game. You spotted the potential problem yourself when you commented “sorry for the wall” in your fourth post: the sheer number of house rules you’ve proposed, most of which are extra elements to be piled on top of the official rules. I think there’s a danger that players may be overwhelmed by how many new things they would need to keep track of during the course of a game.
Remember that designing rules for a game is a bit like designing a vehicle – let’s say, an aircraft. All designs involve compromises. It’s easy to fall into the trap of focussing too much on all of the cool individual features you’d like to include without stepping back to wonder how they will interact with each other and whether the game (or aircraft) will even function if you try to make it do too many things at once. Some aircraft, for example, are optimized for speed and agility; some are optimized for cargo-carrying capacity; some are optimized for passenger seating; some are optimized for simplicity and ease of handling; some are optimized for survivability in combat, and so forth. Trying to give all those features to a single aircraft, however, is impossible, since the design requirements contradict each other. It would (for example) be completely unrealistic for a single plane to have the speed and agility of an F-15 fighter, the cargo-carrying capacity of a C-141 Starlifter, the passenger seating of a 747, the handiness of a Beechcraft Bonanza, and the armament and armour plating of an A-10 Thunderbolt.
So my recommendation would be to focus on just a small number of house rules which deal with only the main things that you think would enhance the game, and to keep them as simple as possible. (You mention yourself that several of your house rules are complicated, to the point where they require laptop support.) Otherwise, you may end up with a game that’s so complex that a single move by a single player would take a huge amount of time, and in which the players have to devote so much mental energy to remembering all the optional rules available to them that they’ll forget to have fun. To put it another way: as an experiment, try playing a game with your group that uses all of these house rules and see what happens.
The second issue to consider is the integration of your house rules with the official ones. You mentioned that you were concerned about the wording of your rules, but from the point of view of clarity you should also think about their structure. The official rulebook is arranged in topical sections and subsections, but the house rules you’ve listed don’t seem to have any specific order. This makes them hard to follow. So here’s an exercise you may want to try. Take the official rulebook, photocopy it so that each page goes on a separate sheet, then arm yourself with scissors, Scotch tape, and large quantities of blank paper. Then take your house rules, print them out, and cut them up so that each rule is on a separate slip of paper. Then, for each house rule, hunt through your photocopy of the official rules and find the rule that it replaces or supplements. Take your scissors, snip through the photocopy just below the applicable rule, separate the two parts of the photocopy, then insert your house rule into the space. Mount the combined result on a backing of blank paper (to keep the whole thing together in the proper order), using Scotch tape. Repeat for the next house rule, and so forth.
In the end, you’ll have a long document which shows exactly how your house rules integrate with the official ones. It will look terrible, but it’s only meant to serve a planning and playtesting purpose. First, decide for yourself if each official rule / house rule combination looks okay and makes sense. Next, test the prototype document with your play group to see: a) if they can find the house rules they want without too much trouble; b) if it’s clear to them which house rules replace the official ones and which house rules are pure additions; c) whether they find the house rules enjoyable; d) whether they find the house rules understandable; and e) whether they find the house rules practical or unwieldy. You’ll then be in a better position to see which house rules you should keep as is, which you should improve, and which you should discard. This will guide you in the eventual preparation of a house rules handbook which will be structured in a way that will make it easy to be used side-by-side with the main rulebook.
Ok then, I have created an example document I could use. Tell me if this is about the same as what you were suggesting.
Phase 5: Collection phase
In this phase, you earn production, railroad capacity, increase research, check national moral/unity, and add manpower.
IPCs: look up your power�s national production level (indicated by your control marker) on the National Production Chart. This is the amount of IPC income you have generated. Collect that number of IPCs from the bank by having the banker add it to the total number of IPCs in your powers treasury.
If your capital is under an enemy power�s control, you can�t collect income.
Convoys: any convoy that resides in the port of an original regional territory you control, you may remove it and collect 2 additional IPCs for every convoy removed in this manner.
Railroad capacity: check how much railroad capacity you currently have and your maximum railroad capacity. Now collect railroad capacity until you reach your maximum.
Increase research: add research to each field of research equal to the amount of research you currently have in that sector. Also check if you have completed any piece of research.
Check national moral/unity: check how many IPCs you have collected in this phase. Now check the amount of IPCs you started the game with. Now use a calculator and put in:
(Starting amount of IPCs) � (current national unity by percentage) =
If the final outcome is lower than the amount of IPCs you just collected, then your nation has officially surrendered and you must now follow standard surrendering rules. (P.?)
Adding man power: increase the man power of territories you own (not contested) and increase the man power their by the amount referenced in the man power chart.
