Thank you Ben_D for your contribution, and I have made a few changes and/or comments based on your suggestions.
1. Although I understand that many of you have a house rule representing an independent commonwealth war campaign, I can’t take away “Commonwealth Aid” for those that don’t (like our group). However, I have made a couple of changes to that pairing which might make it more interesting.
2. The “War Bonds” Vs “Uncle Sam” pairing is interesting and brings up a tough situation, because you will have the choice of saving a guaranteed $12 in infantry purchases (good if your strategy is to make landings), or risk rolling less (even snake eyes) to spend on anything you like. I would like more input from others before changing this one.
3. I understand that many players have their own house rules for Kamikaze attacks, so I have removed “kamikaze honor” and replaced it with an old revised advantage “Kaiten Torpedos”.
4. Although “Around the clock bombing” is interesting, I feel that it was causing a disturbance in the force and I would much rather keep “Super Fortresses”, therefore, I have reinserted “Essex Class Carriers” in it’s place.
5. I agree about the historical lack of accuracy for “V-Rockets”, but they are up against “Jet Fighters” and will need a bit of punch in order to get chosen.
6. As for “Blitzkrieg” over “Enigma”… I honestly think it’s a strategy preference more than anything, because I’m getting a mixed opinion which means that the pairing is close to balanced. Their logic for enigma is that they can basically buy cruisers that avoid air units, convoy like a mother _______, and cost only $6.
7. Popular demand requests that the Soviet Union have an advantage round to pick in. Therefore, in round 9, Russia may chose the “Tank Production” SA as per the logic provided by Ben_D, and the old revised advantage “Mobile Industry” which should be a competitive choice over “tank production” if the minors are constantly being captured and liberated. I personally feel that lend lease is represented in the national prestige objective (which I will modify in my “Strategic Objectives” house rules). The Russian winter IMO should be as simple as possible, although your suggestion is well thought out and I do see the value in designated seasons for game rounds, my group players may feel that it’s to much invention for the game.
As always… please let me know your thoughts
@Young:
The Russian winter IMO should be as simple as possible, although your suggestion is well thought out and I do see the value in designated seasons for game rounds, my group players may feel that it’s to much invention for the game.
The simplest method would be an off/on alternation between summer and winter. The round in which Germany invades the USSR would be the starting point of the sequence; it would be considered to take place in the summer, when the Russians have no special advantage. The next round would be a winter round, to which Russian men are conditioned and to which Russian equipment is adapted, and thus a round in which the Russian winter advantage is operational. In other words, Russia would have a winter advantage in even-numbered rounds if it gets invaded an an odd-numbered round, or vice-versa.
@CWO:
@Young:
The Russian winter IMO should be as simple as possible, although your suggestion is well thought out and I do see the value in designated seasons for game rounds, my group players may feel that it’s to much invention for the game.
The simplest method would be an off/on alternation between summer and winter. The round in which Germany invades the USSR would be the starting point of the sequence; it would be considered to take place in the summer, when the Russians have no special advantage. The next round would be a winter round, to which Russian men are conditioned and to which Russian equipment is adapted, and thus a round in which the Russian winter advantage is operational. In other words, Russia would have a winter advantage in even-numbered rounds if it gets invaded an an odd-numbered round, or vice-versa.
That is definitely more simplified than Ben’s, however, here is what I have been thinking of in terms of simplicity and a regular rule completely separate from the proposed strategic advantages…
Russian Winter
Russia may roll 1 die at the very beginning of rounds 3, 6, 9, and 12. The Axis powers must then remove that many units in the amount shown (their choice) from any original Russian territory / territories (their choice).
YG,
I have to say I like the changes you made. Sorry to lose Round the Clock bombing, but I understand the reasoning. Too bad for UK since now they only get 1 choice.
I hate that Super fortress and Essex Carriers are on the same round. I want to use BOTH!
Actually, with that in mind, we may have to try out 2 games in the near future. First game we choose the option we might normally prefer, second game we use the other choices. Just to see how they work out.
I do tend to agree a bit with Ben_D. I think there might be a few in there that will at least rarely get picked. Then again, it also depends on the players involved and what their strategies are at the time.
For instance, Ben_D said he would much prefer War Bonds because you can spend that money on anything you want, even if you take the chance of not getting the 12 IPCs. I can understand that logic. However, I would prefer the extra 4 free infantry. You always have to fill transports with infantry so this would allow you to get other stuff with your regular money. That just seems great to me.
That mass tank production for Russia looks really strong. However, it’s late enough in the game that Russia may not benefit as much as you might think. If Germany is pressing them hard, they may have the 3 Soviet Minor ICs so Russia will only get the 2 tanks on it’s capital.
I do have a couple of questions about the Russian advantages:
1 > On the Mass Tank Production, can Russia still place those tanks if the factories are maxed out on bomb damage? For example, say Germany does an SBR on the Stalingrad IC and it has 3-6 damage points on it. Perhaps Russia can’t afford to fix the damage. So can Russia still place that free tank there?
2 > On the Mobile Industry, if a Russian factory moves in the non-combat move phase, can it still produce that round? If a Russian factory has bomb damage from an SBR, can it still move in the NCM?
Good ideas, I would add a Long Range Aircraft too for UK/US some turn, so their FTRs will be capable of escorting SBR to WG and their bombers will be capable of SBR Berlin.
KNP,
I feel that the R3 choice for America will be a lot like “deal or no deal”, you can take the safe money in infantry, or risk it all for a free destroyer or air unit. I personally would take Uncle Sam’s recruits, but I know a few players who would try for box cars each turn.
I’m glad that you find the Bombers Vs Carriers choice so hard, my goal is to make all of the pairings difficult to choose from.
I imagine if Germany takes Enigma R2, it might suggest sealion and I would therefore take Radar for the UK R3 (if not to late). However, if Germany takes Blitzkrieg R2, the UK would be free to take Commonwealth Aid, so the sealion fake also works with the strategic advantages.
I was proud of around the clock bombing, but unfortunately Super fortresses had a greater mystic around them when casual amature historians think about bombing cities during WW2 (even though more knowledgable amature historians understand the devastation ATCB caused).
As for your questions about the Russian strategic advantages (and I will clarify in post #1), the tank production SA only applies to operational factories. Therefore, if the major in Russia has 9 damage markers, it is still operational and can place 2 free tanks. If a minor factory has 3 damage, Russia must first make it operational by spending $1 before placing 1 free tank. Also, tank production does not cout toward maximum units placed per factory, therefore, a fully operational factory can produce 3 units + 1 free tank. For the moble industry SA, new units can be placed during the place new units phase in the same turn that the factory moved during the non-combat movement phase, however, only operational factories may be moved.
Mattsk,
I have been contemplating this idea…
Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, United States, Japan, and Italy will all have the choice of either…
R1 - Paratroopers
Up to 2 infantry from an operational airbase may attack an enemy territory up to 3 spaces away provided that territory is being attacked by land units from adjacent territories or sea zones.
or
R10- Long Range Aircraft
The movement value of all air units has increased by 1 (Jet Fighters would reach 6, or 7 from an airbase).
Does anyone like this idea?
Seems fine to me.
I like the long range aircraft idea at R10
@Young:
Does anyone like this idea?
Yes, and I like that fact that it offers Italy an advantage, but it differs from the other proposals in two respects: it’s a multi-country option rather than a single-country option, and it doesn’t offer a single-round paired choice. If we group the other proposals by country, we get this table:
United States
R3: War Bonds or Uncle Sam
R6: Super Fortresses or Essex Class Carriers
United Kingdom
R4: Radar or Commonwealth Aid
Soviet Union
R9: Tank Production or Mobile Industry
Germany
R2: Enigma or Blitzkrieg
R7 Jet Fighters or V-Rockets
Japan
R5: Dug-in Defenders or Tokyo Express
R8: Banzai Attack or Kaiten Torpedos
I guess the way to integrate the new proposal (R1-Paratroopers vs R10-Long Range Aircraft) would be to insert it as follows:
Adding a category for Italy, so that you’ll have six countries
Pairing R1-Paratroopers with something else (applicable to any country) in R1, to create a R1 choice
Pairing R10-Long Range Aircraft with something else (applicable to any country) in R10, to create a R10 choice
Giving all six countries the R1 pairing and the R10 pairing
On a related point, maybe ANZAC could be added to the list, so that seven countries would be eligible for SAs. I can see why there wouldn’t be much point in giving France or China national advantages, since both countries are in an odd position, but ANZAC could plausibly have national advantages on the same level as Italy if they’re sufficiently general in nature (like paratroopers and long-range aircraft) to be applicable to most countries.
To extend the concept further: should Italy and ANZAC have any nation-specific SAs? This idea would need development, but to get things started:
Perhaps an ANZAC SA could be the Coastwatchers, which provided valuable intelligence and which rescued downed pilots.
Perhaps the Italian SA could be the Pact of Steel, which could be used to allow Italy to share in the use of a SA developed by Germany in a previous round. (For fun, if a player has both editions of Global 1940, these enhancements could be signalled by replacing some of the Italian-pattern 2nd edition brown sculpts with the German (or in some cases Japanese) 1st edition brown sculpts.)
And as a last idea: notwithstanding what I said about France’s and China’s odd positions, might it be interesting to give each of them some small SA at some point? Several countries are being given three SA pairings, others two, and others one (as a reflection of their capabilities in general), so perhaps France and China could each get a single pairing or even one single non-paired SA. For China, it could be some sort of infantry number boost to reflect cooperation against the Japanese by the Nationalists and the Communists, perhaps paired (if desired) with some sort of numerical increase to the Flying Tiger unit to reflect fighter reinforcements flown in across the Himalayas. For France it could be the mid-war defection of some Vichy units to Free France (such as when the battleship Richelieu joined the Allies in 1943), perhaps paired (if desired) with sabotage operations against the Germans in France by the FFI (Forces Francaises de l’Interieur).
CWO Marc,
I really liked one of your suggestions right away, check out post #1 to see how I used your idea… the other stuff I’m still thinking about.
Thanks a lot for your contribution.
Just a suggestion YG. You could restrict Super fortresses to the Pacific Theater since Around the Clock Bombing is already restricted to London if you wanted to keep that SA.
@Young:
I really liked one of your suggestions right away, check out post #1 to see how I used your idea… the other stuff I’m still thinking about. Thanks a lot for your contribution.
Looks good – including the colour-coding for the country names. :-) Glad the input was useful.
I’ve realized, by the way, that my Vichy unit defection idea won’t work, since the Global 1940 game disregards the Vichy situation. The FFI idea remains valid, however, since Global 1940 still makes use of the concept of an occupied France.
Just a suggestion YG. You could restrict Super fortresses to the Pacific Theater since Around the Clock Bombing is already restricted to London if you wanted to keep that SA.
Thanks for the suggestion Tob, but that’s tough to accept historically after watching “Memphis Belle” like 10 times :|
@Young:
Just a suggestion YG. You could restrict Super fortresses to the Pacific Theater since Around the Clock Bombing is already restricted to London if you wanted to keep that SA.
Thanks for the suggestion Tob, but that’s tough to accept historically after watching “Memphis Belle” like 10 times  :|
There’s also the awkward problem that round-the-clock bombing is actually an Anglo-American advantage rather than an American one, since the 8th Air Force only provided half of the round-the-clock bombing work, the other half being provided by the RAF. This in principle would require both the US and UK players to choose a RTCB advantage for the SA to become operational.
I have a couple of questions/suggestions about two of the advantages listed so far:
“R3 United States – Uncle Sam: America now receives 4 free infantry units every round during the place new units phase (2 in Eastern United States, and 2 in Western United States).”
I assume that this is meant to represent the vast amount of volunteer enlistment that was triggered by Pearl Harbor (and perhaps, in later rounds, as the initial burst of enthusiam began to flatten, the compensating expansion of conscription – for instance when the draft age was lowered from 21 to 18). This is fine, but it seems to me that the phrase “Uncle Sam” is a little vague in conveying this concept. Would the rallying cry “Remember Pearl Harbor!” perhaps work better?
“R9 Soviet Union – Mobile Industry: All operational Russian factories may now move 1 space during their non-combat movement phase. Factories that have moved during the non-combat phase may still produce units during the place new units phase of the same turn.”
I initially thought this referred to the relocation of Soviet industry from the western part of the country to its eastern regions (like the Urals) in 1941, but then I noticed that this is a Round 9 advantage, which seems awfully late in the war. Also, I’m not sure if this option to move is only operational once, or whether it’s reusable; in the latter case, “mobile industry” would mean “self-propelled factories” (a problematic concept) rather than “relocated factories” (which is easier to grasp). So I’m not sure what to make of this one.
Can you reprint all the new ideas in the same form as the first post? It’s hard to keep track of all the changes…
@Imperious:
Can you reprint all the new ideas in the same form as the first post? It’s hard to keep track of all the changes…
Sorry IL, I’m either misunderstanding, or unfamiliar with the action you’re requesting. I’ve been making minor changes the past few days and it’s difficult to remember all of them, but here’s the jist of a few that entered and exited at one point or another…
Around the Clock Bombing
America can make SBRs from London on UK’s turn as well as their own, and vise versa.
Operation Ultra
Germany must remove one submarine from the board at the beginning of each game round
ASDIC
Britain are now immune to all convoy disruptions.
Kamikaze Honor
All kamikaze tokens are reloaded to 6, and now defend at 3 or less.
Those are the ones that were out right eliminated, the remaining Strategic Advantages you see in post #1 have always existed in one form or another… hope that helps.
CWO Marc,
The “Uncle Sam” title was meant to represent the gray haired figure that most have come to recognize, and connect it with the massive recruitment campaign that came of it. I agree that “Uncle Sam” seems a little vague, so I’ll change it to “Recruitment Campaign”.
The Mobile industry Strategic Advantage is an original National Advantage from the revised edition (as are all the Japanese advantages listed). I myself am not entirely sure of the historical significance of the advantage, but I figure I can’t go wrong with using one written by Larry himself.
I look at the Russian advantages in a few different ways…
1. If they are backed up to their Capital and defending, the Mobile Industry SA may allow them to move their Stalingrad factory into a more strategic position.
2. If they are backed up to their Capital and on the offensive… the 2 tanks on Moscow for the Tank Production SA should help nice.
3. If they lose control all of their factories by turn 9, well… maybe Germany should give up anyways.
4. and finally, if they lose their Capital before turn 9… none of the above will matter.
Okay, thanks, I see now what the the “Uncle Sam” title refers to. If the title had been “Uncle Sam Wants You” (a common shorthand for the famous poster that shows a picture of a pointing Uncle Sam above the words “I want YOU for the U.S. Army”) I would immediately have thought of the poster and understood the recruitment concept. So instead of the original “Uncle Sam” title and the new “Recruitment Campaign” title (which I think works nicely, by the way), one option for splitting the difference would be to use the title “Uncle Sam Wants You” (which would work equally well in my opinion).
Thanks also for the information about the Russian factories. As you say, a rule devised by Larry carries inherent weight (even if it’s a bit perplexing in terms of its historical parallels), so that’s as good a reason as any to use the concept.
@CWO:
Okay, thanks, I see now what the the “Uncle Sam” title refers to. If the title had been “Uncle Sam Wants You” (a common shorthand for the famous poster that shows a picture of a pointing Uncle Sam above the words “I want YOU for the U.S. Army”) I would immediately have thought of the poster and understood the recruitment concept. So instead of the original “Uncle Sam” title and the new “Recruitment Campaign” title (which I think works nicely, by the way), one option for splitting the difference would be to use the title “Uncle Sam Wants You” (which would work equally well in my opinion).
Thanks also for the information about the Russian factories. As you say, a rule devised by Larry carries inherent weight (even if it’s a bit perplexing in terms of its historical parallels), so that’s as good a reason as any to use the concept.
Understood, I think I’ll settle for “Uncle Sam Campaign” and see how it feels for a while… do you think that you might play these advantages in a future game?
