G40 House Rules

[Faramir]

I was bored so I created some house rules to play Global 1940 with. Feel free to comment suggestions or use them. I wanted a more free-for-all style game instead of fixed alliances.

Axis & Allies Global 1940 Advanced Rules

All rules are the same as Axis & Allies Global 1940 Second Edition except for the changes listed below.

Germany

Add 1 Minor Industrial Complex in the territory of Greater Southern Germany.

China

China only receives the 6 extra IPC’s for the Burma Road being open if it is allied with the power(s) that controls the territories of India and Burma. If China captures all the territories with a Chinese symbol on them, at the start of the next round they receive a free Minor Industrial Complex in the territory of Kiangsu if they still control all of the territories with a Chinese symbol on them. If this occurs, China now purchases units and facilities like a normal power, but it no longer gets the 6 extra IPC’s for the Burma Road being open. Shanghai becomes China’s capital city, and China no longer has the movement restrictions for its units.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom now has one economy and London is its capital city. Replace the Major Industrial Complex in the territory of India with a Minor Industrial Complex and add a Minor Industrial Complex to the territory of West India. Remove 2 AAA and 1 Infantry from India and add 2 AAA and 1 Infantry to West India.

Canada

Canada is a new power that consists of the United Kingdom’s territories above the United States’ core territories marked with a maple leaf symbol and the territory of Western Canada that is marked with a United Kingdom symbol. The units and facilities belonging to the United Kingdom that were in those territories are converted into matching Canadian units and facilities. This includes the Destroyer and the Transport off the coast of New Brunswick/Nova Scotia. Also, add 1 Fighter to the territory of Ontario. Ottawa becomes Canada’s capital city. The territory of Newfoundland still belongs to the United Kingdom. Canada takes its turn after France in the turn order. (I use the Pacific 1940 first edition ANZAC units for Canadian units.)

Each power is free to declare war, make peace, or ally with whichever powers they want to. Two powers cannot go from at war with each other to allied in the same turn, they must first make peace with each other and then the next turn they can ally if they wish. Players that are allied can move their pieces into and through each other’s territories if they wish and can share sea zones without permission. Powers that are at peace can also share sea zones that do not border any land territories, but sea zones that are adjacent to land territories require the permission of the owner of that territory(s) to move into or through. It requires the consent of both powers to go from an “at war” status to an “at peace” status and from an “at peace” status into an “allied” status. However, it only requires one power to degrade an “allied” status into an “at peace” status and an “at peace” status into an “at war” status. The state that one power is in with another power does not affect the relations of that power with any of the other powers. When a power degrades an “allied” status to an “at peace” status with another power, all units of the powers that are in each other’s territories must move out of the other power’s territories in the shortest route possible. If there are several routes that are the same length then the power that owns the units can choose which one.

Political Situation

Germany is at war with the United Kingdom, ANZAC, France, and Canada; at peace with the Soviet Union, the United States and China; and allied with Japan and Italy.

The Soviet Union is at peace with Germany, Japan, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Italy, ANZAC, France, and Canada.

Japan is at war with China; at peace with the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, ANZAC, France, and Canada; and allied with Germany and Italy.

The United States is at peace with Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, ANZAC, France, and Canada; and allied with China.

China is at war with Japan; at peace with Germany, the Soviet Union, Italy, and France; and allied with the United States, the United Kingdom, ANZAC, and Canada.

The United Kingdom is at war with Germany and Italy; at peace with the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States; and allied with China, ANZAC, France, and Canada.

Italy is at war with the United Kingdom, ANZAC, France, and Canada; at peace with the Soviet Union, the United States, and China; and allied with Germany and Japan.

ANZAC is at war with Germany and Italy; at peace with the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States; and allied with China, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada.

France is at war with Germany and Italy; at peace with the Soviet Union, Japan, the United States, and China; and allied with the United Kingdom, ANZAC, and Canada.

Canada is at war with Germany and Italy; at peace with the Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States; and allied with China, the United Kingdom, ANZAC, and France.

Changes to Units

Tank
Can target other Tanks
Does not increase a Tactical Bomber’s attack

AAA (Antiaircraft Artillery)
Defense 1
Can move during the conduct combat phase

Fighter
Cost 6
Attack 2
Defense 3
Can target Air Units on a 1 to 1 basis
Can target Land and Naval Units at 1 attack and defense
Does not increase a Tactical Bomber’s attack

Tactical Bomber
Cost 7
Can target Land Units
Can target Naval Units
Can target Air Units at 1 attack and defense
When a Tactical Bomber goes on a tactical bombing raid, cut your die roll in half, rounding up

Strategic Bomber
Cost 8
Attack 2
Defense 1
Can target Land and Naval Units at 2 attack and defense
Must take off from a territory with an operational Air Base in it to conduct a strategic bombing raid
Does not get +2 added to its die roll in a strategic bombing raid

Air Transport (use a Strategic Bomber with a national marker placed under it)
Cost 7
Attack 0
Defense 0
Move 4
Can carry 1 Infantry
Must take off from a territory with an operational Airbase in it when transporting an Infantry
Cannot be targeted by Air Units unless there is less than 1 Fighter or Tactical Bomber per Air Transport
If an Air Transport is destroyed by AAA fire or shot down by an intercepting Fighter or Tactical Bomber, any Infantry it is carrying are destroyed.

Battleship
Can target Naval Units
Gets one surprise strike on the first round of combat if undamaged

Only 1 Battleship can be purchased each turn per power, and each Battleship takes one turn to become operational. If you just purchased a Battleship, place it on the territory you are producing it in and leave it there. On your next turn during your “place units” phase, you must then put the Battleship in an adjacent sea zone and it is now fully operational.

Aircraft Carrier
Can carry up to 3 Fighters or Tactical Bombers or a mix of each
Defending Fighters on an Aircraft Carrier get -1 defense vs Air Units

Only 1 Aircraft Carrier can be purchased each turn per power, and each Aircraft Carrier takes one turn to become operational. If you just purchased an Aircraft Carrier, place it on the territory you are producing it in and leave it there. On your next turn during your “place units” phase, you must then put the Aircraft Carrier in an adjacent sea zone and it is now fully operational.

Battleships and Aircraft Carriers can only be produced in a in a territory with an operational Naval Base in it.

A Battleship and an Aircraft Carrier can both be purchased on the same turn, just not more than 1 of each per turn.

To repair a damaged Battleship or Aircraft Carrier, it must be in a sea zone adjacent to a territory you control or adjacent to a territory of a power that you are allied with. It costs 5 IPC’s to repair a Battleship or Aircraft Carrier, or 2 IPC’s each if there is an operational Naval Base in a territory that borders that sea zone. If you are in a sea zone adjacent to a territory controlled by a power you are at peace with, you must get permission to repair your Battleship or Aircraft Carrier.

Cruiser
Cost 12
Move 3
Gets +1 attack and defense if it is paired with a Battleship
Naval Bases do not give a Cruiser a +1 movement bonus

Destroyer
For each Destroyer you have, it forces 1 attacking or defending Submarine to target the Destroyer instead of other units.

Transport
Cost 6
Cannot be targeted by any unit unless there is less than 1 warship per Transport unit. If this is the case the Transports that are not matched with a warship can be targeted. Transports have no defensive value, but a unit that attacks a Transport must get a “hit” to destroy that Transport.

Submarine
Cost 7
Can target Naval Units

Other Rules Changes

During an amphibious invasion, the attacking power’s Land Units that unloaded from Transports not get to fire for the first round of combat.

Minor Industrial Complexes may be built on islands with a value of 2 IPCs or more, but they cost 30 IPCs.

When one power captures another power’s capital, the capturing power gets all the captured power’s IPC’s, but the power that got their capital captured still gets to collect income for any remaining territories and may still purchase units and facilities.

There are no national objectives.

Table talk, bartering, lending, selling or giving IPCs or units, making alliances, exchanging territories, backstabbing, and whining are all allowed and encouraged.

Optional Rules

If all players agree, they may use texting to secretly send messages to each other.

If all players agree, everyone starts out at peace with each other and there is no attacking on the first turn.

If all players agree, the permanent alliances and national objectives of Axis & Allies Global 1940: Second Edition can be in effect.

National Advantages (optional)

Germany
1. Your Tanks attack and defend on a 4 or less and require 2 hits to kill, but cost 8 IPC’s and you may only build 1 Tank at each Industrial Complex you own per turn.
2. Your AAA attack and defend on a 2 or less in regular combat and may target Tanks.

Soviet Union
1. You may build Minor Industrial Complexes on any land territory that is not an island and has a value of 1 IPC or more.
2. Your Mechanized Infantry get 1 first strike at 2 or less on the first round of combat.

Japan
1. Your air units get +1 movement, but are shot down by enemy AAA fire on a roll of 2 or less.
2. Your Cruisers and Destroyers get 1 first strike on the first round of combat only.
3. If you attack a territory with only Infantry, you may choose to do a Banzai attack. Your Infantry do not fire on the first round of combat, but on all successive rounds of the attack they attack at a 2 or less.
4. Your Tanks cost 5 IPCs, but they attack and defend on a 2 or less.

United States
1. Your Tanks cost 5 IPCs, but they attack and defend on a 2 or less.

China
1. Once per turn on your place units phase, you may place 1 Infantry for free on any of your original territories that is worth 1 IPC.

United Kingdom
1. Once per turn on your place units phase, you may place 1 Infantry for free on any of your original territories that is worth 1 IPC.

Italy
1. Your Infantry that attack from an Air Transport attack at a 2 or less.
2. Your Infantry may move into and through impassible territories.

ANZAC
1. If one of your original territories is captured, on your place units phase of your next turn you may place 1 infantry for free in each of your original territories you still control. You may only do this once per game.

France
1. Once per turn on your place units phase, you may place 1 Infantry for free in the territory of France, Normandy/Bordeaux, or Southern France.

Canada
1. The United States may never declare war on you, unless you have units of another power that the United States is at war with in one of your original territories and you are not at war with that power.
2. If one of your original territories is captured, on your place units phase of your next turn you may place 1 infantry for free in each of your original territories you still control. You may only do this once per game.

[CWO Marc]

I’ve only had a chance to have a quick glance at this, but it looks interesting and I quite like Canada being upgraded to player nation status.  One part puzzles me: the rule at the end which says “The United States may never declare war on you, unless you have units of another power that the United States is at war with in one of your original territories and you are not at war with that power.”

One part of the rule seems clear enough: the part which seems to say that the US can’t declare war on Canada simply because hostile enemy forces (which Canada is at war with) are on Canadian soil.  That’s entirely reasonable.  The rest of the rule, however, seems to imply that the US can declare war on Canada if any Canadian territory contains foreign units with which Canada is not at war but with which the US is at war.  This raises two questions.  First, I’m having trouble figuring out how such a situation might arise.  (The answer is perhaps in your “Each power is free to declare war” paragraph, which has a long section on changes of international relations and on troop movements arising from them – but frankly I found that paragraph too complicated to understand.)  Second, if it’s indeed possible for non-hostile foreign troops to be on Canadian soil under peacetime conditions without Canada being able to do anything about it except declaring war on the visitor/intruder, how can it be considered fair for the US to declare war on Canada for a situation over which it has no control?

Perhaps I’m just completely misunderstanding some fundamental aspect of the house rule, but either way could you shed some light on this issue?

[knp7765]

Yeah, I was confused by that too. It says that Canada is at war with Germany and Italy, but at peace with Japan. So it seems to me that it is theoretically possible for Japanese troops to land in a Canadian territory but not take control of it.
Then, if and when the US is at war with Japan, they can attack the Canadian territory that has Japanese troops in it. I guess that would be declaring war on Canada?
Perhaps he is meaning this variant to be possible for the US to be at war with the Axis and some Allies as well. Since Canada is Allied with the UK and ANZAC, I guess that would mean the US declaring war on the UK and ANZAC as well.

[Faramir]

Japan could not move units into Canada at the start of the game because it is only at peace with Canada, not allied with Canada. Canada can prevent another power that is at war with the United States from moving their units into Canadian territory by simply not becoming allied with them, as units can only move into another power’s territory if they are allied. I gave Canada that National Advantage so the much stronger U.S. would not invade Canada every game.

[CWO Marc]

@Faramir:

Japan could not move units into Canada at the start of the game because it is only at peace with Canada, not allied with Canada. Canada can prevent another power that is at war with the United States from moving their units into Canadian territory by simply not becoming allied with them, as units can only move into another power’s territory if they are allied. I gave Canada that National Advantage so the much stronger U.S. would not invade Canada every game.

Thanks for the clarifications.  I have some follow-up questions which apply to all countries, not just to Canada.

If country X and country Y are at war with each other, country Z can presumably be at peace with both of them simultaneously…but can it be an ally of both of them simultaneously?  In other words, can country Z simultaneously fight alongside two countries who are fighting each other – in effect supporting both sides of a war at the same time?  And as a reverse question, could country Z be simultaneously at war against both countries X and Y, even if X and Y are at war with each other – in effect opposing both sides of a war at the same time?

On a related point, if country Z is at peace with countries X and Y (who are at war with each other) and country Z then becomes an ally of country X, is country Z automatically considered to be at war with country Y?

I guess my concern in all this is that it seems complicated (to me, at least) to keep track of the three possible statuses (allied, at peace, at war) that every individual country has vis-a-vis every other individual country.  That makes for a lot of permutations to keep sorted out properly at every moment of the game.  It’s true that, in WWII, the relationships between the world’s countries were very complex and that they kept changing as the conflict progressed…but I’m wondering what mechanism would be used in a game situation to keep track of all these permutations?  Some sort of table-and-marker system?  The conventional A&A gaming system uses the much more simple (or simplistic, depending on how one wants to view it) system of treating international relations wholesale rather than retail: the Axis is treated as one block, the Allies are treated as another block, the neutrals are treated as a third block, and an individual nation’s status is simply an expression of which block it belongs to.

[Faramir]

“If country X and country Y are at war with each other, country Z can presumably be at peace with both of them simultaneously…but can it be an ally of both of them simultaneously?”

Yes to both. The term “allied” is meant to mean that the two nations have good enough relations with each other to allow each other’s units to move into their territory. It does not mean that they are fighting a common enemy. Maybe “open borders” would be a better term to use.

“And as a reverse question, could country Z be simultaneously at war against both countries X and Y, even if X and Y are at war with each other…”

Yes.

“…-- in effect opposing both sides of a war at the same time?”

You could phrase it that way, but it would be more like a 3-way free-for-all.

“On a related point, if country Z is at peace with countries X and Y (who are at war with each other) and country Z then becomes an ally of country X, is country Z automatically considered to be at war with country Y?”

No. Relations with one nation do not affect relations with other nations. “Allied” is probably not the best word to use though like I said above.

It is a somewhat complicated system and it would require a tracker to keep track of it all, but it’s for players who want diplomacy in their games and “what if” scenarios. In the optional rules section I did include the optional rule that the permanent alliances of Global 1940 can be in effect so players can just test out the other new rules. Thanks for your interest.

[CWO Marc]

@Faramir:

It is a somewhat complicated system and it would require a tracker to keep track of it all

One way to do it would be by printing out a table similar to the one I’ve attached below.  It’s just a rough sketch and it only uses three countries, but it’s simply for illustrative purposes.  You’d need a set of markers to go with it – let’s say, some A&A mini poker chips.  Leaving out the self-pairings, which are blacked out to show that they’re invalid combinations, each pair of countries has two cell options: an ALLIED cell and an AT WAR cell.  A marker would be placed on whichever cell reflects the current relationship of the two powers.  There is also an implicit third option: having no marker on either cell, which means the two countries are AT PEACE, which is the intermediate status in your house rule.

[Faramir]

That would work great.