I do not know what the FAQ has to do with anything, players always had to agree on what the VC conditions were, it is only 9 if they cant agree and it is 9 because Larry Harris believes in USA pacific, even though Russia cannot survive against Germany nor can the UK build a navy without USA for a freaking long time of saving money due to seazone / transport changes, plus Japan starts with more stuff and makes the same money as USA within two or three rounds.
There is a reason why this is among the least played boards, should just reprint 50th anniversary with an extra infantry in egypt and call it a day. Revised was a close game out of box and to slam the allies with 5 huge nerfs and expect people to play the minimum vc fast game win condition? I do not understand at all. I can see there was an attempt at making the spaces between Japan and Russia longer, but there is a route that takes 4 turns which is the same as the old one so there is no nerf there for the axis. Karelia starting with an IC is an axis buff. southern europe / Italy is only 3, huge nerf for the allies, previously if USA held it, that was 6 tanks a round and eventually Germany goes under fast, now it is 3 only, transports dont roll, TUV differential is now only 47 in favor of the allies (considering the allies start with 4 more ics which is 60 tuv… the real tuv value at the start now favors the axis) , however the # of units on the map between axis and allies is roughly the same. No safe seazone for UK to build in. I could go on, but 2nd edition for both global and 1942… still far from being close to an even game. Global I was disappointed because in alpha 3 I made it very clear to yall how stacked the axis was and 2nd edition gets printed with 1 less infantry in egypt than alpha 3, which was a huge slap to my face.
I am telling you, you will get 90%+ axis win ratios with 9 vc only.