AA50: Strategic - Core Rule #1 –> Pre-placed UK IC

The very first game I played of A&A: Anniversary Ediiton, I remember thinking that this game would have been much better with a pre-placed UK IC in India.  From reading the forums, this seems to be the general consensus.  A UK IC in India would do many things to improve the games’ playout…

-UK helps to keep Japan in check
-Japan doesn’t become a MONSTER
-UK doesn’t get to go 100% against Germany
-Germany actually has a chance of taking out Moscow
-US doesn’t need to be 100% committed against Japan and can help in the Atlantic

As we saw in AAR: Enhanced, these are the funnest types of games to play.  Players are forced with tough decisions on how to divide their limited resources and there is action on multiple fronts.  Now the question for AA50: Strategic is, how can we get a pre-placed IC for UK in a fair and balanced way.

As the game now stands, placing an IC in India on UK1 is a major mistake as it is too difficult to defend vs. a competent Japanese player.  On the flip side, simply just saying UK starts with an IC there would definitely tilt the balance too much in the Allies’ favour.  As a start, I would propose the following:

**AA50: Strategic - Core Rule Change #1

-On UK1 only, during the Purchase Units phase, UK may purchase a “Limited IC” for placement in either India, or Australia.  
-This “Limited IC” costs 8 IPC.  Units purchased on UK1 may be placed at the IC this turn (up to the territory limit)
-This “Limited IC” can only produce INF, RTL, and ARM initially but can be upgraded to a full IC on a future turn (for an additional 7 IPC)**

-The idea here is that UK will be able to purchase 2-3 units in India or Australia before Japan 2 making these areas much more defendable for the long-term.  The units are limited to ground units for balance purposes (no aircraft or boats).
-I’d be comfortable with the initial cost being 5-10 IPC, 8 seemed about right as it’s more than half the full IC cost.  This can be tweaked for balance or even possibly used for the bidding process.
-I’ve excluded Egypt and South Africa for balance reasons.  I had considered Canada at one point but eliminated it as the goal is to encourage action in the Pacific/SE Asia
-I’m sure there are some other aspects that might need clarification and we can deal with those as they come up.

These items are all up for debate though and I’d appreciate your thoughts.  Thanks. :-)

AFTER ACTION REPORT

Hey guys, managed to get a short game started with using only this rule in play

1941 Scenario, with NOs
We did allow Tech but no one has gone for it so far
We only made it to G4
I was Allies, my opponent was Axis (seasoned A&A player but only 2nd game of Anniversary.  I did give him hints about my J1 opening which I probably shouldn’t have  :-) )
We decided pregame that I would take the 1/2 IC for 8 IPC

G1 - pretty standard, went after as much of UK fleet as possible and took the 3 key territories on the Eastern Front
-conservative INF build.  I’d say German losses were maybe a bit more than expected.
R1 - standard, stacked Bury, took back BSt, 2INF Kaz to Per, 1ARM Rus to Cau (just in case India neded the help)
J1 - took out most of Allied Navy with pretty good dice (not much losses)
set up fork on Ind/Aus
UK1 - this was a critical decision.  Japan did have better than average rolls and had most of their aircraft intact.  Aus was definitely a safe spot.  Ind was OK but I would need the Rus INF and the FTR from Egy (I would end up leaving the ARM in Rus).  I bought AC(14),DD(8),IC(8),2ARM(10),1INF(3).
I1 - bought a TRN and loaded up Lib.  A bit of support sent to France
US1 - didn’t send any FTRs to Aus as odds didn’t look great (would have been OK if new UK IC + units were there).  Built AC,DD,SUB,CA.  China still had FTR and conducted attack.  Transported units to UK

G2-3 pushed towards Karelia.  Attacked on G4.  Was a really close battle with Germany winning with 2ARM + Air left.  Ended up calling game for now there as it was late but certainly game could still go either way.  UK had some units positioned in Fin with the fleet in SZ6
R2-3 mostly INF with occ RTL and ARM.  Karelia ended up falling but Cau and Rus pretty secure
J2-3 Japan was very active fighting on a lot of fronts.  They took Aus J2.  Income was in the mid-40s.  They were just starting to come back towards India on J3.  Still looks like they need 1-2 more turns to be a threat though
UK2-3 noticed they were not as dominant in the Atlantic as normal.  However, India was pretty strong.  Had to fall back a bit in Africa and surrendered Egypt.  Very fun to play though.  Managed to cheap shot a Jap TRN with my FTR (he forgot about the no defense thing) :-D
I2-3 Italy did OK.  They eventually took Egypt.
US2-3 Went mostly Pacific but did send some stuff towards Europe as well.  Couldn’t really get past Hawaii as Japan navy was pretty strong.  China was just barely holding on but FTR was still intact.  Income was in high 40s

We ended the game at 2am, but hopefully will pick it up in the next week or 2
My buddy thought the 1/2 IC idea was… in his words… “AWESOME!”
I’m not sure I’d describe it in those words, but it definitely added a lot to the game  :-)
He said his 1st game was total KGF and Monster Japan (He was Allies) just like all the previous editions

I know it’s just one game, and it’s early, but  here are some of my general observations…

-Germany actually seems stronger in this game.  UK can’t just build their big fleet and drop units wherever they please.  They also seem to be more of a threat to get to Russia.
-UK has some tough purchase decisions.  They need to support both UK but also their other IC
-Japan is definitely not as dominant.  They got some great dice J1 and so still managed to run over China, but the Indian IC definitely slows them down.
-US still seems to be a bit weak fleet wise but having the Indian IC for Japan to deal with definitely helps (ie. not a complete mismatch)

-As for balance, it’s really hard to say at this point.  So far, things seem to be pretty even.  The India IC’s standing is pretty tentative.  It’s going to depend on how much Japan can send over there while at the same time trying to keep balance with the building US Navy.  Even with that said, I beleive the rule achieves what we set out to do since Monster Japan is no more, and Germany is the more dominant Axis power with a chance to take Moscow (UK not as much of a hindrance to them).

Bottom Line: Good Rule change so far, and I’d encourage more people to give it a try.  Feel free to post your After Action Reports on this thread.  :-D

I stacked them in Bury and they’re still there
He has 1 INF in Man so I haven’t been able to just walk in
He hasn’t really tried getting them out of Bury or positioned himself to do so (his TRNs are mostly down south)