Europe 1940 shows up on Wizards site…with screenshot

@purplebaron:

On another thread, there was a discussion about how much time it would take to get German reinforcements (AKA, Rommel) into Africa.  Basically it came down to: T1-capture French TT on Med, T2, build IC, T3 Build transports and units at IC, T4, first opportunity for units to arrive in Africa.  This was deemed long and cumbersome, and people were despairing that Africa would become an Italy-only endeavor.

The setup on the image we’ve seen gave me a thought (with all the caveats on the unreliability of the image as a representation of the actual setup).  Even with Germany having no territories on the Med to start, it would be perfectly reasonable and even likely for the Germans to start with a transport and a destroyer in the Med (Relying on Italy for protection).  This way, the Germans could start shuttling units over on turn 2.

Larry has said there are no German transports in the Med(maybe he even said to ships at all). This is fine, since the only German units historically were the Africa Korps, which was basically an upgrade to the poor-quality Italian-divisions. The fact that italy will have fully-functioning infantry and tanks is a representation of the DAK.

@purplebaron:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@purplebaron:

OK, here’s a question.

If you look at the borderbetween Libya and the Sahara, there appears to be an oddly shaped territory that’s colored more like the beige of a neutral territory (no name or other symbol visible, though) than the blue-gray of the impassable Sahara.  Any theories? Is that a possible path to try to outflank the Brits in Egypt, or do you think it’s some other map or picture artifact?

That’s just the rest of Libya(look at a modern map), and is probably there to show that part of Libya is in the Sahara.

I realize that it represents Libya politically, but I don’t see any reason for them to make that distinction on the map unless there was a gameplay reason behind it.  Having it be neutral makes the most sense (and opens up some possibilities), but I can’t see any markings (Name, IPC value, or Unit Silhouettes) that would positively identify it as such.  Hence my question.

I think it’s just an artistic thing, like how they show terrain even though it has no effect on the game

What are those odd markings on the north coast of Brazil??

@Make_It_Round:

What are those odd markings on the north coast of Brazil??

They’re the roundels for Dutch, French, and British Guyana

@calvinhobbesliker:

@purplebaron:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@purplebaron:

OK, here’s a question.

If you look at the borderbetween Libya and the Sahara, there appears to be an oddly shaped territory that’s colored more like the beige of a neutral territory (no name or other symbol visible, though) than the blue-gray of the impassable Sahara.  Any theories? Is that a possible path to try to outflank the Brits in Egypt, or do you think it’s some other map or picture artifact?

That’s just the rest of Libya(look at a modern map), and is probably there to show that part of Libya is in the Sahara.

I realize that it represents Libya politically, but I don’t see any reason for them to make that distinction on the map unless there was a gameplay reason behind it.  Having it be neutral makes the most sense (and opens up some possibilities), but I can’t see any markings (Name, IPC value, or Unit Silhouettes) that would positively identify it as such.  Hence my question.

I think it’s just an artistic thing, like how they show terrain even though it has no effect on the game

I agree with calvin, especially considering that it appears that LH and Co have tried to represent each of the countries involved with their own territory instead of clumping them together.  I would guess it simply shows that the actual borders of Libya extend into the impassable area of the Sahara.

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Make_It_Round:

What are those odd markings on the north coast of Brazil??

They’re the roundels for Dutch, French, and British Guyana

Jeezus.

That didn’t click the first time it was mentioned, for some reason.

What are the implications of this, I wonder?

Will there finally be some action in South America?

…Are any of the Guyanas worth anything, or are they included just to placate us super-obsessive fans?

@Make_It_Round:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Make_It_Round:

What are those odd markings on the north coast of Brazil??

They’re the roundels for Dutch, French, and British Guyana

Jeezus.

I don’t see any ipc circles, so their only use would be to build a naval or air base to operate in that area
That didn’t click the first time it was mentioned, for some reason.

What are the implications of this, I wonder?

Will there finally be some action in South America?

…Are any of the Guyanas worth anything, or are they included just to placate us super-obsessive fans?

No ipc circles, so only purpose is to build AB/NB

@Make_It_Round:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@Make_It_Round:

What are those odd markings on the north coast of Brazil??

They’re the roundels for Dutch, French, and British Guyana

Jeezus.

That didn’t click the first time it was mentioned, for some reason.

What are the implications of this, I wonder?

Will there finally be some action in South America?

…Are any of the Guyanas worth anything, or are they included just to placate us super-obsessive fans?

Honestly, I think they’re just in there for fun since they are already going to that level of detail and now have the French and Dutch present in the game (though the Dutch aren’t actually playable), plus the reason I mentioned above about representing almost all of the countries/provinces involved in the war.  A notable exception being the US as 48 different territories in the mainland would be cumbersome and completely unnecessary: who needs a Rhode Island territory anyway?

However, South America will probably see more action at least as far as the US sending troops down there to collect the extra available IPCs, though how that works out exactly will depend on the rulings for which of those neutrals will be pro-Allied, pro-Axis, or neither.

So I’m looking at the map and it looks like the Sahara extends all the way to the Atlantic. Does that mean Morocco isn’t represented in this game, or just that it can’t be a landing spot for the US to help out in Africa? I do like that you have to go through Egypt to get around the Sahara, so Italy can’t just ignore the forces there and go South.

@maverick_76:

So I’m looking at the map and it looks like the Sahara extends all the way to the Atlantic. Does that mean Morocco isn’t represented in this game, or just that it can’t be a landing spot for the US to help out in Africa? I do like that you have to go through Egypt to get around the Sahara, so Italy can’t just ignore the forces there and go South.

If I had to guess, it’s to ensure the importance of Gibraltar. Since you need Gibraltar to pass into the Med, and you can’t land in Africa without getting into the Med, that would:

A. Actually have Allied and Axis forces clashing at Gibraltar instead of taking turns landing men in Africa.
B. Give some added incentive for the Allies to hunt down the Italian navy, as it should make reinforcing Africa rather difficult in that case.

@kdfsjljklgjfg:

@maverick_76:

So I’m looking at the map and it looks like the Sahara extends all the way to the Atlantic. Does that mean Morocco isn’t represented in this game, or just that it can’t be a landing spot for the US to help out in Africa? I do like that you have to go through Egypt to get around the Sahara, so Italy can’t just ignore the forces there and go South.

If I had to guess, it’s to ensure the importance of Gibraltar. Since you need Gibraltar to pass into the Med, and you can’t land in Africa without getting into the Med, that would:

A. Actually have Allied and Axis forces clashing at Gibraltar instead of taking turns landing men in Africa.
B. Give some added incentive for the Allies to hunt down the Italian navy, as it should make reinforcing Africa rather difficult in that case.

I think you can invade western Algeria without entering the Med

It looks that way for Algeria but I’m just surprised they also don’t have Morocco (from the picture, not a definite thing). But that would be correct, US troops landed in Morocco and Algeria during the invasion of Africa if I’m not mistaken, then allowing them to setup to invade the underbelly of Europe (Italy).

@maverick_76:

It looks that way for Algeria but I’m just surprised they also don’t have Morocco (from the picture, not a definite thing). But that would be correct, US troops landed in Morocco and Algeria during the invasion of Africa if I’m not mistaken, then allowing them to setup to invade the underbelly of Europe (Italy).

I see this a gameplay decision.  I would guess that they want to Italians/Germans to be able to counter attack a US/UK landing at Algeria, with the two fleets standing each other off across the straights of Gibraltar.

That being said, I think it could be interesting having the territory of Morocco being accessible only from the Atlantic side of the straights.

Has anybody run a sharpening filter on this thing to see if they can glean any additional detail?

I had a close ZOOM IN look at this board.  The set-up is 100% fictitious.  If you look at the IPC chart Russia has 10 IPCs but controls most of the Middle east and SW Europe!  Looks like a chimp set this one up.

In addition there does not seem to be ANY French roundel tokens on the board or beside it?  Also not on the IPC chart?  What does this mean?

@FieldMarshalGames:

I had a close ZOOM IN look at this board.  The set-up is 100% fictitious.  If you look at the IPC chart Russia has 10 IPCs but controls most of the Middle east and SW Europe!  Looks like a chimp set this one up.

In addition there does not seem to be ANY French roundel tokens on the board or beside it?  Also not on the IPC chart?  What does this mean?

Could you post the zoom in?

@purplebaron:

Has anybody run a sharpening filter on this thing to see if they can glean any additional detail?

You watch too much CSI.

@cressman8064:

@purplebaron:

Has anybody run a sharpening filter on this thing to see if they can glean any additional detail?

You watch too much CSI.

Perhaps, but that’s probably the only way to get higher quality, since they probably won’t relese the map until September 11.

@cminke:

@calvinhobbesliker:

@cressman8064:

@purplebaron:

Has anybody run a sharpening filter on this thing to see if they can glean any additional detail?

You watch too much CSI.

Perhaps, but that’s probably the only way to get higher quality, since they probably won’t relese the map until September 11.

september 11th???
you mean july or augest? shurly you coud not have ment september. with the quality of wotc and all…

Actually, I do. They’re so bad that:
1. They’ll release a map after the game is released
2. They’ll release it on 911

This better come out 8/24 or I’ll be pissed.