AWESOME!!!
The map looks excellent. It’s gonna feel a little weird for a while having so many neutrals that get regularly captured, but I’m sure I can learn to deal ;-).
One big caveat. We may be able to glean some starting setup information from the setup pictured here, but bear the following things in mind which cast doubt on the veracity of the setup (as a starting setup).
- Germany has no white chips under any of their units. Seems unlikely, as without them I would expect the territories to be overflowing. I suspect that this is a photographer’s decision (too many whit chips clutter the board), as the only ones visible are the UK infantry in Africa and the US!?!? infantry in Eastern Europe.
- US infantry in Eastern Europe (with US control marker). Seems more like a creative setup decision (“Hey, let’s get some good ole USA units on the board”). It could be a neutral unit from a just attacked neutral territory, but I would expect those to become Germany or USSR.
- Game progression. We know that Germany has the first turn, but France appears to not have been invaded, indicating that Germany has not moved, but there are a number of Soviet control markers in territories bordering the USSR
So, my guess is that for the photo shoot, they set up the game at or close to the starting setup, then removed almost all the white and red chips, then had someone who didn’t know too much about how the game plays make a few “moves” to give it a more “action” feel, then plopped down some US units somewhere.
That being said, here are some thoughts on the mapboard that are interesting/awesome/disappointing to me
Awesome
- Mediterranean sea appears to be two SZ high and four wide. Lots of room for maneuver
- It looks like four moves from EUSA to either France or UK. EUSA will almost certainly have a naval base but still take two turns to get across.
- USSR is BIG!!
- Lots of convoy zones in the Med and Atlantic. Hope we FINALLY have a War of the Atlantic
Interesting
- Somebody said that Iceland would be important, but it seems to be way to far out of the way to be relevant.
- Staring at pixelated JPEGs for too long gives you a headache
- As spoiled/requested, that impassable marsh in the middle of western Russia is represented
- Africa looks to be even more valuable/less ignorable. By my count, there are 23 territories including neutrals. Given that there are several 2 and 3 value territories to offset any zero value territories, I expect the value of Africa to be at least 25 IPCs.
- Building a complex in West India could turn the tide on the AAP India Crush strategy
Disappointing
- Between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, Europe appears to be only two territories wide. I would have hoped for three to promote maneuver.
- (Setup, so who really knows) I was hoping that there would be more of a UK Indian Ocean fleet on this map to help out in Africa and against the Japanese.
Can’t wait to see what other people turn up.