AAA Global Alpha+2 - IPC Record Sheet and .doc of setup/rules

Global 42 is an official axis and allies game. Some might not be aware of it or the fact it was designed for tournament play. It’s been out for several years now. 7 full rounds at which point you count axis controlled IPCs (not counting NOs). If Axis have 125 IPCs on the board they win.

But the point of this thread is about the balance it provides. Granted, it’s almost a totally different game than G40. And many discussions have focused on the idea of balance. Interestingly, I think the turn order is the main reason. Plus it’s kind of nostalgic (when remembering the turn order of Classic/Revised):
Russia
Japan
America
China
Germany
British/UK Pacific
Italy
ANZAC
France

Japan: Starts with 14 planes as opposed to 21. Has the option to conduct a risky naval opener. It may achieve a head start for limited naval supremacy. It could also get India on round 3 if the UK player isn’t careful. However, Japan could easily fall apart due to having 7 less planes and risky opener battles.

Germany: No longer has the Italian can opener threat. This is huge and really changes the dynamics. Germany gets attacked by Russia first, and has to re-cock. German units are in N. Africa and in the Med is a destroyer n’ transport. However, Germany can’t easily go everywhere like it can in G40.

For 7 rounds, the Axis can rampage and win according to the tournament victory rules.

However, if playing according to the regular OOB rules for victory, I think this setup leans Allies but not as much as G40 leans Axis.
Is this a balanced setup as is or would the axis need a small bid, maybe 3-10 IPCs. I think a small bid would make the Global very balanced and probably more fun for both sides.

Thank you stormchaser and welcome to the forums (officially).

Little_Boot,

––If you want an longer A&A game with expanded unit types, new countries to play, and some additional land & sea zones I suggest you check out HBG’s Global Warfare 1939. It has been play tested for approximately two years and is quite balanced now.
––IMHO,…it is just what you have described. You can use the A&A units you already have and just add the new countries units and the new unit TYPES for the ‘standard’ countries.
----I have no doubt that HBG’s Global Warfare 1939 is to be the future of our A&A gaming experiences. They are already planning to release a 1934/36/39 version later this year(2014).

“Tall Paul”

Fantastic!  Thanks Bob!

I do not like the idea of having Japan need all those territories for an NO.  There are so many avenues of attack, it seems hard to imagine Japan getting the NO for more than a round and if they did, then they would be in a position that they would not need it.

I feel it may be a better solution if Japan were to have an NO for Hong Kong (Kwangtung), Manilla (Philippines) and Kiangsu (Beijing).  The problem is, those are all victory cities, so wouldn’t Japan already be going for those?

Maybe Alaska would be better, since Japan actually did invade Alaska (Aluetian Islands) historically.

Japan seems more capable of wiping out China with more land units. I started playing Alpha +.2 last night and my roommate has almost cleared out China.

@TheDefinitiveS:

So to get the topic back to victory conditions as I have not had a chance to look at alpha setup because im apparently banned from the larry harris website is it 8 out of 11 AND 6 out of 8 VCs or is it 8 out of 11 OR 6 out of 8 VCs

or

@kcdzim:

Tragically, there are not enough japanese roundels to do this (later in the game).

What’s even more tragic (or fortunate depending on how you look at it) is that I have 10 differe A&A’s so a lack of control markers for the big 5 is never an issue. A lack of ANZAC markers on the other hand…