Seeking advice on converting Classic +1942 into Global 1940

Hey Foxtrot,
Here’s a little info that might help you in your quest.  First of all, about the ICs.  In Classic, Revised, 1942, etc. they only had one kind of IC and they used plastic pieces to represent them.  In the 1940 games, they came out with major and minor ICs and use cardboard counters to represent them.  Personnaly, I hate the cardboard counters and prefer the plastic pieces.  You can use the grey ICs from 1942 for Majors and the white ICs from Classic as Minors.  Another option for your majors is to use the grey city pieces from Risk as they are about the same shade of grey and look great on the board.  You can get them for just $2.50 for a bag of 15 cities with the blue army pieces at the following link:

http://www.hasbro.com/customer-service/orderform.cfm?sku=45086

As for the roundels, Europe 1940 and the 50th Anniversary games came out with good, high quality roundels that were nice and thick.  The roundels from Revised, 1942 and Pacific 1940 were very thin.  Roundels from the first Pacific and Europe games are also thick and of decent quality.  Check on eBay.  Some sellers sell little sets of just roundels and you could probably pick up some fairly cheap.  You could probably get away with just 20-30 roundels for most games.  I think Japan would need the most.
A suggestion for playing pieces – there is a seller on eBay that I know called “boboshonda” that sells whole sets of national pieces for $9.99-$14.99 each.  That would be a good place for you to pick up the smaller countries like ANZAC, France and Italy.  Those sets also include a small number of roundels for those countries.  Also, although I myself am a HUGE piece junkie, you really can get by with a small number of actual playing pieces if you have a lot of the little white and red chips.  I even have blue (10) and Yellow (20) chips, though I tend to try and cram actual pieces on the board.
Here is a setup of the common pieces needed for the Global 1940 Alpha +2 setup:
8 Major Industrial Complexes
12 Minor Industrial Complexes
16 Anti-Aircraft Guns
22 Air Bases
22 Naval Bases
Now, That is just what you need to start the game.  It doesn’t account for any new facilities you may want to build during the game.

Good Luck.  Let us know how your project goes.

@Foxtrot:

Is there a difference in the quality of the cardboard used for the ICs, bases, and roundels between the two versions?

I don’t keep track of which of my roundels come from which game, but one detail I do recall is that the roundels in Pacific 1940 and Europe 1940 have different back colours – one is black and one is white (though I don’t recall which is which).  I think Anniversary is the only other game that used black backings.

Hey Foxtrot, I’m going to try and answer your questions as best as I can from my own experience in playing the Global 1940 game.  First of all, if you have a full copy of 1942, I think you will be okay in pieces for the five major nations in Global.  The only missing items would be Mech Inf and Tac Bombers.
1. FRANCE = You could probably get by with 2 pieces each of fighters, tanks and artillery.  I would say 3-4 just to play it safe, in case France gets liberated or doesn’t fall in round 1 and actually has a chance to purchase units.
    ANZAC = 3-4 each of tanks and artillery would probably be okay here too.  ANZAC stays in the game longer than France but they have a low income so don’t buy quite as much.  However, ANZAC starts the game with 3 fighters so you might want to have 5 or 6 to play with.
    ITALY = The Italians can be more active than ANZAC or France so you would probably want more artillery, tanks and fighters for them, especially if they beat the Brits and start taking over Africa and the Middle East.  I would say a minimum of 6 of each piece would be good, 8-10 would be better.
2. FRANCE = France starts the game with 2 DDs and 2 CAs so you need at least that much.  A couple of subs and transports wouldn’t hurt.  I imagine you could do without any capital ships for France.
    ANZAC = I would suggest you have a little more navy with ANZAC.  4 transports, 4 subs, 2-4 DDs, 2 CAs and 1 or 2 BBs and CVs would probably do you just fine.
    ITALY = Italy starts out with a pretty strong navy (1 BB, 2 CA, 2 DD, 1 SS and 3 Transports).  So, for the Italians, I would suggest having at least one CV, 2 BBs, 4 CAs, 4-6 DDs and SSs and at least 6 transports.
4. Subs for Germany = I would say at least have 10.  They start out with 5 and Germany will want to keep building new ones to keep pressure on England.
5,7.  Tac Bombers for Germany = 9 should be good.
6.  Tac Bombers for Japan = 10 should be good.
8.  The BBs from the early Europe and Pacific games are a little shorter than the current ones except for the Japanese.  The Jap BBs are the same size.  Also, the Russian BBs in Europe, Revised and Anniversary games are simply the British Royal Oak Class in Russian color.  It wasn’t until the 1942 game that they came out with an actual Soviet style of BB, the Gangut class.
9.  Fighters for Japan = Japan starts the game with fighters in 6 different territories plus 3 on carriers.  That’s a total of 9 pieces even with chips.  I would say if you could get about at least 15 fighters for Japan, you would probably be okay.
10.  Strategic Bombers = 4 for any nation should be plenty.
11.  Capital Ships = This one is kind of hard to answer.  Japan starts out with 3 carriers and 2 battleships.    UK starts out with 1 carrier and 3 battleships.  USA only starts with 1 of each but  will surely build more to compete with Japan.  I would say 4 of each for USA and Japan.  For the UK, 4 BBs and 2 CVs would be okay.
12.  Tac Bombers = Yeah, the UK doesn’t use tacs much.  They only start out with 2.  The main nations that use tacs alot would be Germany and Japan, followed by USA and maybe Russia.  3 pieces for the rest of the nations should be okay.
13.  Mech Inf = You could probably go light on the Mechs (3-4 pieces)  for UK, ANZAC, France and Italy.  USA starts the game with 4 so you would probably want a few more for them.  I don’t see Japan as needing very many, but maybe that’s just how we play Japan in my game group.  You definitely want more for Germany and Russia.  They both use a lot.
14.  Artillery for China = The game book says you just use US artillery for China so if you have plenty of US artillery, you will do just fine.  However, if you are planning on getting separate artillery pieces specifically for China, 5-6 should be plenty.  If Japan is playing aggressive, they usually shut down the Burma Road and keep it closed in which case China can’t buy artillery.

On your questions about the 1942 game piece counts, I would say the answers to questions A, B, C and D would be yes.  Those amounts, plus chips, should be sufficient.  As for Question E, No, the US and UK do not need the double amounts of pieces that they get if you get an Pacific 1940 and a Europe 1940.  It’s just that both the US and UK are in each of those theaters so they need a full set in each game so they can be played (and purchased) separately.  Imagine if you only wanted to play Pacific 1940 but you HAD to buy Europe 1940 just to get US and UK playing pieces, or visa-versa.

Well, I hope this helps you.  I would still like to recommend that eBay seller “boboshonda” for sets of the lesser countries pieces.  I think that would be a big help in your quest.  Good luck.

I guess if I was in your position, I would use classic game pieces for the new countries:

Old Germans are gray I think, they could be Italians, Old Russians would be good for Anzac. Old UK for India,  Old U.S. for China, France could be old Japanese or Fortress America Southern Invaders.

France seldom builds units, in fact all you really need are some infantry for later African moves. Tactical bombers if you do not care could be fortress America bomber pieces, use some helicopters for smaller countries if they need any.

I rarely see many tactical bomber builds. Maybe Russia, and America might build some. Carriers and destroyers are built a lot in my games. Since transports are non combatants in 1940, just use transports as Destroyers, I rarely build cruisers, so just use a battleship with a penny underneath it as a cruiser. Just use paper to represent transports. Not sure if this is a good idea, but mechanized units can be risk pieces or even monopoly houses…

Just a few tips with not too much insight. Hope this helps.