Cards for Axis and Allies 1940

@Ghost:

Great :-D all that sounds good, i love the pic for the GPW. also if you have the time could you post an update list of the card types thanks :lol: and keep asking questions about our thoughts it is appreciated.

Revised Card Types

Cabinet Ministers- Cabinet Members range from Civilian, Corporate, and Military figures who will aid the war effort in a variety of ways. Examples would include people like Albert Speer, Molotov, or George Marshall.

Chief of Staff- The Chief of Staff is a special type of cabinet minister who gives a benefit to the entire military. While you may have many Chief of Staff cards in your hand, only one may be in play at a time. For 5 ipcs you may replace your existing Chief of Staff with another Chief of Staff card from your hand. The dismissed Chief of Staff card is not discarded. Rather, it returns to your hand. You never know if you’ll need to call on his services again.

Commanders- Commander cards would be able to grant their special bonus to one battle per turn. So, General Chukov’s benefits could be used on both the German and Soviet turns but only during one battle in each of those turns. These cards’ benefits may stack, so you could have multiple commanders giving their unique benefits to a single battle. Commanders will have a skill level and rank for optional rules.

Corporations- Corporations give various benefits to the war effort but are located in a specific territory. If that territory is captured you no longer gain the corporation’s benefits until you can liberate the territory. Examples would be Krupp, various Soviet Design Bureaus, or Chrysler.

National Advantages- These cards would represent unique national advantages for the various nations that aren’t covered in the other types. A couple examples would be the Trans Siberian Railroad or Japanese banzai attacks.
Puppets- These cards represent people like Vidkun Quisling or Pu Yi. They give a onetime bonus to the occupied territory that they are from and are then (usually) discarded.

Puppets- These cards represent people like Vidkun Quisling or Pu Yi. They (generally) give a onetime bonus to the occupied territory that they are from and are then discarded.

Special Events- Special Event cards would cover unique events in the war. For example the establishment of the Vichy Regime in France would count as a special event. A few “what if” events would be included, like the proposed Franco-British Union, or German the conquest of the Archangelsk to Astrakan line. Events will require certain parameters to be met before they may be played. After use these cards are discarded.

Soviet Chiefs of Staff
For the Soviet Chiefs of Staff I’m using various individuals who were Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed forces during Wartime. I’m also using a few people who had the position of People’s Commissar for Defence during the war. Some people who had these positions won’t be represented by a Chief of Staff card as they either served for too short a time or I’d prefer to use them as a regular commander.

With Commander/Chief of Staff Cards, I’ll try to include a relevant quote from the individual in question.

Boris Shaposhnikov

“In any case, we will see a certain gradualism and advance steps in preparing mobilization in all spheres to a much greater degree than in 1914.”

Effect: Infantry cost 1 ipc less.

Joseph Stalin

“In the Soviet Army, it takes more courage to retreat than advance.”

Effect: Soviet infantry defend at +1 during the first cycle of Combat.

SemyonTimoshenko

“It is necessary to keep in mind the possibility of simultaneously conducting two, if not three, offensive operations of various fronts on a theater of war with the intention of strategically shaking the enemy’s entire combat capability as extensively as possible.”

Effect: If the Soviet Union attacks three or more land territories during its turn then all German units defend at -1 during the first cycle of combat.

Aleksandr  Vasilevsky

“Our offensive on Kharkov demands that we not lose time and we commit all forces so that we can draw off as many divisions as possible.”

Effect: Soviet tanks and Mechanized infantry have a move of 3, but still follow the normal blitzing rules.

Kliment Voroshilov

“Whoever can lift a rifle, should have one.”

Effect: Soviet forces attack at +1 for all cycles of combat, but their casualties are doubled.

For the issues of German Chiefs of Staff I’m going to take people from the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) as well as people from the Oberkommando des Heeres (the Army High Command). Despite the names, the OKH was basically independent of the OKW until a few days before the end of the war. Thus I’m considering the following individuals for the Chief of Staff cards for Germany:

Wilhelm Keitel- Head of the OKW
Alfred Jodl- Keitel’s deputy
Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring- The Head of the Airforce (nominally under the OKW, had the highest rank in the German Military)
Grossadmiral Erich Raeder- the Head of the Navy through 1943 (nominally under the OKW)
Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch- Head of OKH through 1941
Adolf Hitler- Head of the OKH through 1945
General Franz Halder- Army Chief of Staff (under OKH head) from 1938 to 1942
General Kurt Zeitzler Army Chief of Staff (under OKH head) from 1942 to 1944

Grossadmiral Karl Donitz was in charge of the Navy after Raeder, and General Heinz Guderian followed Zeitler as Army Chief of staff. I’m uncertain about whether to include them as regular commanders or as Chief of Staff Cards. Would it be more fun for Heinz to be commanding an individual army (he got so close to Moscow, after all) or giving him an army wide bonus?

The Guderian question is particularly vexing to me. I think he was a great commander, but I also think he was the best Chief of Staff that the army had. Plus, he basically invented Blitzkreig.

Edit: Oh sweet, this was my 100th post. Now I’m an artillery piece. Bwahaha!

@knp7765:

Whether or not any of the individuals that you use in these cards were accused/convicted of war crimes is irrelevant.  I know that the atrocities were a part of the actual history of WW2, but in Axis & Allies we don’t deal with that part.  We only deal with the military conflict.  So if these individuals participated in the military war effort, they should be included.

Here’s another way to look at it;  in many of our games, the Axis win and take over the world.  So, in that case, there would be no Nuremburg trials.  Those individuals that were accused of war crimes in actual history instead would be hailed as heros of the Fatherland.  Remember, it’s the victors that write the history books.

By the way dannyboy2016, love your artillery piece.  That’s the 800mm Gustav, right?

Yeah, that’s my basic way of thinking about it. If a game like Hearts of Iron can have people like Heydrich, Kaltenbrunner, Himmler, and Frick in it as ministers then I don’t see a problem with including people like Speer, Goring, Keitel, Jodl, etc. And if someone is offended by a particular card for some reason then they can just not use the offending card.

You are correct about victors writing the history. If Germany had won then “bomber” Harris would probably have been treated as a war criminal as would the vast majority of the Soviet government.

Finally, yes that’s the Gustav. Did you know they were trying to build a self propelled version of that monster? Speer canceled the project because it was so obviously wasteful.

I’m going to be in San Francisco most of this week for work, but I intend to have a full list of soviet cards and effects posted next week. Any suggestions for the Soviet Union would be most appreciated. Here is the big list of planned Soviet cards so far

CABINET CARDS

Lavrenty Beria
Lazar Kagnanovich
Georgy  Malenkov
Anastas Mikoyan 
Vyacheslav Molotov
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikolai Voznesensky
Andrei Zhdanov

CHIEF OF STAFF CARDS

Boris Shaposhnikov
Joseph Stalin
Semyon Timoshenko
Aleksandr Vasilevsky
Kliment Voroshilov

COMMANDER CARDS

Chuikov
Konev
Kuznetsov
Novikov
Rokossovskiy
Zhukov

CORPORATION CARDS

Tula Arms Plant
Uralvagonzavod Factory
Ilyushin Design Bureau
Tupolev Design Bureau
Chelyabinsk Kirov Narkomtankprom Plant

NATIONAL ADVANTAGES

Black Sea Fleet
JS 2 Heavy tank
Katyusha Rockets
Lucy Spy Ring
Pacific Fleet
Partisans
Sharashka
Richard Sorge
Stavka
Tank Guard Divisions
Trans Siberian Railroad

PUPPETS

Kim Il-sung
Khorloogiin Choibalsan
Mao Zedong
Josip Broz Tito

SPECIAL EVENT CARDS

General Winter
Great Patriotic War
Lend Lease USSR
Not one Step Backwards
Rasputitsa
State Defense Committee

Anything else you guys would want to see? I’d like to get Russia and the German set in stone first before moving on to the UK, US, Japan, Italy and then revising the minors.

Hey guys, I just got laid off in the middle of my trip.  Naturally, as I have no developed the powers of photosynthesis yet (on my to do list), I’ll probably have to devote some time looking for a job. Never the less I will discuss some of the ideas mentioned here.

CWO Marc- Glad you liked the Sorge suggestion. I don’t know how to really work the road of life in as Axis and allies doesn’t have encirclements. Certainly it was a major effort by the USSR and would be worthy of a card. Maybe it would work as something you could play if German forces threatened Leningrad by land.

Hobbes- While I agree with you on Goring’s General incompetence, he was still in charge of the Luftwaffe. At most I’d probably just give him a bonus for the purchasing of Tactical bombers (the type of project that he directed resources to as opposed to strategic bombers or interceptors). I don’t think Keitel was an idiot, just a sycophant. There is a difference. ;)

Your idea about having a single commander card have multiple roles, using Guderian as an example, is a pretty good one.

Re your other ideas:

Industrial Redeployment (IC from Ukraine to Urals)- is covered as an ability of one of the Soviet cabinet Ministers

Shock Armies (or your Guards Divisions)- Good idea! I could have some special token to put under Soviet Guard units. With a limit on how many you can have.

Deep Battle- Any interesting concept, but how would you depict it as a card? Also, wouldn’t you say the Doctrine more or less died with Tukachevsky a few years
before the game starts?

Maskirovka- I would consider this kind of tactics, but I’m wondering how to represent them in a card. Maybe something like a limited version of the lucy spy ring’s effects but that can be done every turn. Or maybe allow the Soviets to take their noncombat turn before their combat turn?

Siberian Divisions- is Covered by the Richard Sorge card. He was Stalin’s spy in Tokyo who was able to confirm that the Japanese were not going to help Hitler out, allowing for the release of those Siberian reinforcements.

Ghost One- The Winter war already happened before the game started. Russia actually controls some of Finland that they took in the war at the start of the game.

CWO Marc- Disadvantage cards is an interesting idea.

otahere34- Yes, some of the ideas you posted are already planned for card. :-D

@Hobbes:

@dannyboy2016:

Deep Battle- Any interesting concept, but how would you depict it as a card? Also, wouldn’t you say the Doctrine more or less died with Tukachevsky a few years
before the game starts?

Deep operations theory was behind Soviet strategy during the entire WW2 and up until 1991. Since it consists of conducting attacks on a wide front with the propose of hiding the actual objective (which is attacked by a 2nd and 3rd echelons of armies) you can replicate it with something like this: if the Soviet Union attacks 2 or more contiguous territories and wins it can choose to freely move the surviving units between those 2 territories during non-combat, but always leaving 1 unit behind.

Maskirovka- I would consider this kind of tactics, but I’m wondering how to represent them in a card. Maybe something like a limited version of the lucy spy ring’s effects but that can be done every turn. Or maybe allow the Soviets to take their noncombat turn before their combat turn?

It can be something like the UK’s Enigma National Advantage.

Your idea about deep operations is interesting, though you have to admit that as a result of the pruges the doctrine took a major setback and the country had to basically relearn it during the war. Though Operation uranus is certainly a good example of that theory being put into practice. I could see it making for a good card though.

Re Maskirovka- yes, it could be something like that. Maybe it or Lucy could be a one time effect while the other can be used more permanently.

Both are good ideas.

Your mention of Deep operations and Maskirovka has given me another idea. What if I had “Doctrine” cards for each country. You could only have one doctrine at a time.