My House Rules modified for Global '39

I’m not sure if this should go in the House Rules topic, or if that would confuse people who are not familiar with Global '39.  I’ll move it if a moderator tells me to do so.

Anyway, I’ve used some of these in other versions of the game, and they’ve worked fairly well.  I want to try them out with Global '39, but I want to make sure I’ve made appropriate modifications.  So if anyone sees any game breakers here, please let me know.

Modified Turn Sequence

Certain powers take their turns at the same time, and can combine their attacks and have their units ride on each others’ transports and air transports.  If two or more Allied/Axis powers participate in an attack on an enemy territory at the same time and capture it, they must decide among themselves which power gains control of the territory.  If they cannot agree, the player from whom the territory was captured gets to decide.  Likewise, if they cannot agree which/whose units to lose when taking casualties as a result of combat, the opposing player gets to decide which units they lose.  The turn sequence is as follows:

1.  Germany/Italy
2.  Russia/Communist China
3.  Japan
4.  Britain/FEC/France/ANZAC/USA/China

Defender Retreats

At the beginning of any round of combat after the first, the defender may declare that he will attempt to retreat any or all of his units. The units he declares to be retreating do not get to fire in that round of combat. They can still be taken as casualties, but he can opt to take casualties out of his non-retreating “rear guard” units first.

Example: A Russian player is defending a territory with 10 infantry, 1 tank, and 1 fighter. The German player is attacking him with 6 tanks, 2 fighters, and 12 infantry. Due to astoundingly bad dice rolls by the German player on the first round of combat, the Russian loses only 3 infantry and the German loses 2. The Russian, not counting on the dice gods to continue to ignore the law of averages, assumes he will lose 5-6 more units on the next round. So he declares that he will retreat his tank, his fighter, and 2 of his infantry. On the second round of combat his 5 “rear guard” infantry score 1 hit on the Germans, and the German units score 6 hits. This eliminates the 5 Russian infantry left behind, plus 1 of the infantry that was trying to retreat. So the Russian successfully retreats 1 infantry, 1 tank, and 1 fighter.

Russian-Japanese Non-Aggression

Japan cannot declare war on Russia unless the Axis controls at least one of the following at the beginning of the Japanese turn:

1.  London
2.  Moscow
3.  Washington, D.C.
4.  San Francisco
5.  Bombay
6.  Every territory on the map with a Chinese roundel printed on it.

Russia cannot declare war on Japan unless the Allies control at least one of the following at the beginning of the Russian turn:

1.  Berlin
2.  Both Rome and Paris
3.  Tokyo

If the conditions are met to declare war but the player chooses not to exercise it immediately, he loses the opportunity if he has not done so before the other side re-captures the relevant cities/territories.

Amphibious Landings

Land units that are not marines, SNLF, or commandoes attack with a 2 on the first round of combat when making an amphibious landing.  If the combat lasts more than one round, they attack normally on all subsequent rounds.  Artillery also loses its ability to support infantry to raise their attack value on the first round of combat during an amphibious landing.  Tactical bombers may not be paired with a tank to raise their attack value on the first round of combat when the tank unit is making an amphibious landing.

Air Transports / Airborne Assaults

Air transports cost 7 IPCs to build.  They have no attack or defense value, and may move up to 4 spaces per turn if carrying an infantry or paratroop.  If they are empty, they can move 6 spaces per turn.  If you do not own air transport pieces, use a heavy bomber with a piece of masking tape on the wing.

During the Non-Combat Movement Phase an air transport may be used to transport one paratroop or regular infantry from one friendly controlled territory to another friendly controlled territory.  This ends the air transport’s movement for the turn, even if it moved less than 4 spaces.  Air transports cannot carry tanks, artillery, mechanized infantry, AA guns, or marines.

During the Combat Movement Phase an air transport that starts its turn in the same territory as a paratroop may load that paratroop and air drop it onto an enemy-controlled territory.  If there is an AA gun in the territory, the air transport must first survive anti-aircraft fire before dropping the paratroop.  If the air transport is destroyed by AA fire, the paratroop is destroyed with it.  If a paratroop is dropped into an enemy controlled territory that contains no enemy combat units, there is assumed to be a “garrison” unit in the territory.  The garrison unit defends with a 1, and must be eliminated before the paratroop can capture the territory.  The garrison unit is ignored if there are also units attacking the same territory that are not making an airborne assault.  When air dropping  paratroops, air transports may not make “suicide runs” (i.e., They must have enough range to land in a friendly controlled territory).

Rail Movement

Each power can transport a certain number of units by railroad during the non-combat movement phase each turn.  Being transported by rail uses a unit’s entire movement allowance for the turn.  Units can move by rail any number of territories per turn, as long as all territories are connected and friendly controlled by a nation that takes its turn at the same time as the player using rail movement.  In other words, German units cannot rail through Japanese controlled territories, and Russian units can’t rail through Nationalist Chinese controlled territories (although they can rail through Communist Chinese controlled territories).  Units may not rail move into or through a territory unless it was friendly controlled at the beginning of the player’s turn.  Rail movement may take place across canals and straits, provided the appropriate territories were controlled at the beginning of the player’s turn.  Rail movement may not take place across impassable areas (i.e., Sahara Desert).  Rail capacity for each player is as follows:

Nationalist China – 1 unit per turn.
Britain – 2 units per turn.
USA – 2 units per turn.
Russia – 2 units per turn.
Communist China - 0
Germany – 2 units per turn.
Italy – 1 unit per turn.
ANZAC – 1 unit per turn.
Japan – 2 units per turn.

Lend-Lease Modifier

If there are no Axis subs or surface ships in the convoy box between sea zones 3, 5, and 14 at the start of the US turn, then add two to the die roll when giving lend lease to the Russians.  For the British, it would be the convoy box between sea zones 27, 31, and 32.

Alternative Factory Production

Major IC: Instead of producing 10 units of any kind, the factory can produce 10 times the printed economic value of its territory. For instance, if the Major IC in Britain is undamaged, it can produce up to 60 IPCs worth of units per turn. That’s 10 tanks, or 20 infantry, or 6 fighters. Western Germany can produce 50.

Minor IC: Can produce 6 times the printed value of the territory.

(Note: The minor IC in Bombay is converted to a major IC.  However, the first 9 IPCs built there each turn must still be infantry.  The major IC in Karelia is converted to a minor IC, but additional minor ICs are added to Kiev and Stalingrad.  The major IC in Fukuoka is converted to a minor IC, but an additional minor IC is added to Sapporo.)

Now this obviously necessitates changes to strategic bombing and repairs. So each point of bomb damage reduces the multiplier by one. Example: If the factory in Western Germany takes 4 points of damage, it can only produce 6 times the value, or 30 IPCs worth of units. Repairs restore the multiplier at a rate of 1 times the economic value per IPC spent on repairs.

“On defenders retreat you shouldn’t be able to take them as casualties if they retreat.”

Well, I was thinking that would prevent someone from leaving a lone infantry behind as a rear guard.  If the defender is going to be able to escape with some of his expensive units, he should at least have to leave behind a sacrificial lamb large enough to slow down the attacker.  If he doesn’t, then he’s going to lose some of the units he’s trying to retreat anyway, without those units getting a chance to bleed the attacker before they die.  Then again, he would be choosing from among units that had to survive at least one round of combat already.  Hmm.  Maybe I’ll try it both ways.  It might work a bit different with 12-sided dice than it did with 6-sided.