Delta Deck: cards for playing G40 Delta house rules

@MasterMark26 Glad I could share the ideas !

For the trucks, I 3D-printed some models on Shapeways and added them to my collection after painting them. Here is the link to the model in my shop :

https://www.shapeways.com/product/RK9QJAH6V/wwi-truck-x12?optionId=128058468&li=shop-inventory

You can see the end result on the Plastic Commando’s YT channel once he painted them (and he did a great job) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADQnU6f0gKQ

There’s other options like gun-mounted trucks, which could be a hybrid mobile-artillery / AA battery, armored cars, and more ! So if you want to make things more interesting, feel free to be creative !

For your tank idea, I wonder if the increased cost would make them appealing. They sure would boost your offensive power by boosting your infantry, it’s just a question of would you be able to buy enough to make a difference. Let me know how it turns out !

Happy gaming, good sir !

Thanks, we might give it a go not to change anything.

Off topic: I’ve thought about Europe 1940, but it’s so many rules and exceptions. I’d rather underwhelm than overwhelm them  :-) If they like Spring '42, they can always ‘upgrade’ to Global/Europe 1940 later on. If they think Spring 42 is too complicated, then the game series just isn’t for them. If they think it’s too simple, I can spring my Global-1940-monstersized-board-trap  :lol: I just want them to have a good time, get used to the flow of the game and see what happens.

The Nazi practice of infiltration of the politics of a neutral they want on their side. They finance, provide support and weapons to overthrow and supplant the existing government.

Yugoslavia
Hungary
Romania
Bulgaria
etc.

You’re correct CWO marc, that was more or less exactly what I was suggesting.  :-D But its just a suggestion.

I find that a collaborative approach is generally stronger, than trying to strike off and develop a bunch of independent competing systems that are trying to achieve similar goals. House rules likewise are more fun when you get a couple houses trying the same thing to see how it plays out.  Forums communication is slow sometimes, since we have lives outside of A&A, but I’d trust YG to pull in the reigns, or excise the extraneous, if I’ve gone too far left field.

The main reason I think it’s cool to try and attach values to the standard deck, is that it’s very easy to tweak and test the advantages this way. So from a development standpoint, it is possible to test things right away before we plug in values and set the deck. Rather than drafting rules first and sending it out to the printers in China, only to find a week or two later, that it would be awesome to add something or tweak some aspect of it.

@Young:

Sorry for my absence here, I’m working on many different things at once.

My plan is to create a deck with 54 cards…

2 of each nation specific strategic advantage cards = 32 3 of each community specific strategic advantage cards = 15 1 of each nation specific progressive advantage cards = 7

If all this can be easily translated into a generic playing card deck, than all is good… However, my custom cards look much better than a regular deck.

Thanks for all the comments and interest in this idea, I will address all your post’s in detail soon.

Cheers.

Oh cool there’s the man! So with a 54 card deck planned that matches exactly a full deck including jokers! I expect also that the printers print with those numbers in mind for their boxing. This is a strong start because it means you’d have the same number of total fortunes cards as you have in a normal deck.

So picture this, to achieve a specific 1:1 card to card ratio, all you’d have to do is flag the joker… (You mark it with a felt pen on the face side.) Now you have 54 distinct cards, and you could match every card in your fortunes deck to a card in the flagged standard deck (both jokers in play.)

Now consider that all you would need at that point, to make the fortunes deck a standard deck (a deck that could function just like a real deck as well as a fortunes deck), is to include one small graphic in just one corner of the card!

It could be very small, and doesn’t need to be mirrored (not on two sides,  head and foot, just at one or the other.) Tiny as you like.

Envision a small K inside a Heart, or an A inside a spade, a 10 inside a diamond,  or a 2 inside a club. All small and tucked off to the lower right hand corner of the card.

These symbols would look badass anyway, like tiny war code designations!  :-D The sort of thing one might paint on the side of a bomber, or draft up in a patch. It could look cool and unassuming, but provide addition functionality, while retaining the overall aesthetic cohesiveness of a WW2 era Fortunes Deck. It could even provide a shorthand reference for the individual cards.

Manhattan Project = Suicide King, K inside the Diamond
Or things of that sort. For each card

You know like code hehe

It wouldn’t dominate the card aesthetically, it only needs to be large enough that it can be read by the player holding the card. This doesn’t seem like too tall an order, considering that this one minor addition of suit/number info, would expand the potential use of the deck considerably.

Think of all the things you could do with a standard deck of cards, one that had cool art and cool R&D bonus rules. It just seems fairly easy, so I thought I would make the case. Not only could you use it for R&D, but you could do R&D and anything else you can create with a full deck of playing cards. It just seems like an easy win on all counts.

And it would make testing the fortunes pretty easy.

There are only two conditions you need to meet for this to hold up in translation.

First: Uniform backs
If the backs of the cards in the fortune deck are not uniform,  then the fortunes deck could not function as a normal deck (even if they all have suits/numbers). However, a normal deck could still have the fortunes values translated onto it in that case. Going one direction fortunes translates to standard (but not the other way round unless the backs are uniform.)

Second: Each card is distinct.
No two cards in the fortunes deck are exactly alike. (Unless you want just 2, in which case you could use unflagged jokers.) This would make translation pretty simple. We could start playing with it tonight if wanted :)
Again you could translate one direction, but not the other unless all cards are distinct.

Anyhow, these are just suggestions, but I think it could be cool. I like the first edition Delta deck a lot. I’d play black jack with it or crazy 8s or poker, if I could!

@CWO:

@Young:

The problem as it is right now (if it actually is a problem) is that the Axis powers (Japan in particular) will absolutely profit the most for capturing enemy cities (Japan will essentially claim up to $9 for cities that are easy to take and hold), so to add a Chinese capital city for no reason but to give Japan yet another target to profit from may unbalance the game.

Fair enough.  As I said, it was just an idea that I tossed in for fun in case it it turned out to be worth considering.  It arose from the discussion of the player capitals versus the cities, and I didn’t scrutinize it in any detail because I wanted to leave it up to you to decide if it worked or not in the context of your house rules.  So I have no problem with the idea turning out to be problematic.

No problem, I greatly appreciate all your suggestions and there have been some great modifications because of them, I guess my problem is that I have played over in my head a lot of angles to these objectives, and it’s very easy to tip the scales of balance when restructuring an entire game mechanic like this.

**The Cliffside Bunker

House Rules for Delta Games**

Setup

In the event of a 6 player group game, the nations will be divided as follows:

Germany
Japan
Italy
The United Kingdom / France
The United States / ANZAC
The Soviet Union / China

In the event of a 7 player group game, the nations will be divided as follows:

Germany
Japan
Italy
The United Kingdom
The United States
The Soviet Union
France / ANZAC / China

Unit Profiles

Damaged Battleships may not bombard during an amphibious assault.

Cruisers attack @4 when combined with an undamaged Battleship

National Objectives

Modified

$5 for Germany for each of the following territories the Axis powers control, Lenningrad, Stalingrad, and/or Moscow. However, the the Baltic sea may not contain allied ships.

Added

-$5 for Germany if Axis control London

-$5 for Japan if Axis control all of China’s original territories.

-$5 for United Kingdom if there are no Axis warships in the Atlantic.

Neutral Blocks

Attacks on any strict neutral territory in one neutral block will turn all other strict neutral territories within that same block, into pro-neutral territories for the other side. The two neutral blocks are: South America, and the rest of the world.

Research & Development

Using this rule, you may attempt to develop improved military technology. If you decide to use Research & Development, it becomes the new phase 1 of the turn sequence, bumping the other phases up a number.

China may not do Research and Development. Research and Development Sequence

1. Buy research dice
2. Roll research dice
3. Roll breakthrough die
4. Mark developments

Step 1: Buy Research Dice
You may purchase a pair of research dice for 6 IPCs, and you may only purchase a maximum of 3 pairs per turn (6 dice).

Step 2: Roll Research Dice
Roll each of your purchased research dice. Success: If you roll at least one 6, Continue to step 3. Failure: If you don’t roll a 6, your research has failed.

Step 3: Roll Breakthrough Die
If your research was successful, choose one of the three breakthrough charts and roll a die to see which technological advance you get.

Step 4. Mark Developments
If your research was successful, place one of your national control markers inside the appropriate advancement box on the Research and Development chart. Your development becomes effective immediately. Any number of powers may develop the same technology, but powers can’t share their technology, and powers may never gain the same technology twice.

Advanced Weapon Chart #1

1- Conscripts & Volunteers
Receive 2 free Infantry units during each purchase new units phase.

2- Radar
All air bases may now scramble up to 4 eligible air units, and interceptors now defend @ 2.

3- Rockets
One rocket from each AA Gun may be fired toward an enemy Complex or Facility at least 3 spaces away. During the Conduct Combat phase, roll one dice for each AA Gun to determine damage on each enemy target.

4- Mass Production
Choose land, air, or sea. During each Purchase New Units phase, the cost of all units from that military arm (not including infantry) is decreased by one.

5- Blitzkrieg Tactics
Artillery may now move 2 spaces when combined with a Mechanized Infantry.

6- Convoy Tactics
Transports now defend @1.

Advanced Weapon Chart #2

1- Long Range Aircraft
The maximum movement points of all air units has increased by one.

2- Submarine Tactics
Submarines attack @3 when there are more than one.

3- Super Carrier Decks
The maximum capacity of all Aircraft Carriers is now 3 Fighters and/or Tac, Bombers.

4- Ace Pilot
Receive one free Fighter unit (French blue) and place it on your Capital. That air unit delivers an automatic hit during each combat round when attacking and defending.

5- Armored Hulls
All Battleships now require 3 hits before sinking.

6- Heavy Bombers
All Strategic Bombers receive 2 dice each when attacking.

Advanced Weapon Chart #3

1- Espionage
Roll 1 dice and choose that number on any of the three breakthrough charts (may not be a weapon that was already developed by your nation, including Espionage).

2- War Bonds
During each collect income phase, roll 1d6 and collect the amount rolled.

3- Paratroopers
Strategic bombers operating from an air base may load up to 2 infantry each, and drop then into a hostile land territory during the Combat Movement phase. Bombers may be used as a transport or a bomber during the Combat Movement phase (not both).

4- Jet Fighters
All Fighters now attack @4.

5- Propaganda
Choose one strict neutral territory, this territory immediately becomes a pro-neutral territory for your side.

6- Nuclear Warfare
Receive one free Strategic Bomber containing an A-Bomb (French blue) and place it on your Capital. Deploy it like a Strategic Bomber in order to conduct a SBR on any hostile land territory of your choice. If the bomber survives (SBR rules), a 1d6 is rolled to determine automatic casualties of any removable land or air units within that territory (chosen by defender), and the IPC value of that territory becomes zero for the remainder of the game. Immediately remove the Bomber from the board once it has been used.

Well, the reason why I would like it a little bit better than decent is so that tech tree 1 is actually worth using. It takes a lot to convince people away from heavy bombers, jet fighters and LRA.

…interesting…