The more I’m looking at this, the more it seems workable.
New turn order for G40:
Italy,
Anzac, France
Germany
Russia
Japan
USA, China, UK, UK Pacific
The unit set up and everything else remains exactly the same.
Goals: Two make these 3 minor Nations: Italy, Anzac, and France, more interesting to play.
I can already envision an entirely new set of opening moves, to breathe new life into an old board.
The broad strokes: Italy has a shot at achieving their National Objectives in the first round, and Anzac can grab the Java income or position on New Guinea for the NO. Italy in particular can make a much, much stronger opener. But as a counterbalance, France moves before Germany, allowing them to position defensive units and make a single round of purchasing before the Germans sweep their capital.
There are several options here, including stack and defend Paris, withdraw to preserve hitpoints for later, attack the low countries (for a real Dunkirk) etc. They get to keep a second fighter and can also make 1 round of purchasing before their money is taken, which would allow them to buy some surface ships to support the British in the Channel, or submarines for raiding, or bases in the colonies. This could potentially make every sculpt in the box (with the exception of the battleship) a potential F1 purchase hehe.
Doubtless this will change the opening round considerably, but I think it might be fun to see where it leads. Just seems like a relatively easy way to make Italy, Anzac, and France a more significant part of the game. Giving the minor powers more ways to shape the course of events. Plus you don’t really have to change the set up, just the turn sequence, so its an easy tweak.
Any interest?
How would this change your opening G40 strategies? See any cool new moves or new purchases? cool counters?
:-D
Here is a savegame using the concept in tripleA…
To achieve the desired turn order position, I fast forwarded the first round to Italy, and then returned each Nation to its normal starting income via the edit mode.
This means that the USA will be closer to their DoW as well, by a round, which I think might be interesting as well.
Anyway, just thought I’d toss it out there in case anyone wants to get a feel for how this might look in practice.
:-D
