A simple fix for China…

China Factions:

Mao’s Red Guard Take clearly different soldiers from another Axis and Allies game you own. 1 troop may spawn in either Ninxia or Chingai per round.

Chaing’s Nationalists: 1 troop spawn per Chinese coastal territory controlled. Take clearly different soldiers from another Axis and Allies game.
*The rules for Anniversary edition still apply (half of territories rounded down) representing unaligned Chinese units. These may attack with either the Red Guard or Nationalist but not with both. If a Communist force loses to Japanese and retreats, it must attack a Nationalist army if there is one adjacent. This represents the infighting which crippled Chinese forces and suspicion the two factions had against each other during the conflict.

Zhang Xueliang: son of a powerful Manchu warlord Zhang Zuolin who wished for the restoration of Manchu dominance of China. Northeast Chinese forces pledged loyalty to this Independent opiate infused warrior. Who will he align with?
Discuss: If the majority of players decide to engage Zhang in the game, he overcomes his opiate addiction and womanizing ways. His loyalty to either Japan, Chinese Nationalists or Chinese Communists will be determined by the dice. Place an industrial center on Manchuria if not one already, or fully repair one. The IPCs for this region are now worth 4.

1 Zhang politically embraces communism and joins Mao’s forces. Place a tank, and three soldiers on the area.

2-3 “Communism was a cancer while the Japanese represented a superficial wound!” Zhang screams while surging onto the board with five soldiers allied to the Nationalists.

4-5 Zhang allies with the Japanese to restore the Qing Dynasty. Two Japanese soldiers and two artillery pieces placed. An attack on Soviet forces must occur within two rounds or Zhang will ally as a neutral Chinese force.

6 Zhang dies from an overdose

My Manchu grandfather was a destroyer captain for the Chinese Nationalists and passed down stories from this time. Manchuko’s politics were more independent than many realize. Historically Zhang sided with the Nationalists to help key victories and recognized as a hero by all Chinese. The scale of this struggle was as large as any European front, therefore, more infantry should be represented!
Have fun :)

A re-post of some thoughts I had on adding Arty to 1941:

While I’m no expert, if I were going to add artillery units from 40 or 42 to my copy of 41, this is how I would do it.

First, use the pieces and rules from 42. Here are the stats for artillery:
@Axis:

Artillery
Cost 4
Attack 2*
Defense 2
Move 1

Supports Infantry: When an infantry attacks along with an artillery, the infantry’s attack increases to 2. Each infantry must be matched one-for-one with a supporting artillery unit. Artillery does not support infantry on defense.

Also, note in the rules section for infantry:
@Axis:

Infantry
Cost 3
Attack 1 (2 when supported by artillery)*
Defense 2
Move 1

Supported by Artillery: When an infantry attacks along with an artillery, the infantry’s attack increases to 2. Each infantry must be matched one-for-one with a supporting artillery unit. If your infantry outnumber your artillery, the excess infantry units still have an attack of 1. For example, if you attack with two artillery and five infantry, two of your infantry have an attack of 2 and the rest have an attack of 1. Infantry are not supported by artillery on defense.

Finally, I would change the initial setup for 1941 to reflect the presence of artillery in armies already on the board. I would think that changing every 3rd infantry in a territory to artillery would be a decent start. If I did that, I would change the setup in some territories and leave the rest alone. The changed territories would reflect the following setup:

Russia: 4 infantry, 2 artillery, 1 tank, 1 fighter*
Archangel: 2 infantry, 1 artillery
Karelia: 2 infantry, 1 artillery
Caucasus: 2 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 tank
Siberia: 2 infantry, 1 artillery

Germany: 2 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 fighter, 1 bomber
Eastern Europe: 3 infantry, 1 artillery, 2 tanks
Ukraine: 2 infantry, 1 artillery, 2 tanks
West Russia: 2 infantry, 1 artillery

Japan: 3 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 tank, 1 fighter, 1 bomber

*Note that according to the FAQ put out after the game released, the territory labeled Russia should start with six infantry. If you haven’t read this FAQ, you should, as it made other changes to the setup of the board. If you swap every third infantry for an artillery, you would get four infantry and two artillery, as shown above.

Also, this would mean that neither the UK nor the US would start with any artillery as their regular setup have no territories with three or more infantry. Either shrug your shoulders or change their setup as you feel appropriate, perhaps as follows:

India: 1 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 fighter
Eastern U.S.: 1 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 tank, 1 fighter, 1 bomber

The above changes should integrate artillery into a game of 1941 fairly well. The Axis would swap 5 infantry for 5 artillery and the Allies would swap 6 or 8 (with optional UK and US artillery swapping) infantry for 6 or 8 (with optional UK and US artillery swapping) artillery for the setup of the game.

My 2:gg:

-M_R

P.S. The FAQ for Axis & Allies 1941 can be found here: www.wizards.com/AvalonHill/rules/AA_1941_FAQ.pdf

P.P.S. Edits: Credit where credit is due.

Source: boardgamegeek.com/article/22682014#22682014

-Midnight_Reaper

@Ryuzaki_Lawliet:

France WILL still fall.

Germany has 4 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 6 Tanks, and 4 Mechanized Infantry that can hit Paris.

4 Infantry, 2 Artillery, and 3 Tanks from Holland Belgium, 4 Mechanized Infantry from Western Germany, and 3 Tanks from Greater Southern Germany.

34 ATK with 16 Units versus 26 DEF with 12 Units.

Just means that some German Tanks might be taken as casualties.

You could also be a bit more assured and send the Tactical Bomber from Poland as well.

Any Maginot Line Rule should also include the French/Italian border IMO. This section was known as the Alpine Maginot line, and had many fortifications along with natural mountain range defenses. The French defenses on the Italian border held the Italians at bay until the the armistice was signed and Vichy was set up.

So IMO the 3 tanks from Southern Germany shouldn’t be able to attack France through Italy either. Those 3 tanks going through West Germany into France would also hit the Maginot line.

Maybe instead of saying German (axis) units can’t go through the Maginot Line, the rule should give any attacking ground units -1 for all rounds of battle that cross the Maginot line (West Germany/France, and Northern Italy/France or S France). That way those units could still invade, but wouldn’t be as effective because they are facing more resistance. Yes you would have some inf with no attack value, but could still be taken as a casualty. If that proves to harsh (which I think it might), then maybe have all attacking ground -1 only for the first round of battle when attacking through the Maginot lines.

So if the Germans were to back out after a couple rounds, the Italian units would also be -1 in attack when they go for Paris.

This could also be a good lead into a Vichy Rule

Thank you Clyde85, thank you Rhey.

I agree with everything you said. Additionally, the prospect of the Chinese was very interesting. But even so, I would like to see the Chinese army more numerous, leading Japan to put more tanks, more planes and more artillery on Chinese soil IF wanted to continue with the war in Asia.

Japan has many NOs outside China and receive many IPCs and could maintain a war of attrition on Chinese soil as it gets the Co-Prosperity Sphere had in mind (as it was historically) and after that, return to finish the 'China incident ".

I have my own house rules for this situation. They are great!

LOL as fun as that would be… my intention is to keep the final posted version of the ruleset, as uncomplicated as possible.  Keeping true to the spirit of FUNCTIONAL axis and allies.

Great concept btw though,  there are still clearance divers finding WWII mines today.

What does this have to do with the title?

Think of this way China has the most people in the world, it could send more then 10 Infantry into war so yes they should make a stronger China

Cmdr,

TG:

In anniversary, the only way to have a submarine threat is to have your submarines scattered about.  So far it has been my experience that usually you are attacking from at least two different sea zones, this would encourage you to attack from three or more to get the wolfpack bonus.

I disagree.  One of the best reasons to buy subs is that they’re cheap and can take hits during a naval battle.  If you’re subs are scattered in different sea zones, you negate this fodder ability in a defensive battle.

Secondly, I’m all about simplicity.  Forcing the player to attack from 3 Different Sea Zones adds an unnecessary complexity to the game.

Weren’t we trying to make subs A LOT better, as you claim they are “Bogus?”

3)  Submarine captains spent long times lining up shots in the security of knowing they were not seen and had plenty of time.  They could be choosier.

Okay, you clarified it for me.

tekkyy,

well both principles (1. a ratio whatever it is 2. each destroyer roll one die) encourages players to build more destroyers
the actual numbers can be tuned

I like ratio better because it doesn’t add to the combat sequence
its also something players are used to (from placing infantry on 1 or 2 on the battle board)

Agreed.

Joe,

I would think if you’d want to fix the role of submarines, then fixes should be directed to possibly to biggest impact subs had on the war - attacking shipping and supply lines.

How about a “SBR-type” rule for subs in key sea zones?  Maybe against shipments to UK and Japan only since they were most dependent on outside resources?  Destroyers protecting these sea zones get a “AA” type role to defend so that subs have a chance to live and there is incentive to build subs?  I would think that this could open up the Atlantic and Pacific a little more for something more than just sea unit stacking.

Seconded.  +1 for an inventive idea.