I could’ve sworn this issue has been discussed before about 1941 (I know I personally put some input on the matter previously), but for the life of me, I can’t find a/the thread that discusses the topic, so I’ll start a new one and clearly label it.
Before I get started I’ll make one thing perfectly clear… YES, I know the PRIMARY reason for 1941 even existing is a “fast/quick, light version of A&A designed to be played quickly and not overload new players with too many rules/units” type of introduction to the A&A family of games. Any changes to those rules might add a little more complexity and/or length to the play session. Having said that, there is one really big thing that has always bothered me about 1941…
Every nation in 1941 feels like a broke down hobo wishing they had two dimes to rub together to buy units. Of all the games in the A&A family, 1941 is the poor cousin living in the slums when it comes to purchasing power… I’m going to assume that’s a very intentional design decision to “keep things simple, keep new players from having to decide what to buy and to keep game time down with fewer units to kill/roll/move about”. While I can appreciate the reasoning behind that decision, it just feels poorly implemented to me, and really… how much harder/longer would 1941 be with just a little more cash for each nation than the default (paltry) amount already in-game?
Every time I’ve played 1941 (and I’ve always used the default rules) everyone I play with from my 50+ y/o friends to my young children… everyone has wished they had more money to buy units with. I’ve thought of (and discussed in other threads which I cannot find now) different ways to boost in-game income that is both easy to use/remember and a fair amount for all sides without ending up with a zillion units on the board.
My first idea (which is probably still a good idea if I do say so myself) is simply DOUBLING the value of every territory already on the board… if you look at those incomes and double them, that puts each nations overall income very close to the original 1984 A&A Classic income levels which 1941 is a very close cousin to. While I think this is a good amount, it might be “too much” for some people and/or a something easy to forget when adjusting territories conquered (moving that value-2 territory up/down by 2 on the income tracker when you should have moved it 4, because of double in value).
I’ve more recently come up with the idea of a set “capital bonus” for all nations that is fully adjustable to each game and the players involved to adjust the incomes to whatever they are more comfortable with… simply put, have everyone agree at the beginning of a game of 1941 to assign a set capital bonus… so long as the home country holds its capital, each nation gets a set income bonus each round (lets say something between 10-to-15 IPCs for each nation, but everyone could set this to their own value). This bonus is only for the original power that controls the capital (Germany would not get Russia’s capital bonus if they took Moscow for example). This would allow each country to actually make purchases every turn and feel like they actually have a war production as opposed to being a poor hobo with no money.
It could be further refined if balance is an issue (3 Allies vs 2 Axis) by setting different values for Axis vs Allies (say 7 for each allied capital and 10 for each axis, so both sides roughly get a total of 20 IPCs extra per turn, or just go “meh” 10 more IPCs for everyone). It’s also an easy way to bid a handicap between experienced and inexperienced players (income per turn) as opposed to the more traditional “here’s an extra couple units to start with” approach.
I don’t know about you guys, but the one thing that has always bothered me about 1941 more than anything is the completely anemic IPC values on the board… I’m sure its intentional for simplicity’s sake… but I think it was either a bad decision to start with, or something that should be more flexible to people who’d like to play 1941 otherwise, but would really like a little more money to spend each turn.
I’ve always found one of the most fun parts of any A&A game is the purchasing of new units each turn to decide the fate of the world, and its something 1941 seems to go out of its way to prevent you from doing this.
I’m also a fan of tossing in Artillery to 1941, but that’s a topic for a different day/thread.
Thoughts?
