Global War 1940 2nd ed.

Thee SS blitz is coming Saturday. The Germans will make it right this time !

Go for SS blitz!!!
:) :-) :-)

@Baron:

Go for SS blitz!!!
:) :-) :-)

Funny thing is I did get Germanys NA panzer blitz.
Kept Russia at bay at least. With allies landing constantly in Normandy
kept me from getting Moscow but delayed my taking of Stalingrad.
Axis victory in Ten turns. Another great game with Japan getting Calcutta late in game to help Germany in case they didnt get Stalingrad
Game report later today.

Axis victory in 10 turns. Played 8 but looked at map and all agreed to it.
Germany got there 2 best NAs but with Allies landing in Normandy right away kept them from getting Moscow and Russia keep them at bay on eastern front for most of game. Just couldnt get the push to Stalingrad until T9 with a major tank division support or can openers by Italy. As you see in map Germans are being threatin for Lengingrad but they can run down like 12-13 tanks with 8 inf transported from Berlin and W Germany for fodder. Axis will cut off road to Stalingrad also next turn. Take back Oslo.
Germany also got there V-2 rocket in game finally T6.

The German convoy raiding was awesome in the Atlantic again. Keep UK income down and UK E made the mistake by not buying Tacs and Destroyers to remove the Wolf Packs. Plus Italy sent out 3 subs to damage the convoy boxes inside and outside them for damage also by Gibr. Key is to keep UK income down in game. Same with FEC.
UK also didnt shuck troops from S AF and Cairo to Calcutta.

Will be making a change to game as far as tank buys. Major IC can only build 4 tanks max and Minor IC can only build 1 tank max.
Japan and Italy just pumping out to many tanks. This tank buy max may be reduced more but will play it out for now.

As you can see Japan pretty much just took over the Pacific. Part of that was due to 9 tank buys a turn. So now if Japan wants tanks they will have to buy more at Capital. If they buy there normal 2 Minor IC they still get 1 tank for each on land. Granted he lost all his tanks and most planes taking Calcutta this is not how I want the game to go. Also if the UK E just dropped 6-8 inf in Calcutta then Japan would have not gotten it. Plus I believe the US didnt get to Islands fast enough. You have to bring a US empty Carrier to Anzac so you can use there Naval figs and also buy a Dive Bomber to attack the Dutch Islands Oil derricks for damage against Japans income. I like to send a UK Carrier to Anzac in game.
From what I heard there was still some great battles in the Pacific. More now with change tweaks. The sub is an awesome piece now.
At least in pacific there was more convoy raiding going on with ships just touching outside of boxes for 1 damage.

As far as Techs in game only 7 this time and Germany bought 2 tech tokens first turn and rolled 2 dice for every turn and never got a breakthur or a free tech or spy steals a tech. Epic. The game does go the normal 60 -70 % way but the 30-40 % in game can go in many different small ways. Techs, NAs, Event Cards, SBRing, Axis total income bonus for getting more territories for the 1 point bonus to win and/or The 7 Mideast oil territories for 1 point bonus too for axis.
There is more SBRing in game than ever. Everything in Europe gets bombed. India ICs get bombed and Oil Derricks get bombed.

So will see how the new tank buy max rule works. Probably slow game down a bit but now should be more Mech Art buys with maybe a plane here or there. You can still buy tanks and its that you just cant drop a bunch on a Minor IC so you need to buy most in your Capital and move.

I came up with something I hope will boost the pacific side of map like the Atlantic side of map. Its going great with the convoy raiding campaign working out great. More small battles through most of game.

In another thread I was mentioning about raising some islands to 5 icps to make either side at least go get an island or 2 in the Pacific side but kinda didnt do that. I posted a picture in House Rules thread about showing what groups of islands to have to try and get more small battles in the Pacific without just fleets looking at each other or 1 big battle sometimes for the heck of it, and not just have Fleets move here or there or park here or there and just have Japan mostly do land battles besides going for Dutch Islands.

So I made up 6 NOs for the Pacific side. Im not a huge fan of them but saw I had no choice in the matter to see if I could add them to game on the Pacific side but make it easier to get them then the normal NO rules where you need like 5 islands to get a NO bonus.

NO 5 icp bonus

Green group for Japan or US
Grey group for Japan or US
Orange group for Japan or US
Red group for Japan or US
Blue group for Anzac
Black group for Anzac

So I have 6 groups of 3 islands that have NOs. For each 3 island group you control you receive 5 icp bonus. Now in picture below I used colored tokens to show which islands are in a group. Also I gave Midway, Carolina and Solomon islands a value of 3 icps each.
Now If you look at setup that I have in my game with Midway, Carolina, New Britain and Solomon (some say why Solomon, because naval battles ) islands have 2 different color tokens where if you control one of those islands you can deny 2 NO.  So Im hoping with Japan having a chance for 2 NO at home they need to control Midway. But then the US would just need to control Midway. So now maybe there will be more small battles at that area for both sides. Most islands you can hit from 2 sz away. Neither side can not just sit now. Other wise somebody going to get some money. Same thing in Carolinas. Japan holds that they can deny some NO down there. Both countries would need to leave small fleets near home to the North and down south they both need fleets. Or Japan would need to park in Manilla and could come from there if they get pushed out of Carolinas
and still protect Dutch Islands. But then US gets more money and maybe they get it in time before Germany gets the win the axis needs. If US goes to much in Pacific then Germany going to have a field day. Or is this going to be to much for Japan to control in the Pacific szs while not getting anywhere on land. Remember in my game Axis dont need Calcutta to win if Germany gets that extra VC. I need to watch for any balance issues where maybe the US may need a ship or 2 on setup. OR I change the NA for Germany Sub Interdiction from 10 subs max to 5 subs max. This should be fun anyway on first few games.

If you look at setup Japan in the Carolinas has to decide if they want to deny Anzac there NO or attack US Line Island fleet or do both.

Anyway I hope this is a starting point on the right track for a better Pacific side. Maybe some body would like to try it in there game also.
I also added two 3 island groups in Med. Italy pretty strong so I made the UK NO a little more easier. Closer to Cairo and making Italy have to go further to get islands.

Well will see how this goes. Cant wait to try out.

I really like this colored roundels mapping to visually understand each Islands NO group.

Each 5 IPCs NO will attract immediate interest. 
IMO, you will get more actions in PTO and the additional money influx could be to built more ships in this area.

I’m pretty excited about it.
I will certainly check how I can implement a smaller variant into AA50 or 1942.2.
Thanks for this game mechanic.

@Baron:

I really like this colored roundels mapping to visually understand each Islands NO group.

Each 5 IPCs NO will attract immediate interest. 
IMO, you will get more actions in PTO and the additional money influx could be to built more ships in this area.

I’m pretty excited about it.
I will certainly check how I can implement a smaller variant into AA50 or 1942.2.
Thanks for this game mechanic.

Thanks Baron

I played a turn so far with it. Looks like Japan will get the 2 midway NO for the next 2 turns. I may have to make midway a 1 color token island if this becomes to much money for Japan. Can move colored tokens around to see. But when Japan left Carolinas to attack line island US fleet and take Manila Anzac is predator to get there 2nd NO and India can actually build a ship but they need to watch out for Japan trannys close.

Well at the end of T2 the US made a good move on T1 by landing 2 marines in Hawaii with there air transport plane. So on US T2 they took back Midway with Marines and a bunch of planes coming from Hawaii to take back Midway from Japan to deny Japan 2 NO for T3. So there was a battle there already. Japan may have gone to Midway to soon ? Hard to say yet. It Made US do must buys in the Pacific though on T1.
Japan also landed ground troops in Dutch New Guinea to stop Anzac from getting there second NO without at least having a ground battle there. Anzac took back Dutch New Guinea and now has 2 NO to collect 10 icps. When Japan left Carolinas it gave Anzac the chance to land ground in Papua with 3 figs.
Now Japan also has to deal with a ground attack threats from Russia China and FEC. FEC finally had the chance to build some ships because Japan had to run trannys back to main land for ground. But if US goes Pacific buys to much Ger and Italy can win the game and Japan wont need to take Calcutta.
Japan will need to park in Carolinas to deny a NO or two there or park in Manilla and nick pic an island here and there to deny a NO for the allies and US may have enough to go to Wake and get a NO there too. Will see.

Pros
Already more Island battles
Cons
Allies going to be to strong with Pacific Island NO s ?

I think Im on to some thing that may be awesome for the Pacific but will it benefit other games ? This may only work if Japan starts with enough transports in games ?
I think it will make the old Pacific game awesome with a few tweaks with all those islands on map.

Whats nice also is most Islands can be reach to counter any attacks for both sides. You may have big fleets stationed off an island for protection but then send out a small raiding fleet to capture an island. This way you dont need to take 1 or 2 of the islands that are further out in the 3 island group. This allows you to at least get the closet one and counter against any navy or forcing the other side to bring more ships to defend.

End of T3. The US has joined up with Anzac in New Guinea and New Britian. Japan cannot attack with both fleets. Remember can only move 3 spaces from a Naval base in non combat. So is it still going to be a stalemate where both navies will just sit ?
Anzac will get Dutch New Guinea back next turn to collect 2 NOs again. Will see if Japan parks both fleets in Carolinas to force US to move. Depends. Other wise Japan fleet will retreat to Manilla and counter some island battles to deny a US NO and Anzac.
Japan can go towards Midway again and force US to go that way also and pull away US fleet from going south.
Japan probably get 2 more Dutch Islands but FIC being threaten now. But just with Anzac getting a bit of a push to an island has delayed Japan from probably getting a Dutch Island sooner. So far in this test game Japan has to make more decisions on every thing. Remember also US has spent 75 % of there money in the Pacific. I have not tested both sides yet. Just trying to see if US goes  Pacific how much pressure are both sides going to with stand.
Anzac is actually a lot of fun to play now. With just collecting like 8-10 icps a turn and then getting 1 to 2 NO early in game has made them a little pain in the a$$.

Baron the figs and tacs being able to M5 has made the island battles alot better from all the airbases on islands. With fleets only being able to M2 from Naval bases in combat it keeps your fleets save at a distance but now with figs and small fleets you can have more island battles.

Ill probably go with 1/4” colored stickers instead of chips until guys get an idea of which are the island groups.
Also if 3 islands wont work in some areas try going with only 2 island group or groups. Who knows maybe a Midway island and a Carolina island works as a 2 island group for an example.

@SS:

Baron the figs and tacs being able to M5 has made the island battles a lot better from all the airbases on islands. With fleets only being able to M2 from Naval bases in combat it keeps your fleets save at a distance but now  with figs and small fleets you can have more island battles.

This combination of restriction for Naval Base and special M5, seems to enhance the usefulness of Island Airbase and land-base aircraft.
Pretty cool to make all this work in PTO so, it is not just Strategic bomber which are tactically viable but now Fig and TacBs can play a working role similar to WWII. Now Islands can be viewed as unsinkable Aircraft Carriers.

I played a few times with Cruiser and TP moving 3 SZs.

Clearly, on wide map with a lot of SZs, it increase the pace of invasion and add more smaller fleet battles because other warships moving only M2 cannot follow as much as they wish.

The issue to incentive more amphib landing is to give a bit of escort to Transport, Cruiser get this more specialized role without being able to protect against Subs.
The lust for gain to conquer an Island may outweigh the risk of placing a few ships in vulnerable SZ (which can be in a deadzone from a few enemy’s units).

Another possibility, is to give a complete defense  @1 out of 12 per Transport with M3.
This will generate more amphib with TPs being use as expendable unit to grab land.
Of course, cost should be increase compared to defenseless.

@Baron:

I played a few times with Cruiser and TP moving 3 SZs.

Clearly, on wide map with a lot of SZs, it increase the pace of invasion and add more smaller fleet battles because other warships moving only M2 cannot follow as much as they wish.

The issue to incentive more amphib landing is to give a bit of escort to Transport, Cruiser get this more specialized role without being able to protect against Subs.
The lust for gain to conquer an Island may outweigh the risk of placing a few ships in vulnerable SZ (which can be in a deadzone from a few enemy’s units).

Another possibility, is to give a complete defense  @1 out of 12 per Transport with M3.
This will generate more amphib with TPs being use as expendable unit to grab land.
Of course, cost should be increase compared to defenseless.

Yes Japan did sacrifice 2 transports to take Midway. I believe the transports missed there plane defense shots. But it kept them at home for a extra turn. So without seeing Europe side outcome yet dont know if it hurt US. But they didnt seem to have a problem getting down to New Guinea. I can see in future games now Japan needs to stay at Carolinas and then get Manilla at a later turn instead of moving away as the case in the pics in above posts.

Also those M4 Cruisers in non combat can support small fleets or big fleets coming from Toyko to Carolinas and US from LA to Australia and New Guinea islands.

But Cruisers  can only move 3 in combat so its not a total crush.
I can see where the Transport would be nice also to M3 in combat and 4 in non combat in my game.
Transport now in game which I think I didnt change in list is if you take a transport as a casualty you do not get the D@1 against a plane. If no attacking planes then they get the escape roll.
If the transport went to a M3 would that be to strong on the Europe side for US ? I think it depends because if you spend to much in the Atlantic as US then Japan with M3 Transports in combat and M4 in non combat will be all over the islands. So this would keep both sides in Pacific honest to protect other side from total island control.
Im trying to get also a more of a 50-50 60-40 US spending in game.
Transport
A0
D1 At 1 plane only if taken as casualty
M3
C8

The M3 Transport would have to be tested later do to testing the island group campaign that is being tested now and in a game coming up but aways off yet. But will play test where will just do like a 3-4 turn test games before group game. Could test transport in those 3-4 test turn games also.

Hi SS

Took a while but I found it. Hello to Baron as well : )

So I can only respond generally, as i haven’t played this kick ass ana version, but using Global 40 as a guideline, I had similar results. Russia was given a little more dough though and that kept things from getting whacked.

The best counter, imo, was using Black Elk’s “Sphere of Influence” where Japan and Russia can’t share territory with anyone, otherwise it’s a minus 10 bucks or w/e is appropriate.

But yea, found the Pacific to be a lot more fun with increased dollars : )

We are going to go with the 3 island group NOs in next game and Japan tanks are now A5 D4 M1 C7. Japan Mech M1.
For each 3 island group with color token you control you will recieve 5 icp NO bonus. 4 groups are for US and Japan and other 2 for Anzac. On play testing if Japan moved all fleet out to attack US Line Island fleet and Manilla,  it allowed Anzac to get a 2nd NO. Also there was a Naval battle at Midway on T2 were Japan got Midway and Collected 2 Nos but then US landed Paratroopers in Midway with a bunch of planes and took Midway back. So there was more action in the Pacific already which is the goal.
Also need to slow down Japan tank blitz in China. The M1 will help. With a new tweaked China placement rule this should keep China in game longer and keep Japan out of Russia.
We will keep the NA for Russia ( Japan attacks any Russian territory you can place 6 inf in that territory being attacked one time in game ). Japan is already into China territories so they dont need to go that far to get rest of money but it wont be that easy. Besides they will probably have to spend hopefully more money for naval to protect or take some islands now in game.
Heres a pic of the island groups.

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=38459.0;attach=671591;image

Game is setup and ready to go. I will before game in week or so take away the colored tokens and use colored dots by each island representing ea 3 island group NO for 5 icps.
I have also 2 NO for the Med. Dont want to blast the game too much.
Also the yellow and dark green tokens are for resources of iron/ore dark green token and Grain yellow token.
Ea token is worth 2 icps. Once Japan gets the 3 China territories with grain tokens the money is even in game.
Im not 100 % sure if I am going to use this in next game. You can also bomb the resources for up to 3 damage for each one and it goes against your income just like the oil derricks.

I can see now in game where the Japan fleet in the Carolinas has a few decisions to make. Also Japan can attack Midway and get 2 NOs but will lose 2 transports and NOs after US counters. But US needs to land the air transport on turn 1 to take back Midway other wise they wont get there till T3 and Japan collects another 10 icps for another turn. Either this new 3 island group NOs make the Pacific now epic and many naval battles or it just makes the navys look at each other or makes either side to strong.

The Med NOs now is where a strong Italy has to get Malta and hold if they want to deny a UK NO or receive a NO.

Also Norway has been changed do to more historical which Ill be posting a pick soon. No more Allied come take and run to fast to Leningrad.

Heres the pic of the new Norway. Made it 3 territories now split the szs to make 2 off coast and added the island for Sweden Straits.

If history I read is correct Germany can make a 1 time combat or non combat move through Sweden. Also Germany needs to land a inf on Sweden controlled island to control the Sweden Strait if they want to transport troops through Sz 19 to Finland for a shorter route to Norway.
Finland has been split in 2 territories now and worth 1 icp ea and Norway has another territory worth 1 but I see the green chip is covering the amount. I will make any changes if need be.

Will be an edit to Norway. The Sweden Island will be removed and replaced with the Finland Island in sz 19. Germany will have control of it and has the rights to move in and out of sz19 do to Straits control.