@USA8:
Thinking of the replay value for some moderately experienced players.
One idea that occurred to me was to give every territory that has a national marker w/o IPCs a value of 1. For example, Midway would be worth 1 IPC. This has probably been discussed, but I am interested to see if this is a good idea.
This change would add IPCs and create more islands and land for the Axis to try to capture. The Pacific theater would become more fun/strategic, and Germany would have more of an incentive to take over Africa (worth around 8 IPCs). Of course, the Axis could still ignore the extra cash available and crush Russia.
Also interesting is that this would give US a +25 at the beginning of the game which is the highest IPC available at the top of the map for the IPC chart. I think UK would be around +24, and Russia would get a couple extra IPCs.
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Thoughts?
I’m not a fan of just throwing out IPCs to territories without IPC value… because simply-put, you’re making places that aren’t really worth much… well… worth much. Africa being worth twice as much as most capitals? Midway island worth as much as more valuable territories already worth 1? Africa was always a side show, but making it worth that much makes it a primary objective. I suppose if that’s what you want, then go for it, but it takes backwater places that shouldn’t be worth anything and it makes them far more crititcal.
For my own home, and in regards to the shortage of IPC income to begin with, there’s a couple of “quick/easy” fixes you can house-rule to give 1941 more income to play with.
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Simply double the income of every territory that gives income. Its a quick and easy fix that’s easy to remember and hard to mess up… doubling of the income actually gives each nation an income close to the Classic/Original version of A&A. Its uncanny how close to the Classic A&A values doubling the 1941 values gives you.
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Try a “War Bonds” option for each nation… during income collection phase roll 1D6 or 2D6 (depending on how much you want to add) for added IPC income to each nation to show “home war support” drives. This will not mess with the printed income on the board, but gives each nation an income boost that once-again gives you more money to play with each turn.
Mind you, added income to 1941 adds length to the game in playing time… but it does give people more money to have fun with. I agree with Private Panic that added income/length kinda takes you into “why don’t you just play 1942:SE at this point” territory… but if all you have is 1941, the above are some good options.