Combatting HUGE Infantry Stacks

See a post below for a clearer reason…

So,  I am new to this forum and new to all “Modern” Axis & Allies Games.  I have been playing “Classic” since 1986 so I am familiar with some general tactics of the game.  I have a grand total of ONE (and a half) Global 2nd ver. under my belt and CAN’T WAIT for my next game.  
That being said, I have always had an issue with the, what I call, “Stack-em-up” defensive strategy as it seems to lengthen the game for no other reason than to lengthen the game…
My Best Friend (and playing partner since 1986) and I have always had an issue with this but, to be honest, never thought about house rules til he bought the newer games and began researching the prospects of House Rules.
I would love some help in dealing with this issue or, perhaps, finding a way to “Cope” with the reality of it, lol.

One idea I had was, instead of limiting stacks, providing “special units” for each country that have a more powerful attack value.  I have developed a list utilizing historical data, some current house rules I found in this forum, and some ideas of my own.

Below is what I have come up. Admittedly, some, like the Russian’s “Special” is in direct contrast to my issue of stacks but I could not come up with a better idea.  PLEASE RIP IT APART, AGREE, CRITIQUE AND WHATEVER ELSE.  I TAKE NOTHING PERSONALLY.  I’m just looking for help…

Any major power except China may build special units, but no nation may build more than one per turn, except the Soviet Union (see rule below).

Soviet Union - Citizen Soldier 2IPCs

A0 D1 M1
Each turn the Soviet Union can purchase up to 3 Citizens in defense of “The Motherland”. These units have no attack value but do defend at a 1.

US - Marines 4 IPCs

A1(amph 2) D2 M1
They function as regular infantry in all respects, except that they attack with a 2 when making an amphibious landing.

UK/ANZAC/France - Commandos 4 IPCs

A2 D1 M1.
They function as regular infantry in all respects.
Special capability: Commando raids–Can move 1 plus free sea zone to get to a target territory and perform a raid (somewhat same as a strategic/tactical bombing raid). After the raid is complete, they have the option to remain in the territory if captured that turn, or get same move 1 + sea zone to return to a friendly territory, in the non-combat movement phase…
Raid procedure:  Each raiding commando targets a base or complex.  Each target gets 2 defense rolls, 1 before, 1 and 1 after; in an originally controlled territory 1-2 to kill; any other territory 1 to kill. Surviving commandos roll 1D6 for damage on the facility.

Italy - Decima Flottiglia (Italian Frogmen) 4 IPCs

A1(amph 2) D2 M1 see special ability below for naval attack
The Decima Flottiglia MAS (Decima Flottiglia Mezzi d’Assalto, also known as La Decima or X MAS) (Italian for “10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla”) was an Italian commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) created during the Fascist regime.  Decima MAS was active during the Battle of the Mediterranean and took part in a number of daring raids on Allied shipping. These operations involved surface speedboats (such as the Sinking of HMS York), manned torpedoes (the Raid on Alexandria) and Gamma Frogmen (against Gibraltar). During the campaign Decima MAS took part in more than a dozen operations which sank or damaged five warships (totaling 72,000 Gross Register Tonnage) and 20 merchant ships (totaling 130,000 GRT).
Special capability:  Decima Flottiglia acts the same as Marines with the addition of being able to have a one-time attack on Naval Vessels per round, on a coastal sea zone adjacent to the unit.
Raid Procedure:  A d6 roll of 1 will score a direct hit.  However, if this unit is unsuccessful the target will roll a d6 to determine their fate, 1-2 to kill.

Germany Fallschirmjager 4 IPCs
On paratroop missions(2rounds) A2 D3 M1 All other missions A1 D2 M1
Fallschirmjager  is the German word for paratroopers. They played an important role during World War II, when, together with the Gebirgsjager they were perceived as the elite infantry units of the German military. After World War II, they were reconstituted as parts of postwar armed forces of both West and East Germany, mainly as special ops troops.
1. They are paratroopers and all rules governing paratroopers apply.  
2. In addition, they attack at a 2 provided they are conducting a paratroop mission. Then, for the next round only, they will defend at a 3.  While moving in normal land combat they will be considered regular infantry.

Japan - Banzai Attacks
This is not a special unit but a special attack that can be applied to all Japanese Infantry Units per the rules below.
A frequent battle-cry of attacking Japanese troops was “Banzai!” meaning “May you live for 10,000 years”.
When you move infantry into a contested space during the combat move phase, you may at that time declare the intended attack to be a banzai attack (for an amphibious assault you may also include offshore bombardment support). If you do so, all those infantry attack on a 2 for the first round only. You may not withdraw from any banzai attack, regardless of whether it is amphibious or not.

Thank you Ichabod, I will check it out.  Being new, and for all I know, General Hand Grenades ideas may have been some of the inspiration for what I wrote.  I will definitely check it out.

Imperious Leader,
As far as the black triangles go, I, at first, did not know why they were there…  I have edited my post and they are gone.  Still learning… :-D

Thanks GeneralHandGrenade!  Being new to Global and the idea of House Rules I had not taken into account the idea of “bogging the game down”.  You are correct, sometimes too much is too much and the game is already awesome enough.  If you know of any quality rules for limiting stacks I’m all ears(it’s still bothersome to me).  In the meantime I like your ideas of special forces and will probably attempt to adopt them next time I play.  We already have the pieces from HGB.

Now the newbie question:  What’s SFU?

HA HA!  Of course that’s what it means…  Should’ve seen that!  Like you, and like what’s been said, the trick to stopping the D-Fence is O-Fence!..  And smarter game play, I’m sure!

Upon re-reading my original post I realized I did not state my full reasons for wanting to limit/change the stacks of infantry that inevitably begin to grow.

One of my issues with the stacks of infantry is the historical issues behind it.  Let’s use Germany as the example.  In 1938 Germany had 36 infantry divisions of 600,000 trained men. By 1939 the German Army had 98 divisions totaling 1.5 million well-trained men available for action.  In 1940 they had 2.5 million for the invasion of France and in 1941, for operation Barbarossa, they had approx. 3 million.  However, in 1943, after the Battle of Stalingrad, Germany lowered their physical qualifications and changed their age requirements for conscription to boys as young as 16 and men as old as 60, due to the losses they incurred throughout Russia and, for that matter, the War.  From the sick to domestic prisoners, any and all were required to fight.  Even getting to the point that those who were 50% Jewish were required to sign up.  All these units were ill-equipped and/or trained.

In A&A when a territory is able and allowed to consistently build full strength infantry, despite possible losses in territory(which would be a loss for the pool of men available), machinery, weaponry, etc., it goes against, in my opinion, the reality of what actually happened.

As countries begin to fold in A&A (and reality) it’s a fact that their power would begin to wane.  In this case, there is no way a 16 year old boy or a 60 year old man, ill-equipped, would fight as strong as a 22 year old who has been through several weeks of training and has been properly equipped.

The reduced IPCs one gets from losing territory certainly affects how many tanks, aircraft, etc. you can get.  This is a perfect representation of the diminished capacity of a losing nation.  However, the idea that you can stack infantry, at 3IPCs, would be correct if not for the full strength they are mobilized at.  This is where I came up with the idea of Russian Citizen Soldiers at 2IPCs for A0D1M1 idea, not the greatest, I know.  Again, it seems to lengthen the game unnecessarily.

I have thought of lowering defensive value when over a certain amount of infantry in a territory, but that wouldn’t be consistent because most good armies would send their lesser troops to the front line.  Penalizing a particular area wouldn’t work.  If you project this idea over a country you would need a whole other chart to track, which would lengthen the entire game, possibly.  I have thought of using each areas IPC value to determine the number you could build but that would make the game unbalanced, I think. As my original post indicated, I thought of doing the opposite, unsuccessfully I may add, and increase some offensive numbers but it still does not solve the HISTORICAL PROBLEM of armies getting weaker as they begin to lose.

Unfortunately, for me, I do not have an answer sufficient enough to fix this, perceived, problem, which is why I have brought it to you…

Thank you all for your responses!

@Argothair:

Remember, kids, a huge infantry stack looks cool on your capital now, but you’ll regret not investing in a more balanced army when your game is middle-aged and you’ve got an ally and three victory cities to support.

I have started a group called AAA for this exact reason - “Axis and Allies Anonymous”.  It’s for Infantry Stack users as well as thier families…  Spread the word!

OK, 2 things…

1st - Trenacker can be helped, we can work with you but GeneralHandGrenade - Sorry, hopeless.  You seem to have something even AAA can’t work with.  My Apologies :-o

2nd - Argothair

Thank you for your responses, it is a dilemma I have been working on, playing Classic.  I could never formulate a system that would deal with this Historical problem while keeping the integrity of the game intact. I’M NOT READY TO WAVE THE WHITE FLAG YET!  My hope is as I play more Global games I will get a better understanding.  Of course, as you stated very well, it is one of the reasons artillery was brought into the game and, perhaps, I just need to better learn how to utilize that piece.  One of the reasons I love A&A is the historical believeability of the game.  Almost all other aspects are pretty close to being dead-on, historically, without making one game seem to last from 1936-45(9 years). As you said, we could track everything, logistically, and I just don’t have that amount of time in my life.  However, the Infantry is a unit already in the game and getting that “on track” is and will be a goal of mine!
Thanks again!

Would this work:

When a nation has fallen to 1? 2? etc.? territories they can only purchase a lesser Infantry unit.  Insert here what type of unit that may be…  If they choose, they may still purchase any other unit.  Although, to be honest, I haven’t worked that one out in my head yet and would welcome suggestions.

This would demonstrate a countries desperate counter-measure when “The End is Near”.

For instance, we will use the US as an example.  When the US is down to, let’s say, the Eastern and Central US ONLY they would be in that position because the bulk of their professional soldiers have been defeated.  At that point their main defense may be it’s armed citizens.  E.G. Red Dawn, baby!  WOLVERINES!!!  Patrick Swayze had “Grand-Daddy’s Pistol” and caused some turmoil but wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Russian and Cuban armies.  However, the “WOLVERINES” may be able to prolong the advance to allow professional soldiers to re-train, re-arm and re-group to stage a  sufficient counter-attack, thereby remaining in the war.  Of course this is akin, in a realistic setting, to both the Russian army/citizens, in defense of Moscow, and Germany, in defense of Berlin.  And, by the way, would’ve been for Japan had the US invaded.

My proposal:

1. When a nation has only 2 territories remaining they may only purchase 1 Infantry per/turn. All other soldiers would have to be a “Citizen Soldier” (there it is again) Attack-0 Defense-1 Movement-1
2. The cost for a Citizen Soldier would be 2IPCs per/unit. (I am concerned that the stacks may grow still but it will be lesser units and more HISTORICALLY ACCURATE).
3. Citizen Soldiers may only be purchased when a country is down to 2 or less territories
3. As soon as a nation occupies a 3rd territory they may, again, begin to produce “full strength” infantry

My hope is that this will entice players to place a little more emphasis on other territories and not just stack infantry solely on their capitol to the point that the game is lengthened due to simple offensive buildup from the aggressor and constant infantry buildup from the defender.  With a lesser defensive value of the citizen soldier it may be more appealing for the attacker to attack sooner and wipe out that country before they recapture a third territory.  And the beauty is, as always, it will come down to the dice rolls…

SUGGESTIONS ALWAYS WELCOME!!!