[Global 1940] New turn order

I still say that neutrals should reflect their real life status during WWII. For example, Afgan king had talks with three major powers during that war to try to get his forces to join them due to Afgan sitting on a good source of opium and a fresh military, granted, it was mostly irregulars based on tribal politics that in theory could form one national military armed with Lee Enfields. UK who had the best status with Afgan, USSR due to the nature of bordering them and Germany who was trying to get any middle eastern nations to join the Axis to stop the flow of oil going to the Allies. However, the king wanted nothing to do with the war as he saw it being a lose lose situation regardless of who he joined. He was there to see what happened to Iran and Iraq.

So in the case of this, you should have a rule set to these nations very much like Mongolia is the only neutral with a unique rule. The idea is that all neutrals have unique rules. As said before, the only true strict neutral in the game would be Switzerland.

Three big questions every house rule creator has got to answer:

1. At the end of the day, do my players still want to play a game in which events proceed at least roughly along the same course as the actual war? The answer to this question dictates whether you “beef up” continental France and change the turn order to allow the Italian player to avert the Taranto Raid. I think most Axis & Allies players do want to simulate the Second World War. For that reason, they will be hesitant to thwart the T1 German occupation of Paris.

2. What scale are you going for? In theory, Axis & Allies apprehends the strategic level of warfare. Ground units are generally equivalent to corps or armies, sea units to squadrons or fleets, and air units to wings. Some exceptions are made for detached commands, particularly in colonial garrisons, such as at Hong Kong.

3. Do you want to play Axis & Allies? The easiest way to deal with a lot of the historical inadequacies of the game is to add card-driven mechanics, but then you start getting away from the elegant simplicity of the out-of-box game (and here, I am referring even to Global 1940, 2nd ed.).

The out-of-box game tries to capture the general themes of the war at the expense of realism (of course). For instance, given their contribution to Italian GDP at the time, Italy’s colonies should generate no income. The Netherlands should be worth far more than it is. The Italian Navy should be smaller, French naval units should begin the game off the coast of Tunisia, and the India garrison should be vastly larger.

Here are some ideas for making the out-of-box game slightly more interesting:

1. Purchase small red dice and use them to change or increase particular IPC values.

2. Consider using a silver-tipped Sharpie to trace borders, then add new divisions where you think there should be new borders and sea zones.

3. Combine Holland and Belgium to make the Netherlands. In addition to the Dutch East Indies garrison, add a Dutch infantryman to the Belgian Congo.

4. Consider starting both French and Dutch transports somewhere near the Horn of Africa, en route to reinforce their colonies in the Far East. Specify that there are already infantry aboard. This gives some flexibility to the players to decide where they want those transports to end up. Add a Dutch fighter to Malaya at game start.

5. Consider adding new units, including units that are obsolete and cannot be built. I’ve added cavalry (A1 D1 C3 M2, with ability to blitz and retreat), airborne (A1 (2 during first round of combat after drop) D1 C4 M1, with ability to reduce enemy fortification), and armored cars (A2 D2 C5 M2, with ability to blitz and reroll 1 die if matched with an attacking artillery unit). I use Der Kuntzler’s rules for airborne, and I am going to incorporate Leatherneckinlv’s suggestion that they suffer an extra defender AAA roll unless accompanied by a simultaneous land or amphibious attack. I’ve also added Battlecruisers, which are A6 D5 M3 C16. Cruisers have an Air Defense special ability based on Der Kunstler’s rules. Coastal Battleships are A5 D4 M2 C-. Neither Battelcruisers nor Coastal Battleships are capital ships. I use a d12. No combat may go beyond 3 rounds before “locking,” as in A&A 1914.

6. Beef up the French presence in IndoChina by adding 1 INF, 1 ARTY, and 1 Fighter. Add a battleship and a submarine off the Tunisian coast to simulate Mars-el-Kebir. Garrison North Africa with at least 3 French INF and 1 CAV.

7. I rebalanced naval forces. France has 3BB and 1BC, whereas Italy has 1BB and 1BC. I gave both Light Carriers as well. The British Far East Command gets 1BC and 1 Light Carrier (which I liked in Oztea’s 1941 setup).

8. Add Siam. They get a destroyer to simulate their two coastal battleships.

9. Add Poland. 5 INF, 2 CAV, 1 ARTY, 1 ARM, and 1 Fighter. They also get 1 DD.

10. In the Far East, give the Soviets a Fortress on Vladivostok, along with 2AA, 1 Minor IC, 2 INF, 1 Fighter, and 1 ARM with 2 INF in Amur, as well as more units toward Lake Baikal.

11. The British and Dominions get 4BB and 1BC total. Add that to the 1BC in the British Far East, plus a bevy of cruisers.

12. Break Turkey up into 3 parts and give 2 to Greece. (Say they won the Greco-Turkish War, with European help). Then make Greece a minor power.

13. Give Portugal Brazil and garrison its colonies. Add Argentina.

14. Give the Philippines to Spain so that Japanese aggression there isn’t an automatic trigger for American involvement in the war.

@Trenacker:

Three big questions every house rule creator has got to answer:

1. At the end of the day, do my players still want to play a game in which events proceed at least roughly along the same course as the actual war? The answer to this question dictates whether you “beef up” continental France and change the turn order to allow the Italian player to avert the Taranto Raid. I think most Axis & Allies players do want to simulate the Second World War. For that reason, they will be hesitant to thwart the T1 German occupation of Paris.

2. What scale are you going for? In theory, Axis & Allies apprehends the strategic level of warfare. Ground units are generally equivalent to corps or armies, sea units to squadrons or fleets, and air units to wings. Some exceptions are made for detached commands, particularly in colonial garrisons, such as at Hong Kong.

3. Do you want to play Axis & Allies? The easiest way to deal with a lot of the historical inadequacies of the game is to add card-driven mechanics, but then you start getting away from the elegant simplicity of the out-of-box game (and here, I am referring even to Global 1940, 2nd ed.).

The out-of-box game tries to capture the general themes of the war at the expense of realism (of course). For instance, given their contribution to Italian GDP at the time, Italy’s colonies should generate no income. The Netherlands should be worth far more than it is. The Italian Navy should be smaller, French naval units should begin the game off the coast of Tunisia, and the India garrison should be vastly larger.

Here are some ideas for making the out-of-box game slightly more interesting:

1. Purchase small red dice and use them to change or increase particular IPC values.

2. Consider using a silver-tipped Sharpie to trace borders, then add new divisions where you think there should be new borders and sea zones.

3. Combine Holland and Belgium to make the Netherlands. In addition to the Dutch East Indies garrison, add a Dutch infantryman to the Belgian Congo.

4. Consider starting both French and Dutch transports somewhere near the Horn of Africa, en route to reinforce their colonies in the Far East. Specify that there are already infantry aboard. This gives some flexibility to the players to decide where they want those transports to end up. Add a Dutch fighter to Malaya at game start.

5. Consider adding new units, including units that are obsolete and cannot be built. I’ve added cavalry (A1 D1 C3 M2, with ability to blitz and retreat), airborne (A1 (2 during first round of combat after drop) D1 C4 M1, with ability to reduce enemy fortification), and armored cars (A2 D2 C5 M2, with ability to blitz and reroll 1 die if matched with an attacking artillery unit). I use Der Kuntzler’s rules for airborne, and I am going to incorporate Leatherneckinlv’s suggestion that they suffer an extra defender AAA roll unless accompanied by a simultaneous land or amphibious attack. I’ve also added Battlecruisers, which are A6 D5 M3 C16. Cruisers have an Air Defense special ability based on Der Kunstler’s rules. Coastal Battleships are A5 D4 M2 C-. Neither Battelcruisers nor Coastal Battleships are capital ships. I use a d12. No combat may go beyond 3 rounds before “locking,” as in A&A 1914.

6. Beef up the French presence in IndoChina by adding 1 INF, 1 ARTY, and 1 Fighter. Add a battleship and a submarine off the Tunisian coast to simulate Mars-el-Kebir. Garrison North Africa with at least 3 French INF and 1 CAV.

7. I rebalanced naval forces. France has 3BB and 1BC, whereas Italy has 1BB and 1BC. I gave both Light Carriers as well. The British Far East Command gets 1BC and 1 Light Carrier (which I liked in Oztea’s 1941 setup).

8. Add Siam. They get a destroyer to simulate their two coastal battleships.

9. Add Poland. 5 INF, 2 CAV, 1 ARTY, 1 ARM, and 1 Fighter. They also get 1 DD.

10. In the Far East, give the Soviets a Fortress on Vladivostok, along with 2AA, 1 Minor IC, 2 INF, 1 Fighter, and 1 ARM with 2 INF in Amur, as well as more units toward Lake Baikal.

11. The British and Dominions get 4BB and 1BC total. Add that to the 1BC in the British Far East, plus a bevy of cruisers.

12. Break Turkey up into 3 parts and give 2 to Greece. (Say they won the Greco-Turkish War, with European help). Then make Greece a minor power.

13. Give Portugal Brazil and garrison its colonies. Add Argentina.

14. Give the Philippines to Spain so that Japanese aggression there isn’t an automatic trigger for American involvement in the war.

Everything is good with this with the exception of 13 and 14. Brazil being technically a minor allied power during WWII and Philippines being a colony of the US during WWII.

Yeah. I made Brazil a colony of Portugal in order to get both of those countries into the game as a joint minor power. They square off with Argentina, which is divided now into three territories.

Spain’s colonies in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, the West Indies, and the Philippines are restored. To compensate for the significantly delayed entry of the United States into the war, the British have a non-combat move at the start of the game that allows them to recall the BC (battlecruiser) and DD that start the game off the coast of Malaya (Singapore). A light carrier with attendant Tac bomber has also been added to the Far Eastern Fleet at Ceylon. The British garrison in Malaya has been upgraded with an additional British INF, an AA gun, and a Dutch fighter. A British transport is off Hong Kong with the option to evacuate that colony. There is now a fortress on Singapore.

The Dutch garrison in the East Indies consists of 5 total infantry spread across the four islands: 2 on Java, 2 on Sumatra, and 1 on the Celebes. There is an armored car on Java, along with an AA gun and a regular artillery piece. On Sumatra, there are a Tac bomber and cavalry. (For cavalry, I use pieces from a combination of different Risk games. There are three different types of horsemen available, so in theory, one could invent different types of cavalry, and the color variation is very good for those who prefer not to do any painting. For the curious, there is a cavalryman on the march, a cavalryman with saber raised mid-charge, and a cavalryman aiming a carbine from the saddle.) The Dutch have 1 cruiser and 1 DD on-station, with a light carrier in the Atlantic headed toward the Cape.

The French have a cruiser off Saigon. I divided Indochina into north (Tonkin) and south (Annam). The French have two infantry, an artillery, and a fighter to defend the place. The Siamese have 3 infantry, 1 fighter, 1 armor, and 1 artillery poised to invade.

The Spanish have 2 infantry, 1 fighter, 1 cavalry, and 1 artillery on the Philippines, which been divided into two zones, north (Luzon) and south (Mindanao). There is a fortress at Corregidor Island (Luzon). A destroyer and transport are off the coast of Peru and could opt to go west into the Pacific Ocean. A destroyer and cruiser are present in an adjacent sea zone.

To lure the Japanese, an American Marine is stationed on Guam, backed up by a tactical bomber and an AA gun. An American submarine lurks off the coast of Alaska. The American fleet at Honolulu now has an added battlecruiser, while there are two battleships at San Diego.

The Japanese have been given 4 veteran infantry to beef up their presence in China, as well as a pair of cavalry units, one armor with the Kwangtung Army, and two each in additional, veteran fighters and Tac bombers.

The Russians gain 2 AAA in Vladivostok, along with two infantry, one fortress, and one fighter. In neighboring Amur there are two infantry, one fighters, one artillery, and one armor. A pair of Russian cavalry are in the nearer two Mongolian territories, with another infantryman waiting on the northern shore of Lake Baikal. Vladivostok and Leningrad are linked by the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

I took strategic bombers away from everyone except the U.K. & Dominions (U.K. Europe) and the United States at game start.

Excuse me if I missed a post, but with the changes that you are suggesting, it doesn’t sound like you are using Global 1940.  It sounds more like HBG’s Global 1939. 
1940 doesn’t have Dutch or fortresses.  Vladivostok is not it’s own territory either.  Also, you mentioned veteran units, light cruisers and carriers and battlecruisers.  I know you mentioned adding new units, but I don’t think 1940 has room for this many changes.
Again, if I missed something I apologize, but this was confusing to me.

Agree. We left the topic of “new turn order” behind a long time ago. Can we please either return to it or start a new post? Thanks.

@knp7765:

Excuse me if I missed a post, but with the changes that you are suggesting, it doesn’t sound like you are using Global 1940.  It sounds more like HBG’s Global 1939. 
1940 doesn’t have Dutch or fortresses.  Vladivostok is not it’s own territory either.  Also, you mentioned veteran units, light cruisers and carriers and battlecruisers.  I know you mentioned adding new units, but I don’t think 1940 has room for this many changes.
Again, if I missed something I apologize, but this was confusing to me.

The Dutch ARE in G40, they just don’t have an capital (when they should) and lack a completely military that defends their colonies.

How far back do you want to go?

Would it unbalance the game badly if the British and French kicked off the game with a non-combat move to give them the option of consolidating their forces? I’m afraid it would. Historically, budget constraints, faulty intelligence reports, and (probably most of all) fear of another apocalyptic blood-letting stayed the British from reinforcing Singapore and the French from invading Germany when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland.

It would be possible to place Italy ahead of the British in the turn order, but it seems as if that would only serve to strengthen the Axis by allowing Italy to group its naval units. The same problem arises on the other side if you adjust the size of the Royal Navy and French Navy and concentrates. At some point, you just get murder balls that are effectively immune from attack by anything but Strategic Bombers.

Should the Soviets go first so they can sweep the Finns and decide on war with Japan? I feel like I’ve heard a fair number of Axis & Allies players disdain a big Russo-Japanese war as ahistorical.

@Trenacker:

How far back do you want to go?

Would it unbalance the game badly if the British and French kicked off the game with a non-combat move to give them the option of consolidating their forces? I’m afraid it would. Historically, budget constraints, faulty intelligence reports, and (probably most of all) fear of another apocalyptic blood-letting stayed the British from reinforcing Singapore and the French from invading Germany when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland.

It would be possible to place Italy ahead of the British in the turn order, but it seems as if that would only serve to strengthen the Axis by allowing Italy to group its naval units. The same problem arises on the other side if you adjust the size of the Royal Navy and French Navy and concentrates. At some point, you just get murder balls that are effectively immune from attack by anything but Strategic Bombers.

Should the Soviets go first so they can sweep the Finns and decide on war with Japan? I feel like I’ve heard a fair number of Axis & Allies players disdain a big Russo-Japanese war as ahistorical.

Except everyone seems to forget the unofficial war that took place in Mongolia.

The people who dissent are generally down on the idea of a Japanese attack that drives all the way to Moscow. They want to simulate the war as it was fought.

@Trenacker:

The people who dissent are generally down on the idea of a Japanese attack that drives all the way to Moscow. They want to simulate the war as it was fought.

In that case, Mongolia should already be in the game on USSR side. They fought for the Soviets until the end of the war.

@Leatherneckinlv:

After play testing some…I came to the conclusion France needs to BB and a Destroyer…1 BB makes no difference…thoughts so far

I am curious, how does Italy or Germany react to that battleship?