Balancing the 42.2 game without the need for Bids

Anyone ever switch it up?
USA, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
At War with
Great Britain, Russia, Ottoman Empire, France

Starting ipcs 95-95
Countries spaced apart good enough where no one has an advantage.

Would have to add some pieces to USA for this.

I know you are all history purists though but with the balance issue I keep hearing about I wondered if this has been tried just for fun.

Hi, Taamvan.  thanks for the comments.

Sorry, the values are all 4 IPCs for National Objectives.  The NOs came from Argothair, but with some tweaks by our group (I think originally came from a different A&A version).  More money on the board makes the game a little more fun, but in theory it should last longer (which is not desirable), but I feel like we get to the climactic battles faster than we would with minuses…

I do feel like the board is still tilted for the Axis, but Russia having an extra 8 IPCs per turn is a bigger impact than Germany having an extra 8 IPCs.  We maybe could nerf the values down for the Axis, maybe.  I feel like the paratroop rules and the Russian fighter conversion support the Allies.  We’re trying to steady the board without tilting it to the Allies; and meanwhile trying to make some other strategies playable.

@Cmdr:

I would be concerned in allowing the UK to can open like that for the Americans.

What if the turn order ended:  USA >> Italy >> Germany (Germany being first in the turn order)?

That at least permits Italy to blitz some tanks from N. Italy into Denmark to save Germany’s arse at the last minute.

London is at risk, Calcutta is at risk, Moscow is at risk… Why shouldn’t Berlin and Rome be at risk?

I prefer to think along the lines of many fewer, large sea zones. Ships of both sides can co-exist in them, and must make search (or intercept) rolls to initiate combat. Land based fighters cannot attack ships.

That depends on what you term fail? If they commit 3 tanks 2 fighters and Caucasus units and don’t kill the tanks and or at least a plane, then that attack is a fail, but nobody unless hes a fool will say “Game over- insert 50 cents- do not pass go” Alot of other battles and an accumulation of advantages over turns is what you want. Of course the “Big Battle at Moscow” could change the fortunes of either side. Go to steam and enter my name and #2799 and we can play a game.

I think the allies need a lot of help in Global.  Trouble is, if the bid gets too big they can put it all in one theatre and unbalance the situation on one side of the map.  So what I propose is a rule for bids that says you must place 50% of your bid on the Europe map and 50% on the Pacific map.  If the bid is an odd number, you can place 50%+1 on one side.  So for example if the bid is $17 you would have to place 8 or 9 in each side.  This rule would allow bids to get a lot larger and give the allies a fighting chance, while keeping it reasonable on each side of the world.

Think of every tt with an IPC value as having an infantry “depot”. The limit raised per turn based on the IPC value is reasonable.

But in the long term (and I’m thinking in particular of WWI) the number of men of fighting age available in any area is limited. WWI would not have gone on indefinitely; each side would simply have run out of men. Furthermore, the more you try to recruit in a particular area, the quality of troops raised decreases, and resistance to conscription grows.

Also consider depots as infantry training centres; a unit recruited there receives basic training, say the equivalent of a 1-1 infantry unit.

Leave it there another turn and it improves to a 1-2 unit, or you might use the turn to train it as storm troopers, paratroopers etc. You have to decide on the value of properly trained units against the immediate need for troops at the front, even if they’re just raw recruits to soak up hits.

A further refinement is to indicate the nationality of a depot; some nationalities will fight for more than one side, for example Romanian units might be raised by Germany or Russia depending on who controls Bucharest.

Units starting the game can be assumed to be fully trained, those raised from scratch start as raw. You can even consider some casualties to be wounded, and needing to be sent back to the depots for recuperation.

@Micoom:

Germany had Already Radar in place to defend the “Atlantic wall” in Early 1941, long before “Barbarossa” would begin… So Radar shouldn’t be a UK advantage at all in a 1942 scenario. Only in a 1939…

We are working here on a Historical edition for A&A, so for this game timelines are essential and therefore more important then game flexibility, IMO.

Germany had short wave radar only, hence did not pick up a signal on airplanes being long away and the warning was too late sometimes!