Why is the Eastern Front in G40 so boring?

Like it.

wicked.  I need to order my passport so I can join one of these.

I’ve noticed one response to a common variation of a J2. Situation:

Strategy:
USA DD to SZ43 (Off Borneo)
UK DD to SZ37
UK land on Sumatra
Anzac land on Java

Result:
Allies are secure on Sumatra and Java through turn 2. Some possibility of convoying off income but unlikely to get it all and some of the fleet might be exposed if they try to convoy both. Every bit as important: Japan doesn’t get the money on turn 2 which slows them down a fair bit.

Just tried this against one player and he avoided the DOW J2.

Downside: Losing two DDs. Doesn’t seem like a big problem. The UK one can be replaced turn 3 with the one starting off South Africa.

I would not be G40 boxed set for a new rulebook or even for new French unit sculpts. However, I would buy a G40 boxed set for some combination of two or more of these changes:

1. Long standing balance issues were resolved officially instead of with the house rule hodgepodge we use now.
2. Historical inaccurances (Scapa Flow, Iceland, Sierra Leone, etc) were corrected on the map/setup (for instance, Iceland was occupied by the US on July 7th 1941, but the map shows it as a UK territory from the start).
3. There were cool new sculpts for multiple powers, and cleaned up sculpts for units that look too similar (ANZAC cruiser vs destroyer for instance, or corrected the 9 ft tall ANZAC infantry unit).
4. New map! For instance, eastern Russia is vast and would have been a Japanese sinkhole that brought no benefit, but in the G40 map those territories all actually produce income. The Global War map is a much better representation – combined German/Japan strategies that work on the current map would not work on Global War map.
5. Map supports faster setup – MICs and setup bases pre-printed, for instance.
6. Rule changes that allow the US to build bases on other Allies territories.
7. Rule changes to fix unit issues (cruisers!)
8. Separate control markers for UK Pacific vs UK Atlantic

Basically, a couple of big changes or a bunch of small changes make the investment worthwhile IMO.

Fixing NOs could be part of #1 – giving the UK an additional NO of no German navy in the Atlantic other than sea zone 112 would probably help the balance issue. Also, giving Japan an NO that costs it money if it DOESN’T control those islands once at war with the US might help the balance issue.

Marsh

Here is another way of implementing auto Shipyards that just occurred to me.

At the beginning of each round* roll 1d6. The hit will determine whether the Shipyards technology is activated for all players.

round 1: hits at 1 to activate Shipyards for all nations
round 2: hits at 2
round 3: hits at 3
round 4: hits at 4
round 5: hits at 5
round 6: auto tech Shipyards for all nations

This means that from the first round, and for each round which the game progresses, the odds of Shipyards will increase. Until the 6th round, at which point the Tech is activated automatically for everyone.

Germany starts the game round sequence so they can roll it. Or, depending on how many players you have, you can alternate the roll each round so that someone else gets a chance to try for the hit.

The logic here is that the Naval Race escalates as the war itself escalates, until it crescendos, and everyone gains access to the cheaper naval unit cost structure at the same time.

Axis have the strong early incentive to go naval if shipyards is activated in the first or second round. Every round after the 3rd the cost structure starts to favor Allied builds. Though even then, Axis can exploit late game naval action.

Naval Race rules: an independent and escalating tech roll, which grants Shipyards for All! :-D

In TripleA this is how you use the roll…

At the start of each round:
“Game” tab > “Roll Dice” > roll 1 six sided die (free roll)

If it hits according to rules above, then
“Game tab” > “Enable Edit Mode” > Add Tech Shipyards for All

*note: you could also choose to make this roll at the end of the game round rather than the beginning. This means the roll would usher in the 2nd round, rolling each round thereafter until Shipyards is activated, or until auto-tech Shipyards in the 7th round. It works either way, though I think it would be more fun to roll Shipyards at the beginning of the round rather than the end of the round and this keeps the value of the roll corresponding exactly with the game round G1 at 1, G2 at 2, G3 hits at 3, and so forth. Its a fairly simple way to get cheaper ships into the game for everyone.

For people who play using the Optional Global tech rules, the Shipyards technology is now removed from Breakthrough chart two. If you roll on 3 on the second breakthrough chart, re-roll the die until you hit one of the other technologies.

Pull them all back and see what happens.  If Germany buys transports for a sea lion attack on London, then go back to Amur and then down into China and help them take and hold Kiangsu and maybe even Hongkong.  You might prevent a Pacific VC win if you are lucky.  Don’t forget you can mobilize new Chinese infantry on top of your Russians.

If Germany does not buy transports and masses troops along the Russian border for a G3 attack, then you better start marching them all West.

However, if Germany launches Barbarossa on G2 they may be too little too late anyway.  A German attack could start out as a mass of tactical bombers, armor, artillery and infantry in Hungary that moves East 1 territory per turn.  Meanwhile 10 mechanized infantry are built each turn in Germany to replace infantry losses.  The mechs also protect the tactical bombers in East Poland.  The schedule is East Poland G2, Belarus G3, Bryansk G4, then Moscow G5 onward.  Ukraine probably  evacuates.

So Germany is attacking Moscow G5, but there are 6 Far East troops in Samara and another 14 units in Novosibersk.  Those replacements make it possible for Russia to hold on as Germany batters Moscow G6, G7, G8, and just maybe the Germans will finally run out of infantry and die.

This is the ultimate A&A.

Hope for 1941 and 1942 setups… :-D