Let’s make the Axis And Allies Global 1940 Expansion Rules even more accurate!

  • 2024 2023 '22

    Not taking anything away from you The Captain, but whilst the new units and other mechanisms in your House Rules Expansion are historically accurate, some parts of how they work aren’t historically accurate. This is not meant to be balanced as I haven’t playtested this. It is purely for historical accuracy.

    First, let’s talk about Waffen-SS units. The number limit is alright, due to the Heer not allowing too many Waffen-SS units competing for resources. However, they shouldn’t be made available by upgrading regular Heer units. Instead, they should be mobilised by simply buying them. The cost is basically all the regular units prices plus the original Waffen-SS upgrade price (for example, a Waffen-SS infantry is basically 4 IPCs), and have them still placed in Berlin. As mentioned before in other topics, Waffen-SS armies and Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer units should not exist, due to the Heer not allowing the Waffen-SS to form units as large as field armies. E-100 tanks should instead be called Waffen-SS Tiger 2 tanks. E-100 was just another planned tank like the Maus and was not purely exclusive to the Waffen-SS (and the Heer would have wanted most of the early production models anyway). Waffen-SS panzer units should be allowed in Panzer Armies-just take a look at the order of battle of the Fourth Panzer Army at the Battle Of Kursk:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk_order_of_battle

    Although if you cared about balance, you could make it so that Waffen-SS Panzers would not be able to be the unit in the Army that rolls twice (since they were given a subordinate role to the Heer and were not looked upon favourably by the Wehrmacht’s leadership), but would still be able to “fill out” an Army’s ranks.

    To end this topic, Waffen-SS units should be allowed to go overseas, as there were plans to:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion_order_of_battle

    Second, units such as Landing Craft, Carrier Based Fighters, or Super Heavy Battleships shouldn’t be limited in numbers or the amount of nations that could produce them, and there shouldn’t be units such as Heavy Bombers, Paratroopers, US Armoured Infantry, German Panzer Grenadiers, Type XXI U-boats, or Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters existing, as these are units that could be gained by Research And Development. Landing Craft should not be restricted to being produced in capitals.

    Third, Soviet (not Russian) Guard Infantry should be upgraded the same way Waffen-SS units in the original House Rules Expansion were, paying 1 extra IPC to upgrade a normal infantry into a Guard Infantry. The number limit should stay the same.

    Fourth, Defensive Fortifications should be allowed anywhere. If the Soviet Union wants to build the Molotov Line or Stalin Line, they should be allowed to. They can be built along territory borders.

    Fifth, Lend-Lease should be shown as the Western Allies being able to give a certain amount of IPCs to the Soviet Union each turn if certain requirements are fulfilled (Vladivostok is open, the Persian Corridor is open, and other things). The reasoning is that the Soviet Union would never have allowed Western Allies crews to simply operate on Soviet territory, even if they were incorporated into the Soviet chain of command.

    Sixth, the new ships found in Increased Shipbuilding should be able to act like all other ships-they can go anywhere on the board. There is no historical basis that they have to be chained to the Pacific.

    Seventh, Elite Infantry should cost more-not 4 IPCs, but probably 3 for 11 IPCs, to represent the increased training and better equipment these units receive, and not have limits.

    Eighth, there shouldn’t be a limit on the amount of Panzer Armies a nations can have, or which nations can have it-just because Japan never formed one doesn’t mean they weren’t allowed to-it was solely their choice.

    Ninth, US Marine units should be purchased, not upgraded-they should cost 4 IPCs. This does not apply to British Commando units, as they were composed of members drawn from the British Army (and other branches), unlike the Marines, which was it’s own branch of service. The number limit seems to work for the US Marines, due to the Army competing with them.

    Tenth, the starting incomes for the respective nations should be adjusted for the increased income that the islands produce-there is no historical evidence that they suddenly had an increase in production in Early 1941.

    Eleventh, the Soviet Tank Mass Production should not be limited so that you can only mass produce tanks once per turn-they should also not be only placed in Moscow, but all tanks of each batch should be placed on the same industrial complex.

    Twelfth, Soviet Army Corps should be renamed Field Army-otherwise, it’s the same function, but there shouldn’t be a limit on them.

    Thirteenth, there shouldn’t be a limit in the amount of Soviet Partisans, King Tiger 2 tanks, Vokssturm, British Commandos, or Rockets that exist.

    Fourteenth, regular Industrial Complexes, should be able to be destroyed at the cost of a certain amount of IPCs for destroying each one.

    Fifteenth, it doesn’t make sense why the increased IPC values for Expanded Pacific Ocean rule can’t be convoyed. Why, of every single territory in this vast, vast world, this arbirtary group of islands can lose some, but not all of their value? I can’t think of any reason that would explain sucha phenomenon for this specific group of islands. Just make the values of all of them convoyable (if they’re in such a sea zone, of course).

    Sixteenth, up to 6 landmines should be able to be carried on transports. 3 landmines take up as much space at one infantry unit. Also, up to 3 landmines should take up one space in an industrial complex.

    Seventeenth, British Commandos should be allowed to retreat from an amphibious assault onto the offloading transports-this does not apply to British Commando units attacking overland in conjunction with an amphibious assault (in other words, the British Commando unit must have come from a transport).

    Eighteenth, the Capital Warships Taking Damage rule, the Non-Aggression Pact rule, and US Heavy Transports shouldn’t exist.

    Nineteenth, US National Guard units should be mobilised regardless of how the US entered the war.

    Twentieth, Strategic Rail Capacity should be done differently-instead of each nation having a certain railway movement capacity, the railway capacity in each territory should be determined by the amount of railways in each territory that were historically there. Railway tracks can be built, and can be bombed (damage works like air bases and naval bases).

    Twenty first, Rockets should also only move one space-I doubt that Katyusha Rockets coud attack Polesti from Baku, nor could Germany’s Nebelwerfer rockets hit London from Bordeaux-the V-1 and V-2 rockets are represented by the Rockets breakthrough in Research And Development, and being able to move two spaces is like the V-4, a cross channel gun that could hit London from Pas De Calais, and the V-4 was never built. To end this part, Germany should be able to buy rockets from the start of the game, and all nations should be able to buy them, representing rocket artillery. Rockets should take up the same space in an industrial complex as most other units.

    Twenty second, Heavy Industry should not exist either, due to the Increased Factory Production already existing, but Heavy Industry for air bases should stay.

    Twenty third, Research And Development should not be delayed until a certain date. Just because Germany did not build and use V-1 and V-2 rockets until 1944 didn’t mean they couldn’t develop and deploy them earlier-it was simply an allocation of resources.

    Twenty fourth, D-Day should be allowed to happen at any time, as a joint landing could have happened as early as 1942 (and actually had a good chance of succeeding, ending the war earlier, and bringing the Allies much farther east):

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sledgehammer

    Finally, Total War should be activated whenever players should like to- how it was historically was that the German player (Hitler) only decided to do it in Early 1943, and the Japanese player just never thought of it. The US and Soviet Union players activated this feature when they were attacked, of course.

    Final note: E-100 tank units should instead be called Waffen-SS Tiger 2 tank units. E-100 was a big tank that was planned (like the Ratte, but much, much smaller) but never built. Most likely the Heer would actually have received it first due to the bitter rivalry between the Heer and Waffen-SS.

    As I said, I know The Captain spent a lot of time making his rules balanced, and maybe nobody will use these, but this is just an idea to make this very historically accurate, even if it’s not balanced (sadly, it seems no one, not here, not Larry, could find a way to make it perfectly balanced and historically accurate).

    Credits to The Captain for creating a base for my ideas!


  • @superbattleshipyamato TheCaptain should use these additions and edit the existing rulebook with “Revised” on it.

  • 2024 2023 '22

    @all-encompassing-goose

    The Captain mentioned it in a private chat with me, so I’m sure he knows it, although I’m not sure on his opinions though. I might copy it to his glossary of his house rule topics.

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