Losses limited to tier

I love these rules. It makes the game insanely dynamic & cutting edge from the first turn to the last. Requires a more difficult starting setup for Japan (I’ll publish that eventually) & a joined UKP & ANZAC economy (aka the Pacific Commonwealth, or Cmm).

Even so, give the US an extra 10 IPCs/round to keep up. Turns the game into a firefighting session for the Allies until the US comes in swinging.

Definitely write the tokens down on blank cards!!

APPENDIX 3: VICTORY TOKENS

There exist eight sovereignty tokens and forty victory tokens: fifteen in the Pacific theater, fifteen in the European theater, and ten wildcard “global” tokens.

A3.0.1 Sovereignty Tokens The Axis powers begin the game holding six of eight sovereignty tokens. The last two will be claimed after the fall of France. Note: Sovereignty tokens count for neither Axis bonus income nor Axis victory, but at least six must be held to win the game, and at least four to not lose. A3.0.2 Token Bonus Income During each Axis Collect Income phase, gain 1 extra IPC per held victory token. If, during an Allied turn, the Axis lose a token (victory or sovereignty), that Allied nation immediately receives a 3 IPC bonus. A3.0.3 Limited Objectives (War Aims) Only 12 victory tokens are in play at a time; the initial tokens are those indicated with a star on the card. These represent stated war aims in each theater. At the of the German and Japanese turns, the Axis may choose to substitute a token in play for another from the same deck (Global, Pacific, European), representing shifting goals during the course of the conflict. Note: Germany may not swap Pacific tokens nor may Japan European. Optional (Blitz Mode): Before the start of the game, the Axis players choose which tokens will be in play (select 5 European, 5 Pacific, and 2 Global) & permit no substitution thereafter. Optional (Secret Blitz): The same as above, but do not reveal the tokens selected. A3.0.4 Axis Victory Conditions To win as the Axis, you must hold six sovereignty tokens AND the same five theater-specific victory tokens for a full round. If these conditions are met, you must audibly inform all Allied players of such. If the conditions are still met (without the clock being reset) one round later, the Axis claim victory. Note: Global victory tokens count towards both theaters. A3.0.5 Allied Victory Conditions The Allies win if the Axis hold fewer than four sovereignty tokens for a full round. If these conditions are met, you must audibly inform all Axis players of such. If the conditions are still met (without the clock being reset) one round later, the Allies claim victory. Optional: If a turn limit is being used, the Allies win by default at the end of the last round. A3.1 SOVEREIGNTY TOKENS The Edo Token: Hold Tokyo. The Imperial Token: Hold Japan, Manchuria, & Korea. The Roman Token: Hold Rome. The Republican Token: Hold Northern Italy, Southern Italy, & Sicily. The Berliner Token: Hold Berlin. The Reich Token: Hold Western Germany, Germany, and Greater Southern Germany. The Parisan Token: Hold Paris. The Vichy Token: Hold Normandy/Bordeaux, France, and Southern France. A3.2 GLOBAL VICTORY TOKENS The Empire Token ★: Let there be no UKE or Cmm battleships on the map. The British Token ★: Hold the United Kingdom, Eire, and Scotland. The Bolshevik Token: Let there be no Soviet units on any originally-Soviet territories. The Maple Token: Hold any Canadian territory. The Panama Token: Hold Central America. The South America Token: Control one originally unaligned neutral territory in South America. The California Token: Have a battleship or aircraft carrier in SZ10. The Washington Token: Have a battleship or aircraft carrier in SZ101. The America Token: Take any one of the Western United States, the Central United States, or the Eastern United States. The Economy Token: Axis powers’ combined income (on the income tracker) is greater than 120 IPCs. A3.3 PACIFIC VICTORY TOKENS The Colonial Token ★: Control Jehol, Shantung, Kiangsu, & Anhwe; and let there be no more than 5 Chinese units in any territories adjacent to them. The China Token: Hold all originally-Chinese territories. The Coastal Token ★: Control SZs 6W, 19, 20, 36, & 37 & all territories touching them. The ABDACOM Token ★: Let there be no Allied CA, CVs, or BBs in SZs 37 & 41-45. The India Token: Hold Burma, India, and West India. The Island Token ★: Hold the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Midway, and all originally-Japanese islands. The North Pacific Token: There are no Allied surface warships and no Allied islands within two seazones of SZ 6W. The Honolulu Token: Own an ArmB in Hawaii. The Melanesian Token: Have at least one land unit on each of New Britain, the Solomons, and New Hebrides. The Sydney Token: Hold New S. Wales and let there be no Allied surface vessels in SZ 62. The Australia Token: Let there be no Allied land units on an Australian territory (W. Australia, N. Territory, S. Australia, Queensland, NSW, and Victoria). The North Front Token: Control Korea & Manchuria and let there be fewer than 6 Soviet land units adjacent to Japanese-held territories. The Siberian Token: Let there be no Russian infantry on originally-Mongolian or Russian territories on the Pacific board. The Dominance Token ★: Have at least twice as many capital ships (battleships and/or carriers) as the Allies on the Pacific board. The Expansion Token: Let Japan control 8 original (may not have been built since the start of the game) operational naval bases. A3.4 EUROPEAN VICTORY TOKENS The Atlantic Wall Token ★: Let there be no Allied units in continental Europe (excluding Russia) & have at least four land units on four of five: Normandy, Belgium, W. Germany, Denmark, and Norway. The Balkan Token ★: Have at least two infantry on each of Yugoslavia, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and Greece. The Norway Token: Germany can claim its Iron NO and has a transport in SZ 125. The Molotov Token ★: Let there be fewer than 2 Soviet units in any Soviet-controlled territory adjacent to German units. The Russia Token: Capture or disable any three originally-Soviet industrial complexes. The Kremlin Token: Control Moscow and three of the five territories adjacent to it. The Ural Token: Control Novosibirsk and from there, be able to trace a cooperating land route back to Berlin. The North Africa Token ★: Control Malta and let there be more Axis (not Vichy) ground units than Allied ground units in North Africa. The Mediterranean Token: Close either the Suez Canal or the Strait of Gibraltar, AND either (a) control all Mediterranean islands (Malta, Cyprus, and Crete, Corsica/Sardinia, and Sicily) or (b) let there be no Allied vessels in the Mediterranean. The Wolfpack Token ★: Have warships in each of SZ 117, 118, 107, and 108. The Blockade Token: Have a surface warship in SZ 109. The Kriegsmarine/Regia Marina Token: Have any 3 battleships or aircraft carriers not in either the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean. The Iberia Token: Hold Portugal, Spain, and Gibraltar. The Scandinavia Token: Control the Baltic and every territory adjacent to it. The Ottoman Token: Control the Black Sea and every territory adjacent to it.

@vodot Thanks! I made some edits to the original post based on our discussion. I hear you that it is important to avoid unreasonable “side-stepping” of blockades, but trying to count up fractional territories is way more bookkeeping work than I want to assign. Instead, I give players the choice of using either a land supply line or a sea supply line, but not both.

@barnee re: testing

Since the Axis each have a starting income that is divisible by 3, originally I had the mechanics for merging theatres as a function of the Axis country either increasing their income by 2/3rds more than their starting income, or decreasing it by 1/3rd less than their starting income. (Which sort of dovetails into the “2 out of 3” rule for Victory Cities.)

This effectively worked out to:
Germany: +14/-7
Italy: +8/-4
Japan: +10/-5

Changing it to a uniform +10/-5 made the math a little bit more intuitive, but it also means the USSR doesn’t have to get beat up so much (down half their income, possibly even losing their capitol) before the US/UK are able to jump in and help.

In terms of territorial gains/losses, this typically works out like…
+10 Germany = Karelia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Persia
-5 Germany = Finland/Norway, Eastern Europe

+10 Italy = all of Africa, plus Brazil or Eastern Canada
-5 Italy = all of Africa (except for one territory), or losing Southern Europe

+10 Japan = all Chinese territories, plus India or Philippines
-5 Japan = Indochina/Burma, Manchuria

So, Italy probably has the toughest time (as one might expect) but none of these scenarios are completely out of the realm of possibility.

@Argothair:

I think I’m shooting for something in between those two extremes, Caesar. We have a rough idea of the manpower reserves of each nation – so maybe nations can only purchase X infantry per turn at the low cost of 3 IPCs per unit, and then after that they have to pay a higher cost of 3.5 IPCs or 4 IPCs per unit? And then X can vary by nation based on what we know about the nations’ manpower.

E.g.
China – 20 infantry / turn
Russia – 18 infantry / turn
America – 16 infantry / turn
UK Pacific – 14 infantry / turn
Germany – 12 infantry / turn
Japan – 10 infantry / turn
UK Europe – 8 infantry / turn
Italy, France, ANZAC – 6 infantry / turn

I’m not saying that’s accurate; that’s just an illustration of the level of detail that interests me. Other players might be interested in more detail or less detail than that.

Not a bad idea but China and Russia will never have issues because 20 Chinese infantry equal $60, literally larger than the possible total value it can have unless you’re working a rule where China can leave their territories. I think 18 infantry for USSR would be $54 which is larger than it’s own national worth unless it captures Axis territories which the excuse for that is now it has more population to use.

I’m kind of worried Japan can take India on turn 3 still.  Limited India doesn’t seem like a good idea.  :-D  Oh crap are we talking 1914 or 1940?  Can’t tell because all the house rules are in the same forum.  :roll:

The main problem with the reinforcements mechanic is that of the “pinning” trick, whereby the attacker can send a single infantry to attack stack B in order to prevent units defending stack B from reinforcing stack A during that combat phase.

Possible solutions:

1. The defender always chooses the order in which battles are resolved;

2. An attack is not allowed against a force more than 3 times that of the attacker (in total units);

3. The defender is still allowed to reinforce even from tts under attack; this creates other problems, effectively giving the defender a “free retreat” option.

4. Fight all battles in a combat phase simultaneously by round, only allowing reinforcements from tts clear of enemy units.

CRUSADERIV, its like your reading my mind. I have air supremacy rules too.

There’s someone in my head but it’s not me! (Pink Floyd)

Oh, I completely I agree that a balanced force will beat out a force of pure infantry (especially if the balanced force is the one attacking). I remember seeing on AH’s website that something like 3 tanks + 5 inf offered the best chance for success on the first round, using only 30 IPCs.

My idea for a stacking limit - while still trying to keep very simple - was to limit the number of inf any country could have on the board at any given time, to their current production level (or some multiple of it). I was thinking of doing 2x your income (as being the max number of inf allowed) but that’s still a pretty big amount, IMO. I was also considering allowing Russia to have a few extras (it’s Russia, after all).

Anyway, at the beginning of your turn, if your income is, say, 45, and you had a total of 42 infantry on the board, you wouldn’t be allowed to buy more than 3 infantry. (But if you then lost territory, without losing infantry, so that your income was only 43 but you had 45 infantry on the board, you wouldn’t have to kill them off - however, at the beginning of your next turn, you wouldn’t be allowed to buy infantry).

Of course, if that limit is too low (for an income of 20 IPCs, you can only have 20 infantry), you can set it to whatever you want - 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, etc. So if your income was 20, and you’d set it at 1.5x, you could have up to 30 infantry on the board.

You could even use a control marker with an “I” written on it, to keep track (on the production chart) of the number of infantry you’ve got …