Variable NO's…An AA50 variant

Thanks for Dagon81 National Advantage cards that he designed for AA50. I took the liberty to put in additional cards to input more fun and challenges for the game with Bloodbath rules. Not for the purists but hopefully it will be helpful for the other players. Cheers!

The 6 main powers will starts with the “Base card that comes with red star” plus 2 random drawn NA cards. Every turn, continue to draw 1 NA card from the deck into your hand. China will be much simpler…Just the “Base card” plus 2-3 random NA cards before the start of the game.

There’s total 20 cards for each Power and 10 cards for China…Total 130 cards.
*do pardon my English grammar in it.

Please feel free to take and change to whatever you want.

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I think you’re asking a lot of the right questions: how to add more variety, how to make the game more truly global in scope, how to create advantages for the Allies without overcorrecting. I’m not sure how well you’ve thought through some of the specific changes that you’re recommending.

Moving the British ships from Gibraltar to east Africa does nice things for a British naval presence in the Indian Ocean, but it makes it way too easy for Germany to win the Battle of the Atlantic – Germany can now routinely take out all of Britain’s ships in the Atlantic on the first turn without taking too many risks. This means that Germany can totally evacuate France on turn 1 and probably also on turn 2, which gives Germany a big advantage against Russia.

The Sea Lion threat is probably exaggerated – sure, if you spend 100% of your economy on ships and planes for India, then London could be in trouble, but it’s pretty easy to build, say, 4 infantry in London and still have enough cash left over to place a variety of units in India. Britain starts with 43 IPCs, and London’s not that hard to garrison.

Meanwhile, Japan’s ability to take India or use it as a base to threaten Russia is almost entirely gone. One of the key threats the Japanese have in OOB Anniversary 1941 is building a factory in Indochina on turn 1, capturing Burma turn 1, and then threatening to build a factory in Burma on turn 2. If Japan pulls this off, then it doesn’t matter if Britain has a factory in India, because Japan is still outproducing Britain 4:3, and Japan will wind up with all 3 factories, which can then churn out infantry and tanks to head for Stalingrad. On the other hand, the only way Britain can prevent Japan from pulling this off is by sacrificing its entire starting force of troops from India and Persia, which is expensive and leaves Egypt vulnerable to the Italians.

In your version, Burma is only worth 1 IPC, so there’s very little point in having Japan build a factory there. Japan can’t take Bengal until at least turn 2, and the UK starts with a factory in India, so even if Japan gets a factory in Indochina right away and an eventual factory in Bengal, that’s very unlikely to be enough to deal with the forces Britain will have been accumulating in India proper. The Indian factory is almost 100% safe against anything short of a massive naval invasion – but that naval invasion is much harder to pull off assuming even a modest USA presence in the Pacific, because Britain now has two extra warships in the Indian Ocean, plus a starting factory there.

I think the dance of attacks and counter-attacks you outline in West Africa is entertaining, but unrealistic in terms of strategy – if you’re playing to win, then nobody cares enough about French West Africa to bother sending a transport there. Allied transports are much better off going to Morocco or Gibraltar, and Axis transports are much better off going to Gibraltar or Egypt.

Finally, I don’t think an Indian factory is likely to have any effect on the war on China – it’s 3 moves away from the nearest Chinese territory, and likely 4 or even 5 moves away from the Chinese front lines by the time forces actually arrive.

What all of these admittedly nitpicky corrections add up to is a sense that your changes won’t actually deliver that much variety. You get a different scenario with your changes, but it will always be the same different scenario: Germany wipes out the British Atlantic fleet and then charges hard for Moscow while Britain easily holds London and India and stalemates Japan. The USA can choose to either knock out a weakened Tokyo (and try to get to Tokyo before Germany gets to Moscow) or rush toward Paris and Rome (to try to set up a stable beachhead on the Western Front before Germany gets to Moscow). Other than the USA’s single choice of whether to go to the Atlantic or the Pacific, nobody has any interesting grand strategy decisions to make. Italy has to fight for Egypt, Germany has to fight for Moscow, Russia has to fight for Moscow, Japan has to fight just to hold onto a decent income, and Britain has to defend London, Egypt, and India. The details will vary from game to game based on tactics and dice, but I predict you’ll see a lot of the same general campaigns over and over again.

You may be interested in this earlier thread about splitting India and splitting the Indian Ocean:
https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=41826.0

There’s no official answer that I know of.  A&A is such an abstracted game that, in one sense, it would be meaningless to say that game unit X corresponds to real-world military (or naval) formation Y.  Given the scope of A&A Global 1940, however, the various unit types on the map would roughly correspond to large formations if we were to assume that the allocation of units in the rules corresponds to real WWII numbers.  As an example, Germany’s invasion of the USSR was carried out with over 150 divisions – so from that perspective, the small number of sculpts on the actual board could at best only correspond to army groups.  At that level, it shouldn’t even be possible to differentiate between the components of the army groups, nor even of their consitutent armies or corps; the highest-level tank formations in WWII were, I think, armoured divisions and (one level further down) tank brigades.  So one way to look at the game would be to imagine that we’re not actually seeing the military formations themselves, but rather a patchwork picture showing some of the elements of those formations, with some of these elements being high-level ones and others being lower-level ones (like tank brigades).

Also, it looks like you’ve made submarines 1 IPC cheaper and given them a convoy raiding ability, without any real compensating disadvantages. You’ve changed the submerge ability, but on balance I think the submerge ability is still equally powerful. I think submarines are already a pretty good buy OOB at 6 IPCs, in part because they are the cheapest ship and therefore often the best available fodder.

One thing to know about Subs A2first strike A1 C5 is that loosing them on defense as fodder, is a pretty good news to the attacker. Because, if they submerge, they will gets a much better attack factor than DDs, and for 5 IPCs, pretty cheap to buy. Also, you cannot use them as fodder against other sub.
So, on offence, it is better to lose DDs because A2 first strike should be preserved.
On defense, it is better to use your Sub later, hence Submerging eventually.
And Subs cannot hit subs so you must pick DD as fodder instead.

STANDARD AAMC RULES FOR AA50 KREMLIN

AA50 Kremlin will be played at AAMC using AA50 AAMC Rules (http://aamc.net/bunker/forumsql/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=40) with modifications as noted below.

PRE-GAME BONUS PLACEMENT AND BIDDING

A) Order of Bonus Options.

Players will select four bonus options each…but if both agree then they can choose up to eleven options each. The lower ranked player gets to pick for either axis or allies and gets the first bonus option. The higher ranked player gets to pick the next option for the opposing side. Players alternate selections until finished with their agreed number of bonus options. Players bid for side. Order of action following the bid: Once the bid is finalized and one of the players is Axis and the other Allies, players have to:
1. Declare where to place or retreat troops affected by options in the order they were chosen (for example, if the Axis chose bonus option 10 takeover Archangel and then the Axis chose bonus option 3 Argentina and Mongolia joins Axis, the Allied player would retreat the Archangel units before the Axis player places the Argentinian navy).
2. Placement of unit(s) if the bid is positive, or allocation of funds to allies in the case of a negative bid.
3. Start the game.

B) Bonus Options
Bonus options(11 total) are as follows: (The same option may not be selected twice by the same player).

Infantry Placement - Place three infantry on any territory not adjacent to one containing enemy units. Infantry must be placed on its own territory, for example UK infantry cannot be placed in Novosibirsk.  All three infantry must be placed on the same territory.

Artillery/Tank Placement - Place one artillery and one tank on any territories not adjacent to one containing enemy units.  Same rules as infantry placement except the artillery and tank may be placed on different territories and be owned by different powers.  For example you may place a Japanese tank and an Italian artillery.

Neutral Territories - Take over two neutral powers whose IPC values add up to no more than four ipc’s, you take over their armies as well. (One country does not have to take control of both neutrals, for example Germany may take over Switzerland while Japan may take over Mongolia)…if a neutral has a naval unit place it in the nearest friendly sea zone.

Spain(3inf, 1 artillery), 3IPC’s
Sweden(2 inf, 1 artillery, 1 destroyer), 3IPC’s
Turkey(2 inf, 1 artillery, 1 destroyer, Dardanelles access), 3IPC’s
Saudi Arabia(1 infantry), 3IPC’s
Afghanistan(1 infantry, 1 artillery), 2IPC’s
Switzerland(1 infantry, 1 fighter), 2IPC’s
Argentina(2 infantry, 1 transport, 1 cruiser), 2IPC’s
Peru(1 infantry, 1 submarine), 1IPC
South Eire(2 infantry), 1IPC
Venezuela(1 infantry), 1IPC
Angola(1 infantry), 1IPC
Mozambique(1 infantry), 1IPC

Note: IPC values are not just for neutral selection…they are worth IPC’s in the game…add the neutral IPC total to your total IPC’s if you control it.  Neutrals not taken by a pick are not worth IPC’s if taken in a game.

Transport/Submarine Placement - You may receive two transports, two submarines, or a submarine and a transport; they must be placed adjacent to its own territory or in a sea zone containing other friendly naval units, but not in the same sea zone with enemy units. They may be placed in different sea zones.  They may be owned by seperate powers…for example you may place a Russian transport and a UK submarine.

Destroyer/Cruiser Placement - You receive one destroyer and one cruiser using the same placement rules as Option 4.

Fighter Placement - Must be placed on its own territory, for example a UK fighter may not be placed in Brazil. A fighter may be placed on a friendly carrier.

Bomber Placement - Must be placed on its own territory, for example a UK bomber may not be placed in Brazil.

Factory/AA gun Placement - This factory may only produce as many units per round as the IPC value of the territory it is placed in. The AA gun must be placed in the same territory as the factory.

Carrier OR Battleship Placement - Must be placed adjacent to its own territory or in a sea zone containing other friendly naval units but not in the same sea zone with enemy units.

Takeover of enemy held territory - Place an infantry and an artillery on said territory and retreat any enemy forces to the nearest enemy territory.(The player who wins the retreating side decides where to retreat those units after the bidding process is complete if there is more than one eligible territory to retreat to.) A territory that contains a factory may not be taken using this option.

Special “What-if” Scenarios …a scenario may not be chosen if the opposing side has affected a territory or sea zone involved in the scenario with a bonus option (Please note that as with any other bonus option, only one special scenario may be chosen by each player)

AXIS SCENARIOS
1)Operation Felix- Gibraltar captured by German forces…Place two German infantry on Gibraltar…UK naval forces in Seazone 12 are destroyed.
2)Germany launches Paratrooper Assault on Syria/Iraq- Add one German infantry to Syria/Iraq…UK forces destroyed.  Italy retains control of Italian East Africa with one infantry and Axis forces retain control of French Madagascar…place one German infantry on French Madagascar.
3)Germany gains advantage in air war over Britain- Germany contines to attack RAF installations instead of bombing civilian areas…Remove one UK fighter and UK bomber from United Kingdom.
4)Carrier force at Pearl Harbor- In Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor the US carrier force is in port…Move the US Carrier/fighter from Seazone 44 to Seazone 53.  In addition only the carrier can defend…the fighter is caught on the carrier if Japan attacks Pearl Harbor Round 1 and may not defend.  One hit will destroy the carrier/fighter.  The fighter acts normally if it survives the attack.  If this scenerio is chosen in the 1942 version simply remove the carrier and fighter from the Hawaii Seazone(SZ 53).
5)Japan attacks on Russia go well- This scenerio assumes that superior Japanese leadership won the border war…Japan takes Buryatia S.S.R. with one infantry and one artillery…Russian units destroyed.
6)Japan offensive against China goes well- Japan makes inroads into the Chinese interior…Add one Japanese infantry to Suiyuan and Ningxia…Chinese units destroyed.

ALLIED SCENARIOS
1)No Russian Purge- Place two Russian infantry and an artillery in both Kazakh S.S.R. and Novosibirsk.
2)USSR crushes Finland in Winter War- Place one Russian infantry and one tank in Finland, German units destroyed.
3)German paratrooper assault on Crete fails…Remove one Italian cruiser from Seazone 14 and remove German artillery from Libya.  Add an additional UK destroyer to Seazone 35(Bay of Bengal).  If this scenerio is chosen in the 1942 version remove the German infantry from Libya.
4)Enigma decoded earlier- Britain does better in Battle of Atlantic than historically…Remove one German submarine from each Seazone 5 and 7 and add a UK transport to Seazone 2.
5)Early USA Mobilization- Place a submarine and a transport in Seazone 20, a tank and an artillery in Western USA, and one infantry in Brazil.
6)More US support to China…Add one infantry, one artillery, one aagun, and one fighter to Yunnan…these units are considered Chinese units and cannot leave China.

Bonus Option Clarifications:

-A territory or sea zone affected by a bonus option may not be affected in following selections by the opposing side.
Example- If the player selecting the axis bonus options chooses to place a fighter on French-Indo China then it would be illegal for the other player to takeover French-Indo China.

-A territory or sea zone affected by a bonus option may be affected by other bonus options from that same side.
Example- Both players agree to play with 4 bonus options…The player selecting the axis bonus options chooses to take over Egypt, he may place a factory(and aa gun) on Egypt for his second bonus, a bomber on Egypt for his third bonus and a submarine and transport in the Arabian Sea(Seazone 34) for his fourth bonus…

-Bonus selections once made may have an impact on all remaining bonus selections.
Example- The player selecting the axis bonus options decides to take over Argentina and Mongolia as one of his bonus options, USA may not place three infantry on Brazil since it is now adjacent to a territory containing enemy units.

C) Bidding

-The standard method of bidding will be a closed bid using the bidding link in the Bunker (one time bid). HOWEVER, If both players agree, the bid can be “auction style” instead.
Explanation of Bid for Axis “auction style”:
The lowest-ranked player will make the first bid; if the ranks are equal, the lowest-rated player will make the first bid; if the rates are equal, the player with the lowest number of games played will make the first bid; if the games played are equal, alphabetical order determines the player who makes the first bid.
When bidding, a player must declare “how much” meaning how many IPC’s he is bidding to take (or in the case of a negative bid give away) to play the axis powers.
The other player then (1) bids a lower number of IPC’s. - again, providing “how much” or (2) stops the bidding and gives his opponent the Axis powers at the last bid. Bidding goes back and forth between the players until one of the players chooses option (2).
The lowest bidder then plays the Axis. German units may be placed only on German-owned territories and sea zones; Japanese units may be placed only on Japanese-owned territories and sea zones. Italian units may be placed only on Italian-owned territories and sea zones. A sea zone is owned by a country if it is adjacent to a territory which the country owns.
NOTE: Players do not have to declare what they are buying nor where the bid units will be placed during the bidding process.  In the case of a negative bid the allied player will receive additional IPC’s to disperse to the allied IPC’s on hand in any desired distribution prior to the start of the game.

D) Rules Clarifications

(1) No Tech until round 4 and then…
Only 2 tech tokens per side (Axis or Allied) per round may be purchased; until one side gets a tech, then additional tech tokens are allowed for both sides.  One additional tech token is allowed for each technology gained.

Tech Example- Japan, Italy, and Germany combined may purchase 2 tech tokens per round in total; UK, USA, and USSR combined may also purchase 2 tech tokens per round combined.  As techs are gained additional tech dice may be purchased.  Example: Italy gains paratroopers then both sides may purchase up to 3 tech tokens per round combined on the following game turn (GER in 1941 version, and Russia in 1942 Version).  On the next turn if the United Kingdom was to obtain Jet Power then both sides may purchase up to 4 tech tokens per round and so on…

(2) No unit chosen with a bonus option can be involved in an attack on a territory with an original factory on Round 1…to discourage gambit bonus options and bids.

(3) Straight Rules- No naval movement allowed through these areas unless one side owns both sides of the Straight at the beginning of their turn.  These include the Straight of Gibraltar, Baltic Straight, and the Dardanelles Straight.

(4) Victory City move…Move the victory city in Ottawa to Capetown, South Africa.

(5) Special China Rules for AA50 Kremlin Games

-China makes a restricted first move in Kremlin AA50 games before any other power moves…this is only a non-combat movement phase and China may not conduct combat or place additional units for territory controlled at the end of the turn.  The game proceeds as normal after this non-combat movement.
-Bonus Options 1, 2, 6, and 7 may be chosen for China…such units may not leave Chinese controlled territory.  Bonus Option 10 may be chosen by China but can only be used against axis-controlled territories that China is eligible to attack.  The only neutral selectable by China in Bonus Option 3 is Afghanistan.
-In addition to all the territories that Chinese units are eligible to enter and attack in the regular version of the game…In AA50 Kremlin China may enter or attack Burma(reverts to UK control if taken by China) and French Indo-China.
-Chinese planes may attack axis ships adjacent to Chinese controlled territories.
-If the Burma Road(India, Burma, Yunnan) is under allied control at the beginning of Chinas turn then China may upgrade one infantry unit to an artillery unit(in Yunnan only).
-If the Burma Road(India, Burma, Yunnan) is under allied control at the end of Chinas turn then China may place an extra infantry unit.
-There are no stacking limits on Chinese units…an eligible territory may contain any number of Chinese units.
-China receives infantry for its placement phase at the rate of one infantry for every two territories controlled at the end of its combat phase.

source: http://www.aamc.net/bunker/forumsql/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2492

Well the map is not accurate in this respect, but Shanghai would be Japanese original. If it was up to me the VC should be in Manchukuo and that other territory held in Chinese control in 1941. Sometimes you have to just do the best of a bad situation.

From the future AA50He project.

Tech Tree:
Procedure: Same as AA50 except you assign your researcher to one of the following three categories: Land, Sea or Air. Further, you can only assign up to one researcher per category at a time. Germany and USA can assign up to two researchers per category. All other OOB rules are in effect.

Research & Development
In this phase, you may attempt to develop improved military technology.  To do so, you buy researchers that give you a chance for a scientific breakthrough.  Each researcher token will grant you one die that provides a chance for a breakthrough.

Research & Development Sequence
1. Buy researcher tokens
2. Roll research dice
3. Roll breakthrough die
4. Mark development

Step 1: Buy Researcher Tokens
Each researcher token costs 5 IPC’s.  Buy as many as you wish, including none.

Step 2: Roll Research Dice
For each researcher you have, roll one die.

-Success: If you roll at least one “6”, you have successfully made a technological breakthrough.  Discard all your researcher tokens and continue to step 3.

-Failure: If you do not roll a “6”, your research has failed.  Keep all your researcher tokens and continue to the Purchase Units phase of the turn.

Step 3: Roll Breakthrough Die
If you rolled a “6” on any research die, choose one of the two breakthrough charts and roll a die to see which technological advance you get.  You can only receive one advance each turn.  If you have already received the same result on a previous turn, re-roll until you get a new technological advance.  Once you have received all the advances on a chart, you cannot gain any more advances from that chart.

Step 4: Mark Development
If your research was successful, place one of your national control markers inside the appropriate advancement box on the research & development chart.  Your development becomes effective immediately.

Any number of powers may develop the same technology, but powers cannot share their technology.

Land Technology:

Tier #1:
• War Bonds- add one die to IPC total each turn.
• Elite Armor- You can form elite armor forces by converting one tank each turn for 1 IPC or build one from scratch for 6 IPC attack at 4 and defend at 5, move 2
Tier #2:
• Improved Flak Battery’s- AA guns fire at planes at 2.
• IC Repair- (one IPC allocated removes two points of damage)
Tier #3:
• Underground factories- SBR hits count at ½ value rounded down.
• Heavy Artillery- Your artillery rolling a 1 can choose the land target on either attack or defense.

Sea Technology:

Tier #1:
• ASW- your fighters and bombers can now negate the submarines first strike on the second round, plus perform ASW search and attacks. They can also attack subs without having a Destroyer or Cruiser present.
• Shipyards- subs, transports, destroyers cost one less IPC, all other ships cost two less IPC.
Tier #2:
• Improved Carriers- if you pay 4 IPC per carrier they now take 2 hits, plus have a 3 fighter capacity. New Carriers of this type can also be created and they costing 4 IPC extra to purchase.
• Super Battleships- your existing battleships attack and defend at 5 and they always fire preemptively in combat each turn (loses removed before they fire back) for either attack or defense.
Tier #3:
• Super subs- Your subs now defend at 2 and attack at 3.
• AA cruisers: your cruisers get an AA roll if any planes attack hitting at 1 prior to the first round of combat. Each plane is rolled and if hit is removed before shooting back.

Air Technology:

Tier #1:
• Radar- any fighters you have defending and not under attack can assist adjacent territories prior to the start of combat rolls.
• Long Rang Air- fighters and bombers now move 2 extra spaces.
Tier #2:
• Heavy Bombers- roll one die= lost IPC, roll second die = damage to factories capacity to place new units.
• Rockets- Your antiaircraft guns are now rocket launchers. In addition to its normal combat function, during the strategic bombing raid step of your Conduct Combat phase each turn, each of your antiaircraft guns can make a single rocket attack against an enemy industrial complex within 3 spaces of it. This attack does 1d6 damage to that complex.
Tier #3:
• Jet Fighters- The attack value of your fighters is now 4 and the defense is 5, also they don’t get rolled at by defending AA guns.
• Atomic Bomb- one bomber per turn can perform one SBR run where the damage is permanent reduction in capacity to place units. The first turn this can be developed is turn 7. Prerequisite: Heavy Bombers technology.

Procedure: allocate researcher to develop a tier #1 technology in any of three categories. Once you have developed a technology you can choose one of the two choices. If you elect to develop further research in the same category and succeed, you may then either elect to choose a Tier #2 technology or pick something from a LOWER tier technology.
Eventually, you can get to a tier #3 technology and chose any lower tech.

Spies: These cost 10 IPC each and can be assigned in secret to any specific enemy player’s technology category (land, sea or air). If that player decides to develop a technology in this category and it succeeds, the spy may be revealed and the spy gets to roll obtaining technology on a roll of 4-6. Note: the Soviet player is the only player that can send spies to his own allies and they cost 5 IPC.

Counter Spy: Each player may buy a super spy which can be used to eliminate the enemy spy but this is also assigned to a specific technology category (land, sea or air) to any technologies that can be developed.

oh wow. thats not how i played it. Otherwise Germany can build fighters and get all her planes instantly as jets?

thats really strong Tech….

Perhaps you can convert one fighter per turn or build a new fighter that will be a jet?