Tweaked Setup/Rules to Improve Balance

Here is my attempt to make the '41 w/NO, no tech scenario more balanced (from playtesting, it seems close to no bid), and increase the viability of non-KGF strategies.  There are a small number of rule changes, and a small number of additional units placed in the starting setup.

Germany
Add 2 Infantry to Czechoslovakia.

Russia
Add 1 Infantry to Urals.
Change the 2nd NO to give 5 IPC instead of 10 IPC.
Add the following NO: “Gain 5 IPC if the Allied powers control four of the following five territories: Belorussia, Eastern Ukraine, Kazakh SSR, Novosibirsk, Urals.”

Japan
No changes.

UK
Add 1 Infantry to New Zealand.
Add 1 Infantry to Solomon Islands.
Add 1 Infantry to New Guinea.
Add 1 Carrier, 1 Fighter to SZ43.
On the first turn only, all ICs that the UK buys cost 8 IPC and may be placed at the beginning of the turn, in which case they may be used to produce new units at the end of the turn.  On all following turns, the UK follows the normal rules for buying and placing ICs.
Change the 3rd NO to read: “Gain 5 IPCs if the Allied powers control all of the following territories: Eastern Canada, Western Canada, India, Australia, and Union of South Africa.”

Italy
Add 1 Artillery to Libya.
Add 1 Destroyer to SZ14.
Add the following NO: “Gain 5 IPC when the Axis powers control two of the following three territories: Balkans, Czechoslovakia/Hungary, Bulgaria/Romania.”

US
No changes.

China
Change the initial setup entirely, so that instead there is exactly 1 Infantry on each Chinese territory, and the Flying Tigers start in Sikang.
Change the formula for determining the number of new Chinese Infantry created each turn to the following: 1 Infantry per territory, up to a maximum of 3 Infantry are generated each turn.

That’s it.  If you decide to try it, let me know what you think. =)

Looks like nobody is really interested in this.  Maybe I’ll state my goals with this setup, which might give people a reason to try it out:

1. Make Japan go a little bit slower in Asia, even in KGF.  This is done by making China a bit more resilient (and this also makes China a little bit more fun to play as).
2. Make Italy a bit more powerful, to be a more viable independent country (though 5 more IPC/turn is still not going to turn them into a major power or anything).
3. Balance Italy’s increased income with a bit more income for Russia early in the game.  This makes them closer to an equivalent to Germany in power, so Italy will have to cooperate with Germany closely to beat back Russia.
4. Give the UK a chance at keeping one of their NOs for a few turns, at least.  This gives the Allies a few more turns of vital UK IPCs in a KGF game, which I believe the Allies need.
5. Give UK a more viable option of going partly or fully Pacific, and in doing so, try to make KJF and global strategies nearly or just as viable as KGF.
6. Make India and Australia more defensible to an early Japan blitz, if the Allies wish to hold on to them.

Note that these measures will slow Japan down, but the Allies will also be slowed if they go KGF since Italy’s fleet is a touch stronger.  It ends up that the game is about 2 turns or so longer in my experience.

So, I think the changes do help the balance and playability of the game substantially while not changing the game -so- much as to be unrecognizable.  I know people are going to say, “Bids fix the balance, you don’t need all this.”  But bids don’t do everything that I tried to do above, either.

If you playtest it, let me know what your results were and I’ll use that information to tweak it, if necessary.