Hey Captain! Your House Rules are absolutely magnificent and outstanding. You are right that once your play with your set of HR, it’s impossible to go back to OOB. Have been enjoying playing G40 with my 14-year old son who has declared this to be the greatest game in the world with no close second! Thanks to how your HR have inspired him, he is now devouring world geography and world history from that great conflict about 80 years ago and teaching his friends about both as well. We do have a question though that we can’t find answer to in this forum. With regard to the Non-Aggression Pact house rules on page 22. Are these in addition to OOB or replace them? For example, would a Japan attack of Amur in Late 1941 only result in a 7 IPC penalty or would Soviet Union also receive the 6 infantry in Mongolia? What about a Japan attack of Kazakhstan in Late 1942? Would that only result in a 5 IPC penalty since not adjacent to Mongolia? Thanks
Best posts made by Trout
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RE: Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@Cornelis-Post Thanks CP! Excellent advice. I was not aware of the Greece Airbase idea but yes, that is brilliant and will incorporate going forward. I was doing hybrid a bit for German strategy with 5 U-Boats a turn, building landmines on G1 to get them dug in at Normandy before US Navy arrives but getting diced badly on G1 in every battle resulted in me needing to build 2 fighters and nine U-Boats. So with purchasing first PG, the U-Boats, landmines, and replacing Luftwaffe losses, the little bit of money left went to building some infantry in France as there were none there after the G1 dicing and he had UK paratroopers sitting in London after UK1. Update on my current game which is at Italy 6:
Germany: Took Novgorod on G5 along with dropping a para in Caucasus to grab the 7 IPC’s. But not moving past Eastern Poland except for holding Novgorod with help of the Baltic fleet. Med is lost and with his chosen Allied strategy was never a possibility. Was only able to get the bonuses from Gibraltar and no Allied Med ships for one turn.
US: Pacific strategy unchanged with starting navy assets in SZ10. 100% of his purchases going towards Italy invasion. He currently has North Africa and Gibraltar but has not invaded the mainland yet. Took Brazil on US3.
UK: Continuing max infantry in India. Took Iraq and destroyed Italian forces in Tunisia on UK5. Combined US/UK Fleet parked in SZ’s 91 and 96.
Soviet Union: repositioned his forces to take away another Caucasus para assault. 85% of his forces in Bryansk to cut off any advances across the front.
Italy: started building all infantry in Southern/Northern Italy on I4 which has resulted in holding off invasion for now. Did take Greece on I2. Could have done it I1 but wanted to wait until air forces could participate. No forces in East for can-openers as invasion is imminent so all ground forces in homeland except one infantry in Greece and 2 AAA in Paris. Moved the Strat Bomber to Western Germany so that it lives on after Italy death.
Japan: J5 took Singapore, last money island, Gilbert Islands, NG, and DNG then J6 repositioned navy to Carolines, built IC in Korea and transported Combat Engineers to China for future movement of minor complexes to Yunnan and western China provinces. My current plan for J7 is to take Hawaii and start mass production of 6 tanks per turn in Korea.
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@Cornelis-Post Hey CP. I am back online now from summer vacay with wife & kids. The end result of our game was that Axis did win. Japan became a monster, Germany turtled and survived. We have been playing the HRE without landing craft. Combination of not being clear on how to use them and then had to figure out what units to use for representing them because all of our games are with the OOB board using OOB pieces. So we have an amateurish system such as using French infantry as paratroopers and putting roundels under infantry to designate an elite infantry. I have an A&A Classic game so we are going to use the Classic transports as LCV’s going forward. We are going to play a few games with the LCV’s and after we get used to that. I will post a game thread with pictures etc. Probably this Fall sometime. A few things that are still head-scratchers for us as we learn HRE are:
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I never have success with Japan without taking money islands but it seems as if you guys don’t always focus on capture of them.
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We never have success with Barbarossa. It always ends with Germany unable to make much progress as long as Allies play reasonably well with UK/USA in continental invasions, etc. Our only Axis wins come from Japan eventually making a two front war that SU can’t keep up with when their income drops below 20.
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USA focusing most resources on KGF and UK piling as much stuff on Calcutta as possible to include 10 LM’s seem to be strategies that play well. But it’s really hard for us to determine how to play ANZAC and Soviet Union along with the fact that to a large extent they are having to react to what Axis are doing.
Bottom-line the HRE is possibly the best WWII board game ever. Too bad Captain can’t monetize that in a huge way because I think he deserves some monetary benefits for his outstanding efforts with this. OOB G40 just isn’t even fun anymore.
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Renegade Enlarged Map - thoughts?
Hi everybody! I am brand new to the forum and may be posting in the wrong place. But do any of you have any experience with the Renegade Game Studios’ enlarged map for G40 which they offer commercially? Is it good quality? Would you recommend? I see it as potentially a less robust map than the print shop options discussed on this forum but way more cost-effective; if the map has great quality. Would appreciate any thoughts or advice before I potentially lay down some cash and purchase it. Thx!!
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
I am struggling as Axis playing when my opponent does an all-out KGF strategy almost completely ignoring Japan, except the 20 IPC’s in Calcutta each turn. I am assuming that there is a game thread somewhere where somebody has successfully countered such a strategy. If so, can someone please be so kind as to point me to that so I can review? Thanks much.
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@Cornelis-Post On schedule for that. In a nutshell:
- Following Captain’s Strategy Guides
- Got diced badly on G1 but I am thinking can be overcome by ignoring Japan surely not being a winning strategy. Dicing summary: Lost all U-Boat in SZ 106 with no UK casualties, lost U-Boats and two fighters in SZ 111 before clearing UK boats. Lost all normal infantry, two mechs, and one tank in the three France attacks plus took four casualties in Yugo.
- In Pacific, J3 attack on two money islands, Guam, Hong Kong, Indochina then J4 attack killing off China, and capturing one more money island plus Philippines. Plan for J5 is take last money island, Singapore, NG, and DNG then prepare for capture of Hawaii, Midway, Wake. His strategy is max landmines and infantry buys in Calcutta while US navy camps out in SZ 10. His UK navy withdrew west on first turn to ensure Axis navy and army cleared from Africa/Med ASAP.
- On US3, he took Gibraltar and US4, he moved to SZ 95 to destroy remains of Italian navy. I have 9 U-Boats in Med but those will be gone after UK4 as he is following up the US attack in Med with UK attack from the fleet he built since game start in SZ 106 that is currently in SZ 90.
- So current situation is Italy going down soon, and my Eastern Front forces not super strong from having to replace Luftwaffe and UBoat losses on G1. Barbarossa launched on my G4. Have two Panzer Generals in Eastern Poland and 4 paratroopers in Romania awaiting Deep OPS in Caucasus/Volgograd when opportunity presents itself but overall not a strong Barbarossa.
- Can’t figure out how to improve where things are and how it got here since Japan can’t move any faster than it is right now.
- So decided to reach out to the experts for advice/resources on COA going forward. Intellectually, I am convinced that ignoring Japan is not brilliant but I can’t figure out how to stop it.
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@The-Captain Thanks Cap. Yes, I love your strategy guide and follow your Battle of the Atlantic strategy normally as I am doing now. It just doesn’t address specific strategies of an opponent that are a little unique such as ignoring Japan so as to kill Italy before the Takeover and follow up by squeezing Germany from all three sides before Japan’s monstrous expansion can put lethal pressure on any of the three major Allies.
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RE: Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion
@The-Captain Thanks for the quick reply Mr. Cap!
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@Cornelis-Post Your Greece paratrooper gambit continues to be very intriguing to me at a minimum and possibly even brilliant but question as to how this plays out.
- Italy takes Greece on I1 or I2. Germany builds paratroopers in Western Germany on G2.
- G3: paratroopers drop on Greece
- I3: Airbase built on Greece
- G4: paratroopers attack some combination of Syria/Iraq/Caucasus/Volgograd/Egypt as opportunity presents.
Is that the general idea?? It seems to me that the effectiveness of the gambit could be maximized with Germany taking Greece on G2 which would allow them to build minor IC on G3 in order to support the G4 paratrooper drop with navy/army assets mobilized in Greece starting G4. I see that being enormously effective in the Med but keeps the Nazis from investing as much in Battle of the Atlantic or Barbarossa prep right?
Will be offline for next few weeks but wanted to inquire about this before I go. Thanks
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
@The-Captain Thanks for that clarification. By the way, I think the Combat Engineers are one of your best additions to HRE. There’s an entire line of strategic thought that goes into how to utilize them and when. For our game playing, I find that it brings some urgency to the game in that the Allies cannot prevent the fall of China if Japan focuses on it early. After that, if India falls and the CE’s have moved minor IC’s to western China provinces then Soviet Union is under extreme pressure at that time. So I find that the UK needs to put alot of thought into how to reinforce India and the USA needs to have a well thought-out and executed strategy to either hit Germany hard in continental landings, hit Japan hard in the Pacific or both because Soviet Union will not survive long without very meaningful help from their UK/USA buddies
Latest posts made by Trout
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@barnee I give up. I don’t see a Strat Guide for Italy in that place either. Italy in my mind is the hardest nation to figure out what to do with. Combination of weak in addition to awesome location and mucho 5-point bonuses. So it seems to give tantalizing possibilities for the Axis but I have yet to figure out the best way to use them. Throw everything into the Med where the bonuses are? Give up on the Med and instead take up Atlantic Wall duty along with Soviet can-openers? The only thing I have figured out for sure about Italy is always ALWAYS do the German Takeover. The rest continues to be a mystery though.
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@The-Captain I think I am missing something. When I read Game Report No. 16, I didn’t see any Strategy Guide. I did see some remarks about making sure you set things up for German Takeover which I find to be a very powerful thing for the Axis to execute. And some remarks about Italy assisting with Sea Lion feint or attack.
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
@The-Captain Thanks for that clarification. By the way, I think the Combat Engineers are one of your best additions to HRE. There’s an entire line of strategic thought that goes into how to utilize them and when. For our game playing, I find that it brings some urgency to the game in that the Allies cannot prevent the fall of China if Japan focuses on it early. After that, if India falls and the CE’s have moved minor IC’s to western China provinces then Soviet Union is under extreme pressure at that time. So I find that the UK needs to put alot of thought into how to reinforce India and the USA needs to have a well thought-out and executed strategy to either hit Germany hard in continental landings, hit Japan hard in the Pacific or both because Soviet Union will not survive long without very meaningful help from their UK/USA buddies
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
@The-Captain Thanks for the clarification on that. My original inquiry seeking clarification still stands though. If you move a factory into a territory controlled by one of your partners, who can mobilize units from it? For example, if German CE’s move minor IC from Paris to Greece which is controlled by Italy, can Germany mobilize units from it?? Second related question, if you move a factory into a partner territory, who can mobilize units from it? For example, if UK moves minor IC built in Persia to Caucasus, can it mobilize UK units from there??
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
@barnee Ahh! Good catch. Maybe we have been using the CE’s incorrectly then. If you are correct, then I guess Axis moving the France factories eastward is about the only effective place the CE moving a factory can come into play. Since the Soviets can move their factories without a need for CE’s.
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
@Trout The only counter to that we have found is to keep India as strong as possible for as long as possible as it’s hard for Japan to commit large forces to the SU attack if India can give them a good kick in the gonads from the south.
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
@barnee Thanks for the feedback Barnee. We play exclusively on the board. We do intend to post some game reports after we get more familiar with playing all of the rules. We were not playing with landing craft until recently as we did not quite understand how to use them and unfortunately use of them completely changes the gaming possibilities especially in the Med. Yes, it has become standard Axis play for us to build two factories in China on J1 and after finishing off China to start moving those two factories west. After they are moved, you are well positioned as Japan to have a devastating attack on Soviet Union between those two factories in western China plus a major factory in Korea.
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RE: Strategy Guide Global 1940
@The-Captain Any update on Italy Strategy Guide release?
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RE: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit
Re: Global 1940 Combat Engineer Unit Happy Friday from Texas Mr. Cap! One question and two observations for the Combat Engineer Unit.
- First observation: Bravo for this addition. Really adds a whole additional layer of strategy to the HRE as they have very unique capabilities to add to one’s overall Battle Plan.
- Second observation: In my gaming, we have found that moving minor factories for Japan westward from Shantung/Kiangsu to be the single most powerful Axis use of the CE and laying mines in Soviet Union to hamper Barbarossa as the single most powerful Allied use.
- The question that we could not find answer to in the CE rules is this: Can a factory be moved to and used in the territory of another member of your alliance?? For example, can Germany build two engineers and then move the Paris factory to Greece after Greece has been captured by Italy?? Or could UK build a minor IC in Persia, then move it to Caucasus and churn out UK units from Caucasus?? I guess the ruling could be different in each case as Greece is a captured territory while Caucasus is an original SU territory.
What is the answer sir
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RE: Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion
@The-Captain New Question for you Mr. Cap. Have you ever playtested additional National Objectives for the HRE expansion?? I got the idea from the YG 3G40 scenario which is inferior to HRE mostly due to play balance issues but also some rule sets that are overly complicated. But there were some interesting National Objectives which are historically accurate and may not upset play balance such as:
- UK bonus from Atlantic being completely clear of Axis naval units
- UK bonus if Burma Road is open and they are at war with Japan
- UK bonus from Operation Husky (control of Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus)
- Italy bonus if those islands are controlled by Axis)
- German bonus from Afrika Korps (presence of certain number of German units in Africa)
- German & Italian bonus from Balkans occupation (Crete, Cyprus, Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania)
6.US bonus from Operation Torch completion (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya)
There were some other bonuses that seem duplicative to what is already in HRE but the six I laid out would in my opinion be interesting optional rules if play balance is not a problem. Your thoughts?