Thanks for the reply Axis-roll, I appreciate it.

I figured since people bid as high as 12 (even higher sometimes) for the Allies in online games the India factory wouldn´t throw the balance off.

If you place 3 or 4 infantry in India as a bid and build an IC on UK1, isn´t the effect somewhat simular in regards to suffocating Japan?

I probably shouldn´t worry about this too much and just stick to the OOB setup. Finishing the game in a timely manner will probably be more of an issue…

I will be hosting a multiplayer game soon with new players. I am considering giving the UK starting factories in India and Australia to make it more of a global experience, in the couple of 1941 games I have played mainland Asia has become a bit of a wasteland. I gather A&A Global40 has India and Aus factories (I have never played that game) and I wonder if it makes the game more involving in the Pacific.

In any case, I wonder if those two factories throw the game balance in any way. I figure they shouldn´t because it just forces the UK to commit a portion of its income to the Pacific without giving the Allies any extra units. Shouldn´t be too easy to capture those ICs by Japan either because you can build extra units on UK1.

Does the 1941 scenario even work without the NOs? I solitaired it for a bit once and the board seemed almost empty of units after about three turns. Germany collapsed because its lost income from the rather easy NOs really makes a difference. Japan seemed rather irrelevant since it takes longer to gain momentum without the NOs, and Germany falls sooner to a KGF.
The 1942 scenario seems better suited for a non-NO game because it´s got more starting units and the theaters are better balanced. Germany is stronger so a KGF will take longer and Asia has got more options since India won´t fall as easily, China is tougher and the US Pacific fleet is stronger.

Is it a valid balancing idea to give China the 1942 setup as a bid instead of the normal 6-9 bid that will mostly go into Egypt?
The difference between China41 and China42 is 5 infantry which might tilt the balance the other way, but in any case it gives a bit more “realistic” Asian front.
In any case I´m not too fond of the idea of kick-starting the traditional KGF with a European bid.

Btw, I´m just thinking about this with future home face-to-face games in mind. Maybe there is no need for balancing bids in that case, but it just seems strange to have the Axis as such strong favorites and to have Japan just walking all over continental Asia from round 1.