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

@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.

@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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

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!!

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.

@Cornelis-Post On schedule for that. In a nutshell:

1. Following Captain’s Strategy Guides
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

@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.

@The-Captain Thanks for the quick reply Mr. Cap!

@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.

1. Italy takes Greece on I1 or I2. Germany builds paratroopers in Western Germany on G2.
2. G3: paratroopers drop on Greece
3. I3: Airbase built on Greece
4. 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

@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

@barnee Hey Barnee. Sorry I didn’t catch your question earlier. When I said the three US money islands, I was referring to Wake/Midway/Hawaii which with Expanded Pacific is worth 9 IPC’s plus a 5 IPC bonus in play.

@The-Captain
Thanks for the clarification. Everything you say makes sense. Best thing about the HRE is how there are so many different substrategies within overall strategies which differ each game. Yes, one under-rated part of a Japanese focus on taking the three US (money) islands is that you can negate the ships from Increased Shipbuilding unless the Allies can either rebuild a navy in SZ 10 which hinders an investment in the Atlantic or cause enough trouble in the DEI/Philippines/SE Asia between ANZAC & UK as to make him pay a price for choosing to go in a different direction.

@barnee Barnee - thanks. The way you laid it out is the way we have been playing our games but I wanted to confirm as it wasn’t crystal clear in my head anyway.

Hey Axis-and-Allies Friends,
Couple of Pacific Theater questions for HRE. First, the easier question: Regarding the increased shipbuilding, are you required to place the free ships on the turn they become available or can they be delayed? I have a game going right now where the Axis player chose to disregard the standard strategy of going after Philippines/Money Islands and instead did a Pearl Harbor attack and took Midway/Wake/Hawaii/Aleutians. So the bulk of his IJN is camped out in SZ 26 after J5 to where it’s pointless to deploy the free cruiser/sub this turn.

Second question, a bit more complicated is: If on US3, the Allied player declares war on Germany but not Japan as is often the case, does the Allied player collect the 5 IPC bonuses associated with the Pacific?? i.e. the Philippines and the Alaska/Hawaii/Line/Johnston/Aleut bonuses. It struck me the other day that it seems wrong for USA to get Pacific bonuses for going to war if no war yet in the Pacific. Or maybe it’s a game balance issue since Japan gets the 10 IPC peace bonus if they choose to keep the peace?? Clarity requested please.

Thanks.

@barnee Thanks Barnee. So the only HRE units that can utilize Total War are Jet Fighters, Carrier Based Fighters and Air Transports right? No Heavy Bombers, no paratroopers, no panzer grenadiers or armored infantry. Only regular infantry, artillery, and tanks for ground units correct???

Hi Captain. Quick Total War question. Can specialized units participate in that?? Heavy Bombers for USA and King Tigers for Germany are two that come to mind. I saw in the rules that ME 262’s can, but I didn’t see anything about others which makes me wonder if units where the rulebook is silent cannot participate. Thanks

@The-Captain Great addition in our opinion. Those three French units in our game experience end up sitting there the whole game or something close to it. Welcome addition to the HRE sir and gives Allies a little something to counter the new SS Panzer General. Historically some of the best RAF squadrons and individual pilots from game start (1940) were Polish, but not really a way to deal with that as Poland gets obliterated before Turn 1 of G40.

@barnee Nope did not use AI. Only old-fashioned keyboard typing

@barnee Thanks for the offers VF & Barnee. We have never used Triplea but if we can figure it out, then may take you up on the offer

@The-Captain Thanks for the clarification. Part of my question was cost of the DG, which I take it from the other posts is 8 IPC as it is just a PG/TG with the ability to lead as few as three units if in Africa. So unless I have that wrong, then I am good.