Historically accurate war declarations?

@SuperbattleshipYamato Sticking with the hidden subs subject,I would give destroyers a high probability,say 5/6, of finding subs in the same sz and zero chance of finding subs in an adjacent sz.
Also to prevent cheating,I’d use sealed envelopes or a locked box to store the sheets that record locations and previous movements of hidden subs.
On the subject of penalties for taking too long,I have another game the has "Time Machine"cards which when played,allows 1 selected D6 roll by yourself or an opponent to be cancelled and re-rolled.Example I’m bombing a factory and my opponent rolls 1 with his AA .I play a Time Machine card that I got because he was slow on a previous turn.I make him re-roll his AA and discard my Time machine card.Yes ,he could again roll 1 and my bomber dies.

@monsieurmurdoch

:+1: Bookmarked!

US War Time Economy:  To show a wishy-washy attitude of the US towards the war in Europe, change the 20 IPC value of USA to a variable amount.  With the US’s involvement inevitable due to continued provocation from Germany on US interests, the calculation will also increase each turn. The variable calculation is; 8 + Tn + 2d6, where Tn = turn #.  At point where US enters the war, the latest calculated IPC count of US will be fixed to USA going forward. (US can hold until after turn 4 to declare war in an effort to possibly improve the IPC value).

Today I removed the “Beach Head” rule and added this…

Enola Gay
During the SBR step in the combat phase of America’s 12th turn, they may use 1 American strategic bomber (including a Boeing Fortress) to drop an atomic bomb on 1 enemy territory within range of the chosen air unit. If the strategic bomber passes all air defenses (using same rules as SBRs) than that bomber will have successfully dropped it’s payload with the following damage: All facilities on the targeted enemy territory immediately sustain maximum damage, and the IPC value of the territory has now been reduced to zero.

Hello,

Recently a few A&A.org members collaborated on a simple house rule variant called “Halifax Rules” in order to balance 1940 Global 2nd Edition in a way that is both fun and fair. These rules are based on 3 game mechanics which are a single economy for the United Kingdom, the creation of a small Commonwealth nation, and a 3rd production unit that may build up to 5 units. You can view the thread here…

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=34111.0

For a long time the G40 community has been looking for something universal to balance the game between the two sides. However, Larry Harris does not seem interested in addressing the problem, and the forum members can’t agree on which house rules to implement, so we always fall back and use the boring bid system.

Halifax rules offers something that players have been wanting for a long time, like freedom to spend the UK income where they wish, and with less restrictions. The idea of a Commonwealth nation has been around since to conception of the 1939 Variant Global War. Halifax is particularly special because Krieghund himself has called the project “interesting” and has even offered his own ideas to improve the set.

All I’m asking is to visit the thread, read the house rule, and give it a +1 rating if you like it. If you can find time to play test it and share your results with the rest of the community… that would be fantastic. However, all we need right now is your vote. If we can unite the G40 community around this, we could get sticky thread status, and hopefully an endorsement from Krieghund… this is our goal.

Thank you

YG

@Imperious:

The map should be marked for possible landing sites. It is not a fact that major landings could take place “anywhere”.
True but it is too much zoom-in tactical level geography.
Let’s suppose the amphibious assault is made in an appropriate places.
The bad or good luck of the first roll of dices in combat is making for a good or bad landing place.

First, the attacker should only be able to attack with infantry only on the first round ( and air units). This would be rolled after SB is performed.
AAA fire then Shore Bombardment are the first two steps. At a tactical level, artillery and armor have a bad moment to pass through during landing phase. The issue is to figure it all at strategical level and keep balance.
I suggested this penalty can be enough:
instead of saying all A1 for the first round of an Amph. Assault
Just say all attacking ground units get -1A to a minimum of A1, for the first round.
Hence, Artillery get A1.
But, at least Armor can get A2.
And according to this HR, even an Inf getting A2 for being paired with Art is reduced to A1.  
But, at a strategical level, the SB can give a little support to Infantry unit trying to land.
That’s why:

During the first round of an Amph. Ass.
Destroyer, on a 1:1 basis, give +1A boost to 1 Infantry unit.
Cruiser,  on a 1:1 basis, give +1A boost to 1 Infantry unit, in addition to the shore bombardment.
Battleship, on a 1:2 basis, give +1A, to up to 2 Infantry units, in addition to the shore bombardment.

So the warships heavy guns can make a difference (even Destroyer’s one), on landing round.

Second, Defending Infantry and Artillery should fire preemptively ( loses taken first do not fire in subsequent rounds)
This is a tough one, do we give it to Artillery unit only or to both units?
Here I followed Razor and also you, at the strategical level, and for balance (too much Inf vs Art), and for simplicity and also because 1914 give it only to Artillery unit. And it will be a weaker ones however:
All Artillery units get a preemptive strike (like subs) against incoming units.

Third, all remaining attacking units roll, then remaining

The attacker should be able to retreat, however all mech units are converted into infantry ( they leave the beaches with equipment…ala Dunkirk)
That one is new. It is alien to A&A system to convert 1 unit into another.
However, a retreat possibility could be interesting…
But usually the better units will survived last. This means it will probably be armor or artillery…

Instead, it can be something like this:
If amphibious assault units needs to retreat (at the beginning of the round), attacker must loose 1 Armor unit or 1 Art unit before any other 1 casualty.
Basically, attacker must loose 1 additional ground unit (the costlier and valuable one), and this unit cannot fire, then return the surviving units on landing barge (transports).
On most occasion this will mean 1 armor unit, an A3D3, 6 IPCs unit.

Thanks for this idea about amphibious assault retreat.

It can even more create an incentive for the defender, to throw an air/naval assault on transports to get ride of the surviving retreating units. Rarely see, ground troops going into the bottom of the ocean with transports units.

Never tried a d12 system but not against it. With a little imagination you can mod for D6. You can halve a lot of the stats that HBG uses.

Genocide:
-10 for killing the last remaining unit of any power, including POWs.

Conspiracy with the enemy (e.g. Germany and USSR standing by their nonaggression pact despite a phony declaration of war):
Germany gets -3 for every turn after round 4 that Germany has not attacked any Soviet controlled territory or naval unit and has not placed any warships in z125.
USSR gets -3 for every turn after round 4 that USSR has not attacked any German controlled territory or naval unit and has not placed any warships in any German convoy raid zones.

Plunder:
Anytime you capture an enemy’s capitol and seize their national treasure (gold, money, works of art, secret files, execution of intellectuals, etc.) you incur -5 war crimes points.

As a huge fan of Imp Games’ East & West, these kinds of games always intrigue me. It’s set in 1948, so there are some similarities to the '46 scenario.

IMHO, 1948 is sort of the high-water mark for NATO (i.e. the European empires) however, East & West is a bit non-historical in this sense.

• NATO was not formed until 1949
• Turkey and Greece did not join NATO until 1952, but are part of the Alliance in-game
• Pakistan, India, and Burma were all independent of Britain in 1948; in E&W they are still part of the empire, and a huge thorn in the side of the USSR
• The breakdown of Indonesia between Dutch-controlled areas and independent(ish) ones is not in line with history

The other high-water mark of the Cold War (based on my research) is around 1975-76. Off the top of my head:

• The Vietnam War was over; Cuba, Afghanistan, Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia were all ruled by communist regimes. The USSR (or Warsaw Pact) was at the height of its influence
• The Arab League had expanded across all of north Africa; the Islamic Conference also greatly increased its membership around this time
• The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) including Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, as well as the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) including Thailand, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand were still in existence, supported by the major NATO powers of the US, UK, and France
• China had annexed Tibet and fought a small war with India

I’ve done work on 1975-76 scenarios for both the Original A&A as well as E&W and have done a fair bit of study on the cold war era “map” so to speak. If anyone wants to discuss the subject/games here or in a PM, I’d be very happy to respond. :-)