Brought this up in the 42.2 section, but wanted to post it here since it is a house rule suggestion.
American start:
Rather than giving a bid to the Allies, the game opens instead with the US player’s zero turn. Otherwise the set up is exactly the same as OOB. The game sequence is as follows…
US(0), Russia, Germany, UK, Japan, US(1), then on into the second round as normal.
Inverts the start conditions of the map for an Allied advantage game.
If desired players now bid for the Axis side.
Balancing Option: Restricted opening for the US (without a combat phase, of the same sort used for Russia in Classic).
Thematically this change is meant to provide a more historical opening round for the 1942 timeline, and a greater potential for a dual front strategy by the Allies, by adjusting the start conditions in three key areas.
-China: instead of getting immediately swept by Japan, the Chinese can now consolidate to put up a more serious defense of the Asian interior.
-Pacific Theater: instead of being destroyed on J1, the US fleet at Pearl is now able to participate in the global contest (ex. moving to Solomon Islands for Guadalcanal, coordinating with the British around Australia etc).
-Atlantic Theater: instead of being sunk by German u boats, the Allies can put up a defense of their transports to develop an expeditionary force.
These three, combined with the zero turn purchase, allow the Allies/Americans to develop a credible response to the typical Axis center crush in a more reasonable amount of time.
Minor Victory: Axis hold 8 VCs, Allies hold 9 VCs.
Major Victory: Axis hold 9 VCs, Allies hold 10 VCs.
Total Victory: Hold 13 VCs/unconditional surrender
Below is a tripleA gamesave that simulates these conditions via edit mode.
1942 sec ed USA starts.tsvg