Three big questions every house rule creator has got to answer:
1. At the end of the day, do my players still want to play a game in which events proceed at least roughly along the same course as the actual war? The answer to this question dictates whether you “beef up” continental France and change the turn order to allow the Italian player to avert the Taranto Raid. I think most Axis & Allies players do want to simulate the Second World War. For that reason, they will be hesitant to thwart the T1 German occupation of Paris.
2. What scale are you going for? In theory, Axis & Allies apprehends the strategic level of warfare. Ground units are generally equivalent to corps or armies, sea units to squadrons or fleets, and air units to wings. Some exceptions are made for detached commands, particularly in colonial garrisons, such as at Hong Kong.
3. Do you want to play Axis & Allies? The easiest way to deal with a lot of the historical inadequacies of the game is to add card-driven mechanics, but then you start getting away from the elegant simplicity of the out-of-box game (and here, I am referring even to Global 1940, 2nd ed.).
The out-of-box game tries to capture the general themes of the war at the expense of realism (of course). For instance, given their contribution to Italian GDP at the time, Italy’s colonies should generate no income. The Netherlands should be worth far more than it is. The Italian Navy should be smaller, French naval units should begin the game off the coast of Tunisia, and the India garrison should be vastly larger.
Here are some ideas for making the out-of-box game slightly more interesting:
1. Purchase small red dice and use them to change or increase particular IPC values.
2. Consider using a silver-tipped Sharpie to trace borders, then add new divisions where you think there should be new borders and sea zones.
3. Combine Holland and Belgium to make the Netherlands. In addition to the Dutch East Indies garrison, add a Dutch infantryman to the Belgian Congo.
4. Consider starting both French and Dutch transports somewhere near the Horn of Africa, en route to reinforce their colonies in the Far East. Specify that there are already infantry aboard. This gives some flexibility to the players to decide where they want those transports to end up. Add a Dutch fighter to Malaya at game start.
5. Consider adding new units, including units that are obsolete and cannot be built. I’ve added cavalry (A1 D1 C3 M2, with ability to blitz and retreat), airborne (A1 (2 during first round of combat after drop) D1 C4 M1, with ability to reduce enemy fortification), and armored cars (A2 D2 C5 M2, with ability to blitz and reroll 1 die if matched with an attacking artillery unit). I use Der Kuntzler’s rules for airborne, and I am going to incorporate Leatherneckinlv’s suggestion that they suffer an extra defender AAA roll unless accompanied by a simultaneous land or amphibious attack. I’ve also added Battlecruisers, which are A6 D5 M3 C16. Cruisers have an Air Defense special ability based on Der Kunstler’s rules. Coastal Battleships are A5 D4 M2 C-. Neither Battelcruisers nor Coastal Battleships are capital ships. I use a d12. No combat may go beyond 3 rounds before “locking,” as in A&A 1914.
6. Beef up the French presence in IndoChina by adding 1 INF, 1 ARTY, and 1 Fighter. Add a battleship and a submarine off the Tunisian coast to simulate Mars-el-Kebir. Garrison North Africa with at least 3 French INF and 1 CAV.
7. I rebalanced naval forces. France has 3BB and 1BC, whereas Italy has 1BB and 1BC. I gave both Light Carriers as well. The British Far East Command gets 1BC and 1 Light Carrier (which I liked in Oztea’s 1941 setup).
8. Add Siam. They get a destroyer to simulate their two coastal battleships.
9. Add Poland. 5 INF, 2 CAV, 1 ARTY, 1 ARM, and 1 Fighter. They also get 1 DD.
10. In the Far East, give the Soviets a Fortress on Vladivostok, along with 2AA, 1 Minor IC, 2 INF, 1 Fighter, and 1 ARM with 2 INF in Amur, as well as more units toward Lake Baikal.
11. The British and Dominions get 4BB and 1BC total. Add that to the 1BC in the British Far East, plus a bevy of cruisers.
12. Break Turkey up into 3 parts and give 2 to Greece. (Say they won the Greco-Turkish War, with European help). Then make Greece a minor power.
13. Give Portugal Brazil and garrison its colonies. Add Argentina.
14. Give the Philippines to Spain so that Japanese aggression there isn’t an automatic trigger for American involvement in the war.
