Review of my first played Global War 1936 V. 3 game

[AlphaAeffchen]

@ GeneralHandGrenade

Thx for your reply. Our Comintern player is a very experienced player (we all are at least in A&A Global 40 :-) ). I think we have to discuss the Russian situation more. He did not declare war on 1939 which was a mistake from him. I really like our idea that the CCP gets their first recruitment role guaranteed so the Cominterm player has more to do. By the way we really liked the sidedeals with the sneaky Comintern. Its so much fun. I will continue to report our games.

By the way. Do you know if its possible to order a prototype of the Global 1914 map. I would playtest it and give feedback.

Have a nice weekend

[Noneshallpass]

You don’t have to change the rules to give Warlord territories to the CCP. If the KMT attacks a Warlord, then all his territories turn to CCP:

“If a warlord is attacked by either Chinese faction, it and all its remaining land zones and units align to the other Chinese faction if unconquered by the end of the Combat Phase.” (KMT and CCP National Reference Sheets v.3.3).

We do it regularly in our games. You only need one KMT unit to attack the Warlord and you can even retreat after the first turn to obtain the desired result. If you are lucky, no unit is lost in the process.

However, in the end, I don’t think you will get much more play out of the CCP with this strategy because the Japanese will just be pressured to attack and destroy the CCP sooner that it might have otherwise.

This is a very complex games with many rules and exceptions (as this Forum often shows). I would bet that you missed out on a lot of rules in your first game (I have played over a dozen and we still make mistakes). It’s much too soon to be tweaking the rules of the game. You should try to master them first.

[AlphaAeffchen]

@Noneshallpass

I think we understood all the China rules. The problem is what happens if Japan attacks first? Then all warlords become KMT right? So we have to find a way to give the CCP at least some relevance otherwise i would destroy them as KMT with small losses and the Cominterm player has no more CCP to play with at the start of round 2. We dont really change rules. CCP can influence warlords per dice that say the rules. We just guarantee the first die roled as a hit (in other words CCP just gets a warlord territory at the beginning of their first turn guaranteed). It could happen in a regular game we just make it happen in every game that ccp gets at least one warlord to play with (we are low luck players and such things are very important for us we dont like too much lucky and random events).

It is not our intention to change the game or the rules, this is just a really small tweak which gives the comintern a little bit more to do.

By the way when you influence warlords as CCP you can choose which one (its written in the rules right?). Japan cant attack the warlords behind your CCP country in their first turn. So they cant just destroy CCP very soon…

You are absolutly right that we have to learn the game and master the rules first. We have no problem with this but we also see things which can make the game better (also we did not change any rules we just changed a possible event to a regular event in every game).

[Noneshallpass]

Yes, CCP can try to influence any Warlord according to the CCP National Reference Sheet, provided that it is in an adjacent territory :

“During the Place Units & Collect Income Phase CCP may make one influence roll on a Warlord land zone adjacent to a CCP possessed land zone. If the roll is less than or equal to the total number of land zones the CCP Possesses, all remaining land zones and military units of that warlord align with CCP immediately. CCP may spend IPP up to the amount of the influence roll to increase the chance of success. Each IPP spent adds +1 to the influence roll.”

If you don’t pay to increase the chance success, then it’s a very low chance proposition on the first turn (1 out of 12). If you spend your IPPs, you can bring it up to 1 out of 6 (for 1 IPP) or 1 out of 4 (for 2 IPP).

I agree with you that it you don’t succeed on the first or maybe second turn, chances are that a Japanese attack will have turned all the Warlords to KMT. I think that is meant to happen in most games.

I would not presume to tell you how to play your games. House rules can be fun. It’s just that I find it premature to change the balance of such a complex game after a single playthrough. That being said, try it and let us know how it goes.

[AlphaAeffchen]

Hey thx for your advise. We play over the Christmas holidays. I will let you know how it went.

Have a nice weekend.

[Chris_Henry]

All of this is making me so bummed this pandemic is making me unable to play this game!!!

[Delaja]

Your idea to give CCP 1 warlord land zone (not the whole warlord) is not unbalancing the game at all. It eliminates the possibility of CCP being whiped out by KMT early in the game, which was an actual possibility in the Chinese civil war. But it takes away the suspense if CCP is going to make it as a minor power eventually turning into a major power. If eliminated USSR has a lot more to do to try and get CCP back into the game. Feel free to house rule! I do it ALL the time!

[TheVeteran]

@alphaaeffchen
Sea units …. Please do no skimp out on the cruisers, use a tech token for battle cruisers, a regular sculpt for heavy cruisers and a nation roundel for light cruisers if you must.
WW1 era ships … they are a must in the game as cheap fodder units (that cannot be replenished/rebuilt) a TBD can be represented by a destroyer with a tech token if you absolutely don’t have enough sculpts and a coastal sub can also be represented by a regular sub with a tech token (until
A nation develops Advanced subs (never seen this researched and the unit purchased)

[TheVeteran]

@alphaaeffchen
Regarding South America , our group has played the Latin America at war expansion and decided to play next game with OOB rules for SA as the expansion is just a bit tedious and we want to speed up the game and focus on the main parts of the war and take more turns quicker.

[TheVeteran]

@alphaaeffchen regarding USSR, Germany should at least annex Romania giving UsSR a D12 income boost, also July 39 to begin regular D12 rolls fir income boost is not “super late”

[TheVeteran]

@alphaaeffchen more USSR comments … what in the world Low luck in 1936 game based on a D12 system, really? Why?
Also… try this as Russia, attack Romania in July 39 and see what happens , I did it it was fun, I got carried away and pushed further into Europe conquering Italy, but I did this without consulting with the allies who turn declared war on me and together with Germany kicked my ass back to Russia .

[TheVeteran]

@alphaaeffchen sorry… easiest to read a bit and then type a response to what I read when on my phone.
CCP… it is quite a big deal if CCP shall become a major faction, it is very unwise to give them a free warlord at the start of the game. This will put the Chinese civil war into their hands likely unless Japan attacks turn 1! That is wild … no thank you! Japan shouldn’t be forced into attacking China on turn 1….

In our current game CCP became a major power on their third turn I believe and Japan mistakingly did not hit China in the first couple turns of the game, this lead to Japan getting ousted from Manchuria early on.

[Linkler]

@alphaaeffchen the diplomacy expansion is really fun (my favourite) it would add some variation to the USSR options early on for sure

[AlphaAeffchen]

@bretters

Hey man,

thx for your comments. Me and my gaming group will never play GW or axis and allies without low luck. It makes the game way more strategic. I spoke with a developper about this. He really likes our low luck rules. Dice are okay. But not if any fight is too dice heavy. We play with low luck rules for years now and its so much more fun. It makes every game better for us.

Regarding CCP yes you are right. We dont play this anymore. We play standard.

Japan has to attack china round one. I dont see any other way for Japan. Believe me we tried many strategy. They have to destroy KMT first and do damage in turn one.

Regarding pieces. I have now everything for ship types. I bought a ton of pieces.

Thx for your comments. Im trying to get as many exapnsions as possible for the game. Its really fun.

[TheVeteran]

@alphaaeffchen
Most of the expansions consume a lot of pointless time, making the game take much longer for not much benefit, but it’s whatever you and your group enjoy. Our groups next game will be played with only 3 expansions: diplomacy, fighting railroads and turkey at war

[Chris_Henry]

@bretters I suppose that’s the thing about the expansions, and probably why they are just that, expansion! I agree, they certainly slow the game down. But from our perspective it’s this: This game already takes sooooo long to play, what’s a little more time with some detail :) haha.

But I get what you’re saying, if you’re not really into the expansions, then they just aren’t for you! I like a lot of them to try and put more focus on different aspects. The ones I like to roll out are:

Latin America at War
China at War
Turkey at War
Netherlands at War
Canada at War
Partisans
Winter War
Spanish Civil War
Afrika Korps
Manchukuo
Croatia at War

I like these ones because, to me, these ones are the least likely to add a ton of special units, but can enhance game play in areas. That might just be my opinion though. I also love to add the other nations to the game (thus the Canada, Netherlands, and Turkey expansions).

I don’t like the ordinance ones, for example, because they add a ton of specific units that you might have one of each on the map at a time.

I like the idea of the elite units expansions, but haven’t quite yet stomached the idea of having to look at a chart before almost every single battle to see what specialized unit does what!

[TheVeteran]

@chris_henry

Latin America at War - we have played with this a few times: it really doesn’t actually add a lot of action to Latin America. oh - i rolled about convoying the US convoy line and don’t have any subs convoying there big whoop… or i rolled and Japan got a sub, ok. the only dice that really matter are the Axis coup (only happens on a roll of a 1 on your D12) or the allied coup that happens with the roll of a 2 on a D12) … honestly this expansion is just extra and for almost no reason. it distracts from the fun to be had elsewhere.

China at War: i like this one, but the rules do still have to be checked on it every game for us and we chose not to play it next game - but we have played it for a few of our games.

Turkey at war - we like it with a couple house rules we made for it.

Netherlands at war: never played this but not interested in it either.

Canada at War: kind of pointlessly makes the game too complicated giving canada its own income and gives Canada something like 6-7 unique units that no player has stats memorized for and every time we want to build them or move them or attack them or defend with you have to look up and it just takes extra time… i dont care you have the queens own rifles of Canada unit… whatever lets just fight.

Partisans: we played this one a couple times and it was very easy to forget partisan rolls this expansion is just very tedious and time confusing and not fun.

Winter war: never played but I know brings extra units that would be hard to remember stats for.

SCW: have played with since the beginning basically: Don’t actually like the regular expansion as the rewards for winning the war are horrible for the republican victory! Also the random events arent great and neither is American influence in the war… Admiral edition is ok but we played with the optional rules that included the extra units and that was dumb… took up extra time and was confusing. Next game we will just go with not playing this and playing OOB.

Afrika Corp: i dont know enough about

Manchukuo: We are currently playing with this but it doesn’t add enough to the game and instead means Japan has to garrison each territory in manchuria just to collect the money. Manchukuo isnt even treated as a separate entity, its still just played as its Japan. silly expansion honestly.

Croatia at war: never played it

Diplomacy: a strong expansion and i believe most people play this one

your very last point. that is exactly what i am saying in regards to mostly Canada at war:

[Chris_Henry]

@bretters Yeah, there’s definitely different wants from different players for these!

I like Latin America because basically nothing will ever happen there otherwise. It’s certainly a sideshow, but I think one that adds flavor somewhere where there wouldn’t be an otherwise. Gives the Comintern some possibilities their too.

China at War I like so that the CCP has more fun too.

Netherlands I like for what I said above, I enjoy getting another smaller playable power in there!

Canada you make a good point on the added units. I’ve contemplated house ruling some of that a bit. But same as the Netherlands, I just like having the playable Commonwealth nation on the board!

Partisans definitely adds time, but so does every expansion if you use it! That was to my earlier point too. The game already takes forever to play, may as well add some more spice haha.

I like the Winter War because it lets the Allies get involved a bit as well. I like to see things where all three alliances can try and influence the play in the area. But I tend to not use the aerosani unit, just seems extra for no reason to me as well.

SCW I like because from what I’ve seen from others, the OOB vastly favors the Axis, but the Expansion vastly favors the Comintern. I haven’t played Admiral just yet, but it sounds like it helps to balance out the two. But kind of like the Winter War, I just like that the Allies can get involved to influence if they so chose!

Afrika Korps is really basic. To me it’s just a fun boost to get some Germany units in Africa when I think without it you wouldn’t see it a ton.

I like Manchukuo since it allows the CCP to potentially do more. I like that Mongolia can get involved too. But I don’t tend to use the patrol boat unit.

I liked Croatia because it divvy’s Yugoslavia into more territories in the game. This expansion also came out before Partisans expansion did, so I was really intrigued by the partisan units in that expansion at the time too haha.

I’m actually only so-so on the Diplomacy expansion personally. True, it adds possibilities for all the neutral powers to be influenced. But for me, I like what some other expansions do for more of these. I like the Latin America Expansion rules more than I like the Diplomacy rules for that area. I like the Turkey at War Expansion more than the Diplomacy ones too. That just leaves the European countries and Siam. Siam, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary are all going Axis anyways. And from there I just think the Axis might prefer to take Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece whenever they can as opposed to trying to influence them. To me, this one adds a lot of time to do when you already know the outcome of a lot of them later on. But that might just be my thoughts.

All reasons why I actually tend to like the Expansion concept though! Everyone can make their games unique to their personal desires!

[TheVeteran]

@chris_henry more to come but a quick comment here: I feel like I’d rather focus on the meat of the war rather than worry about any “spice” that may be available in Latin America . Playing the expansion haven’t really ever seen the Comintern invest in Latin America, it seems really not worth it. So I think sticking with the “meat” of the game is better. And your spice is more like “fat” that needs to be trimmed! Ha

[Chris_Henry]

@bretters Haha fair enough! I just like to have something happen down there rather than nothing!

I actually have yet to be the Comintern in any of our games, but I would love to try some of these things with them when I get the chance!