For a simpler way of winning, suitable for quick or long games.
There are 18 Victory Cities. These are (assuming no changes to the board):
LONDON
Cairo
Bombay
PARIS
Marseilles
Verdun (Alsace)
ROME
Venice
MOSCOW
Petrograd (Karelia)
Warsaw (Poland)
Sevastopol
BERLIN
Munich
VIENNA
Budapest
CONSTANTINOPLE
Baghdad (Syrian Desert)
So there are 6 VCs for the Central Powers, 12 for the
Allies.
Note that 3 of the latter (Verdun, Venice & Warsaw) will usually fall to the Central Powers in the first 2 or 3 turns, tying things up at 9 VCs held each.
Thereafter, the majority of VCs held constitutes a winning position when the game ends inconclusively.
A score of 13 VCs may represent an outright victory, but higher targets might be agreed.
Most of these VCs are 2 spaces from each other, with the exceptions of the joint capitals of A-H & Russia. This is intended to reflect the new 2-space movement rules, and my own suggested SBR option for level 4 aircraft.
Baghdad is potentially the weak link, but alternative VC Jerusalem (T-J) is too vulnerable to UK sea power. Maybe Ankara as joint capital?
As an expansion of this, consider each VC (and Washington) to be potential mobilization areas, with the value of the tt the number of new units that can be placed there. Non-capitals may not be permitted to mobilize when contested.
Just to clarify this; for a VC to count, it has to be held outright, so an automatic win is only achieved by simultaneously holding 13 VCs uncontested.
These VCs could actually be very good for fixing some one problem of the game. “Capture the capitals” is always a terrible victory condition, and because of the slow warfare in this game, the CPs basically have to get an economic advantage to stand a chance (which is virtually impossible). I don’t agree with the non-capitals having production capacity, but I could be convinced if it led to better balance. However, I would change it to 12 VCs after round 4, with one of them having to be an enemy capital, and shared or revolted Russian VCs counting as half a point for both sides. (Perhaps only for the CPs if Russia intentionally revolting itself becomes a problem) Contested VCs are still nothing for either side.
