• Grasshopper, do you think it would be too much to allow someone to purchase or upgrade a factory to a major, able to produce 5 units, but it could only be purchased or upgraded on a territory with a 3 IPC Value or more? This might help the allies more in Europe since US could build a major in Norway, and Japan could conversely upgrade the factory in India to a major. This might add more flavor without breaking the game.


  • I thought this change in production was in conjunction with creating one UK economy?

  • '14 Customizer

    This is a great idea. I remember back when knp was presenting it. Its strange to think that downgrading an IC could actually help in India but I agree it will help.


  • Not sure if it would be enough to offset the bid, but it would def lower it.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    I always love a good stand alone rule. This one is probably the most promising I’ve seen so far as a balancing mechanism for Global. I like the values too, the 10s, 5s and 3s at gray, red, green for visual simplicity, as you suggested (by using monopoly pieces and the standard red/green chips).

    What’s nice about establishing the locations as fixed, with the lowering mechanic when conquered, is that it could be potentially tweaked for other types of scenarios, with a simple switch from IC/major/minor in some cases, if that was required for alternative scenario balancing.

  • Sponsor

    Once again I have succumb to the logic of putting together a single UK economy, a Commonwealth nation, and a reinvented production mechanic. I have tried each of these concepts separately thinking that they could each stand on their own, however, I now realize that they work best when together.

    I have re-wrote my first post and have removed my earlier comments to avoid confusing new visitors to this thread. This is only one thread on the subject as there has been many discussions and support for the ideas expressed here. Many members have said that the idea of a single UK economy, with a new Commonwealth nation, as well as a mid-level IC has the potential to really take off.

    Here are a few things I really like about these new game mechanics and how they may change G40 2nd Edition…

    • With a single UK income, the removal of the Canadian territories will dilute the UK economy a little, but not to much.

    • With the Canadian territories having Canadian emblems on them and not British, it’s almost as if the map was made for this idea.

    • The alternative British roundel once used to track UK pacific income can now easily be used to track the Commonwealth income.

    • With the ANZAC and Canadian incomes as well as production options combined, the Allies have more freedom to buy more significant units on either the Europe side, or the Pacific side.

    -Players may be more concerned with protecting their territories with Industrial Complexes knowing that a downgraded IC may never be built again.

    • Although I’m gonna paint my plastic ICs blue for Industrial Complexes, red for Major Factories, and green for Minor Factories… monopoly hotels and houses could also work well.

    • Having colored production units will help players associate the max amount of units allowable for each facility (blue for 10 units on an Industrial Complex, red for 5 units on a Major Factory, and green for 3 units on a Minor Factory).

    • Very easy to now play a 7 player game… Germany / Russia / Japan / America / Commonwealth with China / Britain with France / Italy.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    Sounds good to me! I think I will definitely give this one a go.

    it seems consistent and well thought out, and also fairly simple to implement. The complexity it adds in one dimension, it more than makes up for by increasing simplicity and gameplay in many other dimensions. I favor the production rules and income/possession adjustments suggested above.

    I’d hold out hope for South Africa and the 3 theater effect, but I suppose the 17/17 split is pretty convenient and fits rather well with the visual spread. And the point about the tracker and printed roundels does make sense. I will suggest this set up, and hope to play it with others willing to try something new on the G40 board.

    Well done dude.

    ps. Just as an aside with Delta, the Commonwealth aid bonus card is sufficiently well worded, that the advantage outlined therein could still count for the Commonwealth player/nation (even though it is UK drawing the card.) I kind of dig that, since it gets the dominions a pretty nice north american strategic advantage. Like a Canadian power up!  :-D

    Leaves you south Africa under effective UK control in the case of the card mentioned, so UK still gets a bump from it, but it’d definitely be fun for the Commonwealth player to have that North American punch.

    I think I still favor referring to the new joint Anzac+Canada player/nation as the Commonwealth Dominions, since Dominions sounds pretty cool as an alternative shorthand for the faction, and could work for the dominions of Canada and Australia at the time (minus south Africa, Eire etc. just for simplicity sake to keep the 17/17 split)

    From the perspective of a potential stand alone Dominions player, it might be fun to have south Africa under their own control, but from an overall game balance and simplicity of implementation standpoint it is likely much better for this territory to be under direct British control. UK needs the anchor factory in the center south, to maintain naval control along the bottom of the board, more than Anzac+Canada would. So I think on balance, the 17/17 thing comes out on top for me. Its just cleaner, even if it doesn’t really encompass the entirety of the commonwealth.

    Acronym suggestions for shorthand:
    CW Commonwealth
    CAnzac Canada and Australia New Zealand (Army Core)
    CWD Commonwealth Dominions
    Do-CAnzac: Dominions of Canada and Australia New Zealand

    Do CAnzac! heheh

    Come on you know this 2nd ed board was meant for this to happen! ;)


  • This is a nice addition to the G40 game for those of us that want a bit more out of it. It looks like this will allow for both powers to support each other much better, w/o allowing for a mega power to toss all income into one facility. This will give the UK Empire more freedom w/o over powering it. Really looking forward to testing it out.

    I like the thought of the New Commonwealth (CAnzac) being able to combine income to be more relevant as they see fit. I also like how the UK keeps Africa, and can directly support India (w/limited production). The new mid level production center (India) is something that I thought the game lacked from the get-go, and probably should have been looked at better through the Alpha process.

    ***One additional thought to consider is that capital ships can’t be built at a minor IC. Not sure if it came up when you were developing this proposal. It would help self limit area’s where the big boats can be dropped (must be a home territory). The minor ICs would still be able to build support ships (cruisers, destroyers, subs, and transports). Lets face it we have all exploited minor facilities to build carriers at one time or another.

    If you want to build carriers or battleships in Canada, Sidney, S Africa etc……you still can, but you must upgrade to a major IC (for 10 IPCs). UK would still be able to build capital ships in India, but probably not if London is threatened, or Japan is pressing hard on Calcutta (I can live with that). Would also stop Germany or Japan from ever dropping capital ships in conquered territories (like French ICs or Chinese coasts). This would also stop powers like US from taking over say Norway or the French coastal IC’s and dropping capital ships. Speaking of the US, I’m assuming the US probably starts the game with the mid level major IC’s that will auto upgrade when at war (5 production will help some in the Pac). If you go with no capital ships built at minor IC, the US won’t be effected then.

    Anyway YG, thanks for this is an overdue addition, please comment

  • Sponsor

    @WILD:

    This is a nice addition to the G40 game for those of us that want a bit more out of it. It looks like this will allow for both powers to support each other much better, w/o allowing for a mega power to toss all income into one facility. This will give the UK Empire more freedom w/o over powering it. Really looking forward to testing it out.

    I like the thought of the New Commonwealth (CAnzac) being able to combine income to be more relevant as they see fit. I also like how the UK keeps Africa, and can directly support India (w/limited production). The new mid level production center (India) is something that I thought the game lacked from the get-go, and probably should have been looked at better through the Alpha process.

    ***One additional thought to consider is that capital ships can’t be built at a minor IC. Not sure if it came up when you were developing this proposal. It would help self limit area’s where the big boats can be dropped (must be a home territory). The minor ICs would still be able to build support ships (cruisers, destroyers, subs, and transports). Lets face it we have all exploited minor facilities to build carriers at one time or another.

    If you want to build carriers or battleships in Canada, Sidney, S Africa etc……you still can, but you must upgrade to a major IC (for 10 IPCs). UK would still be able to build capital ships in India, but probably not if London is threatened, or Japan is pressing hard on Calcutta (I can live with that). Would also stop Germany or Japan from ever dropping capital ships in conquered territories (like French ICs or Chinese coasts). This would also stop powers like US from taking over say Norway or the French coastal IC’s and dropping capital ships. Speaking of the US, I’m assuming the US probably starts the game with the mid level major IC’s that will auto upgrade when at war (5 production will help some in the Pac). If you go with no capital ships built at minor IC, the US won’t be effected then.

    Anyway YG, thanks for this is an overdue addition, please comment

    Great idea Wild Bill, here are the revisions I made (I’ve added strategic bombers)…

    Industrial Complex:
    Produces up to 10 units
    Maximum damage 20
    Unoperational at 10 damage
    Replaces all Major ICs in the initial setup
    Capable of building all units
    May not be purchased

    Major Factory:
    Produces up to 5 units
    Maximum damage 10
    Unoperational at 5 damage
    New unit which replaces all Minor ICs in the initial setup
    Capable of building all units
    May not be purchased, or upgraded

    Minor Factory:
    Produces up to 3 units
    Maximum damage 6
    Unoperational at 3 damage
    Incapable of building capital ships and/or strategic bombers
    May be purchased at a cost of 12 IPCs
    May be placed on any territory with an IPC value of 2 or greater.
    May be upgraded to a Major factory for 10 IPCs (must be the original owner of the territory)


  • Nice, I like strats added as well

  • Sponsor

    Hey Black Elk, thanks for the support, I to am excited to play with these house rules… your opinions and comments are always needed. Seeing as these are collaborative ideas, I would hate for this to be called “Grasshopper’s ___________”, any ideas to help me avoid this?

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    I dig all the concepts and naming conventions introduced so far!

    In my play group we often use shorthands to describe basic set up or rules adustments that we are particularly fond of. For example, in AA50 we have a set up tweak that we refer to as AA50 “Chunking Rules!” where china begins the standard turn order. Basically they get a free turn, by going before the first Axis player in either set up 41 or 42.

    In my head I was already referring to this set up tweak for Global as “Halifax Rules” haha

  • Official Q&A

    This is going in an interesting direction.  The idea of limiting the units that a minor IC can produce was actually brought up during playtesting, but it was obviously not introduced into the game.  I believe at the time it was suggested that minor ICs could only build units costing 10 IPCs or less, which is pretty much what WILD BILL suggested here, with the exception of cruisers.  (Interestingly, getting Improved Shipyards would allow you to build cruisers at a minor IC under those conditions.)

    I have a question.  Your rules say that a Major Factory can never be upgraded to an Industrial Complex, but they also say that a captured Industrial Complex is downgraded to a Minor Factory.  Does that mean that if a power loses an Industrial Complex and recaptures it that it can never again be anything more than a Major Factory from then on, regardless of who controls it?  If so, this is an interesting rule, and it certainly gives you even more incentive to keep from losing your capital.

  • Sponsor

    Correct, a territory which had an Industrial Complex downgraded due to capture, may never contain anything greater than a major factory for the rest of the game.

    I believe the idea you mentioned above in contrast to Wild Bill’s would also exclude tactical bombers.

    Any additions or subtractions you may have to improve these ideas Krieghund would be greatly appreciated.

  • Sponsor

    @Black_Elk:

    I dig all the concepts and naming conventions introduced so far!

    In my play group we often use shorthands to describe basic set up or rules adustments that we are particularly fond of. For example, in AA50 we have a set up tweak that we refer to as AA50 “Chunking Rules!” where china begins the standard turn order. Basically they get a free turn, by going before the first Axis player in either set up 41 or 42.

    In my head I was already referring to this set up tweak for Global as “Halifax Rules” haha

    I like it a lot… “Halifax Rules” it shall be.

  • Customizer

    @Young:

    Correct, a territory which had an Industrial Complex downgraded due to capture, may never contain anything greater than a major factory for the rest of the game.

    This really makes sense to me from a realistic point of view. Say you have a territory with a big Industrial Complex on it. An enemy force attacks and conquers the territory. Then you send in a force to take it back.
    With two large battles, that territory is now devastated. Being one of your original territories, you would have the proper resources to restore the minor factory back up to a major factory. After all, you would be more familiar with the area and where the proper materials would be and the local populace would speak your language.
    However, the war is still ongoing and as stated, the area is in worse shape than it was during peacetime so you can’t really reinstate a large industrial complex there. Let’s face it, during war some things and abilities will simply be lost and not recoverable.
    As for a conquering power, this territory is foreign to you and you would be lucky to be able to reinstate even a Minor factory there. The people here don’t speak your language and they are probably hostile toward you, thus not so willing to help you find the materials needed to construct a major factory. Possible sabotage would be a concern as well.
    Also, while we use “factory” pieces for convenience of the game, a Minor Factory wouldn’t necessarily mean an actual production facility but perhaps more of a shipping port or strong beach head where you could be receiving supplies, weapons and new troops to send to the front. For example, when the Allies occupied France and much of Western Europe, they had a lot of Sherman tanks flowing into the theater, but they didn’t actually make those Sherman tanks at a factory located there in Western Europe. They were made back in the States and shipped to Western Europe.
    Could you imagine trying to play this game without using the factories? The Allies would never be able to establish a beach head in Europe. Unless you could say that the beach head or ports were available to use upon capture and able to “produce” next turn.


  • @Young:

    @Black_Elk:

    I dig all the concepts and naming conventions introduced so far!

    In my play group we often use shorthands to describe basic set up or rules adustments that we are particularly fond of. For example, in AA50 we have a set up tweak that we refer to as AA50 “Chunking Rules!” where china begins the standard turn order. Basically they get a free turn, by going before the first Axis player in either set up 41 or 42.

    In my head I was already referring to this set up tweak for Global as “Halifax Rules” haha

    I like it a lot… “Halifax Rules” it shall be.

    Just out of curiosity: why “Halifax Rules”?  Is this a reference to the city of Halifax?  Lord Halifax?  In either case, what’s the connection with the proposed rule tweaks?  The title sounds good, but I’m just perplexed about what it means.

  • Sponsor

    @CWO:

    @Young:

    @Black_Elk:

    I dig all the concepts and naming conventions introduced so far!

    In my play group we often use shorthands to describe basic set up or rules adustments that we are particularly fond of. For example, in AA50 we have a set up tweak that we refer to as AA50 “Chunking Rules!” where china begins the standard turn order. Basically they get a free turn, by going before the first Axis player in either set up 41 or 42.

    In my head I was already referring to this set up tweak for Global as “Halifax Rules” haha

    I like it a lot… “Halifax Rules” it shall be.

    Just out of curiosity: why “Halifax Rules”?  Is this a reference to the city of Halifax?  Lord Halifax?  In either case, what’s the connection with the proposed rule tweaks?  The title sounds good, but I’m just perplexed about what it means.

    Not sure, maybe Black_Elk who suggested the name is from there, I myself like it because it sounds like a code name… like “operation Halifax”

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    Haha I’m actually from San Francisco, (I was thinking about it last night and there was a big 6.1 earthquake!). For some reason the name jumped out at me, since I kind of view this series of rules as a way to sneak Canada into the mix (with a simple and elegant mechanism, by joining them up with the Anzac faction). Here, this charming old timey film clip from the era might do a better job of explaining than I can…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkbaKvRQ4K4#t=134

    Basically its a major Atlantic port city that served as a hub for North American war material shipped over for the defense of Britain during the conflicts of the early 20th century.

    But yeah, I just thought it had a cool sounding ring to it  :-D

    For whatever reason it always seems like the secret code name type titles always want to stick. It’s the enigmatic nature the thing I guess. Just a shorthand for a series of minor tweaks taken together that players like.  Comes out of the old classic type names I guess, that never really explained what they did but instead used normandy invasion code words hehe

    These rules are clearly destined to Rock!
    Poseidon “the earthshaker” approves! ;)

    Nice work

  • Sponsor

    Great story about the earthquake, let’s hope these rules send shock waves. I also like the name because I’m Canadian and have been to Halifax… Awesome city.

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