I don’t see the need for blowing up the Western Front area. For me, this would actually remove the true feeling of that conflict. The entire point of it was that so many men were fed into a short and static front, which barely changed for 4 years. It should feel congested and static. It was a war of attrition with no room for flanking movements. Just two areas between the Sea and Switzerland would be fine.
The only reason America comes in on turn 4 is to pander to the US market. Personally I think this underestimates them, but the marketing departments clearly think otherwise. No American planes or tanks made it to Europe in time to fight, so a lot depends on if and how France and Britain can supply them with hardware.
@Admiral_Thrawn:
IL, maybe it will be a quicker game and that definitely would be cool. For most people A&A is too long and hard to get new people to devote the time. Just us super fans love the 12 hour gaming sessions. And it probably will and should historically take the US a little time to actually really hurt the CP so it will work out fine.
Vorbeck, yes I have played that and I love that idea of the blow up box. Adds so much for the western front. In this game it will be like two spaces probably that France and Germany just put men in over and over. Seems kinda boring. The blow up box allows some movement while giving it the impression of not really getting anywhere. Plus it’s awesome on that game in Triple A when you send units from the larger strategic map to the blow up box. It really gives it a thematic sense of sending men into the trenches. I will probably make house rules for this game to include that if there is a way to make it balanced. Maybe future deluxe editions could include the blow up box. We’ll see.