G40 Halifax Rules

I like it. So basically we’d have…

Halifax with the most straightforward implementation, regular CAnzac.

And Halifax Plan A (For Africa?)  :-D
with a somewhat more involved implementation, including South Africa, S.W. Africa, Newfoundland, Eire etc. as part of the Commonwealth faction.

These two options would seem to satisfy the desires of most players here. In terms of the Rules wording, I would lead with the basic set up adjustments for each, and then follow with balance suggestions for each basic scenario.

In the simplest possible formulation Halifax is:

Add in a Commonwealth faction with Anzac and Canada (option 1), or CAnzac + S. Africa, S.W Africa, Newfoundland, Eire (option 2).

Collapse UK/UK pacific into a single faction.

Practically everything else can be built on top of this as a suggestion. For example in Option 2, it might be worth considering whether to give UK a Minor factory in Egypt to balance the production. Or add in a USA income boost. Or other ideas to fine tune balance. Basically you could provide an outline for each type of game, that serves the needs of the set up on balance.

ps. so how about this for Halifax? I am trying to think of the best way to word the rules so that they follow the basic order of the set up (allowing for options at each step where such might be advisable)… Then stitch it all together again in one doc.

First Step: Set the Board as Normal, OOB G40

Next Step:

New Single UK Economy:

The British economy is no longer split between London and Calcutta, instead, the United Kingdom collects only one income for all territories owned on the map with London as it’s capital.

[Note] The UK must relinquish all IPCs each time an Axis power captures London, however, the UK may retain all IPC’s if Calcutta is captured, as it is no longer a capital city.

–----

Next Step:

New Commonwealth Nation:

_[Insert here a brief historical introduction explaining what the Commonwealth Dominions are, and the role they played in the war effort. A few lines from CWO Marc to set the stage for Halifax rules  :-D

First highlight the participation of Canada… and then follow with the rules for including Canada in the Commonwealth CAnzac. Then the rules for the full Commonwealth faction expanded to include South Africa etc.]_

–----

Next step:

Commonwealth possessions, roundel and unit substitution:

All territories with an ANZAC and Canadian roundel on them, as well as the following specific territories and sea zones… will form the new nation “Commonwealth Dominions.” **

This new nation will replace ANZAC in the game round sequence, and all British beige starting units on these territories [below] must now be replaced with ANZAC gray pieces.

Halifax: All territories with a Canadian roundel + W. Canada and sz 106

or

Halifax Plan A: the above, but also including Newfoundland, Eire, S.W. Africa, South Africa and sz 71.

**Trying to draft this out quoting the key stuff YG has already outlined, just with some notes italicized or in [brackets]. I favor the name Commonwealth Dominions for this faction over British Commonwealth. Commonwealth Dominions seems to capture the same idea, but is less likely to be confused with “British Empire” or “Great Britain” or other designations people use when referring to the UK player. What do you think?

–----

next step

New Production Unit Profiles:

Industrial Complex:
Produces up to 10 units
Maximum damage 20
Unoperational at 10 damage
Capable of building all units
May never be purchased
Immediately downgraded to a Minor Factory once captured

Major Factory:
Produces up to 5 units
Maximum damage 10
Unoperational at 5 damage
Capable of building all units
May never be purchased, or upgraded to an Industrial Complex
Immediately downgraded to a Minor Factory once captured

Minor Factory:
Produces up to 3 units
Maximum damage 6
Unoperational at 3 damage
May only build units that cost 10 IPCs or less
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*

There are only two conditions in which a nation may upgrade a production unit:

*1. The original owner of a territory containing a minor factory may upgrade it to a major factory for 10 IPCs, but only if the minor factory in question was already downgraded from a major factory or Industrial Complex due to capture.

2. Once they are at war, the United States may immediately upgrade all their major factories to industrial complexes free of charge.

All the new production stuff outlined by knp etc

–----

Next step

Setup Adjustments:

• All minor industrial complexes now become major factories
• The major industrial complex in India now becomes a major factory
• Add 1 Commonwealth fighter to Ontario

Add to these any others which might be necessary for Plan A to work. For example
-UK gets a free Minor factory in Egypt

–----

Next Step:

DoW Rules, Neutral Rules, NAP Rules:

1. Suggested DoW options or restrictions
2. Mongolia, or any other neutral situations that need clarification
3. Russia/Japan Non Agression Pact options or restrictions. Anything else relating to national Politics, or its adjustment from OOB.
–----

Next step:

Income Balance Adjustments

1. Suggested National Objectives… for Halifax (or additional/different NOs for Halifax plan A if necessary)
2. Optional City Objectives

Next step:

Additional adjustment options

1. New mechanics like oil drums, or new general mechanics rules, if desired.
2. More nation specific or national unit specific rules
3. New turn order or sequence of nations rules

Basically just trying to think of this like an inverted pyramid, where the most important foundational stuff comes first, and the rest goes on top. That way you can cut it off at any point (like a ziggurat)  :-D

Looks clean! I dig it :-D

And for option 2, if a player wanted, they could easily include Newfoundland or Eire as well (depending on player preference) since both those territories are at zero IPCs it would not really effect the game beyond aesthetics. This way everyone is happy. Simple set up, option 1 or option 2. Easy

Also, about the names…

I like the name “British” for the British Empire which would encompass UK, India etc. for the joined UK/UK Pacific faction. And the other name being something like “Commonwealth Dominions” rather than British Commonwealth, so it could still have the word ‘Dominions’ in it, which is a badass sounding word after all!) I am speaking here from the perspective of TripleA, or card formats and stats columns, where the ability to make clear abbreviations can be important. So you could use “B” and “CD” for short, which has a nice alphabetical flow. Or even just B (british) and D (dominions) to prevent any confusion whatsoever with China.

B and D, so in the stats column, or when describing the turn order in the simplest 1 letter structure…

‘British’ Empire = B
Commonwealth ‘Dominions’ = D

The Dominions, or simply Dominion as in “a Dominion infantry unit”, or “the Dominion fighter.” This will be much better for simple abbreviations, and simple reference. So that the boxed game sequence can be described as follows:

G-R-J-A-C-B-I-D-F

Germany, Russia, Japan, America, China, Britain, Italy, Dominions, France

Germans, Russians, Japanese, Americans, Chinese, British, Italians, Dominions, French (if you prefer)

or in the case of adjectives/adverbs…

German, Russian, Japanese, American, Chinese, British, Italian, Dominion, French

G
R
J
A
C
B
I
D
F

with the cleanest possible abbreviation lines for stats columns.  8-)

@Young:

New Production Unit Profiles:

Industrial Complex:
Produces up to 10 units
Maximum damage 20
Unoperational at 10 damage
Capable of building all units
May never be purchased
Immediately downgraded to a Minor Factory once captured

Major Factory:
Produces up to 5 units
Maximum damage 10
Unoperational at 5 damage
Capable of building all units
May never be purchased, or upgraded to an Industrial Complex
Immediately downgraded to a Minor Factory once captured

Minor Factory:
Produces up to 3 units
Maximum damage 6
Unoperational at 3 damage
May only build units that cost 10 IPCs or less
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*

There are only two conditions in which a nation may upgrade a production unit:

*1. The original owner of a territory containing a minor factory may upgrade it to a major factory for 10 IPCs, but only if the minor factory in question was already downgraded from a major factory or Industrial Complex due to capture.

2. Once they are at war, the United States may immediately upgrade all their major factories to industrial complexes free of charge.

New Single UK Economy:

The British economy is no longer split between London and Calcutta, instead, the United Kingdom collects only one income for all territories owned on the map with London as it’s capital. The UK must relinquish all IPCs each time an Axis power captures London, however, the UK may retain all IPC’s if Calcutta is captured, as it is no longer a capital city.

New Commonwealth Nation:

At the beginning of the game, one of the following options must be chosen by the player, or players controlling the Allied powers.

Commonwealth Option #1

All territories with an ANZAC and Canadian roundel on them will now be know as the British Commonwealth. This new nation will replace ANZAC in the game round sequence, and all British beige starting units on Canadian territories must now be replaced with ANZAC gray pieces (including the sea units in sea zone #106). This powers starting income will be 17 IPCs, and the United Kingdom’s will be 38 IPCs.

Commonwealth Option #2

All territories with an ANZAC and Canadian roundel on them, as well as South Africa and South West Africa will now be know as the British Commonwealth. This new nation will replace ANZAC in the game round sequence, and all British beige starting units on Canadian and South African territories must now be replaced with ANZAC gray pieces (including the sea units in sea zones #106 and #71). This powers starting income will be 20 IPCs, and the United Kingdom’s will be 35 IPCs.

Political Situation

The Commonwealth nation is at war with Germany and Italy to start the game, however, they may not collect national objectives until they are at war with all the Axis powers. The Commonwealth nation does not have a capital, and as long as the Commonwealth controls Ottawa and/or Sydney, they may collect an income and build units. However, if both Ottawa and Sydney are under enemy control, the Commonwealth must immediately relinquish all IPCs to the bank, and remove their roundel from the income tracker until at least 1 of these two original victory cities are liberated.

Map Board Adjustments

_If you are using a G40 2nd Edition map and playing option #1, you must put a commonwealth roundel on Western Canada.

If you are using a G40 2nd Edition map and playing option #2, you must put a commonwealth roundel on Western Canada, as well as South Africa and Western South Africa._

New National Objectives

All national objectives for the United Kingdom and ANZAC have been removed, and are now replaced with the following:

United Kingdom:

5 IPCs if the United States are at war with the Axis powers
5 IPCs if the Allies control Gibraltar, Egypt, India, and Malaya
5 IPCs if there are no Axis Submarines in the Atlantic (any sea zone west of Denmark and Gibraltar straits including #128 and #127)

British Commonwealth:

5 IPCs if the Commonwealth controls all their original territories
5 IPCs if the Allies control Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes
5 IPCs if the Commonwealth has at least 1 land unit on an original German territory

The following national objectives for the United States and Japan, are in addition to the already existing national objectives for each nation.

United States:

5 IPCs if the Allies control Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Celebes
5 IPCs if at least 1 American strategic bomber has made a successful SBR on a German production unit

Japan:

5 IPCs if Japan Controls all Chinese original territories

The following national objectives are a modification of the existing Soviet Union national objective called “national prestige”, which has now been removed.

Soviet Union:

5 IPCs if sea zone #125 is free of Axis warships, and the Allies control Archangel
5 IPCs if there are no Allied units on original Soviet Union territories

New Setup Modifications

• All minor industrial complexes now become major factories
• The major industrial complex in India now becomes a major factory
• Add 1 Commonwealth fighter to Ontario

Great work

@Black_Elk:

Also, about the names…
I like the name “British” for the British Empire which would encompass UK, India etc. for the joined UK/UK Pacific faction. And the other name being something like “Commonwealth Dominions” rather than British Commonwealth, so it could still have the word ‘Dominions’ in it, which is a badass sounding word after all!)

I noticed this question posted by Black Elk in a couple of threads, so I sketched out the following answer which I’ll post in both threads.

I’d be in favour of using the term “Commonwealth” (“the Commonwealth”, “the Commonwealth nations”, etc.).  For the period from the end of WWI to the end of WWII (thus in a time frame which works for A&A 1940), the term “Commonwealth” can be interpreted as referring more or less just to the six self-governing Dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Eire (originally the Irish Free State) and Newfoundland (which, it should be noted, voluntarily agreed to go back to being ruled from London during the Great Depression).

The phrase “(British) Commonwealth of Nations” originated – at first with unofficial status – in the late 19th century, resurfaced (still unofficially) in 1917, and finally received official recognition in 1921.  It was intended to be used in parallel with (or in some cases as an alternative to) the phrase “British Empire”, an example being Churchill’s famous statement that “if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: This was their finest hour.”  The “Commonwealth” usage arose in recognition of the fact that a number of British territories had become self-governing – the first such case being Canada, the original “Dominion” – and that therefore they had a greater degree of sovereignty than the Britain’s colonies, protectorates and mandates.

Dominion status was granted to Canada in 1867, Australia in 1901, New Zealand in 1907, Newfoundland in 1907, South Africa in 1910 and the Irish Free State in 1922 (it became Eire in 1937).  Via the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and the 1931 Statute of Westminster, it was recognized that these six Dominions were equal in status with the UK and that they were “freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”  Strictly speaking, it could be argued that the UK was also an equal-status “member” of the Commonwealth rather than its head, but this would be a bit like arguing that the Augustus was basically an ordinary Roman Senator who simply happened to be “first among equals” in the Senate rather than the Emperor (an argument which Augustus himself liked to make).  A similar dynamic existed within the Commonwealth by virtue of the fact that the UK’s (resident) Sovereign was recognized by the Dominions as their (absentee) Head of Statec – so Churchill’s phrase “the British Empire and its Commonwealth” is actually a good description of the asymmetrical relationship that existed at the time.

The phrase “Commonwealth” as it is used today has important differences with what it meant in 1940, since it now covers more than 50 entities.  Back in the 1930s, it essentially referred just to Britain and its self-governing Dominions, of which there were six.  The list started growing after WWII, when India, Pakistan and Ceylon were granted Dominion status, but the only British territories to achieve Dominion status prior to WWII were the six so-called “white colonies” whose population was preponderantly of European ancestry.  So all in all, I think it’s historically justifiable to refer to the A&A 1940 “grey sculpt” block as simply “the Commonwealth,” which is certainly more convenient than the convoluted phrase “the self-governing Dominions of the British Commonwealth of Nations.”  “The Commonwealth Dominions” (perhaps “the CDs” in shorthand?)  would be my second choice: it’s longer than just “the Commonwealth” but it’s a trifle more accurate since it excludes the UK and thus refers only to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Eire and Newfoundland.

@Black_Elk:

Halifax with the most straightforward implementation, regular CAnzac.

I’ve never been very fond of the term “CAnzac” – so just for fun, I played around with the names of the six Commonwealth Dominions to see if I could find an alternative acronym for the whole group.  There are several possible combinations, and strangely enough most of them sound (to me at least) like they should be patented names for drugs.  The one I like best (or hate the least) is what you get when you combine the capital letters for South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Newfoundland, Eire and Canada: SANZANEC.  Frankly, I think we should stick with “the Commonwealth”.    :-)

@Young:

So you’re saying that we should use…

The British Empire, and the Commonwealth

Instead of…

The United Kingdom, and the British Commonwealth?

No, I was just providing some historical context when I quoted Churcghll…  The UK should be called the UK. The group consisting of South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Newfoundland, Eire and Canada should be called either “the Commonwealth Dominions” or “the Commonwealth” depending on whether one prefers accuracy or brevity.

And just to clarify something about my previous post: perhaps what I should have said was that I’m not bothered by the fact that most A&A games use the term “United Kingdom” (which very conveniently abbreviates as UK, which is 50% shorter than that USSR and 33% shorter than USA), even though, strictly speaking, the territories depicted with UK roundels on the official map could more accurately be described as “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, its colonies, protectorates, mandates, territories and imperial holdings, and some of its self-governing Dominions.”  That’s a trifle unwieldy.  Basically these spaces amount to “the UK and its territories”, so “UK” is a convenient and acceptable shorthand for this concept and I’m fine with retaining it.

@Black_Elk:

So that the boxed game sequence can be described as follows:

G-R-J-A-C-B-I-D-F

Germany, Russia, Japan, America, China, Britain, Italy, Dominions, France

Germans, Russians, Japanese, Americans, Chinese, British, Italians, Dominions, French (if you prefer)

or in the case of adjectives/adverbs…

German, Russian, Japanese, American, Chinese, British, Italian, Dominion, French

G
R
J
A
C
B
I
D
F

with the cleanest possible abbreviation lines for stats columns.

I find two-letter abbreviations potentially less ambiguous than single-letter ones.  The two-letter ones make it pretty clear what they represent: for example, “AM” and “AN” couldn’t stand for anything other than American and ANZAC, whereas “A” is ambiguous on its own (unless one remembers that in these house rules ANZAC has been replaced by a new power).  Furthermore, the bases of all the OOB infantry sculpts (except for ANZAC) are stamped with two-letter codes (representing adjectival nationality), so that’s a familiar reference point.  My preference would be for:

AM
BR
RU
GE
JA
IT
CH
FR
CD (Commonwealth Dominions)

Yeah that’s great for me. On the physical board, sitting around tables in our living room, we can call them whatever we want. CAnzac is for sure ridiculous haha, that should be nowhere in the official rules, it was a joke for kicks! Though potentially useful shorthand for discussing the simple Canada+Anzac amongst ourselves.

As for the abbreviation scheme I mentioned, I was referencing TripleA, which uses B for British = UK already, so I was just clarifying what it’s going to look like if we make a Halifax mod there. In the stats column British Commonwealth would look confusing, which is why I like Commonwealth Dominion so we could use Dominion for short. CW and CD work equally well for me, but CD gives you the D if you need it.

But otherwise yeah, a two letter is fine :-D

It doesn’t matter as much for Face to Face play. But the computer game has conventions in place,  so I just wanted to make the notes clear.

Sounds great!

I enjoy table top too, and vastly prefer the hands on experience, but if we don’t have a test mod in TripleA there is little chance we’ll get any serious beta testing done. I have tried for years to convince Larry and others to start using a digital platform like ours for testing. In tripleA it is possible to isolate game breakers much faster and to see where the problem areas are. Many of the top players in the world tease out their strategies on digital platforms. These are the same people who discover the unstoppable strategies that push some to despair on game balance.
TripleA is very important for our community,  whether dedicated table top gamers use it to improve their game or not is up to them. But its key, because it is the only convenient way outside of tournaments to find opponents at equal skill levels.

Since the Hasbro CD went defunct, and Revised was introduced, we’ve had a game out for each new board released by Christmas the following year at the latest.

I’m not sure if people here even realize what a pain in the ass it was for Sean and Nekro to get Revised up.  :-D

Or how long it took me and CommradeKev to make AA50. I spent thousands of hours drawing those damn maps (with their silly 1 pixel boarder line gifs so the engine could read them) and creating graphics hehe. Or all the engine work done behind the scenes on the Pact of Steel and Great Wars games,  to push the engine to a place where it could handle things like convoys or new unit types or additional factions, or basically everything now required to play the latest A&A boards with their complex rules.

Or seriously,  the insane workload Veq and Bung had to put in so everyone could play G40.  And G40 is insane by the way, I took one look at the rulebook and knew I didn’t have the juice for that. The rules in 1914 make me want to cry too, they’re so impossible. But anyway, we’re talking thousands upon thousands of man hours put in by fans of Axis and Allies for free, just because we love this game, and want people to learn how to play it.

I am a definite partisan for digital, we’re on the front lines over here.

But that in no way diminishes my love of Face to Face or the physical boards. I still buy every box that comes out and today I will be rolling the real dice! Joy!

But, YG, you should give us a shot some time. You might like it. Long as you play with chill people, some of the funniest and most intelligent players I’ve met have been on tripleA (some of the biggest jerks too, but even they can sometimes be brilliant strategists.) It’s just like anything.  Some people have poor form face to face, throwing crap across the room, flipping boards,  getting all agitated about dice instead of having fun. The same thing occurs in the digital envirnment. But if you find a fun playgroup it’s awesome. And you can save the game at any point, to placate the wife or the girlfriend, or walk the dogs, or feed the kids. :-D

If you’re ever around my handle in the TripleA lobby is “triplelk” or Black Elk on the boards, same as here.

Ps. Just wanted to say thanks CWO Marc for the awesome breakdown on the previous page! I knew you’d come correct with a killer breakdown as always.

Well I’ll still hold out hope. Maybe one day I’ll head up north to the Cliffside Bunker, with copious snacks and the soundtrack to every classic Arnold flick blasting on the stereo… Predator, T2, Conan, etc. to roll the dice with maximum chi force physicality on that glorious table of yours!

And maybe someday you’ll come check out our digital dungeon, and I’ll show you how out here in the Matrix, “it’s all in your head” :-D

@Black_Elk:

Ps. Just wanted to say thanks CWO Marc for the awesome breakdown on the previous page! I knew you’d come correct with a killer breakdown as always.

My pleasure.  Glad you liked it.

Thanks. I always hated that Germany could build a Major in Romania or Norway. My reasoning was there was no IC to start with, how could a Major spring up in a turn and churn out as much as the US or the UK or the industrial West of Germany. Regions tht had been industrialised for centuries.
Thank you for the credit you give Knp. He is a hard working and  generous thinking member of this community.