Hello again,
I’ve finished my first draft of some nice setup charts for a new variant on the 1942.2 map. All of the starting territories are the same, the income from each territory is the same, and almost all of the rules are the same – but I’ve tried to radically re-imagine the starting units and starting factories so as to shatter the opening book and get some fresh strategies into the mix, while still being reasonably true to history.
The Bazooka
There are two big rules changes. One is that AAA guns are dumped in favor of a unit I’m calling the “bazooka.” Bazookas represent rockets, katushyas, grenade launchers, flak guns, anti-tank guns, and all of the various defensive weapons used in WW2. They cost 5 IPCs, have an attack of 1, a defense of 3, and a move of 1. They are a regular combat unit and as such move during the combat phase. Their special ability is that the attacker chooses casualties for any hits inflicted by a bazooka.
For example, suppose Germany sends 2 infantry, 1 bazooka, 1 tank, and 1 fighter to attack a Russian force of 3 infantry and 1 bazooka. Germany rolls [1, 3] on the infantry, [2] on the bazooka, [3] on the tank, and [5] on the fighter, for a total of 2 normal offensive hits. Russia rolls [1, 2, 6] on the infantry and [2] on the bazooka, for a total of 2 normal defensive hits and 1 bazooka defensive hit.
Russia chooses her own casualties, and chooses to lose 2 infantry. Russia also gets to choose one of the German casualties because of the bazooka hit – if Russia is just trying to destroy the most valuable piece, he might choose the German fighter, and if Russia is trying to minimize the surviving German ground troops to make trading easier, Russia might choose the German tank. Suppose Russia chooses the tank. Germany then gets to choose its own normal casualties, and chooses to lose 2 infantry.
After casualties, the Germans have 1 bazooka and 1 fighter vs. the Russian 1 bazooka, so the Germans will probably decide to retreat – they had slightly below-average luck and need to cut their losses.
Reduced Capital Looting
The other big rule change is that capturing a capital no longer utterly destroys a nation’s economy. Instead, when you capture a capital, you get to loot half of the opponent’s treasury, rounded up. That’s the only effect. For example, if the Russians have 13 IPCs, and the Germans sack Moscow, the Germans will steal 7 IPCs from the Russian treasury, leaving the Russians with only 6 IPCs. The Russians can still continue to collect income from other territories and build units at other factories, assuming they own any (or can afford to build a new one).
This should be plenty of incentive for players to aim for capitals – you’re capturing a factory, capturing a victory city, capturing a territory with a very high IPC income, and you get to steal a large amount of cash from your opponent. If, despite all those disadvantages, your opponent still recovers and beats you, then your attack on the capital must have been a cheap shot that didn’t represent genuinely overwhelming force.
Notes on the New Setup – Factories
The new setup has many more factories than previous versions, including several factories in 1-IPC territories. Before you shout out that this is ahistorical and that these regions weren’t as industrialized as [your favorite territory], keep in mind that the industrial centers primarily represent places where the combatants were able to mobilize, organize, equip, or rally their troops. French West Africa certainly had less industry than Holland in 1942, but the Dutch weren’t putting new troops into the field at that time, and the Free French were cranking out new infantry divisions.
Also, setting history to one side, I think it can be a lot of fun to have some 1-IPC factories – it gives the players a chance to reinforce their armies a bit either on the way to a destination or from the rear, keeping variety and surprise in the game. If you see the exact troop makeup that’s coming to challenge your grip on Africa or Indonesia when it’s still 3 turns away, that takes some of the fun out of the game. Having factories in odd areas helps restore some of that fun.
Notes on the New Setup – Fleets
I’ve tried to setup the fleets so that large fleets are not within striking distance of each other on turn 1, for a few reasons. First of all, the OOB setup all but requires the players to spend most of turn 1 smashing each other’s fleets – if you delay by even one turn, your opponents will get a chance to consolidate their fleets and move them out of range of your air force. This slows down the opening turn by quite a bit, and forces new players, who often have a poor understanding of the naval/air combat rules, to start with some of the largest, most complicated battles right off the bat. There is often an optimum strategy or two for sinking enemy fleets that anyone who has played a few games will be aware of but that new players will not know. This makes it needlessly harder for new players to compete.
Second, the OOB setup usually leads to one power having more or less undisputed control of an ocean. After turn 1, the Germans will control the Baltic / North Sea region, and the Japanese will control the western and central Pacific. After turn 2, the Americans will control the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean will be a no-man’s-land where no ships are left above water. You really need some extraordinary, suboptimal builds to put a dent in that control any time before turn 4 at the earliest, if you can do it at all. On this setup, with the fleets spaced further apart, there’s some exciting tension where the players don’t know for sure who’s going to wind up with regional naval supremacy.
Third, giving players later in the turn order a big fleet that’s just going to get smashed before their first turn is an exercise in frustration. If you’re not going to get a chance to play with it, there’s no reason to waste time setting it up on the board.
Finally, with the fleets spaced further apart, players have the option of retreating from a region, and trying to link up with some other fleet or go chase some other enemy – you’re not required to use any particular ships to do battle in any particular region if you don’t want to, so in the long run you have more interesting choices.
Argo’s Russian Setup.pdf
Argo’s German Setup.pdf