Major improvement to A&A Europe: We will never play official rules again!


  • I call this the “Uber Variant”.  It is far superior to the house rules in the opinion of my family and friends.  This applies to A&A Europe that was released in 1999.  I’m interested in trying a similar variant to Global 1940, feel free to adapt a similar concept to that and let me know how it goes.

    • All Axis moves at the same time (including if you’ve split the axis between two players as described below) then all the allies move at the same time.

    • All aligned countries “fight” (roll dice) at the same time: you don’t have U.S. units fight followed by the British.

    • If you have 4 or 5 players, two of them can play the Axis: one is Germany and the other is the Axis minors (Italy, Hungary, Romania, Finland, etc.).  The way this is accomplished:
         > The Axis Minors player sets up different pieces (Italians obtained from Global 1940, HBG games, or from another A&A set.  Perhaps grey Germans can be minors and black can be Germany).
         > Each axis player starts the game with the IPC’s split in half.  Off the top of my head, I believe it’s 20 IPC’s to each player.  
         > They also start with equal territory.  Axis minors are placed throughout Africa, in Finland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece, etc to make it even. Sometimes I’ll put a few German units in Africa and other places to make it seem more historical, though there were tons of Italians serving there.  The Axis Minors have all of the Mediterranean ships and have a few subs in the atlantic.
         >  The Germans and the Axis minors can use either factory.  Germany may spend their IPC’s to buy units placed in the Italian factory and vice versa.
         >  The Germans and Axis minors can opt to combine their money to buy units.  For instance, if they each want 3 soldiers and an aircraft carrier is desired but couldn’t be afforded by either, they can pool their money together to buy a carrier.  If they can’t decide who controls the carrier, they can flip a coin or roll the dice.

    • All countries can use any friendly nation’s transports and aircraft carriers with no penalties

    • In multi-nation battles, when the decision comes to which unit is removed during a battle and which country owns a newly conquered territory, the aligned nations must agree.  If they can’t decide who should have the territory/unit removed, their opponents get to decide.

    We’ve played this many times and will never go back.

    • It gives the Allies real winning chances.  Perhaps even a slight advantage.  The Axis usually (but not always) still wins with us, but the Axis players are usually more experienced.
    • It DRASTICALLY speeds up the game.
         >  This makes people more agreeable to playing in the first place since they’re more likely to have 4 free hours than 8.
         >  This makes the game itself more fun, exciting, and fast paced.
         >  The cooperative vibe from having 2 v 2 or 3 v 2 makes it more enjoyable and much less lonely for the German player: now your friends aren’t all picking at you :).

    Try it and let me know what you think.  I don’t think you’ll ever go back to playing it the old way.  I think if similar all allies then all axis plays can be applied to Global, that would be more fun as well, especially if it speeds up the game.


  • Hi! I really like the idea of simultaneous turns, because many people are not ready to play an 8 hours or more game! :)
    Hovewer there are too many rules you created, and i think the capabilities of attacking together is too much powerful for the allies.

    I make a soft version of this rules for A&A Global:

    SIMULTANEOUS TURNS

    The round of play is devided by macroturns, who are played simultaneously by different allied powers. This rules are ideal to fasten up a 4 players A&A Global game.

    ORDER OF PLAY:

    1. Germany, Japan
    2. Sovient Union, United States
    3. United Kingdom, China
    4. Italy
    5. ANZAC, France

    Conduct Combat Phase:
    Is possible that during the Combat Move Phase more than one power has attacked the same enemy controlled region. If this happens, you have to conduct different combats in sequence. You have to start from the first power mentioned in the macroturn, and then proceed with following power if the enemy was not destroyed. For example Soviet Union combat happens before United States.

    If the defending enemy is defeating, all the powers with alive combat units in the region are elegible to be the new controller of the region. All the powers involved must find an agreement together. If they’re not, first power mentioned in the macroturn with alive units takes control.

    Non-aggression pact:
    Because of their non-aggression pact, Japan cannot decleare war to Soviet Union on his first turn.

    See ya! :)

  • Sponsor

    I have thought about lifting restrictions for transports regarding multi national forces and I really feel that it has the power to balance the 1940 Global game all on it’s own.


  • @Zaibach:

    Hi! I really like the idea of simultaneous turns, because many people are not ready to play an 8 hours or more game! :)
    Hovewer there are too many rules you created, and i think the capabilities of attacking together is too much powerful for the allies.

    I make a soft version of this rules for A&A Global:

    That could be for Global, but for the 1999 version of A&A Europe, the Axis are so overpowering that with the official rules and experienced players, it’s a forced win for the Axis.  Just buy soldiers and a few artillery and tanks on the following turns and then you have an unstoppable force that takes over Moscow.  With this change, the Allies sometimes, but don’t always win.  If with your group the Allies win too much, it might be the players, but if not, I’m sure you could come up with some rules to weaken the allies such as not being able to use each others transports.

    I’d like to pursue the every player playing at the same time for Global, but may save that for a future post.  What you’ve outlined seems a safe way to speed things up without unduly altering the game balance.

    Regarding the rules: I posted a lot of details, but it’s actually very simple.  “Germany” is simply divided in half with a second player who will possess half the territories and starts with half the money.  The rules themselves are the same, except all the allies play at the same time.  It’s really just as simple as that.  The axis already played at the same time since it used to be one country (the Axis already could pool their money, build in either factory, etc.) .

Suggested Topics

  • 6
  • 6
  • 2
  • 2
  • 10
  • 30
  • 5
  • 5
Axis & Allies Boardgaming Custom Painted Miniatures

33

Online

17.0k

Users

39.3k

Topics

1.7m

Posts