[AA50] Updating Anniversary to Modern Standards

Good suggestions.  One comment about something that confused me at first: your description of these changes as a “modernization” of Anniversary initially made me think that the intention was simply to bring its rules and unit statistics more into line with those of later A&A games, but without changing the actual compenents that come in the Anniversary box.  In other words, I thought you were referring to self-contained modifications to Anniversary in and of itself.  Some of the proposed changes, however, actually involve importing components from other games and adding them to Anniversary, so in a sense this is also an expansion of Anniversary rather than just an update.

@Charles:

With the new availability of Anniversary Edition, I have had the opportunity to play this version several times recently.  However, the ruleset attached to this game is over a decade old and feels out of touch from newer editions like 1941, 1942, and 1940.  Here is a list of modified rules to be used to modernize Anniversary Edition:

Tanks:
Tanks now cost 6 IPCs as in all modern editions.  Not only does this promote universality, but having tanks be more expensive also encourages more variety in purchases and helps the Allies a little bit.

AA guns:
Instead of using the basically indestructible neutral grey AA guns, each power will be given its own distictive AA sculpts.  The AA guns will cost 5 (or 4 if you want) IPCs and use the same rules from 1942/1940.  In the setup, place 2 AA guns in every terriotry in which there was previously one.

China:
China is no longer limited to three units per territory.  In the setups for both 1941 and 1942, China gets 4 infantry and 1 fighter in Yunnan.

The following rule editions are now mandatory:
Ability to intercept/escort
National objectives
Closure of Turkish straits

Optional Changes:

Cruisers:
Because of the arguably good strength of battleships in this version (since they can absorb hits and be automatically repaired), cruiser price ought to be reduced to 11 (or 10) to encourage their purchase.

Industrial complexes:
Instead of using the generic 15 IPC ICs, use major and minor industrial complexes from 1940.  In the setup, all the industrial complexes are majors except for the two on Leningrad and Stalingrad.  Use all the rules from 1940 including placement (territories of 2 IPCs or more for minors, original territories of 3 IPCs or more for majors, and no islands [Australia isn’t an island, silly!]) and built-in AA capacity.

Mechanized infantry:
The mech units from 1940 are now available for purchase at 4 IPCs.  If you want, in the setup, add one German mech to Poland, two Russian mechs to Russia (Moscow), one German mech to Libya, one British mech to Egypt, and one American mech to Eastern U.S.

Tactical bombers:
These air units from 1940 are now available for purchase for 10 IPCs.  If you want, in the setup, add one German tactical to Poland, one Russian tactical to Russia (Moscow), one British tactical to United Kingdom, one Italian tactical to Italy, one American tactical to Western U.S., and one Japanese tactical to Japan.

Air bases and naval bases may be purchased for 12 IPCs each.  Do not try adding these units to the setup.

France:
France starts the game with–
:|
Hold on a second, I got ahead of myself there.

**No France never gets ahead.

What no Vichy Free French ? !!! WTH**

Nice work  :wink:

@CWO:

Good suggestions.  One comment about something that confused me at first: your description of these changes as a “modernization” of Anniversary initially made me think that the intention was simply to bring its rules and unit statistics more into line with those of later A&A games, but without changing the actual compenents that come in the Anniversary box.  In other words, I thought you were referring to self-contained modifications to Anniversary in and of itself.  Some of the proposed changes, however, actually involve importing components from other games and adding them to Anniversary, so in a sense this is also an expansion of Anniversary rather than just an update.

I agree with Marc about the difference between a rules modernization and an expansion. That said, we can take what we have here and fashion a straight-up rules modernization out of it, in my opinion.

Original Author: Charles de Gaulle
Modified By: Midnight_Reaper

Tanks:
Tanks now cost 6 IPCs as in all modern editions.  Not only does this promote universality, but having tanks be more expensive also encourages more variety in purchases and helps the Allies a little bit.

AA guns:
Instead of using the basically indestructible neutral grey AA guns, use the AA gun rules from A&A 1942, Second Edition. The AA guns will be denoted by a control marker underneath a current grey AA gun OR by other means / pieces as the player(s) shall choose.  The AA guns will cost 5 IPCs.  In the setup, place 2 AA guns in every territory in which there was previously one. A stack of pieces consisting of a single grey or white stacking chip, a single country control marker, and a grey AA gun shall be considered a group of two (2) AA guns.

China:
China is no longer limited to three units per territory.  In the setups for both 1941 and 1942, China gets 4 infantry and 1 fighter in Yunnan.

The following rule editions are now mandatory:
Ability to intercept/escort
National objectives
Closure of Turkish straits

Optional Changes:

Cruisers:
Because of the arguably good strength of battleships in this version (since they can absorb hits and be automatically repaired), cruiser price ought to be reduced to 10 to encourage their purchase.

~~Industrial complexes:
Instead of using the generic 15 IPC ICs, use major and minor industrial complexes from 1940.  In the setup, all the industrial complexes are majors except for the two on Leningrad and Stalingrad.  Use all the rules from 1940 including placement (territories of 2 IPCs or more for minors, original territories of 3 IPCs or more for majors, and no islands [Australia isn’t an island, silly!]) and built-in AA capacity.

Mechanized infantry:
The mech units from 1940 are now available for purchase at 4 IPCs.  If you want, in the setup, add one German mech to Poland, two Russian mechs to Russia (Moscow), one German mech to Libya, one British mech to Egypt, and one American mech to Eastern U.S.

Tactical bombers:
These air units from 1940 are now available for purchase for 10 IPCs.  If you want, in the setup, add one German tactical to Poland, one Russian tactical to Russia (Moscow), one British tactical to United Kingdom, one Italian tactical to Italy, one American tactical to Western U.S., and one Japanese tactical to Japan.

Air bases and naval bases may be purchased for 12 IPCs each.  Do not try adding these units to the setup.~~ These rules get yanked.

France: no change.

And there we go  :lol:

-Midnight_Reaper