Review of my first played Global War 1936 V. 3 game

All of this is making me so bummed this pandemic is making me unable to play this game!!!

Your idea to give CCP 1 warlord land zone (not the whole warlord) is not unbalancing the game at all. It eliminates the possibility of CCP being whiped out by KMT early in the game, which was an actual possibility in the Chinese civil war. But it takes away the suspense if CCP is going to make it as a minor power eventually turning into a major power. If eliminated USSR has a lot more to do to try and get CCP back into the game. Feel free to house rule! I do it ALL the time!

@alphaaeffchen
Sea units …. Please do no skimp out on the cruisers, use a tech token for battle cruisers, a regular sculpt for heavy cruisers and a nation roundel for light cruisers if you must.
WW1 era ships … they are a must in the game as cheap fodder units (that cannot be replenished/rebuilt) a TBD can be represented by a destroyer with a tech token if you absolutely don’t have enough sculpts and a coastal sub can also be represented by a regular sub with a tech token (until
A nation develops Advanced subs (never seen this researched and the unit purchased)

@alphaaeffchen
Regarding South America , our group has played the Latin America at war expansion and decided to play next game with OOB rules for SA as the expansion is just a bit tedious and we want to speed up the game and focus on the main parts of the war and take more turns quicker.

@alphaaeffchen regarding USSR, Germany should at least annex Romania giving UsSR a D12 income boost, also July 39 to begin regular D12 rolls fir income boost is not “super late”

@alphaaeffchen more USSR comments … what in the world Low luck in 1936 game based on a D12 system, really? Why?
Also… try this as Russia, attack Romania in July 39 and see what happens , I did it it was fun, I got carried away and pushed further into Europe conquering Italy, but I did this without consulting with the allies who turn declared war on me and together with Germany kicked my ass back to Russia .

@alphaaeffchen sorry… easiest to read a bit and then type a response to what I read when on my phone.
CCP… it is quite a big deal if CCP shall become a major faction, it is very unwise to give them a free warlord at the start of the game. This will put the Chinese civil war into their hands likely unless Japan attacks turn 1! That is wild … no thank you! Japan shouldn’t be forced into attacking China on turn 1….

In our current game CCP became a major power on their third turn I believe and Japan mistakingly did not hit China in the first couple turns of the game, this lead to Japan getting ousted from Manchuria early on.

@alphaaeffchen the diplomacy expansion is really fun (my favourite) it would add some variation to the USSR options early on for sure

@alphaaeffchen
Most of the expansions consume a lot of pointless time, making the game take much longer for not much benefit, but it’s whatever you and your group enjoy. Our groups next game will be played with only 3 expansions: diplomacy, fighting railroads and turkey at war

@bretters I suppose that’s the thing about the expansions, and probably why they are just that, expansion! I agree, they certainly slow the game down. But from our perspective it’s this: This game already takes sooooo long to play, what’s a little more time with some detail :) haha.

But I get what you’re saying, if you’re not really into the expansions, then they just aren’t for you! I like a lot of them to try and put more focus on different aspects. The ones I like to roll out are:

Latin America at War
China at War
Turkey at War
Netherlands at War
Canada at War
Partisans
Winter War
Spanish Civil War
Afrika Korps
Manchukuo
Croatia at War

I like these ones because, to me, these ones are the least likely to add a ton of special units, but can enhance game play in areas. That might just be my opinion though. I also love to add the other nations to the game (thus the Canada, Netherlands, and Turkey expansions).

I don’t like the ordinance ones, for example, because they add a ton of specific units that you might have one of each on the map at a time.

I like the idea of the elite units expansions, but haven’t quite yet stomached the idea of having to look at a chart before almost every single battle to see what specialized unit does what!

@chris_henry

Latin America at War - we have played with this a few times: it really doesn’t actually add a lot of action to Latin America. oh - i rolled about convoying the US convoy line and don’t have any subs convoying there big whoop… or i rolled and Japan got a sub, ok. the only dice that really matter are the Axis coup (only happens on a roll of a 1 on your D12) or the allied coup that happens with the roll of a 2 on a D12) … honestly this expansion is just extra and for almost no reason. it distracts from the fun to be had elsewhere.

China at War: i like this one, but the rules do still have to be checked on it every game for us and we chose not to play it next game - but we have played it for a few of our games.

Turkey at war - we like it with a couple house rules we made for it.

Netherlands at war: never played this but not interested in it either.

Canada at War: kind of pointlessly makes the game too complicated giving canada its own income and gives Canada something like 6-7 unique units that no player has stats memorized for and every time we want to build them or move them or attack them or defend with you have to look up and it just takes extra time… i dont care you have the queens own rifles of Canada unit… whatever lets just fight.

Partisans: we played this one a couple times and it was very easy to forget partisan rolls this expansion is just very tedious and time confusing and not fun.

Winter war: never played but I know brings extra units that would be hard to remember stats for.

SCW: have played with since the beginning basically: Don’t actually like the regular expansion as the rewards for winning the war are horrible for the republican victory! Also the random events arent great and neither is American influence in the war… Admiral edition is ok but we played with the optional rules that included the extra units and that was dumb… took up extra time and was confusing. Next game we will just go with not playing this and playing OOB.

Afrika Corp: i dont know enough about

Manchukuo: We are currently playing with this but it doesn’t add enough to the game and instead means Japan has to garrison each territory in manchuria just to collect the money. Manchukuo isnt even treated as a separate entity, its still just played as its Japan. silly expansion honestly.

Croatia at war: never played it

Diplomacy: a strong expansion and i believe most people play this one

your very last point. that is exactly what i am saying in regards to mostly Canada at war:

@bretters Yeah, there’s definitely different wants from different players for these!

I like Latin America because basically nothing will ever happen there otherwise. It’s certainly a sideshow, but I think one that adds flavor somewhere where there wouldn’t be an otherwise. Gives the Comintern some possibilities their too.

China at War I like so that the CCP has more fun too.

Netherlands I like for what I said above, I enjoy getting another smaller playable power in there!

Canada you make a good point on the added units. I’ve contemplated house ruling some of that a bit. But same as the Netherlands, I just like having the playable Commonwealth nation on the board!

Partisans definitely adds time, but so does every expansion if you use it! That was to my earlier point too. The game already takes forever to play, may as well add some more spice haha.

I like the Winter War because it lets the Allies get involved a bit as well. I like to see things where all three alliances can try and influence the play in the area. But I tend to not use the aerosani unit, just seems extra for no reason to me as well.

SCW I like because from what I’ve seen from others, the OOB vastly favors the Axis, but the Expansion vastly favors the Comintern. I haven’t played Admiral just yet, but it sounds like it helps to balance out the two. But kind of like the Winter War, I just like that the Allies can get involved to influence if they so chose!

Afrika Korps is really basic. To me it’s just a fun boost to get some Germany units in Africa when I think without it you wouldn’t see it a ton.

I like Manchukuo since it allows the CCP to potentially do more. I like that Mongolia can get involved too. But I don’t tend to use the patrol boat unit.

I liked Croatia because it divvy’s Yugoslavia into more territories in the game. This expansion also came out before Partisans expansion did, so I was really intrigued by the partisan units in that expansion at the time too haha.

I’m actually only so-so on the Diplomacy expansion personally. True, it adds possibilities for all the neutral powers to be influenced. But for me, I like what some other expansions do for more of these. I like the Latin America Expansion rules more than I like the Diplomacy rules for that area. I like the Turkey at War Expansion more than the Diplomacy ones too. That just leaves the European countries and Siam. Siam, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary are all going Axis anyways. And from there I just think the Axis might prefer to take Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece whenever they can as opposed to trying to influence them. To me, this one adds a lot of time to do when you already know the outcome of a lot of them later on. But that might just be my thoughts.

All reasons why I actually tend to like the Expansion concept though! Everyone can make their games unique to their personal desires!

@chris_henry more to come but a quick comment here: I feel like I’d rather focus on the meat of the war rather than worry about any “spice” that may be available in Latin America . Playing the expansion haven’t really ever seen the Comintern invest in Latin America, it seems really not worth it. So I think sticking with the “meat” of the game is better. And your spice is more like “fat” that needs to be trimmed! Ha

@bretters Haha fair enough! I just like to have something happen down there rather than nothing!

I actually have yet to be the Comintern in any of our games, but I would love to try some of these things with them when I get the chance!

@chris_henry
If a 1 or 2 isn’t rolled for LAW (these rolls only happen once a year btw) no action is happening , expansion or not lol.

@chris_henry yea you gotta get a chance to play as every nation for sure!

@bretters

If a 1 or 2 isn’t rolled for LAW (these rolls only happen once a year btw) no action is happening , expansion or not lol.

Haha while very true, to me it’s better than no possibilities of anything happening!

@chris_henry yea you gotta get a chance to play as every nation for sure!

I really have been wanting to play them! The general consensus from these boards have been to have your weakest/slowest learning player play as the Comintern for a while until they are comfortable. So that’s what we’ve been doing haha. We typically play with my dad and my brother and myself. So my brother and I have basically flipped between being the Axis or the Allies, and have left our dad to be the Comintern until he gets it down a bit better. But I just think it would be a lot of fun to be the Comintern and try some things!

@chris_henry @chris_henry yea the Comintern is fun because you can play either side / stay neutral (potentially) . My highlight with the Comintern was hitting a neutral Romania in July ‘39 and then yugo the next turn and northern Italy and Rome in the subsequent turns!