Improved China Historical version for AA50

1942.2 is a very neat and faster pace game than other versions of AA, nevertheless the china rules of AA50 and paratrooper tech are both aspects bring in more historical realism, fun and tactical depth to the game in overall. I have tried to incorporat both rules as houserules into 42.2 and would like to have your comments on it if these break the balance . My group are not very sophisticated AA fans therefore a 6:4 balance would not significant impact to our overall result i believe.but of course i want to make the variant as balance as i can

China variants
As i know the original setup is more favour Axis side. And SU in general has a less resources other than her two alliances. So my rules set as below
a.) China power is controlled by SU player
b.) Except the initial IPC, China’s controlled territory IPC are reduced from US productivity.
c.) China can occupy and control only the 8 territories including Formosa/kwangTung/Manchuria .
d.) China only can produce infantry according to AA50 rules except 1 infantry/1 allies controlled territory in China.

The reason for this is enhancing China defence against Jpy in early rounds as it can deploy before Jpy invades. Also the cheaper cost of infantry (1 IPC= 1 inf) is offset by less IPC for US player. Thirdly SU player will has more fun when compared to us and uk.

Paratroopers variant

Generally , players tends to push all their ground force all to the most front line and leave its central territory very empty without any threat. Introduce of para hope can solve this unrealism. I modify the AA 50 rule of para and allow in the beginning of the game.

In combat move , 1 bomber can carry 1 infantry to the target hostile territory Moving and landing rule are as same as normal except the bomber can fly through hostile territories as long as it has legitimate landing route. When the bomber fly through and at the target territory with Aaa gun (during combat move only), do the aaa gun chking as usual combat.

We play tested once with both rules , we found the China rule brought a little upclimb difficulty for JPN player, but in long run , as US has fewer resources and get more balance and has a bit less impact to Axis

With paratrooper variants. We tends to build up more aaa gun and deploy inland or islands , also we will leave some def forces at some strategic territories which the overall deployment tactics looks more reasonable on the map.

Since we did not heavily play test enough,feel free to comment if you sight any potential problem to these variants

Anniversary Edition is well-known for being slanted towards the Axis.  This is partly because of China’s weakness and unnecessary special rules that just make new players confused and us veterans upset.  Let’s fix China with some easy changes:

1.  In both the 1941 and 1942 setups there should be 4 infantry and 1 fighter in Yunnan.  This usually saves the fighter, making China fun to play, and also helps to balance the game.
2.  Remember that rule in which China cannot have more than three units in one space? Scrap that.  It only makes things confusing and too hard for China.
3.  China is no longer limited in movement.  Go ahead and attack Burma, sink a Jap (Nips, Japanese, you know what I mean stupid censor) transport off the coast with the Flying Tigers, and march into Russia.  Who’s stopping you?  insert Bruce Lee photo

I read numerous posts about historical rules like a separate Canada and rules for Vichy (just to name those two)

Since most of you seems to agree that the game is in favor of the axis, how do you (re)balanced the game if you use those two rules(canada and vichy) or any other one that sesns to slow down allies or advantage axis ?

@Imperious:

Ok if you want more units make it basic:

3 Carriers: CVB, CV, and CVL
2 Cruisers: BC and CA
2 Destroyers: DD and DE
2 battleships: BB, BBB

CVB= 3 planes, 3 hits, 2-3-3-
CV= OOB
CL= 1 hit, 1 plane, 0-1-3-
BC= 3-3-3-2 hits, 16 cost, 3 SB
CA= OOB
DD=OOB
DE= preemptive strike negated, plus boosts each transport to 1 defense ( no more one sub kills all thing) 1-2-3-7
BB=oob
BBB= 3 hits, 5-5-3-24, sb at 5

I don’t know if this hypothetical Armored cruiser CA will be born someday and can be useful.
But if the case, the extra hit should cost 25% of base price of OOB Cruiser (C Light/Heavy). If BB A4D4, 1hit 2=16 IPCs1.25=20 IPCs  2 hits. Which means 3 IPCs for 1.25% of 12 IPCs.
CA A3D3M3C15 2 hits, SBombard 1@3. vs
CB Battlecruiser A4D4M3C16 1hit, SBombard 1@4.
Will it makes both more viable unit vs nearer cost: 2DDs, A4D4 (2 hits) 16 IPCs?
But CB is still different from a M2 BB, with 2 hits.
Same guns but no the same armored bulkhead. Jus 1 little hit and it is over.

The link below mostly deals with the effectiveness of Japanese torpedoes.  But the opening paragraphs have a description of the pre-war Japanese strategy, before they decided to do Pearl Harbor.  It’s interesting reading.

http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-067.htm

Edit:  Sorry.  Looking at that article again, it doesn’t give as much detail about the big picture strategy as I remembered.  I was confusing it with another article.  But the gist of their original strategy was to grab the Philippines and wait for the inevitable American counter-attack.  Subs and aircraft carriers were seen as harassment units to whittle down the US as much as possible before the surface units engaged.  From there, the article in the link above covers how the surface engagement was supposed to go.

The background on the torpedoes was that the Japanese had the best on the planet.  Every other navy’s torpedoes had a range of 3-8 miles, depending on the speed setting.  The Japanese Type-93 had a range of about 22 miles on slow setting (which was as fast as the fast setting on most other torpedoes), and a range of about 11 miles on fast setting (which was REALLY fast – like 52 knots or so).  Using compressed oxygen instead of compressed air as an oxidizer for the fuel also caused them to have a less visible wake.  To top it all off, they also had a heavier warhead than other torpedoes.  The Japanese successfully kept the existence of this weapon secret until several months into the war, and built a lot of their naval strategy around it.

It is a SBR attack and you get one such attack per turn with bombers.

ammend the NO’s
give germany +2 Sub in 41’ and +1 sub in 42’

Now that solves your “make the atlantic more important” objective of your stratigic game

I have cobbled together suggestions voiced online here and Larry Harris site,
what players believed may be missing from AA50 1941,
   This is a simple compilation of those ideas, just started testing;

1)selected Neutral Territories can now be invaded ,
     with added defensive units for Neutrals.
     also:see house rules for additional ideas on how to handle Neutrals.)
2)Earlier setup than OOB-March 1941, Greenland is still a Neutral territory,
     Persia(Iran) is also a Neutral territory.
3) Added suggested IPC strength to Allies:
         Canada divided into (4) Territories;
         Australia divided into (5) Territories.
         U.S.A. added (1)new territory Rocky Mtn West and
         moved Central U.S. next to Eastern U.S.
4)Axis Africa was still in play;:
         (Italians control East Africa, Vichy control West Africa/Madagascar, )
          with added Vichy and Italian units to support.
5)Added for those who wanted value, (1) IPC to all island territories,
    only for those Islands that previously had no territory value.
6) Added Player’s suggested Units for balance:
     Germany-Battleship-BB
     U.S.-Crusier unit-CA, ARM
     U.S. UK Japan-SS units missing from Pacific added.
     USSR-FTR and several RTL
     UK-CA, DD, INF units to Africa campaign.
     Vichy French-Naval-CA, SS, DD, RTL, INF for Africa campaign.
     Italian-DD, SS, FTR, INF for Africa campaign.
     Japan -BMB, DD
     1941 China starts with qty (11)INF

Suggested Optional Rules:
Optional rule:Non-Aggression Treaty between Japan-USSR, if they attack each other penalty invoked, focus Japan on Pacific and U.S.S.R. on Europe.
optional rule:Stealth Subs-pop up undetected and ambush your enemy.
optional rule:Vichy units-will they Defend yes/No.
optional rule:Carrier Island to give Islands tactical value.
    (this provides Island based Air units a slight range increase.)

Thanks everyone for the ideas.

Setup Map can be found here under Folder AA50 Variants-AA50Shades of Grey;
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=db7389213b434449d2db6fb9a8902bda