Greeting fellow A&A players. 1914 is a great game and is a fun to play out of the box. However, it feels like it could be better than what it is. So I composed a major set of house rules and changes to add a greater depth. This is my revised version of Axis and Allies 1914

Disclaimer: The rules and changes are ones either I discovered here in the forums or I did create. However, I do not take full credit for any of these changes or rules. Also I have not really play tested to an extent to see if it is balanced and that also means this is not 100% complete. You may also need to have outside(of the game) sources to play some of these rules (I will get to that later).

Revised Rules

Board Changes:
(quick note: this is where you may need to use some pieces from other games)

• Switzerland is an impassable territory
• Belgium and Belgian Congo is allied with Great Britain
• Round 1 Portugal and its colonies, Arabia, Romania and Bulgaria are neutral, until  round 2, where they go back to be allied with whoever they were on the board
• Albania’s value is now 1 and is neutral
• Serbia’s value is now 3
• Greece becomes allied with Great Britain on round 3

Setup Changes:

• Munich’s setup pieces are switched with Ruhr’s
• One infantry is removed from Somaliland, Togoland and French West Africa
• Add three infantry to Livonia and Sevastopol
• Remove the battleship and one transport from sea zone 16
• Smyrna’s setup pieces are switched with Trans-Jordan’s
• Ankara’s setup pieces are switched with Mesopotamia’s
• Add one fighter to London, Moscow and Vienna
• Add one British cruiser to sea zone 9

Unit Changes:

• Fighters cost 5 ipcs
• Submarines cost 5 ipcs
• Cruisers cost 7 ipcs
• Land units (except fighters) can move two spaces in their nation’s original territories (but no in colonies). However, they can only move one space in friendly/contested/conquered territories
• Starting Serbian units have a defense of 4
• Naval units starting on friendly seaport can move three spaces

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
Sea zones that are adjacent to the British isles (3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9) are convoy zones. If Germany has submarines in any of the convoy zones, then Great Britain on their collect income phase will lose 3 ipcs per submarine (example if Germany has two subs in sea zone 8 and one sub in sea zone 4, then Great Britain will lose 9 ipcs). If Germany sinks 15 ipcs in the convoy zones before round 4 then America will immediately join the Entente. (This part is for technology which is optional and will later be explained) If Great Britain has researched the technology Convoy System, it will decrease the ipc lost by 1. If Germany has researched the technology Advanced Submarines, it will increase the ipc lost by 1.

Italy Rules
Italy is neutral until round 2, however they may be attacked by any of the Central Powers round 1. While neutral, Italy may not attack/move land units into any territories in doesn’t control. Its naval units can move anywhere however if they move into a sea zone with a Central Power’s naval unit/units or is adjacent seaport is controlled by a Central Power, the Central Power player can choose to attack Italy’s ships with the mines of the naval port and/or with its naval units.

Spanish and Portuguese Colonies
If a player moves their units in a colonial territory controlled by Spain or Portugal, then the player takes control over the territory. However, the neutral country with its other colonies will ally itself with the player’s enemy (example if France moves an infantry into Spanish Morocco, Spain and the Balearic Islands will ally itself with the Central Powers). Then any of the enemy powers can move into that country and mobilize it.

India Rules
In India, Great Britain can only build six units per turn. India can only build one artillery per turn and can’t build tanks, elite infantry or fighters.

Ottoman Empire Rules
The Entente are not at war with the Ottoman Empire till the Ottoman’s turn on round 1. Which means the Entente can’t attack the Ottoman Empire or move into/ through sea zone 20.

Victory Condition
Whoever has the most victory points after 10 (Standard) or 15 (Advanced) turns wins the game. If both sides have equal amount of victory points, then the war comes to a “ceasefire” and nobody wins To gain a victory point do the following:

• Economic Dominance: Whoever has the highest ipc production gains a VP
• Capturing a Capital: If you capture an enemy capital you gain a VP even if it was liberated
• Victory Cities: Whoever has the most victory cities gains a VP.
  Entente VCs: London, Cairo, Bombay, Paris, Verdun (Lorraine), Moscow, Petrograd, Kiev, Rome and Venice
  Central Power’s VCs: Berlin, Colonge (Ruhr), Vienna, Budapest, Constantinople and Baghdad (Mesopotamia)

Technology Rules (optional)
Before the purchase/repair units phase, you can buy a “research chip” for 5 ipcs. Then choose what technology you want to research and roll as many dice you have purchased to see if you “complete” the research for the technology. If you rolled a 4, 5, or 6 with one of the dice you complete the research and gain the technology’s bonus. However, if you roll lower than a 4, 5, or 6 you failed the research. You may only research one technology per turn. Powers that are not at war cannot do research.

Tech Chart
1. Advanced Artillery Tactics: Artillery can now support two units
2. Gas Attack: (Attacker only) Before any combat you will roll one die to see how many defending infantry are ‘disabled’
from the battle (Better explained below)
3. Advanced Railroad System: All land units (except fighters) can move three spaces in its original territories and two
spaces in friendly/conquered territory
4. War Bonds: During the collect income phase you will gain five extra ipcs
5. Advanced Submarines: Submarine’s attack is increased by 1
6. Advanced Fighters: Fighter’s combat is increased by 1 and can move three spaces
7. Gas Masks: (Defenders only) After a gas attack you will roll one die to see how many of your infantry are unaffected by the Gas Attack (Better explained below)
8. Tanks: You can build Tanks. Unit cost 5, attack 3, defense 1, and movement standard
9. Stormtrooper Tactics: You can train Elite infantry. Unit cost 4, attack 3, defense 3, and movement standard
10. Convoy System: Transports cost 5 ipcs and now has a defense of 1

To better explain Gas Attacks and Gas Masks. For Gas Attacks, ‘disabled’ means that the infantry cannot be rolled for, however, they still can be taken as casualties. For Gas Masks, basically during the Gas Attack let say that the attacker rolled a 4 and the defender rolled a 3. This means that only one of the defending infantry are ‘disabled’. Hopefully that explains. If not you can ask questions.

Also what to use for elite infantry models? I use the infantry models from G40 2nd edition (Germany’s for Germany, USSR’s for Russia, UK’s for Great Britain, and etc…) If you do not have G40 2nd edition, I guess you got to be creative by either finding pieces from other games to represent or go to HBG to find some unit models. If those don’t work you can change the rule. Really you can do what best fits for you. The same applies for the map changes.

So what do you think? Questions? Do I need to explain something better? Should more be added or something gotten rid of? Please feel free to share your opinion. I shared this so people can use it or to give them ideas on their own house rules. So if you want to try these ideas, you can and you can change what you want. If you do use these please tell your experience with them and tell what could be improved.

I hope this was useful for you and enjoy!

Since China can easily fall to Japan has anyone tried putting 2 infantry in Sinkiang and a house rule that is every 2 Chinese territory which is Yunnan, Szechwan, Anhwei, Sinkiang, Kwangtung, Kiangsu, and Manchuria, they get 1 free inf and can place it in any chinese territory the allies own. This makes China a little bit more tuff, not enough so that Japan will have a hard time taking it using a lot of it’s resources. It’s to have China fall with a bigger fight. Now if you make China to strong then Japan’s asian grip is very small to do anything, any thoughts or ideas on this?

If someone can make a house rule for Russia and Japan not at war because historically they weren’t at war so ideas on that would be great.

Some questions to clarify.

1.) Are the Aleutian Islands separated from Alaska? Or in other words, can land units move from the Aleutian Islands to Alaska without the use of a transport and vice versa?

2.) When it says “Japan may not end the movement of
its sea units within 2 sea zones of the United States’ mainland territories (Western United States and Alaska)” Does it mean two sea zones away from the mainland US (like sea zones 13, 14, 15, and 7)? Or does it mean two sea zones off of mainland US (like sea zones 1, 2, 8, 9, and 10)? My understanding that it is the latter and not the former.

3.) If Japan attacks the UK and ANZAC and not the US, is the US immediately at war with Japan, or does it only allow for the US to declare war on Japan during its turn? Here is what is said in the rule book, “The United States may not declare war on any Axis power unless an Axis power either declares war on it first or captures London or any territory in North America, or Japan makes an unprovoked declaration of war against the UK or ANZAC, after which it may declare war on any or all Axis powers on its following turn.” My understanding is that it only allows the US to declare war on its turn and not that it is immediately at war with Japan.

4.) If all the Allies (including the USSR and the US) are at war with Germany and Japan is at war with the Pacific Allies, but not with the USSR, could the Allies that landed in original Soviet or Soviet-controlled territories (because both are at war with Germany) attack Japan from them even though Japan and the USSR are not at war?

5.) Neutral Powers may not enter friendly Neutral territories, right? The Soviet Union when not at war with Italy or Germany may not enter any Persian territories?

That is all and thanks!

@bgugs:

Does artillery give +1 attack to elite infantry too? If not they are basically artillery without the ability to have air superiority or support other infantry

Yes, however, would that make them to op?

@Carolina:

Setup change: (in addition to your changes)
Add 1 GE CA in SZ26 (represents German presence in Indian Ocean).
Add 1 GE SS in SZ18.
Add 1 GE CA in SZ20.
Change 1 OE CA to TR in SZ20.
Change 1 RU CA to SS in SZ21.
Add 1 FR SS to SZ16.
Change 1 GE AR to IN in SWA.
Add 1 GE AR to GEA (represents gun ships in lakes).
Add 1 FR IN to BEC - cannot move until turn 4 (represents the Belgian Congo Force Publique).
Move 1 UK CA in SZ29 to SZ19.
Remove 1 UK TR from SZ2.
Add 1 UK SS to SZ8.

Rule change:
Allow loss of load on transport to absorb MINE hits against a transport.

Board change:
Make Finland a minor-aligned territory with Russia (already controlled at start of game).

It seems you are buffing up the Middle East and Africa. I was taking the route of decreasing the importance of Africa since OOB it is a front of small groups of units walking around capturing and recapturing territory with little fighting. But buffing it up could make it more interesting.

Making Finland a minor-aligned with Russia, is that for historical or realistic purposes? I don’t see how much that could affect the game. Good idea but for what purpose?

Greeting fellow A&A players. 1914 is a great game and is a fun to play out of the box. However, it feels like it could be better than what it is. So I composed a major set of house rules and changes to add a greater depth. This is my revised version of Axis and Allies 1914

Disclaimer: The rules and changes are ones either I discovered here in the forums or I did create. However, I do not take full credit for any of these changes or rules. Also I have not really play tested to an extent to see if it is balanced and that also means this is not 100% complete. You may also need to have outside(of the game) sources to play some of these rules (I will get to that later).

Revised Rules

Board Changes:
(quick note: this is where you may need to use some pieces from other games)

• Switzerland is an impassable territory
• Belgium and Belgian Congo is allied with Great Britain
• Round 1 Portugal and its colonies, Arabia, Romania and Bulgaria are neutral, until  round 2, where they go back to be allied with whoever they were on the board
• Albania’s value is now 1 and is neutral
• Serbia’s value is now 3
• Greece becomes allied with Great Britain on round 3

Setup Changes:

• Munich’s setup pieces are switched with Ruhr’s
• One infantry is removed from Somaliland, Togoland and French West Africa
• Add three infantry to Livonia and Sevastopol
• Remove the battleship and one transport from sea zone 16
• Smyrna’s setup pieces are switched with Trans-Jordan’s
• Ankara’s setup pieces are switched with Mesopotamia’s
• Add one fighter to London, Moscow and Vienna
• Add one British cruiser to sea zone 9

Unit Changes:

• Fighters cost 5 ipcs
• Submarines cost 5 ipcs
• Cruisers cost 7 ipcs
• Land units (except fighters) can move two spaces in their nation’s original territories (but no in colonies). However, they can only move one space in friendly/contested/conquered territories
• Starting Serbian units have a defense of 4
• Naval units starting on friendly seaport can move three spaces

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
Sea zones that are adjacent to the British isles (3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9) are convoy zones. If Germany has submarines in any of the convoy zones, then Great Britain on their collect income phase will lose 3 ipcs per submarine (example if Germany has two subs in sea zone 8 and one sub in sea zone 4, then Great Britain will lose 9 ipcs). If Germany sinks 15 ipcs in the convoy zones before round 4 then America will immediately join the Entente. (This part is for technology which is optional and will later be explained) If Great Britain has researched the technology Convoy System, it will decrease the ipc lost by 1. If Germany has researched the technology Advanced Submarines, it will increase the ipc lost by 1.

Italy Rules
Italy is neutral until round 2, however they may be attacked by any of the Central Powers round 1. While neutral, Italy may not attack/move land units into any territories in doesn’t control. Its naval units can move anywhere however if they move into a sea zone with a Central Power’s naval unit/units or is adjacent seaport is controlled by a Central Power, the Central Power player can choose to attack Italy’s ships with the mines of the naval port and/or with its naval units.

Spanish and Portuguese Colonies
If a player moves their units in a colonial territory controlled by Spain or Portugal, then the player takes control over the territory. However, the neutral country with its other colonies will ally itself with the player’s enemy (example if France moves an infantry into Spanish Morocco, Spain and the Balearic Islands will ally itself with the Central Powers). Then any of the enemy powers can move into that country and mobilize it.

India Rules
In India, Great Britain can only build six units per turn. India can only build one artillery per turn and can’t build tanks, elite infantry or fighters.

Ottoman Empire Rules
The Entente are not at war with the Ottoman Empire till the Ottoman’s turn on round 1. Which means the Entente can’t attack the Ottoman Empire or move into/ through sea zone 20.

Victory Condition
Whoever has the most victory points after 10 (Standard) or 15 (Advanced) turns wins the game. If both sides have equal amount of victory points, then the war comes to a “ceasefire” and nobody wins To gain a victory point do the following:

• Economic Dominance: Whoever has the highest ipc production gains a VP
• Capturing a Capital: If you capture an enemy capital you gain a VP even if it was liberated
• Victory Cities: Whoever has the most victory cities gains a VP.
  Entente VCs: London, Cairo, Bombay, Paris, Verdun (Lorraine), Moscow, Petrograd, Kiev, Rome and Venice
  Central Power’s VCs: Berlin, Colonge (Ruhr), Vienna, Budapest, Constantinople and Baghdad (Mesopotamia)

Technology Rules (optional)
Before the purchase/repair units phase, you can buy a “research chip” for 5 ipcs. Then choose what technology you want to research and roll as many dice you have purchased to see if you “complete” the research for the technology. If you rolled a 4, 5, or 6 with one of the dice you complete the research and gain the technology’s bonus. However, if you roll lower than a 4, 5, or 6 you failed the research. You may only research one technology per turn. Powers that are not at war cannot do research.

Tech Chart
1. Advanced Artillery Tactics: Artillery can now support two units
2. Gas Attack: (Attacker only) Before any combat you will roll one die to see how many defending infantry are ‘disabled’
from the battle (Better explained below)
3. Advanced Railroad System: All land units (except fighters) can move three spaces in its original territories and two
spaces in friendly/conquered territory
4. War Bonds: During the collect income phase you will gain five extra ipcs
5. Advanced Submarines: Submarine’s attack is increased by 1
6. Advanced Fighters: Fighter’s combat is increased by 1 and can move three spaces
7. Gas Masks: (Defenders only) After a gas attack you will roll one die to see how many of your infantry are unaffected by the Gas Attack (Better explained below)
8. Tanks: You can build Tanks. Unit cost 5, attack 3, defense 1, and movement standard
9. Stormtrooper Tactics: You can train Elite infantry. Unit cost 4, attack 3, defense 3, and movement standard
10. Convoy System: Transports cost 5 ipcs and now has a defense of 1

To better explain Gas Attacks and Gas Masks. For Gas Attacks, ‘disabled’ means that the infantry cannot be rolled for, however, they still can be taken as casualties. For Gas Masks, basically during the Gas Attack let say that the attacker rolled a 4 and the defender rolled a 3. This means that only one of the defending infantry are ‘disabled’. Hopefully that explains. If not you can ask questions.

Also what to use for elite infantry models? I use the infantry models from G40 2nd edition (Germany’s for Germany, USSR’s for Russia, UK’s for Great Britain, and etc…) If you do not have G40 2nd edition, I guess you got to be creative by either finding pieces from other games to represent or go to HBG to find some unit models. If those don’t work you can change the rule. Really you can do what best fits for you. The same applies for the map changes.

So what do you think? Questions? Do I need to explain something better? Should more be added or something gotten rid of? Please feel free to share your opinion. I shared this so people can use it or to give them ideas on their own house rules. So if you want to try these ideas, you can and you can change what you want. If you do use these please tell your experience with them and tell what could be improved.

I hope this was useful for you and enjoy!

Okay so when Germany declared war on me the units in Eastern Poland attacked my one inf there. If this move is legal, I wonder if there could be an interesting strategy where Italy takes Soviet territory and Germany moves their units in the occupied territories (Just a interesting thought).

@Caesar:

If you attack a territory that is occupied by any possible enemy, you should of been at war before you could legally attacked because in order to take it, you would have to remove anyone else on it.

Funny thing is that I was allowed to attack it.

I was playing some G42 on Triplea and something weird happen. I was playing the USSR and everybody else was AI. I declared war on Italy (I think it was turn three) and Germany hasn’t declared war on me. Italy attacked Eastern Poland and occupied it (because I only had one inf there). On Germany’s turn they moved a chunk of their force in Eastern Poland (remember Germany and I are not at war) and on my turn I attacked the territory with a couple inf and my air force and was victorious taking it. However, the German forces stayed there and now it’s been several turns later and Germany and I are still are not at war and the German forces are still there.

So my questions are in a real game (aka on an actual board) are the German forces in Eastern Poland allowed to stay there even though now I own the territory, can they move out, and what happens if either me or Germany declares war on each other? I haven’t gotten to the point where either me or Germany has declare war on each other and will tell you what happens when war is declared. If this is legal, I’m a bit puzzled why there can be 30ish German units in a neutral territory. Thanks.

I need to try out this one round of air combat rule. Some people say it’s better and it greatly increases fighter purchases. My problem is if fighters are cheaper and the demand of fighters goes up (since of the rule) that people will invest a lot in fighters and not as much in infantry or artillery.

I usually buy a lot of infantry. You start with a ton, however you lose a lot during battles and I find it’s better replace them than buy more artillery early. I only start building more artillery once I have enough infantry to sustain causalities. So my usual buys either all infantry or mostly infantry and one or two artillery.

If on the first round of combat both the destroyer and sub roll a hit then both of them are sunk and the transport lives. However unless the sub rolls a hit and the destroyer misses then both the destroyer and the transport are sunk and the sub lives. If the sub misses and the destroyer rolls a hit then only the sub is sunk. I hope that clarifies you question.

WOW! I can’t believe I have been playing this rule wrong!

However, on a historical point of view I agree with Ichabod here why the move shouldn’t be legal. Does it make sense why Japan can put a fleet of aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, subs and transports filled with tens maybe hundreds of thousands of troops, to park right next to a naval base of a country (including part of the country’s fleet) that is the cause of why Japan is running out of oil and that naval base is right in range of the country’s mainland?! Do you think the English would let the Spanish armada park in a English port even though they were at the verge of war (not saying US and Japan was)? You guys can use wikipedia all you want to prove why it this is historically legal. I’m not trying to prove that it isn’t a legal move in the game, because the person who created the rule says it is legal.

Game wise, I fine with it. I mean Ichabod says he didn’t approach the situation correctly and Karl7 proves that the chances of this strategy (kill US first) working is little to none. However, I’m glad this is rule was clarified.