Posts made by BlueIguana

Yes, you can.  If neither the transport nor the units have moved previously, the can be loaded, transported and unloaded on non combat.  However, they cannot move through a canal that you did not control prior to combat.

We played Global 40 today (6 player game) with the following turn order.

Russia non com far east forces
All Axis go except Italy)
All allies go except France
All Axis go
All Allies go
Then switch off from then on. 
All the normal rules applies as to who can can-opener for whom and order of non com etc.

On the plus side, we found that it did not change the game play or balance which we wanted to avoid.  It was also fun from the standpoint of the whole team being “on” together and “off” together.   
On the down side, however, it also did not speed up play much.  Of course, we had a couple of new players, and I think it would might have saved significant time with more experienced player.  So, it is something we might do again, but not because it saved all that much time.

Thanks, that was what I was afraid of.  Will stick with just changing the turn sequence for now.

I am considering trying a Global 40 2nd Edition face to face game with these rules to speed up play and add a touch more historicity.  I am interested in feedback primarily on
1.  How you feel this would impact balance between the two sides and
2.  How it would impact the game experience.  For example, it would eliminate can-opener tactics.  Would that bog the game down in too much stalemate?

Set Up:
The Russian far east forces will start the game moved one territory west if Russia chooses.

Turn Sequence: 
All Axis go (Italy, Germany, Japan) (Italy is skipped round 1)
All Allies go (France, Russia, US, UK/India, Anzac, China).  (France is skipped round 1)
All purchases, combat moves and non combat moves for either side are made simultaneously.

Other Rules:
Axis:  German and Italian units can attack, defend and move together.  However, under no circumstances can land, sea or air units from the European Axis mix with Japanese forces or visa versa, nor can they attack the same territory on the same turn.

Allies:  US, UK (either board) French and Anzac units can attack, defend and move together.  Allied units can share territories with Chinese troops, but cannot attack together.  Otherwise, Russian units cannot enter non Russian land territories controlled by the other allies and cannot participate in joint attacks. 
Allied land and air units that end movement in original Russian territories that contain Russian units become Russian.  If you send it to Russia, it is a gift, just like “lend/lease” was not really a loan.  If you liberate a Russian territory, you are fine, but you will need to move out before Russians move in, or convert to Russian.

All other Global 2nd Edition rules remain in play as written.

That sounds great to me, if Barney is willing.  I will keep trying to figure it out in the meantime.  Thank you.

Hmm… getting an error

“Exception while parsing_Global_40HouseRules_Turn_Order (2).7z not in GZIP format”

What do I do to get around that?

Thanks

Thank you!!  Will see if I can get it to work.  Can’t wait to play around with this.

Thank you Barney.  However, I am afraid that I have no idea what to do even with your description. Not sure what specific file need to be compared to what, for example.  I am afraid that I am not very tech savvy…  :? 

Black Elk,  Yes, if you could just create an option for 2nd Edition 40 with the altered turn order, that would be sufficient for my purposes and would be very much appreciated.

I do understand that falls short of what IL is talking about.  However, it would allow some experimentation around this idea.  I think if you simply skip Italy on the first turn, and let the Japanese player non-com East Asia units prior to start it changes very little on the starting set up and 1st turn outcomes. 
However, it may have a significant impact on balance in at least one respect.  Italy could no longer can opener for Germany.  It would have to be the other way around.  That could definitely make it much easier for the Russians to slow the onslaught a bit.

Not sure who to direct this to…

Is there any way to change the order of the countries on triple A so as to have Germany, Japan and Italy turns come first and then the allies in sequence?  I would like to experiment with something like what IL is talking about.  Thanks.

I don’t think conquering China first is much of a hindrance for Japan under the OOB rules.  They simply mop them up on the way to the Russian border.  That is why I am proposing beefing up China to make it much more of a headache.

Great thread.  I have been doing some brain storming in this area as well.  How to keep Japan off Russia’s back and encourage more action in the Pacific?  There are two proposals I am toying with either alone or together.

1)  Turn order.  USA goes First.  However, I am thinking of maybe just a production and placement round only.  No movement.  Beefs USA up to make a difference earlier w/out changing opening battles (except SZ 11).  Might also add China to this… not sure.

2)  China production rules.  At the end of China’s turn, China spams 1 infantry in each Chinese Territory (including the ones that start “occupied” (Manchuria, Kiangsu, Kwantung) as follows:  If there are no Japanese units, automatic.  If there are any Japanese units, roll one die.  If the result is higher that the number of Japanese units, place one Chinese Infantry.
If in an occupied space, on Japan’s turn, they must attack or retreat.  Finally, US can always rebuild the flying Tigers for 10 IPC’s if there is any Chinese controlled territory at the end of the US/China turn.

Historically, there were a million or more Japanese troops tied down in China during the war.    With this rule, the China front never quite goes away unless Japan wants to keep 42 units there, they will have to keep dealing with China.

I think this would make attacking Russia, much less tenable without any iron prohibition.  Thoughts?

Got it.  Thanks.

Thanks Capt.

Is the US allowed to do this as well,or only UK and Anzac?

Can the allies build an air or naval base on Dutch or French territories that have never been occupied by the axis?  The rules appear to imply that the answer is no, but I want to make sure.

Thanks

Hi folks,

I have been away from global for a while.  In spite of Alpha 3.whatever, from what I have been reading, it sounds as if the Allies still don’t really have much of a chance if Germany and Japan are played well. (Russia is dead before the US can generally make any difference) Is that what is emerging, or is it too soon to tell?

Interesting idea…

How about if the home guard only appear on the turn that London is invaded? 
In other words, UK gets 3-5 home guard troops (regular infantry) to place immediately prior to combat on the first turn London is attacked.  That would help balance the Sea Lion issue while still allowing UK to do something on the first couple of turns in Africa.

Questions for IL or anyone else playing with an All Axis, All Allied turn sequence.

1.  How has that worked out with this version so far?

2.  In the regular turn sequence UK goes before Italy.  In the modified sequence Italy plays first at the same time as Germany and Japan.  How does that affect the Med balance.  Do you place any restrictions on what Italy can do round 1?

3.  I am assuming there are no joint attacks allowed.  However, do you allow a team mate non com into territories that another power has just conquered?  Why or why not.

Thanks.

PS: I know this will end up in the house rules grave yard.  I just wanted to try to get an answer before it does.

@chompers:

I’m finding heavy Jap spending on navy from turn 1 onwards is doing a great job of forcing the US to spend most if not all of its points in the Pacific in order to maintain naval parity.  This puts the US in a dicey situation as if it tries to put anything significant into the Atlantic the Jap navy gets the upper hand in the Pacific and proceeds to go about laying waste to the US economy.  A newly strengthened Germany makes great use of this stalling tactic by going ahead and wiping the floor with Russia while Italy takes and holds Cairo.  Tough game for the Allies to win IMHO, but man it’s a heck of a lot more fun to play than OOB or original Alpha.

Chompers,

What type of naval builds are you using?  Please describe. 
Are you still buying transports too, or strictly warships.  How are you managing to take the money islands and keep UK Pacific from growing while engaged in the stand off with the U.S?

Thanks.

MaherC,

Thanks.  Yes, I wasn’t thinking it through. (and thanks for not adding… “duh!”).

How about question 1.  I am assuming the victory condition change is on top of the alpha set up change.  Is that correct?

Questions:

1.  Is this solution on top of the Alpha set up changes for pacific?

2. Are Global victory conditions unchanged?  You still need 14, unless either of the theater specific thresholds are reached?

Thanks

I posted the after action report elsewhere, however, in our one global game to date, we played with the Alpha set up.

The group consensus was that the advantage is clearly with the Allies.  I think the Pacific theater is fine, but the European theater needs some work to make it a bit more even.

That was just one game, but those were our impressions.

This is an after action report for a Global 40 Game we played last Saturday.
We started around 1pm and had to end around 8.

We had 7 players, 4 allies and 3 axis, and although experienced levels were different between the players, all of us have at least played some form of AA within the last year. We setup with the latest Larry Harris “Alpha” setup and rules for Global, as of Sept 10.

Germany opened with an attack on the British fleet in the North Atlantic, sinking most of the ships around Britain and the French Cruiser and Destroyer in the Med. They took losses of a few subs and 1 or 2 planes. They also moved into pro-Axis Finland. As expected, Germany attacked France and took Paris. Germany built a minor IC in Romania and a few Subs.

The Russian player bought a mixed buy and maneuvered his forces away from the Germany front and towards his main 3 cities, while consolidating Siberian troops together near the Manchurian border.

In the Pacific, Japan maneuvered into a position near the Philippines to attack Borneo, Celebes, etc and built more transports, but did not attack UK or USA. Japan did heavily attack China, the beginning of the three turn campaign against China that would take more than half the Chinese territories.

The UK and ANZAC occupied two Dutch islands. UK Europe decided against attacking the Italian fleet, because the Germany player had positioned about 6 airplanes to counter-attack in the Mediterranean and the French ships were no longer there for cover. Instead the UK player finished off a German Battleship and Cruiser off Scotland, and consolidated forces near Gibraltar. They built a transport and ground units for S. Africa.

Italy attacked southern France, took Gibraltar and Jordan. Italy built a transport to replace the one they would lose near Gibraltar.

US did a 50/50 build East/West, a build strategy it continued for all subsequent turns. It evacuated the Philippines and consolidated on the West Coast.

The next two turns (#2 and #3) saw the following happen:

On Turn 2, Germany dropped 3 TT’s in the Black Sea and upgraded the IC to major. (A carrier would follow on turn 3 for protection). From Turn three on, Germany started dropping 6 units per turn into Caucuses with ground units also being built in Romania.
The Russians kept clearing caucuses and were pulling back as Germany pushed the entire border below the baltic.

Egypt was evacuated by the UK, and occupied by Italy, but UK successfully retook Jordan and Gibraltar and was reinforcing the Red Sea with ships from S. Africa and India. Italy’s advance was stalled.
UK Europe did minor landings in Normandy and Norway which were rebuffed, and traded Gibraltar with the Italians, while doing mixed builds in South Africa and Britain. Britain counter attacked from Burma into Yunnan to reopen the road for China. China had a large stack in the interior, but was reeling from steady Japanese pressure.

Japan attacked the USA/UK/ANZAC in turn 3.
Russia attacked Japan in turn 3, taking Manchuria and Korea which had been abandoned by Japan the turn eariler.

Turn 4 was our final turn, after 6 hours of game play.
During this turn some interesting things happened:

Germany maneuvered into a position where, had there been a turn 5, Stalingrad would have likely fallen.
They had more units in the south than the Russians at that point.
However, the German advance was in question due to increasing pressure to the West.
UK retook Egypt, and Italy’s counter attack (barely) failed. With the US at Gibraltar sinking most of the Italian’s remaining fleet and Italian ground forces decimated, Rome was in peril. Britain landed in Normandy again, this time reinforced by Americans.

Japan’s offensive took off. Yunnan was wiped of British troops with favorable dice as Malaysia and all of the DEI was in Japanese hands. UK Pacific was down to 3 territories and 6 IPC’s. Calcutta would be in jeopardy in coming turns, if Japan could deliver enough ground troops. Japan was were now earning about 69 IPC’s. 9 of those IPC’s were from Russia. A Japanese counter attack retook Korea, invaded the Far East above Manchuria and pushed into the interior through central China. Few units were involved, but they were eating into Russian IPC’s. Russia still held Manchuria, but was now surrounded there.

Anzac had ample ground forces, but only a small fleet. However, they did move into the Caroline Islands with a transport and couple of infantry on turn 4, setting up a possible US staging area. They had taken part of the DEI early on, but were kicked out with the Japanese offensive.

An American fleet in the Pacific had formed around Wake. With the Aussie base in Caroline Islands, a Japanese response of some type would soon be required.

Afterthoughts:

Japan player felt number of fighters was impressive but also frustrating, complains of lack of infantry and/or transports at the start of the game. Still Japan finished turn 4 with income near 70 IPC’s.

The German player discovered that despite extremely aggressive strategy against Russia, and daring Black Sea fleet strategy, it was difficult to take even one Russian city, much less all three.

USA seemed to have tons of IPC, for better or for worse, and when it arrived in force, was a dominant power. Frequent landings in Europe are likely from turn 5 on with USA help.

Italy blossomed without losing its fleet turn 1, taking at least one National Objective each turn, sometimes two. But when confronted with UK/USA attacks, Italy’s fortunes were rapidly reversed.

New rules: tactical bombers, IPC rules, and land/sea bases seemed ok.

House rules: because we heard complaints of the USA/Norway large-factory strategy, we ruled that players could not build factories in captured territories. Large-factories, when captured, would be reduced to small-factories, but usable to the occupying power. Small-factories would be destroyed.

Overall game seemed biased towards Allies. A lot could have still happened. However, it seemed unlikely the the Axis would get to even 12 VC’s. They were already being rolled back in Africa and Italy was threatened.

@oztea:

Axis has won all my global games so far.

Russia simply can not hold in my gaming group, No player has even tried Sea Lion.

Russia is usually dead before turn 8

Oztea,

Please elaborate.  What is Germany doing such that Russia dies by turn 8, but you are still holding strong in France, Norway, and the Med.  Thanks.

Definitely.  This is an outstanding platform and a big step forward.  Yes, there are issues in terms of balance or time to play, but nothing that cannot be addressed with some tweaking or house rules as needed.  I love the new board and some of the new combined arms features!