I’d actually discussed this in the below thread way back in 2015 haha.

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@mrgoatcheese

Interesting though. I’ve long thought about similar rules for minor nations. Have a sliding scale of who would join what alliance. It’s not unlike HBG’s expansion rule for diplomacy, I’ve just thought about this for a couple years haha.

Yeah, have a scale, say 1-20. Strict neutrals start in the middle, others who may favor one side or the other start closer to who they favor (Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary closer to the Axis at 20; Netherlands, Greece, etc. closer to the Allies at 0). Different factors cause nations to slide one way or the other. Money lent, other neutrals being attacked, etc.

What I thought would be fun was to do similar to what you’re discussing. Have one of the ways they slide be major battles. Let’s say Romania has joined the Axis. They can still slide back to neutral status if things go wrong. If the Romanian’s lose more than 8 units in a single battle, for example, that might be bad for morale on the home front, so they slide down one towards the neutral scale. Maybe the USSR gets closer to their border, it would slide down again, etc.

Interesting, you say all units will cost the same in V3? I kind of liked that some countries had advantages over others in different costs.

@GeneralHandGrenade very good point. Hadn’t considered it would negate the bonus Germany gets that first turn at war. Very interesting. Something more to think about for future games! I appreciate you clarifying that whole thing for me.

@GeneralHandGrenade Thanks again! Yeah, that’s a good point that it’s listed that way for the Axis powers too. Didn’t think about it from their point of view. I had definitely been playing the USSR wrong. In hindsight, I don’t know how often it would matter. The USSR would have to see quite the opportunity to attack the Axis early and risk not having their income jump up to wartime levels immediately by starting the war themselves. But, you never know in this game!

@Dran-Black interesting, thanks for sharing! I’ve read from a number of people how they don’t find Airborne units to be worth buying, so I got the impression something like this maybe wasn’t done a ton. But I think they definitely have their uses, namely in situations like the above. I think that’s a huge advantage to try and get around coastal guns. Obviously meant for weaker targets, but I still think useful.

Thanks GHG.

That’s what I thought for questions 1, 2, and 5. Thanks for confirming.

Interesting for number 3! Another thing I hadn’t even considered until the question was asked. I’ll need to let him know that when we reconvene.

And thanks for the clarification on number 4. I don’t understand why they’d even bother writing USSR’s production as “Wartime Economy” if that’s not what it is. Seems misleading to me. I get it says differently elsewhere, but when the rules state a default rule, you’d think there would be no room for error in interpretation of deviation of those rules. There is no wartime economy in the same way as the Allies have. So that’s good to know moving forward too!

Hey all. Sorry to put all in one topic here, I figured I wouldn’t spam the wall with multiple topics. Had a couple questions based on our current game.

1. Scrambled Fighters: When fighters are sent to assist a naval battle via their scramble ability, they have to stay in the fight for the duration of the battle, and do not have the choice to retreat, correct? My brother was insistent that he should be allowed to retreat his scrambled fighters. Even worse, he thought he could make a defensive role with said fighter, and then be allowed to retreat. I don’t think he’s allowed to do either of those, but hoping someone could confirm.

2. Argentina Activation: In our game, I was lucky to roll a 1 and activate Argentina as the Germans! I was shocked I did so. It’s late in the game, and the US is already at war/at full production. The alignment table in the rules at table 4-6 says “Increase US income by D12 if successful.”. Does this happen even though the US is already at full production? My assumption was that this should be in reference to only if they still need to get to war-time production. But it doesn’t technically say so in the rules. Thoughts?

3. Vichy France as a Neutral: The rules state the Allies can attack minor neutrals, but have to pay 10 IPP’s to the bank to do so. The US reference sheet, under the can US declare war on section, has an area for Vichy France that reads “Vichy France: Yes, if USA is at war with Germany.” I’ve took this to mean that yes, they can attack Vichy France, but would still have to pay the 10 IPP’s to the bank to do so. My brother insists that since it has it’s own category outside of the specifications for attacking Neutrals that it doesn’t apply. The rulebook states that Vichy France is a Neutral country. What’s the thought here? Does the US have to pay 10 IPP’s to attack Vichy or not?

4. Sleeping Bear/USSR ability to declare war: Couple parts to this one here. First, the “Can USSR Declare War on” section of their reference card says that they can declare war on any Neutral and the Axis and Aligned Minors “Yes (January 1939 or later).” I’ve took this to imply that they could do so, but only after reaching their wartime economy. Is that not the case? Can they declare war at any time starting in January 1939, regardless of their income status? That brings me to the “Sleeping Bear” rule too, which states: Starting July 1939 the USSR’s income increases gradually. The USSR player rolls a D12 each Collect Income Phase and adds that much to his income until reaching his Wartime income. If another nation initiates war with the USSR the USSR’s income automatically increases to its full Wartime income. If the USSR initiates the war its income does not increase." How could the USSR initiate war if they are not allowed to until reaching their wartime economy? Have I just missed something? Are the USSR able to declare war on any non-Allied nation beginning 1939 regardless of their income status? That would seem a bit odd to me, but curious. I understand that their economy would not jump to wartime income right away if this is the case, and would still be subject to the D12 roll until reaching it.

5. Amphibious Assault: I’m feeling dumb for this one. For an amphibious assault, do the double-casualties take place after the first round as well, or is that only for the first round of the assault, and all subsequent rounds are normal casualties?

I’m not so sure I have one that’s “core to” my ability to succeed just yet. Part of that being I haven’t played enough separate times to develop that just yet. I still haven’t been the Comintern, for example.

But in my game currently going, I did try something that was rather successful that helped jump start me.

I’m the Germans, and the turn I used my Lighting War ability, I took the opportunity to invade Norway. What I did was I build two airborne infantry and dropped them on Oslo to fight the single militia there. I took it, and then was able to take Narvik unopposed the for the second impulse of the Lighting War ability.

Point being, I was able to take all Norway in a single turn, and didn’t have to risk any of my naval units against Oslo’s shore gun in doing so. Was perhaps a bit risky to potentially waste two airborne against a single militia unit, but it worked out. I would certainly attempt again, if for no other reason than to ensure my limited naval capacity doesn’t get damaged by a small minor power.

Thanks again GHG! Yeah, I was thinking that was right too. It was just shocking because I had never really considered the option of choosing a plane over an infantry.

I’d snuck in and took an undefended Hawaii, so he wanted it back asap, but hadn’t been building land forces in the Western USA yet, so only had one infantry as an option.

Glad to hear you affirm my thoughts there!

Thanks GHG! Good to know I was wrong there. I took it to mean that they weren’t eligible, but that did seem unfair to the defending player.