Armoured Cars are not going to be added to the base game this time. I think they felt that it was more of a WW1 thing than WW2. That doesn’t mean that you can’t add them into your game though. The rules for them are already in the Expansion sets.

SPA will play like a regular artillery with 2 exceptions; 1. they move 2 spaces and, 2. they can pair with a tank to blitz. Of course they will cost 5 instead of 4 too.

The Gurkhas are mountain infantry that will also have first strike in jungle terrain.

Light Cruiser A-5, D-5, M-3, C-10
Heavy cruiser A-6, D-6, M-3, C-12
Battlecruiser A-7, D-7, M-3, C-14

As you can see the there is a slight difference between the 3 sizes of cruisers in terms of attack, defence, and cost. Some players may appreciate the added choice. Some of the nations have less income and can’t afford a cruiser but still want something more powerful than a destroyer. I’m thinking a nation like ANZAC would like to buy a Battlecruiser since they can’t possibly build a capital ship and this would give them a powerful alternative option.

Those are just the cruisers and some of the reasons you might want some choice. You don’t have to add them to your game, you can just use the same units from V-2 and still have a good game.

For the record here is a list of the new units that are being added;
• Tank Destroyers
• Self-Propelled Artillery
• Heavy Battleships
• Heavy Carriers
• Coastal Defence Ships
• Fast Battleships
• Battlecruisers
• Light Cruisers
• FEC Gurkhas
• Seaplanes
• Attack Transports
• French Foreign Legion

Each one does something unique and some are upgrades as opposed to brand new. Again though, it’s up to you to decide which ones you want and which ones you don’t.

I don’t think it makes a difference whether the game is on a strategic level or a smaller scale. There is a difference between a light cruiser and a battlecruiser just like there’s a difference between a tank and artillery. At one end of the scale is Risk, at the other end is Global War. Somewhere in the middle is Axis and Allies. People can choose which one suits their play group and level of commitment in terms of complexity and resources. The only thing that matters is that you have fun.

Yes that’s where they got the idea to simplify it. Why don’t we just use the same rule as in Diplomacy? Done. Now it will be in the base game.

@mrgoatcheese said in Italy Economy:

They don’t get that until at war

That isn’t a quote from the rulebook that was me in my own words. I didn’t put “at war with a major power” because it had already been correctly stated earlier by you in this thread.

This is a quote from the Italy reference sheet;
1936: Italy is already at war with Abyssinia and does not
have to declare war on that country and thus does not trigger
a British /French income increase.

All of the information is there it takes a lot of effort to put it together. I agree with you that it needs to be re-written to make it easier to understand. That’s why I’ve focused my efforts to pointing out where clarifications need to be made. Having said that this rule is pretty easy to decipher. I wish you could just go one place and find the answers that you are looking for, but the reality is you need to check the rulebook and the reference sheets simultaneously a lot for an answer.
I used to think that the A&A 1940 rulebooks were a mess and that it was a pain to have to flip to many sections to find one answer. I was forced to do it over and over again to answer questions for my subscribers and so it got easier and easier to find answers quickly. The sad fact is that it takes a lot of research to learn the rules to these large scale games. Hopefully the next edition of these rules will be better but even if they’re twice as good it will still take an extraordinary amount of research to master the rules. The real trick I have found is to learn where is the most likely place to find each particular rule and if it isn’t there then what’s your second guess. Hint* it isn’t necessarily the most logical place, that’s where the research and repetition comes in. That’s what it takes to find that ONE sentence that states the rule you’re looking for.

You may have overlooked this from page 23 of the rulebook, Chris.

5.1 Reduced Income: A nation at peace has often reduced income when not at war.
Nations start with different income levels based on their historical level of military expenditures.

And then this from the Italian reference card;

War Status. At peace with all nations. Free to declare war.

It shows the Wartime income as 10. They don’t get that until at war.

They’re simplifying the other neutrals so that they will have the same recruitment rules when they are being controlled. So for instance if Germany attacked and conquered one of the Turkish territories then the British take control of the remaining Turks. They would roll at 2 or less since there are 2 remaining Turkish territories and place either an infantry or 2 militia if successful.

Under the current rules it doesn’t say that you can’t do it. However, V-3 rules have a separate reference card for Free France which states that Free France cannot research Technology.
That’s not the only change. It says that FF can place units at any Allied factory and that FF can invade Vichy territories.

@Martin-Schaffer The V-3 rules are better written and more specific than the current rules. I believe that the person who wrote the current version thought it was implicit that you couldn’t place units in a territory that you had just captured but they only stated that in the factory location part and not the militia part. A lot of work is being done to fix these ambiguities. The intent was that you couldn’t place them on the same turn though.

That’s where having a competent Japanese player comes in. With the amount of ships they have it’s pretty easy to blockade lend lease getting through to China. They might not bother if it’s just a bit but if you’re sending planes then the port(s) will be blockaded. The other problem with that is the other countries need money for their own purposes too. The US only starts with 10 IPP, the Russian’s 8, and UK has a little more between the 3 nations but also has a greater need all over the map.
It’s surprisingly easy to take out the Russians by the Germans. Considering they aren’t even on the same team as the KMT good luck getting every single penny they make. The game is much more interesting when you have more than 2 players because then it truly becomes a 3 sided game. Having just 2 players is probably the only way you can get the Russians to sacrifice themselves for the KMT. That’s not really a winning strategy though because Russia is worth a lot more money than China. The Axis will be unbeatable.
Interesting thought though. Let me know how it turns out for you.

The answer you’re looking for is right there on the China KMT reference sheet;
https://www.historicalboardgaming.com/assets/images/HBG Games/Global Games/1936/Rules/1936 Ref Card CHINA KMT v14.pdf
I can’t even imagine how lousy of a Japanese player you will have to recruit to allow you to accomplish that, haha. There is a time limit to the game so there just isn’t enough time to conquer all of the territories, build a major factory, and then become a beast. Assuming that the Japanese player is at least 6 years old, I predict that it will never happen.

Realistically though, the only chance you have of getting any victory points is;
Lend Lease from your Allies
Good dice
Poor Japanese play or Japan finding an alternative objective than China
You don’t engage in a civil war with the CCP until near the end of the game if Japan is not a threat.