I had an idea of adding the following rule to represent Lend Lease:
“During the collect income phase, a player can remove from the board a transport belonging to an allied power that is located in a Sea region bordering one of its territories, if the fellow player agrees to. The player then proceeds to receive the value of the transport as income”
Pros: It would make the Atlantic more “alive” with transports flowing to USSR, or even England, Uboots chasing them or blocking routes and the allies using destroyers to escort/hunt. I guess this would be only used if things are getting desperate early on with the USSR. Maybe it will make the Suez even more vital as then Germany/Japan might dare make an attempt to send aid to the other in the cases that one of the two is doing well while the other is crumbling.
Cons: It may destabilize the game’s economy as it is not playtested. It could give an unfair advantage to the allies. Maybe even the shift of focus from warring to micromanaging convoys could hurt the general feel of the game and slow it down.
I am thinking that Germany and Italy should be an exception to this, but then Lend Lease between them would usually require the transport to traverse from the Baltic Sea to Med. On the other hand it might be silly to think that two powers that share land borders need to “ship” aid via dangerous sea routes.
Regarding Straits:
The Dardanelles are closed. I’ve seen many posts addressing that, and I know it is a non issue if we use this variant.
But what if I would add that the Baltic Sea is open to whoever controls N Europe
Or maybe Norway…or maybe both N Europe AND Norway?
And the Mediterranean-Atlantic is open to whoever controls Gibraltar.
What of the above would not destabilize the game?