Best posts made by Nippon-koku

@MasterMark26 If you have the time and inclination, Dan Carlin’s breakdown of WWI is incredible. It was a large part of the motivation for making this

Fellow board member Ike and myself play on a pretty regular basis and recently dabbled in the J1 DOW strategy to see if there was any way to combat it.  On a second try as the allies I was able to do just that and figured I’d share the story.

Let me preface by saying that I don’t see this necessarily being the “definitive” counter to J1 DOW but it worked this one time so I wanted to put it out there and see what you guys thought, how it could be improved or if it sucks and I just got really lucky.

First, here’s the general idea of what I did: went all out in the East and raced to take out Germany, while doing just enough in the Pacific to delay Japan as long as possible.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

G1 was pretty standard (something like a sub, bomber and a couple units); took out most of the UK fleet, Paris, etc.  UK rolled below average so they were off to the races.

R1 was also standard; 9 inf and a fighter, bunched up the Eastern troops in Buryatia, started to consolidate.

J1 DOW has been detailed beautifully by Cow, everyone knows it.

So once America got rolling here is what I did (unfortunately I didn’t take notes or anything during the game, so I’ll just have to speak in general terms and it’s possible I’m not recalling every detailing exactly right.  Also, rather than go turn by turn I’m going to give the breakdown of how I handled each Allied Power).

Bought a carrier, DD and four transports.  Activated Brazil, sent my WUS transport and carrier with planes to SZ 89, sent my bomber to London and in the Pacific I put my fleet together in Hawaii.  I placed all my units in the EUS waters, complete with a couple of fighters on the carrier.

So at the start of US2 I’m now able to send 6 loaded transports over to Gibraltar (dropped some in Morocco to ensure Germany had no place to land it’s fighters and tacs in Western Germany), along with 2 loaded carriers, a cruiser and a DD.  Thanks to some help I received from the UK (including an air base in Gibraltar) I was well protected.  I spent most of my money on some more loaded transports, a bomber and a couple of ships in WUS

US3 buy was pretty much the same as the US2 buy.  I wanted to build a massive force in the East so that I could have Norway on lock as early as possible.  Germany has a lot of units and can make money quickly, but they can’t fend off USSR, UK and an at war America spending all its money in the East (at least not that early into the game and with America able to get to Europe so quickly given the J1 DOW).

I successfully took Norway, while bringing another 8 or so units to Gibraltar, and from there on out was able to squeeze Germany.  The next few turns included a complex in Norway, capturing Western Germany, bombing raiders of Berlin, reinforcement by the UK and heavy spending in the Pacific to hold off Japan’s 6VC bid.  The game is currently at G6 and, although Moscow has fallen (I will get to that shortly) it was done at the cost of leaving Berlin open to invasion.  USSR will take back its capital and the US or UK will take Berlin and hold it.

What I’ve been doing in the Pacific this whole time is obviously aiding Anzac and using transports to chip away at islands and taking out any ships I can with the two nations.  India fell on turn 3 (still trying to figure out how I can hold onto India for another turn or two).

London ignored the Taranto raid (which I think was a mistake).  Their main focus was building up navy, air force and getting an air base in Gibraltar all to support the US effort.  Early naval building (made more difficult by the fact that they had some awful rolling against Germany turn 1) was done out of Quebec and eventually I was able to build up enough that Germany couldn’t wipe everything out with its planes, at which point I was able to just shuttle units into Europe (no new info there).

The one other thing I did with them was back the Med fleet out and use it to harass Japan a bit.  I completely left Italy alone this game.

USSR was played aggressively.  Knowing that I wanted to gang up hardcore on Germany I beefed up Leningrad (as opposed to my usual retreat) and attacked Germany where I could.  This thinned me out but of course meant Germany had to reinforce the front lines.  Had I not missed a blocking move I actually would’ve held onto Moscow.  Since you have to crush Germany as early as possible for this plan to work it’s important to be aggressive as the USSR.  Sitting back and holding out isn’t going to do you all that much good if Japan wins the game on the other end.

On RUS2 I moved all my far east units into Amur and pressured the Japanese.  Looking back on it, and after reading some board strategies, I believe moving into Amur turn one would mean Japan would have to think a lot harder before a J1 attack.  I marched them down and tried to work as best I could with the Chinese.  They at least made life a little tougher for Japan.

Not much to review with Anzac.  Stack units, try to steal an island or two and make life hard on Japan if possible.

On the Axis side we’ve already covered Germany.  They aggressively pursued Russia and couldn’t handle taking them out while also competing with the UK and an all out US surge, especially Gibraltar already having a fleet, loaded transports and an airbase with scramblers by turn 2.

Japan carried its plan out well, it just couldn’t win the game fast enough.  Between Russia advancing its troops, the Med fleet causing them some headaches, China playing a decent game (in all fairness China did get some favorable rolling early on but I’d argue this was a break even for the horrible UK rolling during Germany’s initial attack).  The one black mark I could give Japan was that it left a mini fleet open to attack by US and Anzac.  US hit it first and while it was a coin flip battle, the allies had the advantage because they could hit with the US, retreat with minimal losses, then Anzac was able to come in with a few ships and five or six fighters and clear out Japan easily.

Italy was beastly, no doubt.  They controlled most of Africa and were marching into the ME, while acting as a can opener for Germany.  But it was still too little too late and I believe that would’ve been negated by London hitting them hard round 1 (and then still ignoring them the rest of the way).

Again, I’m not claiming this to be a definitive counter.  The Axis made a few tactical errors and I’m confident if (and when) we play again Ike will have something to fire back with.  But that being said the Allies certainly didn’t play it perfectly either and, with some fine tuning, there may be some meat on the bone.

Questions, comments, thoughts?  I’d like to try this again in the near future and see if it sticks.

Let me be clear from the get-go: this version adds a LOT of pieces and rules to the game. If you’re the type that loves lots of pieces on the board, and a bunch of fun but unnecessary details, this is for you. If not, believe me, I get it.

My thought process: the OOB version is incredibly unbalanced (obviously).  We've used some house rules to even it out a bit, but at the end of the day there was still one problem.  The game played out the exact same way every time: Germany and Austria would go for Russia and try to get them out of the game as fast as possible.  Germany uses its fleet to wipe out the UK fleet, forcing them to rebuild, but for the rest of the game the Allies dominate the waters.  While that's happening, France builds up and advances, with UK dropping units to help.  The US buys enough transports to support a purchase of 4 inf and 2 art every turn, repeat.  I know there are other options, but, other than a full rush into Italy (which is pretty much undefendable) this is how 95% of our games played out (and my wife loves the 1914 version, so it was played often in my house).

On a slow day at work I decided to take a crack at making my own version of the game.  I wanted to incorporate some actual WWI related stuff (kind of like how the Oztea 1941 Global version sets up Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor).  Things like the Gallipoli Raid, a more realistic version of the attack on Sarajevo, and Jutland.  

Then I started diving further in; what about forts? Or resources? Iron, coal, oil, etc. How about food shortages? How about the fact that the Brits didn’t really want to enter the war, but told Germany “Hey look, if you attack Belgium we’re coming for you?” Where are the Zepplins? Why isn’t Russia heavily mobilized on the borders of Germany and AH? Where are the Bolsheviks? Shouldn’t Germany be stronger, and AH and the Ottomans be weaker? AH got wrecked right out of the gate, and the Ottomans were coming off the Balkan wars. Why aren’t German subs superior to Allied subs?
I could ramble on, but you get the point. Based on all these ideas, I wrote up a rough draft modification, and went about fine tuning it. I played tested a bunch of times, made modifications based on those tests, and here’s what I came up with.
Two notes:

1. As far as I can tell from multiple tests, this is even
2. I’m WIDE OPEN to suggestions

Here goes:

Turn Order – Germany, France, UK, Austria-Hungary, USSR, Ottoman Empire, Italy, USA

Resources, forts, and their effects:

• Oil Barrel – One ship per barrel can be produced at half cost (one exception, noted below)
• Grain/Corn – One inf per grain/corn can be placed in your capital at the end of your turn
• Cow/Pig – Two inf per cow/pig can be placed in your capital at the end of your turn
• Coal – One artillery per coal can be purchased at half price
• Iron Ore – One tank per iron ore can be purchased at half price (tanks available starting in round 2)
• Silver – One IPC bonus per silver
• Gold – Two IPC bonus per gold
• Small Fort – Represents five units, AND has an HP of five
• Large Fort – Represents ten units, AND has an HP of ten
  Forts – I’m sure you all know that HP means hit points. Let’s say you’re attacking a territory with one large fort in it; you need to deliver ten damage to destroy the fort, and then you must destroy the ten infantry that were IN that fort. If the fort IS destroyed, but you don’t take out the rest of the units, those units live, but the fort is gone. If you do NOT destroy the fort, you put damage markers on it and your opponent can repair that damage on its turn at the cost of 1 IPC per damage (think air and naval bases in Global)

Resources:

• All resources may only be used by the country that controls that territory, with ONE exception: if any CP controls Persia and its 3 oil barrels, they are allowed to Lendlease the oil to Germany (since there’s little to no incentive for the Ott’s to buy ships)
• Oil in SZ4 represents a supply line and counts as an IPC bonus for Germany (details below). It is NOT in play as a resource that can be captured

Other changes:

• The UK starts the game neutral and only enters the war when one of the following occurs
  o Germany attacks Belgium
  o Germany invades Paris
  o Germany attacks the UK
  o UK4
• Italy is neutral for one turn and CANNOT be attacked by Germany or Austria in the opening round, nor can it attack anyone in the opening round
• The SZ12 port is closed. Too easy for Germany to just send 5 loaded transports in there. The mine rolls still apply
• The straight of Gibraltar is off limits unless either the Allies or CP control both Spain AND Spanish Morocco
• US timing doesn’t change: they can move on US4. However, they get a 10 IPC bonus war income per turn once they enter
• I’ve introduced Zeppelins. Here’s how they work: after purchasing, but before combat, your zeppelin can conduct a bombing raid (it can move 4 spaces and must land in a friendly territory after the attack). Each zeppelin rolls 1 die: a 1, 2, or 3 means the defender must lose one unit. A 4 or 5, two units. A 6 is a three-unit loss. If there is a fighter in that territory, it can defend at a 2, and it if hits, the zeppelin dies. I’m still torn on whether zeppelins should be a unit you can buy (for now, I have Germany getting two, and the UK and France getting one each)
• German subs attack at 3 (reasoning: German subs were far superior at that point)
• Russia can only purchase 2 artillery a turn, and 1 tank a turn (reasoning: lack of materials)
• Rails are restricted to France and Germany. Friendly countries can use rails (i.e. Brits can use French rails) at a max of six Allied units and eight CP units. You can only rail within France or Germany, and only if you’re friendly. So just because Germany controls Lorraine, that doesn’t mean they can rail men into there. Only within original German territories, and vice-versa for the Allies and French territories

And here are two special changes involving Switzerland and The Bolsheviks

• Switzerland: the Swiss had a decent sized border guard during the war, which they gradually reduced as time went on (except for a brief surge during the winter of 2016-2017, but I’ve ignored that). In this game, Switzerland is a nice strategic spot, and I’ve added two gold bars to make it more enticing. However, Switzerland starts the game with 30 infantry. At the end of each turn, they remove five, until they have 10 left (and that’s where they stay)

• The Bolsheviks: hands down the biggest, and wackiest, change. The Russian revolution rule has always been an annoyance in my mind. I just don’t like anything about the OOB way to handle this. I thought about just eliminating it, but that would lack historical accuracy, and imo make the game way too easy for the Allies. After thinking about how to get the Bolsheviks involved, here’s what I came up with:
  o Using red pieces purchased from Wizards of the Coast, I added the Bolshevik revolutionaries to the game. Here’s how it works: at the end of Russia’s turn, any territory that does NOT have at LEAST three Russian units is considered to be poorly defended, and therefore five Bolshevik units raise (the setup guarantees that this happens in at least two territories after Russia’s first turn). The units are always infantry, and they attack and defend at 2 against Russia (they defend at 1 against everyone else and cannot attack other countries)
  o At the end of the round they get to move and attack. As stated, they can only attack Russians; if they want to attack a territory that is contested, they still only attack the Russian units there. If they win, that territory is now contested between the Bolsheviks and the attacker. If the attacker (say Germany) wants that territory, they must attack and kill the Bolsheviks there
  o At the end of the Bolshevik turn they add three units to ANY territory that either A) has Bolsheviks in it, or B) has less than three Russian units in it
  o At the end of Russia’s turns, starting in turn two, not only does the “Territories with less than three Russian units raise five Bolsheviks” apply, but any territory that already has Bolsheviks present adds three more (so as an example: Russia ends its second turn; Finland only has one Russian unit, therefore five Bolsheviks get added. Meanwhile, Ukraine and Tatarstan have Bolsheviks in it already, and therefore they add three more units)
  This sounds low-impact at first, but suddenly it’s round 3 and there are a LOT more Bolshevik units on the board than you’d imagine. Moreover, it creates a problem for Russia: do you want to sit back and just scramble to defend yourself from revolution? If you do that, you’re conceding a lot of land to the CP
  Revolution is achieved when the following occurs: at the end of Russia’s turn, there is at least ONE Bolshevik unit in a contested Moscow. Once this happens, usual rules go into effect (whichever Russian territories the CP have taken over they keep, the rest go “dark”)
  This is, hands down, my favorite element of this version

  Onto the setup (with explanations for anything that may raise your eyebrow)

A few overall notes before I get started:

• Russia has the border advantage to start the game due to historical accuracy
• Germany is significantly stronger and has more units spread out to compensate for the fact that I weakened AH and the Ottomans, both of whom Germany thought of as “helpful distractions” more than super-strong allies
• You might look at this setup and think “Dude, Russia is WAY too strong; too many men, too many resources.” My answer: playtest it, see how fast the Bolsheviks pop up and wreck things. You’ll be surprised

Germany
Starting income: 35 IPCs
• Berlin: 11 inf, 6 art, 2 Zeppelins, 2 fighter, 1 Large Fort
• Kiel: 26 inf, 11 art, 1 small fort
• Ruhr: 1 gold
• Alsace: 36 inf, 15 art
• Munich: 11 inf, 6 art
• Hanover: 1 coal
• Silesia: 1 major fort
• Prussia: 1 major fort
• Togoland: 2 inf, 1 silver
• Kamerun: 1 inf
• German East Africa: 1 inf
• South West Africa: 1 inf 1 art
• Galicia: 3 inf, 1 art
• Budapest: 3 inf, 1 art
• Vienna: 4 inf, 2 art
• Trieste: 3 inf, 1 art
• Trans Jordan – 3 inf 1 art
• Ankara – 3 inf 1 art
• Sea Zone 5: Nothing
• Sea Zone 7: 4 subs
• Sea Zone 10: 3 battleships, 3 cruisers, 4 subs, 3 transports (sets up “Jutland” and gives the Germans some transports to start the game with, probably for an attack on Sweden and Norway, which are LOADED with resources, partially to put them in play, and partially to counter-act the Allies, who will gain tremendous resources from Africa)

France
Starting income: 35 IPCs
• Paris: 16 Infantry, 6 Artillery, 1 Fighter, 1 Bomber, 1 large fort
• Picardy: 1 Gold,
• Brest: 1 Infantry
• Bordeaux: 1 Infantry
• Burgundy: 16 inf, 6 art, 1 ftr
• Lorraine: 2 Large Forts (the reason Germany wanted to go through Belgium was because of how fortified the French were along the border. What I’ve done here is given Germany the option: A) go through Lorraine and keep the UK out of it, or B) take the easy route through Belgium, wipe out the UK fleet as much as you can, but then you get the UK in right away)
• Marseilles: 1 iron ore
• Morocco: 1 Infantry
• Algeria: 1 Infantry
• Tunisia: 1 Infantry
• French West Africa: 1 Infantry
• Hanover: 11 inf, 4 art, control marker
• Ruhr: 1 inf, control marker (owning these German territories represents France’s march into Germany, not realizing two key points: A) German armies were marching around them toward France, and B) the German reserve troops were as good as their main army)
• Portugal: 1 unit, activates on turn 1 (rather than having to drop troops into these walk-in friendly territories, I’ve just placed men there. You CANNOT move activated troops on the turn they were activated, even in this case)
• Sea Zone 15: 1 Battleship, 1 Transport
• Sea Zone 16: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 2 Transports

British Empire
Starting income: 30 IPCs
• London: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 Fighter, 1 Bomber
• Wales: 4 Infantry, 1 Artillery
• Yorkshire: 1 Infantry
• Scotland: 1 Infantry
• Canada: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery
• India: 11 Infantry, 3 Artillery
• Egypt: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 Fighter, 1 Large Fort (I’ve given Egypt and Trans-Jordan a large fort each to make it more difficult to break through)
• Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: 1 Infantry
• British East Africa: 1 Infantry
• Rhodesia: 1 Infantry
• Union of South Africa: 1 Infantry, 1 Artillery
• Constantinople: 25 infantry, 6 artillery (Gallipoli raid; Ottoman’s have matching numbers. This battle also has to be rolled until there is a winner)
• Gold Coast: 1 gold
• Sea Zone 2: 1 Cruiser, 2 Transport
• Sea Zone 3: 2 Cruisers, 1 Battleship
• Sea Zone 5: 1 Battleship, 2 Cruisers
• Sea Zone 8: 1 Battleship, 2 Cruisers
• Sea Zone 9: 3 Battleships, 3 Cruisers, 1 Transport
• Sea Zone 10: 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
• Sea Zone 17: 1 Cruiser
• Sea Zone 19: 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport
• Sea Zone 20: 21 transports (these transports cannot leave the water; they’re there to drop the men off for the raid, and just for the comic relief of losing 21 transports on UK1)
• Sea Zone 29: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 2 Transport

Austria-Hungary
Starting income: 26 IPCs
• Vienna: 12 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 gold
• Bohemia: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery
• Tyrolia: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery
• Trieste: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery
• Budapest: 12 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 iron ore
• Galicia: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 large fort
• Serbia: 21 inf, 6 art (these units CANNOT leave this battle! This is the attack on Sarajevo and is rolled until there is a winner. I haven’t decided if this battle should start the game, despite Germany going first. I’m open to suggestions)
• Sea Zone 18: 1 Battleship, 2 Cruiser, 1 Transport

Russian Empire
Starting income: 25 IPCs
• Finland: 1 infantry, 1 Silver
• Karelia: 1 infantry, 1 grain
• Livonia: 1 infantry
• Poland: 25 infantry, 3 artillery (represents their strong numbers at the borders)
• Belarus: 1 infantry
• Moscow: 3 infantry, 1 corn
• Ukraine: 21 infantry, 3 artillery (represents their strong numbers at the borders)
• Tatarstan: 1 infantry, 1 gold
• Sevastopol: 8 infantry, 1 artillery
• Kazakhstan: 1 infantry, 1 grain

Ottoman Empire
Starting income: 16 IPCs
• Constantinople: 25 Infantry, 6 Artillery (Gallipoli)
• Smyrna: 6 Infantry, 1 Artillery
• Ankara: 6 Infantry, 1 Artillery
• Mesopotamia: 6 Infantry, 2 Artillery
• Syrian Desert: 1 Infantry
• Trans-Jordan: 2 Infantry, 1 Artillery, 1 large fort
• Bulgaria: 1 Infantry (activated on O1)
• Sea Zone 20: 2 damaged battleships that CANNOT be repaired (represents the BB’s the Ottoman’s bought at the start of the war that were total garbage) and 1 cruiser

Italy
Starting income: 14 IPCs
• Piedmont: 6 Infantry, 3 Artillery
• Venice: 6 Infantry
• Tuscany: 1 Infantry, 1 corn
• Rome: 11 Infantry, 2 Artillery, 1 grain, 1 small fort
• Naples: 1 Infantry
• Libya: 1 Infantry, 1 Artillery
• Somaliland: 1 Infantry
• Sea Zone 17: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 1 Transport

United States
Starting Income: 20 IPCs
• United States of America: 6 Infantry, 4 Artillery
• Sea Zone 1: 1 Battleship, 1 Cruiser, 6 transports

Neutrals (if I left off the unit number, just go with the default)
• Norway: 8 infantry, 1 cow, 1 or 2 silver, 1 iron ore, 1 grain, 1 oil
• Sweden: 8 infantry, 1 pig, 1 or 2 silver, 1 iron ore, 1 corn, 1 oil
• Afghanistan: 1 gold, 2 inf
• Perisa: 10 infantry, 3 oil barrels
• Arabia: 1 coal
• Greece: 8 inf, 1 pig, 1 iron ore
• Romania: 1 coal
• Serbia: 21 Serb inf, 6 Macedonia inf
• Albania: 1 coal, 1 iron ore
• Switzerland: 30 inf (remove five a turn until 10 left), 2 gold bars
• Denmark: 1 grain
• Belgium: 1 small fort
• Spain: 8 infantry, 1 pig 1 grain
• Morocco: 4 inf, 1 coal
• Angola: 1 Silver
• Belgian Congo: 1 Gold
• Portuguese East Africa: 1 coal
Sea Zone 4: one oil barrel (five IPC bonus for Germany if there are no UK ships blocking SZ10 from SZ 4)
Holland: 1 cow

That’s all. I may have forgotten something (how could I not?) so feel free to ask anything. I know this is a beast, but I’ve played tested it several times and it’s damn fun. I can add pictures of the setup if anyone would like to see

A German opening I used to use now and then was taking out SZ 106, 109 and 111, with the obvious idea being to take out every British DD.  When Ike lived in the area we’d play often, and one of his favorite counters to this was to combine the remaining Royal Navy from 110, 91 and 98 into SZ 92.  He’d even use the DD from 98 as a blocker against Italy in SZ 94.  Worked pretty effectively.

@MasterMark26

Don’t think I knew that tidbit. I like it

The new turn order has worked great. Combined with all the other changes, each major country has a bunch of options now. Maybe this was just in my household, but like I mentioned in the first post, every game was just “Ok, Germany and AH go after Russia and try to get them out of the game asap, then just turn all attention toward France.”

I listened to Dan Carlin’s breakdown of the war, and something I didn’t know was France had pushed into the middle Germany quite a bit. Germany had a big army going North, and one going South. France wasn’t supposed to advance, but the general in charge (blanking on his name) went for it and was beat up by the German reserve troops, which were a larger in number, and far better trained, than the French thought they’d be

If I got any parts of that wrong, someone jump in. It was a while ago that I listened

The lady and I will be playing as the Allies, and we’re going to attempt a neutral crush.  The idea is Russia hits turkey hard R2, followed by the US landing in Spain US2.

The idea is roughly this:

R1: purchase 2 tanks & 1 mech for Stalingrad, 7 inf for Moscow.  Back off the front lines, including sending the Leningrad troops to Archangel, then position 6 infantry in Caucasus and as many mechs and tanks as possible in Stalingrad.  All air force goes to Moscow, giving Russia 23 units to hit Turkey with on R2.  Should only lose 3 infantry in the counter attack, leaving 15 ground units in Turkey.

US1: purchase 7 transports, all in the EUS.  Get the Pacific fleet to Hawaii, get some planes down to NZ and Queensland, consolidate the Atlantic fleet in EUS, move the EUS fighter to Gibraltar for extra defense.  US2: all Pacific buy of 2 CV, 1 transport, 2 DD’s, 3 subs.  Attack Spain in full force, should only lose 2 inf, leaving 14.

UK1: factory in Egypt, transport in Canada, fighter in South Africa.  Standard Med and Africa moves: clear out the Malta SZ with a couple of planes, try to kill the Italian BB with the sub in SZ98, add planes to Gibraltar to defend.  I’m going to use the Canada transport to drop a tank and inf in Suriname.  Over on the India side I’ll move the fleet over to Africa and use the transport to take Persia.  UK2: Buy ships out of Egypt, factory in Persia.  From there, get as many men to Egypt as a I can, move the Royal Navy to SZ91 to help protect the American transports.

There is obviously a lot more to it, but this is the basic version.  Thoughts and suggestions?  The overall idea is to squeeze the Med and Italy.  US can build a complex in Spain, or more likely just shuttle 8 units from EUS each turn.  Russia can gradually advance into Southern Europe, especially if the UK has men and planes to back them up.  The idea with UK is just that: build a lot of ships and planes to help secure the Med and the territories Russia and the US advance into.