Lozmoid

It may seem obvious but if you have good Lumber Brick resources, you should consider building as many roads as you can on your turn in order to cut other players off from vital resource hexes. This limits their ability to expand and increases your chances of getting the Longest Road card. Try to nip them in the bud early and your enemies will have little choice of where to build. I’ve found this to have been very useful in many games past.

After many, many plays of this 1941 version I have come to draw the opinion that Artillery units are indeed sorely missing from the core play balance. Why? Well, Infantry are still 3 IPCs but Tanks are now 6 IPCs (which is just too expensive for some players on a game of this small scale). As a result, you tend to see largely Infantry only armies facing each other, and we all know what the result of that situation is! Why the developers decided to omit Artillery from this edition is simply beyond me…

I have therefore started to add the Artillery as units that can be purchased from Turn 1 of the game. Just pay the 4 IPCs and place them in the Mobilization Zone as normal. However, you could also add a few to the initial start up. If this were the case, I would suggest placing 1 Artillery unit into the following:

GERMANY – West Russia, Ukraine

SOVIET UNION – Russia, Leningrad

UNITED KINGDOM – United Kingdom, India

JAPAN – Japan, Central China

UNITED STATES – Eastern US, Western US

That should balance things out pretty nicely. Feel free to add more Artillery units to the starting set up if you wish.

It may seem obvious but if you have good Lumber Brick resources, you should consider building as many roads as you can on your turn in order to cut other players off from vital resource hexes. This limits their ability to expand and increases your chances of getting the Longest Road card. Try to nip them in the bud early and your enemies will have little choice of where to build. I’ve found this to have been very useful in many games past.

Here’s a quick and very simple house rule for ya that can have bad consequences for either the Axis or the Allies!

Normally, sea zone 16 (the Black Sea) is open to both Axis and Allied warships & transports. Players have previously used a house rule whereby a die was rolled to determine whether access to this sea zone (the Turkish Straits, or Dardanelles) would be open or closed to both sides, for the entire course of the game.

My new house rule proposes that the Turkish Straits will now be open to one faction and closed to the other! Roll a die: on a 1-3 the Dardanelles will be open to the Axis and closed to the Allies. On a 4-6 they will be open to the Allies and closed to the Axis. And this is for the duration of the game!

This can lead to some disappointment for the Axis who need access to sea zone 16 in order to lauch amphibious assaults into the Caucasus and take the much-needed Stalingrad victory city and the Industrial Complex sited there.

In effect, having it closed to the Axis may put them at a disadvantage early in the game, buying the Soviets some time to regroup their forces.

In the real war, Turkey was neutral and therefore closed its straits to both factions, allowing no naval passage to either side. But try this new house rule and see if it works for you.

Well, it could be any colour but – the aim of this strategy is quite simple: start off the game with all your battalions grouped together in a single territory, and then just use that bulk to sweep your way across the board!

It may not be very original and of course you will most likely lose many of your other initial territories due to enemy attacks, but it IS fun!

Try it. Just put all your starting battalions in one of your initial territories and then branch out from there, taking several enemy territories each turn. You may end up completing your mission or you may just enjoy the thrill of wiping some of the other players out!

Let the steamroller commence… the Green Swarm of Death cometh!

Here you go, everything you might need to answer any questions you may have about the game:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/faqs/diplomacy

http://www.daysofwonder.com/memoir44/en/content/faq/

Very concise and segmented into easy parts, it is an essential read to any Memoir 44 player.

I hope you will find this document useful, I certainly did!

Here it is folks, for those of you who may need some clarification on some of the rules or cards:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/faqs/axisdday

National Objectives help generate extra income for each player and can be based on either peacetime or wartime economies. By that I mean that some NOs are in effect whether or not a certain power is at War. Some NOs are easy to get whilst others are harder. However, once achieved, they will significantly boost your financial resources (new players to the game will especially benefit more from the extra income).

Of course, your opponent(s) have NOs of their own and it’s your job to try and deny them from achieving theirs (whilst still getting your own) and this can be quite hard to do!

All the powers in this game (Japan, United States, United Kingdom, ANZAC, & China) have between 1 and 4 different National Objectives to attain, and each is worth an extra 5 or 10 cash.

Be ruthless and determined in achieving these bonuses and you will reap the rewards in subsequent turns, giving you a definite edge over your opponents in terms of industrial production!

Here’s a quick tip for you: As soon as you have a Knight on the table, quickly move him to the far (open) end of your Road. This will stop others from playing the Diplomat card on you, and thereby removing one of your Road pieces! Knights are for your protection in more ways than one.

In the real war, transport ships did not have any real surface-to-surface attack or defence capability but they were sometimes armed with an antiaircraft gun. Allow me to introduce a new house rule which my gaming group have been using recently that allows each of your Tranports a one-shot-only defence roll against attacking air units:

Transports now have Defence 1 and can only fire once per combat round (like normal units), but any hits scored can only be assigned to attacking air units. So if your Transports are attacked by a mixture of enemy air and sea units, any 1′s rolled by your Transports cannot be assigned to the sea units. Just remember that any hits scored by the attacking force may only be assigned to the defending Transport(s) once there are no other defending units left. So in effect, your defending Transports may continue to fire at attacking air units for every round of battle that they survive!

However, unlike the regular Antiaircraft Gun units in the game, each Transport may only fire ONCE (roll one die) and any casualties are removed after the all the defending units have fired, as per normal.

Essentially then, defending Transports are no longer considered to be ‘defenceless’ as they can shoot back at Fighters and Bombers, and therefore are not simply taken straight off the bame board when attacked on their own by enemy airforces (normally, if you sent an air unit out to attack an enemy transport you would destroy it automatically). But with this house rule, that Transport will get a chance to take down 1 of your air units with it!

(Remember that attacking Transports are not normally considered ‘defenceless’ because they always have the option of retreating.)

Some examples then:

A – 1 Transport is attacked by 1 Destroyer and 1 Fighter. The Destroyer does not need to roll as it automatically kills the Transport, but the Transport does get to return fire because of the presence of Fighter. It rolls and gets a 5 (a miss, luckilly for the attacker!) and the battle is over.

B – 1 Transport is attacked by 3 Fighters. The Fighters roll a 1, a 3 and a 5 resulting in 2 hits, more than enough to sink the Transport. The Transport then returns fire with one die and luckily rolls a 1! One Fighter is removed and the battle is over.

C – 2 Transports are attacked by 2 Fighters and 1 Bomber. The Fighters roll a 3 and a 6, and the Bomber rolls a 1. The attacker scored two hits and therefore both of the Transports are chosen as casualties. However, returning fire the Tranports roll and get a 1 and a 4, resulting in one hit. The attacker chooses a Fighter as a casualty, and the battle is over.

D – 1 Transport and 1 Cruiser are attacked by 1 Destroyer and 2 Fighters. The Destroyer fires and misses, and the Fighters fire and get a 1 and a 3 (two hits). Both hits must be assigned to the defending units. The Cruiser returns fire and gets a 2 (hit) and the Transport gets a 1 (hit). The hit from the Transport MUST be assigned to one of the Fighters as it cannot sea units. The attacker assigns the hit from the Cruiser to his Destroyer. The battle is over with one attacking Fighter surviving.

I find that this new rules adds a lot of variation to sea battles and always makes the attacker think twice about sending out his airforces to sink your transports! Just remember that defending Transports are still helpless against attacking sea units.

Give it a try!

This is a smiple house rule that requires the creation of a small token to represent the ‘Parasite’ in question, and it helps the less affluent players to get extra cards. You can use any object for this; a coin, a button, piece of cardboard etc.

How it works: When a player makes a trade at a Port (either Resource or 3:1) you may attempt to send the Parasite to the Port in question in order to steal a Resource Card (or Commodity Card, if you’re playing Cities & Knights). However, this option is only available to those players who DO NOT already own a Settlement/City on a Port space.

Each eligible player who opts to place a Parasite must roll a die to compete, as only one Parasite can be placed at any one time. The highest roller wins, re-roll ties. Once an eligible player has been established, that player must roll again to see whether the placement of the Parasite (and therefore infiltration of the Port) was successful. 1-3 = Failed Attempt, 4-6 = Successful Attempt.

If the attempt fails then play just continues as normal and the player whose turn it currently is may continue the trade at the Port.

If the attempt succeeds then the challenging player may place the Parasite Token on the enemy Port in question, and it will remain there until moved by another (eligible) player using the same rule above. From now on, the Parasite player may take 1 Resource or Commodity Card from the player whose Port their Parasite is sitting on, but only when the Port owner makes a trade using this Port.

Example: Nick does a 3:1 trade of 3 Lumber for 1 Ore using his Port. Jenny has a Parasite Token already placed on the Port, and therefore may take a card from Nick. So in this instance, Nick would give 2 Lumber to the bank, and 1 Lumber to the Parasite player (Jenny) in exchange for his 1 Ore.

Basically, the Parasite is activated whenever anybody declares to use their Port to make a trade with the bank. It won’t happen whenever a player does the standard 4:1 trade; only at the Ports.

This was released in September 2012 and you can download the Rulebook from the official site here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/downloads

This new version of the game includes new rules, new sculpts and a bigger and better map! Check it out.

This was released in September 2012 and you can download the Rulebook from the official site here:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/downloads

This new version of the game includes new rules, new sculpts and a bigger and better map! Check it out.

Normally, the presence of an enemy Destroyer unit will stop your Submarines from Submerging duing combat (due to their anti-submarine capabilities). However, we have been allowing Submarines to submerge AFTER the first round of combat. So in effect, the Subs would have to endure one round of combat before being allowed to dive and escape. I think this adds a little realism to the game – submarines were crafty little things after all.

If you wanted to take it further, merely set the rule to function at a 1:1 ratio. In other words, each enemy Destroyer may only stop ONE of your Submarines from submerging during the first combat round. I.E. if you had 6 Submarines and your enemy had 2 Destroyers, the result would be that 4 of your Subs could submerge BEFORE the first combat round, and the remaining 2 could submerge after the first combat round (providing they survived the enemy fire). This adds quite a bit more realism and tactical choices to the game and gives a slight advantage to the player who has lots of Submarines!

My gaming group have been using these house rules recently and we like the way they play out.

Don’t forget that this A&A 1942 title does not come with any rules for technology, which some players may find a little annoying. However! Do not despair for you can simply incorporate these (optional) rules straight from the Axis & Allies 50th Anniversary Edition, here:

http://boardgaming.com/games/board-games/axis-and-allies-50th-anniversary-edition

As the technology rules are not described in detail on the A&A50 game page, I will summarise them here. Please remember that the rules for technology are optional in the A&A50 game, so it would be totally up to the players to decide if they wished to use them for A&A 1942. Here goes then:

The player turn sequence will now be:

1. Research & Development (optional rule)
2. Purchase Units
3. Combat Move
4. Conduct Combat
5. Noncombat move
6. Mobilize New Units
7. Collect Income

How the technology rules work:

PHASE 1: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

In this phase, you may attempt to develop improved military technology. To do so, you buy researchers that give you a chance for a scientific breakthrough. Each researcher token will grant you one die that provides a chance for a breakthrough. Should your capital be captured by the enemy during the game, surrender all your current researcher tokens back to the box.

Research & Development Sequence:

1. Buy researcher tokens
2. Roll research dice
3. Roll breakthrough die
4. Mark developments

Step 1: Buy Researcher Tokens:

Each researcher token costs 5 IPCs. Buy as many as you wish, including none.

Step 2: Roll Research Dice:

For each researcher you have, roll one die. Success: If you roll at least one “6,” you have successfully made a technological
breakthrough. Discard ALL your researcher tokens and continue to step 3. Failure: If you do not roll a “6,” your research has failed. Keep all your researcher tokens and continue to the Purchase Units phase of the turn.

Step 3. Roll Breakthrough Die:

If you rolled a “6” on any research die, choose one of the two breakthrough charts (below) and roll a die to see which technological advance you get. You can only receive one advance each turn. If you have already received the same result on a previous turn, reroll until you get a new technological advance. Once you have received all the advances on a chart, you cannot gain any more advances from that chart.

BREAKTHROUGH CHART 1 (Land & Industry)

1. Advanced Artillery: Each of your Artillery units can now provide greater support. One Artillery unit can support two Infantry per attack. Two Infantry when coupled with one Artillery unit each
have an attack value of 2.

2. Rockets: Your anti-aircraft guns are now rocket launchers. In addition to its normal combat function, during the strategic bombing raid step of your Conduct Combat phase each turn, each of your
anti-aircraft guns can make a single rocket attack against an enemy Industrial Complex within 3 spaces of it. This attack does 1d6 damage to that complex. In each turn, only one AA Gun per territory may launch rockets, and each Industrial Complex can be targeted by only one rocket launcher.

3. Paratroopers: Each of your Bombers can act as a transport for up to one Infantry, but it must stop in the first hostile territory it enters during a turn and drop off the Infantry, ending its combat movement. Both units must begin their movement in the same territory. The Infantry is dropped after any anti-aircraft fire is resolved, so if the Bomber is hit, the Infantry it carries is also destroyed. The Bomber may still attack during the Conduct Combat phase, but it cannot make a strategic bombing run in a turn that it transports an Infantry
unit. The Infantry unit may retreat normally to a friendly adjacent space during combat.

4: Increased Factory Production: Each of your Industrial Complexes in a territory worth 3 or more IPCs can now produce two additional units beyond its listed IPC value. For example, Germany (worth 10 IPCs) can now produce 12 units. Also, when repairing a damaged Industrial Complex (removing damage markers), you can remove two damage markers at a time for the cost of 1 IPC (half price).

5. War Bonds: During your Collect Income phase, roll 1d6 and collect that many additional IPCs.

6. Mechanized Infantry: Each Infantry that is matched up with a Tank can move two spaces along with the Tank.

BREAKTHROUGH CHART 2 (Air & Sea)

1. Super Submarines: Your Submarines are now Super Submarines. The attack value of your Submarines is now 3 instead of 2. The defense value of your Submarines remains at 1.

2. Jet Fighters: The attack value of your Fighters is now 4 instead of 3.

3. Improved Shipyards: Your sea units are now cheaper to build. Use these revised costs:

Battleship 17
Aircraft Carrier 11
Cruiser 10
Destroyer 7
Transport 6
Submarine 5

4. Radar: Your anti-aircraft gun fire now hits on a 1 or 2 instead of just a 1.

5. Long-Range Aircraft: Your Fighters are now long-range Fighters, and your Bombers are now long-range Bombers. Your Fighters’ range increases
from 4 to 6. Your Bombers’ range increases from 6 to 8.

6. Heavy Bombers: Your Bombers are now Heavy Bombers. You roll two dice for each Bomber and select the best result whenever you attack or make a strategic bombing raid. On defense, your Heavy Bombers still roll only a single die.

Just so you know, the Rulebook for this game can now be downloaded from the offical site, here:

http://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/A&A1942_2ndEd_rlbk_NonSku_PDF.pdf

This house rule allows players to add an extra scientific breakthrough choice during their ‘Phase 1: Develop Weapons’ stage of the game. This additional technology would be found on Research Chart 2 (air & naval).

Improved ASDIC – Your Destroyers now attack at 3 against enemy Submarines only. Defence remains at 2.

If players find this too powerful, amend it so that each attacking Destroyer must be matched 1:1 with an enemy Submarine, in order to gain this advantage during combat. For example, if there are 2 Submarines being attacked by 4 Destroyers, only 2 of the Destroyers would gain the advantage; the other two Destroyers would still attack at 2 (as normal).

Just point out that there is an even more recent version of Axis & Allies Spring 1942 available which has only just recently been released: the ‘Axis & Allies 1942 Second Edition’ which can be found here

http://boardgaming.com/games/board-games/axis-and-allies-1942-second-edition

It is far superior to Spring 1942, in my opinion. It has new rules, new Antiaircraft Artillery units/sculpts, and the board has many more territories and sea zones. I know I won’t be playing Spring 1942 anymore as it is now obsolete.

Check out the Second Edition!

In the real war, transport ships did not have any real surface-to-surface attack or defence capability but they were sometimes armed with an antiaircraft gun. Allow me to introduce a new house rule which my gaming group have been using recently that allows each of your Tranports a one-shot-only defence roll against attacking air units:

Transports now have Defence 1 and can only fire once per combat round (like normal units), but any hits scored can only be assigned to attacking air units. So if your Transports are attacked by a mixture of enemy air and sea units, any 1’s rolled by your Transports cannot be assigned to the sea units. Just remember that any hits scored by the attacking force may only be assigned to the defending Transport(s) once there are no other defending units left. So in effect, your defending Transports may continue to fire at attacking air units for every round of battle that they survive!

However, unlike the regular Antiaircraft Gun units in the game, each Transport may only fire ONCE (roll one die) and any casualties are removed after the all the defending units have fired, as per normal.

Essentially then, defending Transports are no longer considered to be ‘defenceless’ as they can shoot back at Fighters and Bombers, and therefore are not simply taken straight off the bame board when attacked on their own by enemy airforces (normally, if you sent an air unit out to attack an enemy transport you would destroy it automatically). But with this house rule, that Transport will get a chance to take down 1 of your air units with it!

(Remember that attacking Transports are not normally considered ‘defenceless’ because they always have the option of retreating.)

Some examples then:

A – 1 Transport is attacked by 1 Destroyer and 1 Fighter. The Destroyer does not need to roll as it automatically kills the Transport, but the Transport does get to return fire because of the presence of Fighter. It rolls and gets a 5 (a miss, luckilly for the attacker!) and the battle is over.

B – 1 Transport is attacked by 3 Fighters. The Fighters roll a 1, a 3 and a 5 resulting in 2 hits, more than enough to sink the Transport. The Transport then returns fire with one die and luckily rolls a 1! One Fighter is removed and the battle is over.

C – 2 Transports are attacked by 2 Fighters and 1 Bomber. The Fighters roll a 3 and a 6, and the Bomber rolls a 1. The attacker scored two hits and therefore both of the Transports are chosen as casualties. However, returning fire the Tranports roll and get a 1 and a 4, resulting in one hit. The attacker chooses a Fighter as a casualty, and the battle is over.

D – 1 Transport and 1 Cruiser are attacked by 1 Destroyer and 2 Fighters. The Destroyer fires and misses, and the Fighters fire and get a 1 and a 3 (two hits). Both hits must be assigned to the defending units. The Cruiser returns fire and gets a 2 (hit) and the Transport gets a 1 (hit). The hit from the Transport MUST be assigned to one of the Fighters as it cannot sea units. The attacker assigns the hit from the Cruiser to his Destroyer. The battle is over with one attacking Fighter surviving.

I find that this new rules adds a lot of variation to sea battles and always makes the attacker think twice about sending out his airforces to sink your transports! Just remember that defending Transports are still helpless against attacking sea units.

Give it a try!

I thought players might find it useful to see a complete breakdown of the game pieces and components, so they know exactly what comes in the box. Boardgaming.com have already given a brief list:

■Game Board
■One 24-Page Rulebook
■Six Dice
■410 Military Unit Pieces
■80 Plastic Chips
■2 Parts Sheets

However, I am now going to expand upon that. Here goes:

■Game Board – This come in two seperate foldable halves which combine to make a playing game area of 40″ x 26″.

■One 24-Page Rulebook – Full colour, very comprehensive rulebook.

■Six Dice – 3 x black D6 with white dots, 3 x red D6 with white dots.

■410 Military Unit Pieces – Each player power comes with a varying amount of combat units, which I will detail below including their totals:

SOVIET UNION – 74

Infantry: 20
Artillery: 8
Tanks: 10
Antiaircraft Artillery: 8
Fighter: 8
Bomber: 2
Destroyer: 4
Cruiser: 2
Battleship: 2
Aircraft Carrier: 2
Submarine: 4
Transport: 4

GERMANY – 86

Infantry: 20
Artillery: 8
Tanks: 12
Antiaircraft Artillery: 8
Fighter: 8
Bomber: 4
Destroyer: 6
Cruiser: 4
Battleship: 2
Aircraft Carrier: 2
Submarine: 6
Transport: 6

UNITED KINGDOM – 84

Infantry: 20
Artillery: 6
Tanks: 8
Antiaircraft Artillery: 8
Fighter: 8
Bomber: 6
Destroyer: 6
Cruiser: 4
Battleship: 4
Aircraft Carrier: 2
Submarine: 6
Transport: 6

JAPAN – 82

Infantry: 20
Artillery: 6
Tanks: 6
Antiaircraft Artillery: 8
Fighter: 8
Bomber: 4
Destroyer: 6
Cruiser: 4
Battleship: 4
Aircraft Carrier: 4
Submarine: 6
Transport: 6

UNITED STATES – 84

Infantry: 20
Artillery: 6
Tanks: 6
Antiaircraft Artillery: 8
Fighter: 8
Bomber: 6
Destroyer: 6
Cruiser: 4
Battleship: 4
Submarine: 6
Transport: 6

■80 Plastic Chips – 50 x grey, 20 x green, 10 x red.

■2 Parts Sheets – These are full colour cardboard sheets which include additional game components that are pressed out for play, and include:

5 x National Setup Charts (1 for each power)
100 x National Control markers (20 for each power)
1 Battlestrip
1 Casualty Strip
12 x Industrial Complexes

And that was the complete breakdown of game components! Hope you found it useful.

Thought it’d be helpful to just list the main differences you can expect to find when you open the box and read the rulebook, so here goes…

First of all, the new plastic playing piece sculpts:

Allied Tank – IS-2 (USSR)
Allied Fighter – P-40 Warhawk (USA)
Allied Bomber – Lancaster (UK)
Allied Battleship – Admiral class (HMS Hood) (UK)
Allied Aircraft Carrier – Kostromitinova class (USSR)
Allied Destroyer – Sumner class (USA)
Allied Submarine – U class (UK)
Allied Transport – Fort class (UK)

Axis Tank – Tiger I (Germany)
Axis Fighter – Fw-190 (Germany)
Axis Bomber – He-111 (Germany)
Axis Battleship – Kongo class (Japan)
Axis Aircraft Carrier – Akagi class (Japan)
Axis Destroyer – Akitzuki class (Japan)
Axis Submarine – Kaichu type (Japan)
Axis Transport – Yamazuki Maru (Japan)

There are NO Artillery, Cruiser, or Anti-Aircraft units in this 1941 version.

No Technology rules. (but you could house rule them if you wanted to)

No new Industrial Complexes. (what you begin with is all you get)

Aircraft Carriers cost 12 (as opposed to 14), Battleships cost 16 (as opposed to 20) and Tanks cost 6 (as opposed to 5).

The Turkish straits (the Dardanelles) are CLOSED. (no naval passage allowed between the Black See and Mediterranean)

No Strategic Bombing Raids. (hence no need for AA Guns)

There are 2 different Victory conditions: (1) Axis must control any two Allied capitals (London, Moscow or Washington) at the end of the US player’s turn, whilst the Allies must control both Berlin & Tokyo and the end of the Japanese player’s turn.

(2) Alternatively (for a shorter game) the Axis must control either London or Washington at the end of the US player’s turn, whilst the Allies must control either Berlin or Tokyo the end of the US player’s turn.

This is a small house rule I recently came up with and it can work with any Axis & Allies game from the 2004 ‘Revised’ edition onward.

Do you remember back in the old Milton Bradley days when Battleships could only take one hit, and Transports used to have a defence value of 1? Exciting times, and very risky. Ah, how the game has evolved since then!

Well, now I would like to propose a rule whereby your Transports are again something to be reckoned with. They now have attack 1, defend 1… BUT! Only against enemy Transports! They still have no combat value whatsoever against any other kinds of enemy warships (Submarines, Destroyers, Cruisers, Aircraft Carriers & Battleships) and WILL be destroyed by these vessels if left unprotected, as per the normal rules. Otherwise, combat works in exactly the same way: hits scored by Transports are assigned to enemy Transports in the same fashion, casualties still being able to return fire.

My reasoning behind this rule is because I would like to give the lowly Transport ships the opportunity to engage each other and fight it out, with quite often – hilarious results! It may be seen by some players as something of a last resort, but with a 50/50 chance of survival, it all comes down to who can roll a 1!

Try it. My gaming group found that it added another layer of tension to the already fraught proceedings, but that it was also a very funny alternative to regular sea battles!

Don’t forget that this A&A 1942 title does not come with any rules for technology, which some players may find a little annoying. However! Do not despair for you can simply incorporate these (optional) rules straight from the Axis & Allies 50th Anniversary Edition, here: http://boardgaming.com/games/board-games/axis-and-allies-50th-anniversary-edition

As the technology rules are not described in detail on the A&A50 game page, I will summarise them here. Please remember that the rules for technology are optional in the A&A50 game, so it would be totally up to the players to decide if they wished to use them for A&A 1942. Here goes then:

The player turn sequence will now be:

1. Research & Development (optional rule)
2. Purchase Units
3. Combat Move
4. Conduct Combat
5. Noncombat move
6. Mobilize New Units
7. Collect Income

How the technology rules work:

PHASE 1: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

In this phase, you may attempt to develop improved military technology. To do so, you buy researchers that give you a chance for a scientific breakthrough. Each researcher token will grant you one die that provides a chance for a breakthrough. Should your capital be captured by the enemy during the game, surrender all your current researcher tokens back to the box.

Research & Development Sequence:

1. Buy researcher tokens
2. Roll research dice
3. Roll breakthrough die
4. Mark developments

Step 1: Buy Researcher Tokens:

Each researcher token costs 5 IPCs. Buy as many as you wish, including none.

Step 2: Roll Research Dice:

For each researcher you have, roll one die. Success: If you roll at least one “6,” you have successfully made a technological
breakthrough. Discard ALL your researcher tokens and continue to step 3. Failure: If you do not roll a “6,” your research has failed. Keep all your researcher tokens and continue to the Purchase Units phase of the turn.

Step 3. Roll Breakthrough Die:

If you rolled a “6” on any research die, choose one of the two breakthrough charts (below) and roll a die to see which technological advance you get. You can only receive one advance each turn. If you have already received the same result on a previous turn, reroll until you get a new technological advance. Once you have received all the advances on a chart, you cannot gain any more advances from that chart.

BREAKTHROUGH CHART 1 (Land & Industry)

1. Advanced Artillery: Each of your Artillery units can now provide greater support. One Artillery unit can support two Infantry per attack. Two Infantry when coupled with one Artillery unit each
have an attack value of 2.

2. Rockets: Your anti-aircraft guns are now rocket launchers. In addition to its normal combat function, during the strategic bombing raid step of your Conduct Combat phase each turn, each of your
anti-aircraft guns can make a single rocket attack against an enemy Industrial Complex within 3 spaces of it. This attack does 1d6 damage to that complex. In each turn, only one AA Gun per territory may launch rockets, and each Industrial Complex can be targeted by only one rocket launcher.

3. Paratroopers: Each of your Bombers can act as a transport for up to one Infantry, but it must stop in the first hostile territory it enters during a turn and drop off the Infantry, ending its combat movement. Both units must begin their movement in the same territory. The Infantry is dropped after any anti-aircraft fire is resolved, so if the Bomber is hit, the Infantry it carries is also destroyed. The Bomber may still attack during the Conduct Combat phase, but it cannot make a strategic bombing run in a turn that it transports an Infantry
unit. The Infantry unit may retreat normally to a friendly adjacent space during combat.

4: Increased Factory Production: Each of your Industrial Complexes in a territory worth 3 or more IPCs can now produce two additional units beyond its listed IPC value. For example, Germany (worth 10 IPCs) can now produce 12 units. Also, when repairing a damaged Industrial Complex (removing damage markers), you can remove two damage markers at a time for the cost of 1 IPC (half price).

5. War Bonds: During your Collect Income phase, roll 1d6 and collect that many additional IPCs.

6. Mechanized Infantry: Each Infantry that is matched up with a Tank can move two spaces along with the Tank.

BREAKTHROUGH CHART 2 (Air & Sea)

1. Super Submarines: Your Submarines are now Super Submarines. The attack value of your Submarines is now 3 instead of 2. The defense value of your Submarines remains at 1.

2. Jet Fighters: The attack value of your Fighters is now 4 instead of 3.

3. Improved Shipyards: Your sea units are now cheaper to build. Use these revised costs:

Battleship 17
Aircraft Carrier 11
Cruiser 10
Destroyer 7
Transport 6
Submarine 5

4. Radar: Your anti-aircraft gun fire now hits on a 1 or 2 instead of just a 1.

5. Long-Range Aircraft: Your Fighters are now long-range Fighters, and your Bombers are now long-range Bombers. Your Fighters’ range increases
from 4 to 6. Your Bombers’ range increases from 6 to 8.

6. Heavy Bombers: Your Bombers are now Heavy Bombers. You roll two dice for each Bomber and select the best result whenever you attack or make a strategic bombing raid. On defense, your Heavy Bombers still roll only a single die.

This house rule allows players to add an extra scientific breakthrough choice during their ‘Phase 1: Develop Weapons’ stage of the game.

Improved ASDIC – Your Destroyers now attack at 3 against enemy Submarines only. Defence remains at 2.

If players find this too powerful, amend it so that each attacking Destroyer must be matched 1:1 with an enemy Submarine, in order to gain this advantage during combat. For example, if there are 2 Submarines being attacked by 4 Destroyers, only 2 of the Destroyers would gain the advantage; the other two Destroyers would still attack at 2 (as normal).

Normally, the presence of an enemy Destroyer unit will stop your Submarines from Submerging duing combat (due to their anti-submarine capabilities). However, we have been allowing Submarines to submerge AFTER the first round of combat. So in effect, the Subs would have to endure one round of combat before being allowed to dive and escape. I think this adds a little realism to the game – submarines were crafty little things after all.

If you wanted to take it further, merely set the rule to function at a 1:1 ratio. In other words, each enemy Destroyer may only stop ONE of your Submarines from submerging during the first combat round. I.E. if you had 6 Submarines and your enemy had 2 Destroyers, the result would be that 4 of your Subs could submerge BEFORE the first combat round, and the remaining 2 could submerge after the first combat round (providing they survived the enemy fire). This adds quite a bit more realism and tactical choices to the game and gives a slight advantage to the player who has lots of Submarines!

My gaming group have been using these house rules recently and we like the way they play out.

Normally, the presence of an enemy Destroyer unit will stop your Submarines from Submerging duing combat (due to their anti-submarine capabilities). However, we have been allowing Submarines to submerge AFTER the first round of combat. So in effect, the Subs would have to endure one round of combat before being allowed to dive and escape. I think this adds a little realism to the game – submarines were crafty little things after all.

If you wanted to take it further, merely set the rule to function at a 1:1 ratio. In other words, each enemy Destroyer may only stop ONE of your Submarines from submerging during the first combat round. I.E. if you had 6 Submarines and your enemy had 2 Destroyers, the result would be that 4 of your Subs could submerge BEFORE the first combat round, and the remaining 2 could submerge after the first combat round (providing they survived the enemy fire). This adds quite a bit more realism and tactical choices to the game and gives a slight advantage to the player who has lots of Submarines!

My gaming group have been using these house rules recently and we like the way they play out.

Here’s a link to the official Errata/FAQ from the game’s own designer, Larry Harris. I hope you find it useful!

http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2440

You can now buy a Castle for the cost of 2 Ore, 2 Lumber & 2 Clay.

You need to have a combined strength of 4 Knights already in play (active or inactive) in order to be eligible to build a Castle. You also need to have 2 City Wall pieces available to use (i.e. not already in play).

Pay the cost to the bank and place the Castle at one of your Road intersections (use 2 of your City Wall pieces and place them one on top of the other). Castles must obey the 2-space rule.

Due to the limited number of City Wall pieces, each player may only build 1 Castle. Castles may not be moved once built; however, they may be demolished at any time during the owning player’s turn (simply remove the two City Walls from play) and then rebuilt elsewhere if desired.

A Castle has many benefits:

It is worth 3 Victory Points.

It contributes 1 permanent defence point when determining the strength of your active Knights against Barbarian attack.

It allows you to hold +2 Resource/Commodity cards when a 7 is rolled (just like a City Wall).

And it also protects your hand of Resource/Commodity cards by 1 Card whenever another player would normally take a card from you, i.e. if the Robber is placed on one of the hexes upon which your Castle sits, you would not have to surrender a card to that player. The same goes for if you ever have to surrender cards to another player for any reason (the Wedding card, the Bishop, Resource Monopoly etc). However, this ability does not protect your hand whenever you would have to discard half to the bank when a 7 was rolled.

Your Knights may also move to/be placed on your Castle (just put your Knight piece on top of the two City Wall pieces). A Knight that is on your Castle cannot be displaced by an enemy Knight, and is not affected by the ‘Deserter’ Progress Card.

This strategy is a more generalised look at Japan’s options on her first turn of the 1941 Scenario. I have deliberately not made it overly-detailed in order to allow players more scope for their own decisions. So let us begin!

Japan has much to do at the beginning of this scenario. She is already embroiled in a land struggle against the Chinese to the west, she faces the Soviet Union in a possible stand-off situation to the north, she has to face the fact that she will (at some point) have to wake the ‘sleeping giant’ United States to the east, and finally she has the United Kingdom limited forces to contend with in the south. So, the question is – which direction does she go? Well, to be honest – all four at once! Japan starts off pretty strong in terms of armies, air and naval forces, so she can afford to split them in these different directions.

Japan begins her first turn with VERY limited financial resources; a measley 17 IPCs. (I will not advise the player as to what to purchase with these funds – this is the individual’s choice.) However, Japan has to boost her income somehow. There are resources to be grabbed in all directions, but by far the most tempting choice will be…

… to sail south and take the islands of New Guinnea and the East Indies as these are worth 4 IPCs each, and they’re completely unprotected! They also help Japan achieve one of her National Objectives, so I would strongly advise the Japanese player to do this. Also to the south is the United States island of the Philippines, not only worth 2 IPCs but a key target as it is a Victory City, needed to win the game. A skillful player will take all three islands on their first turn.

Let us now look to the west: Japan begins her first turn poised to strike the United States player where it hurts; by taking out her only Battleship in the Pacific theatre. This can be achieved through an airstrike of local Japanese Fighters and perhaps her Destroyer which is standing by. If the player is feeling expecially plucky, they may also elect to attack the US Destroyer/Transport fleet just off the Western US coastline. Eliminate all these vessels, and you will be in good stead.

To the north lies the Soviet Union. While she may not show open agression towards Japan in the early stages, that is not to say that the same should not be employed toward her! It all depends on what the SU player does first but I strongly advise the Japanese to take some Soviet territory, as Germany will already be struggling against the great Russian bear – and it is important for the Axis players to work together in subduing this beast as quickly as possible! I personally, would throw nearly everything I have in the vicinity of the Japanese mainland at these first Soviet territories. They may not be worth much (1 IPC each for the most part) but it’s still money. If you do not wish to pursue this direction immediately, at least establish a solid defencive line here to prevent the Soviets from attack YOU.

And finally, the Chinese to the east. Whilst not especially dangerous (the Chinese army consists only of Infantry units plus 1 Fighter) they should still not be underestimated, for the player who leaves the Chinese alone will live to regret it later – as they have a way of building up piles of Infantry over time, if left unchecked. However, the Chinese armies are pretty thinly spead out to begin with, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to take one or two Chinese territories out on Japan’s first turn. Although, by the time that Japan has sent her forces north, south & west there won’t be a great amount of troops left to deal with the Chinese. But again, this is why they should be subdued as quickly as possible. Be persistent here, relentless even.

The summarise then: the Soviet Union has only very limited army reserves to the north, and once these are destroyed or driven back, Japan’s road to Moscow will be clear. Keep up the pressure on the Russians with your Infantry, Artillery & Tanks. They WILL fall eventually.

Destroy as much of the United States’ naval forces as possible and then retreat back to a safer distance, in case of retaliation. Once your IPCs start rolling in (and they will), be sure to build sea units in an attempt to try and keep the US as bay, while you secure more of the southern islands and Asian mainland. This won’t be an easy task as the US can out-produce you…

Grab as much of that IPC-rich territory from the United Kingdom as possible. Secure those National Objectives and Victory Cities wherever you can. The main UK threat is India to the east, so ensure your forces are poised to take out this vital territory no later than the third turn. Luckily, the UK cannot harass you too much early on in the Pacific theatre.

Your easiest foe is indeed the Chinese but they should be systematically destroyed to prevent them from growing too strong. Try and get the all important Victory City of Hong Kong straight away; this shouldn’t be too hard to do.

If you can achieve most of these goals on your first turn you are doing well. I expect some players could even achieve more. Just remember that the wider you spread your forces in Axis & Allies, the more you will have to rely on luck of the dice!

Happy hunting!

National Objectives are in fact an optional rule but I would strongly advise using them as they help generate extra income for each player. Some NOs are easy to get whilst others are harder; however, once achieved they will significantly boost your financial resources (new players to the game will really benefit more from the extra funds. More experienced players sometimes leave this optional rule out).

Of course, your enemies have NOs of their own and it’s your job to try and deny the enemy from achieving theirs (whilst still getting your own) and this can be quite hard to do!

Most powers in the game (Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kindom, Soviet Union, United States) have between 3-4 seperate National Objectives to attain, and each is worth an extra 5 or 10 cash.

Be ruthless in achieving these objectives and you will reap the rewards in the end, possibly giving you the edge over your opponents in terms of industrial production.

This is a House Rule which allows players to perform a two turn move whereby they use their Knights to attack and take control of enemy Settlements.

Only Strong or Mighty Knights may perform a Conflagration attack; Basic Knights may not, although they may aid in the defence of a Settlement under attack. This rule affects ONLY Settlements; Cities may NOT be attacked.

In order to be able to attempt this move, you must have one or two of your Roads connecting to an enemy Settlement. Then either your Strong or Mighty Knight may be eligible to perform a Conflagration. However, they must first be within ‘attack range’ which is one space away from the target Settlement. (This is always possible due to the ‘two space rule’ which is standard in all Catan board games.)

So, supposing you have an enemy Settlement connected to one (or two) of your Roads, and you have an ACTIVE Strong or Mighty Knight(s) within one Road space away from the Settlement (attack range), you may now perform this attack – but only if your Knights are ACTIVE.

This is how it works: After having stated your intention to perform Conflagration, you move one of your active Knights along your Road to the enemy Settlement (you can NEVER move your Knight along an enemy Road). Even if you have two Knights attacking the Settlement (from different Roads), only ONE of them may actually move there in order to conquer it. Place your Knight underneath the target Settlement and de-activate him. You can do no more this turn, except of course to re-activate your Knight.

This Settlement no longer collects Resources for the original owner and is considered to be in a state of chaos. Your Knight underneath the Settlement may still be displaced by an enemy Knight as usual, using the normal rules.

On your next turn, you may then complete the Conflagration by removing both your Knight AND the enemy Settlement, and replacing them with a Settlement of your own – but again, your Knight would have to have been activated first. The Settlement is now considered to be yours and you may collect Resources from it as normal.

Knights may also participate in the defence of a Settlement under Conflagration attack, but only if those Knights are currently activated and if they are within ‘defence range’ (one space away, same as attack range). Basic Knights may take part in the defence. The attacking Knight(s) win if their combined strength is greater than that of the defending Knight(s). The defending Knight(s) win if their combined strength is equal to or greater than that of the attackers – in this case the Conflagration does not take place.

Example 1: An enemy Settlement is connected to ONE of your Roads and you have an active Strong Knight within attack range (one space away from the Settlement). However, the enemy player has TWO Basic Knights within defence range, both active also. Therefore your Knight has a strength of 2 and the two Basic Knights also have a combined strength of 2. Therefore, the Conflagration would not take place – it is a stand-off.

Example 2: An enemy Settlement is connected to TWO of your Roads and you have TWO active Strong Knights within attack range. The enemy player has ONE active Mighty Knight within defence range. This time, however, the Conflagration would place as the defending Knight has a strength of 3 whilst your two Strong Knights have a combined strength of 4.

Most players will be busy using their Knights to aid in the defence of Catan; however, this rule adds a little more spice to an already heated game. Thanks for reading – I hope you enjoyed it.

You may now purchase a Village Wall for the cost of 2 Lumber.

Place one of your City Wall pieces underneath one of your Settlements.

A Village Wall acts in the same way as a City Wall in that it allows a player to increase his hand of Resource/Commodity cards by +2 whenever a 7 is rolled on the production dice.

The Village Wall is automatically destroyed as soon as the Settlement in question is upgraded into a City.

This may seem obvious but cannot be overstated enough:

Make you sure you conquer at least 1 territory on your turn, every turn. You will need those Territory Cards in order to exchange sets for larger army reinforcements.

I’ve seen many a player attack until they’d left themselves too weak to make much of an impact early in the game, so conserve some of your Battalions to ensure you always take a territory!

Those Territory Cards are invaluable.

The beautiful thing about this standard Settlers of Catan and all its variants, is that its totally customisable. Players can achieve many different levels of experience and satisfaction by inventing their own methods, house rules etc.

My gaming group use this very simple setup variation in order to spread the resources, peter out the high & low numbers, and to give each player a more equal (in my option) chance of getting off to a good start:

Arrange the terrain hex tiles so that no two of the same kind are adjacent to each other. Then lay out the number tokens in such a way that no two of the same number token are adjacent to each other; AND – so that each different type of number token does not appear on the same terrain hex twice. For example, there are two number 9 tokens; simply ensure that they are both on different types of terrain hexes, and not adjacent to each other. May sound tricky but it can be done!

Go ahead and give it a try next time. Oh, and make sure you spread the 6 and 8 tokens far and wide!

This house rule allows players to add an extra scientific breakthrough choice during their ‘Phase 1: Develop Weapons’ stage of the game.

Improved ASDIC – Your Destroyers now attack at 3 against enemy Submarines only. Defence remains at 2.

If players find this too powerful, amend it so that each attacking Destroyer must be matched 1:1 with an enemy Submarine, in order to gain this advantage during combat. For example, if there are 2 Submarines being attacked by 4 Destroyers, only 2 of the Destroyers would gain the advantage; the other two Destroyers would still attack at 2 (as normal).