From: barich@bach.udel.edu (Dewey H Barich)
Subject: Re: A&A House Rules
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 05:03:23 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.005232.6805@ll.mit.edu> shoham@ll.mit.edu (Daniel Shoham) writes:
>The following "house rules" are used at the M.I.T. games club. They were
>developed (mostly) by Howard Mohler and are reproduced here with his
>permission. Many hundreeds of games have been played under these rules over
>the past decade. This variant appears balanced.
>Some of the rules have been adopted in some of the MB editions.

Interesting.  But I'd rather use the MB rules...

Just a few comments...

>MAP MODIFICATIONS:
>1. Panama: The sea zone around Panama is divided to two zones (one on each
>side of the canal)

This is actually the rule in 2nd edition.


>STRAITS:
>Unless a side controls a straits, surface ships may not cross it (unlike a
>canal, where submarines cannot cross it either). The following are Straits:

Again, this is the rules (although there are more locations given this
variant).

>STARTUP BONUS:
>As their populations are enthusiastic about the war, Germany and Japan get a
>bonus of $8 and $4, respectively, in the begining and the end of the first
>turn. Afterward, (when the body-bags arrive home, and people realize that
>war is hell) no more bonus.

I don't like this.  The game begins in Spring, 1942.  The Germans have
been fighting for 2.5 years (Invasion of Poland; September 1, 1939), and
have been militarily active before that (way before).  The Japanese have
been involved in fighting for a long time as well (sorry, dates I do not
remeber).  Perhaps I should restate -- I don't like the _basis_ for this
rule.

>JOINT COMMAND:
>After new units are produced (i.e. the last action of a turn) joint command of
>forces may be assumed. Any unit in a province may take command of ALL (friendly)

Well, this is just a bit more complicated that the Commander-in-Chief
Rules from the First edition Rules, but the concept is the same.
Opinion, of course, but I never liked them, I think the game now (2nd
edition) is better sans these rules.

>DISCOUNTED HARDWARE:
>1. Subs        $6
>2. Battleships $20
>3. I.C.        $10

Why?

>I.C. LIMITS:
>An I.C. (including initial I.C.'s) can produce goods valued at no more than
>5 times the province's value. (Thus, an I.C. in Manchuria can produce $15 worth
>of goods per turn - say 3 tanks or 5 infs.) Note that Russia can never build a
>capital ship (unless it captures a German factory).
>The capacity of an I.C. is reduced by $1 for each Bombing die rolled against
>it in the past turn. (i.e. a japanese I.C. in Manchuria that was bombed by
>a British and by a U.S. bomber will - for that turn onle - have capacity
>reduced to $13). An I.C. may not be bombed for more than its capacity (i.e.
>if three bombers bomb Manchuria for a total of $18, only $15 are paid).

Very interesting.

>BRIBED OVERFLIGHTS:
>At a cost of $3 (per province) a player may bribe a neutral province to
>overlook air-units overflights. The bribe would allow violation of the Neutral
>airspace by as many air units as desired during one (nation's) turn. This
>action does not cause the Neutral to become occupied or to become less Neutral.

Again, rather close to the real rules.

>CAPTURING A CAPITAL:
>When a capital is captured, the attacker is awarded 1/2 the cash of the
>defender (rounded down) with the rest of the money destroyed. A player whoose
>capital is captured continues to collect income (from his other provinces) but
>may not build anything. (Research, see below, may still be performed).
>At the beginning of its turn, a capital-less nation may declare civil disorder
>by removing all its units from the board and returning all its cash to the
>bank. (This will allow its allies to "capture" its former provinces and get
>income for them). Civil disorder is not reversible.

I don't think I like this, either.  Income in this game is based on
resources that were made use of.  If the government is gone, there is no
means of putting the resources to use.  I do like the part about only
1/2 of the cash being passed on, but this is probably not too
significant, since the amount passed on is usually rather small (since
most of the non-capital territories have been lost).

>TRANSPORTS:
>A Transport must do all its pick-ups (in a given turn) at the same place.
OK, I'll but it
>A Transport must do all its drop-offs (in a given turn) at the same place.

Again, this is the rule (actually, not quite.  You can drop off units to
more than one territor provided that this is non-combat AND the two
territories are adjacent to the same sea zone).

>Amphibious  landing units may not retreat from battle, other units with them
>(such as air units) may retreat, leaving the marines to fight on their own.

I do like this, this is one of my gripes with the game.  But I'm not
sure I could defend it.  Back in those days, I'm not sure it would have
been so easy to know the land assault was going badly and that the air
cover should retreat.  Obviously, I don't have first hand knowledge.


>RESEARCH:
I try to avoid research period, so I don't have any reall comment here.
I simply play the game strategically, and thus try to leave out the luck
factors that are created by technology.  My loss, perhaps.


Overall, I think this is a very interesting approach, although I fail to
see why some of the changes were necessary (being so close to the
original rules).

Nice work, though!

>Dan Shoham
>shoham@ll.mit.edu

Dewey
Newsgroups: rec.games.board