This is the first of several posts I’m going to make. I’m not sure where, if anywhere, these are going to go, but I’d like to start some dialogue about several issues in the game we’ve run across to see about coming up with some tweaks to the game, or at least some possible rules for the next game.
Peter and I were talking and going over some of our past games and in our conversation we realized we were noticing some of the same things. I don’t know if these are things that have been noticed by other groups or not. However, as we were talking we realized we’ve been playing at least once a week now for about the last 18-20 months, so we’ve probably gotten in as much (or even more) time playing the game as just about anyone else, so it may be that we’ve seen things just because we’ve gotten so many games under our belt.
None of these things are game-breakers (with maybe one exception), so to speak, but they are things that seem to either happen over and over and/or are unrealistic. So, in no particular order, here are some of the things we’ve been talking about.
Dutch East Indies
This is something that, though it hasn’t affected game play all that much, is probably one of the most unrealistic things we’re seeing in our games. Every game, as Japan goes to war, they invariably go after the victory points spread through the Pacific – and never even so much as nod their head at the DEI. This is a blatant disregard of historical reality, of course. Japan’s entire reason for going to war was to secure access to enough oil to keep their military (especially their navy) operating – that oil was in the DEI. Japan’s major thrust at the outbreak of war was to head directly to take the DEI. They knew that once war broke out the Dutch would likely sabotage the oil wells and wreck all of the equipment (which is exactly what happened). This meant that Japan couldn’t simply take the DEI and start shipping oil back home – repairs were going to take at least several months before they would be able to start oil production again. Japan’s hope was that if they took the DEI in the first three months of the war to be able to begin shipping oil by the end of 1942. In other words, it wasn’t enough to just take the oil producing areas; they had to take them as quickly as possible so as to begin getting the oil flowing as quickly as possible.
I understand that in the game, the victory points for Rabaul, Port Moresby, Guadalcanal, etc. are necessary in order to cause each side to fight over territory that was important in WWII. This helps give a historical flavor to the fighting going on in the Pacific. At the same time, it looks very odd indeed to see Japanese ships going right past the DEI on their way to other objectives. Now, I know that it can be argued that the economic value of the DEI territories should be enough to encourage quick occupation. The problem is that usually when Japan comes into the war the Axis are in the low to mid 30’s in VP’s, meaning that if Japan can take the VP’s at Rabaul, Port Moresby, Rabaul, Manila, Singapore, Midway, and Gilbert Islands (and maybe go after Australia and/or India) they can often lock up a win without Japan even having to glance at what was historically their primary objective and reason for going to war – namely, the oil of the DEI. Jason in our group stated it bluntly – “the income of the DEI is nothing – it’s the VP’s that matter.”
I’m not sure how to address this, but I do think it needs to be addressed, since in a game of WWII it seems really strange to have one of the major antagonists not even go after what was their major objective historically. Some ideas I’m kicking around (please feel free to comment):
1) Add a couple of VP sites on the DEI. This is probably the easiest to do, but I’m reluctant to go this route. The VP’s seem fairly balanced as is, and I’m fairly confident that just adding a couple of VP sites without making the correct adjustments to the numbers needed for victory through the rest of the game will likely skew the balance.
2) No VP’s in the Pacific other than what Japan starts with count toward the VP total until Japan is able to conquer and hold all four DEI territories for one full turn.
3) Same as above, but simpler – the Axis cannot win the game until/unless Japan satisfies the conditions above.
4) Peter’s suggestion was that if Japan doesn’t take the DEI by a certain turn that their ships only get half of their movement points (both tactical and strategic) until such time as they do.
5) Japan cannot invade Port Moresby, Rabaul, Guadalcanal, or the Gilbert Islands until the turn after all four DEI territories have been conquered. Historically, this may make the most sense, since the moves toward these areas was to protect the DEI from attack while at the same time threatening Allied supply lines. This could also be combined with 2 or 3 above, but I think not allowing invasions in the Coral Sea area until the DEI are secure is probably enough to ensure that Japan fulfills what was historically their primary objective.
6) The same as above, but instead of the 4 DEI territories Japan may satisfy the requirement by taking the four eastern-most Soviet territories since the Siberian oil reserves would satisfy their requirements for oil. Either option allows Japan to move into the Coral Sea area, but they must take all four territories of one of the two areas. Historically, taking Siberia would represent Japan going with the Army plan instead of the plan developed by the navy.
