Lt. Dan's Custom Axis & Allies G40 Map! REVIEW

Lt. Dan's Custom A&A G40 Map, Siredblood style.

[combatminiatures]

Thank you Sir for the kind words and suggestions. We are soo happy with the overwhelming support of the games we have the pleasure to distribute. Lt Dan & Siredblood indded worked hard on these maps and they show it.

[christopherwilson]

Work of art for sure. The other version with color is equally as beautiful. Looking forward to your future videos. I'm sure we'll see your map in action.

[Lt.Dan..]

Thank you so much for that review! I certainly appreciate the amount of time you took to explain all of the artistic and wwii details you found interesting to share with everyone in your community. The details added will certainly give you a different playing experience that I can assure. And… you had me grinning when you were noting the distractions (pinups) added.

[samuelcicirello]

Awesome Map, you said it came in a box. So how did you get the fold lines out of the map?

[monk]

think I am gonna get this map, was not sure whether to get the one with the colour or not, but either way I am getting one

[Psalm.]

Cool looking map. Does the map have larger areas to enhance game play, like more room in England and Europe in general?

[flashgordon]

Do you have what it takes to face the Emperor’s Challenge. A balanced and more realistic setup, of the optional rules of G40 2nd. That I figured out, playing on Triple A game site, also very fun.
They are; Low Luck dice, Low luck for bombing and for AAA guns. Technology on and with Low luck for technology. Meaning that, whatever you spend on technology improvements, gets rolled over onto successive rounds, should you be unsuccessful.
A starting handicap of 15 for the Allies, including 1 mandatory Anzac infantry on New Guinea. Bc Japan can sink the entire Anzac navy on round 1, preventing Anzac getting any National bonuses permanently. So Anzac basically gets New Guinea as a freebie, unless Japan puts extra into stopping that and therefore having less ability to damage the Allies elsewhere. This more accurately reflects the true conflict of WW2.
The remaining 12 is entirely optional. Personally, I put 1 British destroyer with the Cruiser by Gibraltar. To prevent the Germans from getting full control of the Atlantic on round 1. The British have a chance to fight back, should Germany’s u boats, sink the entire British navy. This makes Sealion a little bit harder to do by round 3, giving the British a chance, to get their units in Canada over the Atlantic. Or to get them to Brazil and or North Africa/Gibraltar. Typically, this can buy Britain an extra round, to survive a full Sealion Rd 1 strategy. Allowing the Americans to have some say in the matter, as would be the case in real life.
If Japan chooses to freeze the ISA out of the war for the first 3 rds that’s an enormous opportunity for Germany to kill off. Britain, before the USA can even make a move.
With technology on, there’s a magnitude of more permutations that makes every single game unique and less repetitive. It can also prolong the game and reflects the importance of technology in reality. It can also make games quicker, should one side get the right technologies they need for a knockout blow.
The remaining 4 credits, I typically put an extra British artillery in Sudan, to help get the Italians out of East Africa and help Britain to hold onto something in the Middle East, should the Luftwaffe get heavily involved, in assisting the Italians, to get their national bonuses.
This setup that I’ve played by, about a hundred times, is the fairest and most enjoyable form of G40 2nd. The trouble with the out of the box setup, is that the Axis have the advantage of going first and they can get local Superiority anywhere they wish. There are formulas for the Axis to knock out Britain by rd 4 and India quite early as well. Then the game is usually over by Rd 6, before the Allies have a chance to implement any strategies of their own. If Britain falls and the Royal Navy is sunk early and Italy gets the edge in the Middle East, then Moscow falling by Rd 7, is inevitable.
Lastly, another change to the out of the box rules that the Emperor’s challenge includes, is to the Victory Conditions. This can be defined in two ways; Firstly: Either as knocking out 2 major Allies, Britain, Russia, USA. Or 1 Major Allies country and 2 minor countries. UK Pacific and Australia are the minors.
Secondly; As capturing the required amount of victory cities in the out of the box rules and holding them for 3 consecutive rds. Thus is bc, too many games can be won by the Axis, simply by knocking out 1 Major Allies country and 1 minor Allies country. Then all the Axis needs are the rest of the Continental Allies Cities. Which usually makes Egypt, the last stand for the Allies. This is completely unrealistic, there’s no way all the Major Allies would’ve surrendered, had Egypt, India and Moscow fallen to the Axis, for example.
If there’s 3 extra rds that the Axis have to hold onto them for then the Allies have a fair chance to make a counter attack somewhere, execute a plan that the Allies player has invested hours of time into and resolve any large naval battles that may have been brewing up for several rds, yet haven’t happened yet.
Too many games have been won by the Axis, simply by having a couple of land units in Egypt. When the Allies have masses of military a couple of rds away.
In other words, there should be some flexibility and discretion with the victory conditions. Both players are still free, to concede at any time, should they wish to and they should be given enough fair opportunity, to exhaust their plans and ideas to swing the game in their favour. Also some players think further ahead than others. An Axis player may have a pre set formula to win the game by rd 5 or 6. While typically the Allies plans will take 8 - 10 rds, to come to fruition.