Axis and Allies Custom Map - Operation Sealion

Last year a friend of mine gave me a free copy of A&A 1941 after I said it looked like an interesting game. So me and some college buddies had been playing it consistently for about a semester when we decided we wanted to take it to the next level. We purchased A&A 1940 Pacific and Europe and ever since we've been hooked on the franchise.

A&A can sometimes take many hours to play and isn't usually fun when you only have 2 or 3 people playing. So I proposed to my friends that we look into the smaller games like D-Day, Bulge, or Guadalcanal. I watched a few people play it and they didn't look too bad but seemed like they were definitely for beginners but what we wanted was a smaller game that could fit 2 players and take only 2-3 hours while not surrendering game play toughness and strategy. I also didn't feel like paying $70+ for a game. So I began looking into building my own custom map.

Beginning setup

Close up of the channel 

Note the railroad system in England

The English can make an easy jump from Kent to Calais

The latter end of the game where Germany slowly pushes it's way in from the West

I took several old game boards, covered the old game background with black paper and then blank white paper. A scenario I thought would be cool was Operation Sealion, the proposed German invasion of England in 1940. I looked at several maps of England and France and decided the map could accommodate Northern France and southern England. I traced out regions in both countries to the best of my abilities and tried to give both nations approximately the same amount of territory while still being historically accurate. Instead of coloring them in fully I just bolded the borders with each nation's respective color (Green for Germans - Red for British). I also colored in the channel and boxed off seazones. The only 2 regions in mainland Europe that aren't controlled by the Germans are Luxembourg and Switzerland. However, they are both pro-allied neutrals.

Scenario and Rules: The objective of the game is for the Germans to capture London or for the British to capture German Occupied Paris. The rules are basically the same as the rest of the A&A games with a few new perks added. To make the game go faster and to make it more historically accurate I introduced railroad networks. For example, a rail system goes from the Rhineland, through Paris, and up to Lower Normandy. The advantage of this is that any unit that is moving from a territory with a railroad and is going into another territory with a railroad gets +1 movement for either combat or non-combat moves. So an infantry unit moving from Dover to London can move 2 spaces instead of the usual 1 as long as it stays on the railroad path. Now, the railroads are permanent, can't be destroyed, and nor can you build new ones. I also thought it would be appropriate to add pillboxes to make coastal defense stronger. Pillboxes can only defend and they can't be moved. They have a defense of 2 and a cost of 3 but can only be built on coastal territories. In a sense they are actually worse than infantry in terms of strategic value and economics but add a nice element to a game that in centered around coastal defense and amphibious assault. However, most players probably won't buy more pillboxes once they are destroyed. Also, the Germans get to call in 3 paratrooper drops throughout each game. One drop is one paratrooper that can land on any coastal territory. More paratroopers cannot be purchased. The advantage is that paratroopers have 2 attack instead of the usual 1 and obviously do not require a transport to move. Lastly, the purchasing scheme is the same as all the other game with the addition of pillboxes.

Balance: Germany starts out ready for the offensive with more infantry, bombers, and transports but less economic power. England has a larger Navy and more fighters. England also has 5 factories while Germany only has 3 and most are away from the coast (factories can't be moved, built, or destroyed). In the game their are also naval ports and airports which allow those units to move +1 spaces. Also, if Britain keeps all of it's original territory they get 5 bonus production points at the collection stage of their turn. I call it the Lend-Lease National Objective. Germany's national objective is called the Clear Channel. If all British naval units are gone from the game then Germany naval units can move +1 spaces and an extra infantry unit in Normandy (not exclusive to one turn). I ran several simulations to make sure the fighting and economics were equal but had to factor in geography and unit placement.

Starting production:
Germany - 29
Britain - 32

Germany:
seazone 2 - 2 submarines
seazone 4 - 1 transport
seazone 9 - 1 transport
seazone 11 - 2 destroyers
seazone 10 - 2 transports
seazone 23 - transport & battleship
Upper Normandy - 4 bombers/1 infantry
Lower Normandy - 4 infantry/1 tank/ 1 fighter
Reven - 2 fighters/1 infantry/3 tanks
Rhineland - 1 infantry/1 tank
Calais - 1 bomber/1 fighter/2 infantry
Ilse of France - 6 infantry/1 fighter/1 tank

Britiain:
seazone 7 - 1 submarine/1 aircraft carrier
seazone 13 - 1 submarine/1 transport/1 battleship
seazone 18 - 1 destroyer/1 submarine
seazone 26 - 1 battleship/2 transports/1 destroyer
Cheshire - 1 infantry
Dorset - 1 tank/2 infantry/2 fighters
Hampshire - 2 fighters/1 infantry
Surrey - 2 tanks/1 fighter/1 infantry
Kent - 4 infantry
Essex - 1 tank
Suffolk - 1 bomber/1 infantry/2 tanks

Testing: So far I have played one game and I plan on playing many more once this college semester starts. I played as Germany and my cousin played as Britain. Since I'm the much more experienced player I played on the harder side. I wanted the game to be setup so Germany was on the offensive and Britain on the defensive but Britain did actually take Calais for atleast 2 turns. I'm guessing I will have to tweak the amount of starting units in order to make it more balanced. What I have noticed is that at the beginning of the game both sides try and destroy each others navy before attempting any amphibious assaults. Both sides start with several transports (Germany more) but they are vulnerable to air attacks which is why air units play another important role. Germany tries to invade around Dorset or Devon which starts out with almost no defenses but from there it a long way to London. We started at midnight and ended around 3 am with Germany winning but it wasn't easy.

Conclusion: Really excited to play this game but still needs to be tested. I want to make other ones too including Stalingrad, the Siege of Bastogne, and maybe an alternative scenario where Germany invades Washington, D.C. Any suggestions will help!