If you want a fun, hard solitaire version of Total World War, try Pax Americana, the invasion of the USA by the Axis & Communist armies.
Total World War USA Solitaire can be found at:
http://www.rainbownerd.com/wargaming/twwusa.zip
You must have first downloaded the Total World War set.
Place the XML file in:
Users à (username) à triplea à maps à Total_World_War à games
(You can also unzip this to a separate folder. Unlike other zip files, it will not work on its own)
You will find 2 other game files there.
The other 2 files are identical rule files, one in Word and one in Wordpad (rtf).
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In 1940 the world was in shock. Italy had conquered Ethiopia. Spain had become Fascist. Austria and Czechoslovakia had been absorbed by Germany. Large parts of China had been overrun. Germany had conquered Poland, Luxembourg, Holland, Belgium, Norway, and France. Russia had conquered part of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and part of Finland.
Germany was allied with Italy, Japan, and Russia. Facing them was only the battered British Empire and what was left of China. And, Germany was getting ready to invade Britain, which had lost all of its heavy arms in France. It had nothing to face the Panzer Divisions, except rifles and hand grenades.
Many people believed that the conquest of Britain was immanent, followed by the invasion of the USA. Life Magazine wrote a pictorial essay in 1942 with maps and battle plans showing how a Nazi/Japanese invasion could succeed.
Reprint:
Two books were written in 1940 about fictional accounts on the invasion of America in an attempt to warn America. One was about a Nazi invasion of New England around 1940 after the fall of England. The other was Lightning in the Night by Fred Allhoff. It was a fictional account of the invasion of America by the forces of Germany/Italy/Russia/Japan. It began with surprise air raids at Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal in 1945 and ended with the atomic bomb (remember, this was published in 1940!).
Many alternate history books have been written since then postulating an Axis invasion and/or victory vs. the USA. But, this fear was palpable in 1940.
Wargaming has also played with the idea of a Nazi/Japanese invasion of America, not always with approval. Case Geld was proposed by SPI in 1978 and then canceled due to wargamer objections. However, since then we have seen such titles as Tomorrow the World and America in Flames.
So, how about such a scenario for TripleA? And, why not use Total World War, the most intricate of the TripleA modules? It was easy to change the alliances. However, it was also an easy win for the US. The computer player (More N Able) simply couldn’t handle this. Britain did fine, although her minor allies built nothing and didn’t even get their free materials. Russia did fine. Germany and Italy didn’t place anything. Japan used about 2/3 of its PU’s to build transports. China did fine and helped take Turkey. However, after that it just stockpiled Materials.
It turns out that if a country cannot place a unit, it places no units. So, computer players had their build availabilities drastically limited so they could not build anything they could not place. In addition, Trucks, Materials, and Hulls were no longer needed. Also, the computer’s prime build areas were given a complete set of installations (factory, barracks, docks (if applicable), aircraft plant, and research center. Cameroon is a special case. The Exiled Allies will be able to build DD’s and Transports as the Axis take US islands. So, they need a protected province with docks so their build queue will not get stuck.
It also turns out that even when the computer is successful at research, the research is seldom acquired (maybe 5-10% of the time). So, the most important research for the computer is added by the human with the game editor.
The computer is also susceptible to kamikaze attacks against its capital. However, such raids are much more difficult with 10 Fortresses present. If the human can defeat 10 Fortresses, he would likely have defeated a normal human defended capital.
With the new adjustments the transport problem never appeared. However, if it reappears I will apply this house rule: Wherever there are more than 10 enemy transports at the enemy home bases I will trade each pair of transports for 1 regular destroyer and 1 regular infantry and 1 artillery until I get down to 9-10 transports. Example: If on my US turn I see 13 unloaded transports off Tokyo, I will replace 4 transports with 2 destroyers in the same sea zone and 2 regular infantry and 2 artillery in Tokyo.
The computer will come at the human player with an increasingly large broadsword. The US player has to use his rapier to maximum effect (read about the special US unit trained to track down and kill bluebeard the pirate). To enhance the human player’s rapier, he gets unlimited fortresses, entrenchments, and research centers. In addition, he gets 4 minor neutral allies to distract and delay the enemy. The human needs to play these well as each turn’s delay is precious. This is a very difficult game at the Colonel difficulty level.
As with any human vs. computer game, 2-hit units are gold. But with their research time and cost, it is very difficult to build them.
Watch out for sequential moves – an attack by one army and then another army. When I play the General difficulty level, I will not build any installations on the coast.
And Man Up and play with regular dice. They show the vagaries of war and keep you on your toes. Make sure you have reserves.
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Total World War: USA – Axis/Communist invasion of the USA solitaire scenario.
1. Alliances:
a. USA/Sweden/Turkey/Spain/Brazil (Played by Human)
b. Axis: Germany/Italy/Japan/Britain (and their minor Allies) (Played by Computer – More N. Able)
c. Communists: Russia/China (Played by Computer – More N. Able)
The Axis countries are all allied together.
The Communists are all allied together.
The US and 4 small countries are allied together.
The Axis and Communists are Cooperative.
The Axis and Communists are at war against the US & allies.
2. Map changes:
a. The primary capitals of the 6 Major enemy nations have 10 Fortresses and 10 anti-air guns.
b. All 6 enemy Major nations’ secondary capitals and all enemy minor allies’ primary and secondary capitals and Cameroon have 5 Entrenchments and 5 anti-air guns.
c. All hulls have been replaced with BB’s.
d. Cameroon (Exiled Allies) has been given docks.
e. Each of the 6 major enemies now has 4 research centers.
f. Each enemy area with a research center now has a factory, a barracks, an aircraft plant, and, if applicable, docks.
3. Rules (xml) changes:
a. Unlimited (well, 99) research centers, Entrenchments, and Fortresses may now be built.
b. The build options of the enemy countries have been severely curtailed. They cannot build BB’s, CV’s, Hulls, Trucks, Materials, Entrenchments, Fortresses, or any type of infantry, except regular infantry.
'4. Player Editing:' Every 5 turns, on the US turn, the Player must edit the game. You only need to add the technology if the 6 enemies have it available (China may not be able to get it and the other 5 may have already have researched it.) This is only for the 6 major enemies, not the US.
Turn 1 - Special Warfare
Turn 5 - Improved Destroyers
Turn 10 – Improved Special Warfare
Turn 15 – Advanced Special Warfare
Turn 20 – Improved Tanks
Turn 25 – Improved Artillery
Turn 30 – Improved Mechanization
Turn 35 – Improved Anti-Tank
Turn 40 – Improved Anti-Air
Turn 45 – Advanced Anti-Tank
Turn 50 – Advanced Anti-Air
Every 5 Turns starting with turn 55 – Your choice of technology (But, give all countries the same technology)
5. Victory conditions: Pax Americana – Conquer the world (and liberate your allies).
6. Difficulty Levels:
(General) Use the above rules. In addition, every 10 turns carry out the following Player Editing (Turn 10, turn 20, etc.):
a. Installation sabotage: Remove 1 each of the following from US player (if you have at least 1) – Entrenchment, Fortress, airfield, research center, aircraft plant, barracks, factory, and docks.
b. National desperation effort: For each of the 6 major enemies that own their Primary capital, add the following units. Add 1 of each for every 10 turns that have elapsed: Turn 10 – add 1 of each type, Turn 20 – add 2 of each type, etc. Place land units in the Primary capital and sea units in the same sea area closest to the Primary capital, your choice in case of ties. There need not be docks present. This should result in 28 unit types being added, except for China. China will have 7 land unit types, 2 air unit types, and 4 sea unit types.
(1) Land units – All 5 types of infantry, AT gun, the 3 artilleries, mech, and both tanks – 12 land unit types.
(2) Air units – All 8 types of air units (no rockets)
(3) Sea units – All 8 types of sea units. (Note: place the 2 naval air units in the sea zone with the carrier.)
(Colonel) Use the above rules without the special rules for the General level difficulty.
(Lieutenant) Use the Colonel level difficulty, but delay Rule #4 by 5 turns. Special Warfare on Turn 5, Improved Destroyers on turn 10, Improved Special Warfare on Turn 15, etc.
(Major) Use the Lieutenant level difficulty, but on US turn 1 edit in 10 Fortresses and 10 anti-air guns in Washington D.C. and 5 Entrenchments and 5 anti-air guns in Chicago and Panama Canal.
(Captain) Use the Major level difficulty, but on US turn 1 also edit in 3 entrenchments and 3 anti-air guns in every continental US coastal province (not Washington D.C.).
(Lieutenant) Use the Captain level difficulty, but on US turn 1 also remove all enemy pieces except the flagpoles and LL sign in North America.
(Second Lieutenant) Use the Lieutenant level difficulty, but on US turn 1 also place 3 each of regular infantry and artillery and tanks in each Canadian coastal and island province.