Initial rough draft
I've been working on this project on and off for a while, and I believe I'm making some inroads lately. First, some opening remarks. This is intended to be a boardgame, even if one with many regions and some complexity, and as a board game it has some limitations Regions can’t be too large for many of the conflicts in the Kaiserreich universe to work, especially when compared to normal WWII games, but you need to put some tokens on them. For the first playtests, I’ll be using cardboard tokens around 1cm in size. This is very much a work in progress. An idea for all continents is to delete many small islands and greatly reduce the number of sea zones. All feedback and assistance is appreciated.
The map
Americas
Overall the simplest continent to work on, but some things gave me trouble
Entente
Canada is very simple on paper with its large provinces, but I’m having a bit of trouble to port actual borders on the map for some reason. It should have around 6: Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Plains, North-western Territory and Newfoundland. Not sure about their production values either. Nova Scotia/New Brunswick could be a region too… probably overthinking this. Canada should be strong, but much weaker than the Union of Britain on its own. It should have some weight, but the strength of the Entente is its numerous countries.
Jamaica and the Franco-British Caribbean should be 1 region worth 1. Unsure about their possessions in South America (and Dutch Guiana)
Internationale
Mexico has 5 regions (8): Mexico City (2), Baya (1), Yucatan (1) and 2 that need good names (2) and (2). It feels a bit lightweight, but it shouldn’t be a powerhouse either.
Chile has 2 regions (4): Santiago (3) and Coquimbo (provisional name) (1)
Reichspakt
The Americas are only continents that don’t feel the Kaiser’s iron grip… so far.
United States
United States has 22 regions (43): Washington (1), New England (2), New York (4), Atlantic (3), Upper South (2), Virginias (2), Carolinas 2, Deep South (2), Louisiana (2), Texas (3), Steel Belt (3), Great Lakes (3), Midwest (2), Great Plains (2), Dakotas (1), Southwest (1), Rockies (2), Cascadia (2), California (3), Hawaii (1), Alaska (1), Panama (1)
Not that egregious considering the United States have a population of 130 million people and is the strongest economy in the world on paper, but I can’t help but feel it’s still too many. I thought about giving fusing the Virginias with the Upper South in an Appalachia region, or the Dakotas with either the Great Plains or the Rockies but it may be unbalanced.
Miscellaneous Americans
Brazil has 5 regions (11): Sao Paolo (4), Amazonia (1), Salvador (3), Mato Grosso (1) and Rio Grande (2)
Uruguay has 1 region (2)
Argentina has 4 regions (7): Buenos Aires (3), Cordoba (2), Chaco (1) and Patagonia (1). Some may be renamed.
Paraguay has 2 regions (2): Asuncion (1) and Grand Chaco (1)
Bolivia has 2 regions: La Paz (2) and Santa Cruz (1)
Peru needs to be reduced to 2 regions at most
Venezuela and Colombia both have 2 regions, but unsure of what to do with them.
Next comes the Caribbean: Cuba, 1 region or 2? Haiti and the Dominican republic, 1 region or 2? What about Puerto Rico?
Similarly, Central America is complex. Do we fuse it a bit like it was done in old Kaiserreich? Or do we keep it down to 2-3 small single region states? What about Nicaragua being syndicalist?
Europe
Overall, Europe is very complex. You need to have many small regions to represent its fracture and to allow important battles over it, but then regions may be too small to put tokens on it and make the situation confused. I expect to fuse many regions.
Internationale
The Union of Britain is composed of 4 regions (12): London (5), Manchester (4), Wales (1) and Scotland (2)
The Commune of France has 8 (12): Paris (3), Normandy (1), Brittany (1), Aquitaine (2), Occitainie (1), Marseille (2), Auvergne (1), Grand Est (1). Thinking about combining Aquitaine and Occitanie in a region worth 3.
Red Italy has 3 (6): Piedmont (2), Tuscany (2), Emilia (1)
Entente
Monarchist Italy (with Papal states) has 4 (6): Rome (2), Mezzogiorno (2), Sicily 1, Sardinia 1. Thought about combining Rome with the Mezzogiorno, or making Rome worth 1 (it is a fairly small region on the map, unless we enlarge it)
Portugal has 2: Lisbon (2) and Norte (1). Colonies will be 2 or 3 provinces.
Reichspakt in Europe
Germany has 10 regions (20): Alsace-Lorraine (2), Rhineland (3), Berlin (2), Bavaria (3), Saxony (2), Prussia (2), Pomerania (1), Schwelsig (2), Hamburg (2), Stettin (1). Thinking about combining Prussia with Pomerania
Ukraine has 5 regions (7): Kiev (2), Brest (1), Odessa (2), Donbas (1), Crimea (1)
Flanders-Wallonia are 2 regions, each worth 2 (and without German annexation they're already a puppet and the map looks nicer this way). Alternatively, Belgium could be 1 region worth 3
Poland is a region worth 2
Ruthenia is a region worth 1
Lithuania is a region worth 2
Finland has 2 (3): Helsinki (2) and Lapland (1)
The Baltic Duchy is a either a region worth 2 OR 2 regions worth 1 each?
As we can see, the 2nd Weltkrieg is massively skewed in favour Germany here, and that’s without Austria-Hungary factoring in… How can the syndicalists stand a chance? We’ll see later.
Austria-Hungary (14 regions for 22)
Austria+Illyria has 6 (9): Vienna (2), Trent (1), Salzburg (2), Trieste (2), Bosnia 1, Montengro 1
Hungary has 5 (8): Budapest (2), Slovakia (2), Debrecen (1) Transylvania (1), Croatia (2)
Czechia has 2 (3): Bohemia (2) and Moravia (1)
Galicia has 1 (2)
The internal division of the empire isn’t that important right now, but it will have a role once we get down to policies.
Russia
It should have around 20 regions or so. Most will be worth 1, and vast swathes of Siberia can be cut up this way. The rework for it isn’t out yet, but I support the idea of removing Don-Kuban. Vladivostok/Transamur as a puppet of Japan at the start of the game can stay however. Not sure on how to handle the Caucasus.
Mischellaneous European
Bulgaria has 4 provinces (5): Macedonia (1), Sofia (2), Varna (1), Thrace (1)
Ireland has Dublin (2) and Ulster (1)
Netherlands is 1 region worth 2+colonies for later
Serbia is 1 (2)
Greece will be probably 2 (mainland+Crete)
Republican Italy has 2: Milan (2), Venice (2) OR a single region called Lombardy-Venetia worth 3? Should it be neutral or a puppet of Austria similarly to the Reichspakt’s minor countries?
Spain has 5: Madrid (2), Castille-Leon (2), Andalusia (1), Catalonia (2), Basque country (1)+Spanish Morocco (0) and Sahara (0)
Spanish Morocco may be absorbed by normal Morocco to represent a protectorate and have simpler borders
Albania is 1 region worth 1
Romania 2 (4): Bucharest (2), Bessarabia (2)
Norway has 2 regions (3): Oslo (2) and Narvik (1)
Denmark has 3 regions (3): Copenhagen (2), Iceland (1), Greenland (0)
Haven't touched Switzerland but it'll be reduce to 1 or 2 provinces at most.
Need to cut Sweden in 2, preferably vertically (Goteborg on one side and Stockholm on the other)
Asia and Oceania
This continent has been barely touched.
I made some attempts to divide Japan, but it may be too fiddly. It has tons of overseas regions so we may get away by splitting the archipelago in 2 or 3 regions.
Mongolia will be 2 or 3 regions of low value but large size. I see our friend Roman carving up large sizes of barely inhabited land with his Pan-Mongolian army and generous Japanese funding.
China is a terrible mess in Kaiserreich, and while it is entertaining, it needs to be massively simplified. For now, the idea is to turn all the warlord states into large single regions worth a lot of production (3 to 5), while combining the Eight provinces with the empire proper. But what can Fengtian do against it? No idea yet, but it would likely include massive Japanese support.
Certain cities like Shanghai (maybe Hong Kong too?) will be controlled by Germany.
Tibet can be one large, low production region englobing Bhutan (or it can just stay a small space on the map without much value).
Nepal can be a region of value 2.
India is still being reworked as we speak, but I think it’s fair to say there will be one syndicalist-friendly republic and one remaining British dominion.
Australia is sparsely populated. The west can be a single region, the east 2, with the nearly impassable central desert separating them.
New Zealand will be 2 regions of low value (maybe one worth 1, the other 2?)
Persia looks alright, but unsure about its values. May cut it down to 3 regions rather than 4
Afghanistan as large blob of value 1 is alright for me.
Indochina is complex. I have a conflicting relationship with it, as I don’t think it should be under the German orbit, but hey, it’s not my setting. Should be divided in 2 or 3.
Thailand/Siam can work in 2 or 3 regions
Dutch Indonesia should be simplified in 2 or 3 regions. Maybe give them some of Malaysia? Singapore sounds like the kind of place Germany could take over easily for massive advantage
Philippines can be 2 regions (sorry all those little islands)
Africa
Worked a bit on national France, but it’s far from done.
Egypt is a regional power, and should be split in 4 or so provinces + Suez (under German control… for now)
Libya is split in 2: Tripoli (1) and Cyrenaica (1)
Liberia is fine as is, worth (1)
As said before, Morocco could be a large region englobing Spanish Morocco as a Spanish protectorate.
Mittelafrika is the heart of darkness figuratively and literally. Not sure how to split it, but it should have enough regions to allow Entente/International/US to go set up some rebel states
Mozambique is fine in 1 region, not sure on Angola
Abyssinia will be a couple of regions.
Somalia will be 1 under Germany.
South Africa can work with 4 regions: Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Rhodesia. Not sure on their production values.
Gameplay
You have 3 to 8 players: Entente, Internationale, Reichspakt, Austria-Hungary, Russia, United States, Japan and the Ottoman Empire.
The objective of the game is to either outmanoeuvre diplomatically or crush militarily the opposing powers.
Turn structure
Political phase: the turn player gains political suppor: certain Policies and having a minor power fully on your side will give you some.
Then they can implement a Policy. These will take the form of a card detailing what it does (generating support, gain "free" units, backing a coup/supporting a party in an election in a neutral country), its cost in either production points, political support or both (that may vary depending on conditions in the field). I would also like to implement politician characters to fill (small) cabinets to give certain bonuses and make certain policies compatible with only certain ideologies (there won’t be as many as in base Kaiserreich that’s for sure), but this may be way too much to begin with.
Production phase: The player collects their production tokens and spends them Infantry costs 1 production, armour costs 2 and planes 3. For fleets, submarines costs 2 and capital ships cost 4. They are placed on the side and deployed in the Mobilization phase. Each power and minor nation has a cap for each unit type, but it can be raised by policies. You can also recruit a General character. Each costs some political support and compatible with only certain ideologies when that will be implemented. Technological research will take place here when implemented.
Operations phase: The turn player can then declare movements and invasions. Infantry moves by one state, tanks and planes 2, which means they can attack up to two territories. If they enter a neutral or enemy territory, combat starts.
All units roll 1 die. Attacker rolls first, while the defender can roll dice equal to the territory’s production to represent militias. Infantry and militia hit on a 5+, planes and tanks on a 4+. Planes of both sides fight each other first, then the winning side can use them in the ground fight. The attacker may call off his planes or ground forces at any moment, and the defender can similarly always retreat to a friendly adjacent territory if possible. General characters can be used to give a bonus in one separate combat each.
Submarines hit on 5+ move up to 2 sea zones, can decide not to attack enemy ships when entering the same sea zone, but can't attack twice in a turn. Capital ships move 1 sea zone, hit on 4+ (6 against subs) and can survive 2 hits.
I have also thought about a more granular system. For instance, a poorly trained or equipped infantry unit would hit on 5+ while regular modern forces would hit on 4+. Will need some playtesting, especially regarding the costs.
Mobilization phase: units produced this turn are placed on territories that can accommodate them, even newly captured ones. States can accommodate produced units equal to their production value.
And that’s it. A bit simple for now, but depth will be added. When I manage tp playtest this, I will focus on a continent first to see how the mechanics work (probably Europe or America).
The map
Americas
Overall the simplest continent to work on, but some things gave me trouble
Entente
Canada is very simple on paper with its large provinces, but I’m having a bit of trouble to port actual borders on the map for some reason. It should have around 6: Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Plains, North-western Territory and Newfoundland. Not sure about their production values either. Nova Scotia/New Brunswick could be a region too… probably overthinking this. Canada should be strong, but much weaker than the Union of Britain on its own. It should have some weight, but the strength of the Entente is its numerous countries.
Jamaica and the Franco-British Caribbean should be 1 region worth 1. Unsure about their possessions in South America (and Dutch Guiana)
Internationale
Mexico has 5 regions (8): Mexico City (2), Baya (1), Yucatan (1) and 2 that need good names (2) and (2). It feels a bit lightweight, but it shouldn’t be a powerhouse either.
Chile has 2 regions (4): Santiago (3) and Coquimbo (provisional name) (1)
Reichspakt
The Americas are only continents that don’t feel the Kaiser’s iron grip… so far.
United States
United States has 22 regions (43): Washington (1), New England (2), New York (4), Atlantic (3), Upper South (2), Virginias (2), Carolinas 2, Deep South (2), Louisiana (2), Texas (3), Steel Belt (3), Great Lakes (3), Midwest (2), Great Plains (2), Dakotas (1), Southwest (1), Rockies (2), Cascadia (2), California (3), Hawaii (1), Alaska (1), Panama (1)
Not that egregious considering the United States have a population of 130 million people and is the strongest economy in the world on paper, but I can’t help but feel it’s still too many. I thought about giving fusing the Virginias with the Upper South in an Appalachia region, or the Dakotas with either the Great Plains or the Rockies but it may be unbalanced.
Miscellaneous Americans
Brazil has 5 regions (11): Sao Paolo (4), Amazonia (1), Salvador (3), Mato Grosso (1) and Rio Grande (2)
Uruguay has 1 region (2)
Argentina has 4 regions (7): Buenos Aires (3), Cordoba (2), Chaco (1) and Patagonia (1). Some may be renamed.
Paraguay has 2 regions (2): Asuncion (1) and Grand Chaco (1)
Bolivia has 2 regions: La Paz (2) and Santa Cruz (1)
Peru needs to be reduced to 2 regions at most
Venezuela and Colombia both have 2 regions, but unsure of what to do with them.
Next comes the Caribbean: Cuba, 1 region or 2? Haiti and the Dominican republic, 1 region or 2? What about Puerto Rico?
Similarly, Central America is complex. Do we fuse it a bit like it was done in old Kaiserreich? Or do we keep it down to 2-3 small single region states? What about Nicaragua being syndicalist?
Europe
Overall, Europe is very complex. You need to have many small regions to represent its fracture and to allow important battles over it, but then regions may be too small to put tokens on it and make the situation confused. I expect to fuse many regions.
Internationale
The Union of Britain is composed of 4 regions (12): London (5), Manchester (4), Wales (1) and Scotland (2)
The Commune of France has 8 (12): Paris (3), Normandy (1), Brittany (1), Aquitaine (2), Occitainie (1), Marseille (2), Auvergne (1), Grand Est (1). Thinking about combining Aquitaine and Occitanie in a region worth 3.
Red Italy has 3 (6): Piedmont (2), Tuscany (2), Emilia (1)
Entente
Monarchist Italy (with Papal states) has 4 (6): Rome (2), Mezzogiorno (2), Sicily 1, Sardinia 1. Thought about combining Rome with the Mezzogiorno, or making Rome worth 1 (it is a fairly small region on the map, unless we enlarge it)
Portugal has 2: Lisbon (2) and Norte (1). Colonies will be 2 or 3 provinces.
Reichspakt in Europe
Germany has 10 regions (20): Alsace-Lorraine (2), Rhineland (3), Berlin (2), Bavaria (3), Saxony (2), Prussia (2), Pomerania (1), Schwelsig (2), Hamburg (2), Stettin (1). Thinking about combining Prussia with Pomerania
Ukraine has 5 regions (7): Kiev (2), Brest (1), Odessa (2), Donbas (1), Crimea (1)
Flanders-Wallonia are 2 regions, each worth 2 (and without German annexation they're already a puppet and the map looks nicer this way). Alternatively, Belgium could be 1 region worth 3
Poland is a region worth 2
Ruthenia is a region worth 1
Lithuania is a region worth 2
Finland has 2 (3): Helsinki (2) and Lapland (1)
The Baltic Duchy is a either a region worth 2 OR 2 regions worth 1 each?
As we can see, the 2nd Weltkrieg is massively skewed in favour Germany here, and that’s without Austria-Hungary factoring in… How can the syndicalists stand a chance? We’ll see later.
Austria-Hungary (14 regions for 22)
Austria+Illyria has 6 (9): Vienna (2), Trent (1), Salzburg (2), Trieste (2), Bosnia 1, Montengro 1
Hungary has 5 (8): Budapest (2), Slovakia (2), Debrecen (1) Transylvania (1), Croatia (2)
Czechia has 2 (3): Bohemia (2) and Moravia (1)
Galicia has 1 (2)
The internal division of the empire isn’t that important right now, but it will have a role once we get down to policies.
Russia
It should have around 20 regions or so. Most will be worth 1, and vast swathes of Siberia can be cut up this way. The rework for it isn’t out yet, but I support the idea of removing Don-Kuban. Vladivostok/Transamur as a puppet of Japan at the start of the game can stay however. Not sure on how to handle the Caucasus.
Mischellaneous European
Bulgaria has 4 provinces (5): Macedonia (1), Sofia (2), Varna (1), Thrace (1)
Ireland has Dublin (2) and Ulster (1)
Netherlands is 1 region worth 2+colonies for later
Serbia is 1 (2)
Greece will be probably 2 (mainland+Crete)
Republican Italy has 2: Milan (2), Venice (2) OR a single region called Lombardy-Venetia worth 3? Should it be neutral or a puppet of Austria similarly to the Reichspakt’s minor countries?
Spain has 5: Madrid (2), Castille-Leon (2), Andalusia (1), Catalonia (2), Basque country (1)+Spanish Morocco (0) and Sahara (0)
Spanish Morocco may be absorbed by normal Morocco to represent a protectorate and have simpler borders
Albania is 1 region worth 1
Romania 2 (4): Bucharest (2), Bessarabia (2)
Norway has 2 regions (3): Oslo (2) and Narvik (1)
Denmark has 3 regions (3): Copenhagen (2), Iceland (1), Greenland (0)
Haven't touched Switzerland but it'll be reduce to 1 or 2 provinces at most.
Need to cut Sweden in 2, preferably vertically (Goteborg on one side and Stockholm on the other)
Asia and Oceania
This continent has been barely touched.
I made some attempts to divide Japan, but it may be too fiddly. It has tons of overseas regions so we may get away by splitting the archipelago in 2 or 3 regions.
Mongolia will be 2 or 3 regions of low value but large size. I see our friend Roman carving up large sizes of barely inhabited land with his Pan-Mongolian army and generous Japanese funding.
China is a terrible mess in Kaiserreich, and while it is entertaining, it needs to be massively simplified. For now, the idea is to turn all the warlord states into large single regions worth a lot of production (3 to 5), while combining the Eight provinces with the empire proper. But what can Fengtian do against it? No idea yet, but it would likely include massive Japanese support.
Certain cities like Shanghai (maybe Hong Kong too?) will be controlled by Germany.
Tibet can be one large, low production region englobing Bhutan (or it can just stay a small space on the map without much value).
Nepal can be a region of value 2.
India is still being reworked as we speak, but I think it’s fair to say there will be one syndicalist-friendly republic and one remaining British dominion.
Australia is sparsely populated. The west can be a single region, the east 2, with the nearly impassable central desert separating them.
New Zealand will be 2 regions of low value (maybe one worth 1, the other 2?)
Persia looks alright, but unsure about its values. May cut it down to 3 regions rather than 4
Afghanistan as large blob of value 1 is alright for me.
Indochina is complex. I have a conflicting relationship with it, as I don’t think it should be under the German orbit, but hey, it’s not my setting. Should be divided in 2 or 3.
Thailand/Siam can work in 2 or 3 regions
Dutch Indonesia should be simplified in 2 or 3 regions. Maybe give them some of Malaysia? Singapore sounds like the kind of place Germany could take over easily for massive advantage
Philippines can be 2 regions (sorry all those little islands)
Africa
Worked a bit on national France, but it’s far from done.
Egypt is a regional power, and should be split in 4 or so provinces + Suez (under German control… for now)
Libya is split in 2: Tripoli (1) and Cyrenaica (1)
Liberia is fine as is, worth (1)
As said before, Morocco could be a large region englobing Spanish Morocco as a Spanish protectorate.
Mittelafrika is the heart of darkness figuratively and literally. Not sure how to split it, but it should have enough regions to allow Entente/International/US to go set up some rebel states
Mozambique is fine in 1 region, not sure on Angola
Abyssinia will be a couple of regions.
Somalia will be 1 under Germany.
South Africa can work with 4 regions: Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Rhodesia. Not sure on their production values.
Gameplay
You have 3 to 8 players: Entente, Internationale, Reichspakt, Austria-Hungary, Russia, United States, Japan and the Ottoman Empire.
The objective of the game is to either outmanoeuvre diplomatically or crush militarily the opposing powers.
Turn structure
Political phase: the turn player gains political suppor: certain Policies and having a minor power fully on your side will give you some.
Then they can implement a Policy. These will take the form of a card detailing what it does (generating support, gain "free" units, backing a coup/supporting a party in an election in a neutral country), its cost in either production points, political support or both (that may vary depending on conditions in the field). I would also like to implement politician characters to fill (small) cabinets to give certain bonuses and make certain policies compatible with only certain ideologies (there won’t be as many as in base Kaiserreich that’s for sure), but this may be way too much to begin with.
Production phase: The player collects their production tokens and spends them Infantry costs 1 production, armour costs 2 and planes 3. For fleets, submarines costs 2 and capital ships cost 4. They are placed on the side and deployed in the Mobilization phase. Each power and minor nation has a cap for each unit type, but it can be raised by policies. You can also recruit a General character. Each costs some political support and compatible with only certain ideologies when that will be implemented. Technological research will take place here when implemented.
Operations phase: The turn player can then declare movements and invasions. Infantry moves by one state, tanks and planes 2, which means they can attack up to two territories. If they enter a neutral or enemy territory, combat starts.
All units roll 1 die. Attacker rolls first, while the defender can roll dice equal to the territory’s production to represent militias. Infantry and militia hit on a 5+, planes and tanks on a 4+. Planes of both sides fight each other first, then the winning side can use them in the ground fight. The attacker may call off his planes or ground forces at any moment, and the defender can similarly always retreat to a friendly adjacent territory if possible. General characters can be used to give a bonus in one separate combat each.
Submarines hit on 5+ move up to 2 sea zones, can decide not to attack enemy ships when entering the same sea zone, but can't attack twice in a turn. Capital ships move 1 sea zone, hit on 4+ (6 against subs) and can survive 2 hits.
I have also thought about a more granular system. For instance, a poorly trained or equipped infantry unit would hit on 5+ while regular modern forces would hit on 4+. Will need some playtesting, especially regarding the costs.
Mobilization phase: units produced this turn are placed on territories that can accommodate them, even newly captured ones. States can accommodate produced units equal to their production value.
And that’s it. A bit simple for now, but depth will be added. When I manage tp playtest this, I will focus on a continent first to see how the mechanics work (probably Europe or America).
