@Variable:

The pics are working just fine…

And this looks AWESOME Pac War! I would be interested in a “how to” and a cost estimate for making other games in this fashion. Please, let us know!

Unless it was mas produced, I don’t think that something like this would be cost effective.  The material cost alone $45 and it was on sale!  The hexgrid was drawn by hand (HOURS and HOURS of mindnumbing work) as were the other graphics.  Stitching it all up was not particularly hard but there was zero room for error due to the fact that so much time went into the play area.  “Oh well, I screwed that up.  Just cut another piece of fabric.” was not an option.  You would have to start from point zero.  If I were producing this board for someone, I would not feel guilty charging $250 because it was so labor intensive.  However, if you could buy cloth with a grid already printed at the price I paid, price would drow WAY down……figure $100.  That would be $45 for material and $55 for time and graphics.

Cannot find many threads that really get into this version of the game in great detail. Played 1 full game of it so far, and love it. (I was originally a Classic player all the way.)

Anyway, few questions to maybe spark some discussion on this:

Which official version is this map closest to? Also which “official” rule set does this variant use? Spring 1942 edition?

Bidding: on the few posts I found on the topic, it seems people think this map favors the Axis and they actually bid allies. Either I am reading posts on a different version or I just suck, because it seems like the Allies are in pretty good shape in this map from the beginning and they can do some things right out of the gate to slow what needs to be a rapid Axis assault. E.g. China being a distraction and the UK being able to defend most of its colonies for at least 3 turns.

I am still not entirely sure what the best opening moves are for the Axis, which is what I would really like to discuss in depth here if other folks have some more experience with this game. For instance, what odds should the German player take to try and take Leningrad first turn? It seems like their Northern fleet cannot last more than a turn against a good UK player, so should you just sacrifice it and take worse odds on a Leningrad assault if the Soviet player leaves you, say, a 70% chance? (I am usually the kind of player that only attacks with overwhelming odds, e.g., 90% and above. Even 85% makes me nervous…) How can the Germans ever keep their Northern fleet alive? Do they need to? (It seems like the English can kill it turn 1 no matter what the Germans do.) If you cannot take Leningrad T1, is it better to instead focus like a laser on a later round (T4 or 5) take over of Stalingrad with a huge mass of tanks and infantry that you slowly plod over there?

Is a rapid take over of Africa impossible against a UK player who adequately defends Syria and Egypt T1 and who rapidly stacks Gibraltar with numerous planes and troops? Should the Italians forego Africa and put everything into a Russian assault? Is Western Turkey a viable take-over to open up another avenue for Italian ships and/or tanks into Russia or Africa?

Do the Japanese sacrifice their fleet to kill the US at Midway or do they ignore them entirely and focus everything on India? It seems like focusing on anything else is ultimately a mistake, at least thats how my last game played out.

So many questions! What do you guys think is the optimum opening Axis move?

Nice!  I could see Hitler pounding his fist into Europe and letting out a sinister laugh while asking if there was any Neopolitan ice cream left from the last beer hall meeting…tasty!

If guadalcanal played this way without the dice battle box, I think it would be a lot more popular. Battle of midway is everything you would want out of Guad. Simple movements and combat resolves quite simply, roll a 1 and attacker chooses casualty, roll a 2 and defender picks.  Great game.

@Imperious:

Is this the same map as global 39? or close?

No. This map is based on the old AAE and AAP. At the time I wanted a way to play both maps seemelessly. AAG40 acomplished the goal of this project, albeit in a slightly different way. Therefore, this map has been mostly forgotten since then.

@knp7765:

Well, we have to get the FMG Tigers first. There was a pic of two of the prototype FMG King Tigers with an OOB Panther to give you some idea of size comparison.
The HBG Shermans are a bit smaller than the OOB Shermans, which I think makes them look more realistic compared to the OOB Panthers. The OOB Shermans were a little too large in my opinion. The Panther was a pretty big tank.
However, I think WOTC made the Shermans this way because all OOB pieces seem to be within a certain range for each different type of unit. For Example, all Aircraft Carriers are 64mm long, all battleships are between 58 and 62 mm long, and so on. I think all the tanks were between 20 and 22 mm long. I think this was WOTC’s way of keeping some sort of continuity between sculpts. So while the Panthers and Tigers look okay, Shermans look a little too big. That’s especially true with Japan’s Type 95. On the board, it’s as big as a Sherman yet in real life, the Type 95 was a tiny tank. Not nearly as big as a Sherman and not even close to the size of a Panther. I think if a Type 95 was made to the same scale as the Panther, the piece would be around 13-15mm in length and end up looking like the tiny mech inf units.

Hey KNP, the OOB Sherman in the AA50 is smaller and pretty much the same size as the HBG Sherman (btw).

lol my storage boxes get setup for the new HBG pieces as soon as they are ancounced.

Hey Regi_Cide,
Very interesting concept. I like the idea of a non-historical land mass to fight over. I once had a strategy game called Tactics II which was a battle that took place on a totally fabricated land mass. I used to have lots of fun with that game.

One small suggestion about your trains idea. Historicalboardgaming.com sells these small acrylic markers for rail lines, rail stations and even rail guns. I think those would be really good in a game like yours.

Rounded dice are against my religion, they take so damn long to roll! lol…

Those are bleachers (houses) from NFL Monopoly. I glued short dowels to the back and painted them brick red to use as minor factories.

I think I asked you for your Med map long ago.  I am working on a game and wanted to see what yours looked like. (I have always enjoyed your map style)

Thanks for sharing!

Jeremy

@CWO:

1. Atomic bombs (Loaded on bombers)
3. Fission Bomb

In what way is an atomic bomb different from a fission bomb in your rules?  The two terms mean the same thing.

Here:

@empireman:

SuperPowers
2-8 players

Fission Bomb - roll 4 dice. The sum total of the rolls is the damage inflicted.

Atomic is 1 less

I think you are making Block Houses too strong; all infantry defend @ 4? That’s too high. It should be a 3.
Also, if you use the HBG Marines and attack with a flamethrower unit, that should negate the block house advantage.

2004 UK Revised green (celery)
2009 UK Tan
2010 ANZAC Grey
2012 HBG Neutral Light Grey
2012 HBG Neutral Ivory
1986 AA Classic Forest Green
or 2010 Chinese Yellow-Green

Coach and Variable.

We.re seeing a lot of new markers etc. coming out of HBG lately (good work by the way). Are the HBG optional rules going to be updated to reflect the new stuff? (e.g. flak towers, bunkers, blockhouses etc.)

The group I play with is integrating some the new rules and markers into our game. We like rail and will be using minefields (naval too) next game––if they come in time.

Yeah, it’s true that we’ve been working on solving this issue. We didn’t like the way the system displayed the pricing. If you notice, when we did the Neutral individual pieces it was set up better, the way you would expect to see it. You choose the piece and the price, then select from colors. The old way had you select the set, then the piece and would change the price according to the selected piece. I have updated the Axis Minors to the new system today. The other sets will follow suit but require individual pictures and some photo editing to make everything look nice for the site. In the meantime, the US and Marine sets are still the old way. Thank you for your understanding! We’re always looking to be better.

@Yavid:

As for me, I don’t mind having 2 colors for the “major powers,” 1 for standard troops and 1 for elites.

When everything is finished I’m going to have 2 color schemes(Europe/Pacific) for “standard” troops of all countries(except China) plus another scheme for certain areas on the map. This doesn’t include the Special Forces units.

For example, the U.K. would have units in a “European” scheme, a “Far East” scheme(shown above), a “Desert” scheme, and specific schemes for their “Airborne” and “Special Forces” units.

America, Germany, France & Italy would also have “Desert” schemes.
Russia, Germany, & China would have “Winter” schemes.
Special Forces units galore.
Etc., Etc., Etc.

Those really are amazing. � Whose your painter again?

“Allworkandnoclay” is my painter and I’m very happy with his work. I love his idea of painting the national ensigns of each country on their Infantry bases. I come up with what I want and pay for them and he paints them. As long as his eyes don’t go blind,…or I go bankrupt from paying for them, we’ll eventually get ALL of the units done. We still have a ways to go as all of the HBG and FMG units haven’t been produced yet.

“Tall Paul”

Yes, it was an excited manual!  :-D