1. Yes
2. No

Uh…hello. There is a global zombie war game called Zombie State. I’ve seen it and read some reviews. I’ve actually designed a pretty complicated Axis and Allies Zombies game using the Global 1940 maps. I use Fortress America infantry units for zombies as I don’t have any real specific Z sculpts. I’m afraid I made the rules so complicated that people might compare it to Cones of Dunshire. The Zs are pretty slow and certainly not unkillable. I combined the idea of supernatural undead springing up everywhere thanks to Hitler (he gets munched right off the bat and Admiral Donitz takes over what’s left of Germany) with some pandemic plagues. So some Zs can infect you while others just tear you limb from limb. If the players want to just beat on the Zombies they can unite and do that, or if they want to fight each other the Zs get exponentially tougher and rip into all of them. Like “nightmare” level in some computer games. I’ve been working on it for a few years on and off. Max Brooks World War Z novel and the Harry Turtledove Balance novels were a good inspiration for this kind of thing. Let me know if you’re still interested in this game concept. There is actually someone who started this a few years back with the old A and A Classic map and some fun ideas for introducing Zs into WW2, but I’ve always preferred bigger maps and lots of different unit types.

Hello everyone. I’ve been viewing this forum for years now and have finally registered. I first started playing Axis and Allies Classic in 1994 and have followed the game through its many incarnations. I haven’t had a chance to read a lot of recent posts but I’ll try to catch up. Right now trying to navigate your board on my phone as I’m, eh, between laptops. I’ve always had a habit of mixing game pieces and making up new rules. I guess when you grow up in the seventies that’s an occupational hazard–lots of board games and not too many computer ones? I have a project I’d like to introduce to get some feedback on–hopefully it’s not too much like “The Cones of Dunshire,” (Parks and Recreation–forget the season) but the nice accountants liked that one. Anyway nice to finally be here.

There’s no official answer that I know of.  A&A is such an abstracted game that, in one sense, it would be meaningless to say that game unit X corresponds to real-world military (or naval) formation Y.  Given the scope of A&A Global 1940, however, the various unit types on the map would roughly correspond to large formations if we were to assume that the allocation of units in the rules corresponds to real WWII numbers.  As an example, Germany’s invasion of the USSR was carried out with over 150 divisions – so from that perspective, the small number of sculpts on the actual board could at best only correspond to army groups.  At that level, it shouldn’t even be possible to differentiate between the components of the army groups, nor even of their consitutent armies or corps; the highest-level tank formations in WWII were, I think, armoured divisions and (one level further down) tank brigades.  So one way to look at the game would be to imagine that we’re not actually seeing the military formations themselves, but rather a patchwork picture showing some of the elements of those formations, with some of these elements being high-level ones and others being lower-level ones (like tank brigades).

To add some diversity and other strategies to winning.

21 points to win  (Axis pts/Allied pts)  Axis starts with 9  Allied starts with 15

2/4 Germany - Berlin
2/2 Southern Italy - Rome
1/1 Norway
1/1 Northern Italy
1/2 Poland - Warsaw
2/2 Eastern US - Washington
3/2 United Kingdom - London
2/2 Russia - Moscow
2/1 France - Paris
2/1 Egypt - Cairo

1/1 Novgorod - Leningrad
2/1 Ontario - Ottawa
1/1 Volgograd - Stalingrad
1/1 Union of South Africa
1/2 Suez Canal
2/1 Gibraltar
1/1 Greece
2/1 Iraq & Persia
2/1 Libya & Malta
1/0 Axis units in S. America
1/0 No Russians W of Kar/Ukr
0/1 No Axis units in Africa
1/0 Strict Neutrals in place
1/0 No US in France & Germany

To add some diversity and other strategies to winning.

18 points to win  (Axis pts/Allied pts)  Axis starts with 8  Allied starts with 11

2/4 Japan - Tokyo
1/1 Kiangsu - Shanghai
1/1 Iwo Jima
1/2 Okinawa
1/1 Caroline Islands
2/1 Korea & Manchuria
2/2 India - Calcutta
2/2 Philippines - Manila
3/2 Western US - San Francisco
1/1 Kwangtung - Hong Kong
2/2 New South Wales - Sydney
2/1 Hawaiian Islands - Honolulu
1/0 Aluetain Islands
1/1 Solomon Islands
1/1 Dutch NG & New Guinea
1/1 Marshall & Gilbert Islands
1/1 Java
1/0 No Chinese units
1/0 No UK controlled ports
0/1 No JA units outside Jpn, Ch, & Kor

We play with as a separate step not involving any units - it is just a die roll.

Strategic Bombing:

The K. u. K. Luftfahrtruppen, Deutsche Luftstreitkrafte, Group de Bombardment, Royal Naval Air Service, and Corpo Aeronautico Militare all participated in strategic bombing raids on the enemy during WW1.  
Procedure:  
1. At the beginning of each player’s turn, A-H, Germany, France, Britain, and Italy can roll 1 die to determine if they cause IPC loss to the enemy.  
2. A roll of 1 is a hit (Germany to France or Britain, AH to Italy, Italy to AH, and France and Britain to Germany), a roll of 2 thru 5 is a miss, and a roll of 6 is a miss and causes damage by your strategic campaign to be reduced by 1 for the remainder of the war.  
3. For a hit, roll another die for damage.  A 1, 2, or 3, and that is the IPC loss, a 4, 5, or 6 is 0 IPC loss.  The damage is assessed against the IPC count for the next turn. (If neutral Italy rule in use for turn 1, a hit by A-H will also cause Italy to enter the war.)
4. Damaged bombing capability (roll of 6 in step 2), can be repaired by spending 1 IPC per damage.

Now it sounds so good I will try this next time.

Here are some nice models that could be used for adding generals to AA games.

Go to shapeways.com/product/LKWVTVBJC/global-set?optionId=55887495

Here’s what you get with the set:

Set of 37 pieces representing the generals and admirals for each army in WWII. Scaled to be compatible with Axis & Allies board game. Includes the following pieces, broken down by army:

United States: 1 General Patton, 1 General MacArthur, 1 Admiral Halsey, 2 US Generals (Eisenhower model), 2 admirals in dress blues, 1 admiral in dress whites.

United Kingdom: 2 UK Generals (Montgomery model), 1 generic general (Eisenhower model), 2 admirals in dress whites, 1 admiral in dress blues.

Soviet Union: 2 Soviet generals, 2 Soviet generals with winter greatcoat, 1 Soviet general with winter greatcoat and fur hat, 1 admiral in dress blues.

France: 2 French generals, 1 admiral in dress blues.

China: 1 general (Japanese general model)

Germany: 2 German generals, 3 German generals with winter greatcoat, 1 admiral in dress blues.

Italy: 1 Italian general, 1 admiral in dress whites.

Japan: 2 Japanese admirals, 3 Japanese generals.

A&A generals.jpg

I would love to have you test it! Once I get a good Global I will give it to you, but I can’t send a PDf as I am working on a tablet notepad software and simply copying it here.

Our house rule: Once at War the US may purchase one transport (liberty ship) and place immediately for combat.  The ability to place immediately reflects the speed in which the were built durning that time.

Adding a bomber or fighter IMHO would be a great thing to add variety to Russia strategy and increasing its attack power in a long term.

I am not a big fan of house rules, since this is supposed to be a balanced game that is played in tournaments, and only loosely based on a WWII theme. But if you insist to add all this extra spice, I suggest to keep it inside the A&A box of known game mechanics. Let China be the base of what happens when your capital is lost. And skip the pro neutral thing, its either true neutral or not neutral.

The Rule.
1. When your capital is lost, all territories under your control become true neutral. You are no longer an active player. You can no longer move any of your former units, they are stuck where you left them last turn. Your ships will not make a seazone hostile. Former allied units on your territory must either combat move out next turn or trigger combat. If you have units in former allied territories, they are removed from the map.

A lot of evidence from the real WWII support this rule suggestion. When the French capital was captured, all other French territories became neutral. Not pro but true. US and UK had to combat move into neutral French Morocco, Germany had to combat move into Vichy, and Japan had to combat move into FIC. Also, all French units that were in UK when Paris fell, were demobilized and sent home to occupied France. When the Italian capitol was taken, the former allied German units in Northern Italy would face combat against the by now neutral Italian units in that territory. When the Finnish capital was taken by Russia in sept 1944, Finland was declared neutral and the former allied German units in Northern Finland faced combat against the Finnish forces there. Same with Romania in 1944. And so on. When Japan captured the Chinese capital Bejing in 1937, China become neutral. When this game start, China is a neutral with an occupied capitol.

2. When a neutral territory is attacked, it is no longer neutral but allied to the enemy of the attacker. And remember, with this rule there are no pro neutral, only true neutral, so a combat move into a neutral territory will never trigger a world wide uprising by other neutrals, like in the OOB rules.

Evidence to support this.
Neutral Poland is attacked by Germany and Russia and get allied to UK and France. No other true neutral join the war.
Viborg territory of neutral Finland is attacked by Russia, and can join the Western Allies, but the road to Finland is blocked by other neutrals that dont want to join the war.
Neutral countries Norway, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands is attacked by Germany, and taken in one round since they are one territory each. No other true neutrals join the war.

3. When a neutral nation is at war, and it has no capitol, either because the capitol was taken in a previous turn, or it is a minor one territory nation, or Mongolia, then it can purchase infantry only, limited by its income, and place this infantry in any territory in order to the Chinese special OOB rule

why not be able to just upgrade a cruiser you allready own?
for 7 IPC’s for a battle ship

or just bring them damage into play

@Admiral:

Hi Baron,

I know it’s been a while since you posted this, but I have been toying with the idea of increasing air-to-air combat in a way that is very similar to what you have presented here.

I think the A2 D2-3 C6 Fighter is a very interesting idea. Having them target other air units before anything else is a simple and effective way to simulate that air-to-air combat. I also like how the combat values would now be the same in SBR (makes things simple).

I also really like how you altered Tactical Bombers to be A2-4 D3 C8. The two attack bonuses really give meaning to the importance to air supremacy.

I am curious to know how these two units have worked for you.

Thanks!

It evolves into this roster:
Baron’s HR units charts and set-up for 1941, 1942.2 and AA50
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36833.msg1469053#msg1469053

The main reason is because of too many combined arms and bonus for TcBs and Fgs.
Makes for longer combat round and more details to consider to get the correct bonus per combat round.
Since the point was about hitting directly other planes, I simplified the TcB special ability.
That way, combined arms is now reserved to ground units.
So, it is easier to focus on what is specific to Fg and TcB.
I always start combat rounds with preemptive AAA, then these two units (when present) fire, then all other units.
HTH.
Baron

Yea, lets not get carried away here. I think it would be ok for a 1 IPC reduction for tanks and mech built there with the production of a minor (3 units). That way the bonus is 3 IPC max per turn “if” they decide to build there. I don’t think you should be able to build 10+ units at a reduced cost, or get any units for free.

I also think you need to show the need for moving your production center away from the eastern front too (Germans advancing). Some kind of event to trigger this bonus such as the Russians loosing one of their 3 forward minor ICs. I don’t think there would be a need for such a bonus if say the Germans went Sea Lion.

Also something to think about is the NAP between the Russians and the Japanese. How high was the threat of the Japanese getting to this facility through Siberia or China in the real war. In this game the Japanese come a calling quite often, and if that was the case in the war would the Russians have picked a different region to set up their tank plants. Maybe allow for an alternate location?

@Narvik:

@simon33:

If you use the same logic you should get rid of the Japanese NOs for Calcutta, Hawaii and Sydney. Not sure I like that change.

That would actually help Allies a fair bit and also keep peace between Germany and USSR for longer on the average. Would more peace make the game better? I’m not sure that it would. It would increase the number of Sea Lions though - perhaps that would be good.

Yes and no. It would be crazy if Japan can squeeze 5 more IPC out of a rocky island than the original owner can. But, if we change the words in the rule, and say that anyone who control Hawaii island and the adjacent seazone 26 with its convoy zone, will get a 5 IPC bonus, representing international trade with South America or something. Do the same with Sydney and seazone 62, and now I can endorse it, man. Now it makes sense to me.

About your other topic, the possibility of longer time of peace between Germany and its partner in crime, Russia, who knows man ? The current OOB NOs sure reward aggressive play, since Germanys choice between a 5 IPC peace NO dont catch up with the 15 + wartime NOs. But, the OOB NOs also make it a scripted game, but not a historical correct scripted game, since in the real war Germany first had to try a Sea Lion before it would attack Russia. Now, since the designer obviously want a lot of action, and not a sit and wait game, he trough in a lot of NOs to speed up the pace. And that is why we can see everything that happened from 1939 to 1941 in the first Turn of any A&A game. But if you ask me, I think its too many NOs in play, it should be max 3 to each nation, and they should represent something abstract like international trade, shipping, oil etc that is not already printed on the map. Actually there are no need for NOs, you only need Victory Cities to win. If Germany want to win the game, it should attack Russia because of the VCs there, not some derogatory NOs.

IMHO, NOs only have a meaning in this game if they are a part of some bidding system.

Increasing the peace time economy with russia (10 IPCs for both) while giving the wartime Leningrad +5 bonus NO to Russia, can give a better balance toward allies while giving more incentive to attack UK early and Leningrad later, to block the new russian income.

Some good ideas here.  This got me to thinking… if someone really wanted to play France as a country, buy units, etc.; then you could play it this way:

French player starts out with the Allies, but once Germany takes the capital, they play with the Axis.  The capital and all territories remain in French hands and they still retain their income and build on their factories.  When/if the Allies liberate Paris, the French player then joins the Allies.  Each time Paris in taken, any French units in territories occupied by other nations remain Allied and usable by that nation (like the French fighter and soldiers in England and boats in the same territory as the British).  If the Allies take Paris, any French units with German/Italian/Japanese combat units in Russia/Germany/the water/wherever are usable by that nation.  The rules are mirrored for if the Allies take Paris: France retains control of their income and all their territories that they control and simply fights with the Allies.

Aspects of this would actually be similar to how it was in the war.  Although you didn’t have stacks of French soldiers defending Normandy from Allied invasion (though some French soldiers fought for the Axis), you also didn’t have the French Mediterranean fleet, Morocco, and southern France fighting against the Axis after France capitulated.

I’m not sure if this might even be balanced or whether it might swing to Allies or Axis.  The push towards Russia would be hampered as some units would need to come all the way from France and those units would attack out of turn from Germany, but on the other hand the Axis would have more total income and a D-Day invasion would be much harder.

We always play with all the Axis playing at once and all the Allies playing at once, so that would likely give the Axis an advantage, but you could compensate by giving the Allies more money.

As an optional rule, you could allow the Japanese player to conquer French Indo-China (just as in the war and just to spice things up) or leave for the French player (maybe France could build a factory there?).  This decision could be strategic by the Japanese player: allowing money to flow where it’s most needed, or it could be cordial: gentlemanly to leave it to your new co-belligerant, or it could be playfully poking fun: haha, it’s mine and you can’t do anything about it.  It might make the Japanese player less ‘lonely’ to have some interaction with their co-belligerants.

The French player might have some disconnection with who wins (or might slightly favor Axis since that’s where their reputation as a skilled player is on the line), but on the other hand, it might be a happy ending to be on the winning side no matter which side won the game.  Another plus is that for a Europe only game, the sides would be an even 3 on 3 for the nations for most of the game and it might allow you to have a 6th player on the Europe only board.

@Ichabod:

Baron,
Good point. So also let fighters hit other planes EVERY time they roll a 1 during a battle.

To Wild Bill and Ichabod,
Not so long ago I put this on one of my thread, with Word file Doc to print a summary of a full roster with many HRs, as player’s help :

FIGHTER A3 D4 M4, SBR A2 D2 Cost 8
Air combat unit, Fighter as an Air Superiority aircraft: All “1” and “2” rolls are allocated to aircraft units first, if any available, then AAA, and finally other kind of units (owner’s choice).
Fighter as part of an extended Air Defense System:
1942.2, 1 Fg can scramble from an Air Base/Victory City.
SBR/TcBR Attack @2, Defend @2.

Can hit unsubmerged submarines without Anti-Sub Vessel.

TACTICAL BOMBER A4 D3 M4 Cost 10
All “1” rolls are allocated to any aircraft OR ground units of your choice,
All “2” rolls are allocated to any ground units of your choice.
This can makes for Tactical Bomber as a “Dive Bomber” and “Tank Buster”:

1942.2, 1 TcB can scramble from an Air Base/Victory City.

SBR/TcBR Attack @1 first strike,
TcBR damage: 1D6.

Can hit unsubmerged submarines without Anti-Sub Vessel.

I would argue that switching a factory from generalized production to specialized production should actually translate into a production penalty, not a production bonus.  Factory conversions in real life require retooling and retraining, which means that for a while the factory is producing less rather than more.