Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

I will be demonstrating my new game at GEEKWAY to the West in St. Louis in May 2025… There will be 2 games on Friday and 2 on Saturday. The WWII setup of the game will be played each day from 0900 to 1430 each day… while the empire build-up no teams version will be played from 1630 to 2330 each day… Please see the web site for sign up and to get a badge to come to the convention…

Hope to see you there… Charles Fontaine

I really like BOTB. It’s the only one that I occasionally break out and play as a change from Global.

Suggestions for Sweden, green, and Spain or Portugal brown

axis-allies-1914-4727-620x411.jpg
axis-allies-1914-4720-620x411.jpg

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?

Check the links on the right side, at amazon they have the spring 42 version for 28$
It should give you enough spare parts :)

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

Here is a tactical level WWI game I have been working on.  I play it on the original maps from the A&A Miniatures game (2" hexes) and use the roads as trench lines or mark my laminated maps with a dry erase marker to indicate trench lines.  I have only been playing offense/defense type games where the ratio of offense army points to defense army points is 3:2 and the offense has to capture an objective behind the defense’s trench line or has to open a 3 adjacent hex gap in the defense’s trench line after 10-15 turns.  A 100-120 points for the offense makes for a reasonable sized army.
I bought soft plastic English, French and German HO scale WWI soldiers from the Toy Soldier Company and use cannons from Risk and Micro Machines biplanes.  I also bought machine gun/artillery hard plastic sets from the Toy Soldier Co for the heavy artillery & machine guns that were so devastating in the trench warfare.  I suppose you could use pieces from the A&A Miniatures for the infantry, machine guns, artillery, etc., if you want to try this before investing in the WWI pieces which are about $8/set.
I have play-tested this game several times and revised the rules at least 6 times.  If you give it a try I would appreciate your feeback so that I can continue to improve the game.
Let me know if you can’t open the MS Word rules file.
World War I.doc

Hello all. I want to give a special thanks to elbowsanchez for putting my game pictures out on his server. I have been unable to post these pictures since my web provider went OOB. Anyway, here are the games that I have created:

Axis of Evil
The United States and the European Union are attacked by the new Russian Federation, China, and the International Islamic Alliance in a new global war.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Axis_s.jpg

The Balkans (1999)
The US and NATO invade Serbia to end the ethic cleansing in Kosovo. NATO invades into Kosovo while the US conducts an amphibous landing in Montenegro. Russia joins sides with Serbia.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Balkans_s.jpg

The Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy gives the green light for the invasion of Cuba.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Cuba_s.jpg

Desert Storm
The US and the UN take on Iraq, Russia and China in this global variant.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/DesertStorm_s.jpg

Opertion Downfall - 1946
A hypothical battle if the US had to invade mainland Japan in the second part of Operation Downfall in Operation Coronet.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Downfall_s.jpg

Iran War
The US and NATO attack Iran in the near future to end that country’s nuclear ambitions.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Iran_s.jpg

Operation: Iraqi Freedom
Re-fight the war as either the Coalition or Iraqi generals. No politicians, no restrictions. Fight the war to win!

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/IraqiFreedom_s.jpg

Operation Market Garden
Refight this famous battle to try to turn the tide of history. (Please note that the map is now GRAY and not YELLOW.)

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Market_s.jpg

Operation Sealion
My personal favorite! Set up like D-Day, the German 6th, 9th, and 16th armies must push into Britian and capture London.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Sealion_s.jpg

The Second Korean War
The Korean penninsula erupts in conflict again. The game pits the US, South Korea, North Korea, and China in the desperate fight for dominance. The war has the potential to spill over into a Chinese invasion of Taiwan as well as becoming nuclear.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/SecondKoreanWar_s.jpg

Vietnam Conflict
Instead of fighting a status quo war in Vietnam, the US president authorizes an invasion of North Vietnam! Fight the war in a whole new level! The US and South Vietnam take on the Viet Cong, North Vietnam, and China.

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/Vietnam_s.jpg

World War III
The USSR and China blindside NATO and the US in a new global war. Will the Allies be able to fight back?

http://66.125.84.108/web1/runeblade/WWIII_s.jpg

I sell these games if any are interested. You can contact me at runeblademaps@hotmail.com and I will give you price as well as shipping cost.

Enjoy,
Rune Blade