Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

Its at HBG.

Hey All,
I’ve had time to play a couple of games of the new Fortress America. Aside from the new pieces, the game is pretty much the same as the older version. Here are the most noteable differences:

The USA’s Partisan cards are spelled out quite a bit clearer than the old ones. These tell you EXACTLY what territories, units and actions are involved. Most of the cards are really the same as in the old deck, except of course one that deals with Colorado Springs, which wasn’t in the old game, but the new cards seem to spell out what you are supposed to do in more detail. They even tell you to discard the card after you are done.
After I compared the new and old cards, I can see that some of the old cards could have been misread. Specifically, the MAJOR AIRLIFT card. With the old game, I always played it by taking ALL US units anywhere on the board and moving them as I wished. The new MAJOR AIRLIFT card specifically says that you pick ONE territory and can move the units from that territory to anywhere on the board that doesn’t have enemy units (even enemy controlled, unoccupied city territories). So, the USA player is basically limited to a maximum of 5 military units that he/she can move around like this. While this can still be a big plus for the US, especially if the invaders have left a lot of cities unoccupied, it isn’t so devastating to the invaders that it might be a game ender. Since then, I have gone back and re-read the MAJOR AIRLIFT card in the old deck and realized that I think I have mis-played it all this time. I think it might have ALWAYS been just one territory of units, not ALL US units. The way it is worded could go either way.

Another big difference is that the Mobile Units are much more useful now. If you have a Mobile Unit and an Infantry (or Partisan for the US) in the same territory, that Mobile Unit can transport that Infantry/Partisan with it in the Maneuvers phase (normally Infantry/Partisans have no movement in the Maneuvers phase). This happens on a 1:1 ratio. So if you have 2 Infantry and 1 Mobile Unit, then only 1 Infantry may travel with the Mobile Unit. That makes Mobile Units much more valuable now. In the old game, they were more or less mobile cannon fodder to me.

Finally, the biggest difference is that now there are cards for the Invaders. Each Invader has a deck of 8 cards that can give them certain advantages if certain conditions are met. During the reinforcement phase, each Invader must decide to get 8 new units or get only 5 new units and draw a card. Each card has certain advantages which could boost their forces’ movement or attacking power or cause a detriment to the US’s abilities (like depriving them of the laser attacks for a round). To gain these advantages, certain conditions must be met, like holding certain cities, or simply a certain number of cities and/or holding certain resource territories (agriculture, mineral, oil). Some cards are one time use and others are “Remain In Play” which the invader that holds that card can use even if the original conditions are no longer met. For example: Say the Western Invader draws a “Remain In Play” card and the conditions are that he has to own Los Angeles, 2 Agricultures and 1 Mineral. Then later on he loses one of the Agricultures, or the Mineral, or even Los Angeles, he can STILL PLAY THAT CARD. Also, even once the Invader’s reserves are depleted, they can still draw cards during the reinforcements phase. If you get a card for which you haven’t met the conditions yet, you simply keep it face down in front of you until you can use it. So, theoretically, Invaders could possibly use several cards in the same turn, provided all the conditions are met for each card.
Frankly, while some of the advantages in the cards are pretty good, I think overall they are more of a detriment to the invaders as well as the overall game experience. As an invader, you might end up becoming too fixated on trying to accomplish the conditions on a card so that you can gain that advantage that you end up not doing other things that would better defeat the USA forces. As for the game, it really takes more time for the invaders to keep checking their cards to see if they meed the requirements. Also, losing that 3 extra pieces each turn so you can draw a card may not seem like a lot, but I think it could be just enough for the USA player to get just enough of an edge that they don’t lose all 18 cities. The longer this game goes, the more forces the US will have and the less the Invaders will have, thus it will be that much harder to gain the 18 cities and defeat the US. Plus if you keep getting cards that you can’t use, then is it really worth losing those extra 3 units each turn. It seems to me like a lot of the conditions, while not impossible, are pretty hard for the Invaders to accomplish. For Example: there are two or three cards for the Eastern Invader where one of the conditions is an Oil Resource. The nearest one for them is clear over by Memphis. That’s a lot of territory to conquer.

Well, there is my report. It’s a pretty cool game, but VERY similar to the old game. If you have the original, unless you just really want the new pieces and map or really want to try out the new Invader cards, I would say save your money and play the original some more becasue except for the few points above, they are basically the same game.

Map nearing completion

A few rules different from normal A&A

The only units that can shoot down planes are AA, Art, Planes and BB

The original setup is

Every power starts with 200 Ipc of which 40 must be spent on air units, 40 must be spent on land units and 40 must be spent on naval units.

If Tasmania is added they start with 250 ipc of which 50 must be spent on each type of unit

Tow in you need to control

either
6,7,8 Vcs of which one must be in NZ
9,10 Vcs of which 2 must be in NZ
11 of which three must be in NZ

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.  We are reading every post and giving each serious consideration.

@finnman:

why are you centered on the pacific, do get me wrong I love your knew idea but will you ever do any Europe or is field command a pacific game.

We do intend to do a battle in the Europe theatre.  In fact, that was our original intention.  The reason we choose these three battles is partly due to the renewed interest in the Pacific Theatre following from HBO’s The Pacific series.  It doesn’t have much to do with where we’re based and we don’t intend for the Field Command series to be restricted to Asia or the Pacific.

@FieldMarshalGames:

Voting closes Aug 1st

Actually, voting closes on 15 Aug (Sun).  Votes for multiple battles are allowed on our main voting webpage: http://www.worldsforge.com/fieldcommand/fc2_vote.php

Have a great weekend!

Yik Lin
WORLDSFORGE

I would be more than happy to see FMG  produce either the FW 200 Condor or the Heinkel He 277 as the German Strat Bomber.

@Fishmoto37:

I AGREE. The cardboard may take up less space but they are too hard to see with plastic chips and units stacked all around. @Bob_A_Mickelson:

I must say that I cant get over my disappointment that the new A&A Pacific and Europe 1940 games will now feature cardboard units for the Major and Minor industrial complexes as well as cardboard AA guns, Air and Navy bases. I hope that creating plastic versions of these units will be a project that FMG will be willing to take up in the future.
Do any of you agree?

Yes another good reason that I hate cardboard.

no way. That map is bigger than huge.

German Forces:
Unit Type Movement Attack Defense Notes

Tiger Tank 2 9 9 Takes 2 hits, attacks are preemptive  against enemy Tanks first
Panzer tank 3 6 7
Panzer Grenadier
(Mechanized Infantry) 3 4 6
Tank Destroyer 2 7 8 All hits go against enemy armor first
Volks- Grenadier 1 2 4
Fallscirm- Jager (airborne) 1 5 5
Artillery 1 4 4 1  Hex range
Heavy Artillery 1 6 4 2 Hex range
Neberwerfer Rocket 1  + +  +/1 Hex range, each enemy rolls one d6 1=hit, 2-3= unit shocked.
Fighters any 6 8
Jet Fighter any 6x2 10 No interception
Bomber any 8 2 Preemptive attack, ground forces cannot fire back (except Artillery)
Jet Bomber any 6 9 No interception

Allied Forces:
Unit Type Movement Attack Defense Notes

Tank 3 4 3
Mechanized Infantry 2 3 3
Tank Destroyer 3 4 3 All hits go against enemy armor first
Anti -Tank Gun 1 3 2 All hits go against enemy armor first
Airborne 1 2 2
Artillery 1 2 2 1  Hex range
Heavy Artillery 1 4 2 2 Hex range
Fighters any 2 3
Bomber any 3 2 Preemptive attack, ground forces cannot fire back (except Artillery)

all combat is one round duration. all air combat occurs first. if any extra planes are availible they can go against land targets. only artillery can hit planes.

Artillery Guns Anti-Air Defense
Artillery (both regular and heavy Artillery) units may fire at each air unit entering or flying across the air space of its territory during attacking combat movement. Each defending artillery unit rolls against each plane and a result of a 1 on a D12 results in a hit. The maximum number of Artillery units that can roll against planes in this fashion is limited to two. Note: each plane is rolled separately by type and can only be attacked preemptively. Example: 2 Allied Bombers and 2 Fighters attack a hex with German forces including one Artillery unit. The two Bombers are rolled together, yielding results of 3 and 5 (both misses). Next two fighters are rolled with results of 1 and 2 (one hit). One fighter is destroyed with the remaining planes able to perform their combat mission. Remember: each defending Artillery unit has one first shot attack at each air unit. Losses are removed immediately before the air units’ fire back. Attacks by the surviving planes can then proceed in the normal fashion.

I will adjust values for d12 dice. Note: allies not finished.

still need some good supply rules but i need more information on the OOB supply rules. might just use them.

each ammo chit allows one combat action
each fuel drum chit allows one hex of units to move full movement

germany starts with x number of chits in each catagory

allies do not have a limit but some limit on combat actions.

use OOB air power rules but add some rules for jet power say one plane for germany is jet.

also need some optional rocket rules V weapons:

V-2 Rockets
Allow the German player to conduct one V-2 attack per turn. This may be in addition to a similar event from an action card. The attack can be conducted into any Allied hex and each ground unit rolls with 1-2 counted as a hit, 3-4 unit is “suppressed” and cannot move that turn , and 5-6 no effect. The German player has six such attacks per game. Attacks can also be conducted against Allied fuel depots again hitting on a 1-2.

Jet Power
Allow the German player to substitute up to two of his daily air power allocations for one Jet fighter (Me-262) and one Jet Bomber (Ar-234) each turn till the end of the game. They can “save” this allotment until a specific turn and launch the balance of what was withheld until a turn of their choosing. Air Interception missions cannot be performed against Jet planes. They also cannot conduct Paratrooper drops. During aerial combat each Jet Fighter rolls twice against enemy planes. Secondly, allow the Allied player one Jet Fighter (Gloucester Meteor) each turn which performs like any other fighter except it can also avoid all enemy air interceptions.

using jet power may involve using additional air units for allies.