Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

Interesting . Thanks Flashman.

@Flashman I know of an amateur made game that you can print out called Orbital Battle by a guy named Mike Fisher. You download it from his own website for free.

http://www.cke1st.com/m_games1.htm

It’s one of the space games. His site has over 20 home made strategy games.

It is not an exact gameplay copy of A&A as it uses a hex map and the defending units are only forced to retreat away from an attacker if the dice roll doesn’t roll high enough.

It is played on a solar system map 21 hexes across that has 8 planets on it that move on orbital paths each turn. Also, each planet has it’s own small ground map only 7 hexes across.

The colors have always varied widely, even when they were calling it by the same name.

As for the latest color names, I can’t verify exactly what they represent or if they are close to anything that has come out lately.  It has been a few years since I have ordered from Xeno.

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?

more than a month from now =(

@cminke:

fmg just a questions. are the trays redesigned?

The Trays are the same

My copies are of the 2nd version, otherwise I wouldn’t have recommended it.

The pieces are in the primary colours: red, blue, green & yellow.

Also the board is simpler, as you get a “console” for each player to store units, reserves etc:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/82252/power?size=original

Also browsing around my collection I noticed these planes from Airways:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/525846/airways?size=medium

Just wondered if people would prefer aircraft mounted on stands like this; you could have them on a peg that slotted into the stand or into a corresponding slot on a carrier.
More expensive to produce, but gives a more imposing impression of air power.

An expansion for this Axis and Allies Expansion. Please check:

http://pub50.ezboard.com/fthrashersaxisandalliesforumsfrm2.showMessage?topicID=418.topic

thrasher,