Global Gaming Table Threads and Pictures

@Lompestein Awesome work! Big thanks for including the .xcf’s and brushes as well, that should help others get a leg-up on their own projects.

Re: Global 1942 Scenario by Larry Harris

We’ve played this version four times now, and it definitely is tilted towards the Allies. The US is simply too powerful, and Japan has no chance with the US getting 65-70+ income every turn. While it’s still our favorite, there are some challenges. Our thoughts:

I agree with the assessment that the USSR can knock out 1-2 territories right off the bat. This is similar to the traditional A&A, but Germany doesn’t have the forces to respond in any forceful way to retake anything. USSR is starting with 21+ infantry across the 3-territory front, and Germany can’t get its forces there fast enough. The USSR creates strongholds in Kaliningrad and Ukraine and churns out 10-12 infantry or 6 tanks that immediately come into play. The possible solution for this is for Germany to put a minor IC closer to the front for balance.

Germany has no chance to get transports out of the North Sea due to Britain’s fighter advantage. With France’s help, you would need to get 4+ destroyers/cruisers to protect the transports if you’re trying to go to Iceland and then to Canada/US. The key is to have sub packs hunting any transports that cross, and quick. Once the US takes Gibraltar (which it should do in R1), it becomes a fighter landing factory where they can spawn across the Atlantic and then pound Italy.

The US is just too powerful. The winning path we’ve seen is for the US to make 5-6 fighters per turn and fly them to the Hawaiian islands, then eventually take Wake and Midway. From there, it’s only a matter of time. Japan simply can’t put enough forces to fight through the fighters to get Hawaii, Midway and the islands to the south. The 15 bonus just for having the US each turn is too much. If Germany/Italy can put pressure on the US (which we have seen and done), it can help, but it’s really hard. Italy needs to get income fast, which means going hard and fast after Egypt and the consolidated forces there.

Our Allied player did a very interesting thing by putting a factory in Egypt along with an air base, which made it almost impregnable. Getting Africa quickly is perhaps the least understood key to the war - it allows Italy to prevent ships from coming through the canal and lets them pressure the US. Italy HAS to hold TransJordan to prevent UK ships from crossing the canal. I can’t emphasize enough how important a role plays in helping take pressure off of the UK, which can…

Build up an infantry fortress in India which is impossible to take - UNLESS you build a minor IC on R1 in Malaya. Why Malaya (which is much harder to defend)? Because, under the rules, it can be upgraded to a MAJOR IC - producing 10 units per turn - so India can be overwhelmed. The challenge is that Malaya can be hit (and taken) with the British naval forces attached to India. However, if Japan can do it, they can then turn its attention to…

ANZAC - becomes an income suck very quickly for Japan by grabbing the East Indies. Getting Japan to take out India is probably the most important thing the Axis can do. It frees Japan to focus on island defense and ANZAC. If ANZAC starts getting fighters, they become a transport-hunting force which simply can’t be countered. Otherwise, ANAC spawns a transport and 1-2 infantry per turn that can grab IPC-rich islands. The way I’ve countered this is to flood the Pacific with subs everywhere, which will pick off any unattended transport immediately.

Germany - Has to focus on numbers to overwhelm Russia while hoping that the UK doesn’t undertake strategic bombing raids, which Germany should do anyway to minimize the UK’s strength. The USSR has been able to assemble 25-30 tanks in the last three games, and only an error by the Allied player which allowed me to grab Russia for a turn helped even the balance. I have found that blasting the UK’s IC into dust slows things down a lot.

All in all, a very solid game, but it needs some tweaks so the Axis have a chance.

@MajorJoey

Hi Joey,

Thanks for your comment - I can confirm, that it has been time consuming to get this far with the Axis & Allies War Room.

But most importantly - it was worth the effort - and we continue to have tons of fun & challenge playing Axis & Allies.

You can find more pictures on this forum at the House Rules section - look for Global 1940 & 1943 Game Reports.

Best regards
Captain

An example here is how we fill this one up.
I was formerly playing as Germany, so below is my movements.
For sea zone, we use the same number (Eg from sea zone 93>99)
If transport, we will write 93 > S france(pick up 2 troops) >96 (disembark on Tobruk)
For land, we will just write the name of land (from a to b)
Next we will be marking the troops to move.
If it’s all units in the land to move, we just write “all”
Adding the concept of bidding, you’d get lots of fun when you either evade an attack, or managed to “pin” your enemies.
Hope this helps.

@zhirong-fu 145447164_10222966829931692_1275817621394509162_n.jpg

I’ve made a deckbuilding game with a friend that’s set during the American Civil War where you play cards from your deck to move different types of army units around the map, but it’s pretty specific to the Civil War – I don’t think it would port well to WW2.

You might try Quartermaster General; it’s a bit lighter than A&A, but it’s a game about making very efficient use of each card in a relatively small deck to win World War 2 by moving armies around a map.

Wow, those must have taken you a long time to do. So much color variations, you have there, for the Italians. Super job on these. :-)

YGH…

It will add the enthusiasm for sure to do more videos!

BH

I’m not aware of such a blank outline map existing.  Your best option might be to cover the game map with several taped-together sheets of clear acetate (the kind used for purposes like overheard projection) and trace the borders with a felt pen to produce a blank outline.  You’d then have various options for transfering this outline to the wood surface.  A low-tech method would be to cover the wood surface with sheets of carbon paper (if you can still find any, since it’s gone out of style), place your acetate outline over the carbon paper, then trace over the borders with a hard pencil.  Alternately, you could scan or digitally photograph your acetate outline and use that as the printing file you mentioned.