Delta+1 Poll #4

Imperious Leader, SS, and myself have been discussing “Call Shots”, or as I (still) think of them: “pick the hit unit on 1”, in my thread about adding Heavy Artillery to Classic A&A. I pasted in the full transcript below. I thought I would break this out to its own conversation.

So far, what is being discussed as a Call Shot is when a player rolls a 1 when attacking with Battleships, Tactical Bombers, or Heavy Artillery, the player who rolls the one picks the unit taken as a loss.

I am very skeptical of Call Shots. I will admit that I haven’t played with such rules so I don’t have any personal experience. And while I wouldn’t call it game-breaking to give certain units special powers when I roll a 1 for your attack, it just doesn’t sit well in my mind.

So I thought I would make this a separate topic so that others could chime in. I’m willing to be convinced and admit that I do need to try it out. But I also doubt that I’m the only one for whom the thought of my opponent picking my losses leaves a bad taste in my mouth…

-Midnight_Reaper

Full transcript:
@SS:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@SS:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@Imperious:

1 on Attack roll you pick the target with no return fire

Try it one of two ways:

what we call a “call shot” pick land unit as loss alternatively if you roll a one, defender chooses loss and that unit cant fire back

you will like one of these options

I would have to try them out before I could give a full opinion of them. My question to you is: why the emphasis on ‘pick the hit unit on 1’ rules? Is this a new addition to the meta of house rules here? Submarines have pretty much also fought this way, but I’ve previously seen proposed house rules for Tac Bombers to ‘pick their hit on 1’. Is this becoming a thing?

Should I start a new thread to ask about the popularity and usefulness of ‘pick your hit on 1’ critical strike rules?

-Midnight_Reaper

I have in my WW2 40 game Tac (Dive) bombers  D12  A7 D4 M4 C10 roll a 2 or less on A and D can pick target with no return shot for ground and naval. The 2 or less roll hit is for more of a accurate shot on a piece. So I use the Tac as a 2 different scenario.

Also in one of my 39 games there are Dive Bombers and Naval Figs that can pick the target on a 4 (Dive) or 1 (Fig) but the defender still gets a return shot while the attacker gets to pick the piece.
Pretty much these pieces are in just the 39 games and anybody that has housed ruled there game (G40 OOB) but just a few if any. From what I’ve seen posted on site anyway.

It must have been your Tac Bomber rules that I read. It just seems like the idea of “He shoots, he scores, he crits, he picks the casualty!” has become something I’ve noticed of late. As I’ve said before, I’m not a big fan of that idea in the abstract, but I will admit to really needing to try it out for real before I can truly say that I don’t like it at all.

-Midnight_Reaper

The main reason for Tac Bombers to have this call shot is for both ground and naval attacks plus it gets the Tac Bomber more involved in the game. There like the Cruiser. Nobody really buys them. Thats also why my Cruiser is (D12)  A7 D7 M2 C9. (but you need to lower your destroyers 1 value in A and D). So Destroyers would be A3 D3.  Its a good boost for Anzac, FEC and Italy. As I stated before you need to play test everything.

You could try with the defender at least gets a return shot if you have your doubts.

@SS:

@Imperious:

My question to you is: why the emphasis on ‘pick the hit unit on 1’ rules?

This again is what we call : Call shot

Having something that breaks up the idea that the loser of the unit can choose whatever he wants as a combat loss is a good thing. The artillery units generally carpet bomb whole areas of the battlefield, and Heavy Artillery doing the most damage. Second having such a unit makes it very valuable in the game, by playing you will find out. Thirdly its really fun and i would further suggest the Battleship have this capability. Reason: because the BB has the guns of the greatest range and can shoot targets before they can fire back as they need to be closer to even have a chance.

Oh great IL. Now I got to add this to my Battleships in games !  :-D

Death Heads plays by me and he wanted the no return shot from Battleships and Cruisers  for 39 game and we played 2 games that way but the rest of guys in group didn’t want it. Go figure. I can at least see the Battleship Bombardment hit gets a no return shot. its like pulling teeth with some people but what it is is what it is.  :wink:

Other than the Russian bomber added to the setup, I highly doubt any of my group will want house rules for a game that we just started playing… especially with my history of changing the Global rules… LOL. Nice idea, but I probably won’t be able to introduce house rules until my group gets board of the game in a year or 2 (maybe even 3).

Today I removed the “Beach Head” rule and added this…

Enola Gay
During the SBR step in the combat phase of America’s 12th turn, they may use 1 American strategic bomber (including a Boeing Fortress) to drop an atomic bomb on 1 enemy territory within range of the chosen air unit. If the strategic bomber passes all air defenses (using same rules as SBRs) than that bomber will have successfully dropped it’s payload with the following damage: All facilities on the targeted enemy territory immediately sustain maximum damage, and the IPC value of the territory has now been reduced to zero.

Hello,

Recently a few A&A.org members collaborated on a simple house rule variant called “Halifax Rules” in order to balance 1940 Global 2nd Edition in a way that is both fun and fair. These rules are based on 3 game mechanics which are a single economy for the United Kingdom, the creation of a small Commonwealth nation, and a 3rd production unit that may build up to 5 units. You can view the thread here…

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=34111.0

For a long time the G40 community has been looking for something universal to balance the game between the two sides. However, Larry Harris does not seem interested in addressing the problem, and the forum members can’t agree on which house rules to implement, so we always fall back and use the boring bid system.

Halifax rules offers something that players have been wanting for a long time, like freedom to spend the UK income where they wish, and with less restrictions. The idea of a Commonwealth nation has been around since to conception of the 1939 Variant Global War. Halifax is particularly special because Krieghund himself has called the project “interesting” and has even offered his own ideas to improve the set.

All I’m asking is to visit the thread, read the house rule, and give it a +1 rating if you like it. If you can find time to play test it and share your results with the rest of the community… that would be fantastic. However, all we need right now is your vote. If we can unite the G40 community around this, we could get sticky thread status, and hopefully an endorsement from Krieghund… this is our goal.

Thank you

YG

This is not meant to be FFA, neither would I have any interest in FFA
Allies and Russia vs Euro Axis and Japan

@CWO:

@toblerone77:

Korean Troops.

Hmm…I note that some of the troops lack hands, arms and heads.  I assume that these body parts are provided separately in the package for attachment with glue, and that these figures aren’t supposed to represent soldiers who’ve been severely wounded in battle.Â

How well do these figures fit alongside A&A troops in terms of scale?

They Americans a bit beefy compared to the Axis players but so are the Germans. You could probably snap the two piece figures together but I’ll be glueing them. I will also probably prime, paint, and dip thess guys too. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them yet. They were a steal at six bucks and I couldn’t pass it up.

The Koreans with AKs just fit the part of some kind of insurgent, and I couldn’t resist buying them. The Easy Company Americans have guys dragging parchutes and really might come in handy. The Korean era Americans have M-14s, M-1 Gerands, and M-1 carbines.

When I get a minute and get the guys off thier runners and cleaned up I’ll post pics.

No, your comments are not in red!  You may have run afoul the “LIST” command (I did a lot, that’s why each blue line has it’s own start color and end color command.)

For now, as I mentioned in the Delta thread, if you choose to test technologies, use the aforementioned rule that JimmyHat quoted, except, instead of using the technology descriptions use the following:

TECH1:  Advanced Artillery + Improved Mechanized Infantry
TECH2:  Jet Fighters + Long Range Aircraft
TECH3:  Paratroopers + Heavy Bombers
TECH4:  Improved Industrial Complexes + War Bonds
TECH5:  Improved Shipyards + Super Submarines
TECH6:  Radar + Rockets

Technologies just like Larry’s rules without change.  The reduction to 6 and the combinations of which ones were already voted on.  It could change after we get testing back or have untested discussion, but at least it’s somewhere to start.    Note, IF YOU WANT TO TEST THEM, then you may.

Report games and specific issues and counter strategies seen in the Delta thread (for now, I may move them to their own thread later.)  We’ll reconvene in a few weeks.

Game Play

Scorched Earth- You may set fire to your facilities during your mobilize new units phase in order to prevent them from being used by the enemy. You must have at least 1 unit per facility in said territory. Specify which facility(s) you are going to set a flame then roll 1D6 for minor ic’s, rail yards and air and naval bases. And 2D6 for major ic’s and coastal fortifications.
Collateral Damage- When an airbase or navalbase receives full damage (6 damage) from a single strategic bombing run or rocket attack, 1 hit is scored on air/naval units present. For naval it must be a surface warship in a adjacent seazone. defender chooses casualty. You can only choose aircraft that have not intercepted this or another bombing raid this turn, or who have not scrambled this turn since none of these planes are on the ground at the time of your strategic bombing raid.
Organized Retreat- Any defenders who survived any given round of battle may opt to preform an organized retreat to a adjacent friendly territory. You have to leave at least 1 unit behind to act as a rear guard and the other units (each type of unit rolled independently) score a hit against the attackers at a roll of 1 on a 1D6, successfully retreat on a roll of 2,3 or 4 on a 1D6 and fail to retreat on roll of a 5 or 6 on a 1D6.
Coastal Fortifications- A coastal fortification may be built on any island or coastal territory for the cost of 12 ipc’s.Only one fortification can be built in a territory and can not be moved after placed. During amphibious assaults all defending land units get a preemtive attack for the first round of battle at half thier defending roll rounded up. (minimum 1) ie… tanks at a 2. infantry, mechanized infantry, and artillery at a 1. Any attacking units hit are removed before thier attack rolls. The defender chooses his casualty(s) from any land units performing the amphibious assault, ships performing bombardments or aircraft used in the attack. Fortifications take 6 hits to dismantle this ability and are sucseptable to strategic bombings by strategic bombers and tactical bombers. And are sucseptable to the scorched earth rule. Cost 2ipc’s per each damage marker removed.
Rail Yards- Land units positioned at rail yards at the beginning of thier non-combat move phase can move an additional space.
Major industrial complexes can only mobilize 10 units per turn minus the number of damage markers they have. For example a major IC with 6 damage markers can produce only 4 units. A major IC can only receive up to 15 damage markers, after that they are no longer assigned.
Minor industrial complexes can only mobilize 3 units per turn minus the number of damage markers they have. For example a minor IC with 2 damage markers can produce only 1 unit. A minor IC can only receive up to 6 damage markers, after that they are no longer assigned damage markers.
Damage Repairs… the removal of damage markers, is done during the controlling player’s - Phase 1: Purchase & Repair Units.
IT COST 2 IPCs to remove each damage marker…
All 3 Minor ICs in the continental US automatically are immediately converted to Major ICs when the US is at war. They can be upgraded at any time for 20 IPCs.

WOW! that is very impressive. I will get to work on the background sheets. So just make at a patient pace and we will have the final product that will be even more impressive.

good job!