Historically accurate setup

They are my notes for what would be placed in AAE40 map based on the differences. The AAP40 historical setup is based on where these forces were and based on ratios established.

your comparing the deployments on the pacific side to the European side.

Yes.

Use the raw info and make up your own concept. My AAP40 setup was created after that game came out, because i immediately knew it was hardly accurate or balanced.

Without changing the combat mechanics any historic setup is going to be impossible to play.

The problem here is that unit abilities are not historically represented…

For example. Italian Infantry are not the same calibre as American infantry…

Or Chinese troops equal 1 to 1 with German…

No, the problem is that A&A is a game of total annihilation.

Even at the battle of Midway, which was a BIG loss for Japan, they still limped away with 1/4 of their carriers and a bunch of other smaller ships.
Now granted, technically they were the attacker there and retreated. My point is that battles were not “till the last man standing” like in A&A.
Sometimes forces slipped away, or withdrew, or gave ground.

If you are going to have these monstrous navies floating around there has to be some sort of way to mitigate the fact that, if someone wins a big fleet clash….thats it. The other power will never catch up in naval units. EVER. Like if Japan attacks with its monster fleet and sinks EVERY US ship in a monster battle and still has like 8 capital ships. Thats it. The US can’t ever collect enough to get back in the arms race with that. EVER.

So you have to allow for some sort of retreat mechanic. Or a limit to the number of rounds battles can last before the attacker is spent and must retreat, or allow rolls of ‘1’ for non-infantry units to be allocated by the defender to units of equal or lesser value. (tanks can pop other tanks on ‘1’)

Without some sort of rule tweak, all you are going to end up doing is having a monstrous blob of plastic dominate the landscape, unopposed after it wins it’s big battle.

It is totally accurate. The totals latter are correct. Use the German 26 figure for this purpose. The sources are from books, notes from various sources including WW2 sites.

Use the totals that are after the ratio list, the ones with complete and higher totals.

In the case of Soviets, the far east force was largely mechanized, plus they had a number of mechanized infantry. The sources listed are not complete because some books had the info, but i didn’t write it on that file.

Hello again, everyone,

Sorry I had to post and run Friday, without any follow-up.  So here are a few notes/observations/ideas.  If you want to stick with the ratios for BBs that Larry is using, you’d go with 1-5, instead of 1-4.  I prefer 1-4 because BBs in most navies operated in 2-ship divisions, with two or more divisions to a squadron.  Also, it makes the British fleet large and intimidating, and less likely to be wiped out in a single turn, which goes along with wanting a more historically accurate feel.  This can be balanced somewhat by maybe beefing up the Luftwaffe a bit, if that can be justified by a combination of historical numbers cross-referenced with historical quality.  Also, by rounding .5 or greater up, the Italians and the Japanese get an extra BB each.

By using historical numbers, the US fleet also gets larger, but it is out of play for the first few turns anyway.  Maybe this can be mitigated by a “Pearl Harbor” rule of some sort.  Perhaps if Japan declares war on the US, during the first turn US AAA fire is rolled simultaneous with other units, instead of destroying planes before they can get a shot off.  Also, on the first round of dice rolling, all US units defend with a 1, reverting to their normal defense values on any subsequent rounds.

Using a historically sized French fleet will require a Vichy rule of some sort.  I would say something like the following:  Immediately upon the fall of Paris to the Axis, all French naval units in the Mediterranean are converted to Vichy.  They neither move, attack, nor block movement of either side.  Any surviving French land or air units in Normandy or Southern France are reduced to a single infantry in S. France.  German control markers are placed on S. France, Normandy, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Syria.  French land units in these areas cannot move or attack.  Germany receives all income from these areas.  All other French territories and units become Free French, and income from these areas goes into the Free French pool.  Free French units can be built at British Factories using this money.

If a Vichy area is attacked by the Allies, roll a die.  On a roll of 1-3, all land units in the area and naval units in adjacent sea zones become Free French.  On a roll of 4-5, the units surrender and disband/scuttle themselves, and are removed from the map.  On a roll of 6, they join the Axis, and are replaced with equivalent German units.  If the Axis attack any of these areas, the Vichy treaty is broken, and ALL Vichy areas become Free French, unless captured.  If a land territory is captured by the Axis, roll a die for any adjacent naval units.  On a roll of 1-3, they escape from port and become Free French.  On a roll of 4-5, they are scuttled and removed from play.  On a roll of 6, they are captured, and replaced with the equivalent German unit.

I think I like the idea of defenders being allowed to retreat.  Maybe at the beginning of each round of combat, starting with the second round, the defender can declare he is going to try to retreat any or all of his units.  Any units retreating cannot fire in that round of combat, but any units he left behind as a rear guard can still fire.  Casualties can be taken from the rear guard first, but if the attacker gets more hits than there are rear guard units, they must be taken from the retreating units.  Now, the net effect will be that fewer units will die each turn.  Would this need to be balanced by making units more expensive, in order to keep the map from becoming massively cluttered?

Germany should be able to steal French boats.
UK should be tempted to shoot the French boats because of this.