THE BASIC TACTICS

As part of the Axis & Allies Global 1940 & 1943 House Rules Expansion, Naval Mines are being play testet during the 2023 Autumn & Winter Axis & Allies gaming season.

Final results will be posted here.

Feel free to play test on your own. Rules are attached below.

Captain

1. G40 Naval Mines.pdf

Some good ideas here. A few things I’ve done were to have bmbrs hit at 3 unless paired with a ftr. Makes taking solo blockers out more risky and unless used with carrier aircraft, not as powerful with the big range they have.

Also give tacs +1 when paired with inf the same way artillery does. Makes them a lot more popular in my test games.

None of the Prices change. The ftr still has the big hit on D and can boost the bmbr. Also still the cheapest for fodder. Tac boosting the inf is really nice for small counterattacks and is somewhat realistic as well.

So some minor changes but makes for a more balanced air buy as opposed to just going huge with bmbrs imo.

One method to regulate commanders is to roll at the beginning of the game to assign each leader a level. That level would be how many rerolls they get.

@arwaker:

The less different types of units you have in the game, the more of the specific sculpts are in the box.
I dont see the advantage in stategic depth of the game a tactical bomber could offer, to compensate the reduction of specific sculpts and the complification of the rules.

However, one can introduce as many new types of units he wants (as a house rule). What about assault guns, interceptors, frigates or landmines? Would they increase the funfactor of the game? I’m not sure. Same as with tactical bombers.

If there is no Air Base or Naval Base and having only the combined arms: giving +1 to attack if tactical bomber is paired to Fg or Tank, I agree there is not much additional strategic depth about it.
The fun thing is only about having more different sculpts Inside the Box.
From a collectors POV, it seems more interesting having more different units than fewer types but more of them. Isn’t it?
Chips are provided when you have many units of the same type.

Of course, it adds more specific rules. That’s the issue specifically treated by 1941 game.
Simpler and shorter for beginner.

1942 can be more develop with sculpts without extending the play-time or the whole map (not excluding a few changes, like the no-IPC value Islands in Pacific, for instance).
Global is made for hard-core players who have a lot of time.

From what I experimented, I could say that adding Mechanized Infantry and Tactical Bomber (and even a 5 IPCs’ Mechanized Artillery (assault Gun) and 9-10 IPCs Escort Carrier, HBG sculpt) can provides a deeper experience and feel of WWII at a strategic level without having to plan for a 2-days event.

Although, your focus on increasing “strategic depth”, makes we think about the two game mechanics brought to hit directly planes. And in this perspective, one seems better compared to the other.
The one I introduced in my opening post is better because it allows a specific unit (Fighter), a specific capacity: targeting enemy’s plane first (costlier target), while Tactical Bomber also received his specific capacity (being a better hitter on ground targets, but not necessarily on costlier targets).

The other way of creating somekind of dogfight between planes is to allow “1” or “2” rolled by aircrafts to destroy enemy’s.
The mechanic can work but doesn’t seems to increase the strategic depth as much as the former.
Fighter and Tactical have similar abilities, (carrier operation, regular hit, special roll) one have more of this and the other less of that (Fg on “1” or “2” / TcB on “1” only, cannot intercept in SBR).

Do you agree on this last point?

Here is a complete roster with a different Fighter unit (A2 D2 M4 C6) combined with an entirely 3 planes Fleet Carrier for either Fighter or Tactical Bomber units.
Even with a radical change in cost, I think it brings a much better interactions between units and mainly aircrafts from a gameplay perspective than the one I suggested in the opening post and poll of this actual thread.
You should take a look.
Baron Munchhausen’s G40HR Roster for 3 planes carrier & 6 IPCs 1914 Fighter
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=35222.msg1370798#msg1370798

Do or die?  :-D haha

I guess it’d be rather like Classic then, where you had to save to invade neutrals, except in this case you’d be saving ipcs to have the option to retreat! Might be fun. I could see a way that might be worked in if the players were agreeable.

As for the standard bonus, depending on which board you wanted to try it on, the influx of cash can definitely make purchasing strategy more interesting out of the second round and on. I’ve tried it on Revised, 41, 42.2, AA50 etc as my most basic cash bonus and people seem to enjoy it. Makes the land grab and combats just that much more intense, since you always have the bonus buck in the back of your mind

@Fishmoto37:

@finnman:

What I ment was on the map you posted you had different colours of units. I was wondering they represented.

OK, I think I just woke up. You must have been referring to my photo of the ongoing A&AG1940 game when you mentioned colors. If so I think that I had some white AA guns that have not been painted yet, some ICs that I painted in Italian and Russian colors, some light blue infantry for true neutrals, some green infantry for allied friendly neutrals, some blue TBFs for the U.S. tac bombers and one unpainted metal sturmovic for the Soviet tac bomber. I placed the neutral infantry in the original game setup so that if they were attacked it would save time placing units later. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Ah it’s ok I’m looking forward too the Mediterranean game.

Also, if Germany were attacked all the defending infantry would be at +3 wouldn’t they?  (e.g., +1 for VC ID and +2 for IC ID).  We weren’t playing with that either.

yes thats correct on the first round only.  I do know that artillery defending fire in the first round as preemptive.

Attacking Battleship, Destroyer (and optional unit Cruiser) may choose to roll for offshore bombardment.
Offshore bombardment is limited to one roll for every four offloaded land units. Each ship performing
rolling for offshore bombardment increases Infantry or Airborne Infantry’s attack by 1 on a 1-to-1 basis.
Defending Infrastructure Defense performs offshore bombardment against ships rolling for offshore bombardment
or enemy Transport. The procedure is the same as Anti-Air [ on page 8]. Each Infrastructure
Defense increases Infantry’s defense by 1 on a 1-to-1 basis.

One thing on invading mountain terrain or small islands you can only invade with 2 land units.

Land units must stop on entering desert, snowy, or mountainous terrain. Tank (and optional unit Mechanized
Infantry) may not blitz through them. Defending land units in snowy or mountainous terrain have defense
increased by 1 in first cycle of combat. Small territories such as Gibraltar cannot be occupied by more than
2 units and cannot be attacked by more than 2 land units.

It should actually read small islands and territories. The SMALL islands are the obvious ‘groups of dots’

Midway
Hawaii
Solomons
Marchall islands
Azores
Malta
Okinawa
Aleutians

not Indonesia or Borneo or ceylon etc…

OK TBB, ther are a few sights that offer tactical insight. Do an axis and allies search to find these. Look for Don Rae’s essays if you have some time on your hands. Silex offers a good map. Also look in the games section of this site to see how some experienced people play. Some of the posts in player help and axis and allies could be useful. Have fun!