Axis & Allies balance problems …

Round 4:

Red…

They are bean counters. No doubt about it. They want exact results with no luck. All life is luck and games are simulations of life.

I don’t vilify anything. Its accurate reporting of facts and theirs nothing glamorous of low luck. To me its only value is for play testing of games, not actual games.

Bean counters are also mostly Rule Lawyers. They argue rules all day if possible.

The dice rules for both “Low Luck” and “No Luck” (that means “No Dice”) ways to play, in pdf file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4j29q8euk5u8hv/A%26A Dice options.pdf?dl=0
(The texts are not entirely mine, but I do not remember the sources. However, it is from the time when we played on “Game Table Online”)

“Low Luck” Rules for Axis & Allies:
The common way to play with Low Luck is like this…
For every combat round you add the values of the attacking and defending units.
For instance if you are attacking with 4 inf and 1 fighter and the defender has 2 inf, then the attacker has 7 attack points while the defender has 4.
Every 6 points means that you’ll get a hit, and you roll a dice for the leftovers.
On this case the attacker would have 1 automatic hit, while rolling a die and hitting with a 1, while the defender would roll a die to hit on a 4 or less.
Imagine both the attacker and defender had 1 hit each. On the next combat round the attacker doesn’t have to roll (it has 6) while the defender rolls for 2 or less. And it goes on until one or both sides are destroyed or the attacker retreats.
The same applies for ships doing land bombardment during amphibious assaults.
Example: For two Battleships you have 8 firepower points in bombardment, so you get one automatic hit and you roll the dice for 2 or less to get a second bombardment hit.
For the Antiaircraft guns if the attacking airplanes are six you get one automatic AA hit. If they are less than six you roll the dice and if you get the number of planes or less you get one AA hit.
Example: For nine attacking airplanes you get one automatic AA hit (for the first 6 planes) and you roll the dice for 3 or less to get a second AA hit (for the remaining 3 planes).
Alternative rules (for AA guns):
With AA shots you can either roll individually for each plane, or you can roll for each type of plane.
Or just add up all the attacking planes and divide that number by 6. 11 Fighters, 11 Tactical Bombers and 2 Strategic Bombers = 24 Planes, 4 planes are lost.
The thing with that approach is that it allows for very effective strategic bombing campaigns. You send 6 bombers against an IC on a territory worth 8 IPC or more (on Global 40 against a Major IC): 1 bomber gets shot automatically by the AA, resulting in a loss of 12 IPCs but the other 5 bombers deal an average of 3.5 damage to the targeted IC. You keep buying one bomber to replace the lost one and the other guy has to either pay a lot to build units or abandon the IC.
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“No Luck” (that means “No Dice”) Rules for Axis & Allies:
The total firepower points of the fighting units divided by 6 and rounded gives the number of hits. That means if the firepower points are 3, 4, 5 or 6 you get a hit and if they are 1 or 2 you don’t get hit. For example:
Three attacking tanks (firepower 9) causing two hits to the defender (one for the first 6 points and one for the remaining 3 points of the total firepower).
If the opposing fighting units have low firepower (less than 3 points) and no one can do a hit to each other, you must keep the leftovers between battle rounds until there is at least a 3 firepower hit. For example:
Two attacking infantries (firepower 2) eliminate one defending infantry (firepower 2) in two battle rounds.
Antiaircraft guns (AA):
The total number of attacking airplanes divided by 6 and rounded gives the number of AA hits. That means if the number of airplanes is 3, 4, 5 or 6 you get an AA hit and if it is 1 or 2 you don’t get hit. For example:
If the attacking airplanes are nine the AA gun causes 2 hits (one for the first 6 planes and one for the remaining 3 planes).
Alternative rules:
Whenever you have a battle, you add up each of the different types of attacks, just like low luck. The difference is, you keep the leftovers between battles.
No hits are inflicted until a total of 6 is reached.
Example: I attack with 10 infantry against 3 tanks.
Round 1: I have total attack value of 10 (10 infantry attacking at 1). Total defense value is 9 (3 tanks defending at 3). So I get 1 hit, and the defender gets 1 hit. However, the remainder is NOT rolled, but saved for the next round.
Round 2: I now have 9 infantry attacking 2 tanks. My total attack is 9; the total defense is 6. HOWEVER, we add the leftovers from the last round, so my total attack becomes 9 + 4, while the total defense becomes 6 + 3. That makes for 13 and 9 respectively. I get 2 hits, the defender still gets 1 hit. Now I have 8 infantry, the defender has nothing.
Obviously antiaircraft guns become totally useless because you can attack with up to 5 planes, and nothing will ever get shot down (the AA gun total never reaches 6 or more since it only fires once).So the solution is to keep a running total for AA guns not just between combats, but for the WHOLE GAME, and knock off a fighter (or a bomber) whenever the total hits 3.Same thing for battleships.

From the time we played online at the legendary “Game Table Online (GTO)”, I have kept some file documents of the bids we made at the beginning of the matches. These are actually Custom Setups. Here is the pdf files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/80ejfkvzh7f57fv/A%26A Custom setups.pdf?dl=0

Axis & Allies Custom Setup:
WHAT: As an alternative to the traditional beginning set-up for the game, bidding allows you an optional supplement to a country’s normal starting position. This supplement can be units and/or IPC’s. Bidding is done before play begins. In multi-player games you are also bidding to select a side with the winning bidder generally selecting his partner from those remaining [see recommendations below].

REVISED AXIS & ALLIES: You are bidding to play the AXIS side. Players may start with any bid from the list that follows. Subsequent bids can be made by any other player for any amount that is of less advantage to the axis [further below on the list] than the the current bid. Bidding ends when no one is willing to take a bid of less advantage than the current bid. That winning bidder is an Axis player. If you make an Allied bid, you are still bidding to be Axis, but you are giving those extra units or IPCs to your opponents.

AXIS & ALLIES 1942: You are bidding to be the ALLIED side. Players may start with any bid from the list that follows. Subsequent bids can be made by any other player for any amount that is of less advantage to the allies [further above on the list] than the the current bid. Bidding ends when no one is willing to take a bid of less advantage than the current bid. That winning bidder is an Allied player. If you make an Axis bid, you are still bidding to be Allies, but you are giving those extra units or IPCs to your opponents.

Here is a list of the custom setups you can select in the table:

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REVISED EXAMPLE: One player starts the bidding with the number of extra IPCs worth of units he will accept to play the Axis. Then if another players thinks he can do better with less, he’ll bid lower. The players continue alternating bids until no one wishes to go lower. Unless agreed otherwise a Japanese bid is lower than a German bid for the same amount.

For example in REVISED Axis & Allied bidding if Erwin and Winston are playing bidding might go like:

Erwin: “I’ll play Germany +9”. That means he’s willing to take the Axis countries with 9 extra IPCs worth of gear to start the game with.
Winston then says: “I’ll play Japan +9.”
Erwin then counters with: “Germany +8.”
Winston says, “fine… you play Axis.”

So now Erwin gets to start with 8 extra IPCs worth of troops for Germany. Per the list this would mean: an extra tank and infantry in Africa at the beginning of the game.

Note in Axis & Allies 1942 bidding procedes in the opposite direction.

RECOMMENDATION: If players are NOT at similar experience levels - DON’T let bidding decide teams. Especially in 2 vs 2 team games it is recommended that you select partners FIRST and THEN bid. This will avoid the situation where 2 very experienced players are paired against 2 less experienced players and make for more competitive game play.Custom setup in Axis & Allies Revised & Spring 1942 Custom setup in Axis & Allies Revised & Spring 1942

Considering that:

In the measurement what is mainly seen is the height of the stack and The color of the top chip and maybe although less of the second, As well as that a possible misidentification of the quantity should not result in large error deviations.
I think that: The best guarantee is given if the distinction is made by fives of increasing quantity with the characteristics of the change for each fives as obvious as possible. The chip with the highest value should be placed on top, followed by the others in descending order, which should preferably only be gray and up to four, so that the height of the stack represents a corresponding quantity.
I tentatively named it the “pentadic system” from the Greek word “pente” meaning “five”. Τhe relevant table in pdf format at the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7utsvihpqec86r6/AA Chips.pdf?dl=0
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@barnee Tutledove is a treasure trove for an Alien Invasion during Spring 1942 Axis & Allies Universe. Perhaps a Larry and Turtledove Kickstarter Game.

Or u can wait for another exciting WOTC Axis & Allies 🧟‍♀️ 1914 Zombie Game. Thanks, Pellulo

@jesse144 I don’t know about Football or whomever “John Boyd” is. Clausewitz is the real genius and to read his book is to profit from real military wisdom. You can believe that.

@jagdpanther69 I do not know of any such rules. I’ve looked and looked. I have never found anything. I’m planning to gin some up in the new year, but they would be strictly house rules.

If you do find anything, please let me know.

-Midnight_Reaper