Cool Axis & Allies (80s Laser edition)

@monsieurmurdoch I am not sure how these house rules would interplay with 40 since the scope of warfare was so different. Hospitals and ambulance customization could. I hope you can find a 1914 game. Keep an eye out. And, I do have some plans for barb wire, trenches, etc. Thanks for the feedback!

[Copied from my post in your other thread on this subject, located here: http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=37073.0]

Depicting a single regiment would be problematic in terms of game scale.  In general terms, a game on the scale of Global 1940 represents (admittedly in very abstract terms) the actions of units that are mostly the size of army groups and fleets – and, furthermore, of army groups and fleets which have no specific identity other than their nationality.  It would be hard to justify saying that one particular regiment-sized unit, with a specific name, ought to be added to the game; by that rationale, there are hundreds of other regiments that could be added too.

The obvious exception to the above principle is the single fighter which represents the Flying Tiger squadron in China…so it’s not an ironclad rule that units smaller than army groups and fleets are never represented in the game.  It can be argued, however, that the Flying Tigers are a special case because of their high profile, and because in the game China lacks aviation forces of its own.  China doesn’t lack infantry, however, so adding a USMC unit doesn’t bring anything distinctive to China’s forces.

Additionally, Global 1940 has no rules that govern riverine operations – which is understandable, because the game map doesn’t depict any rivers.  Even the Saint Lawrence, which is huge in real life, isn’t depicted: on the map, it looks like a strip of land.  There are a few lakes depicted, plus a few canals and narrow straights, but no rivers.  So a river patrol unit in China would literally have nowhere to go.

I guess the answer depends on what your reasons are for choosing a 1916 set-up.  Are you choosing it because you’re trying to replicate the situation that existed in 1916, for reasons of historical interest?  If so, having contested territories is probably the way to go, since it would be authentic to do so.  Or are you choosing it because it introduces variety into the game, meaning that it gives you a different starting point than the 1914 one of the official game?  If so, then you should probably avoid having contested territories because, as you said, they players won’t have much choice about where to fight.

Keep in mind that, as Barbara Tuchman noted it in her book The Zimmerman Telegram, many generals as late as 1917 still weren’t questioning their basic approach to waging war in a trench warfare environment.  As she put it, their thinking was still focussed on where along the front they should butt their heads next, not on whether they should do it or on questioning their fundamental concepts of how they should do it.  That eventually changed with such innovations as the development of infiltration tactics on the German side and the mass use of tanks on the Allied side – but in 1916, generals still thought primarily in terms of huge, long, grinding and virtually static battles of attrition at specific points along the Western front.  In a sense, it was the entire front that was “contested”, and it was along its whole length that the two sides were locked; it’s simply that some specific points of it were, at various times, contested at an exceptionally high level of intensity.

In some respects, it even didn’t matter very much whether these huge battles took place at Point X of the front rather than at Point Y, since one stretch of shell-blasted mud looks pretty much like any other one…at least from an objective point of view.  Subjectively, however, some of those stretches did have symbolic value, which is precisely why they were targeted for attack or defended so tenaciously.  For example, I think that the Ypres sector was a small segment that Belgian soil that the Allies managed to hold throughout the war, and that as such it was considered highly symbolic.  Similarly, Verdun was targetted by Germany in part because it had historic importance and therefore was seen as an area that France was “bound to defend” with everything it had, which was precisely what Germany hoped because they conceived of the Verdun offensive as a means of “bleeding France white.”  So in deciding how much latitude you want to give players about where they can choose to fight on the game board, you may want to consider what factors might make a difference (and how much of a difference) in their minds about whether they’d like to fight here rather than there.

The Factories (As well as some of the Mnor Axis Units) came from “The War Game” (which is a great game).

First play test is complete.  Zombies took over half of Asia after starting in the Philippines but then were wiped out shortly after Germany fell and Japan surrendered.  There are a bunch of tweaks and fixes needed to the rules.  The Zs seem formidable at first, but once you get some large stacks attacking them they are easily subdued.  I’ll post here when I have them.

Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man  :evil:

re-puffs 1 hit point per turn!
(all that lead eventually just pops right back out of his body with all of that padding  :D)

Hey gang, I started a new site for Axis and Allies.  I know you all have a ton of stuff for Axis and Allies.  I want to make it as comprehensive as possible so if there is anything you think I should include let me know.

http://yemble.tripod.com/

I think it would make things too easy for the allies. Question, though: Britain calls an allied attack on Finland, they and the Russians move in, would those Russians get to non-combat back to Karelia on t2?