AAZ 1942 (second edition): rules question: damaged factories and Z-control

ve found that I often lose Egypt to Germany. As they have the battle ship and transport to build up a force in Africa.
https://getappvalley.com/ https://tutuappx.com/ https://tweakbox.mobi/
So if I bought a factory for Egypt I’m not able to build troops fast enough to protect it.

How to people feel about South Africa? It’s far enough away to build up some troops in Africa before Germany comes. Assuming they don’t take Egypt turn 1 (with a tank surviving). Or if Germany builds a second transport, they will be able to quickly build up more African troops then the UK.

Say I group up my navy in the Indian Ocean turn 1, so it’s big enough for Japan not to attack it turn 1.

I then have enough navy to protect South Africa from Japan’s navy for a couple turns till I can build up more forces. Also with the two transports from this navy, you can ferry units to India and Egypt areas quickly.

One positives of this factory are able to build navy in South Africa, without using any of India’s production (on land based units). Also some games if I don’t build a factory, I find that I’m forced to start building in England. And if the UK navy has been sunk already this can be a problem if Germany has a large air force

What results have people been getting with this?

Whether attacking or defending, the benefit from Z-4 Explosives applies only to the units of the power(s) with that technology. It does not apply to the units of an ally.

Or: in a previous (test) version of AAZ there was actually a card called ‘Z Rise’.

I think this very card can be used handily for a house rule. I thought about making this card acutally a rather dramatic event.
My idea was (but this is just an idea so all ideas/criticisms are welcome):

The following neutral territories do not have a Z card:

Chili/Argentina
Eire (Ireland)
Afghanistan

Sahara and Himalaya are considered unpasseble territories.

Angola and Mozambique were Portuguese colonies.

So my idea for a house rule was:

If someone draws the ‘Z Rise’ card all truely neutral areas without an own card get a Z.
Still they do not get an IPC value.

But these areas can be entered. These areas are playable. And if you have the ZMCR tech (technology 6) you can move these units. And if you have technology 5 (DNC transports) you can move these units by transport. Well, not the Afghan one of course…

What do people think? Should Mozambique and Angola also be included. Or even Sahara and Himalaya: while players can still not enter these areas these Zs there can be moved (see above, technology 6 and in case of Sahara technology 5 too (yes, Sahara does have a coastline!)).
Maybe this is too harsh for the British player. On the other hand some say game is tilted towards the Allies. So this might actually balance the game a bit.

All your ideas are welcome.

David, if this must be moved to another section of the forum: just let me know.

@taamvan
Yes that could really tilt the balance of the game!

The major problems that we faced were that taking out france g1 got signifycantly harder and it got a lot harder to take moscow due to zombies being a big help for the defender.

The placement of allied ships makes it easy for Germany to sink Home Fleet and UK can produce 4 units against Germany’s 7.

@Midnight_Reaper:

@Caesar:

So in order for me to explain the situation, you have to already understand how to play zombies and this didn’t cross my mind to ask the developers because I just encountered it now.

So here is the situation: Zombies are co existing with Japanese troops, Germany wants to attack the Zombies in Japanese territories. So when Zombies roll for their attack, Germany being the attacker can only be attacked if the Zombie rolls an “A”. What in this situation makes Japanese troopers? I don’t have an answer for this. What I told my buddy and we agreed with is that because Japan is not the aggressor, that technically makes them the defender so Zombies would have to roll a “D” to attack them. However, officially by rule, I am not sure how to actually treat this. I am 99% sure Japanese soldiers can’t attack the zombies with Germany so this is the only way I can see this working.

How would this work if the Germans were attacking into a British-held territory with Zombies in it? It would work like that, only you obviously restrict your hits to the Zombies instead of your fellow-Axis-power Japanese troops. So, from what I understand, the Zombies would roll A to hit the Germans and D to hit the Japanese. Since it’s the German turn, the Japanese troops just kind of hang out until their turn. At which point, if the Japanese attacked the Zombies in their territory with the Germans present, when the Zombies make their roll an A would hit the Japanese (who are doing the attacking at this point) and a D would hit the Germans (who are likewise hanging out while the Japanese troops do their thing).

Make sense?

-Midnight_Reaper

If you engage a territory owned by your enemy, you have to attack the territory. Fortunately because of the dice, you are also attacking zombies.

@djensen:

I’m not censoring anything. If you have subjective complaints, put them all here in this thread. If you have constructive criticism, start a new thread.

Again, when the newbies arrive to learn more about AAZ and other A&A games, I want them to see a welcoming community. Seeing a bunch of posts of people hating on zombies, might turn people away.

You got some strong points here, and I want to change my stand.