Here is an interesting bit of historical trivia. The US 8th Air Force actually had bases in the Ukraine for a short time. From June to September 1944, the 8th Air Force started a shuttle run of bombers that would take off from England and Italy, bomb targets in Germany then fly on to 3 bases in the Ukraine, Piryatin, Mirgorod and Poltava. The reasoning was mainly to show solidarity with the Russians and to hit Germany from an unexpected quarter.
The mission was called “Operation Frantic”. I don’t think it was much of a success. One reason is that the Luftwaffe bomber arm was still fairly strong in the East. Some Luftwaffe planes saw the American bombers heading into Russia. Then when a shot up P-51 crashed in Poland, it had documents on the Russian bases. Luftwaffe command was notified and they send Fliegerkorps IV, nearly 350 He 111s, to pound those bases while the B-17s were lined up in neat rows due to lack of space. It was the 8th Air Force’s costliest single operation of the war.
I didn’t even know about this until I read it in World War II magazine.
AA50: House Rule for those starved for playing pieces
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Tired of running low on game pieces?
To resolve the shortage, add the following playing pieces:
1. Meeple pig [[i]Carcassone] (no A, no D, no Move, $2) - place in a territory to boost agrarian production by 1 IPC. Never captured like an IC, the Meeple Pig will be made into bacon should the enemy lay hands on him.
2. Hotel [[i]Monopoly] (no A, no D, no Move, $7) - place in those nasty contested areas. Doesn’t defend worth a hoot but charges 1 IPC rent for the enemy to occupy.
3. Wrench [[i]Clue] (no A, D1, no Move, $8) - place in an IC and it automatically halves SBR damage. Defense value cuz it really smarts when a hand tool that freakin’ big falls on you…. it could happen. That’s how the got Heydrich y’know… in the Study.
4. Robber [[i]Catan] (no A, no D, Mov 1, $Free) - Place him in a Neutral space randomly determined. After every US turn, each side rolls d6 and, if a 7 results, the side with the higher die gets to move the Robber one space. Robber blocks IPC value of the territory he’s in cuz he’s just that kind of jerk… and a few other things we can’t say in polite company so we’ll call him a Partisan instead. An infantry unit can force his re-location and until then pilots will grumble in their beer that the loveable rogue is ruining their Alpha Male status with the ladies of the territory. Like I said: jerk.
Anyway, you get the idea….
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What? are you going Bonjour on us? :-D
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Queen: 120 IPC, Automatically Wins the game, Attack Value: Infinity (whatever you roll hits, 1,000 times, all territories on the board - ignores friendly units.) Defend Value: Infinity (whatever you roll hits, 1,000 times, all enemies attacking your queen.)
Get the piece from your chess set. (Axis gets White, because White is the aggressor in Chess, therefore, is the “bad guys”, Allies get Black (since they are being attacked by white, thus they are just defending themselves, thus they must be the “good guys.”)
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@Cmdr:
Queen: 120 IPC, Automatically Wins the game…
… unless, opponent counters with: :evil:
6. Shoe token [[i]Monopoly] [Cost: Definitely Affordable if it fits] The token is placed at the beginning of the Turn in Ms Marcos’ closet / Manila, the Queen will immediately combat move over & be stuck in the Philippines hunting for the strappy little glass slingback that she can never find in her size! Her stimulation of the local economy doubles the IPC value of the territory.
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7. Life Tile [[i]Game of Life] - Whenever a player captures a Victory City or causes an opponent to retreat from attacking his Victory City, grab a Life Tile and read it aloud. Players may freely conjecture how saving Stalingrad helped to “Find a Cure for the Common Cold” and if the $40,000 payoff has any IPC value.
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