Posts made by a44bigdog

We paid $68.50 due to “cosmetic” damage. There was slight wrinkle in one corner of the sticker on the box.  :-D

Doh messed up on the dice roll, it is
;aaa 3@1 1@3;

Rolls: 3@1 1@3; Total Hits: 23@1: (5, 6, 1)1@3: (3)

Abattlemap is dirt simple. Consider it like a real game board and the little tool box as trays of pieces. To add units click on what you want in the tray and then click where you want it on the map. Shift-click is in increments of 5, Ctrl-click is in increments of 10. To move existing pieces on the map click on them and drag them. Shift-click and ctrl-click apply in the same way here. Shift-Ctrl-click is the whole stack. Up at the top right click on DEL to bring up a crosshair to delete units. Again Shift, Ctrl, and Shift-Ctrl apply as above. We use the control markers as Money in Saudi and turn indicators in the Sahara.

The dice are rolled right here on the forum

So for say 3 INF and 1 FGT you would type
;3@1 1@3;

Except you replace the ; with :
and get
:3@1 1@3:

As far as how long games take they can go pretty fast if both parties are online and posting their turns back and forth. With me you can expect it to go on for a few weeks as I am only online Friday through Sunday and Holidays.

I will see if I can find the article to link to. It might take me a few days as it was a few months back.

Keep in mind these were specially prepared T-34s. So they were a step above what rolled off the assembly lines. The list of mechanical breakdowns was long and often. Basically the Army could not keep the things running any amount of time. With the life expectancy of the T-34s in the Soviet Army that was not so much of a concern for them. Remember Stalin said quantity has a quality of its own. There was some other stuff as well, but again its been a few months since I read the article.

Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper for Germany to just take the Russian IC in Karelia if you wanted to produce units in that area?

eumaies if you would be willing to try a game here on the forums I would be glad to walk you through it. Basically you post what your moves are, roll the dice via the forum, post the results and your non combat moves and then attach the map. Battlemap “does” absolutely nothing. It is merely a virtual game board.

I did try to play a game with you at gametable and honestly I do not like the program for the same reason I do not like tripleA. I find that looking at such a small view of the map reminds me of playing drunk with one eye open and I play about as well.

My pieces are in a bunch of odds and ends. And since my board is permanently set up storage is not an issue. We have some half egg deals that are sort of like the old eggs that leggs pantyhose came in with a flat end that the UK and US land pieces that are used reside in. The Axis land and air pieces are in another. The Russian pieces are in a plastic shot glass from some cough medicine. The Axis navy units are in a two compartment plastic tray and the Allied ones in a single compartment tray. Both of these are about the size of a cigarette pack. We only keep the pieces that get used in most games in these and they reside next to the board. The remaining pieces are in ziplock bags in a cigar box. I guess its because I used to play Squad Leader where you had to come up with some storage system of your own for all the cardboard counters but I was never really bothered by the lack with Axis and Allies. As a matter of fact the first thing I did was seperate everything into plastic ziplock bags.

Is it really all that hard to improvise, adapt, and overcome?

I used to think the T34 was an awesome tank but after reading a recently de-classified test of 5 specially prepared T34’s by the US at Aberdeen proving grounds during the war I am no longer of that opinion.

I am not sure why online games wouldn’t count. As far as face to face games the revised board is (was with the arrival of AA50) set up on my coffee table and me and my girlfriend play 2 rounds a night. Except weekends when I play my on line games here.

As far as the original question I find the Plastic pieces just fine. Heck I have played enough wargames that cost way more than any Axis and Allies game that used cardboard counters.

Ya might want to research that"wife as property" thing a bit more Jenn.

I can’t speak of Illinois history, I have never been there and honestly have not researched it much historically.

Now here in the deep south their are some religious sects that do treat their wives and daughters as property. There are no stores selling them per say but in some of the more whacked out sects they are bought and sold.

And for what it is worth I can beat my common law wife on the courthouse steps on Sunday with a rod less than 1" in diameter. Actually that one may be off the books now but with some of the out dated laws on the Alabama constitution I doubt it.

Its a good thing you are married other wise you would have to call your man “master” while out on a date.  :-D found that stupid Illinois law while looking to re-verify the above.

Now let the person HAS played quite a few of these games chime back in.

Buying 2 AA guns with Russia is a completely horrible idea.

That is 2 armor when Russia desperately needs those two armor. I have had the Allies bring in additional AA guns and I have either flown around them or judged the potential damage to Russia worth the risk and went ahead and flew right on over them. And as Jenn did point out those AA guns have to be protected. Russia cannot afford to lose a fighter over a trade territory.

To the point of the reduced Japanese ground forces. I have found it has very little effect. Japan has about what it normally has on the front lines. With the bombers it has increased flexible offensive units to expand its area with, which is something it normally lacks.

In both Axis’s and eumanies’s arguments Russia has some super strong army in Asia halting Japanese expansion that I have yet seen.

From what I have seen so far is the Allies HAVE to consolidate and supplement their fleets in the Atlantic to even survive. They then have to ferry units to Russia to make good their losses to keep the Japanese out. This means less pressure on Germany. So far no American fleet has been more than a periphery annoyance. Perhaps liberating New Zealand and Australia but that is it. The ones that have come closer have been sunk.

Again I have not been able to develop an Allied response to this yet. I can say for a fact that surrounding Russia with AA guns is no silver bullet.

Ahh I see where some of the confusion comes from.

The mass take of Sinkiang is only required if the original US forces or additional Russian forces are there. The only real interest Japan has in Sinkiang at this time is to not allow the Allies a potential avenue of attack on China which is the bomber base territory. With a pullout there is no reason to advance in force.

If you are Building an Indian IC are you hitting Japan’s transport in sea zone 59? If not, count on not having 6 Infantry in Buryatia when the US goes. And even if the US lands its fighters in Buryatia, Japan has the option of hitting that hard with the aviation that would have been allocated Sinkiang, but since that is vacant, is no longer needed there.

There is another point to raise as far as SBRs and the Indian IC. Just because you are conducting a SBR campaign you are not required to use the bombers every turn on strategic raids. There had better be a whole lot of Allied something in India if Japan decides to throw 4-6 fighters and 3-5 bombers into an attack. Don’t even mention the AA gun. If you are frightened away by AA guns you have no business conducting A SBR campaign in the first place.

I know it sounds absolutely insane, but the round 1 2 bomber purchase by Japan allows responses to many of the variable contingencies you point to in the Pacific. There are Infantry that can be grabbed off of islands for the mainlands so other than delaying transport purchases it is not a big setback.

TripleA is very similar to gametable online and quite a few of our members use it. It supports live face to face play and play by email as well. You would probably like it. Its biggest shortcoming to me is the same as game table online in that I can see such a limited portion of the map at once that I end up playing poorly. What we do on the forum is not true play by email as it is posted instead of emailed back and forth.

Its a shame you don’t play here with battlemap eumaies, as you do seem to back up your positions with in game experience.

As far as contesting Sinkiang, With what? Japan should have around 5 Infantry 4-6  fighters and 3 bombers for hitting it round 2. Even if Japan has to retreat that is still a plus as the infantry and fighters are in China to protect the bombers.

I think the combined arms approach you are talking about centers on US air power being flow to Buryatia and I really only see that happening if Japan allows it.

I am not saying there is no counter to this but so far in what limited testing against it I have done, the Allies wind up having to cover Russia’s losses by stationing troops in Moscow and hopping for the dice to really go there way. Hey  I would love to see a counter for this developed as since I have posted it some other players may adopt it.

Again I really wished you played here using battlemap.

toblerone77 in the play by forums section you will find our league and tournaments section. Most of the players here use Abatlemap to play online with. Abattlemap is a simple virtual game board used to track the moves and the dice are rolled via the forum. Such as.

Rolls: 2@1 1@3 1@4; Total Hits: 12@1: (4, 3)1@3: (6)1@4: (2)

Abattlemap can be found here http://www.flames-of-europe.de/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2

Jenn suggested this some time back but as far as I know never got around to testing it. I have run several games using this and have come to several conclusions. The first is that it is not only completely viable, if properly executed it is devastating. The second is that it can withstand some absolutely horrible dice. The third is something the number crunching alone does not reveal, for every Russian unit “destroyed” it must be replaced by the Allies in Russia. This is the equivalent of a two for one sale. Also not only does it tie down Allied units protecting Russia in A KGF it relives pressure on Germany as units that would be attacking Germany are hibernating in Moscow.

So far this is what I have found what I believe to be the optimum execution of such. Bid 8 for a Japanese transport in sea zone 37. This does several things. It reduces the number of transports Japan must purchase. It allows a first round option on India, Australia or even Egypt should one of these prove open. Lastly it reduces the headache of clearing out English forces should they do a Pacific “scatter” (sea zone 59, Borneo, New Guinea, sea zone 45).

Round One. With Germany purchase 7 infantry, 1 artillery, and 1 bomber. Clear the Med, invade Egypt, and hit the trade territories with Russia. Fighters land in Western and Libya with the bomber from Egypt. This puts sea zone 12 under the threat of up to 6 fighters and 2 bombers round 2. The infantry and artillery from Italy should move up to the Balkans to join the armor there. This allows the option of transporting either and artillery or a tank to Africa round  2 if such looks promising or they can attack Ukraine. The infantry and artillery from Algeria should be pulled back to Libya for a potential retake of a liberated Egypt.  With Japan purchase two bombers. Hit China with ALL the mainland Infantry. Even if the Allies can step into one of your mainland territories don’t worry about that. Such can be cleared up in subsequent turns and you want to poised to hit Sinkiang hard to give your bombers a landing zone in China round 2 so that one round 3 the bombing of Russia can begin. Conduct whatever Pacific attacks are necessary and if it is available invade Buryatia.

Round Two. Germany most likely will have 42 IPCs to spend yielding 6 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 armor, and 1 bomber. Trade with Russia and either retake Egypt or blitz Africa if applicable. The bomber in Libya can SBR the Caucasus but I am stating to for the opinion that it is best to hold off on this as I think it is better to have 3 bombers to hit Russia HARD on round 3. Germany should also begin to mass forces in Eastern Europe, both the bombers on the board should be placed there for striking Moscow on Round three. Japan should purchase one bomber and the needed transports (either one or two) to have three transports servicing Japan on the following rounds. Whatever money left should go towards a goal of 5 infantry and 1 armor being present in Japan for transport on round 3. The bid transport is used for capturing what is available in the Pacific. Sinkiang should be attacked with all the infantry from China, whatever fighters are in position from round 1, and the 3 bombers from Japan. The bombers will land in China for attacks on Russia in round 3. If any of your mainland territories were captured by the Allies clear them out with forces from Japan. If at all possible drop some troops in Kwangtung to step up with the bombers. While most likely they should not be threatened I do not like leaving them exposed. To cover them land fighters with them this round. 1 or possibly 2 Allied bombers are not getting anywhere attacking 2 to 4 fighters and 3 bombers.

Round 3 and onwards. At this point Germany should stop bomber production and concentrate on land units. Germany’s objective is to mass up a credible force in Eastern that can eventually take Ukraine and threaten and take the Caucasus. Continue to trade until that occurs. Bomb the Caucasus with the bomber form Berlin and Moscow with the two in Eastern Europe. Most likely Germany will also quickly have to  turtle some. You have two territories that are important. E. Europe for a bomber base and naturally Germany itself. All the ret of Europe can be traded as necessary. Continue to hit Russia with 2 bombers in Moscow and one in the Caucasus until they are shot down. With Japan buy another bomber round 3 as a possible replacement, 5 infantry and 1 armor for transport to Russia. this is 35 IPCs and should even leave a few IPCs that should be saved for a forth Japan dedicated transport and a mainland IC. With subsequent purchase buy bombers as necessary to maintain 3 bombers a turn striking Russia. I would recommend having 4 or 5 on the board so lost bombers do not interfere with pressuring Russia. Push your land forces towards Russia and as you do not have to buy bombers buy tanks instead. Should the US pursue a Pacific strategy position your fleet in sea zone 59 and shuck form Japan to Kwangtung. Ignore his early incursions into your islands. The bombers in China can hit the US fleet when it reaches your important money islands, (Borneo, East Indies) and coupled with your fleet and fighters should require quite and investment to survive.

The only way for such to even realistically work would be that the attacker would have to state his targets each round of combat.

Again all that statistical analysis is great if you get off on that stuff. I find it has very little relationship to actually playing the game. I am to lazy to go look at some of the SBR games I have won but I suspect in those my bombers never “paid” for themselves.

In line with what Jenn said, on paper 2 tanks are better that 1 fighter. However, in actual game situation you will be waiting for a long time for those to tanks to hit a ship.

Also as far as Jenn’s Idea goes  Atari owns all the electronic rights to the old Avalon Hill board games. They will not release these to MMP and they have no intention of doing anything with Squad Leader/Advanced Squad Leader. They did put out a joke of a an Axis and Allies RTS game. So forget about anything digital.

TG you need to review the changes for AA50 a bit more. Now when you purchase a tech dice you get to roll it every turn until you get the tech. I can not see why the US would not be involved in a SBR campaign as they now start with 2 bombers in '41 and 3 bombers in '42. There is also Italy to consider bombing back into the stone age. They make limited money and are the weakest Axis power.

And my personal take on SBRs is all that cost analysis is just an exercise for amusement. It does not take into consideration where the damage is done and how that affects an opponent.