Topics created by almashir

I based off what they pretty much had at peak of war. I didn’t do the 1 piece equals so many. I just made it like Uk 6 BB and spread them out. US I had 7 BB but reduced it to 5. 4 damaged in Hawaii at start of game. If it had like real 4 light cruisers and 2 h cruisers I just made that 2 normal cruisers and 2 more normal cruisers. To eliminate the 3 diff pieces. Everything else straight up with tweaks to setup as we played the game.
Yes the eastern front setup is more like spring of 41 than dec. 41 like pac is. based on the game balance and timing to work
Out. As u see the battle of the Atlantic is at its peak too. More like dec 41 there. Only issue in most games if not all is the d day invasions. Most happen before June of 44 in all games but to get correct US wouldn’t attack Europe until turn 7 or 8 with torch happening sooner
That would be a major setup change and year of turns.
I have my own map for game too.

We are a group of 6 usually, with sometimes more or less of us. We regularly meet every 2 weeks ish. We have a table to leave the game setup between days. Or setup by the host before the game. Due to this if someone cant make it the others cover so life and the game both continue without excessive conflict. We use the HBG 1936-45 map currently, but we started with A&A global 1940. First run was rediculously slow so we did a few things to adjust it to our preferred level of fun/flow

1)Similarly to munck we also use screw bins all stored the same. No messing around in the bin looking for a sub etc. Speeds up the flow. Decide purchases while others are playing, though sometimes plans are changed by others, so this isn’t a hard rule.

2)We kept the turn order the same. US controls french and china. But once US are done China and Germany play with an overlap they dont really interact. We also allow the next player to start his turn while the current player is collecting income etc.so long as they have placed units and will not interact with the map anymore. This realy speeds up the flow.  The next player is declaring purchases and rolling tech, while the previous player rolls income increases and collects income.

3)So some printed rules are not incorporated by us. If someone wants to try one we give it a shot, it gets voted in or voted out.

Initially we decided to ignore major rules changes from A&A versions. And just used the varrient map and setup. We skipped Combat air patrol and kept the destroyer for sub detection as an example. Too much explaining and  retraining, though we may add it later. The same is done to anything that takes time to absorb internally. Especially if it was played different in a previous version.

Most importantly we play for FUN. Anything that slows it down needlessly or causes confusion is removed, and tried in small batches. This way we can test if anything destroys ballance or is unnecessarily complex. We vote it out and try something else, or we like it and keep it.

Well, below is from Wikipedia.  And, as we all know, if it is on the internet, it must be 100% true, or the automated accuracy filters would not allow it  :-D

"After a few failed attempts at persuading the Icelandic government by diplomatic means to join the Allies and becoming a co-belligerent in the war against the Axis forces, the British invaded Iceland on 10 May 1940. The initial force of 746 British Royal Marines commanded by Colonel Robert Sturges was replaced on 17 May by a larger Army force, and eventually 25,000 British troops were stationed in Iceland.

On 7 July 1941, the defence of Iceland was transferred from Britain to the (still officially neutral) United States, by agreement with Iceland, and US marines replaced the British. Iceland’s strategic position along the North Atlantic sea-lanes, perfect for air and naval bases, could bring new importance to the island. The 1st Marine Brigade consisting of approximately 4,100 troops garrisoned Iceland until early 1942 when they were replaced by U.S. Army troops, so they could join their fellow Marines fighting in the Pacific."

Just a thought. You could roll a die for automatic retreats. What I mean is if defender wants to retreat, then roll a die and that many can retreat. Bad die roll and he may have to leave a good piece behind. Also could force the attacker the same thing.

No problem almashir,

You can blast the UK navy out of the water by end of Germany’s first turn and effectively blockade them. I’d turn my land forces’ attention, as I mentioned to france , Poland, Holland, Denmark, etc. Going for Yugoslavia and at least Narvik on impulse 2 is a good idea too. These are nice juicy targets that get you some income and don’t pit you in a heavy pressure situation vis a visthe US.

This is just my opinion. Others may play it more aggressively, but again, your opponent’s nature and abilities play a big role in a decision like that.

Im happy to see more people getting into this game. I think 2014 is shaping up to be a huge year forgloab 39. There is no point in me hiding my excitement and impatience for the new map, expansions, pieces, markers, and rules.

I make a point of playing this variant once a month and find myself always wanting more of it. Hopefully, you’ll take a liking to it too.

Hi, Ben,

Yeah, Wikipedia plays a big part in my research.  But I stumble across other websites as I’m hunting for things also.  Sometimes I find declassified official documents from the time.  I also use other games in my collection, like War in Flames and Battlewagon, where the designers did the research, and came to their own conclusions about how to fudge things.  I used to be in Military Intelligence when I was active duty army.  I spent six years at NSA (“In God we trust.  All others we monitor”)  :wink:  So I developed the habit of confirming intelligence from multiple sources whenever possible.  I’m still in the National Guard, actually.  But I switched my MOS to MP so I didn’t have to drive so far for drills.

Midnight,

Good job on the research.  Every time I start to do it for land forces, I get distracted by all the different sources, and how they use different methods for listing things.  Yeah, with the way A&A works, where the infantry of one country is equal to the infantry of every other country (unless you are using the elite units in Global ’39), then you have to reflect differences in troop and equipment quality by using different ratios to represent one unit.

One idea I’ve toyed with is using the same ratio for everyone’s infantry, (like 1 for every three divisions) but then reflecting the differences in firepower by assigning different ratios for artillery.  For instance, at the start maybe Germany gets an artillery unit for every 2 infantry, and France gets one for every 5 infantry, or something along those lines.  The problem there, of course, is that the French (and Russians) really really liked artillery, and it made up a bigger percentage of their overall forces.  So it would not be entirely satisfying from a historical perspective.  For the same reasons, I am reluctant to just start them off with a bunch of SS units.  Although I suppose I could just not call them SS units.  But I’d know.  I’D KNOW, and it would bug me  :-D

yep

Hmm.  Good point, knp.  I’m beginning to see why Larry chose the start point he did  :-P

Gargantua,  I’m beginning to like your idea of a double impulse for Germany.  It would probably be simpler.  I have a copy of the old Xeno rules, with the regular sized map and the giant blown-up version.  But I hadn’t looked at the rule book in years.

Actually, the more I think about it, there probably wouldn’t be much to gain (in the way of game-play fun) with a Sept. '39 start.  I was originally thinking it would give the Axis a couple of extra turns to shape the battlefield before the US and USSR got into it, in exchange for having to do some extra conquest.  It might also give the French player more options than just getting punched in the groin and being taken out before he can make a single decision.

I think Summer of '42 would be the simplest start point, but it seems so late in the war somehow.  At that point all the decisions that might have made a difference have already been made, and fate has locked everyone in to repeating the historical outcome.  I know the games don’t actually go that way.  It’s just a mental hang-up for me  :-)

Maybe I’ll rethink an idea I had for a Summer of '41 scenario starting with Germany massed on the Soviet border for Barbarossa.  Since a single turn could represent 6 months, Barbarossa could be early on turn 1, and Pearl Harbor could happen right at the end.  That would the need for US entry rules, and most of the neutrals who were historically dragged in would already be in play.

@knp7765:

Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that each country’s elite troops have different names (USA = Marines, Germany = SS, Russia = Guards, UK = Commandos, etc.)

The different names reflect the fact that the forces you mention had different roles and origins, and in many ways weren’t equivalent.  The US Marines and the Royal Marines both originated in the days of sailing ships when those navies, in addition to having sailors who manned a ship’s guns, needed sailors who were trained for infantry-type combat – for example for boarding operations.  The Commandos originated, I think, with Mountbatten’s Combined Operations Directorate and were intended to conduct hit-and-run raids in occupied Europe.  I don’t know enough about the Guards to know why the Russians used that name.  The SS – specifically the Waffen SS – were a military extension of the Nazi Party’s secret police force; in many ways, the Waffen SS were a private army under the control of the Nazi Party, operating parallel to the regular (Wehrmacht) German Army.  I doubt the US Marine Corps would approve of being viewed as an equivalent “elite” to the Waffen SS, whose training included a substantial dose of indoctrination in Nazi ideology.

Almashir mentioned the US Army Rangers, which illustrates the point that some countries had several types of elite units.  The British SAS (which originated in WWII) are another example.  I think the French, German and Italian armies all had some  mountain troop units which were considered elite forces.  Paratroopers are also often put into that category.

Yes, I am quite insane  :-D

As for how I got it all to fit, I typed it into a Word document, and then copied and pasted.

I plan to playtest these rules and modify them as needed.  I was trying for as much historical accuracy as I could with the starting forces, while making the minimum number of changes to the official rules.  I got the idea from World in Flames, which is a great game, but, practically speaking, unplayable.  Even if you read and understand all the rules, finding one or more opponents who also have read and understand the rules is pretty much impossible.  You can, however, play Axis and Allies while you’re drunk (Been there.  Done that.  Got the T-shirt.)  But I like the idea of having the same basic problems, options, starting forces, and deployments the real military and political leaders of the time had to face.

Now, I’ll admit that the Vichy France rules are a bit more detailed than most A&A players prefer, and I understand why the game disigners decided to just leave them out.  But, if I was going to give the French a realistic starting fleet, I had to have the Vichy option to keep the combined French and British fleets from blowing the Italians out of the water on turn one.  It also gives the Allies the same uncertainty about what the Vichy French forces would do if their territories were invaded.  Historically, it was a major concern for the British.  Remember that they actually bombed the Vichy French fleet in port in North Africa, killing, IIRC, a couple of thousand French sailers , because they were afraid of having it fall into Axis hands.

IN AAR on the first turn Russia plays first then axis/ allies ( including Russia)

After first turn its axis then allies.  You may have to have Russia go first depending on the game your playing

Razor,

Nice try  :-D  I was thinking it was probably something they discovered in playtesting.  But I just can’t think of a reason to differentiate between islands and continents for this purpose.  I know, for instance, that the Italians had a pretty good navy.  Their surface ships were mostly well-designed and fast.  They did not, however, equip them with sufficient anti-aircraft capability.  They didn’t have any aircraft carriers of their own, which forced them to hug the coastlines whenever possible in order to stay within range of land-based air.  With the current rules, they could be protected by an airbase in, say, Sicily.  But if they were in the Adriatic they’d have no defensive air cover, even if they had airbases in both Yugoslavia and Italy.

@molinar13:

the same goes for a rail system. in the future if i can i will incorporate a rail, and block house system for my A&A games. they would really add a new prospective.

Flashman had some good ideas on a rail system.

You mean of the map?  Hmm.  I have a digital camera.  When my kids get home, I’ll ask them if they know how to do it.