Posts made by Gorshak

Here is a list of the production values during the course of the war of the main nations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_production_during_World_War_II

What do you guys think of this rule for land units:

Infantry and Artillery
just as usual.

Mechanized Infantry
1-2-2-4 Blitz, +1 if paired with Artillery

Tank
3-3-2-6 Blitz, +1 if paired with Dive Bomber

Blitz (for both Mech Inf and Tank)
In addition to the normal blitz, the unit may - after a victorious battle with the first movement point - spend the second movement point to either move to a friendly territory or attack another enemy territory. These second round of movements/battles are conducted only after all regular battles are completed.

I’m not sure about this idea.
On one hand it does not change the unit values (I don’t like changing them too much) and makes each unit still have its use and worth.
On the other hand it adds a whole new layer of complexity with a possible second round of combat.

But I do like the idea of fast Tank advances deep behind the enemy front. It will allow the attacker to seize weakly defended hinterland at the cost of exposing his precious and expansive armored/mechanized units to enemy counterattacks.

This topic was on my mind for a few days since I heard about AAP40 & AAE40 and read here and on on Larry’s Page about it.

I just wanted to start the topic and saw it was already here :)

Tanks as a 3-3-2-6 unit
I can see the rationale behind it with the new mech inf unit.
With mech inf a 1-2-2-4 unit the 5 IPC-tank would be the better buy (especially if art would not support mech inf)

For 20 IPC you would get:
mech Inf: 5/10 and 5 hits
tank: 12/12 and 4 hits

With art support it would depend on how many art would be on the board.

With the new 6 IPC-tank it will be different:
For 24 IPC you would get:
mech Inf: 6/12 and 6 hits
tank: 12/12 and 4 hits

BUT:
Now regular Inf will dominate the tank again (the reason tanks got beefed up in revised):

For 6 IPC you get:
inf: 2/4 and 2 hits
tank: 3/3 and 1 hit

Especially when you consider air support for the inf during attack (that has the tactical advantage of not having to stay in the frontline territory) the best choice would be Inf with aircraft and a few arts. Maybe in a few situation where speed matters more would tanks find their use.

If tanks stay at 3-3-5 they would be better than mech inf, if they will cost 6 IPC then inf will dominate the tanks.

My intuitive solution would be to use the OOB 3-3-2-6 tank and give him a better special ability. I would change Blitz so that if tanks after a batlle still had a movement point they could either stay (as they have to now),  return to a friendly territory (like aircraft) or even attack a second time (be it empty enemy territory or a second battle).

That would definately give the tanks a new punch and would allow real fast Panzerblitz action.
On the other hand, this change would change traditional gameplay a lot.

Air unit situation
I fully agree with the actual situation not giving each air unit its special unique usefulness.
Right now fighter, F-B and Bomber are too similar, almost interchangeable - especially fighter and F-B.

I really like the introduction of F-B, but I would like to have each aircraft have its distinct usefulness:
Fighter: Strong in Air Combat, weak to medium in Ground Combat
F-B: Strong in Ground Combat, medium in Air Combat and weak to medium in Strategic Bombing
Bomber: Strong in Strategic Bombing, weak in Air Combat, medium in Ground Combat, Long Range

I will write my more detailed thoughts on aircraft in a different thread.

I will try asking local shops.

shipping costs to Germany with coolstuffinc.com are 70$, that’s more than the game costs
:(

Does anybody know where to pre-order AAP40 in Germany or at least Europe?

After reading the AARHE rules (btw.: you really should update the files in the House Rules section and on Boardgame Geeks) I got the impression that BBs are dominated by CAs.

The unit stats:

Battleship
Combat: 4/4
Cost: 20 IPC
Move: 2
Anti-Air: 2
ASW: no
Special: Fire in opening phase, shore bombardment, 2 hits, build in 2 turns

Cruiser
Combat: 3/3
Cost: 15 IPC
Move: 3
Anti-Air: 3
ASW: yes
Special: shore bombardment, 2 hits

To better compare the two ship classes we must see what we get for the same amount of IPC. For 60 IPC we get 4 CA or 3 BB.

4 Cruiser vs 3 Battleships
Combat: 12/12 vs 12/12
Hits: 8 vs 6
Move: 3 vs 2
Anti-Air: 12 vs 6
ASW: yes vs no
BB fire in opening but need 2 turns to be built.

Even with their opening fire ability the BBs lose against the CAs in combat. The CAs are faster, can attack subs, have better AA and can be built in the same turn.
This way CA dominate BB - it is always the better strategy to buy CA instead of BB and that is not good in game design.

Please tell me if I missed anything of importance.