Posts made by HBG GW Enthusiast

@iwillnevergrowup This is great news! I’ll check them out!

Quick note. The Japanese pieces for Amerika are a slightly yellow-orange rather than the classic pumpkin orange. Make sure that’s not a deal breaker for you before you purchase Amerika purely for pieces.

I hope new players find this information helpful:

Axis and Allies 1940 Europe – 610 Pieces
France – 20 Inf, 10 Arm, 6 Mech, 8 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 6 Tac, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 DD, 4 Trans, 4 Subs (Total of 86 blue pieces)
Germany – 40 Inf, 12 Arm, 9 Mech, 8 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 9 Tac, 4 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs (Total of 124 black pieces)
Great Britain – 20 Inf, 8 Arm, 6 Mech, 6 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 6 Tac, 6 Bmb, 2 CV, 4 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs (Total of 96 tan pieces)
Italy – 20 Inf, 10 Arm, 6 Mech, 8 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 6 Tac, 4 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs, (Total of 96 light brown pieces)
Soviet Union – 40 Inf, 10 Arm, 9 Mech, 8 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 9 Tac, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 DD, 4 Trans, 4 Subs (Total of 112 brown pieces)
United States – 20 Inf, 6 Arm, 6 Mech, 6 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 6 Tac, 6 Bmb, 4 CV, 4 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs (Total of 96 olive drab pieces)
Rondels – higher quality rondels for 20 for German, 20 for USSR, 20 for Italy, 18 for UK, 15 for US, 5 for France, 2 for FEC
Chips – Grey: 55, Red: 10, Green: 15
D6 Dice – Red: 3, Black: 3

Axis and Allies 1940 Pacific – 502 Pieces
ANZAC – 20 Inf, 8 Arm, 6 Mech, 6 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 6 Tac, 6 Bmb, 4 CV, 4 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs (Total of 98 grey-brown pieces)
KMT China – 30 Inf (Total of 30 celery green/yellow green)
Great Britain – 20 Inf, 8 Arm, 6 Mech, 6 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 6 Tac, 6 Bmb, 2 CV, 4 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs (Total of 98 tan pieces)
Japan – 40 Inf, 12 Arm, 9 Mech, 12 Art, 8 AA, 16 Ftr, 9 Tac, 8 Bmb, 8 CV, 8 BB, 8 CA, 12 DD, 12 Trans, 12 Subs (Total of 174 pumpkin orange pieces)
United States – 20 Inf, 6 Arm, 9 Mech, 6 Art, 8 AA, 8 Ftr, 9 Tac, 6 Bmb, 4 CV, 4 BB, 4 CA, 6 DD, 6 Trans, 6 Subs (Total of 102 olive drab pieces)
Rondels – 40 higher quality rondels for Japan, 30 for US, 15 for UK, 10 for ANZAC, 5 for China
Chips – Grey: 55, Red: 10, Green: 15
D6 Dice – Red: 3, Black: 3

Historical Board Gaming Amerika – 200 Pieces
Germany – 12 Inf, 6 Mech, 8 Arm, 6 Hvy Arm, 8 SP Art, 6 SP AA, 8 Jets, 6 Jet Bombers (Total of 60 black pieces)
Great Britain – 20 Inf, 8 Mech, 10 Arm, 8 Hvy Arm, 10 SP Art, 8 SP AA, 10 Jets, 6 Jet Bombers (Total of 80 tan pieces)
Japan – 12 Inf, 6 Mech, 8 Arm, 6 Hvy Arm, 8 SP Art, 6 SP AA, 8 Jets, 6 Jet Bombers (Total of 60 orange pieces)
Rondels – 40 higher quality rondels for Japan, but the additional 40 German rondels aren’t the classic color scheme
Chips – White: 97, Red: 5
D12 Dice – Red: 6

Axis and Allies 1941 – 160 Pieces
Germany – 8 Inf, 5 Arm, 4 Ftr, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 Trans, 3 Subs (Total of 32 black pieces)
Great Britain – 8 Inf, 5 Arm, 4 Ftr, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 Trans, 3 Subs (Total of 32 tan pieces)
Japan – 8 Inf, 5 Arm, 4 Ftr, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 Trans, 3 Subs (Total of 32 pumpkin orange pieces)
Soviet Union – 8 Inf, 5 Arm, 4 Ftr, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 Trans, 3 Subs (Total of 32 brown pieces)
United States – 8 Inf, 5 Arm, 4 Ftr, 2 Bmb, 2 CV, 2 BB, 2 CA, 4 Trans, 3 Subs (Total of 32 olive drab pieces)
Rondels – 10 cheap paper rondels for each of Germany, Japan, UK, USA, and USSR (I suggest tossing these aside)
D6 Dice – Black: 4

If you are buying sets to build your GW 1936 game, I’m not sure A&A '41 is worth it, but I’d for sure recommend Amerika if it is on sale for $50.

@gen-manstein I agree that the original was well made!

Earlier, I started a post about the right term for playing pieces because I had wanted to start this post about submarines and didn’t know exactly what to call them.

I hate the OOB submarines. They are thin, can be hard to pick up, and fall over on their sides. They suck. Does anyone one else have this problem?

I notice the A&A 1914 subs have a slight flare at their base to provide stability and a nice stubby conning tower to pick them up.

You can buy HBG subs for Germany and Japan, but I’d love to see how much interest there is in petitioning HBG to make a standard submarine with a slightly wider base (thicker). Perhaps based on the German Type IX, USS Gato, or IJN I-201? I’m fine with HBG choosing just one and making them in all colors. When you can’t pick up a piece and instead scoot it to the edge of the board to sweep it off, then the fun/toy aspect drops off a bit.

So the two questions are: Are you too annoyed with the OOB submarines? Would you like to see HBG make a “standard” submarine?

@imperious-leader Ha! It’s the most true term!

What is the agreed upon term for our playing pieces?
HBG calls them “battle pieces.” Some people call them “scuplts” for sculptures. Others call them “minis” for miniatures. I’ve also heard “models.”

What’s the most commonly used or accepted term?

@generalhandgrenade Rain on the roof! It totally makes sense! I noticed you did a great job moving the phone with you the second video. These are fantastic and help us understand the some of the decisions that were made in v3. Thanks again, General!

@noneshallpass What I’d like to see is one extra downloadable file which has the rules PLUS every National Reference Sheet (14 including Vichy). Then, we could all use the (CTRL+F) function to search through the rules and National Reference Sheets at once. If they do eventually create an index, the person who takes on that challenge will start by creating that one massive file to search.

GeneralHandGrenade has created an excellent YT video discussing game the design philosophy behind GW 36 v3.

Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHlrbXLCdwo

First, I have to start with the production value of the video. I was enthralled and taking notes about this video, but I was quite distracted by a persistent chip shuffling. I think as GHG is talking, he is absent-mindedly running chips in his hand. I actually feel blessed relief now as I am writing this because, after 33 minutes of that sound, I am relishing the silence. Also, GHG interviewed lead designer Morton from Denmark, via speaker phone. I found it annoying each time GHG would pan away from the cell phone, one has to strain to hear Morton’s voice. My suggestions would be to consider three options in the future if you are going to be interviewing someone on speaker phone: a) tape your cell phone to the camera stand so as you move the camera around, the phone stays equidistant, b) don’t move the camera, but instead bring items into the camera’s view, or c) separate your audio from your video (B-roll). A good principle when interviewing someone is to never be a distraction.

With that said, the content of this video was absolute gold. I was relieved to hear Morton’s number one principle is simplicity. This is crucial and brilliant. If GW '36 does not hew first to simplicity, then it is a cancer that will eventually die from it’s own complexity. If you look at a games like Advanced Squad Leader or Star Fleet Battles, they started off beautifully. I remember when SFB was a “microgame.” Eventually, SFB rules expanded and expanded, to the point they had a “Doomsday” edition, which should have been a sign to stop, but the rules kept growing and growing. If you just keep adding rules, you turn a game from a luminous, shining star into a black hole that sucks all light due to its massive density. But it’s so tempting and easy to add “just one more rule.” It requires willpower and clarity of vision for a game designer to put simplicity as the first priority! Kudos!

The second principle was no scripting. I hadn’t thought about this. We played A&A over and over and over again until our play group discovered the scripts (on our own as this was in the days before mainstream use of the internet), then moved on to Max’s optional rules but still the game grew stale. But I didn’t realize how important “no scripting” is until Morton pointed it out. This was enlightening and again is a principle which bodes well for the long term success of GW '36.

The third principle is the importance of time. Wow. Again, this struck me as novel, but so wise. The limit must be two days of gaming, because that’s the realistic limit for most gaming groups. Sure, you may have some folks in your group that are retired, or won the lottery and don’t have a job, or whose wife left them because they play games too much, or won the mega lottery and have a wife who is a heiress neurosurgeon who loves to teach aerobics fitness on the side and loves traveling with you to play GW 36 for a week at a time… but most of the members of your gaming group can give a maximum of one weekend. So having time as a primary consideration is something I hadn’t considered. Every time you add something to the game, you need to ask yourself, how many minutes of gameplay am I adding with this change? Is it worth it? And on the flip side, if there are ways to simplify the game and save time, that time savings is of incredible value. Overall, the game must be able to be played in a weekend, or something has to give.

The fourth principle is a standard one in game design - gameplay/fun trumps realism. This is a well established principle. Enough said.

The fifth principle is specific for the eventual v4 of GW 36: evolution rather than revolution. I loved that Morton said that we currently have a great game and we don’t need massive change. We need now to polish the game with balance and fine-tuning.

I tremendously enjoyed this video. I know there’s already an episode 2 out. I’ll watch that next. Really looking forward to this series. Thanks GHG for all you do, both in working on the rules, your activity and help on this forum, and as an ambassador on YT. I admire and appreciate you!

@imperious-leader said in Russian Color:

The brown the Soviets had with Milton Bradley was the best “brown” ever.

Agreed!

@trig Ha! Steal away, my friend! No worries. You are focused on the historical aspect while I am focused on the gameplay. There is always a tension in game design between the two. From the gameplay side, I’d love to be able to purchase the firepower of a BB and with the speed of a CA at the cost of durability. With that said, such a vessel might become imbalanced because the side that had naval superiority could purchase more BC’s at a lower cost than BB’s. Imagine you have a fleet capable of doing 4 hits and I have a fleet capable of doing 3 hits. You buy 4 BC’s and increase your fleet’s ability to do damage by 2.67 hits (if BC’s had an attack of 8, say). I buy 3 BB’s for almost the same cost, thinking I need to be able to sustain more damage (since you have superiority), but I only raise my fleet’s damage output by 2. So the side that can risk more (because they have superiority), can buy even more firepower. It might snowball.

I really have no idea what I’m talking about though, because I’m still assembling my game pieces! 8 )

@midnight_reaper Yeah, it’s like the Russian brown is more like Italian brown. But at least I know I should go with the Russian brown.

I have ordered a few brown HBG sculptures for Russia. The brown seems darker than my Russian pieces. Should I choose Maroon as the true Russian color? Or is brown the way to go?

@insanehoshi Aha! I’m sure you are right, Hoshi. Its purpose is for a country like ANZAC. What paradoxically sane advice you give!

Battlecruisers are slightly better than heavy cruisers, but they lack the ability to engage in mine warfare. For the experienced players in the game, how often do you see them get purchased? I see a role for every other unit in the game, so I worry I’m overlooking their purpose.

@generalhandgrenade said in SS Panzer Grenadiers:

They could have been either but it seemed to me that they were more of a vehicle class unit.

Agreed!

@Noneshallpass Very helpful suggestions! Thank you so much!

Didn’t catch the Chinese CCP requirement to evolve to a major power before being able to attack together. Then I noted the same requirement for China KMT (but we already get some KMT pieces with A&A '40 Pacific). So it’s worth it to get some CCP pieces too. Thanks for the advice. It’s a lot to learn, but the community’s super supportive! 8 )

ANZAC’s color is grey-brown. FEC’s color is blonde. But their turns are conducted simultaneous with Great Britain’s and their units are all the same except for FEC’s Gurkhas. I can just use Great British tan units for all three countries.

KMT China has a similar situation with the US and CCP China with the Soviet Union.

So, I’m considering not purchasing any pieces for ANZAC, FEC, CCP China, or KMT China except a set of grey-brown mountain HBG pieces to represent the Gurkhas. I know that grey-brown is really for ANZAC, but if I’m not using any other “ANZAC” colored pieces, then I can use grey-brown for FEC. They don’t make the mountain piece in blonde, and Gurkhas are basically upgraded mountain troops.

Anything I’m missing?

@Noneshallpass said in ANZAC Naval Units:

…does not even have a Major Shipyard at setup

I am an idiot! Thanks so much! It’s a tough situation with Global War that before you can even begin playing the game, you need to study the game and know the rules so that you can buy the right pieces so you can start to learn the game. LOL!