Topics created by Jinx1527

@Peoples:

Hey man, I’m having problems downloading it from the steam site (some bullshit about needing me to subscribe to them, however I can’t even select the button) and I’d most definitely be interested in a virtual game of GW36. If you know of any alternative, hit me up.

Hey, chances are that its the wrong GW36 workshop, there are about 4 floating around. Some of them may be broken. Its the PP edits i believe.

So I tried to address a similar problem with the Monroe Doctrine. My group and I still have not gotten Monroe reaction by US down to 100% because the rule designer clearly didn’t think or test this shit out enough. (not shocked based on responses).

Non allies attack Americas: I’ve been told that the US doesn’t actually DoW by definitions of the words but take military action while at peace, think of it as a proxy war but both sides are directly involve like the Suez Crisis in real life. US may go down and engage and remove any hostile nations in the Americas and then they end up annexing the territories they took since they are active by rules and thus US was able to gain income while still being at peace.

France or Commonwealth (or any other official Allies): I put in the house rule that they cannot attack the Americas because the game doesn’t allow nations inside Alliances to fight each other so unless Monroe is the only situation where US will fight French and Commonwealth troops, I tell my group they simply do not wish to piss off the US and thus cannot attack the Americas.

@Caesar-Seriona You’re probably right haha. But I feel like there’s no way the designers meant for that to trigger war. I won’t inundate with yet another “official” clarification question, as I feel I do that a lot already, but I’m with you, I’d play that Lithuania doesn’t trigger that ability!

Nice one!

I’m ok with regional names. So long as you get a local to confirm some of them. The embarrassment of the Canadian labels as an example. :-D Let’s avoid creating more of those.

Definitely shorten names to Haiti as per your example.
Unless you are adding in an expansion with an overlay like Croatia expansion. Don’t over do adding extra territories. The map is already very busy and Europe is tight on space already.

@EBard:

I’d be interested in seeing what rules you’ve come up with. I too feel air power is not well represented in the game and have been working on a bunch of new approaches to try to fix it. All untested at this point but I’m pretty excited about some of the ideas I’ve come up with.

I was writing up a long post with details and then hit the wrong button and lost it, but I will try again later to write it up and share.

EBard!

I really like your shapeways page and i use your commanders for my games. Very nice!

Shame about losing your post, it happens to me alot too, sometimes hitting back can save it, other times its gone for good. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for when you rewrite it!

I’ve got the rules somewhere. I’ll post them up eventually.

I really like your ideas for the new air rules and the new values/cost of the air units as well! I am not a huge fan of how expensive air units are in GW. You buy a couple of planes and depending on the nation, you’ve spent +/- half or most of your IPPs on just 2-3 units. I lose just one plane it is like the end of the world. But I do like how flexible you made the planes by allowing them to scramble into adjacent territories using an air base, and by making them cheaper you don’t have to be so reluctant to send a fighter or two and a tac bomber to maybe get an air superiority hit and/or provide support for defending land units. If you lose those units, then you can replace them a little easier than you could in base GW36.

Another thing. I looked at the reference sheets you made for some of the nations and think you have some great ideas for the units! For example the use of marines also as jungle troops. But what do you think about taking the air superiority concept and applying that to armor-class units as well where on the 1st round of combat, armor units hit each other? This could represent some of the famous armored clashes we love like at Kursk. Just an idea. I was just thinking of a way besides target selection to get after armor-class units earlier in the combat rounds since infantry and militia are always taken first during combat.

1.1.2 Defending Combat Air Patrol fighters in sea zones may intercept at 1D12@3 once each, or @4 once each with Jet technology.  Attacking/escorting fighters may roll 1D12@3
once each, or @4 once each with Jet technology, and all bomber aircraft types roll 1D12@2 once each versus defending aircraft units.  Casualties are removed immediately and
combat ceases after one round.

1.1.2 Defending fighters on airbases and/or aircraft carriers (both with the RADAR technology) may scramble to intercept and roll 1D12@3 once each or @4 once each with Jet
Technology. Attacking/escorting fighters may roll 1D12@3 once each, or @4 once each with Jet technology, and all attacking bomber aircraft types roll 1D12@2 once each versus
defending aircraft units.  Casualties are removed immediately and combat ceases after one interception round.

Sorry,
I don’t see what you mean by scrambling, and what the difference compared to Air Patrol?
An adjacent Air Base can scramble?
If there is no Air Base along the TT passed through, there is only AAA which can fire?

It is not clear…

Just reposting this.

Turn Order

Production and Research Phase:

(production is as explained in the GW36 rule manual).

(research is as explained on the National Reference Sheet).

Combat Movement Phase:

1. Air Combat Movement Rounds:

1.1 Flying to the destination:

1.1.1 The attacker declares which territories or sea zones the aircraft is/are going through.

1.1.2 Defending Combat Air Patrol fighters in sea zones may intercept at 1D12@3 once each, or @4 once each with Jet technology.  Attacking/escorting fighters may roll 1D12@3
once each, or @4 once each with Jet technology, and all bomber aircraft types roll 1D12@2 once each versus defending aircraft units.  Casualties are removed immediately and
combat ceases after one round.

1.1.2 Defending fighters on airbases and/or aircraft carriers (both with the RADAR technology) may scramble to intercept and roll 1D12@3 once each or @4 once each with Jet
Technology. Attacking/escorting fighters may roll 1D12@3 once each, or @4 once each with Jet technology, and all attacking bomber aircraft types roll 1D12@2 once each versus
defending aircraft units.  Casualties are removed immediately and combat ceases after one interception round.

1.1.3 Defending anti-aircraft guns may fire once (1D12@3 once each, or @4 once each with RADAR technology) at aircraft units flying over the territory.  Attacking/escorting fighters
and all attacking bomber aircraft types may not fire back.  Casualties are removed immediately and combat ceases after one round.

1.2 Arriving at the destination:

1.2.1 Defending anti-aircraft guns may fire once (3D12@3 once each, or @4 once each with RADAR technology) pre-emptively at attacking aircraft units arriving at the territory.
Attacking/escorting fighters and all attacking bomber types may not fire back when pre-emptive shots are made.  Casualties are removed immediately.  Defending anti-aircraft
guns that fire at this point do not fire at all on the first Full Combat Round that proceeds this Combat Movement Round.

1.2.2 Defending fighters and tactical bombers may scramble from territories containing air bases and/or aircraft carriers with the RADAR technology to adjacent territories or sea
zones.

2. Land Combat Movement:

2.1 (As explained in the National Reference Sheet).

Should I cover our blitzkrieg rules?  They’re in the reference sheets I think: better than original rules.  I mention this because this also involves aircraft.

Combat Phase:

3. Full Combat Rounds:

3.1a Air Combat round (meant for engaging military units):

3.1.1 Attacking fighters roll 1D12@6 once each or 1D12@8 with Jet technology once each versus defending aircraft units.  The defender assigns casualties for defending aircraft.

3.1.2 Defending fighters roll 1D12@6 once each or 1D12@8 with Jet technology once each versus attacking aircraft units.  The attacker assigns casualties for attacking aircraft.

3.1.3 Attacking bomber aircraft that have been assigned as casualties roll 1D12@2 once each versus defending fighters (never other bomber aircraft).

3.1.4 Defending bomber aircraft that have been assigned as casualties roll 1D12@2 once each versus attacking fighters (never other bomber aircraft).

3.1.5 All aircraft casualties at this point are removed.

3.1.6 The attacker may also chose to retreat a portion of or all aircraft (refer to the Retreat section for more information).  The defending fighters may chase if conditions are met
(refer to the Chase/routing section for more information).

3.1.7 The defender may also chose to retreat a portion of or all aircraft.  Refer to the Retreat section for more information.  The attacking fighters may chase if conditions are met
(refer to the Chase/routing section for more information).

3.1.8 If the Full Combat Round has finished, all attacking aircraft units may proceed to land in the Non-Combat Phase, and retreating/scrambled defending aircraft units may land in
the Non-Combat Phase if they’re able to.

3.1b Strategic Bombing Combat Rounds (meant for devastation to industry and base utility):

3.1.1 Interception:

Defending fighters on airbases in the targeted territory, adjacent territories containing airbases and/or on aircraft carriers (with the RADAR technology) in sea zones adjacent to
the target territory may scramble to intercept at 1D12@3 once each or @4 once each with Jet technology. Attacking/escorting fighters may roll 1D12@3 once each, or @4 once
each with Jet technology, and all attacking bomber aircraft types roll 1D12@2 once each.  Casualties are removed immediately after and combat ceases after one round.

Defending facilities may fire once (D12@3 or @4 with RADAR technology at each attacking bomber aircraft targeting the facility).  Casualties are removed immediately after and
combat ceases after one round.

3.1.2 Strategic Bombing:

Attacking tactical bombers roll 1D6 to determine the number of damage on a targeted facility.

Attacking naval bombers roll 1D6 to determine the number of damage on a targeted facility.

Attacking heavy bombers roll 2D6 to determine the number of damage on a targeted facility.

Attacking strategic bombers roll 3D6 to determine the number of damage on a targeted facility.

3.1.3 The Strategic Bombing mission/s end/s and all aircraft participating in the strategic bombing round/s proceed to land in the Non-Combat phase.

3.2 Land and/or Naval Combat round:

3.2.1 Attacking aircraft units that have not rolled any combat dice in the Air Combat round may fire in the Land/Naval combat round:

Attacking tactical bombers roll 1D12@7 once each versus defending land units OR 1D12@4 once each versus defending naval units.

Attacking naval bombers roll 1D12@4 once each versus defending land units OR 1D12@6 once each versus defending naval units.

Attacking heavy bombers roll 3D12@2 once each versus defending land units OR 3D12@1 once each versus defending naval units.

Attacking strategic bombers roll 5D12@2 once each versus defending land units OR 5D12@1 once each versus defending naval units.

Attacking fighters roll 1D12@2 once each versus defending land units OR defending naval units.

3.2.2 Attacking anti-aircraft guns roll 1D12@3 (1D12@4 with RADAR technology) versus defending aircraft or 1D12@2 (1D12@3 with RADAR technology) versus defending aircraft
that have retreated in the Air Combat round.

Any hits scored on defending aircraft units by attacking anti-aircraft guns are not considered pre-emptive while attacking on any combat round.

Defending anti-aircraft guns may not be assigned as casualties before other land units if there are no attacking aircraft units present in the battle (the exception is the German
Flak 88 if it is used as artillery, not AA).

3.2.3 Attacking land units (excluding anti-aircraft guns) may engage defending air units:

at the value of 1D12@2 instead of engaing defending land units during a combat round at a ratio of 2 land units per 1 air unit when defending land units are present.

that are stationed in the contested territory at the value of 1D12@2 for only one combat round if there are no defending land units in the combat round.  Combat ceases after one
combat round and the attacker may take the territory if there are attacking land units that have survived combat.  The defending aircraft units must then retreat as described
under the applicable section under the Retreating mechanics.

that have scrambled from an adjacent territory’s air base at the value of 1D12@2 (no ratio) for an unlimited amount of combat rounds if there are no defending land units.

at the value of 1D12@1 vs defending aircraft units that have retreated in the Air Combat round instead of engaging defending land units during a combat round at a ratio of 2 land
units per 1 air unit when defending land units are present.

at the value of 1D12@1 vs defending aircraft units that have retreated in the Air Combat round with no ratio for an unlimited amount of combat rounds if there are no defending
land units.

3.2.4 Defending aircraft units that have not rolled any combat dice in the Air Combat round may fire in the Land/Naval combat round.

Defending tactical bombers roll 1D12@7 once each versus attacking land units OR 1D12@4 once each versus attacking naval units.

Defending naval bombers roll 1D12@4 once each versus attacking land units OR 1D12@6 once each versus attacking naval units.

Defending heavy bombers roll 3D12@2 once each versus attacking land units OR 3D12@1 once each versus attacking naval units.

Defending strategic bombers roll 5D12@2 once each versus attacking land units OR 5D12@1 once each versus attacking naval units.

Defending fighters roll 1D12@2 once each versus attacking land units OR attacking naval units.

3.2.5 Defending anti-aircraft guns roll 1D12@3 or 1D12@4 with RADAR technology versus attacking aircraft starting on the second Combat Round.

Any hits scored on attacking aircraft units by defending anti-aircraft guns on the second combat round and combat rounds thereafter are not considered pre-emptive.

Attacking anti-aircraft guns may not be assigned as casualties before other land units if there are no defending aircraft present in the battle (the exception is the German
Flak 88 if it is used as artillery, not AA).

3.2.6 Defending land units (excluding anti-aircraft guns) may engage attacking air units:

at the value of 1D12@2 instead of engaging attacking land units during a combat round at a ratio of 2 land units per 1 air unit when attacking land units are present.

at the value of 1D12@3 if there are no attacking land units and only attacking aircraft units in the combat round (no ratio).

at the value of 1D12@1 vs attacking aircraft units that have retreated in the Air Combat round instead of attacking land units during a combat round at a ratio of 2 land units
per 1 air unit when attacking land units are present.

at the value of 1D12@1 vs attacking aircraft units that have retreated in the Air Combat round with no ratio for an unlimited amount of combat rounds if there are no attacking
land units.

3.2.7 Attacking and defending units that are assigned as casualties are removed from the board.

Note: Land units that are taken as casualties are still considered present before the end of the round (part 3.2.7).

Note: Submarines are considered to be revealed to all units if they fire (roll) on a combat round, therefore making submarines able to suffer casualties from any air or naval unit.  I
figured this had to be written down because of past experiences of lacking clarification.

Mechanics section

Retreating mechanics (for aircraft):

Attacking fighters, jet fighters, tactical bombers and naval bombers may chose to retreat up the amount of movement they have left after the combat round.  A sea zone must contain
a friendly aircraft carrier capable of being in the sea zone that has available space if the aircraft unit is landing in a sea zone.  Aircraft carriers may provide a landing area by moving
into the sea zone in the Non-Combat Phase, when planes land.  Long Range Aircraft technology permits retreating up to a maximum 4 territories/sea zones away (5 from an airbase) for
attacking fighters, jet fighters, and tactical bombers, and 5 away (6 from an airbase) for naval bombers.

Attacking heavy and strategic bombers may chose to retreat up the amount of movement they have left after the combat round.  Long Range Aircraft technology permits retreating up
to 7 territories/sea zones (8 from an airbase) away for attacking heavy and strategic bombers.

Defending fighters, jet fighters and tactical bombers may chose to retreat up to 2 territories, or two sea zones, or a combination of a territory and a sea zone away (or 3 from an
airbase).  A sea zone must contain a friendly aircraft carrier that has available space if the aircraft unit is landing in a sea zone. Aircraft carriers may provide a landing area by moving
into the sea zone in the Non-Combat Phase, when planes land.  Long Range Aircraft technology permits retreating up to 3 territories/sea zones away (remains at 3 from an airbase) for
defending fighters, jet fighters, tactical bombers and naval bombers. If there are no friendly territories or friendly aircraft carriers available for landing, the aircraft is/are destroyed.

Defending heavy and strategic bombers may chose to retreat up to 3 territories, or two sea zones, or a combination of a territory and a sea zone away (or 4 from an airbase).  Long
Range Aircraft technology permits retreating up to 4 territories/sea zones (remains at 4 from an airbase) away for defending heavy and strategic bombers.

Chasing (or routing, or whatever name, I don’t know…) mechanics:

If all attacking aircraft units retreat, defending fighters or jet fighters may choose to chase all attacking aircraft by using mechanics similar to interception; 1D12@3, or 1D12@4 for jet
fighters only once each.  Remove all assigned casualties from the board after one chasing round.

Retreating fighters and jet fighters forfeit combat rolls.

Retreating bomber aircraft that have been assigned as casualties as a result of chasing may roll 1D12@2 once each versus chasing fighters and/or jet fighters

If all defending aircraft units retreat, attacking fighters or jet fighters may choose to chase all attacking aircraft by using mechanics similar to interception; 1D12@3, or
1D12@4 for jet fighters only once each.  Remove all assigned casualties from the board after one chasing round.

Retreating fighters and jet fighters forfeit combat rolls.

Retreating bomber aircraft that have been assigned as casualties as a result of chasing may roll 1D12@2 once each versus chasing fighters and/or jet fighters.

If only a portion of the attacking or defending aircraft units have retreated and fighters remain on both sides, chasing may not occur.

Non-Combat Phase

Aircraft that are landing are subject to section 1.1 of the Air Combat Movement Rounds under the Combat Movement Phase.

Turn Order.doc

@Whitshadw:

Once Italy is at war I do tend to Lend Lease what ever I can to them. This further aids them in power and projection as well it secures the southern approach. Just a thought if you wanna try it out.

Yeah! As Germany I also Lend-Lease every turn if I can spare it, I try buff up the Riga Marina via Lend Lease overland, a German Submarine since they are so cheap.

Listen to the doc. Hope you get well soon! Awaiting your next strategy topic, always gets a discussion started.

Wow, missed your response to me from before Jinx1527!

That’s a very good point re winning the SCW before/after Germany is at war. That also plays a large part into the effectiveness of planning. My points towards having a Nationalist Spain so that Italian troops don’t have to amphibiously assault Gibraltar, can also be turned on it’s head: The Allies can then just invade Nationalist Spain, and then retake Gibraltar, also without having to amphibiously assault it! Though, they’d still need to amphibiously assault somewhere on the Spanish mainland as well, and you’re very much correct, Leon-Castille is a prime target. Nationalist Spain would definitely need to beef up defenses on the Atlantic coast.

All very interesting, each part really plays into another part as well in this particular strategy you discuss. I guess you’d need to weigh out what’s more important/effective: 1) Having a Nationalist Spain enter the war, giving Italian troops overland access to Gibraltar, but thus opening up Spain to Allied invasion/widening the defensive window for the Axis or 2) Keep a Nationalist Spain neutral, thus closing easier access to Allied forces to invade mainland Europe, but in the process making an invasion of Gibraltar all the more unlikely again by amphibious assault.

My initial gut response leans with option one: having an activated Nationalist Spain. I think this would, overall, greatly support the Italians more than it would detriment the Axis as a whole. While Spain is now open to assault without Allied penalty, there’s still going to be Spanish troops there to make amphibious landings costly. All the while you’ve stopped, at least for a time, the flow of Allied reinforcement of North Africa/Mediterranean by holding Gibraltar, and/or, depending on how well Italy is doing, opening up the Atlantic to possible Italian interference, if their fleets can comfortably leave the Med.

Page 5 & 6 of Great Britain Reference Sheet. Army, Air and Navy.

I’m not sure if anyone is interested in this reference sheet. I suppose it will be these two pages that will stand out in peoples minds if anything.

These pages will probably be the most viewed in reference by me and my group, and even though the new units may leave one overwhelmed initially, I attest that players will become completely accustomed to them after a time. My earlier draft of my tweaks is not very fancy or full of artwork, and just a simple table with a few pencil notes added later, but we have played enough to enjoy the ins and outs of this version, and actually the Air War concept has been adopted by another small group of local G40 players (those that I couldn’t convert to GW36). I believe at least the Air War portion improves the game significantly, and I believe its natural concept will be eventually adopted by HBG. (Apologies if that seems arrogant, but the natural concept is not my original thought and often is found in many other ww2 boardgames)

These pages leap right into the tables.
I will not go into the specifics of every unit, but will again only passingly mention my mentality for the units still in development or unique.

Partisans.
Partisans will play an interesting aspect in the diplomatic prewar game. The concept is that a faction could potentially start a civil war in neutral nations using partisans.
Doing so would of push the nation away from the faction, but if the uprising would be successful and civil war would be won. The reformed nation would support the faction in return. Why would this matter? Well, because each nation will theoretically have a few war bonuses that could make it worth more to a faction then if they had annexed it.
Partisans would also be used to disrupt an occupied nation, and be a constant nuisance to the occupying force.

Commanders
Commanders (includes Admirals) are only found in the Infantry Class section, which may pose a problem, but because they cannot be purchased anyway, perhaps it may yet work out to have them placed there. Their description will be a bit vague for now. I’m considering SS’s version of having 1, 2, and 3 star generals who will allow 1, 2, and 3 rerolls respectively.
For those that want the combat round limits, commanders could help improve the situation, or negate the opposing commander. Or shut down a front entirely in the bad weather/winter + mountain/jungle/city + no opposing commander.

Poison Gas
This is quite a bit different in this game from HBG’s expansion and more attuned with an TripleA version.
Poison Gas is a suicide/ammo unit that bypasses enemy defenses and attacks in the pre-combat phase. Its cost is high enough that it is not always beneficial to use them unless the enemy is wedged in somewhere or is a high value target.
I found HBG’s version either boring, or a little too extreme (if I remember correctly; one doubled all casualties given that round).

Anti-Tank Gun
I have given anti-tank guns and tank destroyers an ability to first strike vs armor and mech and target select. Which makes Tank enthusiasts pause a little in their headlong rush.
I see I may need to change the wording on their first strike to “First Strike vs Armor and Vehicle”. As it currently is; perhaps a tank force would actually wish to keep a few light armor around to absorb those anti-tank hits if no Mech is present.

Mobile Infantry
I changed the name of Cavalry to Mobile Infantry.
It irritated me to no end to hear players comment on horses charging into battle and that the use of cavalry to this degree was ahistorical (someone will think of Poland), and pre-assume that therefore they shouldn’t be purchased.

The fact is that “Mobile Infantry” unit can actually be extremely useful if employed aggressively and I believed the name change would be more in line with the intent of the design and promote a psychological reciprocation into their being purchased.

Armored Cars
Armored Cars have received a few odd looks, but the fact they can blitz 3 territories may actually make them quite decent to have a few handy in the Russian Steppes or Africa. I may drop the price down to 3 though. Or even A1 D1 M3, C3.

I see the PDF version messed up the flag a bit in the first page.

Airforce

Yeah! So these units are going to be interesting. I don’t think I will explain them as I havn’t tweaked them in forever. (I did bump fighters and jets down by 1IPP, not sure if I should).
They’ve got a bit of stuff going. That’s for sure. This is where A&A players just about have a heart attack  :-P.

The Atomic Bomb is a bit crowded with info. But all the info is there somewhere.

We’ve changed Scramble and added Night Strategic Bombing (NSB may need to be tweaked, hasn’t been tested yet. Could be to much of a loophole or too strong or too weak)

Navy
Pretty easy stuff navy, nothing too strange except Raider/Sub Tenders, increased capacity for Carriers (due to the dynamic air war), and a good anti-air unit in Light Cruisers.

There are also good bombarding platforms in Pocket Battleships (I may tweak down their vs. Ship stat to 4. But mostly vestiges of WW1 and probably wont be purchased.

Super Battleships…may need to be tweaked. Due to their cost, not many players have tested them out. But from what I have seen, many players have countered a Super Battleship with a couple planes and done just as much damage or better. So I think its at a good value right now.

The most significant thing about the Navy is the Ship Operation Range. Which I have attempted to explain sufficiently.

Detaching Squadrons prevents blocking ships, (G40: no more will the mighty American/Japanese fleet see victory slip away at the sacrifice of only a destroyer.)
Man, that used to frustrate me. Why would a squadron of destroyers hold up a carrier and battleship fleet with hundreds of escorting ships? The admiral could just move past. Its a toss up between using Detach or Naval Blitz, which would work quite well too. But the reason I’m currently leaning towards Detach is because ships would have to be left behind to deal with the threat, reducing the strength of the attacking fleet anyway.

Well, and that concludes these pages.
Last pages are Technology, where I have it neatly laid out and simple.
Following that is only setup and a possible government cabinet expansion.

Cheers!

GW1936 Great Britian 2.3.2 - Page 5 & 6.pdf

No luck finding it on my phone. Could be on my computer.
Maybe a keyword search on Google would find you the topic.

@thenorthman:

Concur. The game from reading is awesome and watching g folks on YouTube. My first foray on it should be this upcoming weekend or so. (Have to finish some door hanging and remodeling first.)

I have a few questions that I am compiling. I have things I think I can assume but will look for clarification on what others think. Minor things.

Definitely post questions in the forum or at the Global War page. I’m sure we’ll be able to knock them out together!

That’s what I was thinking, but I was not sure, I just needed confirmation. Thank you.

@Rank:

Jinx

As for the highlight every time we get a new guy the charts are so busy this may help simplify the starting learning curve. If you can get a new to game tester for your charts it may assist on readability. I know that the standard charts were a bit of info overload. Suggestion to have starter units better separated from upgrades and researched units. Takes a bit of explaining that every time we get a new guy in. Example germany jumps strait into super heavy tanks skips the 6 regular heavies required first. And all new guys think they can build heavy tanks off the hop without research due to chart placing. A simple coloured highlight signifying reasearch required would eliminate this. Or maybe 3 charts first basic units, second tech and upgrades, final all units together. And get them more into the game faster rather than getting corrected constantly, increases the fun factor for the new guys.

Ah, that explains a few of your chart lines. Didn’t realize you had developed your own air combat rules. They sound interesting. Maybe a bit much for our group now though, lots of newer players. Still not fully grasping current rules without the odd reading.

What program are you using? this has me interested in tidying up our charts.

As for the switch from historical its not often I agree but a real Stalin in this position would. In current game as soviets I own South America and Middle East. And am neutral across the board nonagression pacts with axis.  Im ready to attack germany, italy,usa at panama canal,  india (fec), africa (uk), and japan at Tokyo, all at once. Germany has london, and japan focused on only us and owns San Francisco. But im not allowed to unless us attacks me first or berlin falls. All combatants are severely unit depleted due to fighting while im ready to go. Russia has largest navy on both oceans lol. In no way would Stalin really hesitate, Russia is a global power able to expand all over the globe.  But the rules have the Russians handcuffed. So im now forced to take berlin first and allow the rest to rebuild before i can take it all. Meaning allies must win first, so I can never actually attack allies until the game has already ended realistically.

John Brown

Welcome and thank you also. Ill look into those sets. Was more thinking if 1939 setup comes out. Chart changes adding their newer units would also be a help,  if all in one chart. Rather than add-on expansion charts or I’ll need a massive amount of paper on the walls. Don’t want it to become a legal style rules with endless exceptions and loopholes lol. Or nobody will want to play it.

Hehe, sometime our games turn out to be a lot like that. But we have a core of experienced players and a kind of forgiving system for mistakes in purchases and those that neglected to read the rules.
I’ve played full games of G36 over twenty times now, and I still keep the manual by my elbow and a bunch of online FAQ pages printed out. I’m generally the referee for our game and there is so much to remember and so much grey area that we find we often need to patch it up with house rules.

We have tried it out in past games. For instance, we allowed the Soviets to DOW against the Allies. The Soviets built a massive fleet presence. Though they did DOW against the Allies, the Soviets natural enemy is the Axis.
The fact that the Soviets could now DOW against Allies did not change the game in the slightest. The Soviets VP points are mostly gained from taking neutral nations which they gathered from the middle east. But they had no reason to come into conflict with any western powers except for India (which was taken by Japan) and Egypt, which was far off and did not matter. The Soviets played a great game of pacifism and won the game. Sure at one point they declared war against the Allies, but only because it made the Axis hope that they would come to blows and eased pressure from the German/Soviet border. Only one French Militia was lost in Syria to the Soviets.

My conclusion is that there is no reason for that rule, except for historical railroading (not meant in a derogatory way).
Theoretically the Soviets could build a large fleet (which they did) and marines (which they did) and invade…England (which they did: northern Ireland) or America. But they don’t need too, all the IPP they need can be found on the continent, and in our game, after the soviet fleet invaded Ireland. They trundled back home to the Baltic. It was a pretense to gain them time on the German/Soviet border to strengthen and achieve parity on the border. Earlier, Germany could have taken them, especially with their expenses into a large fleet. But by the time the Axis saw that the Soviets in England in any meaningful way was a pipe dream; it was too late.

No need for a Soviet limiting of DOW, at least in my opinion.

So in our current game. The French (according to designer rules of French DOW to Neutral nations) DOW against Republican Spain while they where in Civil War. They actually went so far as to lose Bordeaux and Marseilles to Republican Spain in Early 1938.
We thought about the rules a little, and said that for this game, we would let the Soviets be capable of DOW against allies, and begin their rearmament rolls because of being at war with a “Major” power. France will be collecting its Wartime Income.

It worked to some degree in Axis favor in the short term, because the French and Soviet fleets mutually decimated themselves, and the Spanish/French forces have cleared western Europe of troops. Perhaps the Soviets will continue to sink Lend Lease to Spain. Perhaps, and if nothing else, France has lost half of its land army because of its need to watch Germany.

In the long term it will bite Axis in the butt. But…perhaps a Chamberlain-Ribbentrop pact can be signed. Perhaps.

Anyways, its exciting. :-)

@Talkalots:

I would post links but I’m limited from doing so, due to my lack of posts. Let me hit you a private message!

Thank you sir!
Sorry I havn’t responded sooner, I have given it a look (a while back, when you sent it) and I like what you’ve done. I’ve incorporated some aspects into my modifications, though not quite to the extent you have.
Thank you for sharing!

Uh…hello. There is a global zombie war game called Zombie State. I’ve seen it and read some reviews. I’ve actually designed a pretty complicated Axis and Allies Zombies game using the Global 1940 maps. I use Fortress America infantry units for zombies as I don’t have any real specific Z sculpts. I’m afraid I made the rules so complicated that people might compare it to Cones of Dunshire. The Zs are pretty slow and certainly not unkillable. I combined the idea of supernatural undead springing up everywhere thanks to Hitler (he gets munched right off the bat and Admiral Donitz takes over what’s left of Germany) with some pandemic plagues. So some Zs can infect you while others just tear you limb from limb. If the players want to just beat on the Zombies they can unite and do that, or if they want to fight each other the Zs get exponentially tougher and rip into all of them. Like “nightmare” level in some computer games. I’ve been working on it for a few years on and off. Max Brooks World War Z novel and the Harry Turtledove Balance novels were a good inspiration for this kind of thing. Let me know if you’re still interested in this game concept. There is actually someone who started this a few years back with the old A and A Classic map and some fun ideas for introducing Zs into WW2, but I’ve always preferred bigger maps and lots of different unit types.

@Baron:

Hi Jinx,
you seems to have played many times with this air combat phase which preceed regular combat.
Can you share what was the exact cost and combat values of planes in both dogfight and regular combat?
I’m looking for a balanced and working air combat system in my A&A games and such experience is valuable.
I found that special targeting rule for Fg and Tactical bomber seems to work inside regular combat but I have to lower combat values and cost to make it functionnal and must have a three planes Carrier to keep them with a similar offense/defense ratio compared to other warships and OOB loaded Carrier.

@Baron:

Hi Jinx,
you seems to have played many times with this air combat phase which preceed regular combat.
Can you share what was the exact cost and combat values of planes in both dogfight and regular combat?
I’m looking for a balanced and working air combat system in my A&A games and such experience is valuable.
I found that special targeting rule for Fg and Tactical bomber seems to work inside regular combat but I have to lower combat values and cost to make it functionnal and must have a three planes Carrier to keep them with a similar offense/defense ratio compared to other warships and OOB loaded Carrier.

Yep, we have played a bit, and its been modified a few times and tweaked with every game. But the latest game we took a few things apart and still need to test them. I may roll out a few battles.
Also, I’m reading the manual for “Struggle for Europe and Asia” and I may tweak things even further! That game has some amazing game designs incorporated.

The latest iteration of this rule is:

Air Attack (AA), Air Defense (AD), Ground Attack (GA), Move (M), Cost ©. On a D12.

Fighters: AA6 AD6 GA2 M4 C6. Carrier Capable.
Tactical Bombers: AA2 AD2 GA6 M4 C8. Target GA at 1-3. Carrier Capable.
Medium Bombers: AA2 AD2 GA6 M5 C8. Strategic Bombing 1D6. Can launch 1 Airborne Infantry.
Strategic Bombers: AA1 AD1 GA(CB) M6 C10. Carpet Bombing 3D@2. Strategic Bombing 2D6.
Transport Plane: AA0 AD0 GA0 M6 C8. Can Transport 1 Unit. Can launch 1 Airborne Infantry.

One change I’m considering, is to weaken the fighters to an AA4 AD4, just so that air units do not get wiped out so quickly in their Air Supremacy battles.

I texted this to a fellow player just now, and he mentioned that I should write up Ground Defense, Air Units Retreat, and ground to air attacks on Air Units.

Well, in the HBG rules, the Air Units (apart from Fighters) had a lower Defense then Offence. Logically this works in regards to Infantry. Infantry units are dug in, they know the terrain, and have some form of obstacles thrown up against an attack. In the case of Armor, it makes sense that they are better offensively then defensively. They can rapidly breakthrough, encircle, and overrun enemy positions. It makes sense.

Air units though…is a different matter I think. Why are they weaker in defense? Bombers would be up in the air chucking bombs and strafing the enemy. The only reason the aircraft would have a weak defense is if the enemy has Air Superiority, which the Pre-Combat Air Battle would incorporate. After that battle, whatever survives the Air Superiority Battle would have attained at least local air superiority and be capable of strafing and bombing the enemy unit at at least full Attack value.

Which leads to my second point. Airplanes cannot dig in, nor do they have terrain features they can utilize. The only benefit they have is the proximity of their own airbases, which would mean quicker refueling, rebombing, and more time repairing. The downside is that the proximity of airbases mean that the enemy could theoretically bomb the Defending Airforce’s airbases.

Therefore, in the current iteration of the rules, the Airforce has the same Air Attack as Air Defense, and the same Ground Attack as Ground Defense.
These rules are constantly evolving though. So who knows.

Second topic. Can ground units (barring Anti-Aircraft-Armament), fire on Aircraft? I’ve tried it both ways. I prefer little to no hits from ground units to air. I like having to build up an Air War as distinct from a Land War or a Naval War. I like having to build a series of AAA to defend a path from India to Burma so that the Japanese Airforce will hesitate to attack my FEC forces.
But, my co-players disagree, and my last game shifted back into allowing Ground Units to attack as normal. I still think I like the idea of giving each unit an AA value, hovering around 2 or 1, to accurately portray that Artillery Cannon, or a Tank would have a hard time hitting Aircraft.

As for Retreating. After one round of combat, both the attacker and then the defender can choose to withdraw their Airforce from the battle, independent of any land battle. In regards to the defending Airforce, the current rules state that they can withdraw only if there is an airbase present. Although I think I will push for allowing a retreat regardless of airbases. I cant see why not.
I’m tinkering with the idea of allowing naval fleets to do the same after a few rounds. The Air and Naval war where quite mobile, and it makes sense that that after a few rounds of combat, those units where capable of retreating did so.

In regards to retreating:
Air Supremacy Round occurs.
Ground Attack, bombing/strafing.
Attacker now has option to retreat his Air Units.
Air Supremacy Round occurs.
Defender now has option to retreat his Air Units to an Adjacent Territory that is not engaged or contested in battle.
Ground Attack, bombing/strafing.

That’s about it, I’ll post as we tweak the rules further.