Best posts made by Midnight_Reaper

Hello out there.

I am the Midnight_Reaper. My interests include collecting and playing Axis & Allies games, collecting alternate rule sets, and devising alternate rules of my own. I also enjoy helping others, both in real life and virtually. I try to help answer rules questions when I can.

I am also over on boardgamegeek.com, going by Midnight_Reaper over there as well.

I live in Maryland, am a veteran of the U.S. Army, and am working full time while attending college as well. Haunting the forums here and on BGG is something I do to stay abreast of what it happening in the world of games and what I do to unwind after a long day.

-Midnight_Reaper

And a Merry Christmas to you and to everyone else here at AxisandAllies.org. And a Happy New Year to everybody as well.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Super-Semple While I like the idea of Combat Medics, I think that they might be outside the scope of Global War. When infantry and tank units represent Corps or Armies of troops (which would have thousands of soldiers), what would a Combat Medic unit do, exactly? Do you have a Corps of Medical troops, with hospitals, ambulances, and convalescent facilities? What effect would you have this literal Medical Corps do for you?

I don’t mean to punch holes in your idea, I’m just trying to help you make this rule a better rule. This idea might be better as Hospital unit that is stationary, similar to an Airbase and a Naval Port, and provides some benefit when ground units in nearby zones are taken as casualties.

Alternatively, you might build Hospital Ships and have them off-shore, to provide medical facilities for Amphibious Assaults. The US Navy had about 15 Hospital Ships in commission during WWII, and they were not alone in providing aid and comfort to the wounded.

My 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

@CWO-Marc As for what we did and did not have back in 2000, I made a small chart

Unit from Classic (1984)
Aircraft Carrier
Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Battleship
Bomber
Fighter
Industrial Complex
Infantry
Submarine
Tank
Transport

Units Added in Europe / Pacific / Revised (1999/2000)
Artillery
Destroyer

Units Added in Anniversary (2008)
Cruiser

Units Added in Europe 1940 / Pacific 1940 (2009)
Mechanized Infantry
Tactical Bomber

Units Radically Changed in Europe 1940 / Pacific 1940 (2009)
Industrial Complex

Units Radically Changed in the Second Edition games (2012)
Anti-Aircraft Artillery

Units Added in Zombies (2018)
Zombies

So, yes, both a lot already around in 2000 and a lot more still to come.

-Midnight_Reaper

@kwaspek104 The Internet Archive gets you almost all of the way there. If this is helpful, you should drop a dollar or five in their tip cup. Preserving the whole internet is not cheap.

At the following link is the 15th and last article Mike Selinker wrote about the upcoming A&A Revised:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040319145911/https://www.avalonhill.com/default.asp?x=articles/gen/aapreview15

So, where are the other 14? Well, 13 of them are linked at the bottom of the page. There is a link to preview 6 (Research and Development) but that link doesn’t work (nobody ever saved it to the Archive).

That should be all that you need. IF you really have a pressing need for that R&D article, I can try harder to dig it up.

-Midnight_Reaper

@trulpen said in Post League Game Results Here:

@akreider2 said in Post League Game Results Here:

Trulpen (Axis) over Akreider2 (Allies). Bid of 9. Despite the Allies winning a lot of the small battles. I think we need to do a 20 bid. Though I also did the mistake of under-committing with the US to the Atlantic when I saw Germany building a navy.

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/35374/l20-1-trulpen-x-vs-akreider2-a-9-bm3/152?page=7

trulpen and his german navy. Wonder when that gets around to be the joke of the neighbourhood? :grin:

If it’s stupid, but it works, then it’s not stupid. The corollary being that if you don’t know why it’s working, be extra careful when trying it for yourself…

-Midnight_Reaper

I started playing in '96. It was good then and it’s still good now.

-Midnight_Reaper

@anikom15 said in History of the Design?:

Apologies if this has been answered already or is in the wrong place, as this is my first topic.

A&A has been around a long time and I remember the days when there were various websites and forums dedicated to the game. Not sure how many of those are still around, but it got me thinking if anyone has attempted to document the history of the various editions and spin-offs of the game. I’m mainly interested in design/balance considerations.

If anyone has links to share, that would be very appreciated. I’ll continue looking around the internet myself and report back if I can find anything.

I am interested in hearing what you might have to say. I’ve a collection of A&A games, unofficial A&A game expansions, and a stack of similar-to-A&A games that might be used to expand your A&A play. The history of WWII fascinates me, and the history of A&A and its take on WWII fascinates me as well.

As for some links…

Don Rae’s A&A Strategy Essays:
http://donsessays.freeservers.com/axisand.htm

MIT A&A House Rules:
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~gc00/reviews/ana.mit.html

Thrasher’s A&A page at Wargamer.com {curtesy of the Internet Archive }:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020203145924/http://www.wargamer.com/axisallies/default.asp

The Internet Archive is a great place to find things that used to be on the Internet - like the rules for the old Table Tactics A&A expansions:

The old Tabletactics.com website

-Midnight_Reaper

@Darenm said in Pacific charts:

After looking at your first picture of the complete inventory, I am also missing all of the red pieces except for infantry. I will have to shelve this copy and keep looking. Thanks again for your help.

Well, there are actually two versions of this game. In the first version, the Japanese pieces are red. They have red ships, red planes, red arty and tanks, and red infantry. The Chinese pieces (which are all infantry) are brown. In the second version, the Japanese pieces are orange (officially, burnt orange). They have orange ships, orange planes, orange arty and tanks, and orange infantry. The Chinese pieces (which are all infantry) are red.

So, having only infantry in red does not necessarily mean that your copy is missing pieces. Allow me to show you some pieces in orange:

source

source

The source of the second picture (http://axisallies.com/versions/pacific/) also has some commentary on this game and a better picture of the National Production / Japanese Victory Point tracker:

source

Long story short, if you have red infantry AND a bunch of tan pieces (for the Brits), a bunch of green pieces (for the Americans), and bunch of orange pieces (for the Japanese), you may not be short of the pieces you need in order to play this game.

How do you tell which copy of A&A: Pacific has the red Japanese / brown Chinese and which copy had the orange Japanese / red Chinese? Best way I’ve heard is that the front of the game box says tells how many pieces are in the box. Some boxes say there are 345 game pieces, some boxes say there are 335 game pieces. There should be 335, the 345 was a typo. It’s my understanding that the 345 boxes originally came with the red Japanese / brown Chinese and the 335 boxes originally came with the orange Japanese / red Chinese. Some pictures for reference:

source

source

I hope that clears things up for you.

-Midnight_Reaper

@djensen

Your work on Google SEO has payed off in the usual way: spammers have arrived. Or a spammer, anyways: marieclint123fdr has been up to no good on the forum. That user has posted only three posts, but all three are for ielts and other testing spam. I just thought you should now. I’ve marked their posts as spam already.

On the bright side, if the spammers have you in their sights, they must think they will get some visibility from posting here.

-Midnight_Reaper

I know the game you speak of, I even own a copy. You want to search for Axis & Allies Europe Italy, sometimes referred to just as Italy (which really helps a person find it). Fortunately, I’ve some links for you.

There is an entry for this game expansion at BGG: BGG Italy page. You will also want to look at this review for Axis & Allies Europe Italy. The rules for Italy are in Italian (as the developers of this variant are Italian), BGG user Moshe Callen translated them into English as a part of his review of this expansion. If you are further interested, the original file in Italian is still available at: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/giocolab/Strategia/AA/Italy.htm.

As for playing this game, all you need is a copy of A&A Europe, some pieces for the Italian player (A&A Europe 1940, either edition, work well here), the rules, and the setup. And away you go.

I hope this helps.

-Midnight_Reaper

I suggest that you get Anniversary now. They made a lot fewer of those and have quit making them for now. The price will only go up from here. You can then try out a game with fewer rules on a smaller map.

If you like Anniversary but want to scale it up, you can always go back and grab 1940 Europe and Pacific to do so.

If you don’t like Anniversary and don’t think the 1940s games will help, you can always unload your Anniversary copy online.

My 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

@Argothair I like the thrust of this strategy, as you described it. As for the naming rights…

@Argothair said in UK Strategy -"Middle Earth":

…
The overall idea here with this modified ‘rebound’ strategy (anyone have a catchier name?)
…

How about: “The Allied Outer Perimeter Defense Plan”? Or, shortened to “Outer Perimeter Defense”? That way you can ask your opponent: “You down with OPD?” :stuck_out_tongue:

-Midnight__Reaper

@superbattleshipyamato123 said in What if Germany magically had Plan Z?:

@midnight_reaper

The thing is, these Plan Z fleet crews can magically be resurrected (they magically came to life, anyway).

Good sir, you have left science fiction and alternative history (which is where the majority of the discussions here go) and charged straight into high fantasy.

Persistent chemical weapons are nasty, nasty things. Your magically delicious Plan Z fleet will be overloaded with constantly respawning dead.

Mind you, since you have wandered well away from anything that possibly “might have happened”, instead of persistent chemical weapons I’ll go with the following.

To counter the magical Plan Z German Navy, the Brits bring back Merlin and King Arthur. The Knights of the Round Table shall meet what’s left of the Op Sealion invasion force after Merlin uses hurricanes, tornadoes, magick storms, meteors, fireballs, and dragons to sink your invasion fleet.

Your Plan Z fleet might be invulnerable, but the transport fleet for your invasion is not so lucky.

As I said before, if you want Op Sealion to work so badly you are willing to use fan fic to get it, then just wish it into success. Anything less is just extra steps.

-Midnight_Reaper

Renegade games announced last Friday that they are releasing a new G.I. Joe game, set in the Arctic and using, “the Axis & Allies gameplay engine”.

So, new “Axis & Allies” type game - but Renegade has very carefully stated that this is not a new A&A game, but a game from a different IP. Just a game that will play out similarly to A&A.

I think this could be interesting, especially with the new map (the High Arctic) and modern-ish pieces. But I can see people complaining already.

https://renegadegamestudios.com/blog/renegade-game-studios-unveils-transformers-robo-rally-and-a-gi-joe-game-powered-by-the-axis-allies-game-engine/

-Midnight_Reaper

My other favorite place for A&A news, BGG, has some help for you…

The A&A and Monopoly mashup: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/8989/amonoploygif

An A&A map board with the aesthetics of the Milton Bradley board but the spaces of the Nova Game Designs board: (file: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/2382/novambcompletzip)
Preview:

And the piece de resistance, Milton Bradley A&A game board with large IPC values: (file: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/174573/axis-allies-classic-1986-world-map-large-ipc-value)
Preview:

I hope that keeps you satisfied for A&A maps.

-Midnight_Reaper

@LtWinters said in Introduce or Re-Introduce Yourself (Current):

Hi all. Name is Landon from Pittsburgh, PA. Just discovered this series a few months ago with 1941. I immediately got hooked and started looking up strategies and found that there were other editions of Axis and Allies that I had never heard off. With quarantine keeping me at home and looking for something to do, I bought both A&A Zombies and A&A Europe 2nd edition. Hoping to get Pacific soon. Still new to everything but excited to learn and develop new ways to play.

Thanks to everyone on the Forum! You guys are the best!

I think that you’ve got some rocking ideas. I’m glad to see another shiny face, ready to conquer the world.

That said, I might suggest trying out 1942 (preferably the Second Edition) before tackling the 1940 games (Europe 1940 and Pacific 1940). There are game concepts used in the 1940 games that are also in 1942 (such as Cruisers as naval units, Strategic Bombing to attack factories, naval gunfire support for amphibious landings, anti-aircraft guns, etc.). The difference is that if you go from 1941 and Zombies to the 1940 games, you will get hit with all the new concepts from 1942 and a bunch of new concepts that are only in the 1940s games (Mechanized Infantry (Infantry guys, now in trucks or half-tracks, so they can keep up with the tanks), Tactical Bombers, Convoy Raiding, etc.). Having to figure out everything all at once might be a bit much.

All I’m saying is that the pool is very, very deep in places and you might be better served by trying the 10 foot section of the pool before going straight to the 40 foot, diver trial, section of the pool.

My 2 IPCs anyways,

-Midnight_Reaper

I’m surprised that you don’t have one of the Anniversary Edition reprints from 2017. That box cover is different from the 2008 version, because the 2017 version doesn’t have the 50th Anniversary markings.

For example:
2008 box cover (source) :

2017 box cover (source) :

Notice the “Games 50” on the lower right corner of the 2008 box, compared to the minimum age and number of players information on the same corner of the 2017 box? It’s a small difference, to be sure. But as you seem to be collecting all of the different boxes, I thought I’d point that out. Besides, as it’s the reprint you would need to get to have this, it shouldn’t be too painful on the wallet.

My 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

@captainwalker said in On this day during W.W. 2:

May 24, 1941. Battle of Denmark Strait

At 0552 hours, British battlecruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales open fire on German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen from 24 km. Although they outgun the Germans, both British ships have flaws.

HMS Prince of Wales holds the distinction of being the only British capital ship to face both the Kriegsmarine and the Imperial Japanese Navy in the first half of WW2. Unfortunately, she did not give a good account of herself, with her main guns jamming in her engagement against Bismarck and a lack of air cover and effective anti-aircraft gunnery leading to the IJN’s bombers sinking her.

HMS Prince of Wales was in commission for less than one full year, from 19 January to 10 December 1941. A tragic fate for what might have otherwise been a fine vessel.

-Midnight_Reaper

Something to be aware of - it may become difficult to find any new A&A games for sale on store shelves. I’ve been asking around at different game shops. I wanted to know which A&A games can be ordered from central distributors. What I found was that, depending on who you ask, either only A&A Pacific 1940 (2nd Ed.) or no games at all are available from distributors.

I was then told that Hasbro has moved the Avalon Hill imprint from being a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast to being a direct subsidiary of Hasbro itself. The store owner telling me this concluded that the A&A pipeline will shut down while Hasbro and/or Avalon Hill figure out what to do next.

This doesn’t mean that no copies of A&A are available for sale - just that as those copies at game stores are sold off, they won’t be replaced until this situation is resolved.

I don’t know just how much of the above is 100% correct. But I thought I would get the word out, so that my fellow forum members might know.

-Midnight_Reaper