Best posts made by 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

@J-o-C If you want to report spam, this is how you do it:

Off to the bottom right side of every post is a collection of gee-gaws and doodads. From left to right: Reply Quote (Heart symbol & number) (collection of three vertical dots). If you click on the trio of vertical dots on the far right, a menu pops up.

If the dots are on someone else’s post, when the menu pops up, you get four options: (from top to bottom) Bookmark, Share this post on Facebook, Share this post on Twitter, and Flag this post for moderation.

Flag this post for moderation is what you seek. Click on that and it tells you that you are reporting this post for questionable content and then says, “Please specify your reason for flagging post ### for review. Alternatively, use one of the quick report buttons if applicable.” You then get a choice of three buttons: spam, offensive, and other. If you pick other you then get to write a spiel about why this post is no good. Once you’ve picked your option, a button on the lower right says, “Submit Report”. Once you click that button you’re good.

Intuitive? I’d say not. But at least it’s there…

(If you click on the trio of vertical dots on a posting of yours, you get three options: edit, delete, and bookmark, should you need to do one of those.)

-Midnight_Reaper

@captainwalker Speaking of Enigma and shipboard booty, the story of TG 22.3 and U-505 (the U-boat in Chicago) comes to mind. While they were successful in boarding and capturing U-505 (and grabbing all of the Enigma secrets on board), the Navy brass were furious about that turn of events. The brass didn’t want the Germans to wonder about the security of all the secrets passed over Enigma-encrypted comms channels. The men of U-505 were interned in a special POW camp in Louisiana and held incommunicado.

More information at: https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-capture-u-505-2361441

-Midnight_Reaper

P.S. Edit to fix spelling errors.

@iwillnevergrowup I’m sorry to hear that you are leaving. You’ve been a great supportor of A&A and a good person. I’ll miss you and your shop.

-Midnight_Reaper

I’ve been trying to reach @djensen for a bit now. His profile says he hasn’t been online in 29 days. Does anybody know where he is and if he’s doing okay?

-Midnight_Reaper

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

March 5, 1943: first flight of the Gloster Meteor, the Allies’ only operational jet plane during WW2, from RAF Cranwell.

While the Meteor was in much greater use during WW2, the P-80 Shooting Star had: “two pre-production models … see very limited service in Italy just before the end of World War II”
Wiki P-80 Shooting Star

-Midnight_Reaper

Renegade games announced today (11 October 2024) that they are releasing a new game, where the action is set under the ocean, 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 new game from a new IP. Just a game that will play out similarly to A&A.

It seems a little odd to me, but I’m glad they are moving in different directions. This will help keep the IP fresh, which will encourage Renegade to keep bring out new A&A games.

https://renegadegamestudios.com/battle-for-the-deep-powered-by-axis-allies/

-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

The F4U Corsairs can also be bought by themselves: HBG Link for F4U Corsairs.

-Midnight_Reaper

@dazedwit said in My first video - I won the French set:

I also need to navigate the world of making new items for the expansions. I keep reading, “3D printing,” but that means nothing to me.

The definition of 3D printing is available on Wikipedia, but a better way to understand 3d printing is to see what others have done with it. I’ll give you a couple out of literally hundreds of designers: EBard (known for his unit designs and for his miniature capital markers) and Historical Board Gaming (known for many lesser-known unit designs).

So, in a nutshell, what does 3D printing get you? The ability to have a unit or a facility for a game of your design made without having to make thousands of copies. And the ability to share those designs with others, for them to use / make as well. But it’s not cheap and if you’re unfamiliar with digital design software you may be at the mercy of describing your proposed design to someone else.

I hope this helps.

-Midnight_Reaper

@bigbucky I’ve given this some thought. You’re not the first person to want to re-fight the Second World War without the game taking a noticeable percentage of the actual war to come to a conclusion. So, two suggestions:

1. One game that has already been released that is about re-fighting WW2 inside of 2 hours would be Quartermaster General (BGG link). Perhaps you might find the game you seek inside that box. Or…
2. A possible inspiration for a quick re-fight of WW2 comes from Europe. There was a line of games known as Express games, one of which was Risk Express (BGG link).

Risk Express is a reduction of Risk - here’s a stack of cards, representing different territories; here’s a stack of dice, with different sides. Roll the dice and use the results you get in order to take a card. If someone else has already taken a particular card, to take it from them you must meet the requirements for the card, plus an additional die result on top - the Leader. A picture of dice for this game is on the other side of this BGG link. A picture of some of the cards for this game (in this case, the cards needed for taking North America) is on the other side of this BGG link.

Risk Express is hard to find but it was re-implemented as Age of War (BGG link), which might be easier to find. So, Risk Express, what does that have to do with Axis & Allies? With a new vision, a new deck of cards, and some new sides for the dice you might have an Axis & Allies Express…

Is that what you’re looking for? I dunno. But as I’m working on that anyways, would be interested in knowing more?

-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

One place to find 3D printing files is Thingiverse. One of our fellow forum members has some files on Thingiverse under the user name NathanDetr0it.

Perhaps you can get a start there.

-Midnight_Reaper

When buying artillery, a little goes a long way. Consider having two or three times more infantry than artillery in your attack groups. A 1 to 1 ratio sounds good, until you start taking losses on infantry and your artillery loses its attack partner. But with 8 infantry and 4 artillery, you get 8 attacks at 2, 4 attacks at 1, and you can take 4 losses before your 8 attacks at 2 start getting touched.

-Midnight_Reaper

Regarding Sealion in general, I think it’s more important to credible threaten a Sealion than to actually pull it off. By threatening to invade the UK, the UK player has to spend their money defensively, on fighters and infantry for the UK proper.

When you fail to threaten to invade, the UK player feels free to buy that factory in Egypt, or take other offensive actions elsewhere. By threatening to invade (and forcing the UK to spend defensively), you can bottle up the UK’s money and units in the UK proper rather than having the UK spend in Africa or Asia.

But it’s the threat that’s the thing, not the actual invasion itself.

-Midnight_Reaper

If you attack an enemy territory with a tank and an infantry, then those units must remain in that attacked territory. The only way to keep the infantry back would be to not commit that unit to combat in the first place.

-Midnight_Reaper

@crockett36 said in We need an allied playbook.:

Hey, update. I’ve avoided posting because I’m putting theory into practice in the playbook game. Question that just popped into my head:. Which one of us is Larry?

I’m not following your logic. If you’re asking if one of us is Larry Harris, the answer is, “none of the above”. If you meant a different Larry, you may need to specify.

-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

The French got what was provided for use by the Soviet players as all of the French pieces (excepting the infantry) are Soviet pieces in blue.

As for the Soviets in half-tracks, it’s 1) distinctive (you can tell what it’s supposed to be from across the board) and 2) it’s not the only half-track design used in the game.

In fact in the First Editions of 1940 Europe and Pacific, all of the mechanized infantry units were represented by half-tracks: Germany, Italy, and Japan used German Sd.Kfz-251; France and the Soviet Union used Soviet Zis-42; and everybody else (ANZAC, UK, and USA) used American M3 Half-tracks.

It wasn’t until the Second Editions of the 1940s games that Italians got SPA Dovunque 35 trucks, Japanese got Type 1 Ho-Ha half-tracks, ANZAC got Ram Kangaroo turretless-tanks-turned APCs, and the UK got Priest Kangaroo defanged self-propelled-artillery-turned APCs.

So, why half-tracks for mechanized infantry? Because that was what was used at the time. It wasn’t until after WW2 that armored personnel carriers became a thing.

My 2 IPCs,

-Midnight-Reaper

@aadudecphdk1981 Hey, that’s a nice looking JEDKO A&A game you have there. Very snazzy, even. If you get a line on a second one, I would appreciate your assistance in helping me get one.

-Midnight_Reaper