Best posts made by Midnight_Reaper

@vodot
Those are some seriously cool looking prints. I think you knocked it out of the park with all of these great pieces. Excellent work.

-Midnight_Reaper

@carnevale762 said in Massachusetts Players:

Gather 'em up! Your place is good. 11:00 a.m.?
Is there a way to p.m. on the new forums?

You can find instructions for sending PMs at the link provided.

-Midnight_Reaper

@axis_roll said in Happy 4th of July America:

It’s called “Independence Day”.

We don’t call yell “Merry 25th of December” on Christmas…

–Barnee, not a personal slant against you, just in general.
I just never understood why the Holiday is so mislabeled.

But we do say, “Happy Fourth of July”, so I don’t see why he should get chided for it. It’s not like he was saying, “Happy Eleventh of November” on Veterans / Armistice Day…

-Midnight_Reaper

@squirecam said in Global war 1940:

@jonahawesome said in Global war 1940:

I just started playing Axis and allies 1940 with 6 peoples . Where do I start implementing the more complicated rules of the game and house rules after we got the basics down like phases/ fighting units

I would avoid making any house rules until your group is familiar with the base game and how it plays.

I agree. First, learn how to play. The better players will likely win, no matter their side. Game unbalance does not become a factor until all players are at the same level of play.

Plus, it’s important to know the basics before moving on to more complicated rules.

-Midnight_Reaper

@barnee said in Axis and Allies PC game:

@tjw0099 right on yea I’ve heard of it but never played it. I thought there was a thread for it here but … ? Lets ask @Midnight_Reaper he’s quite knowledgeable about all the games

I thank you for your confidence, but the computer A&A games are not my strong suite. Ask about the physical board games and I’m there, though.

Good luck getting your answers all the same.

-Midnight_Reaper

First of all, let me say that it’s great that you’ve made these wonderful sculpts and it’s also wonderful that you’ve decided to share them with us.

I do have some thoughts to share about some of your design decisions. They are your decisions and I respect that. But I think you might be able to take them to the next level with a little help. Says the guy with the ideas, to the guy who would have to do the work if it’s to be done. I’m not going to comment on all of them, just some. If I don’t say anything, then I like it and have nothing constructive to add.

@vodot said in 25 extra unit 3D models, scaled and tweaked for A&A, including Gliders, Light Tanks, Escort Carriers and Landing Craft:

• USS Independence (Allied Escort Carrier)

From what I can see of the sculpt, it looks nice. I would point out, though, that the Independence class carriers were not escort carriers (CVEs) but were known as light fleet carriers (CVLs). The difference being that light fleet carriers worked with the main fleet and the escort carriers worked with amphibious groups and escorting convoys. A typical allied escort carrier class would be the Casablanca class. That said, I like having a source for Independence class ships, as HBG has the US fleet carrier (Essex) and US escort carrier (Casablanca) sculpts covered already.

@vodot * IJN Royujo (Axis Escort Carrier)

I assume you mean the Ryujo class here. Again, this class was made up of light carriers, not escort carriers. They were very, very light carriers, but the mis-designation bugs my inner order-of-battle analyst all the same…

@vodot * Me-262 (Axis Jet Fighter)

More Me-262s is always something I can get behind

@vodot * IS-2 (Allied Heavy Tank)

I like your IS-2s better than the IS-2 in A&A 1941, at least from the angle I’m looking at.

@vodot * HMS Atherstone (Escort)

I’m sure she’s a fine escort ship, and the allies do have need of such a vessel in expanded games. It’s just that as the real-life HMS Atherstone was known as a Hunt class destroyer, why did you call it the HMS Atherstone instead of the HMS Hunt?

@vodot * USS Midway (Super Carrier)

I dig the Midways as a class of ships. It’s just that yours has an angled deck, and they didn’t have those when they were built, they were put in place later in refits in the 1950s. It looks out of place in a game of WW2. Would you consider making an axial deck (a non-angled deck) Midway?

@vodot * D9 (Engineers)

It’s nice to give the engineers some love and using a bulldozer to do so works for me.

@vodot * Wirbelwind (Axis Mobile AAA)

I like having options for SPAAGs (Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns) and you’ve picked a good one here.

@vodot * Me-410 (Heavy Fighter)

Other than by size, how will someone tell the Me-410s from the Ju-88s, He-111s, and the Mosquitos?

@vodot * Flaktrack (Allied Mobile AAA)

Again, I like having options for SPAAGs and you’ve picked another good one here.

@vodot * USS Des Moines (Battlecruiser)

While I dig have sculpts for the Des Moines class available, the Des Moines weren’t battlecruisers, they were just heavy cruisers. The US only designed two classes of battlecruisers, the Lexingtons and the Alaskas, and in the end only ever built one class - the Alaskas. Mind you, if you want to offer Des Moines class cruisers and not Alaskas, that’s your deal. I just might get someone to make them for me, but calling them battlecruisers is a historical inaccuracy in my opinion.

Just my 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

@TALLAKGUY You missed me by about 17 years … I was stationed at Fort Wainwright from '01 to '03, played A&A when I could then as well.

-Midnight_Reaper

Sorry to hear the bad news about your team.

As for 777 Partners, I’ve never heard of them before. They seem to be some sort of financial company. Generically bland, this purchase is probably somebody’s vanity project. I wouldn’t expect much out of Genoa CFC while these people are running things.

The website for 777 Partners: https://www.777part.com/

I peeked through their people listings. I didn’t recognized any of the names or faces. So, neither good nor bad, at least individually.

-Midnight_Reaper

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes, but there are a couple differences between the editions. At a minimum, download and understand that rules for Pac '40 2nd Ed. in addition to the rules for Eur '40 2nd Ed. Also, Japan and ANZAC will be missing their own AA Gun sculpts. No game play affect to this, just something for those that like the pieces. Also, the 1st Ed ANZACs are Brits in Grey, it wasn’t until the 2nd Ed ANZACs that ANZAC got “New Zestralian” units.

Clear as mud?

-Midnight_Reaper

@vodot said

Hey MR, thanks so much for the feedback! Let me reiterate that I didn’t create the raw models for most of these, just reworked them for compatibility and printability for A&A. I’m proud of the work (in some cases, significant) it has taken to get them to a printable and playable state, but mad props to the original designers, not all of which I remember off the top of my head.

I knew going in that I was committing some historical faux pas both intentionally and via ignorance, but I’m a “easily-distinguishable-on-the-board” and WYSIWYG-first sort of person with historical fidelity coming in third; nonetheless historicity should be paramount once the first two are assured. I want my group, none of which are WW2 enthusiasts/super nerds, to just immediately “get it”.

RE: Midway’s anachronistic 50’s deck retrofit, that was a rare intentional historical solecism- which isn’t to say it was in good taste- intended to reflect a “Super Carrier” tech that was not achieved in the actual WW2 timeline. Perhaps I could achieve the same end using a rectangular (Axial? I’ll take your word for it) 40’s Midway sculpt by merely enlarging it over the essex/etc? I was worried it would look like just a huge rectange, but I confess I didn’t try printing one. Needs investigation.

Regarding the Ryujo (pardon my spelling!) and Independence as Light (not escort) carriers, you’re obviously correct. Serendipitously, in my half-hour of wikipedia research (keeping your expectations low :) ) it seems it was the Light (as opposed to escort) Carriers that were known for their speed, which was a primary mechanic I wanted these units to have- so rebranding them as CVL’s is a win-win! A caveat on the light carriers: their historical decks are so narrow (by design, of course) that it’s basically impossible to balance an A&A-scaled plane on them. So: I’ve abrogated naval design history and added a fat landing pad on the deck so a single fighter has room to live happily. Hopefully the tradeoff is worth it for most, but this will obviously make that particular model a non-starter for some.

RE: HMS Atherstone, I can see your point, given that I called the light carrier the Ryujo. It is indeed a Hunt-class sculpt.

RE: IS-2s and the awesomeness of these models in general- yes, they kick some serious ass. 100% of these props should go to m_bergman at Thingiverse, a minor deity of military history 3D modeling.

RE: Distinguishing Me-410s… you’re right. I spent some time trying to doctor up a Westland Whirlwind (damn planes and their paper-thin wings are super time-consuming to doctor for 3D printing)… and it ended up looking identical to the Me-410. I gave up. This is the reason I only have one sculpt covering heavy fighters for everyone, about which I feel bad… but not bad enough to spend another 2 hours doctoring the whirlwind.

RE: Des Moines, you’re right. When I first started working on this expansion, my “Battlecruiser” unit was called a “Heavy Cruiser” and I think that’s why I pulled the Des Moines. Later on I decided I really like the word ‘battlecruiser’. However, similar to the serendipitous mistake on the light vs. escort distinction above, this unit was also meant to be a sweet spot between the CA and the BB combining the strengths of both, but locked behind tech and advancement. Aaaaand after another half-hour of wikipedia research, it turns out that the Des Moines did not sail until 1946; so I don’t see why I can’t call this unit an advanced “Heavy Cruiser” after all.

Thanks for replying to an old crank on the internet. I also agree with the “‘easily-distinguishable-on-the-board’ and WYSIWYG-first” train of thought. But you can twist the text of something to say anything.

If you did the Midway with an angled deck on purpose, as an advanced carrier, I can see that. I retract my objection, but maintain that I’d like to see an axial-deck Midway as well.

(Short aside - for a quick article on the internet, quoting from a book on the evolution of the aircraft carrier, that explains how angled decks came to be, go here: https://www.historyonthenet.com/angled-deck-new-development-aircraft-carriers (It also shows use of the term “axial deck” to describe aircraft carriers without an angled deck.))

I’m glad that I can be of service with suggesting you rebrand your CVEs as CVLs. Getting the win-win is always good. First and foremost, game pieces should support game play, so if the decks need a little widening, such is gaming.

As for the Atherstone / Hunt, just trying to help.

As for telling bits of plastic, meant to be heavy fighters in Axis & Allies, apart, I fully understand that it’s not alway easy. My suggestion would be to go with a distinctive feature of some kind. In this case, I would go with twin-engine fighters with twin tailfins. Versions of what I’m suggested can be found by searching for Bristol Buckinghams (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Buckingham), Gloster F.9/37s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_F.9/37), or Arado Ar 240s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_240). All three of those are different from each other and from other planes (included the P-38s from WotC), which is what I was understanding you to be after. It’s a thought. While none of them were really built in large quantities, they all could have been. Which in my opinion is one reason why they are perfect for the heavy fighter role, especially the F.9/37 and the Ar 240.

The Des Moines were truly an innovation in Heavy Cruisers, with semi-automatic 8" naval guns could be fired twice as fast as the main guns on the proceeding class, the Baltimore / Oregon City class(es). As a technologically advanced Heavy Cruiser, I can certainly get on board with that. My next question in this line of thought is: Do you plan to do up some Worchester class light cruisers to go with the Des Moines class heavies? The Worchesters were the lighter cousins of the Des Moineses and also featured semi-automatic main guns - 6" guns in this case - meant to be a bit of an evolution in the anti-aircraft cruiser idea of the Atlanta and Juneau class 5" gun armed anti-aircraft cruisers.

If you want to make some Alaskas for true battle cruiser naval superiority, I certainly wouldn’t complain about that either.

And if you want to feast your eyes on some truly wild naval designs, the likes of which weren’t built and likely would never have been built, I invite you to visit “Furashita’s Fleet” (http://www.combinedfleet.com/furashita/furamain.htm), which has a wild collection of “what might have been” WW2 designs for cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers, and admixtures of the first two with carriers; with designs for the navies of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the UK, the USSR, the USA, and a smattering of other minor naval powers as well.

To quote the site: "‘Admiral U. Furashita’ was the pen-name of Craig Burke. In his words:

‘I picked that name because I liked to dally in fictitious ships. Since the Japanese tongue usually makes an ‘R’ sound out of any ‘L’ it encounters, that’s how what people often say to me would sound, or something like it.’"

Furashita’s Fleet is home to lots of interesting ideas to the would-be model maker, in my opinion.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Rcpomeroy In the thread Fairbanks AK Way Up North, fellow A&A player Bolasgod lets everyone know that he’s from Anchorage. Perhaps you should let him and TallAKGuy in Fairbanks know you’re around.

My 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

This is what I received in my copy:

Chips: 8 red, 4 green, 38 grey
Dice: 6 pale green zombie dice, 6 red dice with zombie heads, & 6 black dice with zombie heads
Control Markers: 14 per county (USSR, Ger, UK, Japan, USA) with the opposite side of all 70 control markers having zombie heads

Plastic pieces:

And that’s what I have.

-Midnight_Reaper

@crockett36 said in WAR ROOM has arrived!:

@Midnight_Reaper China would let them put period accurate flags. They are available from Nightingale games.

Then please explain to me how Wizards of the Coast gets period-accurate Republic of China control markers out of the People’s Republic of China? I call shenanigans.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Valladares One small error crept into your chart - the Admiral class was a British ship class (HMS Hood). Yes, this means that 3 of the 5 Allied ship classes had British origins. The rest of your charts look good, I thought you would appreciate the notice.

-Midnight_Reaper

I think your best bet is going to be eBay. People buy game sets and “part them out” (split the game into its components and sell those components separately) on eBay. I’d search for either “axis allies 1942 second edition part” or “axis allies chips”.

If your searches come up empty, you can set up a search and then click “Save this search”. What this does is uses eBay to search for you: if a new auction comes up that fits your criteria, eBay will send you an email. The rest is up to you.

Good Luck!

-Midnight_Reaper

@djensen,

I was wondering the same thing - when will part 2 of the van Essen interview be posted?

-Midnight_Reaper

@DoManMacgee said in cross pollination:

{snip}
Interested to hear more about WiF’s end-of-turn mechanic, if you don’t mind. I haven’t played that game before so I’m interested to hear your take.

EDIT: Typos.

Here is a short blurb about WiF’s end-of-turn mechanic. For reference, every turn in the game lasts two months, from Jan/Feb to Nov/Dec, with set starting dates for the different scenarios in the base game:
“D) Action stage: (Steps D1 through D3 are repeated until the action stage ends)
D1) Determine Weather
{snip}
D2) First side’s impulse
{snip}
D2.1) Declare war
{snip}
D2.2) Choose one of the actions: Pass, Naval, Air, Land, or Combined.
{snip}
D2.3) Perform actions
{snip}
D2.4) End of Action stage. The acting side rolls a d10 and compares it to the number on the Impulse track. If the rolled number is less than or equal to the impulse track the turn will end. Some sides may both start and end the turn with an impulse. If the occurs, the initiative goes -1 toward the other side. If all major countries on one side pass, the die roll is -2, if all but one pass, the die roll is -1. Each side must play two impulses each before the turn may end.[i] Here is what the impulse track looks like, the small number in the bottom right is what is used to roll for the end of a turn.”
A screenshot of the impulse track:
(Source)

I hope that helps.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Tjoek I also like the darker silhouette.

-M_R

@wieguy said in Submersion:

@Midnight_Reaper ok. I get all that. Thanks. Funny, we interpreted the surprise element of the submarine as a one-time thing. We thought it wasn’t possible to surprise anyone in second or subsequent combat rounds. Thanks for the help.

You’re welcome. I’m glad I was able to help.

As for, “We thought it wasn’t possible to surprise anyone in second or subsequent combat rounds”, that is a common misconception with these rules. I don’t know of a better way to phrase it so as to make it more understandable. I will say that in both the first edition and the second edition rules, if you keep reading the rules for combat you get to a point where it says: “Step 6. Press Attack of Retreat - Combat rounds (steps 2-5) continue unless…”. That is on page 18 for both editions. As step 2 of a combat round is the Submarine Surprise Attack of Submerge step, it follows that any surviving subs can continue their sneaky ways until sunk or driven off.

Have fun and enjoy A&A!

-Midnight_Reaper

@J-o-C said in Help me understand Unit Reference:

{snip}Your purchasing is done during the first phase of your turn.{snip}

One small correction - in A&A&Z, you purchase units in between non-combat moves and collect income, in the back part of your turn. Yes, this is different than most other A&A games. I just thought I would clear that up.

-Midnight_Reaper