Posts made by Midnight_Reaper

The Golden Rule for all House Rules - everyone at the table must agree as to what the rules are before the start of the game.

Adding new stuff a couple hours into the game is a recipe for disaster either way.

-Midnight_Reaper

@BSD:

@Adam514:

@BSD:

Hi, new to the forums but familiar with BM3.  Looking for a game or two.

Where did you learn about BM3?

Would you like to play a game?

I think I remember this movie… didn’t it end with the world being “nuked” many times over…  :-D

-Midnight_Reaper

Just be forewarned - replacing everything in A&A G40 with pieces from HBG is an expensive proposition.

-Midnight_Reaper

Hello, and welcome to A&A.org.

@SirPsychoSexy84:

Now, a question: I’ve read (the boxes are not yet came to my home) and I’ve seen that in this verion there aren’t miniatures for industrial complexes (wich are of two types), airports and ports. Since I would like to have these miniatures instead of the paper tokens, can someone suggest me where o buy some decent miniatures of that kind?

So, you want something better than paperboard factories, airfields, and ports? HistoricalBoardGaming.com (HBG) is certainly a good place to go for all of those things. But it is not the most intuitive place to go looking, especially on your first visit. Let’s see if we can scare up some direct links for our guest…

Factories
You can get a set of major and minor factories for A&A G40 here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/1940-factory-set-48set_p_2806.html

Or you can just get some lay flat acrylic markers here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Factory-Marker-Acrylic-x5_p_809.html

Airfields and Ports, combined
You can get a combined set, which has all you need for A&A G40 here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/1940-Acrylic-Upgrade-Set-76set_p_2807.html

Sadly, that set is currently out of print (I bring it up for both future browsers, and to show some of the breadth of what is available at HBG).

Airfields and Ports
You can find the Airbases from the combined set here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-WW2-Airbase-Small-Marker-Acrylic-x5_p_1523.html

You can find the Naval Ports from the combined set here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Naval-Port-Marker-Acrylic-x5_p_2779.html

And you can find a large set (25 vs. 5) of the Naval Ports here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Naval-Base-Marker-Set-of-25-Acrylic-_p_725.html

Why they don’t have a large set of Airbases? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s there and I couldn’t find it either.

Other items of interest
So, the combined set had other acrylic markers besides Airfields and Ports. You can find those below:

Damaged Markers (for wounded Capital ships) here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Damaged-Marker-Rectangular-Acrylic-x5_p_953.html

Convoy Markers (for taking your enemies’ money) here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Convoy-Marker-Acrylic-x5_p_829.html

Kamikaze Markers (for taking your enemies’ ships in style) here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Kamikaze-Marker-Acrylic-x5_p_830.html

And, to add some other things that might be of interest to you

Paper Money (because who plays Axis & Allies to be an accountant?) here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-WW2-Battle-Bucks_p_2835.html

Acrylic Country Markers (or Roundels, as some call them) are also available. If you get everything else in HBG acrylic, you might want to upgrade them as well.
A full set for A&A G40 here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/1940-Roundel-Upgrade-Set-160set-_p_2888.html

And rather than chase down about 9 more links on an already long posting, I’ll just point you to their Roundel section, if you are looking for something more. HBG Roundel area here: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Roundels_c_622.html

@SirPsychoSexy84:

PS: sorry for my english, I have not many occasions to write in another language (I’m i

Don’t worry about it. Some of the worst abuses of the English language on this website come from those whom English is a first language, I’m sure you’ll fit right in…  :-D

-Midnight_Reaper

I think that Sealion is better as a part of the meta-game with an established play group than it is as a regular play in a normal game. By showing willingness to invade the UK if you think the conditions are right, you keep the UK honest - which helps you in other areas of the board. A UK purchase of 9 infantry or 6 infantry and a fighter is not a UK purchase of an Egyptian factory or some other “get UK into the fight sooner” nonsense.

But that only works if you routinely play with the same opponent(s). If you do, though, you can certainly invade one game to keep them “honest” in the future…

-Midnight_Reaper

This sounds like an interesting “free-for-all” version of an old classic.

You state that there are 5 types of ground units, 3 types of air units, and 6 types of sea units in this variant. If you don’t mind, what all units do you have? Infantry, armor, and AAA would be three for ground, fighters and bombers would be two for air, and transport, submarines, carriers, and battleships would be four for sea; we seem to be short some units.

Also, I would be interested in more information about your R&D rules.

Thanks for sharing your variant rules with us.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Booper:

@zooooma:

I am looking to save a few bucks, and it has occurred to me that if I buy the map and rule book I can play this version with chips and sculpts from my other sets.

My question is:  Can the A&A: 1941 game board fit nicely into a 1942 (1st edition) game box?

Cheers.

Where are you going to buy the map only from?

I can think of three places to find an A&A 1941 game board: 1) Ebay (which is dependent on people putting it up for sale; 2) HistoricalBoardGaming.com has that board for sale in the States (http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Axis-Allies-Game-Boards_p_1969.html); and 3) Stratak.com has that board for sale in Europe (https://www.stratak.com/epages/63269889.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63269889/Products/AHAXIS_1941_SB).

So I would say that zooooma has some options in getting game boards for '41.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Young:

@Midnight_Reaper:

It will probably be February/March before I get them hammered out completely (I’m currently arguing about them in the House Rules forum as we speak) but I have a full up set of rules I could send you now. I suspect you would prefer one clean set of rules, so unless you tell me otherwise I’ll send you an email in early March with the full up set of house rules for you to read, play, and react to. As I’ve said before, I never claimed to be the second coming of either Larry Harris or Max Michael. Just somebody who found something to tinker with a long time ago.

-Midnight_Reaper

Send me one version in March after all modifications have been made… Cheers.

Will do. Just the idea of this coming to pass has me grinning from ear to ear.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Baron:

{snip}
But, since Cruiser unit get AA and blocking Sub Submerge, it may be a good idea to restraint Shore Bombard to Battleship. However, I see no preponderance for one way over the other.

I think that if Cruisers were “just” 3/3/2/12, Shore Bombard would be a good tool to add to them. But these new breed Cruisers “aren’t just” 3/3/2/12, they are 3/3/2/12 - Counters SS Submerge ability, AAA value at 1 against up to 1 plane per CA. And since they have anti-Sub and anti-aircraft abilities I think that adding Shore Bombard would be too much. I think I will leave it off. And in that way, there are reasons to buy Cruisers and reasons to buy Battleships.

Thanks again, Baron.

-Midnight_Reaper

Welcome to AxisAndAllies.org! Feel free to share your professor’s house rules in the House Rules forum https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?board=41.0. Don’t forget to sign the Master Find Players List https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=26568.0 and the Master Find Players List Version 2.0 https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=31815.0.

And if you find AxisAndAllies.org to be a helpful resource, do feel free to help support the site: Axis & Allies .org 2017 Support Drive https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=39608.0

All the best, and may all your rolls be ones!

-Midnight_Reaper

Imperious Leader, SS, and myself have been discussing “Call Shots”, or as I (still) think of them: “pick the hit unit on 1”, in my thread about adding Heavy Artillery to Classic A&A. I pasted in the full transcript below. I thought I would break this out to its own conversation.

So far, what is being discussed as a Call Shot is when a player rolls a 1 when attacking with Battleships, Tactical Bombers, or Heavy Artillery, the player who rolls the one picks the unit taken as a loss.

I am very skeptical of Call Shots. I will admit that I haven’t played with such rules so I don’t have any personal experience. And while I wouldn’t call it game-breaking to give certain units special powers when I roll a 1 for your attack, it just doesn’t sit well in my mind.

So I thought I would make this a separate topic so that others could chime in. I’m willing to be convinced and admit that I do need to try it out. But I also doubt that I’m the only one for whom the thought of my opponent picking my losses leaves a bad taste in my mouth…

-Midnight_Reaper

Full transcript:
@SS:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@SS:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@Imperious:

1 on Attack roll you pick the target with no return fire

Try it one of two ways:

1. what we call a “call shot” pick land unit as loss
2. alternatively if you roll a one, defender chooses loss and that unit cant fire back

you will like one of these options

I would have to try them out before I could give a full opinion of them. My question to you is: why the emphasis on ‘pick the hit unit on 1’ rules? Is this a new addition to the meta of house rules here? Submarines have pretty much also fought this way, but I’ve previously seen proposed house rules for Tac Bombers to ‘pick their hit on 1’. Is this becoming a thing?

Should I start a new thread to ask about the popularity and usefulness of ‘pick your hit on 1’ critical strike rules?

-Midnight_Reaper

I have in my WW2 40 game Tac (Dive) bombers  D12  A7 D4 M4 C10 roll a 2 or less on A and D can pick target with no return shot for ground and naval. The 2 or less roll hit is for more of a accurate shot on a piece. So I use the Tac as a 2 different scenario.

Also in one of my 39 games there are Dive Bombers and Naval Figs that can pick the target on a 4 (Dive) or 1 (Fig) but the defender still gets a return shot while the attacker gets to pick the piece.
Pretty much these pieces are in just the 39 games and anybody that has housed ruled there game (G40 OOB) but just a few if any. From what I’ve seen posted on site anyway.

It must have been your Tac Bomber rules that I read. It just seems like the idea of “He shoots, he scores, he crits, he picks the casualty!” has become something I’ve noticed of late. As I’ve said before, I’m not a big fan of that idea in the abstract, but I will admit to really needing to try it out for real before I can truly say that I don’t like it at all.

-Midnight_Reaper

The main reason for Tac Bombers to have this call shot is for both ground and naval attacks plus it gets the Tac Bomber more involved in the game. There like the Cruiser. Nobody really buys them. Thats also why my Cruiser is (D12)  A7 D7 M2 C9. (but you need to lower your destroyers 1 value in A and D). So Destroyers would be A3 D3.  Its a good boost for Anzac, FEC and Italy. As I stated before you need to play test everything.

You could try with the defender at least gets a return shot if you have your doubts.

@SS:

@Imperious:

My question to you is: why the emphasis on ‘pick the hit unit on 1’ rules?

This again is what we call : Call shot

Having something that breaks up the idea that the loser of the unit can choose whatever he wants as a combat loss is a good thing. The artillery units generally carpet bomb whole areas of the battlefield, and Heavy Artillery doing the most damage. Second having such a unit makes it very valuable in the game, by playing you will find out. Thirdly its really fun and i would further suggest the Battleship have this capability. Reason: because the BB has the guns of the greatest range and can shoot targets before they can fire back as they need to be closer to even have a chance.

Oh great IL. Now I got to add this to my Battleships in games !  :-D

Death Heads plays by me and he wanted the no return shot from Battleships and Cruisers  for 39 game and we played 2 games that way but the rest of guys in group didn’t want it. Go figure. I can at least see the Battleship Bombardment hit gets a no return shot. its like pulling teeth with some people but what it is is what it is.  :wink:

@Imperious:

An 8 IPC air transport carrying a unit 6 spaces is worth far more than a sea transport. You all need to increase the cost to 12

I am only charging 10 IPCs for Fighters, I don’t see charging more than that for planes that can neither attack or defend. But I do agree that fast moving reinforcements are very useful. So, let’s make them 10 IPCs units as well for now.

To re-cap what I am going with for my rule set from all that has been discussed in this thread:

Paratroopers
Unit Name    IPC Cost ATK DEF MOVE Notes
Paratroopers      4      1*  2    1    Noted by Country Marker or an Airborne disc beneath an Infantry.

• Paratroopers attack increases to 2 when doing an Airborne Assault. In every round of combat where Paratroopers have done an Airborne Assault, the first offensive casualty of the round must be a Paratrooper.

Cargo Planes
Unit Name    IPC Cost ATK DEF MOVE Notes
Air Transport    10      0    0    6    Noted by Country Marker or an Airborne disc beneath Fighter or Bomber. Can carry one Infantry or Paratroopers unit. May be used to help a Paratroopers unit perform an Airborne Assault.

Paratroopers - The “Poor Bloody Infantry”, now with wings. Can be noted by Country Marker disc or an HBG Airborne marker beneath an Infantry. Paratroopers attack increases to 2 when doing an Airborne Assault OR when combined with Artillery. Combining both bonuses is not allowed.

Air Transport - A grouping of the humble cargo aircraft, this unit has 3x the speed and 1/3 the capacity of regular Transports. Can be noted by Country Marker disc or an HBG Airborne marker beneath Fighter or Bomber. Used to help Paratroopers conduct Airborne Assaults. Except for satisfying hits from AAA, Air Transports can not be taken as casualties in either Attack or Defense and are simply all destroyed if they are the last units present in a defending territory.

For context, in my rule set Transports cost 8 IPCs, have a defense of 1 and a move of 2, and can carry 3 Infantry or 1 (Armor or AAA) and 1 Infantry.

Airborne Assault - During the Combat Movement phase, a power may declare an Airborne Assault. The territory to be attacked by the Airborne Assault must be within the range of at least one of that power’s Air Transports. (Air Transports must end their movement at a friendly territory, no different from any other Combat Movement by an aircraft unit.) Additionally, the territory receiving the Airborne Assault must be no further away than two (ground and/or sea) territories with friendly ground units.
    The Air Transports conducting an Airborne Assault are subject to AAA fire, as per normal rules. If the Air Transport is successful at arriving over the drop zone, (i.e. is not shot down by anti-aircraft fire) then the attacking unit adds a +1 to its attack roll for the duration of that battle. The Air Transport can not be taken as a casualty to satisfy a Land Combat hit taken while fighting the Airborne Assault.
    In every round of combat where Paratroopers have done an Airborne Assault, the first offensive casualty of the round must be a Paratrooper. This is a self-limiting system. Paratroopers keep their attack of 2 for conducting an Airborne Assault for the duration of the Airborne Assault, but are only guaranteed to be around for a number of rounds equal to the number of Paratroopers in the attack.

-Midnight_Reaper

Baron,

One last question, and then I’ll put this line of thought to bed: What do you think of adding Amphibious Bombardment (AB) at 3 to these Cruisers we have been discussing? I had originally had that as a thought but it slipped my mind while we were discussing it. The chart of sea units would look like this:

Battleships at C20 A4D4M2 - Two hits to kill, AB at 4, AAA value at 1 against up to 2 planes per BB
Carriers at C16 A1D3M2 - Two hits to kill, Carry two fighters
Cruisers at C12 A3D3M2 - One hit to kill, AB at 3, Counters SS Submerge ability, AAA value at 1 against up to 1 plane per CA
Subs at C8 A2D2M2 - One hit to kill, First Strike ability, Submerge ability
Trans at C8 A0D1M2 - One hit to kill, Carry three infantry or one infantry and one (armor or AAA)

While my original notes for this unit had given Cruisers the AB ability, they didn’t have the AAA ability or the Counters SS Submerge ability before. While I think that these new breed Cruisers may have too many abilities when it can take on Subs, planes, and troops ashore I do wonder what you think.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Gargantua:

{snip}
What I’m saying is that all the noise about net neutrality, is just that - noise.

It is a lot of noise, isn’t it? A whole lot of people are talking about it. But you don’t think it will affect you. So you don’t see the point.

There is a difference between a nation state seizing a web site and a corporation slow rolling you every time you try to visit a website. But the difference is moot if you can’t get to it either way. I suspect that the government is not going to shut down myISPsucks.net. But a world where ISPs can decide for themselves how much bandwidth different websites get, is a world where ISPs can keep their customers from viewing such a website.

In an example much more closer to home, a world where ISPs can decide for themselves how much bandwidth different websites get, is a world where ISPs can accept money from large corporations to shut down small sites that they don’t agree with. In such a world, if Hasbro were to be irritated at A&A.org for not always fawning over every decision made by Hasbro then Hasbro could pay ISPs to throttle down A&A.org’s bandwidth. If it took a minute for any page here to load, a lot of people would quit coming here. And in that way, Hasbro could keep their customers from viewing such a website.

You might say: “That could never happen, A&A.org is way too small for Hasbro to care about.” To which I say, I’d rather have a world where ISPs don’t have this power in the first place.

You might say: “But there’s nothing stopping ISPs from doing this before.” Before, you could sue your ISP for blocking access to your traffic. Now, all you can do is launch a campaign on the internet about what a crappy job your ISP is doing. You know, the type of website they don’t give easy access to anymore.

-Midnight_Reaper

Midnight Reaper
US of A
Central Maryland (Between DC and Baltimore)
Anything A&A or A&A related
Risk
Attack!

Willing to travel.
Especially like odd or unique setups.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Young:

@Midnight_Reaper:

Hell, I’ll pay all $50 for your 2018 patron badge, in exchange for your playing one game with my House Rules for A&A Classic and a public post here on A&A.org giving your thoughts on those rules after that play. You can say whatever you want about them - just the fact of you talking about them would make my year.

You heard it here first…

-Midnight_Reaper

Sure, why not… email me all your house rules when completed and I’ll setup a game in 2018 (I’ll even do a video review on my channel). I won’t get around to playing it until maybe spring time, so send me a reminder in March 2018.

cliffsidebunker@outlook.com

It will probably be February/March before I get them hammered out completely (I’m currently arguing about them in the House Rules forum as we speak) but I have a full up set of rules I could send you now. I suspect you would prefer one clean set of rules, so unless you tell me otherwise I’ll send you an email in early March with the full up set of house rules for you to read, play, and react to. As I’ve said before, I never claimed to be the second coming of either Larry Harris or Max Michael. Just somebody who found something to tinker with a long time ago.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Fiera:

Hello together,

I am currently shopping at HBG for 1940 Global 2nd Edition and was wondering if the color for US units is “Olive Drab” or “Dark Green”.
Has anyone here experiences?

Best regards,
Fiera

If you’ve ever played or seen A&A Pacific, the US has Infantry units in two colors: normal green and a darker green. The darker green Infantry serve as US Marines, which get a bonus to their attack value when they take part in an Amphibious Invasion.

One of HBG’s first sets of new units for A&A was a set of US Marine Infantry, Tanks, and F4U Corsair Fighters. They sold them in both sets of colors, “Olive Drab” and “Dark Green”. The “Olive Drab” corresponded to ‘regular’ US units and the “Dark Green” corresponded to the A&A Pacific US Marines.

In short, unless you want your new HBG units to stand out (and be a different shade of green) from your regular A&A pieces, you want to order them in “Olive Drab”.

My 2 IPCs.

-Midnight_Reaper

@SS:

In my game I have Air Transport plane A0 D0 M5 C8. Can carry 2 inf in non combat only. But if you get Paratrooper Tech can carry 2 inf for combat. Anzac likes this plane.

But thinking of adding the Paratroopers to US, UK, Germany and Italy in game. Only use 1 in combat.
Then if you get Paratroopers Tech at least Japan and Russia get Paratroopers in game.

There are just the five powers in Classic (Germany, Japan, UK, USA, and USSR). When I trot out my house rules, I normally give 1 Air Transport and 1 Paratrooper at the start of the game to Japan, UK, USA, and USSR and 2 of each to Germany. They are placed in the respective capital territories.

Expanding out to G40, I would probably do it this way… nothing for China; 1 each Air Trans and Para. to ANZAC, France, Italy; 2 each for Japan, UK, USA, and USSR and 3 of each to Germany.

I would probably replace Paratrooper Tech with something else as well. But that’s me.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Baron:

To help Cruiser and BB being interesting,  I  would drop Carrier AA capacity.
Carrier has already the highest defense capacity of all carriers in A&A series with 2 hits and @3.
To make things simpler, I would not give AA at all for Carrier. It will be purchase because of her carrying capacity anyway. Another option is to make it similar to G40 Carrier A0 D2 C16 2 hits with AA capacity. This IMO will make all ships competitive with strength and weakness.

So, something like this:

Battleships at C20 A4D4M2 - Two hits to kill, Amphibious Bombardment, AAA value at 1 against up to 2 planes per BB
Carriers at C16 A1D3M2 - Two hits to kill, Carry two fighters, AAA value at 1 against up to 2 planes per CV (No AAA value anymore for the CVs.)
Cruisers at C12 A3D3M2 - One hit to kill, Counters SS Submerge ability, AAA value at 1 against up to 1 plane per CA
Subs at C8 A2D2M2 - One hit to kill, First Strike ability, Submerge ability
Trans at C8 A0D1M2 - One hit to kill, Carry three infantry or one infantry and one (armor or AAA)

I dig it, there’s a use for every ship - Transports carry ground units, Carriers carry Fighters, Battleships carry the big guns and help defend the Carriers and Transports against planes, Cruisers carry medium guns and help defend the Carriers and Transports against Subs, and the Subs are the wolves of the sea, striking at the weak and unprotected. I can work with this Cruiser.

Thanks Baron!

-Midnight_Reaper

@Imperious:

weren’t arriving via bomber but instead on their own Air Transport units

Well that adds another unit that just does that. Which is fine, but for that other unit

0-1-6-12  ( carries 1 unit in combat or 2 in non-combat)  don’t consider anything cheaper, it wont work. Tried it.

Also, you cant drop farther than 2 spaces from nearest land unit.

Would 0-0-6-8 (can carry one (1) Infantry or Paratrooper in Combat or Non-Combat Movement (not both in one turn), not eligible to be taken as a casualty except when fired on by AAA) work?

It loses its defense value and is taken last in combat (and can’t shoot back). At this point, all that unit would be good for is moving infantry and parachute infantry around. I don’t see it being worth 12 IPCs when it can shoot back and can be taken as a defensive casualty but I really can’t see it being worth more that 8 IPCs when it can’t shoot back and can’t be taken as a casualty.

Are other players that hard up for units that move fast and die faster?

-Midnight_Reaper