Posts made by 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

@SS:

What is your Values on the Carrier ? A ? D ? or it just gets the AAA shot at 2 planes on D ?

Allow me to clarify…

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
Cruisers at C12 A3D3M2 - One hit to kill, Counters SS Submerge ability, AAA value at 1 against up to 1 planes 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)

-Midnight_Reaper

@Young:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@djensen:

Midnight_Reaper I appreciate the sentiment but I’d prefer that everybody just stick to single badges. I’m going to go ahead and refund the extra $10.

As you wish. I just wanted to put my money where my mouth was. No harm, no fowl.
8-)
-Midnight_Reaper

Midnight_Reaper said to just put his $10 toward my 2018 patron badge

8-)

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

@Imperious:

1st round 3, 2nd round 2, third round latter 1

They are shock troops and have limited supplies, they fade as they fight

defend at 2

cost 5, one per bomber

I’m guessing you missed the part where they weren’t arriving via bomber but instead on their own Air Transport units. To be fair, I discussed that in the first post and no where else. Nobody seemed to want to discuss that part.

For completeness:
@Midnight_Reaper:

Cargo Planes
Unit Name      IPC Cost ATK DEF MOVE Notes
Air Transport      8        0    1    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.

Air Transport - The humble cargo aircraft, this unit has 3x the speed and 1/3 the capacity of regular Transports. Noted by Country Marker disc or an HBG Airborne marker beneath Fighter or Bomber. Used to help Paratroopers conduct Airborne Assaults.

Transports cost 8 IPCs, have a move of 2, and can carry 3 Infantry or 1 Armor and 1 Infantry.
{snip}

I think I figured out a way to balance increased attack value against the fact that Paratroopers didn’t really last long in the field, especially by themselves.

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.

This is a self-limiting system. Paratroopers keep their attack of 2 for conducting an Airborne Assault, but are guaranteed to only be around for a number of rounds equal to the number of Paratroopers in the attack. An example might help explain things:

US forces, consisting of 2 Armor and 8 Infantry, invade Western Europe from off the Atlantic coast. Also, 3 US Fighters, 2 US Bombers, and 5 US Air Transports carrying 5 US Paratroopers (which all attack at 2) come from the UK to Western Europe arrive to help.

So, we have 2 Armor, 8 Infantry, 3 Fighters, 2 Bombers, 5 Air Transports, and 5 Paratroopers. The German player may roll 10 dice at 1 due to AAA in Western Europe. Germany scores 3 hits. US Player takes 2 Fighters and 1 Air Transport (which is carrying 1 Paratrooper) as casualties, leaving the US with 2 Armor, 8 Infantry, 1 Fighter, 2 Bombers, 4 Air Transports, and 4 Paratroopers (which all attack at 2).

US Player rolls his attack, scoring 6 hits. German players rolls his defense, scoring 4 hits. At this point, the Air Transports can not be taken as casualties. US Player must take 1 Paratrooper as a casualty and takes 3 Infantry to satisfy the other 3 hits, leaving the US with 2 Armor, 5 Infantry, 1 Fighter, 2 Bombers, 4 Air Transports, and 3 Paratroopers (which all continue to attack at 2).

US Player rolls his next attack, scoring 7 hits. This takes out the German player, who gets his defense all the same, scoring 3 hits. US Player must take 1 Paratrooper as a casualty and takes 2 Infantry to satisfy the other 2 hits, leaving the US with 2 Armor, 3 Infantry, 1 Fighter, 2 Bombers, 4 Air Transports, and 2 Paratroopers (which all would continue to attack at 2).

After Non-Combat Movement, the planes all fly away, leaving the US in possession of Western Europe with 2 Armor, 3 Infantry, and 2 Paratroopers (which are no longer conducting an Airborne Assault and therefore would attack at 1 until their Airborne Assault status changes).

Clear as mud?

-Midnight_Reaper

@Bob77:

I will still say first round for attack bonus, but like the idea of pairing. It has precedence from the later gamer combined arms.
How bout
Attack at 2 first round and every round there after with matching fighter or tank.(Emphasis added)

So we’re going to have our Paratroopers re-live Operation Market Garden? :-D It’s not a bad idea (pairing Paratroopers with Tanks, not re-doing Market Garden).

I just went through my copies of the rule books. I only found three rule books with rules for technology development resulting in Paratroopers: A&A Anniversary, A&A Europe 1940 (technology development is an optional rule for Global only), and A&A Europe 1940 Second Edition (optional rule for G40.2). Here is what those books said:

@A&A:

3. Paratroopers. Each of your bombers can act as a transport for one infantry during combat movement, but it must stop in the first hostile territory it enters, ending its movement. Both units must begin their movement in the same territory. The infantry is dropped after any antiaircraft fire is resolved, so if the bomber is hit, the infantry it carries is also destroyed. The bomber may still attack during the Conduct Combat phase, but it cannot make a strategic bombing run in a turn that it transports an infantry unit. If attacking along with land units from adjacent territories, paratroopers may retreat as normal.

@A&A:

3. Paratroopers. Up to 2 of your infantry units in each territory with an air base can be moved to an enemy controlled territory 3 or fewer spaces away that is being attacked by your land units from adjacent territories and/or by amphibious assault. If the territory being attacked has an antiaircraft gun, the paratrooper infantry units are subject to antiaircraft fire in the same way as air units. If attacking along with land units from adjacent territories, paratroopers may retreat as normal.

@A&A:

3. Paratroopers. Up to 2 of your infantry units in each territory with an air base can be moved to an enemy controlled territory 3 or fewer spaces away that is being attacked by your land units from adjacent territories and/or by amphibious assault. When moving, paratroopers must obey the same restrictions that air units do. If the territory being attacked has AAA (antiaircraft artillery) units, the paratrooper infantry units are subject to antiaircraft fire in the same way as air units. If attacking along with land units from adjacent territories, paratroopers may retreat as normal.

What that wall of text doesn’t include is an increase to the Attack value of any Infantry used as Paratroopers. But to be fair, those rules also don’t call for separate Paratrooper units to be built but instead you either pack some guys into the bomb bay of Bomber and “bomb” the enemy with an Infantry or you fling a couple Infantry two or three spaces forward using some planes hanging around a handy air base.

Is there room for both? Infantry tossed out the back of an Air Transport, no increase in attack value but present for the fight AND combat units specially selected and trained for conducting Airborne Assaults, which subsequently receive a +1 to their Attack when used as they were meant to be used and when used as straight leg Infantry, fight as such with no bonuses?

I think there is room for both in A&A…

-Midnight_Reaper

@Baron:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@Baron:

Is BB cost at 24, 2 hits, per classic edited rule set ?

If 20, then keep Cruiser 12 IPCs and give it some Anti-Submarine Capacity of Destroyer.
See it as a sculpt which represent all warships escorting capital warship units, Carrier and Battleship.

And let Subs dive before aircraft attack unless a Cruiser-Destroyer is blocking Sub Submerge.
But Subs Surprise strike cannot be blocked, and is always rolling first strike.

Submarines will be more than sitting duck against planes, and even if 12 IPCs makes Cruiser less powerful in pure combat compared to Battleship, it is clearly right.

Just a little twist but it will improve all combat interactions IMO.

Fighter is still 12 IPCs? Bomber at 15 IPCs?

While I’ve never given much thought to having Cruisers with anti-submarine abilities, I have thought about having Cruisers with integrated anti-aircraft ability: Treat as AAA at sea for having Cruisers with your fleet, except with a cap of two (2) dice rolled per Cruiser present. It’s not the same, but would it be comparable?

{snip}

IMO, the real issue in Classic is about Sub being too vulnerable against aircraft.
You modify Fighter cost from 12 to 10. Increasing planes availability (on Carrier vs Subs).

My 2 cents on requiring Cruiser to only prevent them Subs from Submerge is a small compromise to radically improve interaction and ellusivness of Subs. As I said, this Cruiser sculpt might figure for all non-capital warships.
Now Subs can submerge before all attacking units, if you don’t bring a Cruiser to the party.
Of course, it is absolutely not mandatory to submerge.

Transport will remain the best fodder because it is the cheaper and weakest unit.

So you think that I should give subs a new ability to help them out against planes and then have cruisers take that new sub ability away when subs face cruisers in battle? While that would give incentive for powers to stock their fleets with cruisers, I would rather just simplify things - if fighting against planes is the ultimate issue, why not just give cruisers the ability to knock those pesky fliers out of the sky straight away?

As a thought, if we’re going to hand new powers to old units and new units, what do you think of something like this?
Battleships at 20 - Two hits to kill, Amphibious Bombardment, AAA value at 1 against up to 2 planes per BB
Carriers at 16 - Two hits to kill, Carry two fighters, AAA value at 1 against up to 2 planes per CV
Cruisers at 12 - One hit to kill, Counters SS Submerge ability, AAA value at 1 against up to 1 planes per CA
Subs at 8 - One hit to kill, First Strike ability, Submerge ability
Trans at 8 - One hit to kill, Carry three infantry or one infantry and one armor

(If we’re going to have cruisers doing the work of destroyers as well, I guess you could call them Cruiser-Destroyers, similar to some old US Navy CRUDESRONs - Cruiser Destroyer Squadrons.)

-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

One could argue that the US gave Germany Casus Belli many times over before 11 December 1941. The Germans state as much in their declaration of war (text from Wikipedia):

@German:

MR. CHARGE D’AFFAIRES:

The Government of the United States having violated in the most flagrant manner and in ever increasing measure all rules of neutrality in favor of the adversaries of Germany and having continually been guilty of the most severe provocations toward Germany ever since the outbreak of the European war, provoked by the British declaration of war against Germany on September 3, 1939, has finally resorted to open military acts of aggression.

On September 11, 1941, the President of the United States publicly declared that he had ordered the American Navy and Air Force to shoot on sight at any German war vessel. In his speech of October 27, 1941, he once more expressly affirmed that this order was in force. Acting under this order, vessels of the American Navy, since early September 1941, have systematically attacked German naval forces. Thus, American destroyers, as for instance the Greer, the Kearney and the Reuben James, have opened fire on German submarines according to plan. The Secretary of the American Navy, Mr. Knox, himself confirmed that-American destroyers attacked German submarines.

Furthermore, the naval forces of the United States, under order of their Government and contrary to international law have treated and seized German merchant vessels on the high seas as enemy ships.

The German Government therefore establishes the following facts:

Although Germany on her part has strictly adhered to the rules of international law in her relations with the United States during every period of the present war, the Government of the United States from initial violations of neutrality has finally proceeded to open acts of war against Germany. The Government of the United States has thereby virtually created a state of war.

The German Government, consequently, discontinues diplomatic relations with the United States of America and declares that under these circumstances brought about by President Roosevelt Germany too, as from today, considers herself as being in a state of war with the United States of America.

Accept, Mr. Charge d’Affaires, the expression of my high consideration.

December 11, 1941.
RIBBENTROP

So, to some extent, it was when will the US enter the war not if they enter the war. The Germans (and the Italians, same day) doing the declaring on the US first was an unexpected stroke of good luck for the Allies in the end - but it didn’t feel that way in '42…

@Deiganator:

Are you still taking requests? How about some air bases? I know you have some with runways but they are too big. How about a hanger/control tower combo?

With regards to this, I wonder what your Army Barracks and Watch Tower would look like next to each other?

https://combatminiatures.org/products/1-285-army-barracks-field-hospital-recruitment-center
https://combatminiatures.org/products/copy-of-1-285-scale-rail-station (supposed to be a Watch Tower, but it sure says rail station in the URL…)

-Midnight_Reaper

@djensen:

Midnight_Reaper I appreciate the sentiment but I’d prefer that everybody just stick to single badges. I’m going to go ahead and refund the extra $10.

As you wish. I just wanted to put my money where my mouth was. No harm, no fowl.

-Midnight_Reaper

@alexgreat:

looks I am too late to the party. No option I can see to pledge, campaign closed. Shame on me…

There is a possible, limited time option. Over on BGG, someone is trying to “sell” their backing of War Room - You give them money, they change the shipping address to yours. Whether or not this is advisable, or even viable, is not something I’m going to get into. But if you feel like rolling the dice, you can find the relevant thread here:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1904017/miss-pledge-deadline-anyone

-Midnight_Reaper

@Karl7:

1 good hit from Hood and Scharnhorst is down for the count.

Hood also had torpedoes, although I do not think they were ever used.

With the thinness of the Hood’s armor, I think that the opposite is also true: 1 good hit from Scharnhorst and Hood is down for the count. I think this one would have come down to which one drew blood first. I’m tempted to say that the Royal Navy would be good in that regard, but then you can point to the actual fate of the Hood and say: that wasn’t true at least once.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Imperious:

Heavy Artillery:

C6 A3 D2 M1  +1 support 1-1 per inf. Can fire into next territory but then can only M1 on non combat. Or move 1 in combat but doesn’t get next territory shot. You could have If you roll a 1 on Attack roll you pick the target with no return fire. Cant hit planes period.

Yes to all these ideas especially in bold, except allow it to move in combat only if with either a truck unit ( if you play with those) or Armored Infantry ( Mech). Only other idea is not allow the shot from adjacent area, which i reserve only to gigantic rail guns.

Hello Imperious Leader, thanks for joining us.

I am personally biased against rules that let the player scoring the hit pick the unit taking the hit, but that’s me. I can certainly see the thematic appropriateness when used with lots of big guns. What do you think of the following version of Big Guns for A&A?

@Defensive-Minded:

Unit Name    IPC Cost ATK DEF MOVE Notes
Heavy Artillery    6      2    3      1    Can only hit Ground Units (exception for Coastal Defense special attack). Can increase defense for Infantry, etc., defense by support. See below for Coastal Defense rules.

Heavy Artillery - The King of Battle. These are the truly big guns, massed to support the main effort of an army. These are not anti-aircraft guns and therefore can not hit aircraft. Can provide supporting fire for Infantry and any other Infantry-like units in the defense, increasing their Defense by 1. This support can be provided for up to one (1) supported units per each Heavy Artillery unit in the defending territory and is in addition to the Heavy Artillery’s own defense roll. Can also conduct Coastal Defense - See below for more.

Coastal Defense: Support the defense of the territory the Heavy Artillery unit is located, in the face of an Amphibious Invasion. As Battleships get to conduct shore bombardment to “soften up” the defensive forces prior to the actual landing of troops, Heavy Artillery units get to conduct Coastal Defense to help repel the attacking force. Each Heavy Artillery unit in the territory that is being invaded gets to fire one time at the Transports carrying the attacking force. On a roll of a 1, one Transport is sunk and its cargo is lost at sea before the units on-board can land anywhere. A decision as to which transports are carrying what cargo should ideally be made before prior to rolling the Coastal Defense attack. Heavy Artillery can conduct Coastal Defense whether or not any shore bombardment is conducted on behalf of the Amphibious Invasion. Heavy Artillery that has used its Coastal Defense attack may take part in the further defense of its territory.

Coastal Defense is an interesting ability in my opinion, a reverse Amphibious Bombardment. While it can be used against an Amphibious Invasion even if it was not supported by an Amphibious Bombardment, it does not come into play when a territory is attacked only from land or sky. Because it only comes into play against an Amphibious Invasion, and only if the defending territory has Heavy Artillery to defend with, this is an ability that may only be used twice or thrice a game. Whether that makes any difference about how potent is this special ability is an open question in my mind.

-Midnight_Reaper

@SS:

Im not trying to knock any of your thoughts. You may only get a few replies if that. No body really has the H Art in there game. I gave you my values from one of the 39 games that I have.

Now maybe IL or Baron might chime in and give you there idea what a H Art values should be. I just think for what you want the piece to do is the cost is to low.

Put in your game and play test it. Thats the way I find out if it works or not.

I’ve played with these rules before, but only against novice players or in solo games. Perhaps I should look into setting up a TripleA scenario with all of these rules as options. Then people could try what they want to try out and let me know how it turned out. I think it’s good as-is, but I’m biased so I’m looking for other opinion.

@SS:

You try typing in the search bar Heavy Artilliary?

I’ve tried to do that but Google gives me an error code when I try that. I use Firefox with a custom NoScript load that doesn’t normally let Google Analytics in, so I should probably try again with that enabled to see what happens. (The things you think about when answering someone else’s question that you didn’t think about before - part of why I’m throwing these rules out there for people to poke holes in.)

-Midnight_Reaper

Another option for denoting Armored Cavalry on your game board: Jeep pieces from Table Tactics’ A&A Accessories expansion. While it is many years out of print, those who have that set could certainly use it that way. At least the colors would match with A&A Classic color scheme, for the most part.

-Midnight_Reaper

@barney:

Good points Marc. I believe velocity wasn’t that great on the Sherman and that the Brits put a longer barrel on it for that reason

Not to derail this thread completely, but Shermans were never meant to fight tanks and that had something to do with the design - to include the length of the main gun barrel.

-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

@Bob77:

@Midnight_Reaper:

@Bob77:

{snip}
In short, post the link.

Well, since you asked so nicely…

Sorry, didnt mean to be so bossy.

It’s all good, I meant that as good-natured ribbing. You were right and I should have just said: Go here, do this. 'S’all good in my opinion.

-Midnight_Reaper

Well, Combat Miniatures does have a “Watch Tower”, at 6 for $12, that could be re-purposed into a control tower for an airfield:

https://www.shapeways.com/product/56RUD3XJ8/1-285-watch-tower-x6?optionId=64113348&li=marketplace

It’s not exactly what you asked for, but it’s available now and not too expensive at $2 per tower if you buy 6 or $3.50 per tower if you buy them in singletons.

-Midnight_Reaper

What are we going to use for the silhouette for the 2018 Sponsor Badge? We’ve always used tanks, but we’re about played out on tanks silhouettes. What’s left that we haven’t used? ANZAC AC1 Sentinel? Classic? Italian M14/41 from Anniversary?

Just spit-balling here. It’s never to early to be prepared…

-Midnight_Reaper

P.S. Named the ANZAC tank in question.