Here is 4 of n for discussion of my Classic House Rules
Heavy Artillery
Unit Name IPC Cost ATK DEF MOVE Notes
Heavy Artillery 6 3 3 1 Can only hit Ground Units. Can increase attack for Infantry, etc., attack by support. See below for Long Range Attack and Coastal Defense rules.
Heavy Artillery - The King of Battle. These are the truly big guns, massed to support the main thrust 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, increasing their attack by 1. This support can be provided for up to two supported units per each Heavy Artillery unit involved in the battle that is not conducting Long Range Attack and is in addition to the Heavy Artillery’s own attack roll. Can also conduct Long Range Attack and Coastal Defense - See below for more.
Heavy Artillery Special Attacks
Long Range Attack: Support the attack into the next country over, without going into the next country over. This can be combined with the Heavy Artillery unit’s own movement (e.g. the Heavy Artillery unit may move from one territory to the next and then attack into a territory bordering the new territory as a part of a greater attack into the territory in question.) When doing so, the Heavy Artillery unit in question in not allowed to be used as a casualty in the battle - if a Heavy Artillery unit doing Long Range Attack is the only unit left, the attack is over and has failed.
Coastal Defense: Support the defense of the territory the Heavy Artillery unit is located, in the face of an Amphibious Invasion. As Battleships (and optionally, Cruisers) 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.
My rules for Cruisers, Paratroopers, and Cargo Planes are my spin on things many other people have commented on about or added to the rules for Axis & Allies, whether the classic or a more modern edition. But my inspiration for Heavy Artillery comes from one person: Ralph Boerke. I was reading about Axis & Allies on the internet roughly 18 or 20 years ago and found his website with his thoughts about making Axis & Allies a better, or at least a more interesting, game. While his website is gone, you can still find what he had to say on the Internet Wayback Machine (archive.org/) at “www.kw.igs.net/~tacit/aanda/expansions/risk.htm”.
His thesis: Why not combine the Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery from Parker Brothers’ Risk with the rest of Milton Bradley’s Axis & Allies? (And yes, these ideas date from before Hasborg bought everybody up.) The result: Ralph Boerke’s rules for Troopers, Armored Cavalry, and Artillery. (I discussed what I did with his Armored Cavalry and Troopers in post #3.)
I’ll let Mr. Boerke discuss his idea for himself:
@Ralph:
Artillery: These are the guns, howitzers, artillery, mortars, that are used in the offensive and defensive bombardments. When Attacking they can fire into a neighbouring territory or into the territory that they are in. When Defending they can only fire at enemy units within their territory.
They only move a range of one territory. However they can move one territory and then fire into the next one! These are moved during Combat Movement, similarly to Rocket AAGuns, even though not in an actual embattled Territory. If they move into a battle they can retreat with the rest of the retreating forces. If they do not move into battle they can not retreat even though they take part in the battle.
Once an Artillery unit is fired it does not move (except in retreats).
Unlike AAGuns they fire each round of battle and can be hit and destroyed. They can hit only Land units. They can not hit Fighters or Bombers or Ships (see below). A lone Artillery defending a territory against a Fighter or Bomber will be lost.
You can have more than one Artillery on a territory.
Mr. Boerke also gave some ideas for where to place his Troopers, Armored Cavalry, and Artillery at the start of the game. I plan to discuss my thoughts for a revised initial placement of units in another post.
As for what to use to denote these units on the board? Well, Mr. Boerke told us to use Risk pieces. He said that a couple decades ago, but as Risk still comes with Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery pieces it is still an option. Other options include: Artillery pieces from Table Tactics’ Central Powers A&A expansion (also many years out of print), Artillery pieces from Eagle-Gryphon Games Attack! (It’s an option, I didn’t say you had to use it.), good old HBG has different Artillery units from all five powers in A&A Classic, and there are other ways to get your heavy gun fix on.
Heavy Artillery, as proposed in my twist on Mr. Boerke rule-set, are creatures of their time and place. Every version of Axis & Allies released since A&A Classic have added Artillery to the unit mix. But few Artillery proposed by Larry Harris are as powerful, or as expensive, as this take. These pieces can: Attack and Defend on land, be taken as a casualty in combat, support Infantry in the Attack, support an Attack from an adjacent territory (and thereby avoid being taken as a casualty), and go toe-to-toe with Battleships during an Amphibious Invasion, potentially destroying some attacking troops before they ever make it to the shore. Heavy Artillery attack and defend at 3, 50% better than standard A&A Artillery’s attack and defend of 2. This unit’s only drawbacks are a limitation against hitting flying units, a cost of 6 over 4 for normal Artillery, and a movement of 1, shared with normal Artillery.
So, if this beast is too powerful as-is, what’s to be done? I like Heavy Artillery as-is for A&A Classic but admit that there are quite a few abilities hung on this unit, possibly too many. I would suggest trimming Heavy Artillery’s specials in this order: 1) Heavy Artillery’s Infantry Supporting Fire, 2) Long Range Attack, 3) Coastal Defense. Normal Artillery also provide this supporting fire, there is likely no need for two units doing the same thing. Long Range Attack is a cool-sounding ability that is perhaps a bit of a stretch given the global map of A&A. “So, I’m counter-attacking US troops that have landed in Normandy by using my Heavy Artillery in Rome and Berlin?” But the use of on-call fire support to attempt to destroy forces being landed in an Amphibious Invasion? That is something that was actually done during World War II. Additionally, it gives powers another option to defend their critical territories from landings by sea from their enemies. Also, this special ability only hits on a roll of 1 instead of the 3 that Heavy Artillery regularly roll. Another option would be to just raise the cost of the unit from 6 IPCs. Perhaps something that does all this unit can do should cost 8 IPCs? Or maybe 10 IPCs?
I await your comments.
-Midnight_Reaper
P.S. Edit to remove some diamonds from the text. Wording of the post remains unchanged.
