Posts made by Midnight_Reaper

As of today (2021 0207), HBG is selling full copies of their Amerika game for $49.95. That is more than 1/2 off the retail price of $119.95. The pieces are in the second edition colors, the rest of the game is the same.

(First Edition Colors: Germans in Grey, Japan in Burnt Orange, Allies in OD Green. Second Edition Colors: Germans in Black, Japan in Yellow Gold, Allies in UK Tan.)

https://www.historicalboardgaming.com/HBG-Amerika-Boxed-Game_p_1353.html

And now you know.

-Midnight_Reaper

@mordedura said in Is 1941 Playable Out of the Box?:

Apologies for the noob question.

Noob question away - I’ll answer as best I can. And the best part is, if I’m right, you will know it. That’s because if I’m wrong, people will swoop in to tell you and me that I’m wrong.

I was going to buy 1941 for my 9-year old son, but I’ve read numerous reviews and forum posts that suggest it doesn’t have enough pieces to be playable out of the box.

Can A&A 1941 be played out of the box? Yes. Can it be played well, or smoothly, out of the box? No. I’ll explain below.

I understand there is no pseudo cash, so one has to keep tally sheets, and I’ve read some excellent posts about the need for more cash flow to make the game more fun, but for now I just need to know whether or not I can buy it and enjoy playing it as is? Or is it just going to drive us nuts and lead to me buying accessories right away?

The problem with playing A&A 1941 straight out of the box is that:

• You can make up for the lack of paper money by keeping track of the game money on paper (some players prefer to do it that way - simple to do and easy to see if a mistake was made);
• You can make up for small number of dice (4 of 1 color) by adding more dice, especially with dice of different colors; and
• The colored paperboard chits in grey, green, and red help make up for the small number of pieces in the game box.

But for all that, the small number of pieces will still cause you to have to write out slips of paper with “US Tank” or “Japanese Destroyer” so that you can have tanks in more than 5 places or destroyers in more than 2 places.

And that last point is the stickiest one. And it’s the one that drives many people away from A&A 1941.

I’ve written more complete thoughts on this game before, so I’ll give you a review sandwich - opening thought, link to the full story, and closing thoughts. If you have questions after I’m done, please ask away.

Axis & Allies 1941 is meant to be an entry level game for the A&A series. It is both an inexpensive game and a cheap game…

BGG link to my full run-down of A&A1941

While there is a vocal contingent that is not very happy with A&A 1941, I find much to love about 1941. I will caveat that with the fact that I have added in many of the things missing - plastic stacking chips, play money, and factories. But the rules and the map make for a lean and mean game of Axis & Allies. Just don’t let the cheapness of the suit and tie distract you from the value to be had in this game.

Also, to add some breadth, here is one redditer’s take on making A&A 1941 all it can be. Of course, it’s an old observation: Just buy two copies… /s

Thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated!

I hope I was of help to you.

-Midnight_Reaper

@imperious-leader said in Advanced Technology Models Requirements By Country:

@hbg-gw-enthusiast Here’s the expanded idea! Its a print on demand service that you can just get a set of counters based on either Global 40, or 36, or its a make your own where you decide the color or each nation, which combination of nations, and the unit values.
Additionally, you can select Civil War, WW1, WW2, Modern, or Napoleonic…all with (Attack, Defend, Move, and dice bonus for elite soldiers or Better trained men or not. This will solve alot of issues and give new people who simply cant keep up with 6 types of infantry and constantly looking at charts to remember what the values of a particular unit. Secondly, it makes for easy travel and packing, third, if your designing a game you can submit one with a counter set, and if it has merit latter you can insert miniatures.

And now we’ve come full circle…

-Midnight_Reaper

Good luck with that. How are your programming skills?

-Midnight_Reaper

@shake118118 I think that your idea is a great idea to shake things up. It changes the dynamic of the game from complete cooperation (anything it takes for your side to win) to a more guarded cooperation (we need to win, but if I help my other partner(s) too much, I will be worse off in the follow-up game.

Mind you, this is playing two games back-to-back. Most groups aren’t up to that much game, especially if half the players get to sit out.

One solution for half the players sitting out - new team members for the winning side…

If you and your group do play a game this way, do please let us know how it went.

-Midnight_Reaper

@thrasher1 said in Overpurchasing and undermobilizing:

Reminds me of me… coming up with the shortest possible Axis and Allies Classic game :)

Absolute shortest A&A Classic game is as follows. USSR, German, and UK players would have to agree to do this. Japan and US players won’t have a say in the matter.

Before play starts: Agree that game is over after one capital falls.

USSR, Turn 1: Kill German fleet in the Baltic. Use fleet and fighters to ensure the German fleet is killed. Pass rest of turn.

German, Turn 1: Evacuate Germany. Pass rest of turn.

UK, Turn 1: Load transport off of UK. Invade Germany. Game over.

As for shortest game with taking two capitals of the same power: Use the above as a start, will probably need two turns for the US to invade Japan…

As for shortest game without cooperation? Depends on the dice…

-Midnight_Reaper

@thrasher1 said in Axis and Allies MB edition: inquiry form included in the box:

@midnight_reaper I prefer a space game of alien empires.

What setting you had in mind?

Something like “Masters of Orion (I’m thinking more like the original computer game rather then the later board game.)” or “Twilight Imperium (which dropped its 4th edition a few years ago.)”. In short, let’s make aliens ALIEN. Do something wildly different from WW2 or WW3 or Humans vs. Martians vs. Venusians.

Use ground unit rules and amphibious attack rules from A&A for landing troops, attacking space stations, and dirt-side action. Use naval unit rules and associated amphibious attack rules from A&A for fleet-to-fleet combat and for getting troops where they need to be. Use air unit rules from A&A for fast-striking raiders and fleet defenders. Use the initiative system from Shogun (Yes, the linked game says Ikusa. The name got changed for a reprint in 2011) for suspense - who knows who will go first in the next round? Use the cities and roads building from Conquest of the Empire to build stations and wormholes, to support the fleet and move it around more quickly.

Something like that, I suppose.

-Midnight_Reaper

@hbg-gw-enthusiast said in Piece Count for Various Sets:

Quick note. The Japanese pieces for Amerika are a slightly yellow-orange rather than the classic pumpkin orange. Make sure that’s not a deal breaker for you before you purchase Amerika purely for pieces.

Also note that there are now two different Amerika sets. They play the same as the have the same rules and setup. But they come in two sets of colors. Version 1 has dark-grey Germans, olive green Allies, and yellow-orange or “golden” Japanese. Version 2 has black Germans, tan Allies, and burnt-orange Japanese. The sculpts are the same in both versions, only the colors are changed.

And now you know.

-Midnight_Reaper

Call them whatever you want. Just be consistent in the use.

-Midnight_Reaper

@thrasher1 said in Axis and Allies MB edition: inquiry form included in the box:
{snip}

Question: I am not from US so please explain to me… why Civil War is so much ‘popular’ then the American Revolution.

I can’t tell you why it’s so dominate in the U.S. market. I can tell you why I’d rather see a new U.S. Civil War game (Civ War) than a new U.S. Revolutionary War game (Rev War).

1. The U.S. Civil War was the Second Revolutionary War. It was the southern (slave) states telling the northern (free) states that slaves would be freed over their dead bodies. Of which the Union/Federal/Northern Army obliged.
2. More to do in a Civ War game. Everything there might be in a Rev War game would also be in a Civ War game, plus you could have merchant raiding, technology trees, cross-border raids, etc.
3. The Civ War was, in some ways, the first modern war. Between the steam ship, rifles instead of muskets, trains, and telegraphs, the Civ War was more violent and faster moving than the Rev War.

Is that what everybody who prefers the Civ War to the Rev War thinks? Heck if I know. I can speak for myself alone.

-Midnight_Reaper

This was a little before my time. So, I’ll give my “today” answers.

(7) Number of Players: 3-5 players.

(8) Categories / Setting / Period

(A.) HISTORICAL: (U.S.) Civil War

(B.) MODERN: WWIII

(C.) SCIENCE FICTION / SPACE: Battle of Alien Races

(D.) FANTASY: King Arthur Knights & Castles

(9) Chose one category: (C.) SCIENCE FICTION / SPACE

That’s what I have.

-Midnight_Reaper

Those prints look nice. I assume the flames are to show damaged facilities / intercepted convoys. Is it a binary damaged / not damaged or is there a counter of some kind? Just Curious.

Seriously, I think these look good. I assume the color of the print will vary based on the feed stock, no?

My 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

@imperious-leader said in Russian Color:

@hbg-gw-enthusiast I would prefer the Italians as a lighter green than USA, and the Russians take the Italian “brown” color, The brown the Soviets had with Milton Bradley was the best “brown” ever.

The only problem with getting Russian pieces in that color is that Italy “stole” that color already so it’s hard to use Brown Russian pieces on a map with Brown Italian pieces…

-Midnight_Reaper

I went in on the latest pre-order HBG set, the one for the Soviets. I ordered both brown and red. I got a brown closer to Italy than any recent USSR pieces (looked rather like old Milton Bradley Soviet pieces) and a red closer to the Japanese / Chinese pieces from Pacific. I mean, a Brown brown and a Red red.

They didn’t like anything like the pieces I’ve gotten from HBG in the past for the Soviets. I wonder if that’s just me or if others think that way as well…

-Midnight_Reaper

I assume that these pieces are, from top to bottom, a factory (minor factory for the games that distinguish), naval base, major factory, and airbase. Just making sure I understand you.

-Midnight_Reaper

@djensen said in Axis and Allies MB edition: inquiry form included in the box:

@thrasher1 Looks like I forgot to ask. Given that they can’t find the Zombies setup for 1942 SE, I doubt they have a copy of this.

It was sloppy of them to miss the truncated setup for Zombies '42. It is even sloppier of them to not correct it. If people ask on BGG about this, I tell them to use the setup for standard 1942, SE, and then only modify it when the setup for Zombie '42 differs. That seems to work.

-Midnight_Reaper

@Arne said in 1914 Introduce Tanks Earlier in Game:

Hi, are there any objections (except for the historical ones) to introduce tanks earlier in the game than round 4?

Other than historical reasons, I don’t know why you couldn’t start buying tanks as early as you please. It would shake up some of the established strategies. Whether that’s good or bad would be up to you.

-Midnight_Reaper

Thanks for your gift as well. What a great book!

-Midnight_Reaper

@Eisenhower said in axis planes involved in d-day:

In reality there were some German planes involved in D day.
Is there any provision for this in this game?

There is no provision for German aircraft in A&A D-Day. This reflects the air superiority held by the Western Allies in 1944.

As the UK’s Imperial War Museum put it: “Germany’s air force and navy could do little to resist invasion. The Luftwaffe had withdrawn nearly all its fighters to counter American daylight bombing operations over Germany. The Navy’s warships had been hounded to destruction or were bottled up in ports. Its U-boats would have an almost impossible job penetrating the belt of Allied naval and air defences. The defence of ‘Fortress Europe’ would therefore fall squarely onto the shoulders of the army.” (source)

-Midnight_Reaper

@GEN-MANSTEIN said in [Global 1940] Japanese Destroyers:

We use the Revised one in my game.

Do you have national advantages, or do you just use that bit from the Revised optional national advantages?

-Midnight_Reaper