Posts made by OutsideLime

@ncscswitch:

All combat mvoes are declared at once, and with the exception of an amphibious assault after a naval battle in the adjacent sea zone, NO combat is allowed where movement through a combat declared territory is required (with the exception of Panzerblitz NA if memory serves, but I will allow others with more National Advantages experience to confirm that as I have never played a game using them).

Nope - Panzerblitz NA merely allows attacking German tanks (that survived a combat in which all defenders were destroyed in the first cycle of combat) to make a non-combat move of 1 space (following normal non-combat movement rules otherwise) during the Non-combat movement (NCM) phase.  (This is not allowed without the NA - once a land (or sea) unit has been involved in combat, it may not move during NCM)

~Josh

I could live without oil rules.  If you ask me the game will be complicated enough already - with the addition of ports, airfields, and convoy boxes, there are plenty of new strategic targets on the map.

If someone can propose a good ruleset for oil then I would vote for including it.  IL’s suggestion is pretty good but incomplete.  It seems to me that you could abuse it as per original unlimited SBR rules.  Also you would have to come up with a way to track how much oil production you have, and do your original oilfields produce IPC for you as well?  If no, that’s a bit strange.  If yes, then how much do they produce?

At 1D6 per oilfield, own 3 oilfields and you could generate 18IPCs per turn… seems to me too powerful, and would become too much of a focal point for control.

And why can’t players bomb a captured oilfield?  You can bomb a captured complex.

~Josh

In my example I want to retreat my forces.  That way they have a shot at possibly being involved in antiarcraft fire in both hexes.  That’s why I chose the forward hex first, since I as Axis had the initiative.  If I were Allies, with air initiative, and I wanted to prevent Axis from doing that as in my example, then I would, yes, choose the rear hex first.

~Josh

… and a quick trip to the BoB faq/errata on Avalon Hill reveals this:

Can ground units retreating from hits from Fighters and Bombers move into another hex where the other player has Aircraft?
Yes, Aircraft do not exert a zone of control. When the combat occurs in this hex, these units will participate in that combat also.

… so there you have it.

~Josh

@Imperious:

yes correct but the question is strange because each combat is alternating for each side so its not clear that any hex retreated to is actually a Hex under attack because nobody would know of such a thing. You only need to worrk about retreating thru enemy ZOC.

Yes it is clear which hexes are under air attack before any are resolved.

1.  Roll for air initiative.
2.  First player lays all of his planes down, splitting them up however he likes, then second player lays all of his, splitting them up however he likes.
3.  First player chooses which air-embattled hex to resolve first.  After that is resolved, second player chooses the next air-embattled hex to resolve, and they alternate choosing and resolving until all air-embattled hexes have been resolved.

Let’s say I am Axis and that I won air initiative this round.  Say that after step 2 above, there are only two hexes under air attack… one on my front line, which is threatened by the bulk of allied planes and has all my planes, and an adjacent hex behind my line out of Allied ZOC that is being attacked by the remaining Allied planes.

I choose to resolve the frontline hex first.  We conduct dogfighting, antiaircraft, and air attack.  In the end, a few of my units are forced to retreat.  I can retreat them back into the second hex, even though it is due for air combat and even though my moving units there may have an effect on antiaircraft fire and hit assignment.

This is the way I see it according to the rulebook, but something about it feels a bit wrong.  Should you be able to retreat to an air-ambattled hex that is out of enemy ZOC, even if (and especially if) your doing so will influence the resolution of that hex?  It does seem that way.  Just asking because I can’t find anything in the rules that prohibits this.

~Josh

Okay, I’ve done a careful review of all of the ports on the latest draft of the map.  The list below shows all of the ports that each port 3-links to, and (in brackets), the ports that each port could 3-link to if all more-direct routes were blockaded.

The only real useless one is the port that straddles sz 10/17 off Great Britain, as SZ 10 does not 3-link or (3-link) to any other port at all.  Move it down to just sz17. (into London, why not?)

Washington S. and Japan are both pretty weak, with only one 3-link and one (3-link) each.  Other than that, everything else looks strongly interconnected.  Here’s the list:

---

Hawaii – Carolines, New Guinea

Carolines – Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Java, Shangtung (Philippines)

New Guinea – Hawaii, New South Wales, Philippines,  Java (Western Australia)

Japan -  Carolines (Philippines)

Hong Kong – Carolines,  Java

Java – New Guinea, Hong Kong,  Madras W. (Philippines, Malay, Madras E.)

Shangtung – Carolines,  Malay

New South Wales – New Guinea, Western Australia

Western Australia –New South Wales, Malay, Philippines, Madras W., Madras E.
(New Guinea)

Philippines -  New Guinea, Western Australia, (Carolines, Japan, Java, Malay)

Madras W. – Java, Western Australia, South Africa,  Lower Egypt N., Malay

Malay – Shangtung, Madras W., Western Australia (Java, Philippines)

Madras E. – Western Australia, Abyssinia & Lower Egypt S. (Java)

South Africa -  Madras W.,  Abyssinia & Lower Egypt S.,  Brazil

Lower Egypt N. – Madras W., Gibraltar (Tunisia, Southern Italy)

Abyssinia & Lower Egypt S. – Madras E., South Africa,  Crimea, Tunisia, Southern Italy

Brazil – South Africa,  Gibraltar, Washington N. (Washington S.)

Gibraltar – Brazil, Lower Egypt N., Western France, Great Britain W. (Southern Italy)

Crimea – Abyssinia & Lower Egypt S., Tunisia

Tunisia – Abyssinia & Lower Egypt S., Crimea (Lower Egypt N.)

Southern Italy – Abyssinia & Lower Egypt S., Morocco.  (Lower Egypt N., Gibraltar)

Western France – Gibraltar,  Morocco,

Great Britain W. – Gibraltar, Morocco, Washington N.,  Germany,  Great Britain SE.

Morocco – Southern Italy, Western France, Great Britain W.,  Washington N., Washington S.

Washington N. – Great Britain W., Morocco,  Brazil,

Germany – Great Britain W.,  Archangel,

Great Britain SE. -  Great Britain W., Archangel

Washington S. – Morocco, (Brazil)

Archangel – Germany, Great Britain SE.

Great Britain NE. -  nothing

---

Hope this is useful!

~Josh

From a game-mechanics point of view, each port should connect to more than one other port at its maximum 3-space range, otherwise it is too simplistic a feature.  You have done a great job of making sure that is the case, I cannot see a single port on the map that fails to connect in this way to at least 2 other ports.

If you want to add a seaport to W.USA, I would suggest the following two ports as complementary:  Wake Island and Gilbert Islands.  I have no idea if these were significant ports historically, I am just looking at this in a game-design frame of mind.  This way you create two diverging shipping lanes from San Diego; a northern route to Wake and a southern route to Gilberts.  Each of those two islands 3-links to a number of other ports, so they themselves could be hotly contested jumping-off points to other areas in the Pacific.

Wake 3-links to:  (Western US), (Gilbert Islands), Caroline Islands, Shantung, the Philippines, and Hong Kong.

Gilbert 3-links to: (Western US), (Wake Island), Western Australia, New South Wales, and the Philippines.

What do you think about this?

~Josh

A Western US port would only function if you also had one in Kamchatka, Solomons, Gilberts, Wake, or Johnston…. or Cuba/East coast of Panama!

Great work on the map deepblue, I have been following this thread with much interest!

~Josh

Actually it doesn’t seem to specify in either version that you must declare French Resistance the first time Western Europe comes under Allied control.  Could be the first time, or on any subsequent recapture, but only once in total.

For OOB it seems to be declarable at the moment of Allied capture; for LHTR, declarable during UK’s Mobilize Units phase if W.Eur is under Allied control.

~Josh

@Wazzup:

Just so you know, French Resistance can actually be placed during US/USSR if US/USSR takes Western Europe.

That is true for OOB:

Once per game, if Western Europe becomes controlled by the Allies, you may place three of your infantry
there for free.

…but not LHTR 1.3:

_Once per game, if the Allies control Western
Europe, you may place three of your infantry
there for free during the mobilize new units
phase of your turn. _

~Josh

Actually I like the UK’s NAs… your timing with their usage allows you some suckerpunch moves.  It is a great lot of fun to declare Enigma Decoded right when Germany has mounted a healthy attack on Moscow, then sidestep a stack of Brit units from Archangel into the fray.  Or to set up plane-bait with US transports in the Atlantic and then swing a loaded Brit Carrier and Battleship down when German air attacks in force.  Fun whee!  Thast move alone can break the game.

Building your US/UK game around a healthy Joint Strike is fun too, and you feel oh-so-sneaky while setting it up.  If you’re smart, you’ll prepare several across-the-board actions to unleash all at once and leave your foes in ruins.

~Josh

The rules are fairly clear about which are one-timers.  But for the record, the one-timers are:

Russia’s Russian Winter (declarable during Russia’s Mobilize Units phase)
UK’s Joint Strike (Declarable at start of Russia’s turn)
UK’s Enigma Decoded (declarable between Germany’s Combat Movement and Combat phases)
UK’s French Resistance (declarable during UK’s Mobilize Units phase if Allies control Western Europe)
UK’s Colonial Garrison (happens before the game starts)

…and that’s it.  Everything else can happen multiple times.  These are all the LHTR 1.3 versions of things, btw.  I think the OOB versions are identical except for Joint Strike, which is declarable at the start of UK’s turn.)

~Josh

Can they defend if the hex that they retreated to is attacked?

Units cannot retreat to hexes that are in enemy ZOC, therefore they could not retreat to a hex that might be attacked later in the same turn by opposing land units.

I suppose during Air Combat (which occurs prior to Ground Combat) you could retreat land units from an attacked hex to another hex that has enemy planes attacking it but is yet to be resolved, as long as that hex is not in enemy ZOC.  (Aircraft don’t create ZsOC).  The retreated units could then be used toward antiaircraft fire efforts(if applicable) and would be taken into account when deploying the Combat Strips to determine the hits made by the Aircraft Attack.

Opinions on this?  Am I correct?

~Josh

E. US start
1. E. Canada
2. W. Canada
3. SZ 63
4. SZ 62
5. SZ 60, bombs away!
6. Land in Buryatia

Ta da!

~Josh

The downside to taking Borneo is that you need to include the ftr in the assault in order to be relatively sure of capture.Â

If you don’t, you run about a 1-in-3 chance of failing to take the island.  Then you’ve put units (inf and transport) in harm’s way and gained nothing.

If you do, then you must put your AC off Borneo to land the ftr, which means the certain destruction of the AC and the ftr, not to mention the accompanying transport.  Chances are good that your DD is up off Kwangtung attacking the Jap transport, so your mini-fleet will take out maybe one Japanese unit when attacked in force.  While I understand that the UK Pacific fleet is often viewed as doomed anyway, I wouldn’t want to lose that ftr so quickly.  Usually my Pacific UK fleet strategy involves some way for that ftr to survive and be useful elsewhere.  UK isn’t so rich that they can afford to toss away a plane for the “benefit” of causing an extra hit as it gets destroyed.  Keep that plane alive!

~Josh

I have blank ones in grayscale that I keep beside the board, and I write on em in shorthand.  Then I adjust to match it with the pretty icons in Adobe Illustrator and print it 11x17 in full colour.  I’ll link to a blank version when I get a chance.

~Josh

PS - Can’t take credit for most of the map, I ripped it off online somewhere, don’t even remember from who.  I adjusted the colours and created the unit icons and surrounding information layout.  But thanks anyway!

Can UK/US Transports carry each other’s troops during a Joint Strike?  I am asking because there is already a defined system in place for how friendly transports carry each other’s troops, and Joint Strike would seem to nullify that system.

~Josh

Here’s one:

A crusty old Sergeant Major found himself at a gala event, hosted by a
local liberal arts college. There was no shortage of extremely young,
idealistic ladies in attendance, one of whom approached the Sergeant Major
for conversation.
She said, “Excuse me, Sergeant Major, but you seem to be a very serious
man. Is something bothering you?”
“Negative, ma’am,” the Sergeant Major said, “Just serious by nature.”
"The young lady looked at his awards and decorations and said, “It looks
like you have seen a lot of action.”
The Sergeant Major’s short reply was, “Yes, ma’am, a lot of action.”
The young lady, tiring of trying to start up a conversation, said, “You
know, you should lighten up a little. Relax and enjoy yourself.”
The Sergeant Major just stared at her in his serious manner.
Finally the young lady said, “You know, I hope you don’t take this the
wrong way, but when is the last time you had sex?”
The Sergeant Major looked at her and replied, “1955.”
She said, "Well, there you are. You really need to chill out and quit
taking everything so seriously! I mean, no sex since 1955! She took his
hand and led him to a private room where she proceeded to “relax” him
several times.
Afterwards, and panting for breath, she leaned against his bare chest and
said, “Wow, you sure didn’t forget much since 1955!”

The Sergeant Major, glancing at his watch, said in his matter-of-fact
voice, "I hope not, it’s only 2130 now.

~Josh

I know, I know.

http://zygotemusic2.perception.net/uploaded/aamap_start.jpg

~Josh

Ha ha.  :-D  It’s a map where you can mark down your forces.  I’ll post a link in an hour or two.

~Josh