@Corpsman_of_Krieg
Welcome aboard Corpsman!
A wealth of knowledgable folks, a volume of information, and a wonderful community of fellow players awaits!
Feel free to add your info to the player locator (https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/category/11/player-locator - specifically here:https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/21466/2020-master-players-list-version-3-0/272 ) if youâre looking for local matches.
Hi everyone,
Wanted to provide a spot for sharing some great WW2 content. Hope this can add some contextual flavor to the games we love to play, or at least provide some enjoyment to the community.
While weâve likely all watched the classic or blockbuster renderings of WW2 (think all of the Memorial Day weekend marathon movies), lesser known gems offer nuanced views into niche aspects of the war.
Off the silver screen, the wealth of historical docudramas provide a looking glass into specific moments and actions, providing tactical learnings and preserving the memories of those who served us all.
Kicking things off with a double feature at sea!
âThe Fighting Ladyâ - Come face to face with the crew of the USS Yorktown, and experience life on a carrier in WW2. Notable insight: crew would fully wash themselves before planned combat operations to reduce the risk of infection if wounded.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OmUKRdPVI&pp=0gcJCY4Bo7VqN5tD
âThe Western Approachesâ - filmed with actual members of the British merchant marine and auxillaries, join a convoy crossing the Atlantic. Notable insight: the briefing before setting sail provides a glimspe into the planning, support, and command structure needed. Think of that when you buy those transports for a shuck-shuck!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYNICPKLJlA
Usually one tries to limit the âsupply chainâ length in terms of moves, as moves equal time.
Having said that, are you considering turn 1 ANZAC sending a transport with one infantry toward Brazil? In that case, any production by Brazil wonât occur until T4, two turns to land, one turn to build factory, one turn to build units. At this point, subs are actually getting to Gibralter on T5, one turn after US subs could be there.
Given you mentioned KJF, I would keep ANZAC resources in the Pacific and support the US by assualting the money islands and if able, reinforcing US captured territories. Whatever subs you want to send against Italy, the US could produce instead, and do so a turn faster.
Even without the factory, the long term value in ANZAC capturing Brazil is unclear. 2 IPC gain is just as well used by US. Any additional infantry from ANZAC Brazil are so far out of position they will not make any timely impact in the Pacific or even slow marching through Africa.
Would be curious to see a demonstration of how you would play this out. Give it a go and let us know what advantage you find!
Hi all,
Name: SeaYa (Michael)
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (northeast)
Games: G40/E40/P40, starting Anniversary this month, but will give any version a go.
Thanks!
@barnee - youâre not far off in reference to digital options.
Most, if not all on here started playing A&A on tabletops, then founded online forums and the developmemt of digital variants.
Most new players will come in one of two ways - current players expanding their pool of friends/family and introducing them to the game - or an app based mobile version hooking new players, connectimg them to online forums and subsequently revealing the tabletop world for them to explore.
That said, I always dreamed of an integration between a turn based strategy game and FPS being amazing, where in addition to dice rolls, players could opt to jump into a critical round of combat and bear arms (Medal of Honor/ Call of Duty style) or crew tanks, planes and ships (War Thunder style) in a 1-2 minute FPS mini-game match to affect the battle outcome. A balance of grand strategy and battle tactics. I would love to pilot a spitfire during a scramble against the standard G1 SZ attacks, or man a AAA gun in India, or captian a German sub to do convoy disruptions. Again, taking the most popular elements of current online / new generation players and seeding that into the A&A environment.
Why do the strategic bombers and interceptors only hit on a roll of 1 during SBR? Check out this period training film for some clues!
âPosition Firing - B-17 Gunner Trainingâ
A period training film that breaks down primarily waist gunnery.
Notable gem: The speed at which aim points change during a fighters approach - and keeping collected enough during combat to perform - well done air crews!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aoHOVUKOc0M&pp=0gcJCY4Bo7VqN5tD
âBattle of Savo Islandâ - a battle history episode focusing on the opening stages of the Guadalcanal campaign. The high quality battle analysis is supported by many works cited, worth reading on their own.
Notable insight: How contextual factors and battle mantra paradigms play as significant, if not more, of a role in decision making than force disposition alone.
âHiroshimaâ - This is one of the most unique cut togethers of historical photage with dubbed sound effects and vocals, acted scenes filmed to mirror the historcial film textures, and intermittant eye witness excerpts Iâve seen on this topic. The various formats are woven together to paint a contextual backdrop to the final months of the atomic bomb developmemt and itâs deployment.
Notable insights: Both US and Japanese political cabinets are depicted, establishing a personal connection behind the classic WW2 newsreals weâve all seen.
âThe Outsiderâ - Decades before âFlags of our Fathersâ this 1961 film follows Ira Hayes from basic training, to Iwo Jima, and the years following the war. Gain an appreciation of Iraâs demise as survivorâs guilt is thrust into the heroâs spotlight.
Hidden Gem: One of the best accounts of just how happenstance the second flag raising was.
This is exciting! Watched a bunch of Gary & Doug discussing tournaments via Board Game Nationâs play-by-play and livestream chats from '23 thru '25 and have been bitten by the bug to give a tournament a first try. Live near Pittsburgh so Dayton is well within range.
As the Russian player, continue to stack infantry on Russia and Novgorod. Also, a nice compliment of mobile (ie: tanks and mechanized infantry with movement 2) stationed at Bryansk with your air corp at Novgorod makes a nice counter-attack force that can hit nearly every territory along the Eastern front.
For Germany, by turn 4, that player may have wanted to consider buying more mechanized infantry earlier, and more consistently, as it allows fresh troops to catch up with the asualt eastward, preserving your high value tanks up to the gates of Moscow. It also allows you to capitalize on gaps in soviet defenses to blitz through (tanks + mech inf) in order to unbalance and pose new threats to the Soviets.
Enjoy!
What are some parameters for the long car ride? An 8 hour, straight through drive in a Miata vs. a 3 week jaunt in a class A RV allow for vastly sdifferent adaptations.
TripleA on a laptop is probably the most portable you could get without loosing to much fidelity.
Physically, printing out the maps in 8.5"x11" and slipping them in clear page protectors to make an atlas book and using dry erase markers to indicate units may be the most compact way to play G40 in an analog variant. Imagining those old choose-your-path novels - to invade Russia, turn to page 7. Could have different pages to mark income and even a battle board.
Itâs been interesting over the years reading about all of the various rule modifications, bidding, and setup variants all in an efdort to balance the game.
Of all the discussions, I may have missed where the goal of balancing, or definition of âbalancedâ means? Is it to enable the game to be won by either side assuming player skill and strategy are equal, or to allow for more historically aligned unfolding of events? The latter seems illogical, as trying to create calculated, pre-set outcomes in a game of a real war that itself was navigated through a global fog of war would require cumbersome rules that restrict player creativity and inhibit fun gameplay. The entire premise of playing a historical event themed game being to see how YOU would have done it differently would seemed to be lost. That being said, using iterative setup variants - 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, etc, does create nuanced scenarios challenging a player with âHow would you have done it, from this point on?â with victory conditions varrying through the years from complete conquest, to holding off conquest for as long as possible.
That being said, the former goal of balancing - enabling the game to be won by either side - is achieved via setup modifications/bidding, permanent or phased gameplay rule changes, and altered victory conditions. Additional rule modifications for gameplay interest inherently have an effect on balancing even when equally apllied to all powers, as the economic and current unit positions magnify or reduce the impact of the rule.
Finally, the question behind the question, why do all of the above balancing? While the answer may seem obvious to each of us in itâs own way, have we paused to ask ourselves, what is the ultimate purpose of bringing balance to game that is fundamentally about creating imbalance? How does answering that question change our approach to âbalancingâ techniques. Do we try to achieve balanance by equalizing - bringing all variables towards the center of the balance beam - or by diversifying - sending variables for each power further toward the extremes? The result of the latter would be playing with powers that have very distinct and unique strengths and weaknesses, versus all powers being more or less equal in terms of functioning, with current unit mass and economic prowess being the only differentiators.
Two cents: I find playing with more distinct and variable national attributes to be far better (and more fun) at achieving balance. Consider in real life, how a tight-rope walker uses a long pole to balance rather than trying to squish their entire body down to a single point over the rope. Historically we see this as well in the war: the US didnât build a Tiger tank to balance out the Germans Tiger, they mass produced the Sherman and gained air superiority. The Germans didnât build a bunker buster to defeat the Maginot line, they used mechanized forces to manuever around it. The US didnât send 2 million Marines to invade mainland Japan, they used the atom bomb. Finland didnât build up armor divisions to counter the Soviets, they strapped on skiâs and lit bottles of booze on fire⌠I digress!
Curious to hear others thoughts and philosophies on this, and maybe spark some new thoughts around game mods!
As the 86th anniversary of Denmark being invaded by Germany approaches, here is a double feature of that opening and aftermath:
âApril 9thâ - Join a Danish bicycle platoon the days before and day of the invasion.
Notable gem: Captures the vital impact communications, or lack thereof plays in decision making within the fog of war.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V7t17Y7uPwE
âLand of Mineâ - the oft forgotten aftermath of the war - the cleanup of 2.2 million mines laid on the Danish coast. A gritty view of the bonds of humanity fighting to heal against the wounds of war that tore them apart. A Danish officer supervises former German Army youth as they are used to clear mines on a section of beach.
Notable gem: Forgiveness.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sewmsP3biAc
English dub: https://m.ok.ru/video/2120526137883
By virtue of a crack performance by British forces in North Africa to drive Italy off the continent, the three French troops made a long march to Persia as the Britâs worked up the Caucasus. After an all or nothing attack by the British on Germanyâs main army group at Volgograd (destroying all but one fighter and loosing all in the gambit), the French blocking forces are now able to seize Kazakhstan.
That is where my brain got stuck between gears, as neither France, nor Russia control their respective capitals.
You may understand the question coming, and I may know the answer, but appreciate any feedback as Iâve viewed but never join this forum for years until today.
Question: Does the territory become French?
My analysis says, yes.
Question behind the question: Is it tactically sound to do so?
My analysis says, no. Since the French cannot collect IPC, it would be wiser to let the British capture it, to get the IPC gain which can be delivered to the battlefield in a turns time.
Thoughts, feelings, and many musings appreciated!
This may be the opportune time to ask - regarding the expansion rules in TripleA, is there a guide on how to execute the rules via shortcut keys or click combinations - or is it simply a matter of knowing the rules and using the edit mode where necessary?
The specific one giving me trouble are games that include paratroopers (or in yhe case of the Zombieland map, bombers as air transport.)
Many thanks in advance for any guidance or links to the right source of information!
âBerehnshteinâ - Based on a true story, a glimpse into Soviet led partisan forces in occupied Ukraine and Poland that located some of Germanyâs biggest war secrets.
Notable gems: The opening scene gives a harrowing view of what it may have been like to be on the receiving end of a âcombined armsâ blitz style attack.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MEhNB6TkKq4
@barnee
Also agree with your assessment. The key phrasing here establishes the condition for the rule being that the industrial complex is built on a Chinese territory, which in this case it is not.
If the rule were to say, any territory with an IC that âbecomes a Chinese territoryâ (ie: by liberation or capture) then the OPâs friend would have a case.
@barnee - That is much appreciated my friend! I was afraid I was missing some features as I play it offline after having loaded the install files from my mobile device manually.
I see now why folks suggest playing table top first to learn the rules before stepping through it on TripleA.
Thanks again!
Double sub feature for the weekend:
âOperation Raspberryâ - a very well done docudrama on how the Royal Navy, specifically a team of the Womenâs Royal Navy Service, contributed to shifting tactics in the War of the Atlantic.
Notable insight: As this is a war boardgame community, was intriguing to see how an actual war game was constructed to simulate and prove ouy tactics, and train new officers.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KxTb-bVG1RY&pp=0gcJCZoBo7VqN5tD
âClose Quartersâ - Join a Royal Navy submarine on patrol in the North Sea. Filmed during the war in 1943.
Hidden Gem: The film used actual su mariners for the filming, in which the balance between acting, and seeing their truer personalities come out ebbs and flows, giving some insight into how the men coped in their circumstamces.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8lKRZp4NDSo&pp=0gcJCYcKAYcqIYzv
