Posts made by SgtBlitz

Aw.  I am sad.

I still think Larry is a nut when he’ll change just about everything else in AAG40 but won’t change his True Netural rules.  But that’s just my opinion, man.

It was that damn traitor Roosevelt, that’s why!  How did he ever think giving lend lease aid to the Soviet Union was a reasonable idea?!?  What a toady to a non-democratic dictatorship, a pawn in Stalin’s pocket!  How did he get away with strengthening COMMUNISM?

Actually, the US had been isolationist for quite some time after WWI, and we didn’t really care about what happened on the other side of the world, right up to the moment where it was almost TOO LATE to do anything about it (imagine if the Nazis had taken over Moscow in Dec 1941, it’d def be a different history right now).  Also, the US had just come out of the GREAT DEPRESSION, and captialism wasn’t seen as the motive force driving world progress forward at the time.  A hell of a lot of government programs were keeping the country on its feet back then, and continued to do so during the war years.  So Communism didn’t sound that bad to a lot of folks at the time (probably cause the country was essentially socialist for most of a decade), and a lot of people even had Communist Party membership cards. Remember anything about the McCarthy trials in the US in the 1950’s; most of the victims imprisoned were Depression Era “communists”, and I very much doubt many of them were die-hard Stalinists promoting world dictatorships of the proletariat.

It’s kinda funny when you think how Hitler came to power in Germany by promising the European elites (i.e., Chamberlain) he would eradicate Communism in Europe, THEN the historic Non-Aggression Pact with Russia with 1939 against the Western Powers and the seizure of Poland, THEN you had capitalist Britain pledging allegiance with communist Russia once they were both in the soup against Germany in 1941.  It was pretty much anybody’s game back then, where the enemy of my enemy is my friend unless he’s my enemy tomorrow, but maybe he’s my friend today. In 1940 countries were a lot smaller and the was world divided into more spheres of influence…  so the US backing up a Communist dictatorship whose sole goal was the overthrow of capitalism across the world wasn’t that far-fetched an idea in 1940.  We take for granted today just how powerful the US is in world affairs, compared to how little we cared back around the start of WWII.

Yes.

@MEGAEINSTEIN:

the main issues should not be about balancing the game but about making the game as historical as possible.

by the way, i lose what?

Bah.  Historically, the Axis pretty much dropped the ball already at the beginning of the game.  They could have captured the entire BEF at Dunkirk and made a Sealion attack a possibility through capturing Gibraltar via an invasion of Spain.  Some things I’d like to see as house rules for a historical version:

Pro-Axis or Not-Really-Neutral-Special-Case Spain.

The UK gets like 3x as many boats as it has already on the board at game start.

Russian peace with European Axis can hold on indefinitely until the Germans capture London or Washington.

The Russians can mass conscript like 5-10 INF a turn for free once at war with the Axis.

Italy starts out neutral with the UK (maybe, depends on time frame of game start, it was definitely before the fall of Paris).

US cannot enter the war without an unprovoked Axis attack.

When the US does enter the war, it gets triple income plus NO bonuses.

Yeah.  Not that any of these ideas are very fair, but it makes the game more historical.  I guess.

Yeah, agreed here.  It’s the hardest climb for the Allies yet, with the Axis in the hands of a skilled player.  The Allies start the game out in trouble, and their early turns are difficult exploiting their economic advantage due to US neutrality issues and the Sealion threat.  It helps the Allies some once the US is in the war, but with all the new NOs and the new scrambling ability to protect the Italian fleet in the Med it can be anyone’s game by Turn 4.

Prob the biggest swing are the extra NOs, up to half and maybe MORE of both ANZAC’s and Italy’s income can come from NOs.  Essentially free IPCs that aren’t being taken away from your opponent’s territory income, they can really be a force multiplier if the players use them right.  Germany and Italy between them can easily get +30 in NOs by Turn 3, and then they’re matching the US’s bonus income already.  Right now it even almost seems the Axis have the advantage since the US has to build extra navy and transports to get troops into both fronts and the Axis can capture the plentiful Allied AB’s to defend their own fleets (using their massive starting airforce).  Plus, they have the home-turf advantage of producing onto their front lines.

I think some of the Axis starting units were buffed up way too much to try to balance the game between the European/Pacific theaters and the Taranto Raid in Alpha +.2, and the game doesn’t really work out all too well if the Axis players are cautious in preserving their superior starting units in the opening battles.  11 German planes vs. essentially the same starting Russian forces as the OOB setup and you’re got some overkill.  But perhaps I’m biased as I played Global from the box release.

I guess this makes the Allied players more cautious with all the new rules and money in the game, and leads to a longer, more epic conclusion at the end.  Not a bad thing at all.

Heh, ok.  I was being 50% sarcastic 50% fooling with ya at the end there, mashing the words together like that, Mr. SupremeGeneralICanKickANewbsAss  :-D.  I think TripleA came out with the Pacific setup a few months ago, but not sure how long it will be until we get a Global mod for it.  Considering how often Larry is changing the ruleset on top of the new Global rules it will probably be a long time before they get a Global working.  TripleA is definitely the way to go, though, savegames for the win.  Hope it comes soon.  We’re using an Alpha +.2 mod to the out of box rules so far.

You know how to use ABattlemap, right?  Some of the more computer savvy people on our forum have programmed a Global game map for it, its useful in that it stacks units and chips together like a real game board, so you can play games on the forum with the internal dice roller (I still say its biased on the crucial battles).  We just type out all our moves like a giant herd of nerds on the forums and let the casaulties fall where they may.  It’s pretty fun and can be nail-biting at times, the way it ought to be.  Let me know if you’re interested in starting a forum game, I’ll help you out.

@Fishmoto37:

@SgtBlitz:

Woah.  I wish I had Allied opponents like these.  I would give them better and more advice about what to do (especially for the key Allies USA player!) so they actually come back to play next time (6 Round KO, ugh)!  Maybe you should point them in the direction of the forum games here so they can cut their teeth and learn the rules first, eh?  Sucks to play a boardgame in real life and you don’t know what the hell you are doing.  I don’t like being told what to do either but since A+A is so damn long its sometimes easier to take advice from a vet player.

How did the Soviets get into Greece and S. Europe with all the forces you had positioned as the Germans?  At least the Russian player had some inkling as what to do in AAG40.  Let him play the US next time.

I see by your comments that you have a fast knowledge of AA. Oops, wait a moment did you say the Russian player had some inkling as to what to do? Any rookie can see that the Russians are doomed in my photos. Oh, by the way you did mention the Soviets in southern Europe. Did you ever hear of the old suction game? The Russians have put 3 tanks in harms way. (18 IPCs) They would be destroyed in round seven with little loss to the Germans. (the tank that was in Greece has already been eliminated) Three less tanks to defend Moscow. Except the allies surrendered in round six. All the allies were played by the same player and he was sharp enough to see the game was lost. Oh well, I guess even players with a vast knowledge of AA can miss a few things.

LOL you are quite the funny man.  At least the Russians were attacking and taking territory rather than just dying like flies like the other Allies; how did you let them into S. Europe in the first place?  A good German player should never let the Soviets in the door like that, a capable Russian player could have gotten his bonus NOs if he stopped your initial invasion forces, plus its obvious from the photos that you were playing an unseasoned and beginner skill level player.  You’re right in that he left 3 armor units exposed without infantry support, he should of known better about infantry push and keeping your core units alive, he doesn’t know, a newbie opponent.  You ought to have helped him out or at least offered him some advice on what to do, if he comes back to play again at all.  For all he knows he just wasted a day of his life trying to learn an uncomprehensible game you were destined to win no matter what he tried.  I say again, point him to the A and A forums so he can learn the game from people who won’t just kick him mercilessly over and over again and might teach him a few things about the game, so he’ll feel like sticking with it.

Yes, it is good to crow about victories on the A and A forums, but it is not appropriate to spout off about slaughters where your opponent obviously hadn’t had any game experience and no coherent game strategy.  That was not a good game, sir, good games come from opponents with set strategies and know the odds before going into battles; your game was a slaughter against someone who was learning as they go.  No UK player in his right mind would have left a fleet stranded in the middle of the Atlantic out of range of a Naval Base (considering they start with so many), plus no US player worth his salt would have built so many transports without naval support and left it in range of an Axis-controlled Gibraltar.  I might even ask where the hell are YOUR transports as Germany to pursue a Sealion attack, since the UK is guarded by a mere handful of land units.  The map I am looking at now even has the UK with an exposed Strat Bomber in Iraq, c’mon, you weren’t facing a real opponent at all.  You didn’t win a game, the Axis victory was already foretold before you even started.

If you wish to back up your claim about how you’re a master uber grandmaster strategic mastermind wonderchild worldmasterminduberstrategicplannerdominatormasterthatisneverdefeated, send me a PM.  Let’s try out a new game on the forums, Alpha + .2.  You might win with the dice, but I doubt that will be all there is to it.

Woah.  I wish I had Allied opponents like these.  I would give them better and more advice about what to do (especially for the key Allies USA player!) so they actually come back to play next time (6 Round KO, ugh)!  Maybe you should point them in the direction of the forum games here so they can cut their teeth and learn the rules first, eh?  Sucks to play a boardgame in real life and you don’t know what the hell you are doing.  I don’t like being told what to do either but since A+A is so damn long its sometimes easier to take advice from a vet player.

How did the Soviets get into Greece and S. Europe with all the forces you had positioned as the Germans?  At least the Russian player had some inkling as what to do in AAG40.  Let him play the US next time.

What’s the consensus on Japan DOW on Russia late in the game for Germany to pick up next turn when it seizes Moscow?

To be fair, either I’m not understanding the question the way Idi is presenting it, or I’m really bad at reading the rules:

(Also, Larry put in a ninja edit in red with the new Alpha + .2 ruleset on his website…)

http://www.harrisgamedesign.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=4167

Soviet Union

When the Soviet Union becomes at War with Japan
4. Collect 12 IPCs, once, at the beginning of the turn following an unprovoked declaration of war by Japan on the Soviet Union. Theme: Recognized national emergency.

Japan

When Japan becomes at War with the Soviet Union
2. Collect 12 IPCs, once, at the beginning of the turn following an unprovoked declaration of war by the Soviet Union on Japan. Theme: Recognized national emergency.

So.

Not really sure what Larry means by “an unprovoked” war dec there, does he mean before the US enters the war proper or at all?  Historically, Japan wasn’t attacked by Russia until near the end of WWII, late in 1945.  Technically, a 1940 Global game could be played where both Russia and Japan are still neutral to the very end, right?  Unless “an unprovoked” war dec means anything else.

It seems that the IPCs are paid by the bank, not the aggressor power.  If I was Russia, and I just declared war on Japan, would I send a big pile of resources for the Japs to spend as a present to equip more troops to defend against my attack?  That really doesn’t make much sense.  I agree that the rule would make more sense economically by providing a double punch for breaking the truce (i.e. Russia’s loss is also Japan’s gain), but I guess its better that’s there’s any kind of penalty of all for breaking neutrality than the no-holds-barred “truce” from the OOB rules.

IF the money IS coming from the BANK into the defender’s coffers, it makes pefect sense for the Japs to declare war on Russia if Moscow is just about to be captured by Germany on the next round before Russia’s turn.  The breaking neutrality rule would probably make more sense if it let the defender place free units worth 12 IPCs rather than the money itself.

Damn, you got pwned, Garg!

@Detuite:

Guys I understand but the game can’t be 100% historical, sometimes you need the to put the game before history. I think the game is as close to being historicaly correct as it needs to be, thats larry and crew’s job. Ours is to enjoy it.

NEVER!!!  The second you admit to this is the moment you cease to exist as a individual person!  Look at all the forum threads on Larry’s website contributing to the Alpha + .1 and .2 development process.  If people can chime in on those and make suggestions that ultimately change the way the game is played, I don’t see why we can’t do the same.  Knowledge is a two way process, my friend, and if we make enough noise it should be Larry’s duty to hear us out.

@Detuite:

Hey Sarge. This is a one time investment, if you miss on your first turn then you can still rule every following turn until you get your hit. I like the 1 on a 1d6 because multable countries can all try for the same country. In our last game both US and Germany paid for Spain, Germany succeeded and claimed spain and america lost it IPC’s it had invested into it. My group uses it’s own set of tech’s and one of them is diplomacy Lv1 through Lv3 Each lv adds a +1 to your chance of success.
5) Diplomacy
Lv 1- Local Aid- 7 IPC’s -Gain a +1 on your diplomatic rolls.
Lv 2- Silver Tounge- 10 IPC’s -Gain a +1 on your diplomatic rolls.
Lv 3- Golden Tounge- 13 ICP’s -Gain a +1 on your diplomatic rolls.

Ha, yeah, that makes a lot more sense.  Send lazy old worthless von Ribbentrop to work!  You think your work is OVER after negotiating the Mutual Non Aggression pact with Russia?

LOL, have Japan declare war on the Soviet Union the turn before Germany takes Moscow…  A free 12 IPCs for your side!

Heh, yeah, I hope I can make something that actually mimics WWII battles than the crap I see at usual paintball fields.  Would be hella fun to have uniforms, replica weapons, and actual old surplus tanks running around.  Gonna be at least 5 more years before I’m done with school though… and god only knows how much time after that before actually going that far down the rabbit hole.

At least you guys will have a cool place to play Axis and Allies when the bombs finally start dropping:

“Hey kids!  Guess what?  China and Russia just declared war on the United States!  You guys want to play a last game of Axis and Allies before we go?”

Liking the beerstein collection.  The bins for all the plastic pieces is a bit too much for me, lol.

My goal in life is to have a WWII themed paintball field set up in the backyard.  Gonna be a while before that happens.

@Detuite:

Hey guys loving this thread this is what my group has been using for the last month       ( This is not for historical purpaces only for extra options during game play ). These rules come out of our houserule book.

24. Strict Neutral Convertion- You can try to have a strict neutral sway your way by rolling a 6 on a 1D6 and a cost of 5 IPC’s per IPC that country generates. This happens after the purchase unit phase and before the conduct combat phase. Tell all players which country(s) you wish to try to sway to your side, you have to have at least 1 infantry unit capable of landing in said country(s) on the combat movement phase on the same turn as a negotiator, this unit only moves into the country if you are successful in swaying it to your side. If successful claim the countries infantry and IPC output.

25. Attacking a Strict Neutral- If you attack a strict neutral all remaining strict neutrals in that block become Pro(your enemy)
                                                             BLOCKS
South America                   Europe                               Middle East
Venezuela- 2ipc’s, 2inf        Sweden- 3ipc’s, 6inf             Turkey- 2ipc’s, 8inf
Argentina- 2ipc’s, 4inf         Switzerland- 2inf                  Saudi Arabia- 2ipc’s, 2inf
Chile- 2ipc’s, 2inf               Portugal-1ipc’s, 2inf              Afganistan- 2inf
Equador                           Spain- 2ipc’s, 6inf                                   
Peru                                                                          Africa
Bolivia                                Asia                                 Angola- 1ipc’s, 2inf
Paraguay                         Olgiy- 2inf                           Mozambique- 1ipc’s, 2inf
Uruguay                           Dzauhan- 1inf                      Rio-De-Oro
Columbia                         Ulaanbaatar- 1inf                  Portugese Guinea
                                      Byant Uhaa- 1inf                 Sierra Leone
                                      Tsagaan Olom                    Liberia

Note Only countries at war mat use the above rules.

24.  Yeah, uh, no.  Maybe if you cheapened the die roll cost to the IPCs being generated by the territory, and had the territory convert on a 50% (1-3 or 4-6) roll, it’d be feasible.  If you have tech in the game, it’d be a better investment than going after the true neutrals with the cost of 5 IPCs PER TERRITORY IPC VALUE FOR ONLY A 1/6 CHANCE OF CONVERSION.  (Imagine spending 15 IPCs a turn to convert Sweden diplomatically for the next 3 turns, you’d STILL of had only a 50% chance of converting it to your side.  Sweden generates what, 3 IPCs…  You have to hold that territory for 15 turns to get your money back (I guess the free infantry would offset this somewhat)).  How would you convert territories that aren’t worth any IPC value, do you get those for free (Mongolia and Switzerland)?  You could also have like a “critical failure”, where if you roll a 6 when you needed a 1-3 for success, the country turns Pro-Allies due to diplomatic international incidents.

With the reduced conversion rates, have either ALL the other true neutral territories convert to Pro-Allies based on a DIE ROLL (50%?  Roll for each one) or perhaps all the other countries in that BLOCK roll to see if they turn pro-Allies due to international pressure.

Otherwise, yeah, along the lines we’ve been thinking.  Adding a conversion rule wouldn’t hurt.

@Gallo:

@Gargantua:

That’s why Argentina needed to be Pro Axis…

From a strictly historical point of view: Argentina’s government at that time (a Military dictatorship) had pro-German bias. That was specifically about cultural/institutional reasons since most Argentine Army officers had received training from Prussian military institutions.

However, the economic ruling elite (rich cattle & grains producer landowners) were strongly pro-British. And that was because of both cultural but above all economic reasons: Argentina was a huge exporter of cattle&grains to the United Kingdom (that the UK especially needed during war time), and a buyer for UK’s industrial goods.

Most of the people (not that anyone cared) had pro-allied feelings.

So, even if the governing Military Dictatorship had a taste for fascism, Argentine economy (and the economic well being of the landowners whose economic interest the Military were defending) relied on trade with the Great Britain.

All that resulted in an odd situation where the Military Government liked Germany… but Argentine foreign policy was leading to maintain neutrality… and maintaining neutrality was the best option for, well, for the United Kingdom! That was because as long as Argentine were neutral German U-Boats couldn’t torpedo Argentine cargo-ships carrying grains to the UK.

Too sum up: Argentina’s neutrality was a de facto support of Great Britain’s war time economy.

A different matter was the relationship with the USA. The Americans wanted all South American countries to declare war against the Axis powers. That idea was resisted by both the Argentine Military Goverment (both because of their pro-fascist ideology and because of the economic interest of the landowning elite), and by London (because of the reasons explained above).

The Argentine Military Government’s fascist ideology would have taken as far as allowing the German pocket-battleship Graff-Spee to seek safe heaven Buenos Aires’ port (if she had managed to scape from Montevideo and reach the Argentine Capital)… but it’s un-clear how much help the Argentine government would have given to the German ship after all – breaking with the UK would have been like killing the Golden Laying Eggs Chicken for the Argentine economy.

So from an historical point of view anything but a stric neutral Argentina doesn’t makes sence.

Thanks for the clarification, Gallo Rojo.  I always wondered about the True Neutral status of Argentina depicted in 1940 when you see movies like Evita and there’s a fascist takeover of the state half way through (happened in the fifties tho, right?)  But that’s what I get for having a pro-Western media-driven ignorant shallow mindset about it, right?  It is funny that NONE of the so-called True Neutral countries was really neutral in real life, however, they were making as much money as possible off the war as they could (and for ALL the IPCs the Allies technically “make” during the course of the war, ALL of the Allied powers ended the war in DEBT up to their ears… (Can I borrow an extra 20 IPCs this round?  I promise I’ll pay it back by the time the war is over.))

I guess the True Neutrals “balances” itself out by there being equal amounts of neutral IPCs in range of the Axis and Allied powers on the Europe map.  The only problem is that the US ALSO gets a bunch of free infantry for free from S. America and they’re already raking in enough cash as it is.  If the S. American T.N.s didn’t come with the free infantry or the money was forced to be split between the Allied powers it’d probably be all right.

LOL, I post on two stupid game forums, AA.org and Darkfallonline.com, and that’s about it.  Funny that I manage to get flamed on both.  It’s okay, Croesus, no harm done.  I’m just trying to have a good time here.