Best posts made by SuperbattleshipYamato

Four Kongo class battleships vs one Iowa class battleship.

To prevent the boring “Iowa runs away at 33 knots”, we’ll start them close at 10 kilometres away.

The commanders are of equal skill, although Japanese damage control isn’t as good.

As this is only a thought experiment anyway, no other aircraft or other ships will be available besides the seaplanes on the battleships.

No mechanical faults on either side.

Both sides are in their World War 2 versions.

And what if you replaced the Iowa with a South Dakota?

It is a perfect, clear, calm day, best for Japan.

Now, fight!

@VictoryFirst

I was looking at the Global 1940 map and rules again, but it seems like a fighter in New Zealand can fly to Southeast Mexico in 1 turn.

By going 63-50-51-64-Southeast Mexico.

These rules (https://store-kftzvkkgjv.mybigcommerce.com/content/File Storage for site/Rulebooks/Axis Allies/A%26A_Pacific1940_2ndEd_Rulebook_WEB.pdf) on page 35 clearly state that sea zone 51 is connected to sea zone 64. It seems like the problem is with the map’s design being inconsistent with the code, rather than the other way around.

There’s no reason to change my moves now, but it’s still worth bringing up for future use.

@witt

I agree. Iowa can definitely tackle 2 ships, maybe even 3, but not 4.

If Iowa split her fire only 3 16 inch guns can hit reach Japanese ship and a fourth can fire with impunity. Sooner or later multiple shells will hit the same spot and a penetration is made. Repeat several more times.

The parameters I set are also as good for Japan as can be.

Now what I am looking for here are accurate mechanics for the game. This means that I can do anything whatever I want (within rules, of course) but such things such as logistics, public support and morale, climate and terrain, accurate territory IPC amounts and setup for all the powers and pilot training, among other things. Leave no question unanswered, and touch on every aspect of the game to make it historically accurate (perhaps improved convoy rules, to make Malta more important)? What I don’t want is to have rules that forces all the powers to only do the things and actions they did historically. Basically, I want the game to have as accurate a situation and mechanics, but allows both sides to come up with different strategies, whilst the Axis and Allies will be faced with the same problems (at the start of the game, at least) regardless of strategy (different rail networks across different countries, US isolationism, always weird to me that the US can declare war without an attack, but maybe that is accurate). I do not mind the game becoming over complicated with these new rules. As I don’t know how to do these rules, I humbly ask the community to come up with these new rules. Thank you everybody!

I wonder.

During Operation Barbarossa, what if, after the victory at Smolensk, instead of delaying the Panzer Armies from action for a few months, Hitler (or the generals, doesn’t really matter, just those at the top), acted decisively and ordered one panzer army to force the grand encirclement at Kyiv and ordered the other to aid Army Group North to capture Leningrad speedily before significant reinforcements arrived?

Following (hopefully) great successes, Germany could’ve reoriented their forces and put together a stable frontline and defences, awaiting Soviet counterattacks. Or they could’ve fought through and destroyed the Vyzama-Bryansk pockets and then halted. On the defence, the Germans would’ve done better in the winter and possibly achieve a Manstein-like backhand blow.

Would this have won the war by itself? Probably not. But I feel like this would’ve been a better plan.

In the event the Panzer Armies were too damaged to continue operations immediately (my memory’s a little foggy here), and had to wait months to be operational again (like in real life), instead of the Battle of Moscow, Germany would’ve done better to (after continuing along the same course of action in August and September):

1. Attack at Vyzama-Bryansk then stop and dig in along the entire front.

2. Dig in along the entire front and wait for Soviet counterattacks. Perhaps a backhand blow could be accomplished.

3. Keep the panzer armies in the south and north, while digging in on the central front. In the north, perhaps Leningrad could still be in reach, and if not, perhaps some forces could be detached to lead a drive on Murmansk, thereby cutting Lend-Lease supplies and saving the naval and air resources used in the Arctic, instead distributing them to the Mediterranean at a critical time there… In the south, perhaps a couple more panzer divisions could’ve allowed a German victory at Rostov and a stronger position in the event of Case Blue still happening.

What do you think overall? Do you think my analysis was correct? Would Germany have done better or worse with this strategy, even if this wouldn’t have won them the war? I look forward to hearing your response.

I’m sure people have already done this a lot, but here is my own take on this:

All nations can start developing a nuclear bomb, except China.

Every turn for ten turns, a nation must pay 5 IPCs to be able to purchase the bomb.

Once it’s possible to purchase the bomb, it costs 40 IPCs to produce one. The unit is placed on the power’s capital’s industrial complex.

In order to move the unit in the Noncombat Phase, a strategic bomber, a cruiser, or a battleship can load the bomb, and move it to the desired destination.

If a ship containing the bomb is sunk, the bomb is destroyed with it.

If a territory containing a bomb is captured, the nation that captured the territory will control it.

Nuclear bombs do not defend, and cannot be taken as casualties in a battle.

In order to drop the bomb, the bomb must be in a territory containing a strategic bomber.

When the bomber arrives at it’s target destination, it is exposed to fighter intercepting like in a normal strategic bombing raid (use the attack and defence values from a normal strategic bombing raid for this air battle). After that, the bomb is dropped. This is what happens:

5 land units in the territory are destroyed.

Two sea units in a sea zone bordering the territory take one hit (a capital ship can take two hits if it is the only sea unit in a sea zone bordering the territory).

A major industrial complex is downgraded into a minor industrial complex (if there is no major industrial complex, another two land units in the territory are destroyed, or one sea unit in a sea zone bordering the territory takes one hit).

Two air bases, naval bases, or minor industrial complexes are destroyed (if there is no minor industrial complex, naval base, or air base, another two land units in the territory are destroyed, or one sea unit in a sea zone bordering the territory takes one hit).

All units destroyed are chosen by the player who dropped the bomb.

What do you think? I’m looking forward to your comments!

@ABWorsham4

Definitely a very odd battle.

Probably the Somua S35.

Near equal road speed and superior off road speed, better armour overall, and a shorter height (always important for hiding).

Also, at the time the Germans were winning, so I can call in artillery or infantry to help out if necessary, and more of those than my enemies could (at least in terms of combat effectiveness).

A lot of it is probably due to bias toward France and Germany during this time period in general though.

I’ll say before researching I overestimated the Somua S35’s “superior to most German tanks in the Battle of France” capabilities and severely underestimated the M3 Lee/Grant’s “hopelessly obsolete against the Japanese” capabilities, at least on paper.

I think I was confusing the M3 Lee/Grant with the Stuart.

How would the game proceed if France has the first turn? Germany goes after that, and Soviet Union after that, and so on. To balance this, Germany has “Tiger 1” units-the pieces are from the 1941 game (the pieces are out of stock on the Historical Board Gaming website, but the 1941 game isn’t too hard to find). They can be produced on Germany’s fifth turn.

Tiger 1 unit statistics:

Attack: 4

Defence: 4

Move: 1

Cost: 8 IPCs

If you want to have the Tiger tank unit but don’t want to have France go first, use the 1941 tank pieces for the Soviets (IS-2, I believe) as heavy tanks, with the same statistics as the German Tiger tanks. They would be available to be purchased from the start, representing the superiority of Soviet armor early in Operation Barborossa (at least when we don’t consider logistics and more complicated factors, but this game never does, so why stop now). It would also help balance the game.

Here is how the Heavy Tank unit looks using AndrewAAGamer’s method for determining the value of units in Global 1940 Second Edition (found here https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/35286/warfare-principles-of-axis-allies-by-andrewaagamer/3?page=1):

1 hit point on land is worth 2 IPCs, so 2 hits points is worth 4 IPCs. Offensive Firepower and Defensive Firepower is determined by dividing the unit’s values by half. So the unit’s Offensive Firepower is worth (4/2=) 2 IPCs, same with Defensive Firepower.

So the Heavy Tank unit is worth (4+2+2=) 8 IPCs, the same as its cost. and the same value as a regular tank. It has an Offensive Firepower Combat Ratio and Defensive Firepower Combat Ratio of 0.5, the same as a regular tank.

Since no one did it:

3 days ago was the 80th anniversary of the beginning of Operation Ichi-Go, one of Japan’s final major victories in World War 2 and their biggest operation in China since attacking Pearl Harbor.

Not taking anything away from you The Captain, but whilst the new units and other mechanisms in your House Rules Expansion are historically accurate, some parts of how they work aren’t historically accurate. This is not meant to be balanced as I haven’t playtested this. It is purely for historical accuracy.

First, let’s talk about Waffen-SS units. The number limit is alright, due to the Heer not allowing too many Waffen-SS units competing for resources. However, they shouldn’t be made available by upgrading regular Heer units. Instead, they should be mobilised by simply buying them. The cost is basically all the regular units prices plus the original Waffen-SS upgrade price (for example, a Waffen-SS infantry is basically 4 IPCs), and have them still placed in Berlin. As mentioned before in other topics, Waffen-SS armies and Oberst-Gruppenfuhrer units should not exist, due to the Heer not allowing the Waffen-SS to form units as large as field armies. E-100 tanks should instead be called Waffen-SS Tiger 2 tanks. E-100 was just another planned tank like the Maus and was not purely exclusive to the Waffen-SS (and the Heer would have wanted most of the early production models anyway). Waffen-SS panzer units should be allowed in Panzer Armies-just take a look at the order of battle of the Fourth Panzer Army at the Battle Of Kursk:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk_order_of_battle

Although if you cared about balance, you could make it so that Waffen-SS Panzers would not be able to be the unit in the Army that rolls twice (since they were given a subordinate role to the Heer and were not looked upon favourably by the Wehrmacht’s leadership), but would still be able to “fill out” an Army’s ranks.

To end this topic, Waffen-SS units should be allowed to go overseas, as there were plans to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sea_Lion_order_of_battle

Second, units such as Landing Craft, Carrier Based Fighters, or Super Heavy Battleships shouldn’t be limited in numbers or the amount of nations that could produce them, and there shouldn’t be units such as Heavy Bombers, Paratroopers, US Armoured Infantry, German Panzer Grenadiers, Type XXI U-boats, or Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters existing, as these are units that could be gained by Research And Development. Landing Craft should not be restricted to being produced in capitals.

Third, Soviet (not Russian) Guard Infantry should be upgraded the same way Waffen-SS units in the original House Rules Expansion were, paying 1 extra IPC to upgrade a normal infantry into a Guard Infantry. The number limit should stay the same.

Fourth, Defensive Fortifications should be allowed anywhere. If the Soviet Union wants to build the Molotov Line or Stalin Line, they should be allowed to. They can be built along territory borders.

Fifth, Lend-Lease should be shown as the Western Allies being able to give a certain amount of IPCs to the Soviet Union each turn if certain requirements are fulfilled (Vladivostok is open, the Persian Corridor is open, and other things). The reasoning is that the Soviet Union would never have allowed Western Allies crews to simply operate on Soviet territory, even if they were incorporated into the Soviet chain of command.

Sixth, the new ships found in Increased Shipbuilding should be able to act like all other ships-they can go anywhere on the board. There is no historical basis that they have to be chained to the Pacific.

Seventh, Elite Infantry should cost more-not 4 IPCs, but probably 3 for 11 IPCs, to represent the increased training and better equipment these units receive, and not have limits.

Eighth, there shouldn’t be a limit on the amount of Panzer Armies a nations can have, or which nations can have it-just because Japan never formed one doesn’t mean they weren’t allowed to-it was solely their choice.

Ninth, US Marine units should be purchased, not upgraded-they should cost 4 IPCs. This does not apply to British Commando units, as they were composed of members drawn from the British Army (and other branches), unlike the Marines, which was it’s own branch of service. The number limit seems to work for the US Marines, due to the Army competing with them.

Tenth, the starting incomes for the respective nations should be adjusted for the increased income that the islands produce-there is no historical evidence that they suddenly had an increase in production in Early 1941.

Eleventh, the Soviet Tank Mass Production should not be limited so that you can only mass produce tanks once per turn-they should also not be only placed in Moscow, but all tanks of each batch should be placed on the same industrial complex.

Twelfth, Soviet Army Corps should be renamed Field Army-otherwise, it’s the same function, but there shouldn’t be a limit on them.

Thirteenth, there shouldn’t be a limit in the amount of Soviet Partisans, King Tiger 2 tanks, Vokssturm, British Commandos, or Rockets that exist.

Fourteenth, regular Industrial Complexes, should be able to be destroyed at the cost of a certain amount of IPCs for destroying each one.

Fifteenth, it doesn’t make sense why the increased IPC values for Expanded Pacific Ocean rule can’t be convoyed. Why, of every single territory in this vast, vast world, this arbirtary group of islands can lose some, but not all of their value? I can’t think of any reason that would explain sucha phenomenon for this specific group of islands. Just make the values of all of them convoyable (if they’re in such a sea zone, of course).

Sixteenth, up to 6 landmines should be able to be carried on transports. 3 landmines take up as much space at one infantry unit. Also, up to 3 landmines should take up one space in an industrial complex.

Seventeenth, British Commandos should be allowed to retreat from an amphibious assault onto the offloading transports-this does not apply to British Commando units attacking overland in conjunction with an amphibious assault (in other words, the British Commando unit must have come from a transport).

Eighteenth, the Capital Warships Taking Damage rule, the Non-Aggression Pact rule, and US Heavy Transports shouldn’t exist.

Nineteenth, US National Guard units should be mobilised regardless of how the US entered the war.

Twentieth, Strategic Rail Capacity should be done differently-instead of each nation having a certain railway movement capacity, the railway capacity in each territory should be determined by the amount of railways in each territory that were historically there. Railway tracks can be built, and can be bombed (damage works like air bases and naval bases).

Twenty first, Rockets should also only move one space-I doubt that Katyusha Rockets coud attack Polesti from Baku, nor could Germany’s Nebelwerfer rockets hit London from Bordeaux-the V-1 and V-2 rockets are represented by the Rockets breakthrough in Research And Development, and being able to move two spaces is like the V-4, a cross channel gun that could hit London from Pas De Calais, and the V-4 was never built. To end this part, Germany should be able to buy rockets from the start of the game, and all nations should be able to buy them, representing rocket artillery. Rockets should take up the same space in an industrial complex as most other units.

Twenty second, Heavy Industry should not exist either, due to the Increased Factory Production already existing, but Heavy Industry for air bases should stay.

Twenty third, Research And Development should not be delayed until a certain date. Just because Germany did not build and use V-1 and V-2 rockets until 1944 didn’t mean they couldn’t develop and deploy them earlier-it was simply an allocation of resources.

Twenty fourth, D-Day should be allowed to happen at any time, as a joint landing could have happened as early as 1942 (and actually had a good chance of succeeding, ending the war earlier, and bringing the Allies much farther east):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sledgehammer

Finally, Total War should be activated whenever players should like to- how it was historically was that the German player (Hitler) only decided to do it in Early 1943, and the Japanese player just never thought of it. The US and Soviet Union players activated this feature when they were attacked, of course.

Final note: E-100 tank units should instead be called Waffen-SS Tiger 2 tank units. E-100 was a big tank that was planned (like the Ratte, but much, much smaller) but never built. Most likely the Heer would actually have received it first due to the bitter rivalry between the Heer and Waffen-SS.

As I said, I know The Captain spent a lot of time making his rules balanced, and maybe nobody will use these, but this is just an idea to make this very historically accurate, even if it’s not balanced (sadly, it seems no one, not here, not Larry, could find a way to make it perfectly balanced and historically accurate).

Credits to The Captain for creating a base for my ideas!

@SuperbattleshipYamato

Today is the 80th anniversary of the end of the Formosa Air Battle.

On October 12 the US Fast Carrier Task Force (now capable of launching over 1000 planes in the air at once, seriously impressive, the epitome of US power during the war, if I might add) launched a series of air raids on Japanese held Formosa (now what we call Taiwan).

The Japanese had a series of plans for a major air and naval counteroffensive in case the US invaded either the Phillipines or Formosa (there were serious debates in the US command over whether the next target would be the Phillipines or Formosa, with MacAuthur getting his way at the Phillipines, with the Formosa attacks merely as a prelude or diversion). Unsure of what US plans were, the Japanese decided to only launch the air component of the counterattack, assembling over 1000 aircraft from other bases in Kyushu and China in addition to the 300 aircraft already on the island.

Due to the inexperience and techinical inferiority of Japanese air formations, all Japanese attacks on the Fast Carrier Task Force were an utter failure, sinking no ships and losing over 500 aircraft while the US lost than 50.

The battle left the Japanese with no air power to combat the imminent US invasion of the Phillipines, leaving the navy to fight on by itself.

@VictoryFirst

Still a little nervous for the Axis.

I like your new style of reporting based on theatre, rather than by nation. Works at least just as smoothly.

@SuperbattleshipYamato

October 25! Definitely the climax of the battle. October 25, 2024 is the 80th anniversary of the Battles of Samar, Surigao Strait, and Cape Engano, all the most important components of the battle.

Let’s start with Surigao Strait.

During nighttime on October 24-25 (i.e 22:36 October 24 to dawn on October 25), Vice Admiral Nishiruma’s Southern Force began entering Surigao Strait. Unfortunately, Vice Admiral Kinkaid’s Seventh Fleet had positioned a large number of forces in the area, forcing Nishiruma to run through a gauntlet of withering American attacks as he passed through the strait.

First, he had to pass through a concentrated torpedo nighttime attack by 28 destroyers and 39 torpedo boats stationed on either side of the strait, then face a line of 6 American battleships (5 of which damaged or sunk in the Attack on Pearl Harbor) and cruisers at the end of the strait crossing his T.

Despite emerging unscathed from the PT boat attacks, the Southern Force was annihlated by the American battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, with the battleship Fuso quickly being destroyed. While the American advantage in fire control helped immensely in targeting and sinking the Japanese ships, although due to its gunnery radar being less advanced, the battleship Pennsylvania was unable to locate anything and did not shoot. The battleship Mississippi fired the final battleship salvo against Yamashiro, being the last time a battleship would fire a salvo against another battleship in history.

After the battleship Yamashiro and 3 more destroyers were sunk (taking Nishiruma to a watery grave), the last two ships, the heavy cruiser Mogami and the destroyer Shigure turned and fled as fast as possible.

Around this time, Vice Admiral Shima’s Second Striking Force arrived at Surigao Strait. Upon seeing the destroyed remnants of Nishiruma’s fleet, he quickly ordered his ships to flee, with one of his heavy cruisers colliding with the Mogami, sinking the latter (Shigure would make it out alive, the legendary survivor).

Meanwhile, Kurita’s Center Force emerged out of San Bernardino Strait off the island of Samar, aiming to destroy the American transports landing at Leyte (this was actually also the goal of the Southern Force, but they obviously did not succeed). Because Kinkaid mistakenly thought Halsey left the Fast Carrier Task Force’s battleships to guard the straits when he didn’t, Kurita only encountered a set of escort carrier groups screened by a few destroyers and destroyer escorts, the first being Taffy 3 (Taffy 2 and Taffy 1 were further south). These escort carriers were mostly equipped for land attacks and anti-submarine warfare, almost entirely lacking the torpedos needed to sink the large battleships and cruisers the Japanese had.

Despite being outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned, Taffy 3 made an all out stand, launching as many aircraft as possible and sending their escorting ships on suicidal charges, which validated Kurita’s initial belief that he was actually encountering Halsey’s carriers and battleships. Due to strict radio silence Kurita was never informed that the Japanese deception operation had succeeded. His order for a “General Attack” inflicted further chaos on the situation, with his ships becoming uncoordinated with each other.

This was the only time the Yamato (or any ships in its class, for that matter) would fire its massive guns at a surface target, helping sink the escort carrier Gambier Bay. 2 American destroyers and 1 destroyer escort were also sunk by Japanese ships, while the American sank the Japanese heavy cruisers Chokai, Suzuya, and Chikuma (unbelievably dismal for the Japanese given the situation, I might add).

In the end, Kurita, still believing that the Japanese plan failed, withdrew, sparing the American transport fleet. However, Taffy 3’s battle wasn’t over yet.

A set of Special Attack Forces launched the first two strikes in the history of the Pacific War, causing severe damage to two of Taffy 1’s escort carriers and sinking the escort carrier St. Lo from Taffy 3, as well as damaging the escort carriers White Plains, Kitkun Bay, and Kalinin Bay

During all of this (yes, a very busy day), the Fast Carrier Task Force launched 527 sorties against Ozawa’s Northern Force, sinking the fleet carrier Zuikaku (the last surviving member of the Pearl Harbor attack force) along with the light carriers Chitose and Zuiho, while the small force of Japanese planes that attacked beforehand (predictably) scored no hits. Task Force 34 was finally formed, but to close on the Northern Force after air strikes crippled it.

However, as the Battle Off Samar was raging, Halsey began recieving numerous, frantic calls for help from both Nimitz and and Kinkaid, but only after 3 hours did he order Task Force 34 to move southwards. A further delay of 2 and a half hours was spent refilling the task force’s destroyers, preventing them from intervening in the events off Samar in any meaningful way, even after Task Force 34.5, centered around the 2 fastest battleships in the fleet, Iowa and New Jersey, to charge at over 30 knots, was formed.

By the time Task Force 34.5 reached the exit of the San Bernadino Strait, they were only able to sink the Japanese destroyer Nowaki.

Concurrently with Task Force 34’s journey, a small force of cruisers and destroyers detached from it under Rear Admiral Dubose helped sink the light aircraft carrier Chiyoda, already crippled from air strikes earlier that day. Had they encountered Ozawa’s two battleships, Ise and Hyuga, the Americans may have been outgunned, but despite their efforts, the Japanese were unable to locate them.

Funnily enough, during Nimitz’s calls to Halsey for aid to the Seventh Fleet, he insterted as code padding (designed to confuse cryptographers) a loose quote from the famous poem “Charge of the Light Brigade”, as it was then the 90th anniversary of the battle the poem was based on, which means today also makes the 170th anniversary of the Battle of Balaklava.

Tune in tommorow when we wrap up this gargantuan battle!

@The_Good_Captain

Amazing video! One of the most helpful videos you’ve ever made (and a lot of them have been extremely helpful). 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

@SuperbattleshipYamato

As the US continues to grapple with 2024’s elections, November 7, 2024, marks the 80th anniversary of the 1944’s elections.

Incumbent Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his new running mate, Harry Truman, won by a landslide against Thomas Dewey.

Due to Roosevelt’s declining health, his death early in 1945 caused Truman to take over and direct the rest of the American war effort, with long-standing effects for the postwar era and the early Cold War.

@DoManMacgee

1. I haven’t played enough games to decide that, but overall it looks pretty even. Both sides played evenly (all the games I played were against myself) have a good shot at winning.

2. Its hex based system is definitely a change from most games, but it’s still based on the real world (it takes place within the Arctic Circle and Greenland, Alaska, Iceland, northern Canada, Norway, Finland, and northern Russia are clearly visible), and as there are limits on land and sea movement (explained below), it actually isn’t that different.

Land units can still only move on land by themselves and can only cross from hex to hex if there is a corresponding land connection. This makes for some interesting movement when fighting over the islands north of Canada, as the map is designed so that important areas in that region are quite far from the bases of both sides.

Adding to the above is the introduction of a Cobra “Weather Dominator”, allowing to turn hexes with water into ice (i.e land) hexes at the cost of 1 reinforcement point (basically IPCs). They’re generally used to faciliate the land movement of Cobra-Destro units and bridge areas.

One huge change that I’m still getting used to is that ships, aircraft, and land units occupy hexes that contain both land and water together, attacking and defending with each other (with some small exceptions). As such, amphibious assaults are made with ships and land units fighting together, and most battles (especially over islands) are conducted with all air, land, and sea units fighting together.

The unit selection is pretty truncated. There are only 2 land units, 1 air unit, and 2 sea units per side. Submarine mechanics don’t exist. Cruisers operate as the only surface ship and are also able to transport units. Like tanks in Classic, cruisers defend at a worse value than they attack. Carriers are still 2 hit though.

Aircraft are pretty interesting. The Cobra-Destro side has Rattlers, which are basically fighters that move at 3 (costs and attack and defense values are the same). The really useful thing is that they can fly almost anywhere, including territories captured on the same turn. They more or less make aircraft carriers for the Cobra-Destro side unneeded. In comparison, the Joes have Skystrikers, which have superior attack and move values to Rattlers but can only land in hexes with victory points (more on that later) and carriers. They’re actually quite balanced against each other.

Snow Cats (for the Joes) and W.O.L.Fs operate basically like Classic tanks, with an attack of 3, a defense of 2, and a cost of 5. Each has special abilites in combat. Snow Cats can make targeted attacks in the first round of combat and W.O.L.Fs have the option of doing what’s basically the first strike ability of submarines in the first round of combat, down to taking a combat penalty of attacking at 2 and defending at 1.

Infantry work in the exact same way, but they only cost 2 reinforcement points, so it’s easier to spam.

Each side has national advantages (although they’re not called that), encouraging certain moves.

Most areas cannot be controlled by either side, only passed through. The only areas that can be controlled are areas with victory points, which essentially double as IPCs, as they also determine how many reinforcement points you have to buy units.

All powers have a base, which essentially acts as their capital, which is where all units a power buys are placed (with some minor exceptions) and the capture of one base on the other side instantly leads to victory for the capturing power. Interestingly each side has a “shared” base, where units from two powers on the same side can be placed.

There are 2 ways to win: Capturing bases (I would compare this to a capital capture in normal games) or getting enough victory points from the board, the latter of which is both the most likely scenario of victory and similar to an economic victory in some Axis and Allies house rules.

3. This plays a lot more like an Axis and Allies tactical game than the “traditional” ones, with stacking limits, round limits, and several scenarios, all like like North Africa (they do have the same lead designer).

Like all Axis and Allies games, the “bad guys”, in this case, Cobra and Destro, start out with more units but fewer reinforcement points, while the “good guys” start with fewer units but more reinforcement points. The resulting dynamics on the game are similar to the other games.

Besides what I outlined above, movement operates fairly normally, as does turn order, purchases, etc.

Overall I would say it’s similar to tactical Axis and Allies games, especially North Africa, and more similar than different to the latter.

4. It’s pretty fun. The round limits and victory conditions keep the games short and avoid the kind of prolonged deaths losing powers in Global 1940 experience. The changes provide an interesting twist, while what’s kept from other games make it easy for returning players to understand the rules.

5. I would put it in between 1941 and 1942. Definitely one of the simpler Axis and Allies games. Probably most similar to D-Day of the games I’ve played in terms of complexity.

I hope this helped!

@SuperbattleshipYamato

Februrary 23, 2025, is the 80th anniversary of the famous picture Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima:

Staged during the infamous Battle of Iwo Jima that begun 3 days before, the battle was one of the bloodiest of the Pacific War, although it did eventually marginally help the US strategic bombing campaign against the home islands.

@abworsham4

Whatever my opinion is of his political years, he fought bravely in Italy.

@SuperbattleshipYamato

March 26, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Iwo Jima. The island was declared secure by American forces that day, although several Japanese soldiers continued to “hold out” until several years after the war (like other islands).

The deadliest battle in Marine Corps history, the battle also featured the sinking of USS Bismarck Sea by kamikaze attacks, the last American carrier to be sink during the war.

On Jeopardy, “Axis And Allies” was a 2000 dollar question (for those who don’t know, those are usually the hardest questions). I guessed it, of course.

“Germany and Japan take on the US, UK, and the USSR in this strategy game named for the two opposing sides.”