Topics created by The Hessian

Hey Folks,

has anyone of you ever tried HBG “Battle Shapes (3D)” rules (fortifications, rockets, etc.) in your 1940-Global games? (www. historicalboardgaming.com/Battle-Shapes-3D-printed_c_425.html)
If ‘yes’, what are you’re experiences with them? Are they a great imrpovement? Or to expensive, unbalanced or simply unrealistic?

@wittmann:

We are well. Had a son on the 9th Sept, so we have one of each now. He and my wife are doing fine.

Congratulations wittmann on the birth of your son.

I work with kids every week, and believe me, Marc is right, at that age, they sometimes will come back around.

Hopefully, your son will take the mantle as well. :-)

I like the rule.  I think I would make the replacement or added launcehers a little more, maybe 10 IPC’s since it is a free SBR on an opponent’s facility.  A bomber an be shot down.  A rocket is just deadly.  A mobile unit transported or moved into a forward position would be handy for the US.  A rocket launcher in Tobruk would help soften up Egypt or Northern and Southern Italy.  If Rome is captured the US or UK, rocket strikes from London and Rome om German facilities would be devostating to the Germans.  Even Japan could use this tech on Calcutta or Sidney.

That actually does sound like a good idea for coastal artillery. I think that’s more inline with the D-Day game as well I can’t recall.

Indeed!
The “Empire Highway to India” must be controlled by the Allies.

And maybe the risk of loosing 4 of 5 transferred IPCs is compensation enough for the option to support the defence of India or gain assistance in the Battle of Britain.

@Krieghund:

All of the FAQs were incorporated as of the latest print run.

Awesome!

I’m still not sure that this aspect of the tech discussion belongs here since it is more about a house rule but I mentioned how we have developed a progressive valued chart  for the techs but I didn’t give the limitations of attaining the tech.  A tech die is three (3) IPC’s every tern a player wants to roll for a tech.  A neutral nation can roll one die only per rounf thatthey are neutral.  That is three IPC’s per round.  If a tech has a R&D value of 25, it may take a nation at least 5 rounds to develop that tech.  That is at least 15 IPC’s in order to develop a tech.  A nation that is war may invest in three dice (9IPC’s) per rounf in order to develop three different tech.'s at a time.  They can not be applied to a single tech but must be spread over the three techs to be develpoed.  It can get expensive but the thought process is this; a country will invest in R&D to develop a specific technology.  It will not just through money at a problem and randomly hope to get a good result….governments maybe but not gamers.  If and when we play with technology, I prefer this R&D chart.  The Anniversary/Global chart and dice costs can definately thow the balance of the game off.  Last game I played of global 1940, theAmerican player shelled out alot of IPC’s on tech.  It put his production behind and the other allied player had to really hold on for the US to catch up but the US player was able to develop long range heavy bombers and cheaper ships.  It was devostating to the the axis player (me) because he then went dark skies on the axis and it became a war of attrition that I could not repulse effectively.  I have to take this moment to say I love Narvik.  Direct and to the point.  Tech is fun sometimes but there is alot to just playing the game.

Here is an interesting bit of historical trivia. The US 8th Air Force actually had bases in the Ukraine for a short time. From June to September 1944, the 8th Air Force started a shuttle run of bombers that would take off from England and Italy, bomb targets in Germany then fly on to 3 bases in the Ukraine, Piryatin, Mirgorod and Poltava. The reasoning was mainly to show solidarity with the Russians and to hit Germany from an unexpected quarter.
The mission was called “Operation Frantic”. I don’t think it was much of a success. One reason is that the Luftwaffe bomber arm was still fairly strong in the East. Some Luftwaffe planes saw the American bombers heading into Russia. Then when a shot up P-51 crashed in Poland, it had documents on the Russian bases. Luftwaffe command was notified and they send Fliegerkorps IV, nearly 350 He 111s, to pound those bases while the B-17s were lined up in neat rows due to lack of space. It was the 8th Air Force’s costliest single operation of the war.
I didn’t even know about this until I read it in World War II magazine.

I bought it, along with some V2 rockets, im not sure about the rules and I havnt had time to really think it through, but ill get to it :)

I don’t think its fair to say clear the entire territory and whatnot. I need to keep the Bomb and V2 rocket kinda the same, so both Axis and Allies have the same thing technically.

Then figure in a way to allow it to be used easily ingame, not a bogged down adventure that takes away from the game. It would need to be an addition to the R&D for sure. I wont get to this though until my map project is winding down.