Posts made by The Pripet Martian

I have one copy each of:

A&A MB
Europe '99
Pacific '01
D-Day
Battle of the Bulge
Guadalcanal
Europe 1940 2nd ed.
Pacific 1940 2nd ed.

Bonus:

Fortress America (1986)
Conquest of the Empire (1984)
Battle Cry (2000)

Howdy! (translated from Texan: Hello!)

I was born, raised and still live in the Dallas area. I received Axis & Allies (what is now referred to as “A&A Classic”) as a Christmas present in 1984 and was instantly hooked. The varied forms of the game have remained with me throughout the years: Europe '99, Pacific '01, D-Day, Guadalcanal and Battle of the Bulge were all purchased for my son and provided us many hours of entertainment and bonding.

After several years away from the game, largely due to life’s various obstacles, I purchased Europe and Pacific 1940 in 2017. It was my wife’s fault - she said she loved playing Risk as a child and responded in the affirmative when I asked her, “How would you like to play a game similar to Risk, but infinitely better?”

Since the Global 1940 game came into my life, I haven’t played anything else. In my opinion, it’s far and away the best iteration of Axis & Allies.

@djensen While I’m still adjusting to the new forums, I think this was a good move. As far as monetizing the site…while I don’t know much about such things, making TripleA a pay-to-play service seems to me to be a good place to start. For example, TripleA access could be included for Bronze, Silver and Gold Patrons, while non-patrons pay $2/month or $20/year. Obviously, becoming a Bronze Patron would be the smart play in that scenario; either way, the objective is met.

Beyond that, I think a slightly more aggressive approach to the support drive is warranted. I’m sure you don’t want to spam everyone who visits the site (and everyone hates spam), but increasing the prominence of the message that this site runs primarily on donations wouldn’t hurt. Perhaps a weekly newsletter, similar to the Digest sent out on 18 NOV and featuring links to the top-five discussion topics of the past seven days, could include a prominent message about the support drive.

I find A&A.org an invaluable site and worthy of my financial support, which is why I became a Silver Patron several months ago. I encourage others to do the same, as there’s no better place for we A&A addicts to congregate with our own kind.

Welcome to the party, Gisgo XVII! I don’t believe Celebes has ever had any oil production of significance.

@ABWorsham:

The average person off the street believes the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

It’s all John Belushi’s fault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vtWB4owdE

@CWO:

@The:

I don’t know about infantry, armor, cruisers or destroyers, but the Dutch should have at least one well-camouflaged minesweeper:

This would actually be a very economical unit to add because you wouldn’t even need to buy an HBG sculpt to depict it; you could simply say, “it’s on the map board, but it’s so well camouflaged that you can’t see it.”

I feel another house rule coming on…

I suspect ABWorsham was talking to the same guy with whom I had the following conversation:

Him: My favorite actor is Tom Hanks.
Me: He’s been in a lot of great movies. Which is your favorite?
Him: That Thing You Do.
Me: Interesting choice. Have you ever seen Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, Apollo 13, Captain Phillips, Sully or The Green Mile?
Him: I’ve seen parts of Forrest Gump. Haven’t seen the others.
Me: None of them?
Him: I don’t watch many movies.
Me: …

I don’t know about infantry, armor, cruisers or destroyers, but the Dutch should have at least one well-camouflaged minesweeper:

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=42015.0

:-D

My personal preference is to strike a balance between fortifying Moscow and building a mobile force with which I can launch counterattacks to slow the Axis advance. Typically, my USSR purchases for the first few turns are along these lines:

5 Infantry
2 Mech Infantry
2 Armor

I tend to mass the mobile force in Bryansk and strike when and where necessary.

I’ll try that. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks for the reply, Navymule. The pieces I’m having problems with are Caesar Miniatures, so you may be on to something.

I bought and painted multiple infantrymen back in the springtime. After painting, I sprayed them with a clear coat and let them dry at room temperature for 7-10 days before boxing them up.

Over the last few months - and especially the last couple of weeks, which have brought quite a bit of rain here - I’ve noticed that these pieces get sticky when the humidity rises above a certain point. They stick to each other, to the plastic chips and to a lesser extent, the map. What did I do wrong, and how can I fix this?

This is my fifth year to run a 12-team, semi-keeper league. We’re looking for new owner/GMs for three teams. Here’s what you’ll want to know:

1. Starting lineups are: 3 LW - 3 C - 3 RW - 4 D - 2 G. Bench is 4 players of any denomination.
2. You may keep a maximum of 4 F, 2 D and 1 G.
3. It’s a head-to-head league. Top 3 in each 6-team division make the playoffs.
4. Dues are $25USD. Payout is: 1st - $175  2nd - $100  3rd - $25
5. Players on the available teams include: Matthews, Tavares, Eichel, Laine, Marchand, P.Kane, Panarin, Hellebuyck, Price, Dubnyk and many more.
6. Online draft is set for 8:00pm Central on 2 October. Keepers must be set by 1 October.

Let me know here if you’re interested. Teams will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.

I agree with everything you’re saying, taamvan. I guess the next question is: Is a bid system the only way to level the playing field, or can the Russian bear’s claws be sharpened through the use of house rules (i.e., weather, the Trans-Siberian railway, etc.)?

As has been stated often, the Axis’ key to victory is to be aggressive early, especially before the US gets involved. A previous poll asked about which side usually wins, and as I recall, the Axis wins at least 60 percent of the time. What I’m wondering is whether the Allies’ win percentage goes up in longer games or do the Axis hold steady around 60 percent, regardless of game length?

I admire his commitment to realism, but that custom G40 map is way too low to the ground. Just looking at it makes my knees and back hurt!

Several years ago, I had the great honor and privilege of meeting Chief Master Sergeant Ted Hood (USAF, Retired). He served in the Air Force for 31 years, a career stretching from World War II to Vietnam. During WWII, Hood was the top turret gunner/engineer of a B-17 in the 306th Bomb Group. He flew 35 missions over occupied Europe, the first of which was on 6 June 1944.

CMSGT Hood (who passed away two years ago this month) was kind enough to let me read the journal he kept during WWII, as well as copy a passage or two. I stumbled upon this in my files and thought the folks here could appreciate it. Hood described the following to me as “an interesting day.”

“7 OCT 1944 – Today I learned that a man can resign himself to death without being panicky.  Went to Ruhland, south of Big “B” (Berlin).  Lost #1 before we hit the target.  Salvoed bombs.  Had to drop back from formation.  Made 4 runs on 4 targets.  Flak was heavy at each target.  All wings reported fighters at I.P. and rally point.  Ran low on gas.  #2 quit.  Robbed gas from #4, restarted #2.  Threw all guns, ammo, flak suits, spare radio equipment out.  Prepared to ditch.  Sighted land.  Prepared to crash on beach.  Made 90 degree turn saw a runway, let down on it.  #4 quit as we hit runway and #3 caught on fire as we stopped.  Had 15 gals of gas left in #2.  Rest of tanks dry…3 Boeing people from London checked ship, said no way we should have made the last 300 miles.”
“8 OCT 1944 – Went to Mass.”

@CWO:

One of the challenging aspects of a large-size, multi-piece, long-duration physical boardgame like Global 1940 is that it lacks the kind of “save game” function that a video game might have, which makes it difficult to adjourn a game and then resume it the following weekend.  This isn’t a problem if one has the luxury of having a dedicated gaming room, and of being able to secure it against tampering by inquisitive intruders (such as children and cats), but this isn’t a practical reality for the majority of gamers.

I question the dedication of anyone on this forum who doesn’t list “dedicated gaming room” at the top of their “must-haves” when house hunting.  :wink:

Board game cafes are starting to pop up here in Texas, too. As far as the online world contributing to the current resurgence of board games…I’ve been wondering about this very thing lately.

It seems to me that many people on this forum believe the length of time required to play A&A (G40 in particular) is the biggest obstacle to getting new players hooked on the game. We all know online gaming is extremely popular, and people can - and often do - play games such as Fortnite for hours on end. If someone is willing to invest 8 consecutive hours in an online game, what can we, as a community, do to convince them to give A&A a try?

Search for “Monopoly houses” on Amazon. You can get them in various colors. A 50-pack (one color) can be had for $9.99. Personally, I use red for capitals and blue for all other victory cities, but there are many other colors from which to choose.