Battle Forces

[Crowninshield]

What about Battle Forces (battleforces.com)?  It plays just like A&A except the turn are simultaneous (nothing like skipping town when a huge stack of tanks come knocking).  It has the classic A&A map, a more realistic world map, an Indian Ocean map, an Africa map, an islands map (heavy focus on naval units), and it even allows you to create your own maps.

Has anyone else heard of this game/web site?  I’ve been having a LOT of fun playing, but there is a shortage of players so some fresh ‘blood’ is needed.  It’s free and I highly recommend it.

If any of you have been over there let me get your opinion.  I’m curious as to what others think.

EDIT:  I forgot to mention that it’s browser based with no download.

[Crowninshield]

While I’m waiting on my ability to post pictures I’ve found a brief review/description of BattleForces:

“If you liked the Axis & Allies board game & various expansions, you’re gonna love Battleforces.com. Infantry, tanks, fighter, bombers, battleships, subs, transports, AAs (SAMs) and more make for an online strategy game that is easy to absorb the game mechanics, but with tactical subtleties that require cunning and experience to master. While Battleforces.com has the classic A&A set-up, the scenarios go way beyond this. Better yet are the simultaneous turns that require players to outguess opponents. Some players specialize in quick 10 minute turn games, while those whose lives have moved past teenager marathon sessions can play 15 minutes a day with 24 hour turns (game options allow 10 min, 30 min, 1 hr, 2 hr, 6 hr, 12 hr, 24 hr, 48 hr, and 1 week turn lengths). Battleforces.com is a free browser game, so join in and see how you rate with the big guns in the ultimate of browser strategy games.”

Once I am granted the ability to post pictures I’ll put up multiple screen shots from various games on all the standard maps.

[Crowninshield]

I took some screenshots of 3 of the five games I’m currently in.  Here’s one:

That one is on the Hex Armada map and I’m blue.  It’s a team game with grey and orange being on my team.

The next one is of a game on the World map (the detailed one, not the Axis & Allies world map):

Once again I am blue.  Here I have a non-aggression pact with yellow and am expecting an immanent landing by grey (my fleet has been destroyed, but I’m confident that I have the land units to absorb his amphibious assault).

The last one here is a custom map created by one of the other players:

This shot was taken during the first turn which is the ‘Capital Selection’ turn.  During this turn players do just that, select which one of their territories they want to have as their capital.  It’s also a good idea to send out some messages (there is both in-game & outside-game messaging) laying the ground work for some nonaggression pacts (there is no formal truce/nonaggression pact option available in the game, but nothing prevents players from making agreements amongst themselves).

[Crowninshield]

Here’s a team game on the Indian Ocean map:

I’m grey and was dealt a bad initial set of territories (sandwiched between my opponents brown & tan).  Orange is on my team, but my navy has been destroyed and having to fight a 2 front war on land has left me crippled.

Here’s the following turn.  On the bright side my partner has taken the high value territory of South Africa, but the walls are still closing in on my capital…

[Crowninshield]

I’m posting an update on one of the games from above.  I’ll start with the screen shot:

As you can see, things are looking up for me.  I saved my money for about 10 turns and then all at once bought 17 bombers, 8 fighters, and a factory in Iberia (if you look close you can see the corner of the factory peeking out from behind the 2 columns of infantry in Spain).  The factory was just a diversion to pull some of Grey’s naval units away from the Barents Sea (the sea zone adjacent to Russia), but it didn’t work.  However, with all those bombers and fighters I killed off all of the sea units and immediately began rebuilding my navy.

I then launched an attack on North America by way of the Arctic Circle(the sea zone that stretches across the entire top of the map).  This also has been mainly a diversion(income generating operation) so that I can continue to build my navy so as to neutralize Grey’s naval superiority.

One thing I’m sure you all are noticing are the large number of units, both naval and land.  The reason for this is two-fold:
1st - This game has lasted MUCH longer than most.  It is currently the 85th turn (1 turn = 1 year), but most of the games I play last between 10 & 20 turns. 
2nd - This game had an interesting and original (I’d never played one like it before) twist.  The player who created the game set as a rule that no player could have more than 1 NAP at a time.  This created a situation where almost everyone paired off (I on the other hand didn’t form any agreements until after Yellow’s original partner, Pink, was killed off, ironically by Yellow.) and no one could get an advantage over their opponents.  This resulted in everyone building, and building, and building always looking for an opening, but rarely seeing it.

[Crowninshield]

I think I’ve got this one locked up. 

[Gargantua]

I like the scaly/circular sea zone’s, that’s cool.

[Crowninshield]

The sea zones are like that on the Indian Ocean map and on the Standard World map.  On the Hex Armada map and on all custom maps the sea zones are hexagons or shapes created by groups of hexagons.

The ability to create your own maps is HUGE because, as we all know, variety is the spice of life.  It adds endless variety to the game.  In fact, I’m playing a game on a gigantic custom map.  I’ll post a screen shot soon.

[Crowninshield]

Here’s a screen shot of a gigantic custom map.

This is the second time I’ve played on this map and both times were team games.  In this one I’m pink and my team-mates are grey, blue, and orange.  This is the last time I play on this map as a team game.  Both times I’ve been screwed by team-mates not submitting turns and this map is so big that you have to constantly stay on top of your opponents moves or they will get right past you.  I wouldn’t mind playing on this map again as a H2H game or even a multiplayer FFA (free for all), but never again as a team game.

[Crowninshield]

So, I was playing a 3 team game (2 players per team), when a player new to the game decided to call the 5 others (including the player on his team) ‘retardes’.  First I advised him on the correct spelling of ‘retards’ and then I challenged him to a H2H game on the standard world map.  Here is the screenshot from the beginning of the game showing the drop (territories assigned to each player by the computer):

I’m grey and he’s brown.

[Crowninshield]

Now, 16 turns into the game.  I have nestled into a supremely dominant position.  I always give credit where credit is due, so I have no problem stating that my opponent is not a complete bonehead.  He’s very good at getting large stacks of fighters to where they need to be for defense, and he is strategic about all his moves (Except the 3 fighters that he crashed when I blocked his carrier that they were going to land on from getting to the sea zone that they were supposed to land in($90 rookie mistake)).  That being said, it is only a matter of time before I win.  My income is ~$50 more than his per turn, so it won’t be long before I can swarm him with vastly superior numbers.

[Crowninshield]

I was looking over this thread and I realized that haven’t put up any screen shots of the classic A&A map so here’s one of a game I’m in right now.  Though the classic A&A set-up is an option (5 player game), this is a head 2 head match using the same map.  I’m brown and my opponent is grey:

I took this screen shot after I had finished inputting my turn, but before I had submit it.  The units on the map with small wrenches to their bottom right are units that I have purchased but won’t be available until the end of next turn (sub and destroyer off the coast of Western USA and the pile of infantry in Germany).

[Linkon]

The site appears cool.

Which clan R U in ?

[Linkon]

OK

email for sign in is understandable,
however, I will decline due to the credit card verification

[Crowninshield]

There is no credit card verification.  That is only if you want an ‘extreme’ membership.  Technically the ‘premium’ membership is $10 but you can get unlimited free premium memberships (each valid for 1 month).

All you have to do is sign up for the free ‘basic’ account then click ‘Membership’ (4th down on the list on the left hand side of every screen except when in a game).  This will bring you to a brief spreadsheet showing what is available with each membership level (basic, premium, and extreme).  At the bottom of the page there is a field you can click that will give you an automatic upgrade to a premium membership for 1 month with no credit card information needed, and there is no limit to the number of times you can renew the free 1 month upgrade.

As to the first question, I’m in the Moderator Clan.  Clans are a greatly underdeveloped aspect of the game.  The game is still in beta so it’s a work in progress.

[Crowninshield]

Someone just took the time to try and recreate the map from the Axis&Allies 1942 edition.  Here’s a screen shot:

(I had to crop it and resize it get it to upload correctly so it looks MUCH more pixelated then the game normally is.)

[Crowninshield]

Here’s a game shot of ‘the turning point’ in a 2v2 game I’m currently in on the classic A&A map:

I am Brown and my partner is Beige/Tan/Off-White.  We just took Kazakh(stan) placing us squarely next to Gray’s capital :)

[Crowninshield]

The 1942 map that I post before has been updated to fix some slight problems (like being able to load in Eastern USA and unload in France on the same turn).  Here is a screen shot from an AWESOME game that I am in on that map with the scenario as made by the map designer (any map can be used for any type of game but this one was created with a scenario that tries to somewhat recreate the A&A 1942 board game).  We are in our 23rd turn and it still could go either way.  I am UK.

Just so everyone knows:  This game is FREE with no download.  If anyone wants more than the general basic membership I can instruct them on how to get free, unlimited upgrades to a premium membership.  I assure you all that this game ROCKs! Also, I’m getting a little tired of playing the same people over, and over, and over, so please head over and due your best at wiping me from the map ;)

[JojoWilhelm]

Crowninshield (aka Jacob?)! I sent you message on here, but I’m not sure you got it. JojoWilhelm here, trying to rebuild battleforces from the ground up. I could use any info you might have or remember, including any more pics of the game (for example initial map setups). If you see this, shoot me an email at jojowilhelm@protonmail.com.