True, true. I’d rather get the old games before getting new ones. But yeah, I’d like a Kursk and Stalingrad game in the future, maybe even naval battles like Leyte Gulf.
Gold mine for new pieces.
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I think the US should have to pay one die roll of IPCs per turn to fight Mexico.
Assuming it would be a war between a power with like 50 IPCs vs one with like 3 IPCs
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If the game has NO’s, The US player should be required to maintain a garrison or lose 5 IPC.
More importantly, the game needs Cavalry and Railguns. Irregular Miniatures or Peter Pig makes a 6 MM Railgun, that is AA size.
Cavalry would have to be 1/72 scale
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Cavalry yes.
Rail guns would fall under my category for “Strategic Artillery”
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1/72 is too big. Risk (latest addition) cavalry don’t look too bad.
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1070
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1566
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1026
Some of the 1914 infantry can be used for WWII, for example German infantry (if its the steel helmet type) will be ideal for WWII Chinese Nationalists, Austrians for Chinese Communists, French inf (early type) for Yugoslavs?
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@Imperious:
Step 1 � Check for New Alliances:
Check to see if any new powers enter the game. Their forces are immediately set up, and their money is added to the nation that controls them. This is stated on the set up table.1. Serbia and Montenegro start as Russian Allies. 5. Romania joins the Allies on turn 6.
2. Italy joins the Allies on turn 3. 6. United States joins the Allies at the end of turn 8.
3. Bulgaria joins the Central Powers on turn 4.
4. Portugal joins the Allies on turn 5. 7. Greece joins Allies turn 9I recognize this from many years ago… :-D
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And you will AGAIN, officially soon…
Just wait. And yes. :wink:
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I’m hoping the infantry will be early war types; then I could use WWII pieces for late war Elite/Veteran/Stormtrooper units (2-2, promoted not bought).
I suspect it’ll be a mixture: pickelhelm Germans, steel helmeted Brits. The French could be the same sculpts as the WWII version already produced.
But please, not another new shade of brown for Austria…
My impression is that the game as produced will be a little light for some folk here; it won’t seem complete to me without cavalry, bombers, destroyers and at least 2 types of artillery. And, above all, rail transport. I hate to think of the Germans having to build stacks of tanks because the infantry can’t keep up with the armoured rattle towards Moscow…
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Tanks should be rare.
Battleships of the land. -
I agree, which is why they shouldn’t be bought simply because they can move faster than art & inf. At a strategic level they should move at the same rate (i.e. 1 overland, u/l by train), but then this is true for WWII as well.
Tanks should be an expensive breakthrough weapon, produced purely to boost attacks blocked by defensive attrition.
There’s even a good case for tanks being 4 in attack and 0 in defence, but probably it’ll be 3-1.
A possible bonus ability is to negate barbed wire defences. One of the main objectives of artillery bombardments prior to massed infantry attacks was the clearing of paths through wire. If the tanks go through first, assume they clear paths for the infantry on subsequent turns.
Maybe armies can construct wire defences on any internal border? Until it is cut, attacking infantry fight at a disadvantage.
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Tanks: Attack at 3, Defend at 3, Move 1, Cost 6
Only Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the United States may have tanks. Each tank negates the effects of two entrenched infantry. For example, If you’re attacking with 3 tanks then up to 6 defending entrenched infantry no longer fire preemptively (ignore step 4: defending infantry fire in step 5). In combat, rolling a 6 cause’s one tank to suffer a mechanical breakdown and the unit must retreat from combat. Entrenched infantry are still effected that combat round. -
How can a tank that’s broken down retreat?
I think such units are simply abandoned and left on the field; they cannot be taken as casualties, but are recovered by whoever wins the battle.
Most tanks used by the Central Powers were obtained in this way:
I would also make tanks take a breakdown roll before a battle - those that fail simply don’t participate in the attack (you cannot cancel the attack due to breakdowns).
For this war, make this 1-2 = breakdown.
In WWII, it would be just 1
For German tanks in the Russia winter make it 1-4…
I cannot see that WWI tanks are any more than sitting ducks in defence; its generous giving them 1. The whole point of building them should be to break the stalemate by using them in massed attacks - if you give them the same ability in defence it simply reinforces the stalemate.
The introduction of tanks should foreshadow the mobile, attack dominated warfare of WWII.
Only Europe (not Turkey) and North America should be able to build ANYTHING other than infantry & cavalry. Maybe artillery in Bombay.
Tanks and Bombers really should be techs; certainly not available in 1914.
Thinking that Zeppelins might be balanced by Allied sea planes?
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This is Axis and Allies where a turn is 4-6 months.
IN the stated rule, the tank is rolling for breakdown. Nothing says “it moved, broke down and retreated by osmosis”
Rather, The tanks frequently break down, so the roll is combined for combat. If you roll a 6 the tank is not in combat and the retreating motion assumes it broke down BEFORE THE BATTLE, even though this is combat phase.
So to not have people rolling dice in different phases, we combine all the incidentals including tanks that didn’t get into battle. IN terms of Axis and Allies, you have to move into a space to do battle and each combat round is a different battle within 6 months, so everything is exceedingly consistent.
Otherwise it would be stupid:
Tanks rolling for breakdowns during any movement? This is not AAM son.
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They only roll before combat or, if you prefer, during. It seems simpler to do it before battle.
I was going with your suggestion that 6’s disable tanks, the crucial distinction being that if they breakdown on the battlefield, rather than before reaching it, they are liable to capture. -
It is more complicated. You roll one time it may hit or breakdown…. all in the same roll. If it rolls 6 it must retire ( what is really going on is it breaks down at some point during 4-6 months of being used in combat…it is not “retreating” and “retreating” is the only word we use because combat requires you to move into the enemy space. It is possible and more likely, the tank would break down latter during the campaign of what a turn represents.
To roll separately before the tanks fire does not help with ANYTHING, just adding a roll when it can be combined. The goal is to simplify the process to speed up the game. Not get bogged down with all sorts of saving rolls and various mechanical breakdown rules. KISS is always the best approach.
Captured tanks (if that would be part of the process) would occur after combat from the pile of “destroyed tanks”, perhaps rolling the 6 for each tank lost to see if it were salvageable. But the number of captured tanks was not significant.
As for 3-3- tanks that is what they should be. A 3-1 tank means no fear from the attacker, but the reality is that nobody had any idea how to take them down. They failed on their own by breaking down, and not really the actions of those who engaged them. Artillery defends at 2 and is mostly fixed positions. Tanks are the wars breakthrough unit, though they were employed not always the best way.
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Mmmm, I still think tanks need to be significantly stronger in attack than defence to change the nature of the combat, foreshadowing WWII.
Captured tanks were important to Germany, which only ever managed to build 20 of their own.
Does anyone know what range fighters will have? Logically, they should only have a range of 2. Bombers would be 4, and Zeppelins 6 (to allow Germany to bomb England?), but be more vulnerable to fighters.
Remember that Bleriot won a prize for flying 25 miles across the channel just 5 years earlier.Also, early planes were not “fighters”, but reconnaissance/spotter units for the artillery. They dropped the odd bomb, but were not significant in combat. Thereafter was an ongoing arms race, with each side gaining supremacy at intervals until war’s end.
So fighters with the ability to shoot down rival aircraft might be a technical development of starting spotter plane units. -
OK tanks done.
Fighters…
Fighters: Attack at 1, Defend at 1, Move 4, Cost 7
Fighters start at a 1 for attack and defense. During aerial combat a plane uses its defense rating in combat. This improves with technology; interrupter gear technology provides a 2 aerial defense, and metal aircraft provides a 3 aerial defense.
Fighters have a movement of 4 which must be used as both travel distance to and back from the target. A fighter must have enough movement left to land in a friendly territory or it may not move. For example, a fighter could move two spaces away and then return back two spaces to the same territory. Fighters may move over enemy territory provided that there is no enemy aircraft in the zone. Furthermore, they may not move from one sea zone to a second sea zone unless the owner possessed metal aircraft technology.
During an enemy’s move, your fighters can fly to attacks made on territories adjacent to them. The exception to this would be adjacent sea zones. In this case, only fighters with metal aircraft technology may respond. When responding, a plane is prevented from doing so if the territory they are located in is also attacked by air, and then only on a 1 to 1 ratio (one plane pins one plane).
Fighters will conduct combat before all other land units (see combat sequence). Fighters always fire at enemy planes (using defense factors) until only one side remains. Once the enemy is cleared from the sky, the fighters use their attack factor against land targets. Aerial superiority will be achieved when one side has more planes at the end of combat. This is important for units that benefit from aerial spotting.Bombers: Attack at 3, Defend at 2, Move 6, Cost 9
Bombers are the only aircraft (except Zeppelins) that can attack ships. They have a movement of 6 which, like a fighter, must be used to move to and back from the target.
Bombers may be used to strategic bomb factories with heavy bomber technology. Like fighters, bombers may respond to adjacent enemy attacks and count for aerial supremacy.
After one round of aerial combat, surviving Bombers each roll one D6 and applies damage as follows: 1-2=1 damage point, 3-4=2 damage points, 5-6= 3 damage points to the factory. Damage cannot exceed the value of the territory. Economic loses are applied to that players next turn. -
4 movement seems excessive for primitive biplanes; AWTEAW settled at 3.
Maybe:
2 for spotters (1-1-2)
3 for forward firers (2-2-3)
4 for metal frame craft (3-3-4)Can all other unit types fire at aircraft?
Can fighters eliminating all enemy aircraft disengage and return home rather than participating in the general combat?
Have considered flying boats as an Allied tech to balance CP Airships. Big advantage in ability to land at sea (though would have to refuel). Mainly developed as an antidote to the U-boat menace.
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Can all other unit types fire at aircraft?
No. Planes fight for aerial supremacy and only fire at each other and if one side has more planes left, they get to spot for artillery and railguns ( +1)
Can fighters eliminating all enemy aircraft disengage and return home rather than participating in the general combat?
The attacker or the defender may retreat ( must be in full after any combat round) or they may do what we call coexisting in the same space.
However, if planes remain they can hit land targets.
Flying boats were considered but they didn’t do too much so they got dropped. Instead Airships were added to the game ( airships used for observation, etc)
Airships: Attack at 0, Defend at 1, Moves 4, Cost 6
Airships may be purchased by all nations. They are used for observation and patrol over sea zones. They have the following special functions:- Allows a fleet to an adjacent zone to intercept and improves the chances of success. Each additional airship in the fleet adds +1 to the intercept roll (a 1 always misses) of any fleet making the attempt while located in the same space as the airship.
- Negates enemy submarine’s first-strike advantage on a 1-1 basis. Only excess submarines may fire.
- Assists in detecting subs. Each Airship in an area provides a +1 to the detection roll (a 1 always fails to detect).
Airships may remain at sea like a Zeppelin. They may only defend in combat and may not voluntarily attack unless they are accompanying a fleet. They are allowed inside ports.
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What stops fighters just killing everything if they can’t be shot at by ground troops?
The Red Baron was shot down by infantry machine-gun fire.
My example was going to be:
A player wants to soften up an enemy held tt. Its defended by 6 inf and 2 fighters. He attacks with a squadron of 5 fighters; in the dogfight he KOs the 2 planes for 1 loss.
Working on the assumption that inf can fire at planes, could the 4 surviving fighters go strait home without undergoing a round of combat versus the inf, (where they’d risk losing expensive fighters for no significant gain?)Shouldn’t they be allowed to go home (with spotting data) immediately the aerial combat ends?
Or, if the inf cannot fire upon them, are they forced to go home rather than massacring the inf?
I suggested Flying boats as an Allied alternative to Zeppelins, used principally in an anti-sub role.
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What stops fighters just killing everything if they can’t be shot at by ground troops?
Either side may retreat after any combat round, so that would never happen. ( at least more than one round). Oh but we allow fighters to respond to defend adjacent areas, so support is possible.
The Red Baron was shot down by infantry machine-gun fire.
Shooting planes from land was not the norm. Flak artillery was just being developed.
My example was going to be:
A player wants to soften up an enemy held tt. Its defended by 6 inf and 2 fighters. He attacks with a squadron of 5 fighters; in the dogfight he KOs the 2 planes for 1 loss.
Working on the assumption that inf can fire at planes, could the 4 surviving fighters go strait home without undergoing a round of combat versus the inf, (where they’d risk losing expensive fighters for no significant gain?)land units cant fire at air targets. All planes fight each other every round till only one side remains. Surviving fighters can attack infantry, if loses go over the total infantry, those hits are ignored and combat over.
Shouldn’t they be allowed to go home (with spotting data) immediately the aerial combat ends?
The following is possible:
Defender can scramble fighters in adjacent areas
Either side may retreat
If both do not retreat they fight each round and plane loses occur
If one side is cleared from the sky, plane hits can go against land units
At any point, whichever side has more planes than the other, in that round artillery and railway artillery get aerial spotting +1
Planes can retreat separately letting land units to fightOr, if the inf cannot fire upon them, are they forced to go home rather than massacring the inf?
In your example, i assume you mean just planes vs. land units?
The battle is over in any event when one side has killed the other land units or naval units. Remaining planes don’t force combat.I suggested Flying boats as an Allied alternative to Zeppelins, used principally in an anti-sub role.
From advanced rules:
Seaplane Carriers:
Any one Cruiser can be converted into an Aircraft Carrier at the end of your turn. To do this, remove the ship from the board during the purchase phase and then place the carrier in your pool of purchased items. It will be placed along with the other units during the placement phase.
The Carrier has no attack value and a defense of 1. It moves 4 and can carry one fighter, which can be launched on raids, or to intercept other aircraft. If the carrier is attacked the aircraft can be used for defense. However, it may not offensively attack ships unless the English have metal aircraft technology. In addition, the fighter can function as a sub hunter if that technology level is obtained. Furthermore, any fleet with a carrier gets a +1 to any interception roll. The Carrier takes one hit to sink and if it’s sunk another Cruiser can be allocated as the new Seaplane Carrier at no additional cost at the beginning of the next purchase phase. Only Great Britain has Seaplane Carriers.
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