@KevinTMC:
- The CD-ROM game introduced some “Third Edition” rules. Was an actual Third Edition rulebook ever published, or did this “Edition” simply consist of the four new items shown in the Options screen of the computer game (Western Canada no longer bordering Atlantic Ocean, defending subs may submerge, new units may be placed in enemy-occupied sea zone, aircraft may retreat from amphibious invasion)?
I’m not sure if there is an actual 3rd Edition rulebook. Hopefully someone else might have a better answer on that.
But yes those are the main changes.
@KevinTMC:
- Do face-to-face and PBEM players often use the “Third Edition”, or is that mainly the province of those who play over on Axis & Allies World Club with the CD-ROM version?
2a) Nobody plays the First Edition rules I’ve got in my box anymore, right?
2 - It depends. I don’t really play at any of the other online clubs (DAAK, AAMC, FoE, etc…) but I seem to remember 2nd Edition being used a lot with the exception of the CD clubs who will use 3rd.
When I played Classic (what we call 2nd or 3rd edit) more I got in the habit of always clarifying which ruleset we were using just in case.
2a - correct.
@KevinTMC:
- How about other variations? The two-hit battleship is pretty popular, I gather. Any others?
3a) Speaking of the two-hit battleship, does that variant typically favor one side more than another?
3b) I’d be especially interested to know if there is a widely-used method of nerfing Heavy Bombers, which always seemed way overpowered to me. Maybe just two dice rather than three would do the trick?
3 - Paratroopers is fun sometimes too.
3a - an argument can be made for both sides, but I never liked seeing the UK with two 2-hit BB’s in the Atlantic, so I tended to think it helped the Allies.
3b - Just don’t play with tech. :-)
@KevinTMC:
- The official set of rules clarifications posted over at AAMC helped with some rules, but left me scratching my head with this part:
Rocket development gives one of your antiaircraft guns rocket power once per turn. Unlike an antiaircraft gun, a rocket can move before combat and fire during combat. A rocket can also move during non-combat, if it has not just been captured, or if it has not fired.
It makes it sound like the Rockets technology converts one of your AA guns into a “Rocket”, that can then fire…during Combat? At enemy units?
I always implemented the rule this way: at the beginning of your Combat Move phase, look to see if any of your AA guns are 3 spaces or less away from an enemy IC. If so, pick one such gun, and one target IC; roll one die; opponent surrenders that many IPCs to the bank. Continue with the rest of your turn just the same as if none of this even happened. I have trouble squaring this with the quoted text above.
It is essientially a free SBR run. I can’t remember if you can actually move it prior to combat or during combat move to get it in range, but you can’t hit units, you just get to make them lose IPCs.
@KevinTMC:
- Finally, an observation rather than a question: As soon as I learned of the submerge rule, I have preferred to play with it, even if I am not applying any other Third Edition rules. But I’m doing so with an added wrinkle. Under my house rules, a defending sub may submerge at the end of a round of combat, but only if all of the surviving attacking units are air units. If attacking naval units survive, and there is nowhere the sub may withdraw to, the sub has no choice but to fight it out. It just seemed right to me to do it this way, considering what I took to be the primary purpose of the submerge rule. Anyone else do this?
In the Revised Ruleset (4th edition, I guess), subs can submerge after any round as long as a destroyer (new unit added in Revised) isn’t present. Which seems similiar to your house rule.
