Can you add the Italian Maiale submarines and the British Long Range Desert Group LRDG to the game? I originally proposed a World War II game with Maiale submarines from the Decima MAS flotilla with my hand-drawn map of World War II, but since I found out about Doug Friend’s map, I decided to add my ideas to it. I would like to see the Special Air Service (SAS) in the game, too. I think that Italy should have the Maiale submarines and have a bonus point against any Allied surface warships in the Mediterranean. The Maiale submarines will only be allowed to operate in the Mediterranean and they will have bonus points and warships will not get to roll against them. It will sort of be like the Italian equivalent of the Japanese kamikaze tokens. The Italian player will of course be limited as to how many Maiale submarines that they will get to roll per turn. The Maiale will be any Italian submarine and the infantry aboard the submarine will attack the Allied surface warship in the Med.
I am not sure how to even make it work within the game. I was proposing a game with Maiale submarines against any ANZAC, French or British surface warships in the Mediterranean.
I also propose adding the Ariete Division for Italian elite units and the Folgore Parachute Division as Italian elite units. The Italians also had volunteers from India and the Middle East in their armies. I have a book on Italian elite units of World War II from 1940-1943.
Italy not only had Bersaglieri, they also had the Ariete Division and the Folgore Division. You could add paratroopers to the Italian player.
You could also add torpedo bombers to the Italians. The Italians used the Savoia Marchetti SM. 79 as a torpedo bomber in the Mediterranean. You could also add torpedo bombers to the Germany, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. Japan and the United States weren’t the only nations to have torpedo bombers.
I have another suggestion.
You could also add a Bearn class aircraft carrier to France. France’s only aircraft carrier in World War II was the Bearn class aircraft carrier.
The Bearn was out in the Atlantic when France surrendered in 1940. You could add torpedo bombers to the Soviet Union, too. The Soviet Union had torpedo bombers in the Baltic and Black Seas.
You could also add a plastic P-40 painted in China’s paint color to simulate the Flying Tigers. There is so much that you could add there.
Patchman123.
[/quoteSee, everyone! It’s not so bad. There’s Historical Board Gaming for that.
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Battle-Pieces–US-Exp--P-47-Thunderbolt-Fighter-x5_p_2090.html
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Battle-Pieces--Allies--P40-Warhawk-Early-War-Fighter-x5_p_1168.htmlIf anyone’s interested.
7.0 turn 1 pics and report
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Believe it or not, our game is not over. Due to interruptions we have made it only to turn 10. The Axis hold 11 victory cities and are just outside of Moscow and Stalingrad.
It is a race against time as the U.S. player is preparing a landing force off of Washington/New England. The Russian fleet (after escaping pursuing Germans) and remnants of the Commonwealth Atlantic fleet have rallied to them. The U.S. is also making incursions into South America and will link up with ANZAC forces which have (finally) activated Brazil. The U.S. Pacific fleet has vacated the Philippine sea zone and made for the Japanese forces lying off of Dutch New Guinea. These forces have essentially blockaded Australia. The Americans are also beefing up their land based defences on the west coast.
The Japanese have taken the Philippines. They continue to trade Burma with FEC but have completely subdued Red and Nationalist China. A small Japanese force stands on the border with Novosibirsk. The Japanese also occupy Vladivostok and the most eastern Soviet territories. While the Russian still holds Northern Manchuria, this force represents a rear guard as the Soviets are withdrawing in response to growing Japanese forces on the home islands, the Novosibirsk, Stalingrad and Moscow threats.
The Italians continue to scratch their way to South Africa while expanding into the Middle East and supporting Axis advances in the Ukraine. The Italian Navy maintains a small presence in the North Atlantic which will most certainly end voluntarily or not.
The Germans and Minors are battering at the gates of Moscow and Stalingrad while augmenting their Baltic and Atlantic fleets. Spain is now an Axis power. Gibraltar has fallen. The Africa Corps is in Cairo and Axis forces are moving toward India.
The Commonwealth organized an airborne reinforcement effort to Russia. Infantry from Calcutta has landed in Stalingrad to help bolster the defences. More transport planes have appeared in London. It may be too little too late.
Below are some turn 6 pics from this weekend’s game.
We have the Japanese home islands with Yamato and Japanese moves into New Guinea.
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Mediterranean, Bosporus Straits, Middle East, Africa, and English Channel.
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Eastern Russia, China. FEC/Japan fight on.
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Though our game is not over (we’ve made a commitment to put in a couple of hours tonight), here are some general observations.
The rule amendments have shifted the balance making things easier for the Allies in terms of staying power and options. Axis gains in this weekend’s game had more to do with good dice rolls, focused play, and weak Allied coordination than any balance issues.
If we had used the 80 IPC starting cash, or 48 IPC income from word go for Russia, a chimp could’ve played them successfully. As it was, increased Soviet forces caused a slowdown on Japan’s and Germany’s push. If the Russian player had been more aggressive, especially against Japan….
The UK fleet is harder to sink now. It can be done, but luck and a willingness to accept higher German air and naval casualties --with possibly no payoff-- are needed. More UK planes make things rougher for the Germans.
15 IPCs starting cash for Italy is a bit low but “manageable”.
No further reduction to Axis forces should take place.
6 IPC German tanks are a boon to the Russians and made for more diverse purchasing and tactical choices for the German player.
Germany should start with a paratroop unit and an air transport.
We liked the old fortification rules better but it seems the new ones, or some variation thereof, will be the case.
We’d like to see the U.S. start out with a Marine or two somewhere (even if they cannot build more before war breaks out). Japan starts with SNLF. The Americans should have Marines as they existed well before the war started (so went the argument).
We’re not satisfied with Vichy yet. For instance, having a Vichy transport in the Med which can’t even transport Vichy units is frustrating.
Communist China’s reinforcements are a PITA for Japan. The new Chinese placement allowance is too. If you wanted to make things tougher for Japan, pat yourselves on the back; a Japanese player won’t :wink:.
Japan’s sneak attack is ok but the old two-impulse one from the Xeno days was better (in my opinion :-D).
Tangential stuff:
Engineers would be cool :mrgreen:.
We recommend Global '39 players try playing with resource markers. They add a new dimension and depth to the game.
The consensus is we cannot wait for '36, the expansions (especially amphibious warfare) and new pieces.
Thanks for reading, considering our/my findings, and following our game this weekend.
I’ll post more pics later,
Koba
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Great report Koba and analysis. Now are you using a combination of 7.0 and 6.1 rules, just to clarify, what I’m reading? :-)
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That’s right John,
We used the set up and most of the 7.1 rules but hung on to some of the 6.1 such as Russian income and fortifications.
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Koba (and his team),
––I just wanted to say THANK YOU to you and your group for your ‘play-testing’ of the different rules. Your analysis is inspiring, and the game report was exciting on it’s own merits. Thanks again as IMHO this GW-39 and it’s soon to be released 1936 version are most definately the FUTURE of A&A gaming.
Tall Paul
p.s.-It looks like my investment in Mitsubishi stock will pay off bigtime! :-D -
That’s right John,
We used the set up and most of the 7.1 rules but hung on to some of the 6.1 such as Russian income and fortifications.
Good to know. Thank you so much. :-)
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You are both very welcome. It was my/our pleasure.
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How do resources and rail tokens play out in your games Koba?
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We use the custom rules from HBG. The resources boost the incomes of nations which hold them or provide special bonuses to production. The railways expedite the movement of units across large distances. For example, Russia’s rail east of the Urals allows them to move one unit per turn anywhere along the southern most Russian territories.
The resources and rail pick things up quite a bit as incomes and movements are enhanced. They also give the players something else to fight over.
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did you have players start with rails and railstations? and if so how did you place them? or did every player have to start from scratch?
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@ Koba - shouldn’t you play with the rules as they being rewritten so you can tell if the game is balanced before you include resources, rails, etc?
How many times did you play 6.1?
I knew as soon as I read 7.0 that it wouldn’t work, but I’m not sure why the changes were so big? Any ideas? The 7.1 is good except the 2 items we have already agreed upon. We played 5 - 10 games of 6.1 and the Axis won 6 out of 10…but we never usually played turns 14 and 15 because surrenders already took place. Once we figured out the strategy it was pretty clear that Russia was easy to beat in 6.1.
I can’t help but wonder if we misreading the rules in 7.0 and 7.1 because they seem to think Russia is much weaker than what we are finding.
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Bill,
I suppose we could have played without the extras but we have been using the custom rules for months now and didnt really see the difference in terms of balance. More enhancement than anything else and there’s no sense in testing the rules without them as they are a (growing) part of our game.
We’ve played 6.1 at least ten times and yes, the balance was a bit off a bit, but it was not impossible for the allies to win. I’ve been playing global 39 for a about three years now (A and A for thirty plus) and ,like you, I could see that 7.0/.1 in their entirety would be imbalanced.
I’m eager to see how this plays out with others.
Also, I have the sneaking suspicion that the next incarnation of the game will feature many, if not all, of the HBG custom rules we use now as well as others yet to be seen. So we may as well incorporate them and see how well they integrate. So, we can say we’re not just play testing 4.1, 5.0, 6.1, 7.0 or whatever, we’re play testing everything HBG is bringing to the plate. We have the pieces and rules so why not?
Rohr,
All resources/rails were placed from word go. Refer to the HBG custom rules on their website for the placement and mechanics. You will see, for example, that Europe has a rail movement of 3 (this includes european russia) so we placed rail markers to display that infrastructure. I am short on rail pieces and need more. The stations in this game are mainly props but there are rules for them as well. Eventually, we will have trains and railguns.
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i’m having a tough time understanding the rail rules. i was hoping you could clarify them based on how you play, because i’m starting a game this afternoon.
As far as setup every territory in europe begins with a rail, and the cities listed have rail stations. as far as africa, every british territory has rails through it.
with movement, in Europe you can move 3 units per turn as far as you want so long as there is a functioning railway. every other continent is one unit per turn.
I remember finding a hbg rule set for rails that was different from http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/assets/images/HBG/HBGMarkers/00Marker Rules/Railways.pdf
it had more rule variations for rails, my favorite of which was as follows.Rail moves per turn are equivalent to the number of rail stations under your control up to 6. a move is from one rail station to another. rail stations can be no more than 4 territories away from each other. rail stations cost 15 and rails are 3. have you encountered this rules set? if so do you know where it went?
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file:///C:/Users/Philip/Downloads/HBG%20Marker%20RulesRev5.pdf
this is the version i prefer
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The group we had testing the rules always complained thats the 6.1v rules allowed the Axis to win 100% of the time. In our games it was usually 50/50. But they insisted that it was very lopsided. The official 7.1v will address the needed changes in 7.0.
Any other clarifications that were not addressed from 6.1 to 7.0 let me know.
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Rohr,
Yes, I have seen the rules you are referring to. We played using/purchasing rail stations and individual rails. We use the newer rules as you mentioned in terms of the 3 unit limit in Europe, 1 unit east of Urals (Siberian Railroad), the British in Africa and the N. American allowance. It’s easier (and cheaper!!!). You are permitted to augment this with new rail purchases I believe, but we never do.
I recommend just using the allowances for simplicity’s sake and bringing in more detail if/when you decide to introduce trains. HBG has markers for engines, cars, rail guns etc. but I’d really like to see 3D models.
Have fun with the game. Ours is over with a hard fought Axis win.
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Hi Tigerman,
I hope the observations and critiques posted here helped.
In terms of Russia, it may be a good change to give them a 3 IPC NO simulating German machine tools and finished goods before war breaks out. 15 IPC starting cash, roll for income and declaration of war plus the NO. If the Allies are made too strong, playing the Axis will be less than desirable. I remember A and A 1984 when Russia could jump on Germany on turn one, the U.S. could build and IC in China, Britain in India/South Africa etc. It was a really hard go for the Axis, almost too hard. I’d hate to see global '39 or '36 head that route. Judging by the pics posted on HBG’s Facebook page, it doesn’t look too good for the Axis there either.
I know in 6.1 the Allies could tie Germany up in Europe and create trouble for Japan until the U.S. entered the game. If the Axis weren’t on their way to Moscow/Stalingrad by the time Uncle Sam came on it was goodnight Irene. That dynamic hasn’t changed in 7.0. In fact, it’s been enhanced. If the Allies play it right, Cairo will not fall, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Poland will be terrorist PITAs for the Germans and Japan will be busy trying to beat off Russia while fighting the Chinese, FEC and ANZAC.
Regardless, I’m confident you’ll do what needs doing.
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Ok. I put russia starting income and war entry rules back to 6.1. Seems the extra units on setup are enough to keep Germany at bay for a little while.
Also changed the Fort rule: Fort fires 2d12 on first round only. Also defending infantry get a +1 and attacking units get a -1 including aircraft.
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