HBG U.S. Naval Sculpts Preorder

“Coach”,

It seems the voting is coming along nicely.  I’m not surprised that the “Montana” class Battleship was the first to garner 20 votes.  In the book I read that showed the designers illustrated views it proved it would be a beautiful, and yet graceful “Monster” of a ship.

I thought of another ship that would be useful to our Naval gameplay,…the
“APD Fast Attack Transports”.  Rebuilt out of old WW1 4-stack destroyers with half of the fire/engine rooms removed to make room for the Marine Raiders.  They had very distinctive profiles and would add another dimension to our gameplay.  They would be a great fit with the US Marine set you just produced as so many of the Marine Raiders toted the Thompson around.

I haven’t said anything about this ship type because I’ve probabaly given you enough ship types to consider already(and you’ve been very considerate, here).  But I’d hope it might make it into the Second US Navy set, with the other important but not necessarily COOL ships that we really need.  I’m already assuming that the first set will  be produced.  The support seems to be there, don’t you think?

Variable, Tigerman, and I with others helping are looking into making a “Solomons Campaign” game whose map would be the size of a 1940-global map.  We plan to make it a worthy arena to spotlight your units and all of the new or expanded capabilities they represent.  Think of all the FUN!!!

Anyway, thanks for your continuing contributions to all of our A&A experience.

“Tall Paul”

Well “Coach”,

You might check-in occasionally to our discussions.  We seem to be making really good progress.  We’d love to have you get involved with us in any capacity you’d like.    I think that what we will end up with will really be something that can make good use of not only all the new ships,…but like I said before,…all the new CAPABILITIES that they will enable.

That is why I’m so looking forward to having the AUXILIARY ships such as the Oiler, Minesweeper, PT Boat, Fast Attack Transport, Seaplane Tender, and PBY Seaplane.  Because of the new TYPES of OPERATIONS made possible through these new ships there is NO DOUBT in my mind that our collective gaming experience will be REVOLUTION-IZED through the efforts of YOU, our humble leader.

The invite of course goes for any and all who might be interested in our new game(s) designed to use all of these new units(and more?).

“Tall Paul”
p.s.-By the way, Doug,…what kind of ship did your Dad serve on?

“Coach”,

So your Dad served on a “boomer”,…Great.  I guess it was nick-named the “Big Ben”, huh?  Well, I guess we know where you got your level-headedness from now.  I’ll bet your Dad has a lot of stories.  If you ever have time I’d love to hear some of them, maybe some pics, too.  You could put them in the “history” section for all to enjoy.

-----------------------------

You know,…After seeing your Company logo so many times that I just realized you could take your company’s initials, HBG, standing for “Historical Board Gaming”, and rearrange them into:

BGH, standing for the “Big Green H”,  like your logo.

It’s somewhat reminiscent of “The Big Red One” of the famous 1st US Army Division.

Does this mean as the leader of the “Big Green H” we’ll have to start calling you “General” now?(Grin)

“Tall Paul”

Just placed an order for two sets, if it helps a bit.

@ coachofmany - have you tried promoting this product on other sites (i.e. Axis & Allies Forumini, BoardGameGeek, etc.)?

“Coach”,…or “General of The Big Green H” division,

I just ordered 8 more sets of your US Naval Pre-Order set to make a total of 10 for me now.  I hope this might help you in my own little way.

I think this set of yours will be nothing short of REVOLUTIONARYfor our Axis & Allies gameplay.  Not just by EXPANDING the number so many COOL units,…but by introducing or EXPANDING the CAPABILITIES we will have in using them:

@Tall:

Examples of units that could deeply enrich our gameplay and why would be:

Oilers……by adding requirments for refueling.  These would need
                                          to be escorted.
Landing Craft(LST,LCVP,LCM)…to transport the landing force(s).
Minesweepers/Minelayers…by adding mine warfare.
Seaplane Tenders/PBY Seaplane.by adding recon, acting as a mobile base.
PT Boats…by defending bases would force the convoys to be
                                           escorted.  Also would have an offensive role.
Destroyer Escorts…a cheaper escort than a Destroyer.
Anti-Aircraft Light Cruisers…improved a/a defense for the task forces.
Heavy Cruisers…heavy firepower for the surface forces.
Light Cruisers…a less expensive firepower option.
All of the “Older Battleships”…good for bombardment and escort of convoys.  Great
                                          to show the progression of BBs and allows early war
                                          scenarios, even WW1.
the Montana Battleships…it looks like all agree they want this monster, haha.
All of the WW2 Carriers…these are just absolutely necessary!

The above list didn’t include the APD “Fast Attack Transports” that were rebuilt especially to haul the MARINE RAIDERS around for their raids.  Since you’ve just produced the Marines themselves I think this ship unit would be a great match-up for them and deserves inclusion.  It would be a very simple matter to make Marine Raiders out of your Marines by adding a special paint job to them.  Wow, I can’t wait!

As far as “talking up” your recently proposed naval units I honestly have been trying to restrain my genuine excitement for their upcoming release.  So “talking them up” will be no problem for me,…as I truly believe they will EXPAND our A&A gaming experience GREATLY!

Tigerman has made some GREAT maps as you know.   He likes my idea of combining the EXPANDED pool of proposed units(Naval, Air, and Ground), by FMG and yourself at HBG, along with their EXPANDED capabilities, with a campaign-oriented map of The Solomons Campaign greatly EXPANDED to the size of a 1940-global map.

We’ve gotten great suggestions so far from the Imperious Leader, you the “Coach”, and several others also.

We haven’t chosen an official name yet but what do you think of :
Expanded A&A-The Naval Series  with the 1st map being:
Coral Sea & The Solomons Campaign

If it works out it would be 2 completely separate games that could be played on the one map,…possibly even with a “Battle of the Bismark Sea” scenario also thrown in.

I think a series of games, with this same expanded format, would be an excellent arena to spotlight all of the expanding characteristics of Axis & Allies.  Don’t YOU???

As I say,…What Do YA’LL Think???
                                                                                    “Tall Paul”

Tall Paul, you just upped your order to 10 sets. Congratulations you are in the 10 sets or more club for AA USN Naval ships.
Anyone else want to join this exclusive membership just pre-order 10 sets or more of the USN AA Naval sets from Coach.  You will not be sorry if you do and he gets these produced for us.

I just put my order in for 10 sets….I won’t need that many but hopefiully it helps the cause!

Tigerman77, Paul Tall and myself welcome you to the over 10 sets club for AA Naval ships.  This keeps up Coach will have what he needs to proceed with the production.  Anymore takers?

Well everybody,

Well, with 32 votes cast let’s take another look at how the voting for the individual Ship types is going for the proposed US Naval Ships Set (#1?) is going.

Let’s break this down by votes:

22 Votes……The “Montana” Class Battleship
                           *No surprises here as I would expect EVERYONE can’t wait for this
                             Big Brute to be made.
21 Votes…Heavy Cruiser(Baltimore class?)
                           *A “Heavy” favorite in the voting it seems, haha.
19 Votes…“Midway” class Heavy Carrier
                           *Evidently a large number of Korean War fans around here.
18 Votes…“Independance” class Light Carrier
                           *A very useful tool in our WW2 carrier battles.
17 Votes…Light Cruiser, and the Consolidated PBY Seaplane
                           *the Light Cruiser will add more depth to our “gun” choices,
                           *and the PBY will allow us to add a “recon” function to our games.
16 Votes…Oiler, Destroyer Escort, and the “South Dakota” class Battleship
                           *the Oiler will allow us to add an “oil supply” neccesity for our ships.
                           *the Destroyer Escort will give us a valueable 2nd choice for
                             escorting our convoys and patrolling.
                           *the “SD” class were in several Pacific battles.
15 Votes…“Essex” class Carrier, and the “North Carolina” class Battleship
                           *the Essex’s were the backbone of WW2 naval Air combat.
                           *the “NC” class were some additional modern BBs.
14 Votes…“Tennessee” class Battleship
                           *at Pearl Harbor.  I’m waiting for the “Coach’s” P.H. game.
13 Votes…LST Landing Craft and the Boeing B-29
                           *the LST will allow us to recreate large amphibious invasions.
                           *the SuperFortress,…What kind of Ship is this, “Coach”(grin)?
12 Votes…“Alaska” class BattleCruiser
                           *a beautiful ship, but slipping somewhat in votes.
11 Votes…PT “Patrol-Torpedo” Boat
                           *can you say PT-109?  The PT Boat will give us wonderful
                             depth for convoy and base attack/defense.  Although NOT being
                             in the voting from the start the PT is about to overtake the
                             “Alaska” class BC in popularity.
9 Votes…LCM Landing Craft-Mechanised and the “Colorado” class Battleship
                           *the LC-M will also assist in amphibious landings.
                           *the “C” class, another somewhat older Battleship.
8 Votes…LCVP “Higgins Boat” and the “Atlanta” class Light Cruiser
                           *the ICONIC landing Craft of WW2.  Beginning to make a move
                             in the popularity contest.
                           *the “Atlanta’s” will add a lot of punch to our Task Force’s
                             anti-aircraft defense.  
                             Come on people!!!  These 2 great ship types deserve to be
                             included in the 1st Set of Ships made.
7 Votes…Minesweeper
                           *the DMSs will add SeaMine Warefare to our Naval games.  
                             I’m excited about getting this little guy produced.
5 Votes…Seaplane Tender
                           *the Seaplane Tenders will allow a large expansion of our
                             “recon” funtion by being mobile bases for the PBYs.
4 Votes…F-9 Cougar Jet Aircraft
                            *who let those Korean War fans back in the room?
                              ONLY JOKING, guys, haha.
3 Votes…“Other”  ???

The “Coach” keeps reporting that the number of people that are voicing their desire to see these ships produced by placing their money on the dotted line is steadily increasing.  I would hope that everyone that shares that sentiment would express it to all of their friends so that we all might benefit from them being produced.  We ARE making progree, though.
                                                                            Thanks Again, “Coach”

“Tall Paul”

well done coach!

Well guys, I just went in and placed a second order for 5 more sets of these new US naval pieces.  Don’t think I will really need that many, but if it helps get the ball rolling then it’s worth it.  Man, that will be a lot of Montana class battleships and Midway class heavy carriers.

Sure hope the Alaska class battlecruiser makes the cut.

KNP,

As they say in the US Navy for congratulations,  “Well Done”.  Although you may at first think you have a few too many of a certain class of ship, there’s always Ebay to resolve that.  I myself now consider it a very small price to pay to help the possibility of any of these ships to get produced.  And these ships are quite inexpensive compared to the white-metal ships from GHQ and others.  And as far as too many “Montana” class Battleships, when the Japanese player sees so many of these Big Brutes on the board he’ll no doubt call for an immediate Unconditional Surrender!  haha.

At this moment I would guess that the “Alaska” class BattleCruiser’s chances of being produced are good.  And remember, the “Coach” himself said it looked like there might be enough interest in all of these ships to make a 2nd set, too.

And as “Warrior” would say, welcome to the “10-Set club”.  You know, we might call this the 1010 Club", named after the 1010 dock at Pearl Harbor(which was 1,010 feet long) where the USS Oglala was sunk.  The 1010 Club referring to 10 sets of ships made possible by pre-orderring and then 10 sets of ships played with". 
What Do YA’LL Think?  I hereby nominate “Warrior” as President of the “1010 Club”.

“Tall Paul”

Tall Paul and others,  I agree lets call it the USN 1010 Club, that is an excellent idea since we are talking about USN warships and units such as Essex, Montana, Alaska and Midway would have most likely been docked at the 1010 dock.  KNP Welcome to our exclusive club.  When we get around to pre-ordering for set 2 from Coach we will call it the USN 1010 #2 Club. :-D :-D :-D :-D

WARRIOR888

People should start making the values of these potential units on a D12 scale, then make the final selections or you might get a bunch of unusable units.

Its like making the pieces for a game before making the game first. The game concept has to determine the pieces needed to play and their attributes.

I am still wonder what to do with the Marine flame thrower and different Sherman and amphibious Sherman.

All you need is a early, mid and late war unit by type and which types are in the game.

Imperious Leader,

As always, you have a “knack” for going straight to the point and drawing the correct conclusion.  I believe Patton’s quote was “straight for the jugular”.

We’ve been working on this and several other issues for our upcoming game,
Expanded A&A-The Naval Series, Coral Sea & The Solomons Campaign.

It was obvious right from the start that to clear up some conflicts between units we had to adopt a D-12 system.  It also allows some “fine tuning”.

As we speak we’re starting work on the A/D/M/C factors for a D-12 system for every unit OOB and PROPOSED.  Thank you for your previous opinions.  I would be VERY happy if you’d care to express your opinions about the A/D/M/C for our Complete list of units we’re planning for our new game(s).

I’ve just started visiting the “House Rules” section and I wasn’t surprised that I found a lot of simple, logical, and effective opinions there.  Most of them by you.  Don’t get me wrong,…I’m NO brown-noser,…but I do recognize your obvious talent for rules.  If you have time, come on over and help us out(again, I guess).

By the way, not too long ago I read some Fantastic “OIL RULES” that I thought you’d authored.  But after spending the last 2 hours in the House Rules section(I got side-tracked by all the good stuff there) I couldn’t find the OIL RULES,…before my eyes got tired anyway.  Could you please post a “link” for me?  Thanks.

One of your rules I liked was that Tac-Bombers would only get a “boost” if there weren’t any enemy fighters in the combat.  Much SIMPLER, LOGICAL, and EFFECTIVE than the OOB rule.  This is the type of “SLE” rules we want and need for our new game.  Hope to hear from you soon.

“Tall Paul”