“Gang”,
Expanded A&A-The Naval Series
Coral Sea & The Solomon Campaign
Discussion Topic-Supply & Logistics
Hey Gang,
1. I couldn’t agree more that we NEED a “supply & logistics” segment to our game series. And it should play a very important part, too…ESPECIALLY in the Solomons Campaign.
2. I’m pretty sure when I made my List of Ships that I listed an AK Freighter, AO Oiler, and an AP Transport(personell) just for this reason.
3. Any way you “Slice and Dice” the Guadalcanal combat,…it was Still a Battle of Supplies, and their Use, Destruction or Protection. Armys couldn’t move or fight, Aircraft couldn’t fly, nor Ships sail very long WITHOUT their SUPPLY!
4A. I think the addition of an AO Oiler into the games’ unit mix allows a wonderful opportunity for us to add a needed (yet SIMPLE) logistical support system, especially for the Naval Ships. Not only would you have to have enough oil income(see below) to support a certain number of ships,…but you would also have to see that the oil reaches the ships every certain amount of turns or they run out(of Oil).
4B. Some time ago, I read a series of posts where the “Imperious Leader” was speaking on the virtues of the inclusion of OIL in an A&A game. I will describe it to the best of my memory and I’m certainly paraphasing here. It was a GREAT piece(as all of his I’ve seen so far have been).
The main points of his Oil strategy were that each gamepiece on the board required a certain number of “Oil points”(OPs) to be SUPPORTED. Ships consumed the most Oil, Aircraft less, and Land units the very least. Thus the point was you couldn’t simply build 20 Battleships unless you had the necessary Oil Points to SUPPORT them.
The Oil Points you of course earn through conquering map territories that produce Oil Points each turn. It made a LOT of sense in having to balance your military power to your ability to supply them(with oil). It could also lead to some great clashes all over the map(for Oil) instead of just the obvious strategic places of battle. I had made a mental note that it was a GREAT SYSTEM and something we should definately consider. I’ll look for it again,…and/or maybe we can get IL himself to describe it to us.
4C. And if I remember correctly it had also been discussed about using the “Oil Derricks” out of a game called “Wildcatter” to be the on-board representations of the Oil producing locations. They were very good looking pieces and I remember the “Coach” of HBG had posted a pic of them. These Oil Derricks were able to be damaged by combat actions just like Air Bases, Naval Bases, or Industrial Complexes.
5. I think that a Supply & Logistics System should be a MUST for ALL of the games in our Expanded Naval Series but especially for this Solomons game. This is EXACTLY the type of EXPASION of CAPABILITIES that I had foretold of if we could get the necessary units produced(AO Oilers in this case).
Some of the primary considerations that we need to have about our supply system is that it should be:
SIMPLE, LOGICAL, and FAST in gameplay time. I think the “supply markers” from the Guadalcanal game would be worth investigating for the supplies other than OIL, although my only concern here is if they are available. I was planning to modify the “Air Base Markers” from that game to make some 3-D Air Bases for my Global game, but after I bought 26 of them, the “Coach” said he was out of them and didn’t know if he’d be able to get any more.
I am glad ya’ll are beginning to express your ideas and opinions more readily now. I have been trying to hold back to a great deal because I was really trying to help concentrate all of our discussions into one or two ideas at a time. I now can see that ya’ll aren’t afraid of openning several “cans of worms at the same time”(as the old Southern expression goes). That’s great and I think it will only aid in the creative process. Although this thread will obviously grow to an extensive length before we are done, I think the “discussion topic” notes will allow us to skip all over the place and then go back and find what we need later, wherever they end up in this thread. And by the way, thanks for the topic notes you put on your post, Warrior, it will no doubt help doing this.
Some other topics for discussion:
Did ya’ll catch the small “blip” about “Battle Results Transfer” that I had posted sometime ago? I’ll find it so we might discuss it further and see if ya’ll think it merits inclusion in the game or not.
Tigerman, I think I have an good idea of what you mean by General and Admiral Cards, but would you mind telling me the specifics of these? Also, I saw that the “Coach” was asking the A&A.Org forum members the other day about where he might be able to have some custom cards made.
Also, I think that everyone else is now beginning to realize all of the distict possibilities for Combat that can occur simply through the games Naval Support. Convoy Interdiction and/or the Total commitment of your Naval Surface and Naval Air Forces to hopefully ensure that a needed convoy gets through. This (supply system) and many other types of naval functions can and probably will lead to a great many Naval battles, and some will be HUGE ! That is only one of the many reasons I think that a SOLOMONS CAMPAIGN game would be a fantastic arena to show off all of the new CAPABILITIES of our “Expanded A&A Naval Series”.
Well, I just get more and more excited about all of the possibilites of this Expanded gaming system the more I think of it. I CAN’T WAIT !
As I Say,…What ?Do YA’LL Think???
“Tall Paul”