Why are the allies so gimped lately? Why transports suck?

@Cow:

Everything gets neglected with aa50 sitting around. Even the ne

Don’t worry, man. At this rate, Axis & Allies 50th (52nd?) Anniversary Second Edition will be out by Christmas.  =D

With all the different unit options coming out recently I can easily see A&A moving to a 12 sided die. It is getting to the point where you need a bigger spread in attack and defend to really create niches for all the different pieces. Especially if you want to incorporate HBG’s or FMG’s pieces.

@MajorTaylor87:

With all the different unit options coming out recently I can easily see A&A moving to a 12 sided die. It is getting to the point where you need a bigger spread in attack and defend to really create niches for all the different pieces. Especially if you want to incorporate HBG’s or FMG’s pieces.

The more complexity you add, the harder it gets for new players.

@MistuhJay:

@Cromwell_Dude:

Agreed. I never can go back to Classic or Revised. I am curious though if I will prefer 1942.2 over 1942.1.

Heh, I feel slightly guilty that my copy of Revised (all I had the last 8 years) is being neglected due to 1942.2.

it’s worthless now, bro, just as 42 2nd will be the minute 52anny hit’s!

Lol! Maybe we should establish an annual moment of silence for all the obsolete versions of AA we’ve accumulated over the years?

“Ah, Classic. How I knew ye…”

Our group plays Classic quite often, Anniversary has been getting the most plays lately but quite often, especially after a bout of Global, we’ll play Classic to cleanse the palate.

Your right, historically speaking transports were armed, but from what I can tell only with AA guns.  So how about transports defend on a 1, but can only hit aircraft?  And you still have to select transports last as casualties.  Transports weren’t built to take combat hits, they were built to carry people, and equipment, and to be protected by other ships.

I like that Transports can defend at 1 but hits cannot be assigned to air units, pretty cool.

@Lozmoid:

I like that Transports can defend at 1 but hits cannot be assigned to air units, pretty cool.

You mean can be assigned to only air units?  Transports taking out any other sort of naval vessel just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.  I never understood how a transport with some AA guns could ever take out a destroyer, let alone a battleship.  MAYBE a sub if it was on the surface, but not if it’s submerged which i would think it would be if it was either attacking or about to be attacked.

Sean, you’re absolutely right - I meant “Transports can defend at 1 but hits cannot be assigned to sea units”. My bad.  :-)

@Cow:

Transports can ram into other ships, historically they have done so as well. Though I could only find instances of transports ramming into subs.

In all fairness to transports, they aren’t exactly in big naval showdowns such as midway/wake etc. They are equipped with AA guns and they can ram into stuff.

[sarcasm]Someone call up Larry Harris!  We need to get the ship ramming rule into the next revision!   :-D [/sarcasm]

You’re absolutely right, i don’t ever recall seeing a mass of transports taking out ships on big naval showdowns like midway/wake.  Making you choose transports last i think keeps transports out of major sea battles, which is the way it should be.

@Lozmoid:

Sean, you’re absolutely right - I meant “Transports can defend at 1 but hits cannot be assigned to sea units”. My bad. � :-)

The only thing i can think of why this might not make it into the game, or why it didn’t make it into the game, is because it almost requires a completely extra step during combat.  You have opening fire with subs, then you’d have regular combat, then you’d have transport fire that gets assigned to only air units.

@Cromwell_Dude:

I could never go back to Classic or Revised with their transport rules. I understand your frustration. However, imagine the frustration of some one attacking a battleship and destroyer with 10 transports as fodder. People got tired of other people ‘abusing’ the transport rule/purchase. How about some one create a poll for this topic? Revised transport rules or 1942 transport rules?

I definitely think transports need to be selected last.  That keeps transports from being used as cannon fodder for BB’s n such.  But giving no defense to transports is one step too far.  The previous rule has already fixed the problem, why add insult to injury?

@Cow:

Tanks shoot down fighters in this game… Yet transports cannot ram into ships.

I see your point.  So give transports a defense of 1 against everything, but keep the rule that they have to be selected last as targets in naval battles?

@Cow:

Less rules. Transports defend @ 1 and can be taken as casualties like everything else.

There was nothing wrong with the old transport rule, sure some people hated getting hit by a 1 roll (Bayder), but it did not make the transport rule bad.

Also it allows germany to do sea lion and actually be a threat to london, so you might see some different games here and there.

I hate the new tank cost being 6. Tanks are bad units for the price, hell even mechanized infantry @ 4 cost attacking at 1 is better on offense than tanks (3 mech > 2 tank because of cannon fodder factor by about 6%)

Transports being used as cannon fodder just doesn’t make sense.  Making you select them last in combat resolves that issue.  Let them continue to defend on a 1, but you have to select them last as targets.

@Cow:

I don’t know man, the only reason the new transport rules worked in aa50 1941 was because the board was setup so the allies had no chance in the pacific and could make big things happen in europe.

aa50 1942, Russia usually fell to germany.

However it is fair to note, I seldom saw sea lion in aa50 and when I did, it only worked against new players.

So really, the new transport rules only worked in aa50 1941. But that is because the allies were setup properly.

In this version the allies get screwed and they can’t make big things happen like they could in aa50… so obviously they need to start with more units. Perhaps east usa needs to have a cruiser added on top, additional inf for egypt, another inf for london. Then maybe the allies can get poppin sooner.

I think adding additional starting units for either US or UK is definately a better option than to drop the transports take hits last rule.  Or possibly reducing the number of starting naval units for Germany, like drop that second sub from SZ9.