Elite Infantry

@Young:

This is a hybrid unit inspired by G40B’s (Global 1940 Balanced) Marine unit…

NEW ELITE INFANTRY UNIT

Cost = 5 IPCs

Attack @1 (@2 during amphibious assaults on islands, but not supported by artillery)
Defend @2

Airborne assaults
During combat movement, up to 2 elite infantry units may launch from any friendly operational airbase to conduct an airborne assault up to 3 spaces away. These spaces are counted as if an air unit were to take off from the launch point, and drop them into a hostile territory. Paratroopers may only be used if the hostile territory has at least 1 enemy land unit, and the operation is supported by either a ground attack, and/or amphibious assault.

Amphibious assaults
Elite infantry may be loaded onto Cruisers and Battleships at a capacity of 1 per ship, as well as regular transports with the same capacity rules as oob (1 elite infantry = 1 regular infantry). During amphibious assaults, elite infantry attack @2 but are not supported by artillery, nor do Cruisers and/or Battleships get bombardments when unloading elite infantry.

Not bad. Not bad at all. For what its worth, battleship/cruisers retain their bombard abilities in g40b when unloading marines–the marines hit the shore via landing craft after all. Interestingly, the US Marine Corps has been extremely vocal in opposing the decommissioning of battleships, for their Naval Surface Fire Support abilities (source: https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/marines-lose-battleships-firepower). There doesn’t seem to be any compelling reason (historical or gameplay) to deny them the benefit of shore bombardment, which is part of the fun!

@Young:

Understood, so the challenge becomes how to differentiate the same unit with the same color as two separate unit types.

If I would want to test this houserule on tabletop, I would just take a bit of cotton wool from my First Aid kit and put a little bit on the soldiers’ rifles. It’s cheap and stays on as long as you want.

I like it YG!  (With the Naval Bombardment re-included)

I have too much to stuff into my next game.  But I think I’m going to include this into my house rules set as well for the games to come later.  I’ve got an old Risk game with infantry sculpts …. used to use them to represent Neutrals … but now you have me thinking of a new use for them!

@regularkid:

Not bad. Not bad at all. For what its worth, battleship/cruisers retain their bombard abilities in g40b when unloading marines–the marines hit the shore via landing craft after all. Interestingly, the US Marine Corps has been extremely vocal in opposing the decommissioning of battleships, for their Naval Surface Fire Support abilities (source: https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/marines-lose-battleships-firepower). There doesn’t seem to be any compelling reason (historical or gameplay) to deny them the benefit of shore bombardment, which is part of the fun!

Battleships unload shells, not Marines.  The Marines being supported by battleship bombardments come from other ships, not from the battleships themselves.  Battleships don’t carry extensive numbers of Marines and don’t carry landing craft.  And it should be noted that the blast produced by battleship broadsides would make things very uncomfortable – even dangerous – for anyone who tried to do something as tricky as climbing down a scrambling net from the battleship deck to an assault boat.

I think Marc has a good point on this

… I guess I was trying to rationalize it by thinking of a Battle Ship as a “Battle Ship Group”, not just a single piece.  The escort ships are invisible at this scale of a game.  Same for the Cruisers.  In reality, they are probably a group of ships that include all of the screens and escorts necessary for a Battle Ship or Cruiser to function.  Maybe if we use that abstraction it would work??

Also, I really like the way YG’s current rule puts extra importance on Air-Bases.  MAYBE … and this is just a MAYBE, it could be tweaked to state that Battleships and Cruisers can carry 1 of the Elite Infantry when an amphibious attack is launched from an operating NAVAL BASE.

This would do the following:

• Make it easier to justify that the actual Battle Ship and Cruisers are not carrying the troops … but rather the invisible escort ships accompanying them

• Put more importance on gaining and holding territories that have Naval bases.  … and putting more importance on TAC bombing those bases.

This way, his rule gives a very similar importance to bases of operation.  … a KEY factor in WWII strategy.  Both in the European and Pacific theaters.

@Young:

So I’ve been really trying to wrap my head around transitioning marines from Balance Mod over to table top, and from reading comments in this thread, some things have stuck with me… especially CWO Marc’s observations with using big gun ships to transport and unload troops during combat. I’m also concerned with finding different infantry units consistent with the oob units for all nations to represent marines on a table top, and there is a vocal need to incorporate airborne assaults into the game. There is also another problem I see… in order to want all those nickel and dime NOs for the islands in the Pacific and Med… it needs to be relatively easy to fight over them. Now I know 20+ members will argue that Balance Mod is play tested and it works, but that still doesn’t tell me if every player during every game is spending a minimum of 10 IPCs (1 transport and 1 infantry) to take one island worth nothing on their way to getting 5 IPCs with a couple more landings like the first. How many US transports and infantry will be lost trying to secure a 5 IPCs bonus in the Pacific? Anyway, back to the table top…

Instead of incorporating a new physical unit, how about we make the infantry we do have in the box easier to take islands. It’s late and I just came up with this, so bear with me as it’s pretty raw….

Cruisers and Battleships may pick up and drop off 1 of any land unit each during the non-combat movement phase only.
Fully operational naval bases (zero damage) may build up to 1 transport unit each during the mobilize new units phase.
Fully operational airbases (zero damage) may transport up to 2 infantry units each into a hostile territories during the combat movement phase (as per R&D paratrooper rules).

This also makes bases slightly more valuable and therefore more desirable as a bombing target (especially bases on islands).

Balance Mod is play tested and it works (heh).

But “20+ players”? Nay! This omits the dozen+ players that do Balanced in the TripleA gaming lobby! Our ranks are deep and deepening.

As for whether “every player during every game is spending a minimum of 10 IPCs (1 transport and 1 infantry) to take one island worth nothing on their way to getting 5 IPCs with a couple more landings like the first,” the short answer is: The pacific island NOs are contested in the preponderance of games, and they are aggressively pursued in virtually all KJF games. The fact that the League’s top players often go for the island NOs reflects that they’re economically viable.

Turning to your proposal, my comments and questions are in blue:

Cruisers and Battleships may pick up and drop off 1 of any land unit each during the non-combat movement phase only. Battleships carrying tanks and mechs? If battleship borne marines requires a minor suspension of disbelief (i dispute this, but whatevs), battleship borne armored divisions would require a lobotomy-assisted suspension of disbelief.
Fully operational naval bases (zero damage) may build up to 1 transport unit each during the mobilize new units phase. So every undamaged naval base spawns 1 transport per turn at no cost?
Fully operational airbases (zero damage) may transport up to 2 infantry units each into a hostile territories during the combat movement phase (as per R&D paratrooper rules). Is this with all of the attendant OOB rules requiring a supporting ground/amphib invasion? Range of 3 spaces?

My comments in green.

-Cruisers and Battleships may pick up and drop off up to 2 infantry units each during the non-combat movement phase only. Make it 1 infantry, and you might have something.

-Fully operational naval bases (zero damage) may build up to 2 transport units each during the mobilize new units phase. These units are not free of charge, it just gives better placement options for transports which I assume were not the most difficult to build considering that they have zero combat value. Could be good. Cannot reach judgments without play testing.

-Fully operational airbases (zero damage) may launch up to 2 infantry units each into a hostile territory during the combat movement phase (as per R&D paratrooper rules). Yes… up to 3 spaces away, must have supporting ground or amphibious attacking units, and must have at least 1 enemy unit on targeted territory. But the Battle of Crete. . . :(

wasn’t a joke. was a lament over the OOB paradrop rules. … they prevent a historical Battle of Crete, which was a pure air drop operation with no supporting amphib attack. Was Euro Axis’s largest use of paratroopers.

not to nitpick, but to maintain consistency with the OOB rules, I would keep it so that sAirbases and Navalbases are considered fully operational if they have 2 or less damage. Making it different amounts of damage for different functions introduces needless complexity. Just my two cents.