JX36 - The Storm of Steel -

- Storm of Iron -
JX36

-Introduction-

-Features-

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=41879.0

- Reading the Charts -

Page 1, State of Nation
National Homeland, Surrender Conditions, Treaties and Alliances, including special treaties that come about if conditions are met.

Whether a Nation can declare war against another and under what conditions. Lend-Lease and to whom they can lend-lease too.

Lend-Lease works a little differently too, and can do things like turn a nation democratic or fascist by supporting rebels (hard to do).

Page 2, Important Rules and VP

This page talks about turn order, victory points, and the important new rules introduced into the game.

• Dynamic Air War

• Delayed Deployment

• Shipping Base Hopping

• Contested Territory

• Army/Air Units vs. Air Units

• Peacetime Naval Intent

• Withdrawing and Surrendering

• Partisans, Uprisings, & Civil War

• Dynamic Supply

• Generals & Admirals

Page 3, National Reference Sheet

Those first two pages can be read and placed aside, they are not used every turn. The following pages are your bread and butter.

Income, Oil, Oil Expense. Special National Advantages and also Events.
Events are activated via certain conditions being met; like the loss of a territory, or the presence of enemies or the lack thereof.
The special national advantages are things like; the North-West Passage, or the French building a Railroad through the Sahara (an actual plan in place).

Lastly, Unit Experience. The Germans, veterans of Case Red, launch into Barbarossa with a few units with an advantage of +1 to all values.

Units gain experience for each casualty sustained in its class, meaning that if I lost 2 infantry corps, the survivors are merged with other corps, and have a chance to increase the experience of the merged unit. This can be applicable to defenders as well, as under theses rules units can retreat.

Page 4, Industry, Infrastructure and Fortifications

That was the meat, this is the bones.
Reference sheet for building a multitude of structures, from factories to nuclear reactors to minefields and armored trains.
Ever wonder about playing a GW36 game using all the pieces HBG has to offer? This is it.

Scattered throughout this page are additional rules related to the things on the page, for instance; Minefields, Moving Supplies & Uranium, Naval Shipyard Guns and Submarine Pens.

Page 5, Land Units
A standard sheet of units and their capabilities

• Yellow Highlighter means things of significance, the key idea, the best feature.

• Green Highlighter means abilities or values unlocked by a technological research.

• Words in bold generally are another way of highlighting key points or ideas.

The icons heading the column vary from type to type. Some refer to anti-aircraft values, other shore bombardment, others hit points. Its mostly intuitive but I have heard some crazy suggestions.

In the top Militia unit first column left to right.
Hit Value against Aircraft, Ground Hit Value with Artillery Support, Ground Attack Value, Ground Defense Value, Move Points, and Cost.

As you can see, lots and lots of info with additional rules like Maximum Combat Rounds, Blitz, Flanking, Fade, Impact etc.

Page 6, Air & Sea

I would say I like this page the most, because if we just played with this page in GW36, forgetting all the rest, GW would be so much better in my opinion.

Fighter column icons left to right:
Hit Value against Air, Hit Value against Ground, Hit Value against Sea, Hit Value against Structures, CAP range, Movement Points, and Cost.

Key rules here too, Unsupported Airforce, Scramble, Night-Bombing, Combat Air Patrol.

Moving on to Ships.
Destroyers column icons left to right.
Hit Value against Air, Hit Value against Ground (Shore Bombardment), Hit Value against Sea, Hitpoints, Ship Operational Range Points, Movement Points, Cost.

Again the rules are written here that relate to these units.

Page 7, Technology

Alright so here we have a list of all available technology, I think each of them is unique in its way and desirable, without being ridiculously overpowered.

It also touches on research sharing and capturing research stations.

Page 8, Research Chart

Technology in JX36 works differently then in A&A and GW36.
It always bothers me that missed rolls are just a waste, when you’ve actually just discovered another way to NOT make a Atomic Bomb. Progress!!!
So in this version we just accumulate points to a certain value and achieve breakthrough.

The chart can be a little confusing, but essentially you pay 2 IPP to roll for research, the number you roll gets written into the appropriate line, and each additional roll gets written into the next column over.

Now keep in mind that this chart is based around three turns per the year, and technology can be begun to be researched even on turn 1 of the game.
Even then the cost is too high and i plan to reduce the cost slightly.

Example, Atomic technology it takes 80 points to achieve breakthrough, on a D12 an average roll is 6.5 points, thereby it will take roughly 12 turns to complete on average.
That’s where I’ve put the thick white line, of course, some people will be lucky and finish sooner, others later, so there is plenty of boxes to write in on the right side of the thick line. It functions as a guide so that people don’t complain about how the dice are against them and will see that on average they will get breakthrough roughly when they hit that line.

Once technology or the doctrine is achieved, you check the box and move on.

Page 9, Setup Chart

Nothing fancy here and generally not completed, I rigorously studied the military deployments of 1936 and jotted it down, but it never made it into digital form.

That is all Gentlemen, I hope you have a look and that it tickles your braincells.
I think that there is genuinely some fantastic work in this, with lots of research done and cool ideas.

I particularly like the National Bonuses and each nations Special Advantages and Special Units.

It was my baby for the longest time, but now I need to put it behind me and do my bit into making HBG into an more enjoyable and amazing game.

Take care all, and contact me if you have cool ideas for HBG.

Cheers!
Jinx

-JX36 ANZAC-

JX36 ANZAC.compressed.pdf

-JX36 Canada-

JX36 Canada.compressed.pdf

-JX36 France-

JX36 France.compressed.pdf

-JX36 Germany-

JX36 Germany.compressed.pdf

-JX36 Great Britain-

JX36 Great Britain.compressed.pdf

-JX36 Italy-

JX36 Italy.compressed.pdf

-JX36 USA-

JX36 United States of America.compressed.pdf

-JX36 USSR-

JX36 USSR.compressed.pdf

@KingKuba:

I really appreciate the time and detail you put into this project, it looks great! I took a look at the German reference sheet just to get an idea of what you came up with and I think what you have is pretty cool. I liked the use of German in the reference sheet :wink:, I am currently studying German at my university. Hopefully more people will look at this and like what you have done and maybe even start their own modification projects. I have been figuring out ways to modify base GW36 myself over the past half year. Anyways, thanks for putting this stuff up good luck with your projects at HBG!

Thank you KingKuba, you are too kind.
Does the German makes sense? Hehe, google translate was my friend.

@Munck:

First, I want to applause you for a job well done. I’ve read through the German sheet, and there are many very interesting concepts that I personally would like to see in GW1.3 :-)

Thank you for your applause sir. I appreciate it.  :-)
I too hope to see some of the features in GW 1.3, and some things I’d like to see better.
Canada for instance, I think what I got going will be way better then what I have for JX36.

A couple of questions:

• Compared to a regular game, how much longer does it take to play using the JX36 rules?

The game takes a little longer, to be sure. Currently I have JX36 set to three turns per year, which I think was a mistake. It would only require recalculating the tech charts to switch it back, but that was going to happen anyway.
But that point aside, a two turns per year game with competent players will finish in a slightly longer game.
It can go faster especially if players take advantage of the turn order. If you notice, certain nations can go simultaneously, like FEC, ANZAC, and Communist China can go when Germany is going. The Delayed Deployment of Production Rule can also be taken advantage of, with players planning their purchases in advance and taking less time on their board studying the game and planning their purchases for the end of their turn.
In short, it depends on the players and their familiarity, but all things being equal, probably longer.

• Taking the new countries into consideration, what are the ideal number of players? (why the new nations?)

The new nations are an idea we where toying with, and also in anticipation of the HBG Minor Nations Expansions. If Canada could be its own nation, why not Romania?
It also would promote the usage of Commanders (being able to control troops of an allied nation with your commander).

But the ideal number of players…I would say 6. In my experience the playing the new nations was very quick. You buy like one unit, move an army, perhaps combat, and its done. A few minutes at best.

• In the German pdf, Bottom of page 3, you refer to ‘Canada Upgrades’. Is that a typo?

Damn, typo. I’ll need to fix that.

• Has it been play tested by other people besides your own group?

To my knowledge, JX36 has not been played in a game without my attendance. That being said, my group was consistently evolving for several years and then as of 2018 became defunct. So I would say about a dozen people have played versions of JX36, this version is 5.2.
Also, note that I am missing a few nations, Japan, China, FEC, and Communist China.
These ones where “finished” for the most part, but lacking graphics, (Japan still has German artwork, etc.).

Are you involved in the updating for v. 1.3 at HBG?

Yes, and no.
My Projects are:

1. The Canada Expansion, which I really like.
2. Map Design Suggestions and Criticisms. (So far: Canada, Tundra, South America, Tobruk and the next one: South East Asia Sea Zones.)

As for rules for v1.3.
Only a little. When I find issues with the game I write an article and email it to Will, with points stressing how it could be exploited or how I think it could be fixed.
But currently, no, not much impact beyond that.

Cheers Gents!

@zack7979:

This is blows my mind. Keep up the good work. What about Japan sheets?? Just asking. Keep up the good work. What software do you use to make your books? Thank you so very much.

Thanks Zack,

Japan, FEC, China and CCCP are written, but without artwork and look very bare boned, so i did not upload them.
I use Microsoft Word.

@zack7979:

Could you send me copies I would like to see them please…

Sorry Zack, not at this time. Perhaps when I improve them.