Axis & Allies Global 1940 House Rules Expansion

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@The-Captain

Sweet!

@crsluggo Hi crsluggo,

When British Commandos are supported by artillery in an attack, they attack at “3” - and the artillery at “2” as usual.

After the attack, any surviving Commandos operate under regular infantry rules - but they are still Commandos.

So, during any future attack they (again) attack at “3” - when supported by artillery. Otherwise they attack at “1” as regular infantry - even though they are Commandos.

In other words; the artillery unit is the key.

The same rule applies to US Marines.

Please note: German Waffen-SS infantry units have similar qualities when supported by Waffen-SS Artillery.

@the-captain said in Axis & Allies Global 1940 2nd. House Rules Expansion:

…Some players in our play groups have used online TripleA since september 2020.

We have created a House Rules Basic Expansion - and I believe these rules are implemented in TripleA online. …

Would you ask them to post the file ? I couldn’t find it on map DLs. I’m reading through everything again and while edit will be required for some of the rules, I think it can get close to 90-95%. Maybe 80% edit free.

At any rate, I’m gonna take a crack at it.

@magnum I’m not yet convinced that letting them pick what they want, and potentially the same thing, is a problem. If anything, this will give them the opportunity to try out different strategies, involving research, and see how they work.

@Topmat

AxA has often been called a “beer and pretzels” wargame, I suppose because it is fairly simplistic and available—FOR a wargame. That’s not because AxA is elementary or easily mastered, its because other wargames tend to be even more rules-heavy and detailed, which makes some of them famously and notoriously unplayable. They may have an attractive theme or rules, but the “chit” game era (60s-80s) built up to a crescendo before it burst. PC Computer gaming was a major catalyst for this; the ASL/Avalon Hill/SSI style games BEGGED for a computer to handle some of the more complex calculations, setup, rules etc.

I think AxA has the general appeal and longevity it does precisely because it appeared after this “First Golden Age”, and is not married to overcomplex or overly realistic considerations, its a truly “abstract” wargame, where each step (building, conquering, purchasing, combat, movement) is fairly simple, but all together, they are complex enough to satisfy long-time players while only barely overwhelming the new ones.

And, the fact that AxA doesn’t try to simulate or do everything a wargame possibly COULD do is the very reason why there is enough room left in the game to add more, but that’s not necessarily desirable. If the game was already highly complex, rich and random, it would already have many of the things that people are trying to add to it—but its likely no-one would play it. I think most of the more complex house rules systems for AxA fall into this trap, by pushing the complexity/time investment level out of the Goldilocks zone.

I bought a “political” Avalon Hill chit game in 1992, Republic of Rome (4/4 difficulty rating). When I read the instruction manual, I was blown away-- I understood nothing of what i’d read… until I read it for nearly 2 years. We only played it in college 4 times, and the Republic consistently lost as a group. Its a great game, but its also an example of a highly complex simulation game with a narrow audience from the first era–very few people still play these games because they lack any general following or appeal in the internet age, and have been replaced by computer-style games, like the Total War and Europa Universalis series.

I like the concept. Maybe not so much if I’m the U.S. or Russian player unless there is some option or hope of getting in the war sooner.  But, varying their  entry into the war mixes up each game.

First play test is complete.  Zombies took over half of Asia after starting in the Philippines but then were wiped out shortly after Germany fell and Japan surrendered.  There are a bunch of tweaks and fixes needed to the rules.  The Zs seem formidable at first, but once you get some large stacks attacking them they are easily subdued.  I’ll post here when I have them.