Just found out about this game today.  Super excited to see how it looks in the Kickstarter!

Is there an estimation on how long a game is supposed to take?  Should I be expecting Global 1940 levels?

I know it has been commented upon at some point that it seems somewhat silly that plane dogfights have such a significant impact for ground battles.  A one on one plane duel to the finish dictates which stack of artillery gets to roll at 4, which is a big deal, especially in large scale fights on the western front.

I’m wondering if anyone has done any significant play-testing with having planes follow the same ‘one attack per turn’ rule that ground forces are limited to?  Within these rules I would say that only in the case of one side having all their planes destroyed does the other side then get the artillery bonus.  You could also alter it so that whomever has the most planes after one round of combat has the advantage as well.  I’m also considering bumping up the die roll for a hit during these dogfights to 3 in order to speed things up perhaps.  If you stick with a die roll of 2, you could have rather large forces of planes pile up without getting many hits.  Although more surviving planes would make these dogfights more enjoyable during gameplay imo (and you might actually have a plane survive long enough to be considered an ace lol).

Has anyone tried out similar rules that can tell me if it messes up game balance at all?  Thanks!

Things that I would hope the 2nd edition has:
-Updated rules obviously
-Enough pieces to play the game
-More chips!!
These are the major things.  There are a bunch of other things that could be changed but would alter the game.  Really though, shouldn’t the game at least come with enough pieces to play it?  Lots of people have said this already but I’m saying it again because it’s silly.  Germany uses all its infantry in the initial setup and has to improvise in its first buy.  You also run out of chips way too often.  I can live with not providing IPC’s or IPC charts or other cardboard accessories; it sucks, but I can live with it.  Not having enough pieces to play the game you’ve bought without having to struggle for a solution annoys me.  Just give me enough pieces!!

I’m in the middle of a game right now where the Germans attacked the Brit cruiser off Canada with the two subs and ignored the Brit home fleet.  The effect was an arms race between Germany and Britain through round four (which is where we stand now).  The other effect is that Britain has split its income between India and Britain and has made no lasting territory gains in Ottoman lands because of it.  Germany spent too much money on naval (imo) and has suffered on the Western Front because of it.  Russia can still be forced into a revolution if they push all out with the pieces in place between AH, Germany, and the Ottomans.  I can’t say whether or not any of this is conclusive since my group, including myself, are all very new to this game, but ignoring the Brit home fleet could be a viable strat if you play your cards right…

@Gargantua:

The only time I could ever see this matter, is if you were playing World Domination, and America was all that was left of the allies, standing alone.

Then you would bankrupt them and win.

As written though… What a waste.

If you’re playing world domination however, and only America was left, what would you be convoying exactly since there is no one left for America to trade with or ship to  :-P

Therefore I see no scenario where USW is viable except as an afterthought.  Within the confines of the current game, how do make USW worthwhile?  Making the Allies lose more IPC’s doesn’t fix the fact that the subs can’t survive long enough to do anything.  How do you make the subs more survivable then?  Force the use of cruisers to be present to destroy subs?  Make it so battleships can’t hit subs?  Have a dice roll before combat that determines whether or not the sub is discovered and therefore able to be hit?  These are all ideas I’ve seen elsewhere, and the last one intrigues me the most.

@Krieghund:

1.  Yes.
2.  Yes.
3.  Yes.
4.  Yes.
5.  No.
6.  No.

In respect to the answer to “1”, I thought the U.S. could NEVER load transports before being at war?

Yeah, but how the heck do you actually pull it off?  There are usually Allied ships blocking subs from getting to the Atlantic through the English Channel, and going around Scotland takes two turns to get anywhere.  Other than the the setup subs, it seems fairly futile to me to actually try and do USW.  The OOB rules make this fairly painless for Allies anyway.  You have to adopt the convoy rules from Global to even consider attempting USW, and even then I still wouldn’t.  Naw, my German fleet stays as a defensive force from what I’ve seen so far in my games.

Do defending artillery in an amphibious assault always hit on a three or less during their first dice roll, or is that increased to a 4 if they have air superiority?

Also, those first hits by defending artillery DO NOT get to roll dice when the attacker rolls correct?  Hits by battleship bombardment DO get to roll defensive dice right?

Thanks!

@Krieghund:

@ryguy:

1. Can you load troops from a contested territory onto transports?

Yes, but they may only be offloaded into a territory that you either had units in or controlled at the beginning of the turn, or they may remain at sea.

@ryguy:

If so, can you load troop from a contested territory and then offload them right back into the same territory to get your bombardment bonus (assuming there is at least one battleship present)?

You could put them back where they loaded from, but it would serve no purpose.  Offloading into a contested territory is an amphibious reinforcement, not an amphibious assault, so there would be no bombardment.

So whenever you offload troops from transports into a territory that was contested at the beginning of the turn and then proceed to attack, you will not get a bombardment?  You only get a bombardment when you amphibiously attack a territory that was previously uncontested?  What if it’s contested by an ally but you have no troops present?  Do you still not get a bombardment because it’s contested, even though you don’t have troops present?

Thank you to all the veterans and soldiers out there; past, present, and the fallen.  You are real heroes.

A few questions about rules:

1. Can you load troops from a contested territory onto transports?  If so, can you load troop from a contested territory and then offload them right back into the same territory to get your bombardment bonus (assuming there is at least one battleship present)?
2. Is there any restriction of naval movement through the dardanelles straight?  Are both sides free the move through there no matter who owns the attached territories?  Of course enemy ships and naval mines still apply, just want to make sure the straights aren’t completely closed to the allies.
3. If you are playing with the Russian Revolution rules, and the Central Powers manage to force it to happen, does that mean that Moscow can no longer count at a capital towards victory?
4. Just to be sure, you can load ANY combination of infantry, artillery, tanks, and planes on transports correct?

That’s all I can think of right now.  Thanks in advance!