Visual reference sheets, helpful when learning the game.

https://youtu.be/Of1091g_B6c

https://youtu.be/7RUUSa-30-o
https://youtu.be/QO_R3KbTpyo
https://youtu.be/2y7jq50AiEE

I just can’t wrap my brain around Maritime Air Patrol. Could someone please answer these questions?

1. Do I even need to put my British Seaplane out on Maritime Air Patrol? If it sits on land and waits for a sub to end it’s turn within 2 spaces, I can then use my Seaplane to fly out during it’s combat movement, announce MAP, and immediately attack the sub. If I have a Destroyer within range, it could sail over and help with the attack. So why place the Seaplane out on Maritime Air Patrol in the first place?

(I think I must be wrong on this, but in our current game the British have Seaplanes and a few Destroyers ins the British Midlands, Gibraltar, and Newfoundland, and have nearly all of the Atlantic covered. The German subs had to retreat toward South Africa to go raiding.)

2. If my Seaplane is out on Maritime Air Patrol, on a given turn can I move it to another sea zone to patrol, assuming that sea zone is within it’s range? If so, how far can it move?

Thanks.

The Scramble rule states:
“Airbases allows its owner to send up to three Fighters into combat in adjacent zones where it has at least one Defending unit.”

Can I Scramble more than 3 total Fighters if those Fighters are coming from multiple adjacent land zones with Airbases?

I’m trying to cover my 4 German Major Factories with 6 German Fighters from strategic bombing from the UK. If I place 1 Fighter in each land zone, and 3 in Western Germany, which is adjacent to the other 3 zones, if Berlin is attacked, I could Scramble all 6 planes - 1 from Berlin, 1 from S.Germany, 1 from E.Germany, and all 3 from W.Germany?

(Sorry if this has been answered. When I search, I get a bunch of questions about only scrambling from islands, which must be a rule from a previous version of the game…)

I guess the question is whether Air Transports operate the same as a Naval Transport, except that rather than their movement immediately ending when they offload, they can use the remainder of their movement to land.

I see 3 different ways they could potentially operate. (This is all non-combat transporting troops.)

1. Air Transports can only move from Zone A to Zone B. The Infantry must be in the same zone as the Air Transport at the start of the turn, and ends the turn in the same zone as the Air Transport.
   (This matches the rules as I understand them for their Combat Movement. Once Air Tranports land, they cannot take off again on the same turn. During Combat Movement, paratroopers are parachuting out of the plane, so they’re not landing.)

2. They can move from Zone A to Zone B, leave the Infantry in Zone B, and then use their remaining movement to land in any friendly zone. The Infantry must start the turn in the same zone as the Air Transport.

3. Air Transports may takeoff and land as many times as they like during their Non-Combat movement, but can only transport a single Infantry during their turn. Move from Zone A to Zone B. Pick up an Infantry. Move to Zone C. Drop off the Infantry. End their turn in Zone D.

or, how about this.
4) Britain is trying to stream Infantry into France. Air Transport begins it’s turn in London along with 2 Infantry. Air Transport picks up first Infantry, flies it across the channel to Normandy. First Infantry remains in Normandy while Air Transport flies back to London, picks up the second Infantry unit, flies back and ends it’s turn on Normandy alongside the 2 Infantry.
[and if this is correct, could they do something similar during a Combat Movement, dropping 2 different Paratroopers into combat in the same zone, or even different zones, as long as the Air Transport has enough movement to get back and forth and land…]

I was initially thinking Option #3 is correct, but it would be nice to have some official clarification.

Over Covid I purchased this game, and decided to paint the pieces. It’s an enormous job. I find painting to be very relaxing, and the board looks fantastic once it starts getting populated with painted pieces. I recently posted a few videos on some game guides I made, and when I get around to it I was going to make a video or two on what I’ve learned about painting. Here’s a link to one of the videos about my colour coding for the game pieces:
https://youtu.be/QO_R3KbTpyo
I am not an expert on painting. But when I started this process, I purchased a set of paints from a company called Army Painter. I have a few paints from Vallejo, and I hear Citadel make excellent paints. I used to paint game pieces with cheaper paints from Michaels, but the difference in quality is very noticeable. The cheaper paints are often a little chalky, and it goes on thicker, so you lose a lot of detail - especially on sculpts as small as A&A. If you’re going to invest the time to do all this painting, you owe it to yourself to invest a few extra bucks on some good paint.
When I first started, I was priming everything in white, grey or black. I now prime all the pieces in the base colour of the country I’m painting. All of these paint companies have spray primers that are exactly matched to their bottled paints. Priming with the nation’s base colour saves me hours.
I usually am doing multiple colours on each sculpt. The more different colours on the pieces, the longer the process, so I try to keep it to two or three colours per unit. And I will paint like an assembly line. For instance, I recently did a bunch of Soviet vehicles. I did 4 or 5 sculpts of mech infantry, motorized infantry, light, medium and heavy tanks, and Katyushas. So I sprayed the bottoms with black. Then I flipped them and sprayed the tops and sides with forrest green (my Soviet base colour). I used gun metal for tracks, dark grey for tires, desert yellow for the truck canvas, and I added a touch of red to each vehicle just to make them stand out as Soviet since my USA base colour is a different shade of green.
I highly recommend looking into washes and maybe even dry brushing. Those two techniques are relatively quick and easy, but will change your units from OK to spectacular. Here’s a photo of a few vehicles I finished yesterday, and a couple artillery that I’ve only base-coated. The base coat looks very flat compared to the vehicles with the dark wash. And the better the sculpt, the better the wash looks (i.e. any pieces I’ve purchased from HBG look fantastic, any pieces original to my A&A games look pretty good.)

My final step is to spray the pieces with a matte varnish so the paint doesn’t rub off. Ultimately I’d like to add decals, but that’s a challenge I’m not quite ready to tackle…

@noneshallpass I’d love to see some photos of your sculpts. Have you posted them anywhere? I’m using A&A Global pieces, which have different sculpts for each power. But for units like Tank Destroyers that aren’t in A&A, I purchased a bunch of a single sculpt and painted them for each power. I do colour code the tips of the barrels because there are so many different tank-looking vehicles, but you’re right, you learn to recognize them pretty quickly.

And I’m curious where you purchase sculpts. I’m looking for cavalry in particular. Gurkhas and sea planes, too.

@aldrahill Actually, I downloaded their map and printed out some sheets zoomed in on certain regions for help in planning moves. I was just working on coordinating my first two moves for Japan, and find it easier to plan on a map of the region than to simply write out the moves. I didn’t need a super high quality version of the map, but it’s helpful to see terrain and borders clearly.

@bretters I don’t know. I guess it’s just funny if the Infantry originates from the same zone as the rest of his comrades. You put him on a boat and immediately have him get off the boat so another boat can take a pot shot.

But now that I think about it, it’s probably more along the lines of the main invading force is taking a land route while this Infantry is either trying to flank or create a diversion from another point of attack. You are correct - not gamey.

It’s a bit gamey, but when Japan is taking out coastal Chinese territories, we will always put one Infantry on a boat and amphibiously assault just so we can also get the single Bombardment roll. Even if the Infantry is originating from the same territory as the land force invading. And only one Infantry so we never suffer double-casualties. I think this is allowed?

@aldrahill Try this:
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/457488019963940596/2AEB7BC1289AC76C15E7F38F74FB3F2031DD1832/

We were able to cover many of the units with our A&A 1940 Europe/Pacific sets. We used A&A WWI units for militia, Coastal Defense Ships, Coastal Subs, etc. and Risk units for a bunch of other units like Cavalry and China CCP. And we have some translucent markers to identify units like Medium Bombers, Mountain Infantry, Light Cruisers, etc. Since we happened to own those 4 games, we were able to start playing after only purchasing the map.

Really important was to have a white board with a list of all of the units, and what sculpt and/or marker we were using to represent it.

Since then, we’ve purchased some units (like Tank Destroyers and Self-Propelled Artillery). I find the board is much easier to decipher, and the game is much more enjoyable, when there are unique sculpts for each unit.

A few posts up, Trig put the link to the suggested list of pieces. You just have to keep in mind that that list is what you would need to never run out of pieces. Needing 16 Infantry units for KMT China or Communist China I suppose is possible, but not in any game I’ve ever played.

If I wanted to put a new set together right now from scratch, I would take that suggested units list, invest in a few cans of spray paint, try to find some used A&A and Risk games, and supplement with the cheapest units for sale on HBG. For instance, https://www.historicalboardgaming.com/United-Kingdom_c_242.html has Infantry, Battleships, Bombers and Fighters for $.10 apiece. Japanese Subs cost $.04 each. And in their sale section, you can find collections like https://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Battle-Pieces--Allies-Wrong-Color-x5_p_3837.html where you can get some of the non-A&A units like Medium Bombers, Tank Destroyers, Motorized Infantry, and Self-Propelled Artillery for $.29 apiece. All of these costs will definitely add up, but you could make a pretty good set.

Seems to me HBG could sell sets of units based on what other games you have…

@noneshallpass I’d love to see some photos of your sculpts. Have you posted them anywhere? I’m using A&A Global pieces, which have different sculpts for each power. But for units like Tank Destroyers that aren’t in A&A, I purchased a bunch of a single sculpt and painted them for each power. I do colour code the tips of the barrels because there are so many different tank-looking vehicles, but you’re right, you learn to recognize them pretty quickly.

And I’m curious where you purchase sculpts. I’m looking for cavalry in particular. Gurkhas and sea planes, too.

Over Covid I purchased this game, and decided to paint the pieces. It’s an enormous job. I find painting to be very relaxing, and the board looks fantastic once it starts getting populated with painted pieces. I recently posted a few videos on some game guides I made, and when I get around to it I was going to make a video or two on what I’ve learned about painting. Here’s a link to one of the videos about my colour coding for the game pieces:
https://youtu.be/QO_R3KbTpyo
I am not an expert on painting. But when I started this process, I purchased a set of paints from a company called Army Painter. I have a few paints from Vallejo, and I hear Citadel make excellent paints. I used to paint game pieces with cheaper paints from Michaels, but the difference in quality is very noticeable. The cheaper paints are often a little chalky, and it goes on thicker, so you lose a lot of detail - especially on sculpts as small as A&A. If you’re going to invest the time to do all this painting, you owe it to yourself to invest a few extra bucks on some good paint.
When I first started, I was priming everything in white, grey or black. I now prime all the pieces in the base colour of the country I’m painting. All of these paint companies have spray primers that are exactly matched to their bottled paints. Priming with the nation’s base colour saves me hours.
I usually am doing multiple colours on each sculpt. The more different colours on the pieces, the longer the process, so I try to keep it to two or three colours per unit. And I will paint like an assembly line. For instance, I recently did a bunch of Soviet vehicles. I did 4 or 5 sculpts of mech infantry, motorized infantry, light, medium and heavy tanks, and Katyushas. So I sprayed the bottoms with black. Then I flipped them and sprayed the tops and sides with forrest green (my Soviet base colour). I used gun metal for tracks, dark grey for tires, desert yellow for the truck canvas, and I added a touch of red to each vehicle just to make them stand out as Soviet since my USA base colour is a different shade of green.
I highly recommend looking into washes and maybe even dry brushing. Those two techniques are relatively quick and easy, but will change your units from OK to spectacular. Here’s a photo of a few vehicles I finished yesterday, and a couple artillery that I’ve only base-coated. The base coat looks very flat compared to the vehicles with the dark wash. And the better the sculpt, the better the wash looks (i.e. any pieces I’ve purchased from HBG look fantastic, any pieces original to my A&A games look pretty good.)

My final step is to spray the pieces with a matte varnish so the paint doesn’t rub off. Ultimately I’d like to add decals, but that’s a challenge I’m not quite ready to tackle…

@linkler

I only have a couple of the expansions. I made reference sheets for the Elite Fighter Squadrons. Helpful to be able to see the stats and to mark which units have been introduced. I don’t own the other expansions you mentioned.

I encourage you to try to make some. I use Adobe Photoshop - it’s not terribly difficult once you get the hang of it. Kind of fun, actually, especially searching around for the images you want to use.

@ghetty Sorry. Yes, in the description of each of the video are the downloadable files. There are National Reference Sheets for each power, a Calendar with events, an IPP Tracker with starting and wartime income trackers, Unit Guides for Land, Naval, Air, and Facilities, and a reference for Peacetime Income Increases and Terrain.

@noneshallpass Yes, video in the description.