Lets Talk Atomic Bombs!

[Imperious Leader]

look at the bikini atomic test results. Thats the only time they bombed a navy of sitting ships, and these were closely packed in. IN normal fleet movements they sail in different groups and not one big happy target of 50 warships packed in a 5 mile radius.

[Upside-down_Turtle]

Yes, but land units would be much more spread out as well.  Once that first tactical nuke gets dropped on a tank formation, unless the generals are stupid, you want everyone spread out and in heavy camouflage.  Concentrations would be no larger than a battalion.  A company would be ideal.  Gone are the days when whole divisions are given a single strategic objective.   

[Imperious Leader]

IN AA the pieces are ARMY level which is 3-5 corps, which is 3-5 divisions each, which is ect...

These are spread out like 20-100 miles and A bombs don't have a kill zone of 100 miles.

IN AA naval ships are 4-25 warships depending on type.

Look at Midway and show how one bomb is gonna effect all the ships in these various task forces.

[Upside-down_Turtle]

IN AA the pieces are ARMY level which is 3-5 corps, which is 3-5 divisions each, which is ect...

These are spread out like 20-100 miles and A bombs don't have a kill zone of 100 miles.

IN AA naval ships are 4-25 warships depending on type.

Look at Midway and show how one bomb is gonna effect all the ships in these various task forces.

You make your points very well, and I can't argue with them.  Still, based on what you said about land units, shouldn't A-bombs then be unable to affect land units as well, or should it simply be an instant kill of 1 unit of your choice?


Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Nova edition A-Bomb wiped out all units in any territory.  I like this idea.  Yes, it is devastating, almost to the point of being unrealistic (depending on how many actual A-bombs are represented by 1 A-bomb piece).  But I think that's how an A bomb ought to be in an AA game.  Yes, it's kind of a game ender, but it ought to be. 

Besides, with my rules, I could imagine myself as Germany, US gets a nuke, and thinking of ways to deal with it.  I can still shoot bombers down with fighter intercept and AA.  Yes, I'm still effectively screwed, but that's OK.  It's kind of fun that way, and very challenging as well. 


Which brings me to another point.  If a game does have nukes, wouldn't the optimal US strategy be to "Turtle Up" and simply research nukes?  Heck, that's what I would do.     

[Imperious Leader]

For this reason i dont see the A bomb as a 'tactical nuke' I do like the NOVA games idea because its a cool thing to just blow up all the stack with one bomb.

I view these weapons as production killers which wipe out the IPC ( one die is permanent loss)

and 3 dice or 3 dice is one turns loss.

I prefer this:

1 dice normal bomber

2 dice heavy bomber

3 dice heavy bomber dropping a bomb and 4th die is permanent damage.

cost is 15 IPC carried by HB.

If you have to make a rule that these weapons can attack land targets then you do this:

roll 4 dice total = ipc in pieces lost.

example: you roll 18 total on 4 dice, and 6 infantry are gone.

This makes it more value to use against production targets, because you get one die that has lasting effects.

[Upside-down_Turtle]

For me, it's just simpler to blow up the whole stack 

[Emperor_Taiki]

For me, it's just simpler to blow up the whole stack 

thats not history and thats not strategy, so for me it would not be fun

[Emperor_Taiki]

If you have to make a rule that these weapons can attack land targets then you do this:

roll 4 dice total = ipc in pieces lost.

example: you roll 18 total on 4 dice, and 6 infantry are gone.

This makes it more value to use against production targets, because you get one die that has lasting effects.

I like the strategic bombing rules

but although  atomic weapons are not the perfect ship killer, they would be much better against ships than ground units, if each ground unit represents an army then even four atomic weapons are going to have a pretty hard time of even destorying one of them.


What i suggest is a heavy bombers can choose to drop it in any combat round. The bomber rolls four dice and they hit on a four up. However after you drop a bomb in a land territory the battle has to immeditly stop and after the defender returns fire, the attacker must retreat unless he has killed all the defenders.

This is close to history and add strategy, what more do you want?

[Upside-down_Turtle]

This is close to history and add strategy, what more do you want?

 ...I want to blow up the whole stack 

[Emperor_Taiki]

This is close to history and add strategy, what more do you want?

 ...I want to blow up the whole stack 

i understand  , but you should understand that that these weapons were  not capable of that.

[Imperious Leader]

LOL. I like to blow up the stack too, but its so unrealistic that it makes the whole game look totally ridiculous.


If you do four roll hitting at 4 or less, you will have very few combat loses ( 4 infantry=12 ipc vs. 15 ipc cost)

What was wrong with total dice = enemy unit IPC value destroyed?

[Upside-down_Turtle]

This is close to history and add strategy, what more do you want?

 ...I want to blow up the whole stack 

i understand  , but you should understand that that these weapons were  not capable of that.

Alright, how about a new tech:

Accidental Dice Throw
A giant die falls from the heavens and wipes out all units in a territory. 

[Emperor_Taiki]

What was wrong with total dice = enemy unit IPC value destroyed?

It does not make nukes more effective against ships than ground units

[Emperor_Taiki]

Accidental Dice Throw
A giant die falls from the heavens and wipes out all units in a territory.  

I play with people who are serioursly challenged when rolling dice, this happens to me to much already.

[Upside-down_Turtle]