• Okay, I’ve produced seven of these essays so far and I have a few more to go.  I’m hoping that I can get some input from those who are reading the essays (if there are any such beings) as to what would be the most useful next topics.

    Here are a few possibilities:

    • The 4 VP opening and how to counter it
    • The most important sea zones and territories and how to control them
    • J1 Disasters and how to recover
    • Kill India Only and how to survive it
    • Effective Use of CAP

    If anyone has any other suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them.

    SS


  • Id like to see you make some house rules for the game to make it more realistic and solve the “sub stall debate”  Id like to see different types of pieces added to the game , leaders, random event cards, and political rules, terrain, weather.


  • I submit a vote for effective use of CAP.


  • Imperious Leader,

    I haven’t really given much thought to alternate rule sets for AAPacific because I think the game is very good as it is. The only change I would make to the out of box rules and AH clarifications would be to give 12 IPCs to the Allies before the start of the game (in addition to the convoy money) and make the VP target 24 for Japan. At that point, I think the game is very balanced. I would play either side against any player with that set up.

    As for substalling, I don’t think it is a controversial point since AH issued its FAQ on AApacific confirming that substalling was legal. I certainly understand the difficulties players have getting used to substalling and that may be part of the reason fewer players take up the game, but I believe substalling is integral to the strategy of the game. I wouldn’t change anything about how substalling is currently handled by the game.

    On the subject of historical accuracy, I have never been particularly concerned about it in the Axis and Allies games. The games have always placed playability over historic accuracy. Certainly, there are features of the game that simply cannot accord with history. For example, a US bomber stationed in Hawaii can fly all the way to Formosa and it can do it from the start of the war. No bomber used in WWII had that kind of range, but for game play purposes, it is necessary to have these anomalies. One could cite numerous examples.

    In the wargaming world, there are the beer and pretel games like A&A and the more detailed simulation games like Squad Leader and the like. I personally don’t think there is much point in attempting to make Axis and Allies historically accurate because it was never conceived in that way. Better to accept that A&A is a very playable game system and look for historical accuracy in other games.

    SS


  • Well two points:

    1. Playability and historical realism are not opposite ends of a sea saw. They can be made to be compatible. This is one of my principles in design. However i do maintain that  complexity and playability are like a sea saw.

    2)“since AH issued its FAQ on AApacific confirming that substalling was legal”

    Because something is legal by a company does not in itself make the game “fixed” Its often a causality of laziness of people who don’t want to go to the trouble of saying… wait here we just released this game and have no idea that this rule would be violated in this manner… then they just say its part of the game when everybody is scratching their head.  If you care about something you will want to improve it to the point where no flaws exist and you have achieved a perfect mental edifice.

    Lets me ask you regardless of any balancing issues… what issues other than sub stall do you see as problems in the game?

    for example:

    Defender retreats?

    No cruisers?

    CAP and how its handled?

    No Atomic Bomb?

    Issue of India and the trick the Japanese players use to win the game?

    How russia is handled?

    unit values costs… …

    example  Essex carriers take 3 planes take 2 hits, Jap geta a superBB Yamato takes 3 hits… etc…

    I know you have some ideas. What are they?


  • Well, my vote would be the following:
    “- The most important sea zones and territories and how to control them”

    In my opinion, this is probably the most helpful topic for newer players to the game.

  • 2007 AAR League

    I’d like an overall introduction for ‘newbs’… looking at the board on ABattleMap, it seems quite daunting.


  • Daunting is figuring out how you are to spend all that US loot. That much at first it seems like a cake walk but then you realize how far from the war you are and how many units you don’t have and how little time you have to get them to the front. And then you realize how harbors and airbases are very important and it gets very clear and very simple.


  • Lets me ask you regardless of any balancing issues… what issues other than sub stall do you see as problems in the game?

    First off, I’d just like to make clear that I don’t think the substall is a problem with the game.  In fact, I think it is one of the key features of the game that makes it so appealing.  As AAPacific is a game that involves so much naval activity and the movement of units by transports, substalling is much more significant then it is in AAEurope.  I think the use of substalling greatly enhances the game.

    It may be that substalling was not intentionally put into the game, but I don’t think that it detracts from the game or needs to be “corrected”.

    CAP and how its handled?

    You raise some other interesting points.  For example, I have always wondered why CAP will prevent surface naval vessels from passing through a sea zone but not prevent bombers and fighters from doing so.  I think the game play reason is that Japan could then put CAP fighters up in sz36 and prevent the US from conducting an SBR attack on Japan which is often a key to Allied victory.  Historically though, CAP fighters were put up to counter enemy planes, not enemy ships, so the application of the rule seems a bit odd.

    Issue of India and the trick the Japanese players use to win the game?

    The India Crush is a problem for inexperienced players, but by using the Anti-Crush described in Essay#2, this “trick” can usually be overcome.  As for the KIO attack that I have referred to many times without elaborating on, this does take a bit more work.  I haven’t got around to writing the essay on KIO largely because I view it a bit like giving away nuclear secrets to terrorists.  The KIO is an extremely powerful attack that, in many cases, cannot be defended.  Setting out the “how to” of such an attack does encourage new players to try it and not experience the much greater fun and challenge of a VP game.  However, at Days of Infamy, we have come up with the inverse bidding system that effectively discourages the KIO attack.  The Allied player gets some extra IPCs to start the game with which he can buy units that will make a J3 India attack untenable and a J4 India attack very difficult if a proper anti-crush is played.

    How russia is handled?

    I don’t generally have a problem with how Russia is handled, but I would be willing to consider suggestions around adding Russia as an active side in the game.  This would swing the balance in favour of the Allies, but since I think the OOB rules favour Japan, this is probably not a bad thing.

    As for the Atomic bomb, tell me how you think that would work.  I once read a thread about funniest A&A moments and one group of players had the “atomic kitty”.  This was a catnip toy that they would toss onto the map at some point during the game.  Anything knocked over by “atomic kitty” was dead and had to be removed from the game.  Not particularly realistic, but funny as hell!

    Daunting is figuring out how you are to spend all that US loot.

    This is largely covered in Essay #7.  For the Allies, the key to victory is the defence of India and Australia early and the use of their combined overwhelming resources late in the game.  Therefore, the US purchases are one of the most important features of the game.

    I’d like an overall introduction for ‘newbs’… looking at the board on ABattleMap, it seems quite daunting.

    This is interesting.  AAPacific was the first A&A game I purchases, learned and played.  I had always played more complicated war games before getting into A&A.  In fact, I resisted A&A because I always thought it was a “beer and pretzels” game without a lot of strategy.  I didn’t start seriously playing until about 3 years ago.  I found the rules of AAPacific quite straightforward after playing war games such as Squad Leader or Third Reich.  The beauty of the game, however, was in the remarkable amount of strategy that went into playing a game that, in many respects, is decided by luck.  This is true of most of the A&A family of games (certainly AAR falls in this category) but I think is most prevelant in AAPacific.  That’s why I like it the most.

    But I digress.  Back to the point that learning the game is daunting.  That is true but I think if you review Essay #5 about the differences between AAR and AAP and Essay #7 about purchasing, you are well on your way to playing the game.  The essays about the India Crush and Anti-Crush and the Australia capture will help “newbies” avoid some of the early traps that sometimes discourage players from continuing to play AAPacific.

    I think that the next essay will be one about the key territories and sea zones, followed quickly by one on the use of CAP.  In the meantime, I’d be happy to discuss any proposed rule changes or modifications in this thread.

    SS


  • @Adonai:

    I’d like an overall introduction for ‘newbs’… looking at the board on ABattleMap, it seems quite daunting.

    By the way, in my experience, the best way to learn the game is to play it.  If you like, I would be happy to play a game against you, to help you learn the game.Â

    The other thing I would be willing to do is to provide some Mapview maps of my previous games that will show, turn by turn, how a game was played out.  I will try to pick various types of game (i.e. India Crush, Aus capture, VP game) that will show how the games played out.  In almost all cases, the roll logs for these games will be available at Days of Infamy so anyone reviewing the games will be able to see what role luck played in the outcome.

    I’m not sure whether maps can be posted here, but if one of the moderators gives me some instructions on that point, I’d be happy to post some maps.

    SS


  • I can’t believe that it has been more than 3 months since I promised an essay on the Effective use of CAP and I have not yet got around to writing it.  I will do so shortly and my current plan is to complete my series of essays with a total of 4 more:

    1.  Effective Use of CAP
    2.  J1 Disasters and How to Recover
    3.  the 4 VP J1 and how to counter it.
    4.  Kill India Only and how to survive it.

    I will not sleep until these are done.

    Sorry to my legions of fans (I mean it… both of you… I’m sorry) for the long delay!

    SS


  • Sakai i think you have many more people in the pipeline that you figure. Alot of people read those essays. It shows that you really know about this game and take the time to teach it to others.

    please post these essays on boardgamegeek under AAP. those new people will get some value from your work as we have.

    Please head over to harris forums and post your thought on the new delux AA game. Im sure you have a good take… just please don’t fight against new pieces or a much larger map…but i dont think youll do that.



  • OK this would be a new project… as far as many believe that AAE is broken to the extend that an average Soviet player cannot stop a determined german advance.

    Id like to see you refute that if possible and if you cant possibly come up with some house rules to repair it.

    But i know you may not like AAE


  • I have played perhaps half a dozen games of AAEurope, so I am not an expert in that game.  My experience is very much like that of others - not much can stop the German stack.

    SS

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