Hi everyone,
Some insights from SS and Midnight_Reaper about ‘fast ships’ vs. ‘slow ships’ recently helped me plug the hole in a unit roster I’ve been noodling around on for a long time, so it’s finally ready to share. This roster is designed with the Global 1940 map in mind, but it could also work with Anniversary Edition, with DK’s Hybrid Map, or perhaps with Global War. There are a couple of minor rules changes that go with the roster:
(1) During the first round of an amphibious assault or paratrooper attack, there is “preemptive” fire from all defenders, from attacking Commando units, from units that can reach the battle using a land route, from shore bombardments, and from attacking aircraft. Non-Commando attacking land units that are brought in via sea transport, air transport, or assault boat do not roll any dice in the first round of combat. They can still be taken as casualties as needed.
(2) Naval fighters and naval bombers that started their turn on any type of carrier may use their full movement after the carrier moves. For example, an escort carrier can move 2 spaces into the Caroline Island sea zone, and then a naval fighter from that carrier can move onto the Caroline Islands themselves to fight in a land battle there, and then back to the carrier. Alternatively, the naval fighter could make a non-combat move of 2 more sea zones to wind up 4 sea zones away from where it started the turn. Naval fighters and naval bombers may also choose to move onto a carrier and land there, and then be passively carried along with the carrier for the rest of the carrier’s move, if any. Basically, the plane’s movement allowance is not charged when it is moving together with the carrier.
(3) Factories do not come with any built-in anti-air defense. Instead, you will need one or more flak guns or fighters to defend against bombing raids. Flak guns and fighters may choose to intercept the movement of an air unit that tries to fly over or into their territory, starting a single round of “air combat” in which all units fire with their natural strengths. For example, flak guns hit on rolls of 1, and fighter planes hit on a roll of 3 or less when defending (i.e., when intercepting). The attacker for air combat is the person whose turn it is, not the person who initiates the interception.
(4) Submarines no longer have any ability to make sneak attacks, avoid combat, ignore planes, or pass through enemy ships. Instead, submarines automatically deal 1 industrial damage if they are parked in a convoy zone (or, for Anniversary, when parked next to a factory). The total industrial damage from subs per region per turn is capped at half of that region’s economic value (round damage up).
| Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Infantry | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | n/a |
| Artillery | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +1 attack for each of up to 3 infantry |
| Flak Gun | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Intercepts enemy air units |
| Commando | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Ignores penalties for amphibious assaults & paradrops |
| Jeep | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Blitz |
| Bunker | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | Takes 2 hits to kill |
| Tank | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Blitz; +1 attack if enemy has neither tanks nor jeeps |
| Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Submarine | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Inflicts 1 industrial damage |
| Assault Boat | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Shore Bombard; carries 1 infantry/commando |
| Destroyer | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | n/a |
| Escort Carrier | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | carries 1 naval fighter |
| Light Cruiser | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | n/a |
| Transport | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Carries 1 infantry/commando + 1 other unit |
| Heavy Cruiser | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Shore Bombard |
| Fleet Carrier | 12 | 0 | 1 | 3 | carries 2 naval fighters or naval bombers |
| Battleship | 16 | 5 | 5 | 2 | Shore Bombard; Takes 2 hits to kill |
| Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Fighter Plane | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | Can scramble from factory; intercepts enemy air units |
| Naval Fighter | 9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Can scramble from carrier; intercepts enemy air units |
| Naval Bomber | 10 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Can scramble from carrier; +1 Attack if enemy has neither flak nor fighters |
| Tactical Bomber | 11 | 4 | 1 | 4 | +1 Attack if enemy has neither flak nor fighters; 1d6 industrial damage |
| Air Transport | 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | Carries 1 infantry or commando |
| Strategic Bomber | 13 | 3 | 1 | 6 | +1 Attack if enemy has neither flak nor fighters; 1d6+2 industrial damage |
Interesting. :-) How long have you been playing A&A now???
Hi everyone,
Some insights from SS and Midnight_Reaper about ‘fast ships’ vs. ‘slow ships’ recently helped me plug the hole in a unit roster I’ve been noodling around on for a long time, so it’s finally ready to share. This roster is designed with the Global 1940 map in mind, but it could also work with Anniversary Edition, with DK’s Hybrid Map, or perhaps with Global War. There are a couple of minor rules changes that go with the roster:
(1) During the first round of an amphibious assault or paratrooper attack, there is “preemptive” fire from all defenders, from attacking Commando units, from units that can reach the battle using a land route, from shore bombardments, and from attacking aircraft. Non-Commando attacking land units that are brought in via sea transport, air transport, or assault boat do not roll any dice in the first round of combat. They can still be taken as casualties as needed.
(2) Naval fighters and naval bombers that started their turn on any type of carrier may use their full movement after the carrier moves. For example, an escort carrier can move 2 spaces into the Caroline Island sea zone, and then a naval fighter from that carrier can move onto the Caroline Islands themselves to fight in a land battle there, and then back to the carrier. Alternatively, the naval fighter could make a non-combat move of 2 more sea zones to wind up 4 sea zones away from where it started the turn. Naval fighters and naval bombers may also choose to move onto a carrier and land there, and then be passively carried along with the carrier for the rest of the carrier’s move, if any. Basically, the plane’s movement allowance is not charged when it is moving together with the carrier.
(3) Factories do not come with any built-in anti-air defense. Instead, you will need one or more flak guns or fighters to defend against bombing raids. Flak guns and fighters may choose to intercept the movement of an air unit that tries to fly over or into their territory, starting a single round of “air combat” in which all units fire with their natural strengths. For example, flak guns hit on rolls of 1, and fighter planes hit on a roll of 3 or less when defending (i.e., when intercepting). The attacker for air combat is the person whose turn it is, not the person who initiates the interception.
(4) Submarines no longer have any ability to make sneak attacks, avoid combat, ignore planes, or pass through enemy ships. Instead, submarines automatically deal 1 industrial damage if they are parked in a convoy zone (or, for Anniversary, when parked next to a factory). The total industrial damage from subs per region per turn is capped at half of that region’s economic value (round damage up).
| Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Infantry | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | n/a |
| Artillery | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +1 attack for each of up to 3 infantry |
| Flak Gun | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Intercepts enemy air units |
| Commando | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Ignores penalties for amphibious assaults & paradrops |
| Jeep | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Blitz |
| Bunker | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | Takes 2 hits to kill |
| Tank | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | Blitz; +1 attack if enemy has neither tanks nor jeeps || Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Submarine | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Inflicts 1 industrial damage |
| Assault Boat | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Shore Bombard; carries 1 infantry/commando |
| Destroyer | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | n/a |
| Escort Carrier | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | carries 1 naval fighter |
| Light Cruiser | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | n/a |
| Transport | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Carries 1 infantry/commando + 1 other unit |
| Heavy Cruiser | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Shore Bombard |
| Fleet Carrier | 12 | 0 | 1 | 3 | carries 2 naval fighters or naval bombers |
| Battleship | 16 | 5 | 5 | 2 | Shore Bombard; Takes 2 hits to kill || Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Fighter Plane | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | Can scramble from factory; intercepts enemy air units |
| Naval Fighter | 9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Can scramble from carrier; intercepts enemy air units |
| Naval Bomber | 10 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Can scramble from carrier; +1 Attack if enemy has neither flak nor fighters |
| Tactical Bomber | 11 | 4 | 1 | 4 | +1 Attack if enemy has neither flak nor fighters; 1d6 industrial damage |
| Air Transport | 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | Carries 1 infantry or commando |
| Strategic Bomber | 13 | 3 | 1 | 6 | +1 Attack if enemy has neither flak nor fighters; 1d6+2 industrial damage |
Like the numbers. There pretty much like mine in my game.
I’m wondering why a Jeep, which is basically just a 4-wheel drive roofless car, has a greater attack value than artillery and flak gun units. As far as I know, most Jeeps were unarmed; some did mount machine guns, but this is nowhere near the firepower of field artillery or AAA guns.
Fair question, CWO_Marc! The attack value of 2 for Jeeps (which is still somewhat modest compared to some other units) is meant to represent the offensive advantages of tactical mobility: it’s not just that Jeeps can drive across a long stretch of road in a given week to reach the front lines; it’s also that they can circle around a dug-in enemy to set up a flanking attack, they can exploit a break in the enemy line to drive into rear areas and disrupt HQ/communications. I’m imagining a Jeep piece as representing roughly one division of mechanized or motorized troops, which I believe would come with roughly 200 vehicles. As you say, some of those vehicles might have mounted machine guns, and other vehicles in a mechanized division might be armored cars, half-tracks, towed tank destroyers, or light tanks. Finally, note that properly supported artillery has an effective attack value of 4: twice the attack value of a Jeep. Flak guns may have more raw firepower than a Jeep and will out-perform the Jeep when fighting enemy planes (Jeeps essentially have an anti-air strength of 0), but soldiers with assault rifles driving in Jeeps are probably a more effective anti-infantry weapon than soldiers lugging a flak gun using wagons and mules! Flak guns are strong, but they’re not optimized for targeting jeeps, let alone individual enemy soldiers.
All of that said, Jeeps are iconic and easy to represent with a small plastic miniature or small cardboard chit. Everybody knows what a Jeep is. If I label the unit as a “half-track” then some people will have no idea what I’m talking about.
Dauvio, SS, thanks for the kind words. To answer Dauvio’s question, I played my first game of A&A in 2006 (Revised!), I got bitten hard by the TripleA bug in 2009, and I’ve been playing face-to-face with some friends in the SF Bay Area since about 2015.
Hi everyone,
Some insights from SS and Midnight_Reaper about ‘fast ships’ vs. ‘slow ships’ recently helped me plug the hole in a unit roster I’ve been noodling around on for a long time, so it’s finally ready to share. This roster is designed with the Global 1940 map in mind, but it could also work with Anniversary Edition, with DK’s Hybrid Map, or perhaps with Global War. There are a couple of minor rules changes that go with the roster
Glad to help. Curious to hear how this works for you in practice. One question…
{snip}
@Argothair:
| Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Transport | 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | Carries 1 infantry/commando + 1 other unit |{snip}
| Name | Cost | Attack | Defense | Move | Special |
| Air Transport | 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | Carries 1 infantry or commando |
Why are your transport planes so expensive? Is it because they have legs and a defense rating? I’d rather have cheaper, defenseless transport planes myself. My 2 IPCs.
-Midnight_Reaper
I’d rather have cheaper, defenseless transport planes myself.
I think that’s totally reasonable, Midnight_Reaper. You could introduce cheaper air transports into this roster without breaking anything important. My preference is for more expensive air transports because the extra price thematically represents (a) the up-front cost of developing the technology and tactics (nobody has to spend money on researching paratroopers for this roster), and (b) the relatively limited supply of air transport available during World War II. There’s a fun little article below about how most of the American Air Force’s transports were either hastily converted civilian planes, or wooden gliders manufactured in piano factories. If the Americans had to make do with makeshift equipment, you can only imagine what the Italians were using.
https://amcmuseum.org/history/world-war-ii-transport-and-troop-carrier/
Strategically, air transports provide a much deeper threat into enemy territory that requires a much larger garrison. E.g. if you put an assault boat in the English Channel, it threatens Normandy, Holland, Norway, Hanover, and Denmark. If you put an air transport in London, it threatens all of those plus Paris, Marseilles, Gibraltar, Morocco, Milan, Berlin, Poland, Finland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. It’s not that I expect anyone to fly many air transports into a battle to use as fodder; it’s just that spending 12 bucks on one air transport can force your opponent to spend more than 12 bucks on extra defending infantry.
In terms of rules simplicity, I have tried to eliminate the concept of the “defenseless unit” from my unit roster. I find automatic combat losses to be something of a downer, and I’d rather use that spot in the rulebook for a more interesting rule.
All of that said, again, this is mostly personal preference – if you want a $9 defenseless air transport with 4 movement, that’s almost certainly fine.
