6.0 first impressions

[koba]

We are moving into turn three with the 6.0 rules and set-up. Here are some of my early impressions:

The additional German infantry and bombers are appreciated (and needed). The change to the Denmark strait rule is a good one. Moving the UK fleet to SZ 15 makes good sense. The Finland clarifications are positive. I’m not super hip on the SS panzergrenadiers costing 5 IPCs.

The ability of the Commonwealth to waltz into Brazil without so much as a fart from the Axis is still lamentable. I’d like to see a battleship or cruiser in the South Atlantic (possibly with destroyer or U-boat escort–-a really cool touch would be a transport armed as a surface raider piece) to make that area a bit more interesting.

The slashing of Italy’s navy coupled with the beefing up of the FEC navy in the Indian ocean could spell disaster for the Axis in the Mediterranean. Those ships moving through the Suez to join the fleet off of Cairo coupled with a Greco/Yugo activation, not to mention ships from the Atlantic side, and never mind a bad Vichy fleet roll … My opponents did not put this together (this time), but when they do, it’s going to be a whole new situation in the Med. They activated Yugoslavia and Greece and pulled all their other naval units from the Med., including the Free French cruiser and destroyer and submarine they “stole” from Germany. They’re working at something and I expect to see a gigantic Commonwealth fleet smashing into the Axis before the game is over.

The Dutch rules are now clear. It’s clear the FEC/ANZAC are in for a really big bonus in terms of income and units after Holland falls (which it has). In our current game there is now a pretty decent fleet just north of Australia to make Japan’s life exciting. My Allied opponents are grinning ear to ear about this.

I did not like losing the Japanese veteran infantry. Losing two of the veteran fighters was sensible though as five at eight was a bit much. It would be nice to see two SNLF infantry show up somewhere in the set-up (like the Palau islands or the Carolines) with a transport by way of compensation. It certainly would not be a historical aberration.

Speaking of the Carolines; please give the airbase back.

China getting 12 IPCs to start and the two AA guns would be too much if we did not play with the three shot limit rules.

The Japanese sneak attack is looking less and less effective. I’d like to see it changed to the German two impulse type given the changes made to Japan’s forces.

The new airbases, map wide, are a nice touch.

We’re going to play a few games as it stands but I have to say, with all respect to the hard work of the developers, that another revision may be needed,

Note:

We have been/are using some optional units.

Rail
Naval Mines
Land Mines
Trucks
Transport Planes
Coastal Artillery (pulled these from the AandA.org forum).

[americancyco]

I found the lowering of numbers of the Veteran Japanese to also hurt Japan (the nation I usually play).  That little extra boost was nice, considering China is now stronger.

I complete agree the lose of Italy’s navy took away the strongest part of Italy and also basically cost then the bonus ICPs for controlling the sea.

[Gargantua]

Great comments!

[Tigerman77]

There may be a 6.1 change in the setups soon. No more rule changes.

[koba]

Good to hear you’re considering a setup change. If the setup restores some balance (especially in the pacific/indian oceans) the rules are fine the way they are. Again, I’d love to see a German Naval presence in the S. Atlantic and more Japanese in and around their island holdings.

The game I have referred to in the past post is in turn 12 and on hold until the weekend. It looks like the Axis will pull of a win with one city to go and the panzers within striking range. The Japanese navy, however, is gone. The Anzac/Dutch/FEC/British navies combined with the U.S. navy was just too much for it. China finally was crushed, but the Italians had to sweep through the southern USSR to help with that. Of course, things could go south for the Axis as the Allies still have the means to get together and blunt the offensive. They made some major errors after smashing the Japanese fleet and left themselves vulnerable in Calcutta. On the European front, they tried D-Day and were smashed on the beaches with one German infantry remaining at the end of the battle.

Still and all, in my opinion, with the new setup and fewer mistakes, they would handily have won the game. This is still the best A and A ever and I really appreciate (and support) the developers’ effort.

Oh, and Tigerman, will we see some new optional rules out of HBG any time soon? My playgroup loves them and we use them religiously.

Hopefully we see the new setup in the next month as that’s when we’ll be playing a new game (we average a game per month).

Can’t wait to see those new Japanese pieces either.

[americancyco]

Setup changes sound good, I don’t think there are really any rule changes that need to be made.

I have always disagreed with the DEI rule and house ruled it a long time ago so that works for my game.

[Tigerman77]

Set up changes comin in a week.

[koba]

This is great news. Looking forward to it. We’ll try them out next game.