@toblerone77:
@Kurt:
Do you use or have you considered using HBG’s units for some of your ideas? I like a lot of what your ideas. I have an extensive collection of A&A scale gaming minis for the exact type of house rule ideas.
I own two copies of Classic, two of Revised, one of Anniversary Edition, one of the first Europe map; one of the first Japan map. Lots of money invested into these games! But it’s been years since I’ve used any of them because I haven’t been able to find in-person opponents. (Except for five years ago or so; when I went to some tournaments.)
While at one of those tournaments, someone mentioned TripleA to me. I’m normally able to find an opponent within half an hour of logging on; and can surf the web while I wait. I’d envisioned my rules set being implemented on a TripleA-like engine; not necessarily being used for in-person board games.
That said, if you have physical gaming pieces which would work with these rules; and more importantly a group of local people willing to play, then that would be perfect!
If the game is to be played physically, some modifications might be in order. ShadowHawk’s concept of allowing all units to be upgraded at the same time (for a per-unit fee) is worth considering. (It’s much easier to have a computer keep track of different unit types, each with their own stats, than to have humans do that.)
To simplify the rules set further, you could eliminate rail networks, oil, and nuclear weapons. You’d lose some depth and richness there, but some things aren’t worth keeping track of if everything is being tracked manually. You could also (potentially) get rid of the distinction between land, naval, and air production centers; and just use the generic concept of production centers. Even with all that, there are still some things you’d have to keep track of.
Land technology: infantry, artillery, blockhouses, tanks
Naval technology: conventional surface ships, carriers, undersea
Air technology: single engine piston aircraft, strategic bombers, jets
Other: rockets
You could keep track of all of the above with an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. There would be a column along the left side listing each of the above technologies. In a row along the top, each major nation would be listed. Then, in the Japan/infantry square, for example, there would be a Japan symbol; with the chips under the symbol indicating Japan’s current level of infantry technology.
You would also have to keep track of each nation’s unit designs. That’s the tricky part, but still can be done. Each nation would have its own sheet of paper. In a column along the left would be listed various weapons types: infantry, submarines, fighters, dive bombers, torpedo bombers, etc. Along the top would be listed various attributes: hitpoints, land combat value, naval combat value, air combat value, anti-sub combat value, strategic bombing combat value, and cost. The number of chips on each attribute would indicate its value.
There is a need for one last sheet of paper: nation-specific technologies. Each nation need not have its own sheet: one sheet could be used for the whole game. Each nation-specific custom technology could be listed by name; together with a square next to it. Once the nation in question researched that tech, its symbol would be placed in the square.