• I know it has been commented upon at some point that it seems somewhat silly that plane dogfights have such a significant impact for ground battles.  A one on one plane duel to the finish dictates which stack of artillery gets to roll at 4, which is a big deal, especially in large scale fights on the western front.

    I’m wondering if anyone has done any significant play-testing with having planes follow the same ‘one attack per turn’ rule that ground forces are limited to?  Within these rules I would say that only in the case of one side having all their planes destroyed does the other side then get the artillery bonus.  You could also alter it so that whomever has the most planes after one round of combat has the advantage as well.  I’m also considering bumping up the die roll for a hit during these dogfights to 3 in order to speed things up perhaps.  If you stick with a die roll of 2, you could have rather large forces of planes pile up without getting many hits.  Although more surviving planes would make these dogfights more enjoyable during gameplay imo (and you might actually have a plane survive long enough to be considered an ace lol).

    Has anyone tried out similar rules that can tell me if it messes up game balance at all?  Thanks!

  • Customizer

    I favour one round only for air and naval combat.

    With planes, up the combat value of aircraft built on subsequent turns:

    Starting aircraft* = 1
    Built turn 1 = 2
    Built turn 2 = 3
    Built turn 3+ = 4

    You can mark the planes with wing stripes.

    • Give each power an extra starting plane in its capital; extra F in Lorraine, extra G in Munich.

    Number of surviving aircraft greater than the enemy after 1 round of combat = the number of artillery you may boost. No surviving enemy and you get to boost all artillery.

    Aircraft get to attack ground targets at combat value only if there is no air combat.


  • I noticed this in our last game as well. After a dogfight win, my army would crush with all the cannons I had. But lose the dogfight and the enemy would be almost unstoppable. I like your idea of only one round of air combat with the upgrade being awarded only if all enemy planes are downed. Making the planes hit on a three would make sense if there was only one round of combat.
    A great idea I had was to use the US or Italy as a “Planes Only” country. Let them follow around the allies with a few troops and a huge air force. Sacrifice the guy you must bring in with you and take out a Central Powers air force in a dogfight. You’ll soften up the enemy for either of your allies and hopefully give your buds the Artillery Upgrade. It’s similar to the “Gord Maneuver” but focuses all your buying power towards air. I think it would work best with the US because they are the least susceptible to attack. Also, they can produce a transport and 2 fighters per turn. Just an idea.


  • I think that’s an interesting idea.  The only problem is you’ll lose fighters in the ensuing round of ground combat because you have to leave infantry.  Unless you bring several infantry with you but that would limit your airpower.  I might try this next time I get the Allies.


  • @Flashman:

    I favour one round only for air and naval combat.

    With planes, up the combat value of aircraft built on subsequent turns:

    Starting aircraft* = 1
    Built turn 1 = 2
    Built turn 2 = 3
    Built turn 3+ = 4

    You can mark the planes with wing stripes.

    • Give each power an extra starting plane in its capital; extra F in Lorraine, extra G in Munich.

    Number of surviving aircraft greater than the enemy after 1 round of combat = the number of artillery you may boost. No surviving enemy and you get to boost all artillery.

    Aircraft get to attack ground targets at combat value only if there is no air combat.

    This is almost precisely what I was thinking! My only suggestion would be to have 2 turn intervals for the damage increase, so starting planes and those buillt on turn 1 = 1
    Those built turns 2-3 = 2
    Built turns 4-5 = 3
    Built turn 6+ = 4.

    This would encourage players to buy planes early, rather than waiting just a turn or two and have their investment be worth triple.

    Starlight sniper-
    Im liking this idea more and more; you could even save on transports as US by landing them on ireland and flying them to Picardy the next turn to rendevous with a small force of infantry landed there. And if america landed a few infantry across europe, they could then create a highly mobile force which could fly about the continent shoring up weak points in the allied lines. A growing American fighter force flying between Lorraine, Belgium, Venice, Albania, perhaps even Russia or the MI would either gain instant Allied air superiority across the board (blunting massed Axis artillery attacks) or force the Axis to invest heavily in aircraft.

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