Axis and Allies Revised Varient ( historical edition)


  • Here’s a simple idea that fixes some complications:

    For commerce raiding on a capital VC IC the first max IPC term is always equal to the total number of IPCs for that nation. For all other VC ICs the first max IPC term is always equal to 4*IPC value of territory.


  • Is multiplying by 4 harder than multiplying by 3? I don’t see what problem is being solved here. If we reduce it to only 3 times then take an example for E. US…. 12*3=36. They are connected to something like 32 or 34 IPCs. That means only 36-32=4 IPCs max can be raided. That’s no good. I like 4 times because that’s the same as the max number of IPCs spent at the IC and therefore makes more sense IMHO.

    I was thinking only the following:

    multiply IPC value by 4 THEN subtract the initial value was your idea.  So lets take France ( with a new factorybuilt )  at 6 IPC 6x4=24, then we have to minus 6 =18 minus adjacent territories of 16. So now only 2 IPC can be attacked from France

    Under the second system you just take 6x3=18 minus 16=2 the same result.

    THe other system as to elininate at least part of the math so you dont have to subtract the value. IN this example France is 6 x 3=18 already and you dont have to go to the extra step of subtraction of the initial value.  The idea is not that its hard to do the math , but to cut back on time with some simpler formula. I was thinking of the “lazy people”

    In the usa example: under your system you take 12x4=48 minus the value of 12 and minus  adjacent territories which are central usa 6 and Panama is 1=7 so the total IPC potential is now  48-12-7=29.

    Onder the second system you just take 12x3= 36-adjacent which  is 7=29  am i doing this correct? I am only subtracting your own adjacent territories and not your allies.

    I think the AA gun should be a new artillery piece… either heavy artillery, anti- tank gun, coastal gun, fortress defense. I understand that phase one is to be kept simple, but if we maintain a built in defense for any Factory or VC then this does not require a UNIT to represent this… this frees up the piece for other duty. In any case the Flak battery was stationary it did not roam around Europe on trains looking for where to go next. They are integral part of the defense of major cities and industrial centers. They were fixed guns.Of course they could be moved , but not to the extent thats represented by the current AA gun model in OOB rules.


  • Now I understand where the misunderstanding came from. When I say “connected territories” I don’t mean adjacent territories. For example, W. Europe is connected to Norway if there exists any continuous line of friendly territories connecting them. So they are connected if Germany and E. Europe and Karelia are all owned by Germany too. I can see your confusion. I need to choose a new term other than connected.

    In the usa example: under your system you take 12x4=48 minus the value of 12 and minus  adjacent territories which are central usa 6 and Panama is 1=7 so the total IPC potential is now  48-12-7=29.

    The US territories connected to E. US at the start of the game are E. US, C. US, W. US, Mexico, Panama, and Alaska (not Brazil because you have to go through Venezuela which is neutral, not friendly).

    What term should I use to avoid this confusion with ‘connected’?

    I think the AA gun should be a new artillery piece… either heavy artillery, anti- tank gun, coastal gun, fortress defense. I understand that phase one is to be kept simple, but if we maintain a built in defense for any Factory or VC then this does not require a UNIT to represent this… this frees up the piece for other duty. In any case the Flak battery was stationary it did not roam around Europe on trains looking for where to go next. They are integral part of the defense of major cities and industrial centers. They were fixed guns.Of course they could be moved , but not to the extent thats represented by the current AA gun model in OOB rules.

    So do you like the idea of just making the AA gun unit incorporate all bombing and coastal defenses like flak, interceptors, coastal rtl and coastal fortifications? I think it would be nice to have a type of unit to represent coastal defenses so Germany has the option of building up coastal defenses. I also like the idea of a nation being able to spend money to build up defenses against SBR (e.g. If my opponents are buying a lot of bombers and putting them in UK then as Germany I can counter this by building more of the defense units and/or teching for radar). We can make the numbers work out so bombing doesn’t easily become easily ineffective against radar and more defense units, but it is worth sometimes buying.


  • So do you like the idea of just making the AA gun unit incorporate all bombing and coastal defenses like flak, interceptors, coastal rtl and coastal fortifications? I think it would be nice to have a type of unit to represent coastal defenses so Germany has the option of building up coastal defenses. I also like the idea of a nation being able to spend money to build up defenses against SBR (e.g. If my opponents are buying a lot of bombers and putting them in UK then as Germany I can counter this by building more of the defense units and/or teching for radar). We can make the numbers work out so bombing doesn’t easily become easily ineffective against radar and more defense units, but it is worth sometimes buying.

    yes thats fine. actually i was thinking that during invasions these units get a preemptive roll on invading units just before they conduct attacks, while say in places like Gibrater if the axis move units from the medd into the Atlantic and you have this gun in gibrater… then it should get some preemptive shot against naval targets.

    In land combat it can also be heavy artillery attack at 4 defense at 2 moves 1 cost 6 ?

    Back to the “raid system”…

    So where are we at… I now understand that we include all contiguous connected land territories… thats the key term. However what about the math idea?  If you multiply x4 and subtract the value on the territory AND additional contiguous territories… then isn’t the same as or easier to just multiply by 3 and ONLY subtract the contiguous territories? What is the difference?


  • yes thats fine. actually i was thinking that during invasions these units get a preemptive roll on invading units just before they conduct attacks, while say in places like Gibrater if the axis move units from the medd into the Atlantic and you have this gun in gibrater… then it should get some preemptive shot against naval targets.

    In land combat it can also be heavy artillery attack at 4 defense at 2 moves 1 cost 6 ?

    I was thinking that if Gibraltar is hostile then it’s impossible for surface naval units to cross, not that these defense units would fire on them. Although the 2nd idea does seem really fun, unfortunately you can’t have both rules. If one of these units is firing then the territory is hostile and that means that the ships can’t cross to begin with. If we say that these units can fire on passing ships even though W. Europe is hostile, then the Baltic will fall to the Allies much faster and the game balance will be just about as bad as before. This coastal rtl is not that good to stop many of the ships.

    As for the idea that these units would also act as h. rtl, I also think that would be fun, but don’t think it would fit in well. It would make them worth much more then their cost of 5IPCs (i.e. too powerful), and not be very realistic since if they move like h. rtl then that means that the coastal fortifications and AA guns would also move (not realistic). If we want to have h. rtl then they have to represented as a different piece than an immobile piece. I’ll discuss h. rtl more in the next post.

    Back to the “raid system”…

    So where are we at… I now understand that we include all contiguous connected land territories… thats the key term. However what about the math idea?  If you multiply x4 and subtract the value on the territory AND additional contiguous territories… then isn’t the same as or easier to just multiply by 3 and ONLY subtract the contiguous territories? What is the difference?

    You are right in that there is absolutely no difference mathematically. I chose the *4 idea simply because I thought it was easier to explain because it fits in well with the rule: *4 IPC value of a territory = max spending at that IC. I guess after thinking about it *3 and minus all ‘other’ contiguous territories is just as simple so we can go with that. Like I said before, I’m thinking about changing around those commerce raiding rules so we might not need either type of calculation after all.


  • About heavy rtl:

    So I got an interesting set of ideas to fix the problems with techs. Problems like some are worth much more than others and realism. Opinions on these ideas?

    Radar- this must be included as a tech because of it’s significance in the battle over the Atlantic, etc… It fits in well with the detection rules discussed before. If you achieve this tech then all enemy subs in SZs bordering one of your ICs are automatically detected and enemy air units flying over territories with AA gun pieces and an IC are automatically detected. Notice that you still have to roll to actually hit them. This tech may need to be worked on a little because it might be too powerful especially with the new modifications that up to 3 AA gun units may fire per territory. If this is too powerful then we can say that instead of automatically being detected, the units are now detected on rolls or 4 or less instead of 2 or less.

    Rockets are different. Rockets were fired from W. Europe, not from Germany because the range wasn’t the equivalent of 3 spaces on the game board but only 2. It’s not realistic to have the range be 3. Also, why do they need to be fired from flak batteries? What’s up with that? I’m thinking that they can be fired from any territory contiguous to the attacker’s capital VC and from there they have a range of 2. They either cost 1 IPC each and you roll 1 die to determine the damage or they cost 2 each and you roll 2 dice and take the bigger roll for the damage, I haven’t decided which yet. Just like before, the damage is limited to the territories IPC value.

    Super Subs are the same in that every roll hit’s on a 3 (even for raiding), but since subs are more important to the game and harder to kill, super subs are effectively more powerful.

    Jet fighters and heavy bombers are both a little better in that they get long range movement added to each of them. Jet fighters now make fighters range 6 (does not change range of bombers). Heavy bombers now make bombers have a range of 8 (doesn’t change range of fighters).

    This leaves an opening for a new tech if we want to keep with only 6 techs (which I think we should since it works in nicely with the die). Heavy artillery is an option, but is that really a good representative to being one of the major historic tech advances during WWII? Industrial technology was definitely more important, which might be a reason why it was one of the original techs. I think the only reason it was discarded was because it was too powerful and not realistic in the way it was brought into the game. Now that we already have infantry placement separate from IC placements, we can easily make use of this distinction and say that ind. tech. only applies to non-infantry. This tech could ease up the restrictions on unit placement at ICs as well as make these units cheaper. -1 from all units isn’t that realistic and favors rtl purchases much more than expensive purchases. Opinions? Ideas for a new tech in place of long-range aircraft?

    I like the idea of certain techs countering the effect of other techs… examples:
    -If UK gets radar to help in the Atlantic, then Germany could counter by getting Super subs. German subs would be more easily detected, but they would do much more damage and the net effect would be still an even battle.
    -If Germany gets radar to stop all the SBRs, then UK or US can get heavy bombers. Heavy bombers could be defined so that they can only be targeted on a 1 (not a 1 or 2) in addition to other bonuses.


  • @Imperious:

    I also like the idea of a nation being able to spend money to build up defenses against SBR (e.g. If my opponents are buying a lot of bombers and putting them in UK then as Germany I can counter this by building more of the defense units and/or teching for radar)

    Yeah so antiaircraft guns and costal batteries should be stackable.
    They shouldn’t be able to move though.


  • Here’s an idea for industrial tech that I really like:

    For every IPC you spend at any IC, you get 1 free IPC to also spend at that IC (up to a maximum number of free IPCs equal to the number of VCPs for that territory). Note that this only applies to non-infantry units since infantry are not built at ICs anymore.

    I’ll work on wording that better later. To illustrate my point, if Germany gets industrial technology, then the German player may get 5 extra IPCs if they spend at least 5 IPCs on non-infantry units at their capital. These 5 free IPCs must also be spent on non-infantry units at their capital. The same bonus applies for all the other German ICs provided that the free IPCs are also spent at that corresponding IC. It’s true that you get a lot of free IPCs so it will end up being one of the better techs, but I don’t think it will be too powerful because it really restricts your purchases in order to get to use those free IPCs.

    What do you think?


  • I’m thinking an even better way to represent rockets is that each rocket costs 2 IPCs and only 1 die is used to determine it’s damage. Keep the other modifications the same, regarding that rockets have a range of 2 and can be fired from any territory you control that is contiguous to your capital and that the damage per turn per IC is the IPC value of that territory.

    This means that the net effect of a rocket is 3.5(avg. die roll) - 2(cost of rocket) = 1.5 IPCs of damage.

    Yes, there is a 1/6 chance of a rocket doing only 1 damage and not even covering it’s cost. This is a simple representation of some of the rockets that ended up being duds. Rockets could be modeled differently, such as rockets costing 1 IPC but only hitting on rolls of 4, 5, or 6 (this would also give a net value of 1.5 IPCs). This would better represent the fraction that were duds but seems not as simple. Opinions on either model, or anyone have any different ideas?


  • Again from a different game but a good solution:

    V-2 Rocket launchers cost 6 IP each. They do not provide anti-aircraft defense. Instead, they may launch rocket attacks against enemy Industrial Complexes. They may only move by rail and have a range of four. Each V-2 launcher may launch one rocket attack each turn. Multiple rocket launchers may occupy the same territory and may attack the same target. Hits are scored in the following manner: Roll one D6 and a hit is scored on a three or less and the die result equals enemy IP lost. Captured V-2 sites are removed from play and cannot be used by other players.


  • Sounds interesting but a little too complicated IMHO because it involves adding new rocket launcher units. I never liked how even in Axis and Allies original and revised a territory can only shoot 1 rocket per turn.

    What do you think of all the other tech ideas from the past several posts?


  • Radar- this must be included as a tech because of it’s significance in the battle over the Atlantic, etc… It fits in well with the detection rules discussed before. If you achieve this tech then all enemy subs in SZs bordering one of your ICs are automatically detected and enemy air units flying over territories with AA gun pieces and an IC are automatically detected. Notice that you still have to roll to actually hit them. This tech may need to be worked on a little because it might be too powerful especially with the new modifications that up to 3 AA gun units may fire per territory. If this is too powerful then we can say that instead of automatically being detected, the units are now detected on rolls or 4 or less instead of 2 or less.

    +++++++++  Yes this looks good but UK will obviously want to get this becuse of so many exposed IPC from attacks. I dont like automatic detection except against enemy planes performing/escorting SBR giving a modified defense to british fighters of +1, while the detection of naval vessels due to radar is actually a different catagory known as naval radar which was developed latter and sonar which was perfected latter in the war. So we have aerial radar, naval rader and sonar or one for air units, surface naval units, and undersea u-boats. Tech tree agains should follow the basic outline of what was possible so a player can make a small contribution in order to obtain the benifits of this research.

    Rockets are different. Rockets were fired from W. Europe, not from Germany because the range wasn’t the equivalent of 3 spaces on the game board but only 2. It’s not realistic to have the range be 3. Also, why do they need to be fired from flak batteries? What’s up with that? I’m thinking that they can be fired from any territory contiguous to the attacker’s capital VC and from there they have a range of 2. They either cost 1 IPC each and you roll 1 die to determine the damage or they cost 2 each and you roll 2 dice and take the bigger roll for the damage, I haven’t decided which yet. Just like before, the damage is limited to the territories IPC value.

    +++++++++rockets with a range of 2 is fine and using the AA gun is stupid… agreed. That piece is for another purpose as a new H artillery unit.These pieces can just fire from a territory… i prefer my idea  found in another post for rockets.

    Super Subs are the same in that every roll hit’s on a 3 (even for raiding), but since subs are more important to the game and harder to kill, super subs are effectively more powerful.

    ++++++++++ok good

    Jet fighters and heavy bombers are both a little better in that they get long range movement added to each of them. Jet fighters now make fighters range 6 (does not change range of bombers). Heavy bombers now make bombers have a range of 8 (doesn’t change range of fighters).

    +++++++++ however jet fighters had a very short range they should still move only 4 spaces… in reality they should only move 2 spaces… but that screws with playability too much. The first jets used alot of fuel and were not efficient… A provision for jet bombers should be possible for the axis. ( ar-234)

    This leaves an opening for a new tech if we want to keep with only 6 techs (which I think we should since it works in nicely with the die).

    +++++++ I think we should make a tree of tech that are not based on some limit, but based on what inventions actually occured. List:
    Radar
    sonar
    naval radar
    rockets
    jets fighters
    long range fighters
    super subs
    jet bombers (ar-234)
    a- bomb
    rail guns ( dora)
    super heavy tanks (maus)
    egnigma code broken
    surface to air missiles? ( germany had these late in the war)
    others…

    Heavy artillery is an option, but is that really a good representative to being one of the major historic tech advances during WWII?

    ++++++++ these units are not a tech thing. its  just a new unit and using the piece adds value . Having only one artillery unit representing every concievable artillery unit is not enough. This goes for tanks as well and why we need a mechanised infantry unit which bridges the need for a light tank/ heavy infantry piece.

    Industrial technology was definitely more important, which might be a reason why it was one of the original techs. I think the only reason it was discarded was because it was too powerful and not realistic in the way it was brought into the game. Now that we already have infantry placement separate from IC placements, we can easily make use of this distinction and say that ind. tech. only applies to non-infantry. This tech could ease up the restrictions on unit placement at ICs as well as make these units cheaper. -1 from all units isn’t that realistic and favors rtl purchases much more than expensive purchases. Opinions? Ideas for a new tech in place of long-range aircraft?

    ++++++++I dont mind cheaper units due to production effeciency except for infantry… The tech benifit of reduced cost basis should apply to either naval, or air units not land. thats too much benifit from a tech IMO.

    I like the idea of certain techs countering the effect of other techs… examples:
    -If UK gets radar to help in the Atlantic, then Germany could counter by getting Super subs. German subs would be more easily detected, but they would do much more damage and the net effect would be still an even battle.
    -If Germany gets radar to stop all the SBRs, then UK or US can get heavy bombers. Heavy bombers could be defined so that they can only be targeted on a 1 (not a 1 or 2) in addition to other bonuses.

    +++++++++looks good but need development… isnt this phase 2?  to finish phase one i thought we were gonna add some rules for neutrals then wrap up phase one and assemble what we got so far?


  • +++++++++looks good but need development… isnt this phase 2?  to finish phase one i thought we were gonna add some rules for neutrals then wrap up phase one and assemble what we got so far?

    The tech and counter-tech idea is just a consequence of the advantages given by the various techs… it’s not something new to be added onto the set of new techs. it’s really not that important, forget I brought it up.

    As for modifying techs from the out of box rules, I guess we don’t absolutely need to have them so I guess we can have phase 1 with the old techs. I was just thinking that with subs now being so powerful, including radar as a tech is a simple change that will profoundly alter the Atlantic commerce raiding front to make the game mush more realistic. If we don’t have radar, then it will be much harder for the Allies to push Germany back in the Atlantic. Since we don’t agree what to do with techs, I think we should take that as a sign to not include them in phase 1 for now, and just playtest phase 1 with all the other rules we’ve settled on. If Germany ends up being too strong in the Atlantic for too long, then we can go back and and in some changes to the techs.

    As for neutrals, I still don’t think we need them for phase 1. Is invading a neutral needed to win the game? No. In fact, if we make the neutral rules right, then no neutrals would end up being invaded anyway, just like as in actual historical events. I vote no on neutral changes in phase 1.


  • OK The reason why i thought that neutrals might be included was because i was thinking we are fixing the problems of the game in order of what was the major to minor. Lets take a look at what we got ( ill asemble what was posted into some basic structure). Then we can decide is phase one is closed or not. The other thought was to balance the amount of additional rules so the other phase is not emcumbered with too much stuff to add…


  • This is going to be a huge mod.
    Is it going to be released under GNU :-D?

    Can I sugguest we give it a formal name. “Historical Edition”?

    Can I suggest we start a thread for different aspects.
    This is becoming difficult to read. I for example are mainly interested in discussing Income and Combat. Much more passive in terms of things like map.

    Threads to be something like…?
    *AARHE: Phase1: Units
    *AARHE: Phase1: Combat
    *AARHE: Phase1: Income and Convoy

    Things to be left out in Phase1…?
    *Research
    *Map
    *Victory Condition

    Since we have a historical framework it shouldn’t matter too much that we leave some aspects out for now.
    They will likely be cross reference between aspects but its still better than one messy thread right?


  • OK done…


  • Well, I can’t attest to AARHE speeding the overall game up – the turns do seem to be faster.  We had a regular game rolling (e.g., people not wanting to learn new rules) and a LITE/AARHE going this weekend.  What I did notice is that while the LITE/AARHE were glued to board watching combat unfold and reacting with DAS – the AAR folk wandering away from their table to come watch while they waited another hour for their turn to come around again.

    The combined moves really speed up execution to 25-30 min. a side and make the enjoyable for everyone.  That was very refreshing.  The beauty is you are actively involved.

    Even with a timer and limiting purchases through combat moves to 15 minutes, we still played for 7 hours.

    Any thoughts on shortening the game appreciated.

    • Bierwagen

  • which game? If your playing 1939 you can expect it to be longer because your starting 3 years earlier.

    If your playing LIte or AARHE reg. you already said the turn goes by faster, so how can the game still take longer?

    So basically i don’t understand the question.

    Perhaps the combat sequence takes too much time to figure out?


  • We aren’t playing the 1939 version, so the length is probably due to being bogged down in rules and trying to understand  the intent of certain rules.

    I had hoped that AARHE LITE and 4.0 would speed the game up so you could get a game in during a 3-4 hour period.  Even though the turn opening is reduced to < 15 minutes, the rolling, non-combat, reinforcement, tech, and diplomacy still seems to take us to 45 minutes a round.

    Still a significant reduction.


  • once you got the rules worked out, it will fly really fast. you still have lots of questions so well address them here and get you going. Tekkyy will make clarifications when issues warrant them.

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