• Well dont forget air transport . In that case land 3 infantry in any territory you control, while paratroopers can be landed only in any enemy controlled territory that is adjacent to your own with a limit of 2 infantry. Paratroopers gain a +1 modifier for the first round of combat but can only attack for 2 rounds (limited ammo).There you go.


  • the whole point of paratroopers is that they are dropped behind enemy lines. thus instead of attacking at 2 for the first round, it would make more sense if the advantage is that they attack normally at a 1 but they get to assign the targets of their hits. for realism purposes this should be resticted to assigning the hit to any ground unit.


  • How is that realistic? Besides sometimes you will want to bring men to an isolated front with air transport, while you cant expect Paratroopers to fight battle of attrition. The targeted idea is best with “commandos” which is another idea altogether.


  • How is that realistic? Besides sometimes you will want to bring men to an isolated front with air transport, while you cant expect Paratroopers to fight battle of attrition. The targeted idea is best with “commandos” which is another idea altogether.

    Um…. because it is. I don’t now how else to answer that. It’s not like you gave any reasons why it’s not that I have a chance to dispute. I guess that’s a good argument tactic on your part then. :wink:

    I think you might be a tad misguided about the general nature of airborne assaults although you are right about their lack of supplies. I have no dispute with you when you suggest any advantage should last only 2 turns (or whatever other seemingly arbitrary number of rounds you suggest). However, giving airborne assault units +1 attack has no realistic basis whatsoever. At least units dropped behind enemy lines (or isolated fronts as you put it) have the advantage of catching the enemy offguard and thus their units disorganized to the point that the enemy has little control over military loses they may incur.


  • The + 1 deal basically give this to the surprise factor and the fact that many of the weapons carried are mostly fully automatic assault rifles (MP 40 and 44/ Bren gun and not junk like sniper rifles . small pistols and one shot then reload guns.

    I am asking for your thoughts on why are they allowed to choose their targets and how is that realistic then just giving them a “surprise bonus” I am not debating you but rather just trying to question your arrival at this truth with the Socratic method allowing you to arrive at the correct answer on your own. Now that i have “spilled the beans” out of respect to our mutual passion with this game how say you on this?


  • I have always used paratroopers as more of a disruptive misdirection, or a quick way to take islands in the pacific theater.I use transport aircraft (bombers that I have painted grey stripes on the wings) to drop them. For my transport planes I have been playing them as follows.
    Cost: 12 IPC’s
    Range: same as a bomber
    Capacity: two paratroopers (or either two infantry or one arty)

    I have added paratroopers to my list of tech. advancements so that the cost of development will more closely represent the added cost of equiping and training paratroopers. However, I have not added them as an additional unit to be purchased, therefor any infantry could be used as paratroopers. Another rule that I use is that a transport cannot load one troop, fly two spaces (for example) load another and then continue and drop as normal. I use this rule to more closely represent the time needed to load these men and equipment onto the aircraft. (also for packing chutes, jump briefing etc.) Any troops loaded onto a transport plane must already be in the same zone as the aircraft at the start of the turn. I also DO NOT change the attack or defense properties of the paratroopers from the normal infantry as I think the ability to drop behind enemy lines, and push from the front at the same time is advantageous enough on it’s own. I am sure that I probably left something out here so feel free to point out a potential flaw, or to ask questions about this as that is the way we make better supplementary rules and have more fun with this game.


  • AS the cost is 12 IPC do these “transport planes” have any attack/defense values?

    Second, If i was you i would not allow a drop to be done somethere in the middle of enemy territories because as you know no nation could possibly maintain any force too far from friendly territories and as Paratropers are placed just ahead of incoming ground troops. This will solve the “cheapo” that develops when say UK takes out Italy with a paradrop from england when in fact they have no naval activitiy in the medditeraen sea to support the follow up invasion of Italy.

    I only allow them to have this bonus as a surprise factor much like Marines get when they invade, because usually they have to fight long odds to even stay alive and make it worth the whole exercise to buy a transport plane and land them just to watch them die quickly.


  • to answer your question, no, the transport planesdo not have an attack value, however they do have a defense of 1. (traditionaly transports do not have much in the way of defensive capabilities, but they get a one here if by nothing else than default) I think that their attack value is in their ability to move forces quickly to re-inforce a beachhead or to supply the extra umph needed to break through at the front. They are great for nations like the UK who can only place large numbers of newly purchased units thousands of miles away from where they may be needed (such as India or Australia). Now, about the paratroopers. I generaly use them as they would normaly be used, to soften up a target landing area before an invasion force lands. I also use them to stall an advancing enemy, lending a little more time to re-inforce possible weak areas of defense. Yes, I agree that the mortality rate of these units is very high (unless used in high numbers) but they are a very useful tool to disrupt your enemy’s strategy. Also, if you take a territory with paratroopers and can hold it untill the next turn, you can use those transports to re-inforce with more men and artillary. Full historical accuracy or the sanctity of life (at least as it applies to this game) were not my major guiding concerns here. (who says that you cannot play as a tyrant leader?) This is just one of many changes I have made to my personal game to make things more interesting and less predictable (I play this game with the same four other players every time we play). Anyhow, that is what we do and it has proven to be a pretty fun change to the normal game play. Anyone who feels so inclined to try it I urge them to do so. Anyone who doesn’t like the idea can play how they choose, or maybe choose to change these rules around to better suit the way they like to play the game. I am open to suggestion on amending these rules in any way at all, maybe someone will have better ideas on how to use the units in question. I almost forgot to address another issue that was brought up by Imperious leader. Would it seem more appropriate to say that paratroopers can only be dropped where no more than one zone seperates them from friendly units? Or where sea power can reach them with a landing of re-inforcments on that turn or the next?


  • Yes ,making the requirement of dropping 2 zones away from friendly units reduces the idea of protecting huge tracts of territories from Paratroopers dropping in the middle of central europe just to gobble up money (which we know any operation such as this would never be allowed to “capture” a country w/o some followup ground attack from the front. Plus its an easy rule to enforce.


  • The + 1 deal basically give this to the surprise factor and the fact that many of the weapons carried are mostly fully automatic assault rifles (MP 40 and 44/ Bren gun and not junk like sniper rifles . small pistols and one shot then reload guns.
    Imperious Leader

    Nice point imp, i think because of this paratroopers should defend at 1 against an attacking force that includes at least one tank. The Germans wasted the isolated British paratroopers in Op Market Garden.


  • Quite right… BTW i remember playing you on the zone about 4-5 years ago when you could actually play on MSN game zone and not have any glitches. I dont forget a name…

    ON the paradrop issue these chaps landed with bren guns and had little in the way of sustaining a major attack. Apart from their surprise factor i dont see then having much in the way of attributes, certainly not the ability to drop in a take a country all in a days work. On another note its probably a good idea to require each player to garrison each controlled territory that was formerly enemy occupied. Call this the “partisan” rule or perhaps some anti- paratrooper thing, but it is probably more realistic than dropping a Dieppe down on Italy or the Balkans,when the allies are still trying to sustain themselves in africa.

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