HBG'S Amerika

HBG recently announced a re-print of their game Amerika. The difference between the first print and the newly-announced second print will be the color of the pieces. To quote HBG: “… new Amerika Game with [T]an Allies, Black Germans, and Yellow-Gold Japanese” (Source) What I elided out of that quote is that if you have a copy of Amerika and just want the new pieces, HBG will accommodate you, but only for a short while. The full quote goes: “Pre-Orders on Tan Amerika Allies Sets will be available for 4 weeks only (Ends July 16), after that they will only be in the new Amerika Game with [T]an Allies, Black Germans, and Yellow-Gold Japanese.” So, making the Allies Set in in Tan allows one to get HBG Centurion tanks and Meteor Jet fighters in British Tan. But only for the next 2 to 3 weeks. (Recently, HBG announced that their French Set would be available for pre-orders in a “light blue” or “Free French” color until the 5th of June. Only pre-orders were cancelled before then, and if you were too slow, you missed out.) So, if this sounds like something you would like to have, you will want to move sooner rather than later. One thing to point out, these Pre-Orders on Tan Amerika Allies Sets include not only the Allies Set pieces from base game pieces but also the Allies Set pieces from the Amerika Expansion Set “Bring in the Heavies”. Well worth it if you already have Amerika and the “Bring in the Heavies” expansion and you just want the new pieces, worth it if you already have Amerika and you just want the new pieces, and also worth-while if you just want to equip your late-war British in a game of Axis & Allies or Global War '36 or '39 with some awesome new tanks, mechs, self-propelled guns, jet fighters, and jet bombers. For the visually-inclined, a picture of some of the pieces is available here: Source For those that want to know what all you get, here is a listing of what you are pre-ordering for when you put down your $38 ($32 for the pre-order, $6 shipping in the US): Unit / (US Green Pieces) / (British Tan Pre-Order Pieces) Base Game B-48 Jet Bomber / (6) / (4) Centurion Medium Tank / (10) / (4) M19 SP AA Gun / (8) / (6) M43 SP Artillery / (10) / (6) M75 Mechanized Inf. / (8) / (4) Meteor Jet Fighter / (10) / (4) Rangers (Elite Infantry) / (20) / (12) T-29 Heavy Tank / (8) / (4) Bring in the Heavies Expansion B-47 Jet Bomber / (5) / (4) M6 Heavy/Medium Tank / (5) / (4) M36 Tank Destroyer / (5) / (4) P-59 Jet Fighter / (5) / (4) T-28 Heavy/Super Heavy Tank / (5) / (4) And if you’re ready to pre-order some awesome Brit pieces, HBG is standing by: http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Battle-Pieces--Amerika-Set-Tan-Pre-Order_p_3425.html -Midnight_Reaper P.S. Edit to correct spelling.

why does it take 1 division of marines to take out 1 division of the enemy, when it takes 1 platoon of elite navy seals to take out 1 divsion of the enemy?

Cromwell 2026 Peter (NikTheRake) and myself tried this one out last night. Aim of the game:- This is an easy to learn wargame. The rules are straightforward and printed on two A4 double-sided pages. One of these sides is an example of play. The object is to eliminate the opposing army and take over all of Ireland. The map of Ireland is divided into four regions (depicting Ulster, Munster, Connaught and Leinster) with each region further divided into areas. Set up:- One player begins with control of Munster (bottom left) and the other in Ulster (top right). Connaught and Leinster form a no-mans land in between. Players take turns placing a unit within their own area starting with the first player and continue until all units are on the board. There is a stacking limit of 5 units per area. Reinforcements:- The game differs from other wargames I have played in that you begin with all your units on the board, but you will receive no further reinforcements during the game. Certain areas in each region of the board give the controlling player a token during their turn. Four of these can be traded for a chip which can be placed below a unit. A chip will take a hit instead of the unit. Action Phases 1. Jet Can either bomb any enemy land/ water based unit 3 dice or Battle for Air Superiority 2 dice against opposing jet – a 10 point hit track is provided and once exceeded a hit is scored 2. Move Units 3. Fight (in contested areas) 4. Collect tokens 5. Purchase and Place Chips Units:- A simple player aid sheet gives a breakdown of unit movement, dice, any special rules and keeps track of hits on the Jets. Units are summarised (if I remember correctly) as follows:- Unit Move Dice Special Rules Jet* Once placed doesn’t move 2 Dice are for defence only. For attack see 1. above Helicopter 6 2 Must land on a mobile Heli Base Mobile Heli Base 1 1 If you have more helicopters than bases at the end of your move extra helicopters are destroyed Tank 1 2 Motorised Infantry 2 1 Hover Tank 3 2 Can move on land or water Hover Craft 3 1 Can move on land or water Rocket Launcher 1 2 Can support an attack up to two areas away for Jet attacks see 1. above. Hits:- Any 6 rolled scores a hit Removing Casualties:- Each unit is also depicted on a card. A card is placed to the side for each unit involved in a battle (note if you have two tanks and a helicopter are involved in the battle then two tank cards and one helicopter card will be placed to the side). If you suffer a hit your opponent picks a card at random which takes the hit. Remember if the unit has a chip the chip is removed instead of the unit. Overall Impression of the Game:- I rate this game a 5 (see rating system below). It’s an enjoyable two-player game, which I would be more than happy to play again on occasion. Very easy to explain and play. The (lack of) reinforcement mechanic stops this relatively simple wargame from outstaying its welcome. The different unit capabilities ensure an element of strategy. My Game Rating System 10 The Holy Grail of games (still waiting to give a game this score) 8-9 Very good game. 6-7 Good game. Would happily play whenever it’s brought to the table. 4-5 Reasonable game. Would play and enjoy occasionally if it is brought to the table or suitable to play with certain opponents. 2-3 Poor game, but has one or two good points, such as good quality components which can be salvaged for other games (making it worth a couple of quid from a charity shop, but not much more) or I get the feeling there’s a reasonable game hidden in there somewhere if only I could be bothered to look/ invent house rules. 1 Somebody’s had a laugh at my expense. I can’t think of anything good to say about this one (only one game has achieved this, if achieved is the right word, but it’s also the only game I have ever thrown in the bin and I can’t remember it’s name. I had received it amongst a bundle of games from ebay. It was a Power Rangers type game)

I know we have a few players of the game on here. I’m not sure if you knew but Days of Wonder just released an online version of the game for all platforms. It is free (for a bit), but it’s not too terrible a cost for playing ($8 for 80 games). GG

@Wolfshanze: Ya, there is another game called “Shogun” by Queen Games. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20551/shogun But it’s totally different than the Milton Bradley “Shogun” https://www.amazon.com/Milton-Bradley-Shogun-Gamemaster-Series/dp/B001NHE7BW Which was later renamed “Samurai Swords” and released by Ikusa https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221/ikusa And is now entirely out of print I had the original Shogun that mysteriously disappeared in my teens. Several years ago I picked up Ikusa. It’s the same game, with “upgraded” art, but no little plastic swords (#sadface). I was sad to find it’s now unavailable to purchase new. @Private: I would say that the key is to always use your daimyo armies to the full AND then make sure they are safe at the end of the turn. Defending borders with non-daimyo garrisons and castles can be expensive and yet ineffective. A better defense is the threat of counterattack by your own daimyo. And a better use of castles can be to provide your daimyo army with a safe haven. The loss of a daimyo army is a significant set-back. The biggest threat is a two or more daimyo attack on one, so always beware this from your opponents and try to create such a possibility for you. Lastly, the fluid alliances of this game make the diplomatic aspect critical. If any player looks like winning, it makes sense for the others to gang up on him/her. So if you can surprise your opponents with the win, so much the better. For example by going first. Or by taking out an opponent. Pretty much this. I’ve never found a strategy that I have stuck with but this advice is golden.

It sounds awesome.  I’ll try and check it out and give it a go sometime.  I’d still like to get into Hearts of Iron more, but like I said, it takes a while to complete something.  The farthest I got was playing as Spain and basically carving France in half with Germany.  And we were just getting into 1940…

It’s one of the best DS strategy games out there. Age of Empires: Kings/Mythology are both good. They are porting Jagged Alliance and it should be out soon as well. Panzer Tactics is pretty good too.