Super Tech Rules

I have posted many ideas on house rules, some good, some not so. But, at a minimum, do this…

Setup: Add 1 GE CA in SZ26 - represents German presence in Indian Ocean. Setup: Add 1 GE AR in GEA - represents gun boats on Lake Tanganyika (can also add rule this unit cannot move). Setup: Change GE AR in SWA to IN. Setup: Add 1 GE IN in KAM. Setup: Add 1 FR IN in FEA. Setup: Add 1 GE SS in SZ18 - represents German presence in Mediterranean. Setup: Change 1 OE CA to TR in SZ20. Setup: Change 1 RU CA to SS in SZ21. Setup: Change UK TR to SS in SZ2. Switzerland is impassable. Mobilization territories: Following can mobilize max of 2 x IPC value, plus restrictions. Bombay: Min. build 1 unit; Cannot build ships or tanks. Munich: Infantry, artillery only. Ottawa: Min. build 1 unit; Cannot build warships. Tatarstan: Infantry, artillery only. Marseilles: No restrictions. Mines vs. Transports: Allow mine hits to absorbed by loss of a load.

The best monopoly house rule I ever played with is when you roll the dice, to take the result and have your choice of moving either forwards or backwards. However, if you pass go in the backwards direction, you pay the bank $200. Trust me, this rule makes an otherwise boring game interesting if you have a choice of two spaces where you can go with each dice roll.

Triple A gives you a little eye candy when you get certain techs.

Super subs - white stripes on the noses Jets - nation specific jet sculpts Radar - radar symbols by all facilities and AAA guns LRA - white stripes on the wings Heavy bombers - nation specific sculpts for tactical bombers (who knows why), and SOME nations have changed strat bomber sculpts.  All have 2 little bomb icons by the strat bombers Rockets - rocket symbol at each air base Increased production - fancy IC sculpts for all nations

If you don’t want to see all these upgrades at once, then don’t download and look at this file.

If you would like to see all the cool possibilities in Triple A for hitting different techs with different nations, you can just use the edit function to add a technology to a power.

Or, you can save all the clicking since I’ve done it for you, and just download this file.

Enjoy
All teched up.tsvg

I like!  :evil:

I totally agree.
Timeframe and time lapse between turn makes a better understanding of how units interactions in combat rounds depict in an impressionistic way WWII battles.

If people want to see a houserule set intended to simplify interactions between these units, based partly on Classic Submarine unit here is the start of the opening post. Follow the title-link:

@Baron:

THE ISSUE

According to Dedo (see quote below), and probably other players (I’m thinking about Toblerone77), many new players seem to have issues with rules about defenseless Transports, Submarines immune to aircrafts or not and the various combinations with Destroyer presence or absence.

The learning curve can be hard, particularly when special interactions which deviate from regular rules and principles of this game are involved. Since many months I tried to find different solutions to answer this issue of complex and out of usual interactions. Maybe now this can have a useful purpose.

Wanting to help new players focus more on strategy than bogging on special rules, I would like to introduce six changes to Transport, Destroyer and Submarine combat rules to simplify things.

@Baron:

@dedo:

When following the forums of 1941 and 1942.2, I counted roundabout 20 topics (that is up to 10 percent) with questions concerning submarine or transport rules in both of the forums. It seems that for new players especially these rulebook parts are difficult to understand. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to pin down these rules in general parlance and to make them sticky in the forums? Honor to the members, who has already answered the more or less countless questions concerning these topics, but in my opinion we should put an end to this and stop to reinvent the wheel by giving a clearer wording to these mechanics of the game obviously difficult to understand. What do you think?

For my part, I revised these TPs and Subs rules to make interactions simpler between Subs, Destroyers, planes and TPs for tabletop games.
Your comments make me thinks about an alternate rules set which can be provided in addition to the OOB rules. New players can use it as a simpler intermediary or introductory step.

@Der:

@toblerone77:

Many of the newer OOB rules since revised in fact do not help the game for the more casual player and stretch the game out to the point where; if you can actually find a gamer willing to give it a go, you must use HRs in many cases to get them even close to playing the game again.

I absolutely agree! I think this subject - of general simplicity in Axis And Allies - is worthy of its own thread, so I will start one.

So, following this line of thinking to help introduce new players to a less complex naval combat interaction, I suggest this changes and tweak to simplify things and improve the impressionistic WWII depiction of Submarine warfare and Anti-Sub air cover and patrol to protect Transports and Convoys.

The second post of this thread is a transcription of OOB 1942.2 rules with corresponding changes suggested in this opening post. So, you can print them and see where these changes take place in the rulebook.

LIST of SIX small changes to help make unit interactions more consistent from a beginner POV:

Transport is treated as any other surface vessel when allocating casualty: each elligible transport unit worth 1 hit and can be chosen according to owner’s choice, whether before or after a combat unit has been selected as casualty.
OPTIONAL variant: Still worth 1 hit and Transports are taken as last casualties.

One or more friendly Transport units, sharing the same SZ, get a single defense die roll value of 1 per combat round.

Submarine cannot block unescorted Transport from amphibious landing.
Submarine and Transport cannot control SZ and can ignore each other in combat or noncombat move.

Submarine cannot hit, or be hit by, another submarine.

Destroyer does not block Submarine’s Surprise Strike.

But plane does not need Destroyer presence to hit unsubmerged Submarine.

IMPACTS of these changes:

No more defenseless Transport: TP get a combat value and can be taken as casualty the same way as other units.
Taken last can be an optional variant which is nearer OOB rule.

No combat value changes for Submarines or aircrafts with/without friendly or enemy Destroyer presence.
Aircrafts act the same as Cruiser, Carrier, Battleship when making attack or defense rolls against Submarines, except Subs still cannot hit aircrafts.

Since Submarine cannot harm enemy Sub, no fleet padding can rely solely on this cheapest unit.
Destroyer remains a must against Submarine and because Destroyer can hit aircrafts.

Submarine iconic Surprise Strike full capacity is counterbalanced by Transport illegibility as casualty and Sub inability to stop amphibious assault from lonely TPs.

WARSHIPS & TRANSPORT
Legend on unit capacities:
Unit type        Cost
Combat values
Special abilities

Submarine    6 IPCs
Attack 2 first strike*
Defense 1 first strike*
Move 2
Surprise strike: *Permanent first strike Attack 2 and Defense 1 against all surface vessels only, including Destroyers.
Submerge (instead of firing in Surprise strike phase)
Stealth Move
Unsubmerged Submarine unit can be hit by planes without any Destroyer (or Anti-Sub Vessel) presence.
Cannot hit planes nor submarines.
Cannot control SZ and can be ignored by other warship and Transport units.

Destroyer    8 IPCs
Attack 2
Defense 2
Move 2
Anti-Sub Vessel: One Destroyer unit blocks all Submarine’s Submerge and Stealth move.
Does not block Submarine’s Surprise Strike.

Transport    7 IPCs
Attack 0
Defense 1* per TPs group
Hit value: 1 Worth 1 hit and can be chosen as casualty anytime, same as warships.
Move 2
*Special Convoy Escort Defense: One single defense @1, each combat round for all friendly transports sharing SZ.
Cannot control SZ and can be ignored by other warship units.
Non-escorted Transport can make amphibious landing in Submarines infested SZ, (same rule as OOB first edition)
so Transport can ignore Submarine during Combat and Non-Combat phases, same as warships.

OPTIONAL Variant: Taken as last casualty, once all other illegible units has been chosen as casualty.

QUESTIONS:

Question 1: Do you believe that such units values can be simpler (less exemptional rules) and be used instead of OOB rules to make some baby steps toward a full OOB rules implementation?

Question 2: Is it still somewhat balanced in itself?

Question 3: Do you think that this 1 hit Transport with a small combat value is an easier rule to grasp for beginner?

Question 4: Do you think these six changes really improve WWII depiction of Submarine warfare and Anti-Sub air patrol to protect Transports and Convoys?

I think you are still reading it wrong. According to the proposed system you get to pick the exact tech you want to roll for. Once you buy the researchers, it is only a matter of time before you get the tech (and only that tech). Due to the escalating nature of it, it should only take roughly 2-3 turns to get it. (1-2 for 3 or 4 dice) I honestly don’t mind playing with house rules. I am an avid fan of AARe and am not interested in competitive play using OOB rules or LHTR. I still like to play good people (I’d love to play AARe with axis roll or replay pagan sometime) I hope we can develop this rule set to get enough recognition to be generally accepted as more than one players house rule.

BTW anyone know what happened to pagan haven’t seen him since the WOTC board died?

OK, here is my house rule, Its is great and fun. In real ww2 they did not have turns to go. For instance Axis and Allies didnt go to a meeting to say alright USSR (Russia) you can not do any attacks or buy anything because its Germanys turn this month. So me and my friend took it to the realistic level. Everyone goes at once ,but it may seem confusing or something like that but it is not you still go in the turn sequence but everyone does it at the same time. Also it helps with many things, its helps by having allied invasions where they can attack the same place or start a strategy to take over a place, also here is a problem we had, what happened was I pushed my troops from Karelia SSR, into Belorussia, then he made attack from Eastern Europe into Karelia SSR. So then we were like crap because Im moving my troops into a different territory and he is moving his troops into my territory that I am leaving open. So we thought of a rule, it is  ,since in WW2 history the axis had to quickly take over otherwise they may have a great chance of losing, they Axis will always beat you into your territory. So that means the Allies will have to defend before they attack. Although if the Axis almost takes out the Allies before the Allies gets to attack the Allies can change his mind, where he does not have to attack the territory he was going to. So basically that is 1 of our house rules tell me what you think about it or if you have any ideas.

Yes good as you may know i have been doing the D12 thing for many years, because after all the number of variation is doubled so that the units have unique identities and character, plus you can add many additional units and its easy to convert old pieces into this new system. BY chance the D12 is what Larry will use on his own Advanced axis and allies game next year.So you are on your way on the correct path. I have tried d10 and other % dice and they dont work nearly as well.