Best posts made by Matt Hyra

Hello! I’m A&A: North Africa Lead Game Designer Matt Hyra … a WWII and A&A buff for nearly 40 years. I’ve been working alongside Larry Harris since early March to bring this game to life after it won Renegade’s “You Pick the Battle” contest.

We are ready to invite experienced A&A players who are at least 21 years of age to join the playtest. We are looking for active testers, not preview-seekers. Previews will happen months before the release.

Our playtesting uses the Screentop online game platform, similar to Tabletop Simulator. This platform is free to use (for you - we pay to host our games there). You’ll need to have a microphone and laptop/desktop computer to play.

Click on this link to read more and to join us: Renegade Playtesters

A link there will send you to our Playtest Discord channel where you’ll need to make a free account (if you don’t already have one) and sign an NDA. With that done you’ll soon be able to see the games we have available to playtest and the newest at the bottom is North Africa. Add your name to the list and we’ll send you an application. Real names are required.
You don’t need to remember all this. The links will walk you through it.

Once accepted, there will be new rules to read and debates to join on our private Discord channel. Make your mark on the game by signing up early and playing your first warm-up game very soon!

Thanks,
Matt

@COJOH

Hi there. Glad you like the game!

1. No, they don’t conquer it with a Noncombat Move. Units may only attack/enter controlled territories in A&A during a Combat Move. For example, if other units capture the territory, or you attacked it just to destroy some supplies, you can then move in if it isn’t enemy controlled.

2 & 3. Yes, in the name of sportsmanship. Odd, that never happened in playtesting.

4. Any landmines you cannot deploy go back into the general supply.

5. It could. Even the best minefield can be breached over 2 attacks. Get into position to deliver a 1-2 punch before they can buy even 1 more in between your turns. Yes, they likely won’t trigger all of them on the first attack, but they probably will trigger the rest on the 2nd attack. Then they might have 1 mine during the next attack you make. And you still have plenty of units, as many were turned back by landmines.

6. No. Page 12 says otherwise, but perhaps not strongly enough. We further clarified this in the pg 12 rules posted online, adding to the rules on Atlantic and Indian convoy advancement: “These units may not move again in any other phase of the same turn.” So they cannot fly off to Cairo. They must go to the Indian and then the Suez. The air units shipped to Cairo were crated for compact storage.

7. They are separate limits. So yes, you can have 3 units and 3 supply, tho the supply will instantly drop to 2. You’ll only ever have 3 there at the start of a game or if you unwisely choose not to spend 1 supply for the 15 RPs. Malta is always hungry.

8. There is no switch. In fact, the entire main force can call off their attack after the first round of combat, and then you may proceed with only the flanking attack, with rerolls. We call this a feint.

Good questions!

@mikawagunichi said in Spending supply to defend:

Another rule clarification please:

If an attacker attacks a territory with ONLY scout cars and/or planes, is the defender still required to retreat if they do not spend supply (or have no supply available) to defend?

Yes, they must still retreat. The good news is that they don’t lose control of the territory, if it’s controllable.

~Matt

@FranceNeedsMorePower Just infantry and artillery for the Minor Axis.

@The-Captain
I’m not really authorized to give actual previews, but I can tell you that playtesting has been underway for over 3 months, and continues to this day. This week alone has seen 4 games played.

There are several new rules/mechanisms to cover certain aspects of the theater.

That’s about all I can say. Rest assured that the marketing team with blitz you with info when the time is right.

All correct!
Thanks,
Matt Hyra

@Witt All good. Thanks for jumping in with excellent rules knowledge, as it took me a couple of days to see the question. And thanks for the kind words!

@Cornwallis The UK will struggle to keep Malta supplied, as they did historically. But once you get the UK Navy into the Malta convoy zone, it will be easier. Then just deploy 1-3 supplies and a couple of fighters straight to the Malta convoy zone when you need to resupply the island and that should hold off the Axis.

The UK choice early on is typically supply Malta or attack the Tripoli convoy zone.

Remember that each Axis power only gets 1 round to take out your supplies. If they don’t get through your escorts in that first round, your supply escapes the combat.

If the Axis uses Stukas to target your supplies at sea, that makes it harder, but they still only have a 50% chance of hitting in that first round. And if it’s a large attack, they typically target sea units.

Another method you can try is to send 5 supply to Gibraltar, then break it up. Then, during each subsequent round, send just 1 of those supplies to the Malta convoy zone. Is the Axis going to send air units to attack just 1 supply, especially with only a 40-50% chance of destroying it in that first round before it escapes? They probably have better targets.

@Stucifer The attacker chooses the order of attacks. The defender pays for their defense only when that particular attack is commencing. Not all at once like the attackers do.

Indeed, a good UK plan. A good Axis plan would be to have a couple of reserve supply in El Agheila.

~Matt

@Daaras Practice games are a great way to get the next one right!

~Matt

@Stucifer said in Spending supply to defend:

@Matt-Hyra
I thank you! I have to say the combined scout cars/bomber attacks can be quite brutal with the supply constraints.

We all enjoyed your game very much on our epic axis & allies weekend. We probably played it 6 times 🤓

6 games in one weekend? That’s a record at this point. Which scenarios and who won them?

~M

@OlivieroRuggieri

Thanks for the map! Hansolo88 is right. Scout cars alone cannot capture RP territories.

A few comments on your map situation:
The UK scout cars should be picking off Axis supply (solo attacks). They have none inbound and won’t have enough to capture Cairo if 4 of it is destroyed. Supply Raider will destroy 1, and then the Axis will likely use 1 to defend. That’s 4 supply lost minimum. If the UK is lucky, could be 6. If they are even luckier, could destroy the Stuka which is illegally parked in Mersa Brega. Remember, air units can only land in territories with a friendly control marker.
Sea Mines in 11 and 16 do little. Convoy zones are where they are most effective.
In the early game, don’t send Bombers to Malta. Fighters are much better at protecting the supplies on land and incoming supplies.
Supply cannot be deployed to Sicily, as that is not a staging area. Move it to Italy. Page 25: “…may also deploy AAA, air, and German AT guns directly to Sicily, Sardinia, and Crete…”
As soon as the UK fleet gets into the Malta convoy, Malta is easily resupplied. Then they can attack the Axis convoys.
No reason to leave supply in Mersa Matruh. MM can draw supply from Cairo.
Add 1 mine to the Cairo/MM border each round and the UK should hold.

@OlivieroRuggieri

The German AT Gun can fire AAA pre-combat, and then ALSO fire as a defender with Targeted Fire - Tanks in the first round of combat. If there are attacking tanks and it hits, the German player can declare a tank as a casualty, and then the Allies must choose and destroy any 1 tank amongst their attacking units.
After the first round of combat, they lose their “Targeted” ability.

@SuperbattleshipYamato Limited to once per turn. That’s why it’s written Pay 1, instead of Pay X.
More than once per turn would be too good!

Thanks,
Matt Hyra
Lead Designer, Arctic Circle

@FranceNeedsMorePower said in Finland In Axis & Allies Stalingrad?:

@AndrewAAGamer Is a rulebook out there yet?

Rulebook won’t be posted for a few months.
The yellow matches that of the Romanian flag, but is meant to include Italy and Hungary as well.

@nishav To further explain, AAA aren’t land defenders when rolling AAA, as there aren’t any defenders yet. The decision to defend or retreat happens after landmines and AAA.

@FranceNeedsMorePower You can join the general Renegade Playtest Discord, but not the A&A channels. Sorry.

@17Mark71 To explain further, everything inside the Malta circle is Malta land territory. Ignore the water inside the circle. An aircraft leaving Malta always makes its first move into the Malta Convoy Zone.

@johnny5 Yes, they could.

@Driel310 If defenders can’t fire and can’t retreat, then they are all destroyed at the end of the current round of combat. If some defending units are self-sufficient, they can stand and fight while the others are destroyed. And those soon-to-be-dead units can be used as casualties in that round of combat only, as they will all be dead when it’s time to retreat and they cannot.
Page 22: “Each <retreating> unit may move to a different territory, but if no eligible territory is available to retreat to, it is destroyed.”

So those Self-Sufficient units can stay alive into another round of combat if there are enough casualties among the retreaters. The Axis might need only 2 rounds of supply to win in this example. But if there are a couple of Scout Cars and Air Units, Cairo might survive only 1-2 attackers.