The Workermonkey

Monday, November 29, 2010

The Impending War! 

# posted by wyldshaman @ 11/29/2010 07:58:00 AM

Well Tim i cant get AAG(Axis and Allies Global) out of my mind. Read a blog about a game of it and it sounds awesome, basically AA50 but bigger. And we all know bigger is better. It is a weekend long game though, roughly 16 hours.

And just to make things more difficult, i want to include some fog of war into the game. And possibly some espionage, mostly spies to reveal fog of war. Here are some related posts on the matter; Fog of War/House Rules, Naval Fog of War, FOG/MI.

From the way it sounds from a historical point of view, most land movements were basically know, except maybe within the country of origin. Any major offensive would be known around the world.

So right now im thinking, all units are purchased before anyone takes their turn and alotted to factories, purchases and allotments would be hidden from opponents view, but double checked by ally(for some basic game protection). At the end of everyone's turns, completion of a full round, factory orders would be completed and placed by everyone. All players would get a chance to see the new map layout and then the next purchase orders would be put in and allotted. Some Pros: More realistic, as u would need to plan for future, but not be able to instantly replace units just lost in battle. Players must try to anticipate others purchases as opposed to just reacting(again instantly) to what another player just purchased. Another BIG one, it would actually speed up the game, as purchasing in a major time eater within each persons turn, this gets it all done at once and together, streamlining it. Cons: The only major con i see is it puts Germany at a slight disadvantage when being attacked as they wont have their defenders placed before the allies turns, but a remedy might simply be that a player can mobilize half of production units if a factory containing province is attacked.

This simple change will add a bit of land fog of war and be fun, what do u think? Now as for Naval Fog of War....

Do the normal setup in the beginning of the game and let everyone look at the map. Then each player can divide/create a number of "Naval Groups" from within the units on the board, generally represented by one ship, with the other ships being hidden off board, ie; Japanese Battleship Group, US Carrier Group, for multiples(once u run out of basic ships) use the colored chips, German Red/White Destroyer Group ext. For single ships, such as ships just out of factory, place them as normal, and then on your turn u can move and then group them, or create a new naval group.

This will reward astute players who note their opponents naval groups, as ship type and number will be known from the beginning, though formations might change. For intelligence gathering, one could do a "fly over," or a "sub sighting, which could be defended(if desired) by corresponding defending fighters/destroyers. Otherwise the Naval Group owner must tell the intel gather' the exact makeup of the fleet with the single exception that they may A. Add one ship to the list, B. Subtract one ship, or C. Change the type of one ship within the fleet. This does not change the actual makeup of the fleet, just the "sighting" report sent back to HQ. Note: Planes are not reported, but if a Carrier is reported, one would assume planes would be there too. This "sighting report" is only done if the Naval Group's commander does not/can not defend against the sighting, otherwise the battle is resolved as normal with all combatants viewable on the battleboard.

Subs would be handled differently, for each sub a player owns they would receive two sub "blips" each would be moved as per normal sub rules on the board, but only one would be real. This would represent sub communication interceptions or rumors as to their movements. Also limiting a players ability to cheat, if they were moved in secret how could anyone track there game movement limits. When a sub engages or is engaged the "blip" is flipped and is revealed to either be a fake or an actual sub/subs and are placed on the map. Fairly easy and fun as with the purchase of a few subs, the oceans would be crawling with sub blips. "Did the Germans just round the horn of Africa... Is that a Jap U-boat in the Mediterranean?.?."

As for actual naval engagements, i would probably only introduce evasion. A defending Naval Group can try to evade an attacking Naval Group. This would be done on a D6 roll of 1 or 2, unless planes are present in the Attacking Naval Group, thus making it harder for a defending NG to evade, so a roll of 1 would be needed. If the evasion is sucsessful both NG's would remain in the seazone hidden to each other, if failed the battle would ensue. (Unless eveyone wants an "engagement rule" as well, just the opposite of evade, NG wants to attack must roll anything but a 5 or 6(anything but a 6 with planes) just to find the other NG on the open waters.) I think this addition would be fun and build up the intensity of some of the big naval battles, as they can be so devastating. And add a bit of realism along with some cat and mousing especially in the Pacific. The only exception to this rule would be a NG can always defend against a landing within its seazone.

Ok, thats what i got so far.

6 comments

No making house rules until we've all played a minimum of 3 games with the standard rules.

File this post away and put it back up in February when we can play.

PS: You're killing me. I would love to play any of the following games we already have possession of, but not the time or geography to play:

Axis and Allies
Necromunda
Mordheim
Carcassone (for real, not electronic)
Full Thrust (its as gay as it sounds)
Dirtside (equally as gay)
Zombie Apocalypse (some how less gay even though its about four dudes)
Our 2012 game
Warcraft Card Game
Warcraft Board game
Lord of the Rings board game
Our TMNT game
Civ 5
Civ 4
Blackops
Dynasty Warriors (aka 'Killing Chinese")
Chaos Overlords
Magic
Bloodbowl


I also have rules/minitures for the following games we will never ever play but I would looooove to:
Gorka-Morka
Man of War
Warmaster
Epic (aka Space Marine)
A coat of steel
A paper crown
Hoplomachia
Ironbow
Red Actions
de bellis antiquitatis

By  T, at Monday, November 29, 2010 6:15:00 PM  

I know ur frustrated with the whole family/life/children thing. But u could at least let me know what u think about my fog of war rules.

Also i found someone local to play games with so i will probably play test these rules with AA50, ive played that at least 3 times. Global is very similar, they have added just a few things, tac bombers, Mech Inf, Naval and Air Bases(+1 Mov)and Min/Maj Industrial Complex's.

I also have Settlers of Catan now, with the 5 and 6 person expansion, its awesome, the wife loves it, even my mom likes it, we played it all weekend. Its very balanced and fun once u get the basic strategies.

U gonna get the New Civ board game right? That looks cool, maybe ill come up and try that.

Without a dedicated game night, u cant do half of those games(maybe more) and some of the others suck.

By  wyldshaman, at Tuesday, November 30, 2010 8:17:00 AM  

Im not sure that AA50 needs any 'sprucing up'. Its already one of the best games out there.

I was considering getting the Civ board game but its awefully expensive and I'd rather get either Diablo 3 or the new Assassains Creed. I love board games but I don't have a local to play with, so xbox/pc games have a greater utility for me.

By  T, at Tuesday, November 30, 2010 11:06:00 AM  

you bought settlers of catan! damn it, there goes christmas...

i think our problem is have too many good games to play. we need to focus. we need to narrow it down to one type of game at a time, like one board game,one online, one digital game, etc.. at a time.

i didn't read the fog or war rules. i can't say i've played enough of normal AA50 yet, to say i should be looking into house rules yet.

T, glad you got BlackOps, i haven't finished the single player yet either because of multiplayer. it is simply unacceptable how bad i am at this game during multiplayer, i must practice more. i also just finished Force Unleashed II which was incredible on the HD big screen.

sweet jeebus i haven't played Civ 5 in a month.... what the fuck, how did that happen?

By  Supreme Monkey Overlord, at Tuesday, November 30, 2010 9:19:00 PM  

Because Civ 5 was over hyped and kinda sucked! Its not bad, but not GREAT either. I guess? Havent really played it enough, but i dont really love the Civ franchise anyway.

U two love console games, i dont, we all like board games but we cant get together like we used to, we also cant agree on a computer game or even format to play in online. So it was nice knowing u guys!

By  wyldshaman, at Tuesday, November 30, 2010 10:47:00 PM  

any another thing thats funny is that Magic is still the biggest thing going, i mean in real world hobby shops, its crazy

By  wyldshaman, at Tuesday, November 30, 2010 10:59:00 PM  

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