Iron War - Official Thread
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@beelee for sure!
I think that could be an nice one for a few spots esp on maps that could support multiple timelines/starts. Or like where maybe the capital territory has original ownership but other places are true neutral depending on the year or the theme. Some Soviet or Japanese/Dutch starting territories might work the same way depending on who has initial control for whatever date, but some spots stand out as always being more fun that way. Like Normandy I think, even if France remains French. Or for like a Vichy or Northern Italy thing, if Allies conquer but then Germany mounts a counter offensive. Rally Points are a fun unit concept for that, since you don't have the long delay on production rebuilding. But they can only drop 1 hitpoint. Makes me want to buy tanks and ships out of them. Fun counterplay I'd think in Western Europe doing it up to the nines that way haha.
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Just ruminating again on possible ways to improve map from an SP perspective.
To elaborate more on the whole "paint the map through conquest" appeal. I think this exists in A&A on the computer for sure ever since the Hasbro disk, or with RiskII, Total War and pretty much every map game. On a physical board its less pronounced because ownership is indicated by the roundels, but digitally I think many enjoy the whole TT changes color vibe. In AA50, G40, this map, and other games that use starting ownership for the start date to determine original ownership of the TTs, you kind of lose out on the Classic/Revised style appeal of painting the map with the big dogs. So comparing like AA50 1942, to 1942 sec Edition in the formerly British territories controlled by Japan in the 1942 start those will revert to Britain when liberated. So spots like the Dutch East Indies going back to Britain or same deal with Soviet Territories that begin under German control. Whereas in Classic/Revised/1942.2 etc, those spots can be claimed by say USA instead.
It would be cool to see an original TripleA map with more than 1 start date, where the active front territories that change hands from scenario to scenario are original ownership true neutral in some cases, to support ownership by other factions if liberated. I also just still like the idea of WW2 map that's geared more towards what the AI can achieve currently, as opposed to waiting on the HardAI to improve. Like what the AI actually does with what it's given, so that's still in the back of my head.
But anyway, the tricky thing about a 1940 start date for way the original ownership/liberation default works, is that its set before the main Axis expansion. So less of the map is under original ownership Axis at the outset. Using the default approach I think a big part of why a 1941/42 setting is more fun, is because more TTs can be conquered and then used for production by the Allied factions like the US or Britain. A map where multiple TTs are og true neutral to build a map for multiple dates would be killer.
Another thought for this one specifically is some way to make Britain and the British Colonies factions able to stand up to a likely Axis double threat from both Italy and Japan as they converge around East Africa.
What if Egypt, Ango-Egypt Sudan and all the territories in the European and Mediterranean theater were controlled by Britain rather British Colonies?
Or then what if Canada was under British-Colonies control rather than Britain's control?
During WW2 Labrador and Newfoundland would be still have been under Britain's direct control, and maybe could have rally points to justify their distinct political status, whereas the rest of the Dominion of Canada could join the British Colonies Faction. This would put them both roughly on the same production footing and kinda fits thematically for the period.
Basically you have the British administering in Europe and North Africa, then British Colonies in Canada and the rest of the Empire in the Atlantic and West Africa as its own faction. This could allow the other Dominions or India to pick up a few TTs? Depending on how you wanted to distribute the Middle East or East Africa or the Pacific stuff. Iceland and Egypt were already occupied by the British by 1941, so that would work as well. The British counter offensive vs Graziani could have them already in Tobruk, with the idea that Germany can invade from Tunisia and the Western Med, to go after spots like Greece/Crete/El Alemain etc on G1. So round 1 is like sand and sea North Africa vibe, whereas round 2 is like full on Torch set up.
Giving Britain another convoy zone somewhere in the Atlantic along with Egypt would basically offset Canada going to British-Colonies. Something sort of like this maybe for starting ownership? Just a quicky to play with the Canada idea... I think with a tweak to the starting forces distribution, it could be done it a way that has Britain more involved in the Eastern Med, whereas the Atlantic crossing from Canada and the stuff going on Sub Saharan Africa has more of its own vibe for the war effort.
Iron-War March 1941 draft ideas Britain Canada.tsvg
Here's another option, where everything in the Atlantic West of the Cape of Good hope is represented by the British-Colonies Faction, so basically from Canada to Nigeria, everything in Europe the Med and around Suez and the Red Sea West of the Persian gulf is controlled by Britain.
Iron-War March 1941 draft ideas East Africa.tsvg
To shift the focus from Sub Saharan Africa to North Africa, one idea would be to switch the Nigerian factory to a rally point. So thematically you'd have the British Colonies using the safe cash in Canada to purchase ships for the battle of the Atlantic or fighters in West Africa, more than like boots on the ground for stack armies crushing it in that region. Especially if that's where France is focused. South Africa is a little problematic, since they exist more as a target than a viable faction, but they're also much smaller than the current British colonies faction, so they'd be more localized anyway with the can opening and such. Its also possible to expand their territory to include more of East Africa I suppose, sort of in the same way the British India includes stuff like Singapore and Burma etc. With Canada under British control as it is in the current, I think the British in North America feels a bit redundant after the first couple round or so, since there's really no need to buy ships there or do much else with it once the Allied fleet reaches UK home waters. I think with Egypt, they'd have at least some pressure and option for counter play in the opening rounds vs Italy/Germany.
I'm struggling to recall the earlier set ups from previous versions, I remember the 39 version had Egypt as a Neutral, before British-Colonies was expanded to include it. But anyhow, seems like it might work without straining credulity too much for a 1941 themed start. Not sure if anyone else is interested hehe.
I just think March 1941 would be a cool start date for a WW2 map, because it always kinda takes a backseat to 42, or 1940. Except for AA50 I guess lol. But on a big map like this, I think 41 at that point could definitely be fun. Right before the big Axis push, so that round 1 can have Axis expanding across all fronts (like the player is wont to do), and but then switching things up so that they receive Allied pressure sooner. All the 1942 games feel weird, because they start with Axis at the high water mark, but then still have Allies stalling out. Axis just globe trot for several rounds, well beyond the active theaters where the war was actually being fought in 41/42. I think something to tighten up the opener and actually build the Pearl Attack and Barbarossa to occur at the right time would be novel for a map game heheh.
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Might run a Soviet solo, using vanilla 3.0 since I think its been a while. This seemed like a kinda fun opener to try..
The Balkans play only works I supposed if AI Germany fails to reinforce it. The other moves showing pretty strong odds for though stand alone attacks. Esp with the kill early on Iran and such. Though that draws a big exchange, might be worth it just to stall Axis as hard as possible.
Made the non coms during combat movement just to see where the forces might consolidate.
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Been a while, but I fired this one up again for the old time charm! I was playing again with an idea to make the game somewhat more forgiving when it comes to fuel. Basically keeping everything else about it identical, but just a bit slushier hehe.
In this one the Major Powers each have 20 synth added to their starting Strategic Reserves and the Minor powers have a reserve of 5. Thematically they can be considered the stockpiles everybody built up prior to the outbreak of war, but this should give everyone enough fuel to carry the fight into 1943/44 before hitting the red too hard. It still burns out eventually, as more fuel consuming units enter, but with a bit more cushion. I also thought it might be more engaging for an AI game. The computer won't purchase additional synth barrels to scale up like the player can, but at least this gives them more flexibility to move their air and naval units about. It's essentially just a high fuel version of the vanilla 3.0, but still trying to maintain some interest for the fuel mechanic thing during the endgame. Anyhow just thought I'd toss it out there haha
Iron-War Strategic Fuel Reserve.tsvg
All the best!
Elk -
@black_elk heh heh nice to see ya Elk : )
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@beelee You too dude!
I enjoy this map. I think it has a fun scale and relatively straightforward style of gameplay. It's busy enough to be interesting for a WW2 A&A game, but not so busy that it gets too far away from that old school A&A charm. I find that for all it's various unit types, resources, smaller factions and whatnot, it still has a definite cohesion and overall simplicity to the rules that I like. More importantly, since it plays a lot like Revised, it seems to almost works for a single player campaign, which is always a plus lol.
The AI still whiffs it a fair bit, but it holds up surprisingly well despite the usual shortcomings hehe. I figured for a game vs the comp the player could just remove their own synth with a quick edit to maintain the usual challenge.
I still wish this map used v3 rules for carriers though. I like the old school flavor for the transports, but the carriers run into issues with the older revised style rules by moving existing fighters to an adjacent sz by land. If a sz is adjacent to more than 1 coastal factory, the player doesn't have a way tell game which factory to build from. It just defaults by list order or whatever.
This is an issue on G1, because if the German player wants to build a carrier in the Baltic Sea Zone the existing fighters have to be positioned in West Germany in order to move onto deck during the placement phase. They can't do it from say Poland or the East Germany coastal factory for example, even though this should possible. I guess unless they first buy enough other units to max the Western Germany factory so it will move along to the next coastal production spot? v3 rules would be simpler and more familiar from the recent A&A games I would think, if this map ever gets a version 4.0 I think that'd be my top request, along with a bit more fuel. Probably doesn't need to be quite this slushy, but I just wanted to high ball something haha
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Hi there. This map looks fun. Is it good for PvP? Should the humans play all the nations, or give minor allies to AI?
I see that ships cannot pass between Baltic and North Sea on turn 1 (until Germany captures Denmark). Whilst I understand this mechanically, is it ahistorical, and detrimental to gameplay?
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I also can't pass through the Gibraltar strait in turn 1. I guess I can understand that a little more, but it does seem a bit limiting. Eg if Italy captures Gibraltar then it locks the Allies out of the Med.
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I see that Spain is "axis-neutral". This allows Axis to move through Spain for an easy capture of Gibralar. Is that intentional?
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Sorry - yet another question - I see that the attack on Pearl Harbour is not possible. Is that deliberate, since the game is deemed to start in 1940?
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