Hey guys...I like Fleet Commander Nimitz quite a bit, but the set-up is something that could be done a bit easier. I'm a visual person so I came up with this. It's only for the Japanese, and only for the 1942 scenario, and took a lot of time to do.
Those of you that have FC:N, let me know if you think something like this would be helpful with your game. If so I'll work on a set-up sheet for the others.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1175.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fr624%2FMichaelE6%2F1942J-setup.jpg&hash=422b8d8f9d1fd09c6fe6e199362605a0b82fd959)
The counters should be the same size as those in the game, though I cannot print it off to test it here at home. The idea is to just drop the unit on top of its image and voila, set up should be completed much faster.
Note: this might be a bit hard to view, but I had to compress it into JPEG to upload here. I've got a PDF version, but the high-quality printable version is 89MB. I will spend some time later to reduce the file size on it so it's more manageable, and perhaps upload it to BGG.
Nice work Banzai..... I think it would be helpful and quicker to setup. Have the US on the reverse side so it could be printed double sided.
Also, I honestly kind of dislike the way the fleets are handled on the board... a huge stack falling over around an island is not very good. I have to unstack to look through to see the combined strength and then re-stack. A separate mat like this would also could be beneficial in addition to the setup you have here...... but of course that idea takes up more room.
PE
A good idea, PE...that would require a separate sheet with 'Fleet' markers, then you could just put a Fleet marker on an island and have the ships off-map. As you said, though, that's even more space.
Some of the stacks are truly obnoxious.
That looks very helpful indeed. Good skillz.
I think the addition of a "fleet" layout one as mentioned would be a good idea. I'm rather surprised these weren't thought of by Dan...or perhaps the cost would've been prohibitive.
I had been debating picking up FC Nimitz but after seeing the amount of counters in it, I decided to wait.
After punching out all the counters in Bloody April, I have little urge to Cou-Punch again soon. Still have numerous other games yet to punch. I didn't mind doing it when I was a kid but it's getting old in this age of high production value.
I suppose that's part of the reason I don't buy many large hex & counter games anymore. I actually enjoy learning new game rules but sweet Baby Raptor Jesus has the cardboard wrestling become a torture to my OCD. Especially when I see how well some other companies' cardboard counters have been cut and come right out without a fuss. I suppose the FC Nimitz ones "fall off the bone" by reports, so that is encouraging. But there's still the large counter stack mess to contend with afterward. :buck2:
Yup. It'll take you a couple of hours to punch and sort - there's eight counter sheets, though they ARE organized by Campaign Year, so the 1942 counters are together, the 1943 counters are together...and so on. And they do come off the runners easily. I think I had one out of the whole lot that had a bit of tear on it, but it was easily enough fixed.
Just went to the post office this morning to pick up a package that couldn't be delivered. I thought I was going to pick up a shower curtain I had ordered...imagine my elation when I was given a rather large box!
Funny thing was, as I was walking there, with the dog, I thought "Imagine if it's my game...how surprised will I be"...then dismissing that as daft right away!
Then I had to get in the house and explain to my wife it wasn't the shower curtain. Of course...then followed the questions - so I was found out!
Anyway - this is a monster. There are a huge amount of chits in there. A good thing about some chit boards you get is they come off the sprues easily...unfortunately they can come off too easy and probably a half of the chits are sitting mixed up in the box :'(
Looks great though.
Also - the guy at the online shop I bought it from said they held back posting because the deluxe boards hadn't come in...but my game has the mounted board in the box...so I think he might be a tad confused.
Looks great though. Very excited.
Ah...just re-read the email and it was the mounted Battle Map which was in the pre-order as a free upgrade - not the mounted strategic map (which is standard)
Right...the mounted Battle Map and the counter tray were extra items.
My copy is still sitting in shrink. I'm taking in more reviews before deciding to either open it and get in to it or sell it for the much needed extra cash. Sorry if you're reading this Dan but from what I'm sensing here and on BGG, the main map of the Pacific is a let down but the battle map looks great as well as do the counters but there's just so many of them that it's a mess to shuffle them and move them around (great idea with the set up boards B_C).
The utter and complete randominess and wonkiness of the "AI" is a turn-off for me as well. It seems that you could literally play this game with paper and pencil and dice.
But - I'd love to love this game (wasn't there a song that went something like that?). Is there a final consensus here....unwrap and try this one myself or sell it and invest the time in to relearning Carrier (which I absolutely loved to play when I did invest the time needed to learn the rules)?
Oh LORD no....I'm thinking of Donna Summer:
Except I'm too stoopid to figure out how to do the youtube link here....
Gary- there are two ways to embed youtube vids. One gives you options such as linking a series of vids or starting a vid at a certain point, the other is more basic but quicker, especially if you've already closed the source page:
Method 1:
At the youtube page-
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi747.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx120%2FStaggerwing%2Fyoutubehowto_zps9ea1004a.jpg&hash=08cadbeabab01e7eca8fe9e0bbe9bade7d5854e1) and then paste between the youtube tags.
Method 2:
Remove the 's' from the 'https' portion of the url after pasting between the youtube tags.
Quote from: GJK on January 10, 2015, 10:55:02 AM
Is there a final consensus here....unwrap and try this one myself or sell it and invest the time in to relearning Carrier (which I absolutely loved to play when I did invest the time needed to learn the rules)?
I don't think there's a final consensus, per se. I'm doing a review for GH but it'll probably be a bit before it gets done/published. Not too long, but not next week either.
Personally I like this game a lot. I enjoy the Pacific theme and like the counter representations, though I think the light carriers on the Japanese side should have been doubled up like the BBs and CRUs in order to not make the stacks so obnoxious. I think there's at least six CVLs and CVEs on the Japanese side alone, but I'd have to take a look at it again.
Having a huge stack and needing to roll upwards of six to eight times to determine where stuff goes is kind of a pain and exhausting, but the mechanics are simple and once you get the hang of it, it's not that big a deal. True - it IS random, but there is a system under the die rolling and the Japanese more or less advance as they historically did. Your job, as commander of Allied forces in the Pacific, is to head them off at the pass. Trouble is, with there so much randomness, you don't know where that will be, unless you use your Scouting counters (which cost 1 supply point per roll). When you use Scouting counters, you get to pre-roll one Japanese movement before the Allied forces move (normally Allied forces move first, then you roll for Japanese movement). You get one pre-roll per Scouting counter, just to be clear. So you can assign more than one Scouting counter to a large Japanese stack if you wish.
Combat is a LOT of fun, I think. It's especially harrowing when both sides have significant forces in an island area. The flip side is when one side is overwhelmingly strong and the other is very weak, it's a pain to move all of that to the Battle Map to resolve, when you know damn well what's going to happen (though you never know - combat is die-driven, so...).
I recently set the game up with the mind of doing an AAR, so I've been writing down every step and movement. I will try to flesh that out some more this weekend and get it posted.
Final consensus? It IS a hundred bucks. If you need that money, sell it. If you can hold off, keep it. It WILL require an investment of time to sort and set up, but I consider that 'therapy quiet time' for me. :)
I'll hold off for a bit and give it a spin. My guess is I'm going to want to see if I can generate some house rules or otherwise wait for somebody else to do it. I think there's a lot of great material in there to work with.
House rules/optional rules are bound to happen with this. The game's still young so its BGG page is relatively light but I check it out every so often. In fact I need to do that again here, soon.
I just played into Turn 2 of the 1942 scenario and had a second major battle for the Solomon Islands. Beat the snot out of the Japs again, in that I sank a couple of their carriers, but their damned BBs and CRUs were feisty and wouldn't go down. Stopped a huge Japanese invasion (3 battalions and two infantry divisions) of those islands with two Marine divisions (oorah!), one of which was damaged in the defense.
You might find you have plenty of ships to work with to fight the Japanese, but you can only move ships, infantry, and squadrons by spending Supply Points. One Supply Point will move one of the above anywhere you want on the map. So if you move a large force, it can easily suck you dry, and one massive movement will limit your other options. The stack I sent to the Solomons to fight off the Japanese cost me 11 SPs to move, but I'm glad I did - I thought I was overdoing it but the subsequent Japanese moves put those two IJN carriers plus troops into the Solomons. Sometimes you just gotta do it.
Scouting is essential to help you make those choices, but those cost SPs also.
One thing that is odd is at the end of a turn, the US ships have to 'Return to Port' - which is to say, Hawaii. They cannot stay on station, which the Japanese ships can do. In the 1942 scenario, returning to port means your ships that are on the Campaign Map have to spend one turn in transit back to Pearl Harbor. So you have to balance your sortieing that way, too.
I'm a bit exhausted from this game for the last couple of sessions, but that's ONLY because I'm writing down everything that's happening in view of doing that AAR I might have mentioned. I think I might just hit the high and low points from this point forward so I can get through the game much faster.
1.5 hours in and I've only punched and clipped half the sprues...and half of those had fallen off!
It's going to be a loooong day! :)
So far I have completed the 42 and 43 scenarios and have received a Good evaluation on both. The 43 could have been a little different if the Move orders came out a little different for the Japanese.... but overall I had some good battles and the back and forth struggle for Wake was interesting.
PE
Quote from: JudgeDredd on January 11, 2015, 09:26:54 AM
1.5 hours in and I've only punched and clipped half the sprues...and half of those had fallen off!
It's going to be a loooong day! :)
I'd much rather have to sort out a bunch of mixed ones than punch resistant counters from sprues. I wish some other wargame companies would take this route. The Legion games counter sheets actually came shrink wrapped so they wouldn't fall off, which was a nice touch.
Question for you lot that have played the '42 scenario
I'm at the stage of setting it up - but I don't seem to have enough aircraft.
I've got
- East Asia
1xCVL with 1xA6M and 1xD3A - Japan
6xCV with 6xA6M, 6xD3A, 6xB5N
3xCVL with 3xA6M and 3xD3A
1xCVE with 1xD3A
The trouble is, I
don't have that number of aircraft to assign. I've only got (in total) 6xA6M, 6xD3A and 5xB5N....but I
need 10xA6M, 11xD3A and 6xB5N
I'm certain I didn't "mix" my counters when I bagged them...did anyone else come up short with naval aircraft for '42?
JD, you don't use any of the carrier aircraft during set-up. They are only brought out when you go to the Battle Map.
Land-based aircraft (that is, aircraft without the blue band along the bottom of the counter) are the only ones placed on the map.
That said, I know any units that are eliminated during battle are lost for good - they are not put into the Reinforcement pile. That said, I'm not sure about aircraft carrier squadrons. My belief is that they are pretty much generic units that are replaced as needed so technically aircraft carriers on either side will never run out of counters. I could be mistaken though.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 11, 2015, 04:02:38 PM
JD, you don't use any of the carrier aircraft during set-up. They are only brought out when you go to the Battle Map.
Land-based aircraft (that is, aircraft without the blue band along the bottom of the counter) are the only ones placed on the map.
That said, I know any units that are eliminated during battle are lost for good - they are not put into the Reinforcement pile. That said, I'm not sure about aircraft carrier squadrons. My belief is that they are pretty much generic units that are replaced as needed so technically aircraft carriers on either side will never run out of counters. I could be mistaken though.
Ah - cool. Thanks. I was having a wee panic there.
Thanks a lot. O0
That's a busy map - AND it's only the '42 scenario - the smallest
It took about an hour to setup too.
But I've always liked the unboxing and setting up. It's all part of the gaming experience. I can definitely see a benefit to having "Fleet" sheets...though that would mean new chits for the board
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FBoard%2520Games%2FFleet%2520Commander%2520Nimitz%2F20150111_214642_zpsltyecw81.jpg&hash=dc33732ffe4989dedd9dd2920944a3e0a000b70a)
Just wait until you start adding the Scouting and Moved counters. :)
It's hard to tell where to start, so just dive in and try it and see where the game system takes you.
The game sounds great. But lack of Vassal support really holding me back. I just don't have table space. :(
DVG sells their Vassal modules. Check the site to see if one is available for Nimitz.
Good Hunting.
MR
I only played through three turns so I'm somewhat reluctant to post an AAR. I was using the dining room table but that got old with the 'better' half really quick as I had it up for two weeks. I'm hoping to have a dedicated gaming table in my office in a week or so and would like to be able to leave this out so I can TYPE out my turns instead of writing them out longhand.
I can't wait to have time to write up the review.
I'm slowly playing as I'm reading the manual. It's not very difficult from what I'm gathering...though the battles look like they might be "strange"
The game looks great though. Good quality again. O0
Quote from: ArizonaTank on January 18, 2015, 08:14:00 AM
The game sounds great. But lack of Vassal support really holding me back. I just don't have table space. :(
Same for me. I hope they add a Vassal module for it. I would love a physical copy with a Vassal module on the side. :)
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 19, 2015, 09:23:21 AM
I only played through three turns so I'm somewhat reluctant to post an AAR. I was using the dining room table but that got old with the 'better' half really quick as I had it up for two weeks.
Two weeks?! :o
Sweet baby raptor jesus, man! You're probably lucky to still be here!
Yeah, well...my wife gives me some leeway when she knows it's "business" related.
This review mentioned a notable disparity in land-based aircraft gameplay value, compared to carrier-based, due to them being damaged so much more quickly in priority (while carrier-based ones automatically regenerate). :-\
See, I've not seen a rule that says that carrier air units automatically regenerate. It would make sense in a scenario that spans the entire year, but in a single year, carrier air losses I think should be permanent.
Dan answered a question on BGG that asked what happens to eliminated units - he says they're gone for good, never to return. It's not clear, though, if that means carrier air units as well, since they are somewhat generic compared to land based air untis.
In actual fact it was the IJN carrier air units that were destroyed for good once lost and not the land based ones. That's historically backwards.
Good Hunting.
MR
Good point. Irreplaceable talent.
I have read or watched somewhere where it mentioned carrier units are replaceable...in other words, when a carrier is about, they get their compliment of aircraft.
Quite aside from any design aspect put in by Dan, part of the reason for having it that way is that there are not enough carrier aircraft chits and so they are not assigned to the carriers throughout the game and therefore no way of tracking aircraft.
A house rule could be implemented to manually track aircraft with carriers so you could keep track of damaged or destroyed aircraft. Whether that's worth the effort is up to the individual.
Something that concerns me more than the aircraft thing is the movement of Japanese units. It seems ludicrous that a Japanese invasion force could be turning up at a beach with no carrier support. I was thinking about implementing my own house rule of 1 carrier being assigned to every movement until they have all been used, but decided against it at the moment...personally, I think I'll just play vanilla and see how it goes.
I dunno...the IJN carried out several invasions without the courtesy of escorting carriers. The game is of course by no means realistic, but it does a good job given its solitaire limitations.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 20, 2015, 08:26:45 AM
I dunno...the IJN carried out several invasions without the courtesy of escorting carriers. The game is of course by no means realistic, but it does a good job given its solitaire limitations.
I didn't know that. I was thinking if I were to launch an invasion, I'd probably want some air cover. :)
Oh yeah, of course. Thing is there's SO many damn Jap carriers in the game (CVs, CVEs, CVLs) that the odds are there will be one or two going in every direction. And if there's a large concentration of them, it will be quite a challenge, just like with, say the historical Midway battle.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 20, 2015, 08:37:38 AM
Oh yeah, of course. Thing is there's SO many damn Jap carriers in the game (CVs, CVEs, CVLs) that the odds are there will be one or two going in every direction. And if there's a large concentration of them, it will be quite a challenge, just like with, say the historical Midway battle.
Yeah - true. I noticed the amount when I was setting up. Did they have that number historically?
I guess I can't really comment until I've got a few games under my belt. I have no idea how it actually plays out because I haven't actually played a game yet. A few games will give an idea of how good the random mechanics are.
I've never really been too much for much in the way of historical accuracy...as long as the game is playable (computer or board). I mean, I want it to have historical aspects in it but I'm not a nuts and bolts man.
Talking about nuts and bolts, here's a good video - it gives good info of some of the mechanics
I like the way that VG's Carrier handles intelligence levels and Japanese force composition as it is revealed through increased intel. Some variation of that for Nimitz seems like it could be implemented and perhaps would be a better way to handle it other than just randomly scattering about the IJN based on a dozen dice rolls.
I'm lucky enough to have a copy of Carrier, but I've yet to play it...
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 20, 2015, 10:16:15 AM
I'm lucky enough to have a copy of Carrier, but I've yet to play it...
Programmed instructions but still a steep learning curve that you'll have to relearn if you don't play it often enough but given the time and motivation to learn it, you won't want to play Nimitz if you're looking for an intense, operational level WW2 carrier game.
Ok - so even with the easy rules and the Nuts and Bolts video...I'm over thinking things again...
First - I have 4 aircraft and 1 Inf (Jap) on an island and they've been given a reinforce move...so they move via transport? If so, what if I have no transports left? What if there are US forces on there? Are they on the beach already (if so, I presume no transport is required)?
Second - I have moved a US invasion force to an island with 1 Jap AC and 1 Jap Inf - now there were no US forces on the island before I sent the invasion force there - so are the japanese inf/AC units eligible to be moved or are they considered in combat and therefore not able to move (bearing in mind the US forces haven't "landed" yet)
Lastly - if there are 2 US AC, 1 jap inf and 4 jap AC, I roll for the area and say I am told to move 3 ships, 2 inf and 2 AC, is the jap inf allowed to move (because there is no US inf present)?
Over thinking things I think.
I've ran out of movement counters and I haven't moved the Japan or East Asia units yet??
Quote from: JudgeDredd on January 21, 2015, 03:28:18 PM
Ok - so even with the easy rules and the Nuts and Bolts video...I'm over thinking things again...
First - I have 4 aircraft and 1 Inf (Jap) on an island and they've been given a reinforce move...so they move via transport?
Check the rule with the one line at the bottom of page 9 and at the top left of page 10:
QuoteThe last Japanese Infantry or Land-Based Aircraft in an Area will not move out of the Area, regardless of the Order rolled.
...
Move the Forces in order of: Ships, then Infantry, then Land-Based Aircraft.
So, to answer this specific question...in order to meet the Reinforce order, the Japs need to move 2 Ships, 1 Infantry, and 2 Land-Based Aircraft.
- There are no Ships, so this is ignored.
- Next in order are Infantry. The Order calls for one Infantry. As you have that unit present, you can move it. It is the last Infantry in that Area, but you still have Land-Based Aircraft, so it's okay to move the Infantry.
- Finally, you need to move 2 of your 4 Land-Based Aircraft, so you'd do that.
This leaves 2 Land-Based Aircraft in the Area. The rule specified above says the last Infantry or LBA will not leave the Area if it is not East Asia or Japan. Consider that in all other Areas the Japs have to have ONE unit present in order to hold it. Since there is more than 1 unit in this Area still, you'd need to roll another Order for that one extra LBA. Make sense?
Quote from: JudgeDredd
If so, what if I have no transports left?
Doesn't matter. You cannot run out of Transports, period. Now, you CAN run out of counters representing Transports. How you take care of that is up to you; use a quid, or a pint, or whatever you UK people do (lol) to mark extra Transports if you need to.
I don't even bother with extra markers, to be honest. The rules state that the Transport marker is just a way for the player to conveniently remember what Infantry units are NOT on an island and are yet to land. If I run out of Transport markers I just set the Infantry aside and remember later. I haven't had issue with that yet.
Quote from: JudgeDredd
What if there are US forces on there? Are they on the beach already (if so, I presume no transport is required)?
Okay, here goes:
The Transport is just a marker for you to use to indicate what Infantry units are awaiting landing on the target island. Nothing more. You shouldn't have more than one Transport in each Area. If you roll up all your orders and move Infantry from one area to, say, Iwo Jima, and then roll orders for another Area and also get Infantry moving to Iwo, well, then you have two Transports. I just use one Transport to show which Infantry needs to land or invade. Make sense?
When you're moving Infantry to an Area that the Japanese control, and there are NO US forces present...well, that's just a simple movement of forces. You do not move units to the Battle Board. So really, you don't need to mark those Infantry units with Transports...just a "Moved" marker instead.
Now, if you're moving Jap Infantry to an island where there are US forces present, that Transport serves as a handy way of reminding you 'hey, these Japs want to invade/reinforce their comrades already there (if any)." When you move a Transport with Infantry to the Battle Board (and again, there's really no reason to have more than one Transport present, because they're generic and infinite, technically), the Infantry is placed on the Transport, in the Coastal Area. Japanese Infantry on a Transport is placed on the Japanese side of the island, opposite the Japanese Beaches area. US Infantry is similarly placed on Transports on their side of the island, in the Coastal Area.
(Now, I'll say this: Transports CAN be sunk during a Battle, but that's not happened to me yet. They're numbered very high (4) and since Combat removes the lowest-numbered Ships first, it's rare to even get to that point. At the end of the first Battle Turn, when you get to the Infantry Advance part, the Infantry moves to their respective Beaches area and the Transports go away back to the pile to be used again. My interpretation of the rule means that one Transport technically carrying many Infantry can get targeted and blown away on the first Turn, which would mean all Japanese Infantry would be destroyed since they didn't get off the boat on time. I haven't had a problem with this yet, but I haven't had huge Jap infantry invasions yet either. I imagine it's possible but the odds are against it, so I'm good with this interpretation.)
Infantry that is already on the island is placed in Foxholes; they start the Battle there.
During the Combat process, you'll find the "Infantry Advance" part of the Combat's sequence of play. (The rule is on Page 18.) When you get there, first you move Infantry on Beaches to Foxholes (for both sides, but only to their own Foxholes). You then move Infantry on Transports to their corresponding Beach area. US Marines are the only exception to this last part - they get to move straight from Transports to Foxholes.
Japanese Infantry never occupies US Foxholes, and US Infantry never occupies Japanese Foxholes. Units pretty much slug it out during the Combat and if it ends before either side is wiped out, they're just moved back to the Campaign Map and they both occupy the Area.
Quote from: JudgeDredd
Second - I have moved a US invasion force to an island with 1 Jap AC and 1 Jap Inf - now there were no US forces on the island before I sent the invasion force there - so are the japanese inf/AC units eligible to be moved or are they considered in combat and therefore not able to move (bearing in mind the US forces haven't "landed" yet)
Remember that the US moves BEFORE the Japanese on any given Turn, unless you choose to Scout a stack. So, if you move a US invasion force to an Area where the Japs have 1 LBA and 1 Infantry...check the rule under "Japanese Orders" on Page 9:
QuoteJapan cannot Move its Infantry out of Areas that also contain US Forces. Place a Moved counter on them. Do not roll an Order for these Forces...
So, by moving a US invasion fleet to that Area, you've locked down one of the Japanese units. Recall my answer to your first question, above - there is an order to moving Japanese units (Ships, then Infantry, then LBAs). However, the invading US forces mean the Japs cannot move their Infantry - so it's stuck there and cannot move. You can, however, roll an order for the one LBA present. (Which seems somewhat silly - in my mind that rule should be that ALL Japanese forces remain in place, or at least give a strong bias to them staying when rolling movement orders.)
Quote from: JudgeDredd
Lastly - if there are 2 US AC, 1 jap inf and 4 jap AC, I roll for the area and say I am told to move 3 ships, 2 inf and 2 AC, is the jap inf allowed to move (because there is no US inf present)?
Again, recall the rule on Page 10. The order is, Ships first, then Infantry, and finally LBAs. However, there must be at least ONE Infantry OR LBA present in the Area, unless it's East Asia or Japan, which can move the very last units out. Other areas may not do that so the rule applies everywhere else.
- There are no Jap ships in the Area, so the 3 Ships order is ignored.
- There are two Infantry in the Area, and the order calls for 2 Inf to move, so normally, both would load up on transports. However, there are US forces present, so NONE of the Japanese Infantry units may move. Place Moved markers on the Japanese Infantry to remind you they must stay in place.
- Finally, the order calls for 2 LBAs to move. Since LBAs are not restrained by invading US forces (again, kind of odd, but that's what it says), and the order calls for 2 of the 4 present, you'd move 2 of them to satisfy the order.
This leaves 2 more LBAs. You'd have to roll orders again for them to see where they go, if anywhere.
Thing is about the US LBAs - if they're already on the island and not invading, then they start in the Airfields space on the Battle Map during Combat. Technically they are occupying the island. The rule on Page 9 says that Japan can't move Infantry out of an area that contains US
Forces, so Forces means Ships, Infantry, OR LBAs. Doesn't matter what it is.
Quote from: JudgeDredd
Over thinking things I think.
Hell, mate, that's the way of things innit? ;) You gotta ask the questions if you want to understand it.
Quote from: JudgeDredd
I've ran out of movement counters and I haven't moved the Japan or East Asia units yet??
There should be enough Moved counters present to cover each Area on the Campaign Map. I think you're using a Moved counter for each Japanese force you're moving, so if you move Japanese units to one Area, and they all come from multiple Areas, just stack them under ONE Moved counter instead of having multiple Moved counters present. It'll be less cluttering and it doesn't matter, as long as you keep track of what moved to the area that way (only so you do not re-roll orders for units you've already moved).
Also JD, to clarify: LBAs (Land-Based Aircraft) do NOT move via Transport; only Infantry does. LBA that 'invade' an Area start the turn on their respective Airfield space. Whether or not the LBA starts on the island or invades, it starts in its respective Airfield space.
Thanks for the very detailed assistance there BC - all makes sense except...this
Quote from: JudgeDredd on January 21, 2015, 03:28:18 PM
Lastly - if there are 2 US AC, 1 jap inf and 4 jap AC, I roll for the area and say I am told to move 3 ships, 2 inf and 2 AC, is the jap inf allowed to move (because there is no US inf present)?
The reason I was asking is because I thought you couldn't move any forces from an area that were contested - and I was thinking as the US has 2 LBA there, then the place is contested and therefore the jap forces cannot move. I was asking this one because I wasn't sure - given there were no US inf units present on the area.
And I'm only using more than 1 move counter when I have a lone Jap inf in an area for example - that's one move counter. When they are "reinforced", then I'm using another one...otherwise if I take the one off the inf, I don't know I'm not meant to use that.
Don't worry - I'll figure that bit out.
Thanks again
To make it easier, just place a Moved counter on top of the Areas that only have the one Japanese Infantry or one Japanese LBA on it, before you do anything else. If you move other Jap units to that area, you can just stack 'em under that Moved counter. If there's infantry on transports, just put them next to the stack so they touch the Moved counters - that's what I do.
As for contested areas - yeah, it's just Jap infantry that have to remain in place. Ships and LBAs can move.
There's also a rule in there somewhere about, if you're moving units to a contested Area and there's no Japanese Infantry to move (and of course, the order calls for said infantry to move), then you draw Jap Battalions instead. I can't recall the specifics without the rules in front of me though, but it's something along those lines.
Glad to help. I do like the game. I think it's a bit of work to wrap your mind around it, but once you do, it's enjoyable.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 22, 2015, 05:43:44 PM
To make it easier, just place a Moved counter on top of the Areas that only have the one Japanese Infantry or one Japanese LBA on it, before you do anything else. If you move other Jap units to that area, you can just stack 'em under that Moved counter. If there's infantry on transports, just put them next to the stack so they touch the Moved counters - that's what I do.
As for contested areas - yeah, it's just Jap infantry that have to remain in place. Ships and LBAs can move.
There's also a rule in there somewhere about, if you're moving units to a contested Area and there's no Japanese Infantry to move (and of course, the order calls for said infantry to move), then you draw Jap Battalions instead. I can't recall the specifics without the rules in front of me though, but it's something along those lines.
Glad to help. I do like the game. I think it's a bit of work to wrap your mind around it, but once you do, it's enjoyable.
That is correct
The rules aren't difficult - it's just that there's some wiggle room as to the exact implementation of some of them.
And I don't like running out of counters...it makes me twitchy!
Battalions...when they are "hit" their hit side has a value of 0. I thought 0 was treated as high?
Is a battalion that is hit removed or does the 0 mean something? I am presuming I can't roll - which kind of makes me think they shouldn't be on the island.
Infantry combat says to roll the value or lower on the inf unit...but if a battalion is at 0, either 0 is low, or I can't roll for them as they have no combat value.
I can't find anything in the manual or online to clarify this...all I know is the manual says to use the 0 as 10 on the dice...which kind of makes it impossible to roll a 0?? ???
Quote from: JudgeDredd on January 25, 2015, 05:22:56 PM
Battalions...when they are "hit" their hit side has a value of 0. I thought 0 was treated as high?
My understanding is, 0 is treated as zero. So in combat, I think you damage units from lowest to highest. Battalions at zero level will be the first to go.
Quote from: JudgeDreddIs a battalion that is hit removed or does the 0 mean something? I am presuming I can't roll - which kind of makes me think they shouldn't be on the island.
For combat proper, my understanding is that zero strength Battalions cannot hurt anything. A '0' on the die represents a 10, I think, so rolling a zero is impossible, therefore, Battalions do not actually roll to defend, but they have to be destroyed in order to remove them from the map and claim victory.
Realistically, the idea of a single Battalion standing up to a full enemy Division is laughable, but possible. It's entirely possible to not hit a Japanese Battalion in combat, and even though it cannot fire back to hurt anything, it will remain in the way if combat ends, and the Area will remain contested (and if an Area with an Objective is contested, it is flipped to the red side, meaning you do not get control of it).
Quote from: JudgeDreddInfantry combat says to roll the value or lower on the inf unit...but if a battalion is at 0, either 0 is low, or I can't roll for them as they have no combat value.
Exactly. You cannot roll for them.
Quote from: JudgeDreddI can't find anything in the manual or online to clarify this...all I know is the manual says to use the 0 as 10 on the dice...which kind of makes it impossible to roll a 0?? ???
Yep, 0 means 10 on the die, so as I said, it's impossible to roll a zero or less. I don't think there's die roll modifiers that could lower a roll of '1' to '0' so I just treat Battalions as I describe above.
Cool - thanks.
That makes sense - battalions not being able to engage but still remaining - kind of like they aren't significant in manpower to do any damage, but like having a partisan effect.
I was just a bit confused..>I was wondering why I couldn't remove them. But as long as I know they can't fight - it's good.