Peter Busch
09-30-2004, 10:47 AM
I have solo playtested the changes outlined below a couple of times so far, and they seem to work pretty well. O.K., here goes.
1. No targeted attacks! If there’s one rule I’ve come to dislike above all others in this game it's the targeted attack. My opposition to targeting is that it makes the firing unit too powerful, especially because the targeted unit cannot fire back defensively. This means that tank and artillery units will be quickly eliminated from the game, leaving only infantry to fight battles. The Allied artillery and tank units in beachhead boxes are almost always going to get wiped on turn one by blockhouse fire, bombers will almost always target an Axis tank unit, etc. The Allies have a hard enough time getting ashore and staying there as it is without the additional burden of landing with no artillery or tank support. In future I’m only going to play the game without targeted attacks of any kind.
2. Tactics Card #2 “V-2 Rocket Strike” – The effect of this card is historically wrong for two reasons: the first V-2 strikes did not begin until early September 1944, well after the Normandy campaign was over; and the military effect of V-2s (and V-1s) was negligible if not non-existent – the real victims of the German vengeance weapons were civilians. In addition, this tactics card has nothing to do with the order card that either precedes or follows it, whereas almost all the other tactics cards do relate to an associated order card.
My suggestion is to change this card to: “Axis Attacks Invasion Force. Roll three dice. Each roll of 1 eliminates from play one Allied Naval Bombardment die.”
This is a much more historically likely effect as well as being directly related to the order card preceding it. The Germans did, in fact, deploy mines, E-boats, one-man subs, and air attacks (including attacks using radio-guided bombs) against the Allied invasion force. None of these proved particularly effective but they could have.
3. Order Card #4 “Antiaircraft Fire: Fighters” – The effect of eliminating an Allied fighter unit from play is wildly out of proportion to the actual number of aircraft involved in the campaign and lost to ground fire. There were 5,000 Allied fighters assigned to the Normandy invasion. With eight fighter units in the game this equates to a scale of 625 fighters per unit. On D-Day itself a little over 100 fighters were lost to enemy AA fire, yet in the game it’s possible to shoot down many more hundreds if not thousands of Allied fighters in a single turn! As they say down south, “That dawg won’t hunt”.
Therefore, I suggest that AA hits on Allied fighters not eliminate the unit from play but rather force it to abort its mission and return to its airfield. If you really insist upon inflicting casualties, then I’d go for letting the Axis player combine two hits made by artillery in the same zone into a “kill”, which would eliminate one fighter patrolling over that zone.
4. Tactics Card #4 “Fireball from Above” – Speaking of cards who’s effect is wildly out of proportion, this one has to take top prize! We’re supposed to accept that hundreds of Allied fighters drop like so many quail from the sky right on top of a friendly unit in such a way as to make it combat ineffective?! The entire concept strikes me as World War II as it was in the comic books.
In concert with the AA fire rule change posted above, change this card to “Concentrated AA Fire. Choose one fighter that was aborted by artillery fire this phase. That fighter is now eliminated from play.”
5. Order Card #6 “AA Fire: Bombers” – As with fighters, a hit does not eliminate a bomber but rather damages it so that it cannot be deployed from its airfield on the next turn. Flip the bomber upside down to indicate that it cannot fly on the next turn. Again, if you want blood, count two AA hits in the same zone as a kill.
6. Fortune Card #7 “Bombers Return” – Change so that a roll of 1 allows a flipped bomber to be immediately turned right side up or an eliminated bomber to be returned to play. A roll of 6 allows the Axis player to flip one bomber or eliminate a bomber already flipped from AA fire.
7. Tactics Card #7 “Flooding the Lowlands” – The way this card works now, the Axis player can prevent an entire Allied beachhead box from landing, thus stalling the Allied invasion on turn one. This not only didn’t happen but it’s far too potent a tactic for the Axis player. Change the card to read: “Choose a coastal zone. No Allies land units can move _out of_ that zone in the next phase”. In this way the Axis can’t stop a landing but they can slow down an advance through a weak spot in their line. By-the-by, it would have been nice if the game components had included a marker piece labeled “Flooded” to help remind players which zone is affected; there certainly was room on the same sheet as the turn marker to do this.
8. Order Card #10 “Axis Reinforcements” – A critical failure of the Germans on D-Day and for several days, even weeks, thereafter was the refusal of Hitler and the German high command to accept that Normandy was the real invasion site and not a diversion for a main landing at the Pas de Calais. As such, valuable time was lost before powerful German divisions arrived in the landing area. To represent this, on turn one the Axis player only rolls one die each for Rennes/Chartres and Rouen/Chartres. From turn two onward the Axis player gets to roll the normal two dice each.
9. Tactics Card #15 “German Convoy” – Make this card #16 and place “Volunteers from the Home Front” as #15. Change the wording on the card to “German _Night_ Convoy. Axis land units from one Axis-controlled zone may move to any other zone. They must remain together as a group, passing only through Axis-controlled zones. If they enter a non Axis-controlled zone they must stop. The maximum limit of eight units per zone must be observed at all times during the move.
This tactic now takes place after fighters have returned to their airfields, hence the “night” appellation. Historically, after several days of hard lessons about the effectiveness and power of Allied air attacks on convoys moving during the daytime, the Germans eventually switched to making major troop movements under cover of darkness.
10. Fortune Cards: I have come to the conclusion that the Fortune cards just add too much of a random element into the game. As others have noted in their posts before me, Fortune cards make it really difficult to plan a strategy because one is always reacting to the events of the cards. My personal preference is that event cards should work as an adjunct to overall game strategy, not drive it.
I think the following change will create some interesting decision-making for all players: Fortune cards should be shuffled separately, then dealt out equally to both sides –eight for Allies, eight for Axis. If playing a three-player game, then the U.S. player and British Player get four cards each. At the beginning of the order phase matching the Fortune card’s number the player holding the Fortune card for that phase may elect to play it. Now here’s the fun part. The player of the card can either choose to pick one of the two events on the card and it takes effect immediately, but the card is then discarded from play; or the player can roll a die to get a random result, but he gets to keep the card in his hand to use again on later turns! Each turn he still has the card he can elect to either choose an effect and discard the card or roll for a random event and hold onto the card to use again. The only exception to choosing to keep the card is Fortune Card #1 “Airborne Assault”. Whomever plays this card must pick a result and then discard the card; he can’t keep it.
Well, there you have it. That’s my two cents (or maybe a nickel) worth. I certainly welcome constructive comments, especially from anyone who’s tried playing with any of my suggested changes.
1. No targeted attacks! If there’s one rule I’ve come to dislike above all others in this game it's the targeted attack. My opposition to targeting is that it makes the firing unit too powerful, especially because the targeted unit cannot fire back defensively. This means that tank and artillery units will be quickly eliminated from the game, leaving only infantry to fight battles. The Allied artillery and tank units in beachhead boxes are almost always going to get wiped on turn one by blockhouse fire, bombers will almost always target an Axis tank unit, etc. The Allies have a hard enough time getting ashore and staying there as it is without the additional burden of landing with no artillery or tank support. In future I’m only going to play the game without targeted attacks of any kind.
2. Tactics Card #2 “V-2 Rocket Strike” – The effect of this card is historically wrong for two reasons: the first V-2 strikes did not begin until early September 1944, well after the Normandy campaign was over; and the military effect of V-2s (and V-1s) was negligible if not non-existent – the real victims of the German vengeance weapons were civilians. In addition, this tactics card has nothing to do with the order card that either precedes or follows it, whereas almost all the other tactics cards do relate to an associated order card.
My suggestion is to change this card to: “Axis Attacks Invasion Force. Roll three dice. Each roll of 1 eliminates from play one Allied Naval Bombardment die.”
This is a much more historically likely effect as well as being directly related to the order card preceding it. The Germans did, in fact, deploy mines, E-boats, one-man subs, and air attacks (including attacks using radio-guided bombs) against the Allied invasion force. None of these proved particularly effective but they could have.
3. Order Card #4 “Antiaircraft Fire: Fighters” – The effect of eliminating an Allied fighter unit from play is wildly out of proportion to the actual number of aircraft involved in the campaign and lost to ground fire. There were 5,000 Allied fighters assigned to the Normandy invasion. With eight fighter units in the game this equates to a scale of 625 fighters per unit. On D-Day itself a little over 100 fighters were lost to enemy AA fire, yet in the game it’s possible to shoot down many more hundreds if not thousands of Allied fighters in a single turn! As they say down south, “That dawg won’t hunt”.
Therefore, I suggest that AA hits on Allied fighters not eliminate the unit from play but rather force it to abort its mission and return to its airfield. If you really insist upon inflicting casualties, then I’d go for letting the Axis player combine two hits made by artillery in the same zone into a “kill”, which would eliminate one fighter patrolling over that zone.
4. Tactics Card #4 “Fireball from Above” – Speaking of cards who’s effect is wildly out of proportion, this one has to take top prize! We’re supposed to accept that hundreds of Allied fighters drop like so many quail from the sky right on top of a friendly unit in such a way as to make it combat ineffective?! The entire concept strikes me as World War II as it was in the comic books.
In concert with the AA fire rule change posted above, change this card to “Concentrated AA Fire. Choose one fighter that was aborted by artillery fire this phase. That fighter is now eliminated from play.”
5. Order Card #6 “AA Fire: Bombers” – As with fighters, a hit does not eliminate a bomber but rather damages it so that it cannot be deployed from its airfield on the next turn. Flip the bomber upside down to indicate that it cannot fly on the next turn. Again, if you want blood, count two AA hits in the same zone as a kill.
6. Fortune Card #7 “Bombers Return” – Change so that a roll of 1 allows a flipped bomber to be immediately turned right side up or an eliminated bomber to be returned to play. A roll of 6 allows the Axis player to flip one bomber or eliminate a bomber already flipped from AA fire.
7. Tactics Card #7 “Flooding the Lowlands” – The way this card works now, the Axis player can prevent an entire Allied beachhead box from landing, thus stalling the Allied invasion on turn one. This not only didn’t happen but it’s far too potent a tactic for the Axis player. Change the card to read: “Choose a coastal zone. No Allies land units can move _out of_ that zone in the next phase”. In this way the Axis can’t stop a landing but they can slow down an advance through a weak spot in their line. By-the-by, it would have been nice if the game components had included a marker piece labeled “Flooded” to help remind players which zone is affected; there certainly was room on the same sheet as the turn marker to do this.
8. Order Card #10 “Axis Reinforcements” – A critical failure of the Germans on D-Day and for several days, even weeks, thereafter was the refusal of Hitler and the German high command to accept that Normandy was the real invasion site and not a diversion for a main landing at the Pas de Calais. As such, valuable time was lost before powerful German divisions arrived in the landing area. To represent this, on turn one the Axis player only rolls one die each for Rennes/Chartres and Rouen/Chartres. From turn two onward the Axis player gets to roll the normal two dice each.
9. Tactics Card #15 “German Convoy” – Make this card #16 and place “Volunteers from the Home Front” as #15. Change the wording on the card to “German _Night_ Convoy. Axis land units from one Axis-controlled zone may move to any other zone. They must remain together as a group, passing only through Axis-controlled zones. If they enter a non Axis-controlled zone they must stop. The maximum limit of eight units per zone must be observed at all times during the move.
This tactic now takes place after fighters have returned to their airfields, hence the “night” appellation. Historically, after several days of hard lessons about the effectiveness and power of Allied air attacks on convoys moving during the daytime, the Germans eventually switched to making major troop movements under cover of darkness.
10. Fortune Cards: I have come to the conclusion that the Fortune cards just add too much of a random element into the game. As others have noted in their posts before me, Fortune cards make it really difficult to plan a strategy because one is always reacting to the events of the cards. My personal preference is that event cards should work as an adjunct to overall game strategy, not drive it.
I think the following change will create some interesting decision-making for all players: Fortune cards should be shuffled separately, then dealt out equally to both sides –eight for Allies, eight for Axis. If playing a three-player game, then the U.S. player and British Player get four cards each. At the beginning of the order phase matching the Fortune card’s number the player holding the Fortune card for that phase may elect to play it. Now here’s the fun part. The player of the card can either choose to pick one of the two events on the card and it takes effect immediately, but the card is then discarded from play; or the player can roll a die to get a random result, but he gets to keep the card in his hand to use again on later turns! Each turn he still has the card he can elect to either choose an effect and discard the card or roll for a random event and hold onto the card to use again. The only exception to choosing to keep the card is Fortune Card #1 “Airborne Assault”. Whomever plays this card must pick a result and then discard the card; he can’t keep it.
Well, there you have it. That’s my two cents (or maybe a nickel) worth. I certainly welcome constructive comments, especially from anyone who’s tried playing with any of my suggested changes.