H I G H L I G H T S I N

T H I S I S S U E

Improving the looks of

your AAM game

Greek Navy in WAS

Taking pictures of

miniatures

WAS probability tables

AAM Scenario: Silla-

Mount Belvedere

Reviewing Condition

Zebra

A&A Campaign

Ranging Shots

July 2010 Issue 3

aaminis.myfastforum.org

Welcome to the third issue of the

forumini newsletter. With an aver-

age of 650 unique visitor IPs every

day, 50% from the United States

and 50% from the rest of the

world, our community appears to

become increasingly international.

It may be naïve to deduce from this

too much. Perhaps World War II or

generally miniature games are

becoming more popular globally or

maybe our members travel a lot

and can’t refrain from visiting the

forumini during their holidays. In

any case, being able to interact

with people from practically every

place in the world in the common

language of gaming is a blessing

and we may as well make full use

of it. This issue features articles

from Sweden, Romania, Australia,

the UK and the USA. The focus is

on practical info and practical ad-

vice, which is why we start with a

splendid article by Baron on AAM

game looks.

A t r u l y I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o m m u n i t y

B y N e u r a l D r e a m

T i p s f o r i m p r o v i n g y o u r A A M g a m e l o o k s

B y B a r o n

Tired of your ordinary battlefield looks? Same old map,

same plain looking green Sherman tank in your Army build?

Did it happen to you? My first awkward moment occurred

when my opponent asked me: “Why all your grey tanks

(Panzer IV F2) have the same number 316?” So, of course,

I have replied: “For the same reason as all your Ronson

tanks (Sherman) are plain green and don’t have a number”.

Yep, they come out of the box like that.

If you want to avoid the embarrassment of having all your

Panzers identical, I could suggest how to improve the situa-

tion with minimum investment of time and money. So here

it goes:AT fire. Just be careful not to hurt yourself either! If

you are under 25 years old, don’t do it, ask an adult!

Use decals! A sheet of water transfer decals will cost you a

few bucks and you will be able to customize many of your

tanks. Numbers, symbols, flags, all will transform a plain look-

ing mini into something interesting. And if your tank already

has a number on it, just apply a new one over, but be careful

to use an obscure color decal

number so it blocks the one

underneath.

This works mostly for vehicles,

since planes are on a scale that

makes it a little harder to find

decals for. A few touches of

paint won’t hurt either! You do

not have to be a master painter, neither do you need to buy

all kinds of brushes and colors to do it! Be smart and choose

3 water based colors (the type used for painting those annoy-

ing plane kits, avoid enamel based colors though) and a thin-

ner brush, the kind that kids use in kindergarten, and start!

Unique IPs in the last 100 days: United States (US) 37,658 Canada (CA) 6,544 United Kingdom (GB) 3,183 Germany (DE) 2,729 Australia (AU) 2,505 Netherlands (NL) 1,881 France (FR) 1,261 Spain (ES) 1,170 Sweden (SE) 765 Poland (PL) 705 Italy (IT) 698 Belgium (BE) 638 Denmark (DK) 545 Romania (RO) 414 Japan (JP) 389 Austria (AT) 356 Czech Republic (CZ) 344 Hong Kong (HK) 339 Finland (FI) 307 Reunion (RE) 297 Norway (NO) 279 Philippines (PH) 237 Greece (GR) 216 Russian Federation (RU) 198 New Zealand (NZ) 196 Brazil (BR) 162 Argentina (AR) 156 Europe (EU) 147 Hungary (HU) 126 Portugal (PT) 109 Iceland (IS) 102 China (CN) 100 Jersey (JE)95 Ukraine (UA) 85 Turkey (TR) 77 Korea, Republic of (KR) 75 Croatia (HR) 73 Switzerland (CH) 64 Taiwan (TW) 55 Slovakia (SK) 54 Virgin Islands, U.S. (VI) 47 Singapore (SG) 46 India (IN) 46 Ireland (IE) 44 Luxembourg (LU) 42 Iraq (IQ) 41 Israel (IL) 41 Thailand (TH) 40

...

P a g e 2 R a n g i n g S h o t s

You don’t have to use a primer, Aqua Colors from Revell

can be applied directly on clean plastic (no dust!) without

any risk. With White or Silver you

can add “kill rings” on the barrels

of your tanks (pick the long bar-

reled tanks) or artillery. Also a few

silver spots can be applied on the

tracks and suspensions of the

tanks simulating the metal to

metal friction (as can be seen for

the above Pershing).

Black, Brown or a darker color can be used for painting

exhausts, the tips of barrels, the shovels or tow chains pre-

sent on some of the minis. What else? Well you figure it

out, but keep it simple, 2-3 colors not more! Remember,

you need to invest just a little time and even fewer money!

Modifying your minis is also very

easy to do. Gather your unused in-

fantry that no trader will look at (like

the Stalwart Lt. or the Tenacious

Officer in the pictures), chop their

heads off, with or without the body

(sounds a little disgusting I know)

and glue it over the hatches as if

they seem to pop-out of the tanks.

Remember you need to be quick, or they will bleed to

death… right?!

For the tanks with Sideskirts you

can punch a few small holes in

the sideskirt (keep them small

and superficial else you will hurt

them!) in order to simulate AT

fire. Just be careful not to hurt yourself either! If you are

under 25 years old, don’t do it, ask an adult!

Most tanks had a hull MG, so

you can try and add one, just

glue a thin and short wire like

material. Be careful where you

add it, it should be as historical

accurate as possible and paint it

black!

Artillery is even easier to tune

up! Just glue to the bases a few infantry… For example, the

Panzerfaust or Mauser Kar miniatures are preferred for

German guns crew, since they have that pose, just repaint

the “gun” they are holding in black lets say (you have that

color, we talked about that above), so they will look like

carrying a projectile in order to be loaded into the gun (see

photo with crew loading a Semovente self propelled gun).

But what about Maps, you will say!? That’s even simpler!

Buy a few model trees and put them over the hexes with

forest! No need for expensive trees, the cheap ones help the

environment also! One tree per hex else your King Tiger will

have trouble moving! City hexes? You can download some

free paper models, print and fold them into 3D structures.

Keep it simple, search for a simple model, a small house (see

in the picture), you will find some nice models on the internet!

Use the office printer to save further money!

Last tip for the day is regarding the unit cards. We all remem-

ber the nice cards with artwork from the old sets. Since the

arrival of Eastern Front, the cards got stripped of artwork all

together and they are getting worse some say. Why? Most

likely the game company… wanted you to customize your

cards, right?

So what I recommend is you use that office printer and print

either on sticker type of paper either on normal paper some

relevant pictures with those units (just Google them for pics)!

Then after you

printed at a suitable

size the unit picture,

either stick it to the

card, if it was printed

on sticky paper, ei-

ther slip it in the

transparent plastic

sleeve of the card.

So, you get some-

thing like artwork and

it will help you find

the cards quicker.

They also look cool, so multiple advantages. Same can be

applied for the unrevised cards – print the revised version of

the card on sticker paper, then cut it off nicely and stick it

over the “old stats”.

Remember, the game is what you make of it!

T h e G r e e k N a v y i n W a r A t S e a

B y N e u r a l D r e a m

P a g e 3 I s s u e 3

With a very useful G-class destroyer, a quirky armoured

cruiser and a cheap coastal submarine, the Greeks are

expected to see much more use in Allied fleets than the

Dutch did in Set II.

Vasilissa Olga

A modified version of

the British G-class de-

stroyers, Vasilissa Olga

was the most modern

ship of the Royal Hel-

lenic Navy at the out-

break of World War 2. Together with her sister, Vasilefs

Georgios, she was built by the British, but was fitted with

German-made 127mm (5 inch) guns and 37mm AA guns.

The installation of the armament was carried out in Greece

as the Germans refused to ship the weapons to Britain.

Until September 1943, when she was sunk by German

bombers, Vasilissa Olga had distinguished herself as the

most successful Greek ship in the war. Ironically, before

she was sunk, she was known as the phantom ship of the

Mediterranean destroyer flotillas, because of the several

times she had escaped damage.

Georgios Averof

An immensely rich business-

man and philanthropist,

Georgios Averof (1815-

1899) offered in his will

2,500,000 Gold Francs to

fund part of the cost of a

modern fighting ship. 12

years after his death,

Greece bought from Italy a Pisa class armoured cruiser that

was named after its sponsor. I doubt there has ever been a

ship with more importance for a nation, as Georgios Averof

fought off almost single-handedly the whole Turkish navy in

the battles of Elli (1912) and Limnos (1913). During both

battles, the ship suffered only slight damage, while inflicting

severe damage to several Turkish ships. That earned it the

nickname “devil ship” from the Turks, but more significantly

allowed the Greeks to gain control of the Aegean Sea and

liberate its islands. Amazingly, due to delays in the delivery

of ammunition, Georgios Averof had fired its guns for the

first time during the Battle of Elli.

In 1941, Averof’s crew disobeyed the orders to scuttle the

ship to avoid capture by the Germans and sailed to Crete

under constant threat of air strikes. In 1941-42, it was as-

signed to convoy escort and patrol duties in the Indian

Ocean. Later, it was anchored at Port Said and on October

17, 1944, as the flagship of the exiled Hellenic Navy, it

carried the Greek government-in-exile back to liberated Ath-

ens.

By the outbreak of World War II its speed had dropped from

the original 23 to 17 knots, which in WAS should be speed 1.

I can’t blame WoTC for not knowing this though. You need to

visit Averof to find out about such details. Luckily you can do

so, as Averof is a floating museum in Athens.

Proteus

A Loire-Simonot type submarine, similar to the earlier

Katsonis class, Y-3 Proteus was the first Greek submarine to

be lost in World War 2. It was

built in Nantes, at the At. and

Ch. De La Loire, at a cost of

119,000 francs for the

Greeks. Having sunk early,

Proteus was the only subma-

rine of her class that didn't serve under the control of the

Royal Navy during the war. The fact that it didn’t achieve

much, makes it a curious choice of submarine for War at Sea.

19 Dec. 1940 - Proteus locates Italian convoy.

Torpedoes and sinks Italian cargo ship

"Sardegna" (11,452 GRT). Very quickly, Proteus is

spotted by the Italian torpedoboat Antares.

Antares drops 11 depth charges on Proteus, forces

it to surface and rams it 40 miles East of Brin-

disi (40º31'N, 19º02'E). All hands lost.

10 Jan. 1941 - At 09:25, the Italian radio an-

nounces that a Greek submarine was sunk three

weeks ago. On 19 Dec. 1940 Greek steamboat

"Ionia" had intercepted the SSS distess signal of

"Sardegna". As a result the Greeks were aware of

the success of Proteus, but not of its fate until

the Italian radio announcement.

If you want to expand your Greek navy with WAS repaints and

proxies, the forumini navies can help. You will find there four

Flower class corvettes (repaint of HMCS Sackville), two

Katsonis class submarines (practically repaint of Proteus) and

Vasilefs Georgios (Olga’s sister). If you don’t mind a lot about

accuracy of model, you can also use proxies for land-based

fighters and dive bombers, as well as the cruiser Elli and the

survivor destroyer Adrias.

P a g e 4 R a n g i n g S h o t s

If your pics are blurry and your camera won't cooperate

Move back from the mini and try again. The mini might not

fill the picture, but you can crop out the unwanted back-

ground later with either a program or an online service.

The reason for this is that all cameras have a minimum

focal distance. This is the distance within which the camera

can not focus, if you move your subject outside this dis-

tance all is well again. Nrnstaswa also noted that if you

have a macro option on your camera you should use it. It

really helps in situations like this. On Canon cameras for

example it's represented by a flower.

Your camera focuses but the pics are still blurry and or dark

Add more light. Either turn on more lamps or move closer to

a window. Maybe you can move outside? The sun is the

best light source. If you can't compensate with more light,

then add stability. When there is insufficient light the pic-

ture will take longer to expose. And you can't keep your

hand steady more than 1/50th of a second as a rule of

thumb.

So if your exposure is longer than that you need to fix the

camera somehow. You can use a tripod or set it down on

some books for example. Just as long as the camera stays

still during exposure your picture should be sharp and well

exposed.

Your pictures are sharp in some areas but not others

MrKen brought this up. Your camera has something called

an aperture which is the hole that lets the light in. It's repre-

sented by the 'f'-number, the smaller the number the more

light the lens can let into the camera. More light is always

good, but there is a trade off. The smaller the f-number gets,

the short the depth of field gets. Depth of field is the area that

becomes sharp and focused and it extends in front of and

behind the focus point.

If you have to use a small f-number because of lighting condi-

tions but the depth of field becomes too short you can back

away from the mini and try again. This lengthens the depth of

field a bit and should produce a better image. You can also

position your mini so that it is parallel to the depth of field,

that is you shoot it from the side on.

Strange tints

A lot of the times you get yellowish pictures from a digital

camera. This is because the camera needs to calibrate the

exposure to the color of the light illuminating the scene. A

conventional lightbulb for example has a warm yellow light.

Most cameras can do this automatically, but sometimes they

get fooled. You can fix this by finding the setting in your cam-

era called "white balance" and trying which setting produces

the best results. You can also fix this with your computer if

you have proper software.

Happy shooting!

And don't hesitate to post tips and questions at: http://

aaminis.myfastforum.org/about13939.html

T a k i n g P i c t u r e s o f y o u r M i n i a t u r e s

B y C m d r C l i n t

excellent histories read "And no birds

sang" or "The Regiment" by Farley

Mowat.

Logres, who is Intel NCO, married

his Fiance by proxy on May 10th.

She left for Basic Training (US

Army) in June to become a Combat

Medic and Logres of course says that

he misses her and sends her.

KondorsOverDakota Jr. Born 5lbs 14

ozs. 19.5 in long. Healthy and happy.

Woohoo!

Audacity was promoted Lieutenant

Colonel in the Canadian Forces and

given Command of the Hastings and

Prince Edward Regiment. This much

storied and decorated infantry Regiment

is located in south central Ontario. For

Ehenry0623‟s 20th anniversary

was last month and afilter‟s 17th

last week.

RaySpruance‟s wife got into

graduate school. He is now looking

to start his own business.

N e w s f r o m t h e c o m m u n i t y

P a g e 5 I s s u e 3 P a g e 5 I s s u e 3

W A R A T S E A P R O B A B I L I T Y T A B L E S

B y D a v i d - I n - S y d n e y

P a g e 6 R a n g i n g S h o t s

Attack on Silla-Mount Belvedere, Italy

Assaulting the Gothic Line

February 18th, 1945

Historical Overview: The 1st Battalion‟s assault against

Riva Ridge was part of a larger operation conducted by the

10th Mountain Division and other Allied units, including

the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, to seize commanding

terrain in the central Apennines. In addition to the five

peaks of Riva Ridge, the division attacked nearby Mount

Belvedere and Mount Gorgolesco. However, the ridge was

the 10th Division‟s first objective since its capture would

prevent the Germans from massing flanking fire against

the units attacking Belvedere and Gorgolesco.

Lieutenant Colonel Hampton chose to launch the entire

battalion in a frontal assault targeting all five peaks simul-

taneously. He organized the attack by assigning a peak to each of the three companies in his battalion. The attack

commenced at 7:30 p.m. on February 18, 1945. Except for

the arduous climb over the rugged terrain, the units experi-

enced few difficulties and encountered surprisingly little

German opposition. At 1 a.m. on February 19, B Company

reported receiving machine-gun and mortar fire; however,

adhering to its training, the unit did not return fire and give

away its position. Exercising tactical initiative, B Com-

pany‟s commander adjusted his unit‟s route of advance to

move around the defenders. At 1:17 a.m. he reported Cap-

pel Buso secured. By 4 a.m. four of Riva Ridge‟s peaks

were in American hands, and just before daybreak the de-

tached platoon reported it had seized Pizzo di Campiano.

Thus by 6 a.m. all five objectives had been captured.

Maps: Map 7- Number is in the Upper Left Corner which is the

SW Corner

Replace Town & Pond Hexs with clear tiles.

Adjacent to each of the five hills printed on the map add a

hill hex tile on the north side and a mountain hex tile on

the south side.

7 Turns

Setup: German & Italian Forces deploy first on or south (adjacent)

to the Hill Hexes. Fallshirmjaegers deploy as regular infan-

try.

US & Brazil deploys second, anywhere on the North 1/2 of

the map.

Half Hexes are in play.

US & Brazil have initiative for the first two turns.

Darkness: Since it is night time, units on the map can only see up to

two hexes away across clear terrain. In a hill, or mountain

hex, the units must be adjacent to see one another. There

is no defensive fire if moving adjacent through a mountain

or hill hex.

10th Mountain Division

Red Devil Captain

10th Mountain Division Soldiers X4

(Use M1 Garand units for Proxy with Custom Card!)

M1919 X2

US Engineer BAR Gunner X2

M1 81mm Mortar X2

M8 75mm Pack Howitzer

Brazilian Expeditionary Force

Infantry X4

(Use Buffalo Soldier Stat card & units for Proxy)

Kesselring’s Tenth Army LXVI Panzer Corp

MG42

Mauser Kar 98 X4

Light Mortar X2

Veteran Fallschirmjaeger

Fallschirmjaeger

Italian Forces

Breda Modello 37

Italian Conscript X3

Italian Alpine Troop X2

Victory Conditions:

10th Mountain Troops must capture and control all 5 Hill

Hexes by the end of Turn 7 for a Major Victory

10th Mountain Troops must control 3 Ridge Hexes and con-

test the other 2 for a partial victory

Germans must control all 5 ridge hexes for a Major Victory

Germans must contest all 5 ridge hexes for a Minor Victory

A A M S c e n a r i o : A t t a c k o n S i l l a - M o u n t

B e l v e d e r e , I t a l y

B y S n i p p e r s l y

Herky80: I am thrilled with what Condition Zebra pro-

vides to the game. New units all around, with new na-

tions and new special abilities. All this means new fleet

builds and tactics, which is why we all have so much

fun playing the game and collecting the models. My

particular favorites in this set are Gneisenau with Long

Shot 6, Chikuma with Scout Planes and Fuso with Split Fire. For the Allies I like the Dewoitine D.520 for a

cheap and effective fighter, Sunderland for its versatility

and Georgios Averof for its tough heavy armour.

Tincancaptain: As a set I feel the Axis came out ahead

but still lag behind the Allies as several cards need er-

rata and clarification. I give this set a 7/10.

The following is a detailed break-up of all new units:

HMCS Uganda - Cruiser - 1944

Tincancaptain: Finally Canada is getting something

other than destroyers even if it is a repaint. Stats are low

for a CL but that‟s to be expected and Flag 1 is probably

welcome addition for the Canadian. However, it seems

unnecessary in a nation that consists only of one proper

destroyer, one half destroyer, and now one light cruiser.

Early Warning Radar is frightening- I‟ve already sug-gested in my gaming group that this unit cannot be in a

build that also includes US ships. Imagine ten dice AA

from an Iowa eight dice AA at range one from a Mis-

souri or a double nine dice shot from and Atlanta. 7/10

Béarn - Carrier - 1939

Tincancaptain: Hurray for Vichy Wildcats! The guns

and torpedoes are interesting on a carrier but I almost

cannot call this thing a carrier with Slow 3 and Poor

Facilities. 6.5/10

Herky80: You could look at the Bearn like a slow heavy

cruiser with 1.5 basing cap and Expert Bomber. Not a

bad deal for 15 points, boosting the Vindicator to a 9

bomb rating while having the ability to attack destroyers

at range 3. For 28 points, the Bearn/Dewoitine/

Vindicator combo supplemented by one or two more

Vindicators to get through enemy AA is not the worst

idea in the world. For those who like to play the French

anyway.

D.520 - Fighter - 1939 Tincancaptain: If the BF-109 is the Wildcat of Europe

then the D.520 is the Zero. Nimble needs errata but I

expect that‟s already in the works. 7.5/10

Herky80: Before 1941, the Dewoitine is the only Allied

fighter option and it is both well-priced and effective

with the same stats as the A6M2 Zero. However, it lacks

Escort and would be an inferior choice to the Martlet if

you have Vindicators in your fleet.

Lamotte-Picquet - Cruiser - 1939

Tincancaptain: I‟m on the fence with this one. Main

Guns, AA, Armor, and Vital Armor all seem low for a

12pt cruiser. Add in a lack of a secondary and I start to

feel like the French are getting ripped off with this unit.

She does make up for the low scores and missing seconda-

ries at least in part with a two-dice torpedo attack at range

two as well as being France‟s only flagship but it is still

only a Flag 1. I‟m not sure how valuable Scoutplane At-

tack is going to be it‟s only for the first turn, can be

stopped with an AA roll of three, and is only a two dice

bomb attack (What‟s the plane dropping a hand grenade?). 6/10

Herky80: I am trying to find some redeeming quality

about it but have failed. Two bombs- seriously? For a sec-

ond there I thought we were playing a WWI game.

Provence - Battleship - 1940

Tincancaptain: Why anyone would take this over a Dun-kirk is a mystery to me. One point more and you gain a

(very) slightly better Main Gunnery, better secondaries, a

tertiary attack, and Shore Support, but lose TD, Excellent

Spotting, a die of AA, and get saddled with Slow 3, and it

costs 1 point more. Only if someone really wanted to build

a French BB fleet and had classed out the other two can I

see this ship being reasonably included in a build. 3.5/10

V-156F Vindicator - Divebomber - 1939

Tincancaptain: Decent little dive bomber that is cheap but

frail. At least it has Press the Attack, which is more than

can be said for the Stuka. Export Version seems useless as

both the US and UK have better options when it comes to

dive bombers. 8/10

Herky80: In 1939 US and UK have no better options. Of

course US has no options, but if playing a 1939 game and

you field the Victorious with Expert Bomber, this unit

could help. At 7 points, it costs the same as the Stuka, but with one less Bomb die and vital armor. But Press the

Attack makes up for that and based on Bearn or Victori-

ous and you have that one die back. It is therefore on par

with the Stuka and should be fine against early German

AA ratings. 8/10

Georgios Averof - Cruiser - 1940

Tincancaptain: What can I say other then poor Schleswig

Holstein, Averof‟s main gunnery is a little lower, seconda-

ries are a little better, armor, vital, and hull are all the

same Averof lacks Holstein‟s point blank torpedo but has

better AA, slow 2 instead of speed 1, a flag rating (Really?

The French had to wait four sets and the Greeks get it out

the door?!?) , and I know that Inspiring Example will see

infinitely more use then shore support. All this Averof has

over Holstein yet costs 4 points less. I think RB got paid

off by someone :cough:ND:cough: for this unit to be this

good. 4/10 (for being broken)

Herky80: Can‟t say I really agree with my counterpart

here, except for the comparison to S-H. The 6 armor

makes me feel good inside and will be an effective

counter to Italian ships, both the under-gunned battleships

and plethora of cruisers they have. Greek-Italian matchups

should be fun now.

Proteus - Submarine - 1940

Tincancaptain: Well it‟s better than Casabianca, but not by

much. Risky Attack is… interesting. 7.5/10

R e v i e w i n g C o n d i t i o n Z e b r a

B y H e r k y 8 0 a n d T i n c a n c a p t a i n

P a g e 7 I s s u e 3

P a g e 8 I s s u e 3

Herky80: Compare it to the Ambra and it looks good to me.

Of course now Italy has Da Vinci, but still it will be a great

sub to use against Italy.

Vasilissa Olga - Destroyer - 1940

Tincancaptain: Decent 7 point destroyer good ASW and torpe-

does Guns and AA a bit light but to be expected for the price,

Evade Bombs is an odd choice for a destroyer‟s SA. 8/10

Witte de With - Destroyer - 1940

Tincancaptain: Nothing special torpedoes are underwhelming,

guns nothing to call home about, AA is at least descent, and

ASW leaves something to be desired. Protect cripple maybe

useful but it is also limited. 7/10

HMS Cossack - Destroyer - 1939 Herky80: Identical in stats to Haida and Arunta with the ex-

ception that Cossack is available in 1939 and the other Tribals

are 1942. The other Tribals also have Sub Hunter while Cos-

sack‟s Special Abilities give a better defense and an extra tor-

pedo against battleships. If playing a 1941 or earlier game, the

UK Commonwealth had only one 5 ASW rated ship, the Jave-

lin at 9 points. Now they have two. The u-47‟s 4 armour threat

in early games makes bringing a 5 ASW rated ship important,

and although Javelin with Smoke Screen and Sub Hunter is

the UK‟s best choice, Cossack can hold it‟s own at two points

cheaper. 7/10

Tincancaptain: If I had a choice between Arunta and Haida,

Arunta‟s Close Escort would always put her before Haida‟s

Destroyer Hunter, but this is much harder to chose between

due to Valiant Stand.

HMS Royal Oak - Battleship - 1940

Herky80: The Royal Oak provides firepower equal to most other UK battleships at a much cheaper cost. However, this

inexpensive ship also has the new Slow 3 SA and lacks a Flag

1 rating. But it‟s guns won‟t jam and it has no fatal flaws. A

great choice to add a second battleship to your fleet because at

41 points, you can spend the extra points on other units. 8/10

HMS Victorious - Carrier - 1941

Herky80: The first and only British carrier with the Expert

Bomber SA, the Victorious is two points cheaper than Illustri-

ous because it lacks the Sneak Attack SA. An Illustrious/

Victorious combination with two fighters, a dive bomber and

torpedo bomber is a good tactic to now employ. The versatile

Barracuda will benefit from the Victorious, dropping 9 bombs

instead of 8, making it‟s 12 point cost a bit more economical.

7/10

Sunderland Mk. 1 Herky80: This unit has many functions and will be busy hunt-

ing subs, bombing ships smaller than battleship size and if time permits, drop an aerial mine to make an enemy think

twice about moving into or through a sector. No matter what

your opponent brings, you will have a use for the Sunderland,

making it well worth the 10 point price tag. 9/10

B-24D Liberator - Patrol Bomber - 1942

Tincancaptain: Bomb 8, Hi-Level Bomber enough said. 2/10

Herky80: I like this unit because it is a cheap air option and

although it doesn‟t have Loiter, it does have the new SA Ex-

cellent Endurance, giving it a repeat performance. It will add a

little sub harassment or bomb destroyers and cruisers, making

it useful for the low price tag.

USMC F4U-1A Corsair - 1943

Tincancaptain: Another US super fighter yeeee-

aaaaaazzzzzzzZZZZ , I‟m not even going to get into the cost

comparison. You know the one. 6/10

Herky80: The gold standard for a fighter option. In larger fleet

builds, it will make an appearance to target that #1 bomber you

most want to shoot down. Or roll 11 dice to try to destroy a

fighter.

USS Allen M. Sumner (DD 692) - Destroyer - 1944

Tincancaptain: US version of HMS Javelin better AA and

Raider (What did this thing Raid?) For a point less. 7.5/10

Herky80: ASW of a Saumarez! Looks like the best US de-

stroyer but alas, the year is 1944. The Smoke Screen/Sub

Hunter combination is the best you will find in a destroyer-

aside from perhaps Close Escort. This should make an appear-

ance in every late war US build.

USS Houston (CA 30) - Cruiser - 1941

Tincancaptain: Good prewar heavy cruiser, stats are solid, Flag

2 is unneeded for the US but now they have a 1941 option

other then Enterprise. 9/10

USS Lexington (CV 2) - Carrier - 1941

Tincancaptain: I‟ve been waiting for this ship. My granddad

was on her and he has always been my personal hero having

this ship is personally great. That being said, how the hell is anyone supposed to sink it? Armor 5, Vital 12, Hull 5, TD, and

AA7, the best way to kill US super planes is to (Try to) take

out the carriers under them but good luck trying that with this

ship. 6.5/10

USS S-37 (SS 132) - Submarine - 1941

Tincancaptain: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ahhh, Worn out Boat, at least Casabianca is no longer the

worst sub in the game. 9.5/10 for being such a good punch

line.

USS West Virginia (BB 48) - Battleship - 1941

Tincancaptain: When did this ship exist? She has the radar and

AA abilities of after she was refit and the secondary tertiary

armaments she had before sinking at pearl. I‟m used to ships

and planes having their earliest availability and latest stats but

this has both late and early armaments it is neither pre nor post

refit?!? 6/10

Herky80: The new Radar Solution SA should make night bat-

tles difficult for opponents who were once happy to avoid ER4

shots. Once die might not sound like much, but when cracking

that tough battleship armor or going for a vital, it could make a

difference. And the West Virginia seems to be a great price for

what you get.

Arkhangelsk - Battleship - 1944

Tincancaptain: Finally a real battleship for the Soviets not a

glorified heavy cruiser. Slow 3 means she‟s a slug but at least

the gunnery, AA, and armor are all up to BB standards inactiv-

ity is humorous. 8.5/10

Vainamoinen - Cruiser - 1940

Herky80: Vainamoinen is a strong but slow cruiser with ER4,

good AA but no torpedoes. We see the emergence of a new Special Ability here, the Coastal Deployment. This adds to

other Axis SAs such as Lead the Attack, Establish Screen and

Flank Speed that bring units close to objectives early in the

game. 7.5/10

Tincancaptain: This thing is a really powerful, expensive, sink-

able, shore battery, compared to what the Greeks got, Vain-

amoinen is disappointing. 5/10

P a g e 9 I s s u e 3

Fi167 - Torpedo Bomber 1940

Tincancaptain: Decent plane but not needed by Germany at

all. 5.5/10

Herky80: This unit makes larger early-war games possible

with another air option for Germany.

Gneisenau - Battleship - 1939

Tincancaptain: Hurray! TD Long Shot 6 (it really should be against carriers but hey, I‟m not complaining) it‟s eve-

rything Scharnhorst should have been. 10/10

Nurnburg - Cruiser - 1939

Tincancaptain: Köln with Mines instead of lead the attack

I‟ll take it. 7/10

Z32 - Destroyer - 1942

Tincancaptain: Holy ... a destroyer with range three gun-

nery, descent AA, and good torpedoes. 10/10

Herky80: I think range 3 for this destroyer is going to be

huge when dealing with enemy destroyers that cannot fire

back. Sub Hunter is nice too. This truly makes Germany

much better.

Ascari - Destroyer - 1940

Herky80: A nice cheap little destroyer that has a great 5

ASW rating- which Italy needs. It has less guns and armor

than Luca Tarigo, and lacks Sub Hunter, but makes up for

that in price and ASW rating. Smoke Screen might keep it

alive a little longer, considering it has a 2/6 armor/vital

rating. Pair it with the Sub Hunter Pegaso so that once they

do reach a submarine, something is intact to drop depth charges. 8/10

Caio Duilio - Battleship - 1940

Herky80: Caio Duilio is a good size to supplement Veneto

or Littorio. A solid all-around battleship with ER4 and

TD1 along with the new Covering Fire SA. Covering Fire

might as well be called „Draw Fire‟, causing players to

attack this unit the next turn, to avoid the penalty. A good

improvement over Cesare- for three more points you buy

Covering Fire and Flag 1. 8/10

Leonardo da Vinci - Submarine - 1940

Herky80: +1 Vital and Hull for only two more points will

make Italian players choose Da Vinci over Ambra every

time. Fighting Instinct is an interesting SA that will be

exciting to try out and can apply to many other units. 9/10

Trento - Cruiser - 1940

Herky80: A solid Italian cruiser with a little bit of every-

thing- good guns, torpedoes, armor and all at a fair price. If you can only choose one Italian cruiser, this one is a good

choice. High Speed Run combined with Establish Screen

could put Trento challenging objectives very far out front

early. 9/10

Z506 B Airone - Patrol Bomber - 1940

Herky80: At least it is a little better than the Lamotte-

Picquet‟s Scoutpane. The ASW Pinpointer could make the

Tarigo‟s 3 ASW average instead of just plain terrible. 5/10

Agano - Cruiser - 1942

Herky80: A Yahagi without the Flotilla Leader or Flag 1

but with Night Fighter and one point less. Agano is the

cheapest IJN cruiser of choice and consider combining it

with Myoko, Jintsu, Murasame and Yukikaze for a dark-

ness advantage (but at a steap price). 6.5/10

Chikuma - Cruiser - 1941

Herky80: This unit will find its way into most Japan fleet

builds. Chikuma adds a +1 bonus to all torpedo attacks

against one ship. Combined with Emily, it will give Jill three

torpedo dice at range one not only once per game but every

turn. Now who is complaining about US air cheese? 10/10

Second opinion: “Now who is complaining about US air

cheese?” Still me. But Chikuma really is a great unit. 10/10

Fuso - Battleship

Herky80: This is the Yamashiro without Flag 1 but with one die better main guns and 1 point more in cost. Unmask Guns is

replaced with the new Split Fire SA that essentially improves

the secondary guns by weakening the main guns. Firing two

ER4 shots with eight dice each against cruisers or smaller bat-

tleships is the real beauty here. 9/10

Second opinion: Fuso‟s gunnery still falls behind other 12 x

14” gun battleships but it is better then Yamashiro for sure.

8.5/10

Junyo - Carrier - 1942

Herky80: Expert 2 is always a nice bonus over the usual 1, and

at 15 points, Junyo is a great purchase. Although armor 2

causes this ship to stay in the back, it will probably find it‟s

way into a sector with Tone as both provide bonuses to bomb-

ers. 8.5/10

Tincancaptain: Sure she‟s fragile but Determination can

quickly make this ship the most annoying carrier the IJN can

bring, I have loving memories of Exeter running around crip-

pled until she killed the last enemy battleship with torpedoes.

9.5/10

Matsu - Destroyer - 1944

Herky80: A little destroyer that has a bit more punch with

Long Lances to attack with and an ability to protect the Kinai

Marus. Although weak armor makes it vulnerable to strafing

fighters, the Matsu has decent AA and ASW ratings with an

opportunity to hurt any ship. 7/10

Murasame - Destroyer - 1941

Herky80: This is an Isokaze that is one point cheaper at the

expense of 1 main gunnery die. To replace that disadvantage,

Murasame is a Night Fighter. But since you‟ll be hunting subs

with this ship any way, choosing it over the Isokaze makes

sense if you need to save some points. 8/10

N1K1-J "George" - Fighter 1944

Herky80: George will delight IJN players who have faced US air and lost. Although the George costs one point more than

the Corsair, since you can‟t choose one over the other, it does-

n‟t really effect the game much. Who wins on a one point fleet

build advantage anyway? 7/10

Second opinion: Fair is fair and this is neither when compared

to the Corsair. Until errata is issued I won't be using this unit.

4/10

Suzuya - Cruiser - 1941

Herky80: Suzuya is a solid heavy cruiser which has effective

main guns with a +1 bonus against destroyers. Torpedo Swarm

throws one more long lance into the mix, which could get

deadly when added to Aoba‟s Aggressive Tactics and Oi‟s

Torpedo Run. If timed right, there could be a lot of long lances

in the water at one time. 8.5/10

Tincancaptain: Torpedoes are a little disappointing compared

to Nachi and Aoba classes, but the AA and Torpedo Swarm

make up for it. 9/10

P a g e 1 0 I s s u e 3

The foruMINI has launched our first Axis and Allies Cam-

paign. This game is modeled after the original Axis and Allies

Campaign started by WoTC in 2007.

Form the original campaign announcement 4/13/2007 by

David Devere:

Think of it as a massive multiplayer online board game. The

board games will be our strategic determiner, defining where

and when. The miniature games will resolve the battles and

this website will be where you, the commander of the forces,

will get your new battle orders and submit you’re After Action

Reports.

Each battle, every build, every loss and every victory has an

effect. Unlike a scenario – each battle will directly affect the

course of the war. Your ability to execute the orders from

High Command will determine what forces are available for

the next turn and how High Command will proceed.

Unlike the original WoTC campaign game we are putting our

own foruMINI spin on things. First off we now have access to

the king of all Axis and Allies Board Games "Axis and Allies

50th Anniversary Edition" which is the basis for all the strate-

gic movement that determines which great battles will be fought.

In the coming weeks

and months you, the

members of the foru-

MINI, will have the

opportunity to refight

some of the largest

battles in history as

well as many that

never happened using

your Axis and Allies

Minis and War at Sea Fleets at home or here on the foruMINI

using the online gaming forum.

Once again it is 1941 and

the fate of the world hangs in the balance. You are

challenged to take com-

mand of Armies and de-

cide the fate of a nation as

well as the world. As an

Admiral you may be asked

to fight a desperate strug-

gle to stave off massive

advancing forces with a rag tag fleet in order to buy valuable

time. Are your command abilities be up to the challenge?

The ForuMINI campaign officially started June 3, 2010 with

Round 1 –The battle begins:

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about14434.html

Round one is now complete and Round two is scheduled to

launch in early July. The second round will finish up the

fighting in 1941 and conclude the first full turn of the AA50

Board game that the campaign is

based on.

So far the Axis has dominated the

world stage. Germany has struck

deep into Russia before finally being stopped at the gates of Len-

ingrad.

Japan is still running rampant

across Asia and the Pacific. The

Japanese Army continues to

sweep across the Far East striking

at the UK and China. They have

also neutralized the threat from

the United States by wiping out

any Far East naval presence and

invading the Philippines as well

as destroying the USN Fleet at

Pearl Harbor.

Round two will see the UK,

China and the U.S. attempting to strike back at Japan to stave off

the Imperial Japanese on-

slaught. Italy will also become

a player on the world stage

as they try to succeed when

Rommel failed in North

Africa and continue to

maintain an Axis Presence

while the Desert Fox re-

groups the Afrika Corps.

How does this work?

If you have not already been participating in the campaign it is not too late to start. Anyone can play at anytime. Each round of the campaign contains a narrative of the current situation on the game board and a number of battle tickets which are

scenarios generated from actual engagements on the AA50 game board.

F o r u m i n i A x i s a n d A l l i e s C a m p a i g n N e w s

B y a f i l t e r

P a g e 1 1 I s s u e 3

Once the time has expired for the current round the results are

all calculated and then applied to the AA50 game strategic

board.

Each round we intend to have several battle tickets with a mix

of both land and sea engagements so everyone can get some-

thing from it. If you play strictly AAM then just fight out the

land battles and the same for WaS players. Of course the ac-tion on the strategic game will determine what battles will be

fought, so it may not always be even.

Additionally, some battles on the strategic board are so lop-

sided when converted to AAM and WaS that those battles are

simply resolved using the AA50 game system. The Campaign

Moderators will determine which battles will get a battle ticket

and which ones are resolved on the strategic board.

Round one is complete, and round two is just starting, so there

is plenty of time to join in on the fun.

Make sure your troops are ready to move. Prepare you fleets

for action. The world is depending on you. Are you ready to

rise to the occasion?

To get more information on the campaign please check out the new ForuMINI Axis and Allies Campaign forum:

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/forum69.php

Come join the action....the battle for world domination has

begun!

Field Marshal

Games is proud to

sponsor the Axis &

Allies forumini.

FMG is committed

to bringing the Axis

& Allies community

the best in acces-

sories for the

miniatures and board games. Check out our site

to see what we offer, including Combat Dice, Cus-

tom Dice Towers and more.

www.FieldMarshalGames.com

SPONSORED BY

Miniature Market is proud to support

such an involved and active commu-

nity. We will continue to appreciate

this customer base and do what we

can to make expanding the product.

lines easy and affordable.

www.miniaturemarket.com

TrollAndToad.com is excited to be a spon-

sor of the Axis & Allies Forumini! If you

have any questions about Troll & Toad,

feel free to send a PM to Murdokopolis

on the forum.

www.trollandtoad.com

This third issue of the newsletter was compiled by NeuralDream

12-7-Games is a proud sponsor of the forumini. We are

committed to the Axis & Allies community by offering the

broadest selection of AAM/W@S miniatures, including the

hard to find, out-of-print miniatures. We recently added

Field Marshall Games, Fantasy Flight and Avalanche Press

board games and accessories to our growing list of items.

Please visit our site to see what we offer at

http://www.12-7-games.com

Zazzle is not a sponsor, but for each sale

there is a small commission that goes to

the foruminian designer of the product.

Products include the ww2 airborne

assault tie, buttons for every kind of

achievement during an AAM or WAS

game, hats, mugs, t-shirts depicting

ww2 tanks, aircraft and ships, etc.

www.zazzle.com/forumini