ALPHA +.2 THEORY CRAFTING THREAD

[Eagle]

We want a Marines unit, or a Commandos unit.

It cost 4 IPC, attack at 1 and defend at 2 or less, like a regulare infantry.
It attack at 2 or less during amphibious assault, and is boosted to 3 when paired with an artillery.

It should have some special abilities.

- One Marine can travel with any surface warship.

- If a Marine has travelled with a cruiser or battleship, the shore bombard will boost the marines attack factor to 3, just like a matching artillery. Of course this is the first round only.

[Darby]

We want a Marines unit, or a Commandos unit.

It cost 4 IPC, attack at 1 and defend at 2 or less, like a regulare infantry.
It attack at 2 or less during amphibious assault, and is boosted to 3 when paired with an artillery.

It should have some special abilities.

- One Marine can travel with any surface warship.

- If a Marine has travelled with a cruiser or battleship, the shore bombard will boost the marines attack factor to 3, just like a matching artillery. Of course this is the first round only.

Simalar to the Marines I suggested earlier in this thread.

What should Commandos do ??
Cost 5
2/2 Move with any unit at that units speed
Infiltrate: Remain undetected in enemy territory if roll 4-6 on a d6 (check each turn)
Sabotage: Rather then be involved in a fight they destroy 1 point of a Base or IC / turn
If detected they must defeat d6 worth of enemy units to escape to an adjacent tt.

[Imperious leader]

Yes this is a typical modeling for marines.

Marines are kinda shock troops used for sea invasions. +1 on attack if used in this manner. These would be 2-2-1-4 units and can be boosted with artillery but not with SB. Sb should be the same as OOB in all cases.

Marines are too be considered infantry for transport purposes with no special dispensations with other ships transporting them.

But really only Japan and USA and possibly UK should have them.

[Eagle]

During WWII almost every nation developed Special Forces for amphibious assaults, parachuting, mountain climbing, sabotage and long range recce. This light units was called Marines, Airbornes, Rangers, SAS, Commandoes, Chindits, Jaegers, Alpinis etc etc

The point is, we need a special force unit that can make amphipious assaults from destroyers, cruisers and battleships, that can make a parachute move from an Airbase, move through impassable territories, and retreat after battles where other units cant retreat.

This will of course never happen, since Hasbro in that case need to make a new plastic piece, but it is fun to play with the idea.

Commandos unit, cost 4 (or 5) IPC, move 1, attack 1, defend 2, attack 2 with artillery.
Attack at 2 during amphibious assault and paradrop from an Airbase, because of the "Surprice" factor, and speed and agression.
Might retreat after amphibious assaults. Might retreat after winning a battle, while the rest of the units are stuck there. This kind of stuff


see link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commandoes

[marcelvdpol]

You could always paint parts of the infantry miniature to denote special abilities. So marines would have, say, a white base and white helmet (for all nations) to denote them from other infantry. Ofcourse, make sure that you take paint that actually sticks to the miniature (you might have to clean the infantry miniature first) and that the light and contrast are high enough so that it is clearly visible.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Marines...... any ideas how to quantify on a divisional+ level their inceased combat effectiveness.

I would love an example of a Marine division landing on a beach at Normandy and just kicking butt while an army unit a mile away was getting its butt handed to it.

[Darby]

I use 1/72 scale minatures in all my A&A games and have for decades (even the old orginal game)

They are (relatively) cheap , and very cool. They include all nations (I really like my Italians SO much better then the standard ones)

This allows:

8th Army in Africa
Afrika Corps
German, American, and Brittish Paratroopers (The Brittish are the coolest)
Ghurkhas for India,
Bush Garbed Auzzies
US marines (and you can just use different sets of standard Inf for other Nations Marines)
Brittish Commandoes

etc.


I'm liking some of the Commando ideas:

Take the suggested:

Commandos unit, cost 4 (or 5) IPC, move 1, attack 1, defend 2, attack 2 with artillery.
Attack at 2 during amphibious assault and paradrop from an Airbase, because of the "Surprice" factor, and speed and agression.
Might retreat after amphibious assaults. Might retreat after winning a battle, while the rest of the units are stuck there. This kind of stuff

Add: Can travel thru Impassable Terrain
and change the "Might Retreats" to May Retreat and charge 5 its a deal !

[Darby]

Marines...... any ideas how to quantify on a divisional+ level their inceased combat effectiveness.

I would love an example of a Marine division landing on a beach at Normandy and just kicking butt while an army unit a mile away was getting its butt handed to it.

I Like the simple:
All ground units are -1 first round in an amphibious assault.
Marines are exempt from this.
(They also can ride on DD, BB, Cruiser)

This way only Marines can inflict any damage in the first wave, while the non-marines are just fodder the first wave until they can crawl inwards behind the marines.

Of course most players are going to take their cheaper army units as casualities while the marines push on so it will be like you envisioned.