Axis and Allies Armchair General Revue --- March 15, 1998 Past Reviews Greetings, fellow warriors: Hope all your games are going well. FYI, the club is are having a Conference/Town Meeting on the club website this coming Saturday, March 21st at 11pm Eastern Time in the website chatroom. Point any Java capable browser (IE, Netscape, etc) to http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/micwil/axis/chat.html. Also, the Spring 98 Open will be the club's first ever 256 player bracket. If you want to be part of what could be the world's largest A&A tournament, send in your entry soon because, there's only 65 spots left and that number gets smaller every day. Send your entry to Noble Knt@aol.com (Note: All entries should have received an email confirming receipt.) A reminder that the club's annual Face to Face convention is two months away. This year's convention, the Battle in the Bayou, is going to be held in New Orleans. When ? : Memorial Day Weekend 98 that's May 22-24, 1998 Where ? : Airport Hilton New Orleans, La. How Much ? : Free......Costs nothing to attend, and we've even gotten a great rate for the event in the Hilton for you $70 per night. There's even Free Parking at the hotel and free Shuttle from the Airport to Hotel and Back. How do I get set up to go ? : People wishing to attend should call in their own reservations at 1-800-HILTONS.(1-800-445-8667). When calling in the reservation refer to the America Online Axis and Allies Club to receive the $70 rate. The room rate is only available to those making reservation by May 1st, after that the rooms could be gone. It's $12 a night extra to add a person to your room, if you're thinking of splitting a room with a friend ( don't everyone IM Quixande at once now ) Anything else to do ? : Contact JohnPin569 to let us know you're coming. Bring your own Board and Stuff you need (lucky rabbit's foot, Beer Stein, Gestapo Uniform, variant's rules you want to show off, dice, whatever) Special Incentives ? : Aside from being able to actually see what we all look like, and being able to actually play some of the club members in a single sitting, we have a really great way to boost your ratings. Every Game played at the Con counts as 2 wins, or a half a loss. Hardly any risk in playing, and a great way to up your rankings. Other Activities ? : Aside from the French Quarter, Casino Gambling, and the great food, we plan to have a tournament or two (with trophy's and even prizes). And we're trying to get a few special guests to liven things up a bit with maybe a discussion of strategy or Bidding. Also we'll be Online live with reports from the con so those not in attendance can keep up on the fun. Maybe even feature a sit in online player in the featured game. We've got a fairly large room available for gaming, called the Calcasieu A&B. It will be open for gaming from Friday 5/22 at 3pm until Monday 5/25 at noon. Of course the WarRoom will be open 24 hours a day and you can begin a pick-up game anytime you wish. So what are you waiting for?! Put in that Vacation Request or Leave Chit, Break the news to the Wife, hell bring her along, and Call in the reservation! And now let's hear from other members of the government: From the desk of Todd Vomit, the Club Vice-President: Good news on the Message board front! We've figured out a way to once agian create gamefolders on the new messageboards! Here's what to do: 1. Go to the Ongoing Games I or II message board (either one will bring you to the same place). 2. Then click the appropriate folder for your game number (example: 3387 would go in the ends in 7 folder). 3. Then create a subject and name it like the example in the message board title box( game 3387 Player 1 vs Player 2 GM: gmname) 4. Paste in the bid results and click send 5. for each additional result you wish to post simply read any message in the appropriate gamefolder and hit reply, then paste in the turn result Simple and effective, please use them well warriors. Please no comments should be inserted into these folders by others as they are game archives. From micwil@sk.sympatico.ca, the club's Minister of the Internet: March Mozilla Mentions ------------------------- Not long since the last Bunker, so just a couple of mentions/updates this time 'round. 1) We have a small committee of interested people in making live play a reality in this Club for all players any time (not just for AOL only members). We are starting to look into it, but could really use some more members for our committee. In addition, I would like to see interest expressed in this idea from the membership --- if there isn't a great deal of desire on the part of the membership to see live Internet real time play, I will not make it my #1 priority and redirect my efforts to other projects. If we get enough people and interest, then we could possibly have everything ready within a matter of a couple of weeks. 2) Our archives are now complete on the website -- download them if you dare to see how others play!!! 3) Our government is embarking on a project to enhance statistics in the Club. This project has several steps which will require input and assistance from the membership. The first step is to get our existing database cleaned up and filled in whenever possible. Many games are missing or have incomplete information. In addition, a number of games are missing the game logs. Finally, many of the existing logs are incomplete or contain extraneous information. Once we have cleaned up all the information, we can extract from our logged games important statistical information. This is the second step. Here is the information which should be reported in the future with game finishes: Game #3555 John@aol.com (LT) DEFEATS tim@hotmail.com (MAJ) Officer Ratings: 1400 v. 1400 after 1405 v. 1395 Allies DEFEAT Axis GM: micwil@sk.sympatico.ca UK Turn #12 January 1, 1998 to March 11, 1998 Bid was 16 Game won by Magic 84: No Game won by 2 Capitals Captured: No Game won by conceding: Yes Capitals Captured at Game End: Russia, Germany Capitals Captured During Game: UK, Russia, Germany Industrial Techs Awarded by Conclusion of Game: UK (HB), Japan (LRA) Comments by GM: An interesting game - UK received Heavy Bombers in UK1, UK fell in Germany 3, was retaken on US3, and eventually despite Russia's fall and Germany's temporary huge benefit (32 IPCs from UK takeover) used 3 Heavy Bombers to prevent Japan from having a real chance in the game. This project will allow us to obtain and maintain interesting stats like average bids, how often do Heavy Bombers result in game wins, and at what bid the win/loss ratio reaches 50%. This information will be converted into graphs which will then make up a new section on the website. It will mean a bit more work for GMs and players, but in the long run, the benefits are clear. Obviously, this is a mammoth task, so if you are interested in helping out with this project, please email micwil@sk.sympatico.ca and we will find a way for you to help out. The more people that offer to help, the less work there will be for each. Your hard-working government members have little time to take this project on by themselves, so here is your chance to give something back to the Club. 4) Ever had a misunderstanding in a game due to a person saying his TRN went to the Middle Indian Ocean Sea Zone? Or the South Pacific Ocean Sea Zone? And what exactly is the W. Eur Sea Zone? Your hard-working Chancellor of Law and I have created an Club standardized abbreviation list for every territory and SZ on the Axis and Allies Map. It was based on a graphic originally created by fellow Club member Bozorq@aol.com, our thanks for his help on this project. It is available on the Downloads section of the web site --- so take a gander at it when you get the chance and avoid those irritating What sea zone are you talking about arguments!!! 5) The votes are in --- about 85% of you prefer sound to be avaliable on the site, but optional. In addition, not many indicated that sound was critical, so for now, our site will be silent. 6) The newsgroups are filled with activity --- and after a period of testing, one of the potential newsgroup servers has been eliminated. Check back as we will likely be adding more discussion groups in the next couple of weeks. 7) Old Havoceurs and Revues (or Bunker's to you old-timers) are now avaliable on the website on the same page as the current newsletters --- so if you want a chance to peer back in time at Club history, feel free to peruse the newsletter archives. 8) I would like to form another committee of people to assist in revamping the website and allowing it to better meet the needs of our members. Please email me if you are interested in joining the committee. Thanks about it for now, so as always, the door to the office is open, bring me any concerns or suggestions you have for improving the Club website. Hope you're having a great March... From our Chancellor of Law, JohnPin569: From the Law Office... Greetings Fellow Warriors, It is now March. There are only 2 months left before our second annual convention, the Battle in the Bayou, will take place in New Orleans. I just saw the final draft of the art work for the tee-shirts and it looks great! I can't wait to get one. If you play with boards, like I do, you need to get a copy of the McD board. This is the easiest way to archive your on-going games while freeing up those boards for a more important task. It would also be a good idea to hunt up some sort of plastic container to transport the pieces in. If you're anal, like me :), you'll want to get something like a small flat tackle box that has little partitions in it. This fits handily in a suit case, keeps them sorted, and most importantly keeps the intermingling down to a minimum. Can't have those troops consorting with the enemy... We have finally completed the new GMless rules. This method of play begins a new era for the club and will hopefully provide members with the gaming flexibilty they desire. If you don't care about playing somewhat slowly and like the personal interaction of a GM, it is there. If you want to play faster and don't want to fool around with GM's or those nagging if/thens, then GMless is for you. If you want to play really fast, then the live format in the Wargamers Chat Room is your choice. The following is the official club rules governing GMless play. These have been playtested and I think we have most of the kinks worked out. However, as with any endeavor, there will probably be a thing or two that slipped through the cracks. We will correct these items as they are discovered. There are no official restrictions on who may utilize this method, but it is suggested that it be used by players who have experience in the e-mail method of play. We recommend that new players get up to speed with the regular e-mail methodology first. Presently, send in your game number requests with the bid attached to Desrtfox69 as usual. There will be a Minister of GMless games up and running soon. When he is up to speed the duties will be transferred. Any procedural or rules questions should be directed to the Chancellor of Law's Office as usual. Much thanks to Lord Pez who wrote the working draft. I have formed a small Advisory Committee and there are presently a few openings. In this commmittee we discuss present policy/rule interpretations, future issues (ie the 3rd Edition), and special projects from time to time. I am trying to keep this committee relatively small and a good mixture of newbies, middle-of-the-roaders, and experienced gamers. If you are interested in participating, drop me a line and let me know, but please, only do so if you are going to commit yourself and actively participate. Now, onto the updates. There are four (4) updates to the manual as follows: HANDBOOK UPDATES Updates to the Handbook will be distributed in the monthly issue of the Revue. Only the affected parts will be sent to you so they will be apparent and easy to read. At all times, a complete copy of the current rules will be available on the web site. To assist our internet players, the updates themselves will be enclosed by {{ and }}. UPDATE #1 {to be added under Live Play} {{{GMless Email Play Using Web Dice servers, it is possible to play an email game of Axis and Allies without a GM. GMless play remains very similar to GMed play with the exception that players calculate the results of battles themselves. NOTE -- as GMless games include no neutral third party to calculate results nor adjudicate disputes, only EXPERIENCED email players should play GMless games. At all times a sense of fair play and excellent sportsmanship must be abided by. 1) Starting a GMless game Locate an opponent then email the GMless Minister of War for a game number. Include your bid with the request. 2) Bidding Bidding rules remain unchanged from standard email games. Be sure to include the game number in all correspondence. 3) Playing the Game a) If you wish to roll for for Weapons Development email such orders to your opponent (Carbon Copying this email to yourself would be a good idea) then adjudicate the results (see Battle Calculation below). Line 1 shall apply to WD attempts while line 2 applies to successful results. Like live games, GMless Weapons Development takes affect immediately. b) Now email remaining purchases and all combat orders to your opponent (again, Carbon Copying this email to yourself would be a good idea). Include ALL special attacker orders of loss and conditionals (if/thens) with this email. There is no need to send noncombat orders nor unit placements at this time. Note -- if desired, battle results can be calculated "one round at a time." To do so you must include this special order in your initial email. This option allows you roll battle results one round at a time and then decide whether to continue or retreat. "One round at a time" battles generate a great deal of email so use this option only when appropriate. c) Attacker adjudicates battle results (see Battle Calculation below) following *precisely* the club turn adjudication rules (available on the club's web page). Follow standard order of loss or, if already sent, attacker and defender special orders of loss. Also follow any conditionals already sent. Exception -- if the battle to be calculated includes a *defending* sub the attacker does not adjudicate that battle results. Rather the defender, once all non "defending sub" battles have been adjudicated, calculates defending sub battles. Defenders follow attacker's orders but may add special defending orders of loss as well as defending conditionals (sub withdrawals, "one round at a time") provided they do so *prior* to requesting die rolls. d) When all battles have been calculated the attacker emails noncombat and placement orders as well as a country update and current income chart. Adding the appropriate die rolls and results to the purchase/combat turn you CCed to yourself is often the preferred method of recording battle results. You can then add the rest of the turn to this document to create a single complete turn email -- how efficient! Note -- Any upcoming defender special orders of loss *must* be sent at this time or standard orders of loss will be used. f) Play now switches to the next player as per regular email play. 4) Battle Calculation a) "Surf" over to the Irony Games Webdice server -- http://www.irony.com/mailroll.html b) Fill out the Dice Rolling form How many dice? This number should match the largest number of units (attacker or defender) involved in the battle. When more then 20 units are involved simply "spill over" to the next line as needed. How many sides? Always chose 6. Do not add or subtract anything to the rolls. Do not drop highest or lowest rolls. How many repeats? Up to 20 "lines" may be selected. Be sure to choose enough lines to complete the battle (10+ lines usually covers it). If you've opted to "go one round at at time" you need only request 2 repeats (unless more than 20 units are involved). If the battle isn't completed by the time you've reached the last line (occasionally the case with unusual results or very large battles) you'll have to request additional rolls. Subject Type in game and turn information, where the battle is happening and the units involved (exp. -- Game 4444, R1, Finland: 3 inf, 3 arm, 1 ftr v 3 inf, 1 arm, 1 ftr). If it's a defending sub battle the defender may also type in special defender orders at this time. Your email address Type in your email address Also email results to Type in your opponent's email address. You must do this so they are able to double check the results. Note -- Multiple carbon copies are separated by a space rather than a comma. You're now ready to roll the dice! Click the "Roll them bones. . ." button. c) Calculate and record Battle results The player MUST designate in the information section what the rolls are for. Example: #1234 US2 Germ SBR aa/bmb. This would mean that Line 1 is for the aa and Line 2 for the bmb. Example: #1234 US2 W.Eur bb/3 inf, 1 arm vs 2 inf. This would mean that Line 1 is the bb support shot, Line 2 is for the attacker's 3 inf, 1 arm and Line 3 is for the defender's 2 inf. Example: #1234 US2 Ala 3 inf, 1 arm vs 2 inf Rnd 1. This would mean that Line 1 is for the attacker's forces and Line 2 is for the defending forces for battle Round 1. Always use die roll numbers from left to right applying them to units in accordance with the club turn adjudication rules. 5) Error correction a) If too few dice are rolled for any one line of battle then simply roll for the missing dice. If too many dice are rolled then simply ignore the extra. "Mis listed" battles are corrected using standard club rules. If a reroll is required then a new set of die rolls must be requested from the server. Example: Battle = 3 inf, 1 arm vs 2 inf. The player submits 2 Lines of 2 dice. He would simply submit a new roll with 1 Line of the 2 missing attacker dice. Example: Battle = 3 inf, 1 arm vs 2 inf. The player submits 2 Lines of 7 dice. Only the first 4 are used for the attacker and the first 2 for the defender. b) If the battle is calculated incorrectly (skipped die, wrong line used) no reroll is required, rather simply recalculate the battle correctly. c) No set of error correction rules can be complete. Players are encouraged to work out mutually acceptable solutions to problems encountered. Players unable to work together towards satisfactory solutions should not play GMless games in the first place.>>>> UPDATE #2 {under FORFEITS} PLEASE OMIT THE SECTION BELOW {{{Exception--Only games in which German turn 1 has been completed can be won by forfeit. If your opponent disappears prior to the Germany 1 turn being completed the game will be annulled. Note--Axis players are NOT allowed to use this rule to bail out of a game after a wildly successful Russia turn 1. If a player doesn't "disappear" the game is forfeited, not annulled.}}} UPDATE #3 {to follow ANNULMENTS} {{{GAME COMMITMENTS E-mail: When you send in your bid, you committ yourself to play the game. If you quit at any time after that your game will be forfeited. GMless: When you send in your bid, you committ yourself to play the game. If you quit at any time after that your game will be forfeited. Live: When you agree to play a live game and the first dice is rolled, you commit yourself to play the game. If you quit at any time after that your game will be forfeited.}}} UPDATE #4 LIVE GAMES Procedures: {{{1. Players must still get a game number assignment from the Minister of War. This is to be done as soon as practical, given the nature of live games. The players may resolve the bid in any mutually agreeable fashion. }}} Take care and hope to see you at the Battle in the Bayou. John That concludes this month's bunker. If you want something included in the Bunker, send it to me at Vampire999@aol.com. I can't guarantee I will include it, but I will do my best. Thanks, Vampire999 Axis & Allies Club President