The scenario employs low hit point/high firepower units to
endow a certain amount of unpredictability to simulate real war
conditions. This means than on occasion a superior unit may get
destroyed by an inferior unit. Another effect of the unit scheme is
that units do not always get damaged when fighting, simulating
situations of tactical superiority. Attack and Defense factors are
very high numbers to allow the scenario to represent minor shades of
unit distinctiveness.
Each tank unit represents an armoured division of
approximately 250 tanks. These units have the highest attack and
defense factors and typically a movement factor of 2. Some light
tanks useful in a recon role have a move of 3 while a few others have
a move of 1. Tanks over forty tons are heavily armoured enough to
ignore city fortifications.
There is a sub-class of tanks known as the tank destroyers. These
vehicles have sacrificed their turret to house a larger calibre gun.
Thus they have the higher attack factor of the next generation of
tanks but not their defense factors.
Each infantry unit represents a divsion of about 15,000 men. Infantry
units are cheap, have a move of 1, can ignore city walls and are
ideal for garrison duties.
Each aircraft unit consists of a Wing in Allied terms and a
Group in Axis terms (a Wing consisted of many groups for the Axis).
In short, 3 or 4 squadrons with maybe 40 airframes in total.
Bombers have four turns in the air and have high attack factors but
low defense factors.
Fighters have low attack factors but these are high enough to destroy
bombers. Only fighters and AA units can attack aircraft. Fighters get
only two turns in the air.
The long range fighters get four turns in the air but have a slightly
lower defense than the normal fighters. They are allowed to land on
carriers and are ideal for recon missions.
Ground attack planes have attack factors like bombers and defense
factors slightly lower than fighters. They also have two turns in the
air but cannot attack other aircraft. These are ideal for carrier
based operations.
Each capital ship represents a single battleship or heavy
cruiser with its escourts. The same applies to carriers. The capital
ship has the ability to attack aircraft because of its AA light
cruiser escourts. Submarines represent a single U-boat and note that
submarines cannot attack directly but must rely on torpedoes.
Unlike land and air units, progressive generations of U-boats will
move faster while all ships will generally move faster with the
discovery of Atomic Bomb (+1) and the building of two naval wonders,
Snorchel (+1 and veteran) and Enigma Decoding (+2).
There are no 'settler' type units as they really screw up the
map by founding new cities. Reconstruction only takes place after the
war and anything that gets destroyed stays destroyed. Land Convoys
are the trade units. Another useful (diplomacy) unit is the Commando
Battalion but bribing of cities is turned off.
I have used the limited number of unit slots as best I can.
It was not possible to include every model or design from the period,
so tanks and planes are represented by generations. In particular,
the minor races have no designs of their own. It is possible for one
race to build another's units if they somehow get the prerequisite tech.
Here are some examples of generation interchangeability within the
same empire.
Lancaster = Halifax = Stirling = Liberator
Matilda II = M3 Lee/Grant = Curiser Mk IV = Mk III Valentine
ME 262 = HE280
Meteor = P80 Shooting Star
Pzkpfw III = Pzkpfw 35(t) = Pzkpfw38(t)
Stug IV = Stug III = Hetzer 38(t)
Here are some examples of generation interchangeability across
different empires.
P51-D Mustang = ME bf109-K
Focke Wulf190D = P-47 Thunderbolt = Hawker Fury
ME bf110D = Beaufighter
P38 Lightning = Mosquito = ME 410 = Ta 154
B-29 Superfortress = Ju 390 = ME 264 Amerika
Stug IV = M18 Hellcat