CHANGED UNITS
DESTROYER:
Attack-2
Defend-3
Move-2 (Stops subs from sneak attack)
The destroyers attack power has been dropped one point, but they are now cheaper.
Historical Context: Destroyers had relatively weak guns in comparison to their naval brethren, but were well stalked with depth charges for defense against submarines. Excluding subs, they were more numerous than any other naval vessel in the war.
ARTILLERY:
Attack-1
Defend-3
Move-1 (Can support infantry)
Artillery’s attack power has been reduced by one point, and its defense power has been increased by one point. It maintains its ability to increase the effectiveness of an infantry attack.
Historical Context:
1)Armies in WWII regularly "pre-sighted" artillery at critical points in their forward positions. A gun crew would fire at "Road Junction X" until they hit it. Then they would record the elevation and orientation settings of their gun. If the enemy attacked, the forward infantry would call back to the artillery "fire on Road Junction X" and the gun crew would return the gun to the settings for "Road Junction X" and their fire would be on target. Conversely, when moving forward to attack, gun crews were forced to guess and adjust fire as directed by forward observers, reducing their accuracy.
2)An attacking enemy has to move in the open. A man in the open can be killed by an indirect hit from an artillery shell, a man in a foxhole will be killed only by a direct hit.
3)From the invasion of France to the fall of Berlin, well placed and dug in artillery with a good field of fire proved to be an effective weapon against advancing tanks.
Special Note: It is likely that the designers of the Revised Edition consciously chose to enhance artillery as an offensive weapon. With infantry defending twice as well as it attacks, and tanks being an even split, adding artillery as yet another defensive weapon would discourage players from ever attacking. However, in Blood and Iron, the addition of the dive bomber, the mech infantry, and the retention of the support infantry ability provide for stronger attacks.
BOMBER:
Attack -2x2
Defend-1
Move-6 (can strategic bomb)
All players now begin the game with the Heavy Bomber tech bonus (2 dice) but now bombers attack at 2.
There are no major issues with the bombers from the Revised Edition, but left alone they would be useless for strategic bombing in Blood and Iron.
In the Revised Edition, a bomber cost 15. When making a strategic bombing raid it had a 1 in 6 chance of getting shot down. If it survived it would destroy an average of 3.5 IPCs (Because a die ranges from 1-6, not 0-6) Therefore, the average bomber will destroy 17.5 IPCs before getting shot down. It is risky but it will usually work out in favor of the player doing the bombing.
A bomber now costs 27 IPCs. It is not worth losing 27 IPCs to destroy 17.5. However, heavy bombers average 7 IPCs of destruction. The average 27 IPC bomber will roll for 35 IPCs of damage before getting shot down.
This alone would make strategic bombing too powerful, but the actual average is reduced by the TTL rule. When bombing Germany, a bomber can roll 9, 10, 11, or 12, but can only do 9 IPCs of damage, making the average destruction over the life of the bomber lower.
Here's the math on the average destruction for each capitol, in order of magnitude:
USA:33.63
Germany:32.27
Britain and Japan:30.45
Russia:28.1
Italy:25.45
This has two excellent side effects that tie the game more closely to history:
Firstly, it is a better idea for a player to bomb the wealthiest enemy capitol they can reach. Germany will spend more time bombing London than Moscow.
Secondly, bombers will be less predictable, but equally effective in battles. Rolling two dice at two instead of one at four means they will occasionally get two hits in a single round, but they will also miss completely more frequently. This more closely reflects the effectiveness of saturation bombing throughout the war.
NEW UNITS
Dive
Bomber:
Attack-4
Defend-3
Move-4
Just like a fighter, only attack and defense strengths are reversed.
These can land on carriers just like fighters do. A carrier can now have two fighters, two dive bombers, or one of each.
The icon for these is similar to a fighter, but includes two small bomb icons and black stripes on the wings.
MECH
INFANTRY:
Attack-2
Defend-2
Move-2 (Can Blitz like tanks)
These will be most useful on the Eastern front where the ability to shift forces rapidly will be crucial.
The mech infantry icon is a halftrack.
CRUISER:
Attack-3
Defend-3
Move-2 (Can Bombard!)
Some players have trouble distinguishing battleships and cruisers. For this reason, the cruiser icon will always slant in the opposite direction of the rest of the naval units of its country.
UNITS
AT A GLANCE
Name |
Attack |
Defense |
Movement |
Cost |
Special Ability |
Infantry |
1 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
- |
Artillery |
1 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
Support Infantry |
Mech Infantry |
2 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
Blitz |
Amrour |
3 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
Blitz |
Fighter |
3 |
4 |
4 |
18 |
- |
Dive Bomber |
4 |
3 |
4 |
18 |
- |
Bomber |
2x2 |
1 |
6 |
27 |
Stategic Bombing |
Submarine |
2 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
Sneak Attack |
Destroyer |
2 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
Eliminates Sneak Attack |
Cruiser |
3 |
3 |
2 |
15 |
Bombard |
Carrier |
1 |
3 |
2 |
25 |
Carry Aircraft |
Battleship |
4 |
4 |
2 |
30 |
Bombard, Two Hit |
Transport |
- |
1 |
2 |
12 |
Can carry one infantry plus one additional land unit |