Newbie AE WWII

[Druthu]

Hello new to the forum. Looking for some good starting info for AE WWII.
Plus I needed to post instead of just lurk. hehe
It is late, and my search Fu is suffering...

/wave

[cerealkiller195]

hey Druthu yes it is the same Cerealkiller from the Dark Age boards.. What in particular are you looking as far as info for AE. Me and the jersey crew recently started playing more  AE/Secrets of the Third Reich.

[myincubliss]

What would you like to know? darksondesigns.com is the official website, and their forums are usually worth a browse too (that reminds me, I haven't signed in there in a while...)

[Druthu]

Man Cereal...you get around.
I was in NJ on Saturday and picked up my Dark Age stuff. Now for the assembly and painting part of the show LOL.

What is the difference between Darkson Designs AE WWI and Secrets of the Third Reich?
Are they compatible with each other?
How are their rules different?

I looked at AE WWII and AE Bounty, and I do like the idea of only owning 5-12 miniatures for a game. Since I have been browsing some of the forums for WWII figs, I have been inspired by some really kick arse paint jobs. I thought of picking up a small German skirmish force, and a small American force to have to play.

My buddy and I are in the process of designing and getting the info to build a small 4 x 4 table top to play on. We are looking at a Zuzzy rubber top mounted on a 4 x 4 board.

[diehard]

Hi Druthu,

Welcome from another longtime painter and gamer but recent newcomer into the genre of Weird WWII. It was a combination of all the great looking figures available now plus the memories of playing with my plastic Marx army men and monsters as a young lad (sort of a full circle thing) that brought me around.

Now, while it seems there are more than a few rule sets dealing with the genre, it would appear (to me at least) that right now AE WWII and SoTR are probably two of the more popular ones at this time. After a bit of reading on this wonderful forum and a search on The Miniatures Page that (aside from the different rules mechanics and fluff regarding the different factions involved) the most basic difference between the two systems is the engagement level. AE WWII is set at the squad level, while SoTR is built at the platoon level (however it also works just as well at the squad level.)  To be honest, it was the miniatures themselves that made me go with SoTR, while the Darkson Designs minis are nice, I just preferred the Secrets guys more. I do like the fact that I can play at different engagement levels also though. The mechanics are very good and leave the player with plenty of options to explore any aspect of WWWII they might be into. Down the line I may check out AE and some of the other systems, but I'm quite happy with SoTR.

And as far as miniatures goes, if you haven't already you'll want to check out forum member White Night's Weird War II Miniature Showcase http://wk.frothersunite.com/sc/pulp/weirdwar.htm , an invaluable resource of most of the stuff available at this time. Hope any of this helps.

 

[white knight]

what he said... 

[cerealkiller195]

Ah good stuff as for myself I am more familiar with AE but I am starting to play secrets both system have their merits. Of course if you are looking for more of skirmish level game I would say secrets. Now a note on models I like both lines (secrets and AE) but you also just use just about any WWII line and convert/paint the models how you like. That is what I am doing and this year at the tournament the Darkson team was not opposed to anyone not using any of their miniatures. Of course it is encouraged but there were a few armies that had a mix of a bunch of different miniature lines.

With that much said I am personally using my miniatures to do both games, if you have enough miniatures for a game of Secrets you have MORE than enough to do a game of AE. Of course there are some differences here and there but if you plan on playing both you can choose how much each force/game differs from the other.

Hopefully soon I can start getting more saturdays off to spend gaming and formally introduce myself and the rest of the jersey crew. Till then feel free to post/pm on whichever board as I frequent all of them on a daily basis.

[Druthu]

Hopefully soon I can start getting more saturdays off to spend gaming and formally introduce myself and the rest of the jersey crew. Till then feel free to post/pm on whichever board as I frequent all of them on a daily basis.

Yea me too. I visit a lot of sites. I know ZERO about WWII figs and games, and from what i have read and looked at, these two games interest me the most.

[richarDISNEY]

Me, I am the other way around.  I love AE:WW2, but really could not get into the SotTR at all.  Something about the game mechanic rubbed my gaming Club the wrong way, so we dropped it after about three months of playing.  We do use the Westwind figs for our AE:WW2 games, as those really are great sculpts ( except the mechas.  We use the figs from AT43).  Plus there is a new AE:WW2 expansion book should be hitting the shelves soon, so some more 'mysticism' is in the game.

On a different note....  Check out Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames.  hey have a new edition coming out soon, and a horror expansion after that.  But this is for more larger conflicts.

Or for that matter, with your comment of having only a few figures, check out .45 Adventure's Amazing War Stories.  Not alot of figs required, but a neat game!  www.rattrapproductions.com/Bullpen/?page_id=13  Poke around there.

[cerealkiller195]

i wrote a quick summary

What they have in common:
-Alternating activations between squads/units/individuals
-Lipped bases makes using the miniatures for both games easier
-The good old D6 though in Secrets you need a lot more
- Same era more or less though they differ story wise the miniatures can be mixed with little to no problem

Whats different:
-AE-
 -Opposed rolls
 - Action Points system
 -With such few models Morale/Drive is VERY important, part of the game is keeping your casualties low before your army loses heart and heads for the hills.
 -Skirmish, on average 8-12 models per side

-Secrets-
-No stat lines in almost all the book (except for armored vehicles). Yes I know this sounds a bit strange, but the basic infantryman has no stat line. Units are more defined by their special abilities/weapons/armor that they carry.  At first this sounds crazy but in reality it makes things go smoother from the few games that I tried.
-You can run multiple armored vehicles like tanks and mechanical robots
-Suggested Platoon level, yes there are scenarios where it can be a handful of guys but this game is obviously geared for platoon action. Which means in most cases a minimum of 15-25 figures + goodies.

It's getting late but I hope I am shedding some more light on some of your questions/concerns. I think both systems have their merits and they are geared at two different engagement levels and I am a big fan of both games. When I asked my friends what they thought of both games they generally said that Secrets played "like a better 40k with tactical/strategic options"  and they thought AE was a great skirmish game. So I think it would boil down to preference, or rather which game you would like to start first

[Druthu]

From what i am reading i think i am going to look at AE WWII first...
lower model count hehe.

[Darkson]

I have been lurking for a while on the site and I dig that you guys have a WWWII section.

Druthu if you have any further questions about AE please feel free to ask and I will answer them the best I can.

Cheers,
Robert