Customizers: which A&A games do you own?

[Dagon81]

Wow… everyone’s an Axis & Allies hoarder :grin:
Atm just own the Anniversary Ed… at some point owned the Revised Ed, Guadalcanal and Battle of the Bulge…played D-Day, Europe 1940, Pacific 1940 and the Global as well; opted to just keep the Anniversary Ed, best choice of all the ones I’ve played in terms of playtime and global map.

Got worried? :grimacing:

[robert t]

I own the following:

Classic - 3/4 copies ( I give them to people who want something more than Risk-I buy them when I see them for $5/$10)
Revised - 2 copies (still like playing this version)
Europe - 1 copy
Pacific - 2 copies
D-Day - 2 copies
Guadalcanal - 1 copy
Battle of the Bulge - 1 copy
Anniversary (first print) – 1 copy
Spring 1942 - 3 - copies (use pieces of 2 copies to augment other titles)
Europe 1940 (first edition) - 1 copy
Pacific 1940 (first edition) - 2 copies ( I am looking for a 2nd ed. board to mate up with Europe. I prefer the 1st ed. maps but being a visual guy, I want the maps to sync. Dislike the new ANZAC sculpts so don’t want a 2nd ed. game)
Europe 1940 (second edition) - 1 copy
1914 - 2 copies
1942 (second edition) - 3 copies (one shrink from last years boxing day sale Amazon - $30)
Anniversary (second edition) - 2 copies
1941 - 1 copy
A&A&Zombies - 1 copy
Xeno 1939 version - 1 copy

If I see any title selling for $5-$10, I usually pick it up cause I have a problem. :-)

[Midnight_Reaper]

I have a few games…

1 copy of Nova games Axis and Allies
3 copies of 2nd Ed. Classic, with at least two more copies worth of pieces
2 copies of Europe (1 as Europe, 1 as Europe: Italy, with FMG Italians)
1 copies of Pacific
2 copies of Revised
1 copy of D-Day
1 copy of Battle of the Bulge
1 copy of Guadalcanal
2 copies Anniversary Edition (1 2008 edition, 1 2017 reprint)
1 copy of 1942
1 copy of Pacific 1940
1 copy of Europe 1940
4 copies of 1941
2 copies 1942 2nd Ed.
1 copy of Pacific 1940 2nd Ed (looking to make it 2 copies, if I can do it cheap)
1 copy of Europe 1940 2nd Ed (looking to make it 2 copies, if I can do it cheap)
and
2 copies of Zombies

Aftermarket pieces…
a ton of HBG
“two full sets” of FMG Italians
3 sets of Xeno Games World at War
1 set of Xeno Games Eastern Front (unofficial A&A Europe Expansion)
1 set of Xeno Games Europe at War
1 set of Xeno Games Russia at War
1 set of Xeno Games Pacific at War
4 sets (and change) each of Table Tactics: A&A Accessories, Central Powers, New World Order, and Risk 2042
1 set of Enemy on the Horizon
1 set of World War II Expansion, I, II, and III (Midway)
and yet sets of more expansion rules for Classic

So, yeah, just a few…

-Midnight_Reaper

[CWO Marc]

Ah, yes – the Xeno and Table Tactics stuff, and the Enemy on the Horizon expansion. I have a few sets of those items too, though for a number of years they’ve been living in honourable retirement in some of my plastic storage trays of secondary units. They date back to what seems (from today’s perspective) to have been the medieval period of A&A gaming, when the destroyer was still a relatively new unit, and the cruiser didn’t yet exist, and all anti-aircraft artillery units were generic, and the British and the Russians had an awful lot of “foreign” sculpts in their inventories, and the modern unit-colour scheme hadn’t yet emerged and so forth. And, crucially, when the player nations beyond the “big five” (US, UK, RU, GE and JA) didn’t yet have their own sculpts (if they were even player nations at all, which they mostly weren’t), which meant that A&A enthusists had to settle for, let’s say, representing French units with Xeno’s low-sharpness, soft-plastic, baby-blue sculpts. Though I must say that Xeno’s U-boat pen units were a cool concept. Compared with that era, we’re living in an age of sculpt diversity (even if you only count the official A&A ones, to say nothing of HBG’s large product line of combat units) that was almost unimaginable in those days.

[Johnson73]

Yes, forgot about all the Gamer’s Paradise expansions i have. Midway etc. Plus the Table Tactic Expansion units. These companies were on the forefront when it came to house rules and expansion. They introduced Paratroopers, Escorts, Destroyers, Artillery, SS etc. And to believe those were around in the 80’s with the original 1984 Board. Good Times

[The Pripet Martian]

I have one copy each of:

A&A MB
Europe '99
Pacific '01
D-Day
Battle of the Bulge
Guadalcanal
Europe 1940 2nd ed.
Pacific 1940 2nd ed.

Bonus:

Fortress America (1986)
Conquest of the Empire (1984)
Battle Cry (2000)

[Midnight_Reaper]

@Midnight_Reaper Oh, and two sets of A&A: 1914. Forgot about that one.

-Midnight_Reaper

[hapwin]

1 copy A&A 50th Anniversary recent edition

[Imperious Leader]

I didn’t list all the AA related games:

Bells of War
Enemy of the Horizon
Middle east
Xeno War in Pacific
Europe at War
Russia at War
World at War both editions
Tons of table tactics junk too much to list
Plus alot of the rule sets like Max’s Axis and Allies et al

[Quirky Turtle]

Wow! I’m impressed by these lists!

So far I only come to:
Classic
Spring 1942
1942 2nd edition (map & rulebook only, using spring units)
Europe 1940 2nd edition
Pacific 1940 2nd edition

[LHoffman]

So what is everyone’s rationale for owning multiple copies, or many multiple copies, of the same game. If it is just for collecting purposes, then I suppose that rationale isn’t necessary. But otherwise is it to get pieces, for game value if/when they go out of print, spares, lending them out to others, hosting game parties or tournaments where multiple copies are needed…?

I jointly own one of pretty much every version since the original Europe and Pacific, except for the newer 2nd Ed. Global 40, 1941 and 1942. But only one of each.

[Navymule]

I do not own multiple copies of any games. We do, however, own:
1940 Pacific
1940 Europe
Zombies
1914
1941
classic MB edition
Perhaps in offset to only owning one copy of each, I have purchased hundreds of additional sculpts over the years to augment our games.

[robert t]

I pick up second/third copies when the price is right.
Usually $5-$15 per game is my limit. It happens every so often, like once every 2-3 years.
More pieces is a definite plus too.

I find it cheaper to buy used than just bump up certain armies through places like e-bay or HBC.

[vodot]

@LHoffman I have multiples of 1941 almost solely for heavy tanks. I think it’s painfully obvious that’s what WOTC was doing there. :) I found them for $8-10 each and decided to go for it. I used the other unique sculpts from 41 and older games to make some bootleg Italians with a can of spray paint.

I don’t own any multiples of the mainline games… because I own multiple mainline games. If I didn’t, though, I could see the rationale for buying copies, simply because it’s easy to run out of units. Revised, for example, shipped with like 1-2 more Japanese infantry than you needed for the initial setup alone. How are you supposed to play ‘army men’ with your reserve units when it isn’t your turn, if all of your plastic is out on the board?

Maybe that’s why I lose :)

I think lots of other people like to paint, customize, and otherwise torture/convert/diy the sculpts. Nice to have extras, in that case, in the event of any irreversible plastic disasters.

[CWO Marc]

@LHoffman said in Customizers: which A&A games do you own?:

So what is everyone’s rationale for owning multiple copies, or many multiple copies, of the same game. If it is just for collecting purposes, then I suppose that rationale isn’t necessary. But otherwise is it to get pieces, for game value if/when they go out of print, spares, lending them out to others, hosting game parties or tournaments where multiple copies are needed…?

I have various reasons for owning multiple copies, but they all relate to the fact that the sculpts are the feature of the A&A games that I’ve always liked the most (with the maps coming in second place, and the actual game mechanics only coming in third place). I think I once mentioned this in an older thread, but what makes the sculpt / map combination so interesting to me is that it reminds me of the 1970s-era movie Midway, which features two map tables (a huge one in Nimitz’s headquarters in Hawaii and a smaller one on Yamamoto’s flagship), on which some suitably-shaped blocks representing planes and ships are used by both sides to plot the movements of the opposing forces as the operation progresses, as if they’re playing some kind of intricate game of chance and skill. It’s no surprise that the large Global 1940 map has turned out to be my favourite one, and I once used it and my sculpts to recreate the Midway operation (just as a map exercise, not as a game).

But anyway, I’ve always liked the idea of having a sculpt collection that’s large and diverse (both in terms of unit shapes and sculpt colours), because it offers more opportunity to depict WWII military situations on a map. Those opportunities were limited in the old days, when the number of player nations and unit types was small, but now the numbers and the diversity in my collection are large enough to allow some sculpts to be used in ways which go beyond their original purpose. For example: now that I own the second version of the Panther tank (the one introduced in Bulge, I think) in large enough numbers to fulfil every possible application as the standard German medium tank, I can reallocate the first version of the Panther to the role of a Jagdpanther tank destroyer. Ditto with the old small-scale version of the German 88mm FLAK gun: the new big version is actually used in Global 1940 as an AAA gun (which is what it was originally designed for in real life), so I can reallocate the old small version to serve as an 88mm anti-tank gun (an adaptation that actually was done with the 88mm, when the Germans discovered that this anti-aircraft gun was also a superb tank-killer). I’ve supplied China with the old lime-green British equipment pieces from (if I recall correctly) the Revised edition, to make up for the fact that China in Anniversary and Global only has infantry units; the greens don’t quite match, but they’re close enough. I have a tray (I keep all my sculpts in plastic trays) in which I’ve put all of my cherry-red Japanese pieces from the old Pacific game, and I’ve labeled it “Axis Minors” (to stand for Bulgaria and Hungary and so forth), and I have a similar Allied Minors tray in which I’ve put all the old purple Soviet pieces. I have two trays of “ANZAC grey” units: the ANZAC-patterned ones from the second edition of Pacific 1940, and the British-patterned ones from the first edition (with some AAA units borrowed from the second edition game); I’ve labeled the ANZAC-patterned one “Southern Commonwealth Dominions: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa” and I’ve labeled the British-patterned one “Northern Commonwealth Dominions: Canada, Newfoundland, Eire”. And so forth, just for the fun of it.

[LHoffman]

@CWO-Marc @vodot

Gotcha. I get the pieces thing for sure. I got my Customizer badge for painting pieces and have always loved game figurines, whether for A&A, Risk or other games.

I guess with Historical Boardgaming existing now, in addition to other aftermarket outlets, I no longer see the need for people to buy entire game copies just to get pieces. Depending on the price point and how many are desired, buying the whole game could be more cost effective.

I am EXTREMELY interested in unique unit sculpts; ones we haven’t seen before, even if they are redundant for the unit-types involved. Pieces that are more historically accurate and detailed receive a premium of interest from me. Hence the reason I gravitate towards HBG’s original battle pieces. I guess I just assumed that other people would feel similarly. There are a few OOB pieces which are superior to HBG ones, or worthwhile in their own right, but not many.

I will never again use an OOB Wasp if I have access to an HBG Essex. Or a OOB Sherman vs a HBG Sherman. At least when it comes to painting.

[robert t]

HBG pieces are great looking BUT shipping to Canada is like buying a game at MSR.

It just isn’t worth using HBG when shipping generally equals and often exceeds the total order price.

Hence one reason I buy 2 copies of each game. (just not at full retail)

[barnee]

@LHoffman I think if someone likes something they want more of it. : )

[Quirky Turtle]

@robert-t I feel your pain. Living in Europe makes shipping HBG pieces next to impossible. Bought my second 1940 Europe 2nd edition set second hand just to increase a number of pieces in the different armies. (2 battleships for Russia is just way to low…)

[robert t]

@Quirky-Turtle At least you have an ocean as an excuse. Here it just a truck ride north…