@victoryfirst
First of all - we use painted pieces, since this makes it much easier to distinguish between the various units.
This gives you a perfect overview of both your own and your opponents units.
It also brings another and more realistic dimension to the game.
Example:
The base on which each Infantry unit is attached is color coded for each type of Infantry unit: (Humbrol Paint Colours)
- Regular Infantry: Grass Green (no. 80)
- Elite Infantry: Beige Green (no. 90)
- Waffen-SS Infantry, Soviet Guard Infantry, US Marines Infantry, British Commando Infantry, Soviet Commissar, Waffen-SS Oberstgruppenführer: Steel Grey (no. 87)
- Soviet Partisan Infantry: White (no. 34)
- Paratrooper Infantry, Waffen-SS Paratrooper Infantry: Blue (no. 25)
To avoid confusion about production numbers, each Nation has an exact number of Specialized Units in their tray.
Example:
Germany has 8 Paratrooper units in the tray. Paratrooper units are not replaced by gray or red chips. If more than one Paratrooper is present in the same territory, they are placed next to each other.
This is to avoid “over production”. When there are no more Paratrooper units in the tray - they are all on the game board.
I recently painted new US Fighter units - P-51 - 30 pieces. This is enough for even the most intense games.
All Aircraft Carriers are mounted with magnetic tape on the deck - as are all types of Fighter & Tactical Bomber units at the undercarriage.
The US Navy has 14 Aircraft Carriers and the Imperial Japanese Navy has 10 in their trays.
In most Axis & Allies games produced since the Axis & Allies Revised 2004 version, there is a slight difference in the appearance & size of most units.
Especially the German Infantry, where the Steelhelmet looks tall & odd.
For this reason, we use only the older version of the German Infantry, since this unit has the most realistic look.
In my German tray, there are 70 German Infantry units - painted in Autumn 1943 Camouflage colors. This number is more than sufficient.
At the Global 1940 Game Report Thread, you’ll see most units pictured in the colors mentioned above.