I’ve launched a new line of apparel for babies and kids that are still developing their (sub-conscious) interest in the game! They come in many sizes and colors! Check them out here!
HBG - Axis & Allies Parts/Accessories and Custom Piece Sets Store!
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Any word on the Amerika Kickstarter project?
Since we got so close last time, Coach and I are really crossing T’s and dotting I’s to make sure this campaign is solid. Map and charts have been done for a while now. Rules are basically done and laid out until we go to final production. These are going to be made available for free this time around. We’re finishing up a few graphics for the KS page to make sure there is no confusing items this time and then we’ll be ready to go. Don’t worry, we will tell our faithful followers here first so you get it in at the beginning. Thank you all for your continued interest in the game. It’s been tons of fun showing it off at 'Cons and getting feedback and comments. Having about 50 people play it at GenCon was really cool!
Just my opinion, I know you guys aren’t able to have all the new sculpts produced at once. However it might be nice if you guys had a full demo kit for Kick Starter using 3d printed sculpts. It really gives the investors a better idea of what the finished project will look like.
I would buy this game for the sculpts alone. I think Amerika is a great idea.
We have considered this but there are two problems. 3D printing will print out exactly how the 3D model is made but 3D printing is not great at the scale of our pieces so you will not get a true representation of the pieces. We plan on displaying the models so that they rotate in an animated gif format to better give you a better idea of the model.
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@coachofmany:
Any word on the Amerika Kickstarter project?
Since we got so close last time, Coach and I are really crossing T’s and dotting I’s to make sure this campaign is solid. Map and charts have been done for a while now. Rules are basically done and laid out until we go to final production. These are going to be made available for free this time around. We’re finishing up a few graphics for the KS page to make sure there is no confusing items this time and then we’ll be ready to go. Don’t worry, we will tell our faithful followers here first so you get it in at the beginning. Thank you all for your continued interest in the game. It’s been tons of fun showing it off at 'Cons and getting feedback and comments. Having about 50 people play it at GenCon was really cool!
Just my opinion, I know you guys aren’t able to have all the new sculpts produced at once. However it might be nice if you guys had a full demo kit for Kick Starter using 3d printed sculpts. It really gives the investors a better idea of what the finished project will look like.
I would buy this game for the sculpts alone. I think Amerika is a great idea.
We have considered this but there are two problems. 3D printing will print out exactly how the 3D model is made but 3D printing is not great at the scale of our pieces so you will not get a true representation of the pieces. We plan on displaying the models so that they rotate in an animated gif format to better give you a better idea of the model.
Okay Coach so if I’m understanding you correctly you use the 3D modeling to help design machine the mold plates rather than a 3D print as guide for the mold maker?
I don’t want you to divulge any business secrets but I’m interested in the process all together.
I still think if you did a slightly larger 3d print of the design/line-up for display in your KS video and said: "Hey this is our model design that will be scaled down to this size (presenting an in production sculpt comparison) it might help just a little.
Just IMO, The 3D CGI looks great and as a customer who knows the product I and others are an easier sell. To the new player that isn’t familiar with your product line or A&A or games like it they may not understand how nice this game really is without the “see/touch” factor.
You guys rock!
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Another idea just occurred to me regarding Amerika and the plastic miniatures. If I am understanding toblerone77 correctly, he is supposing that if you actually had the plastic battle pieces on hand, that the game itself might be a more sellable product.
Of course, you guys can’t afford to put out the expense of getting the plastic battle pieces until the game is actually funded. As I recall, a MINIMUM order of plastic miniatures like these would be at least 1000 sets to make it worthwhile for the factory to make them. And there is the cost of the molds themselves to add into this expense. And if the game funding was not successful, then HBG is sitting there with this HUGE expense laid out and no game sales to recoup their loss.So, one idea would be to go ahead with the plastic battle pieces as their own product. You could even take pre-orders for sets to ease the cost on your end. You know a lot of people will be wanting these pieces and a lot will be wanting extras for their own games even after Amerika comes out. You would still have plenty of sets to fill the actual games and when you present your game for funding, you already have the actual playing pieces on hand to show. Also, with the battle pieces made beforehand, the actual rest of the game would be a little cheaper for you to complete.
I don’t know if I’m missing anything here. I’ve never tried to market a game like this. Just wanted to throw it out there.
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I for one would buy the pieces for the game before the game is released.
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Another idea just occurred to me regarding Amerika and the plastic miniatures. If I am understanding toblerone77 correctly, he is supposing that if you actually had the plastic battle pieces on hand, that the game itself might be a more sellable product.
Of course, you guys can’t afford to put out the expense of getting the plastic battle pieces until the game is actually funded. As I recall, a MINIMUM order of plastic miniatures like these would be at least 1000 sets to make it worthwhile for the factory to make them. And there is the cost of the molds themselves to add into this expense. And if the game funding was not successful, then HBG is sitting there with this HUGE expense laid out and no game sales to recoup their loss.So, one idea would be to go ahead with the plastic battle pieces as their own product. You could even take pre-orders for sets to ease the cost on your end. You know a lot of people will be wanting these pieces and a lot will be wanting extras for their own games even after Amerika comes out. You would still have plenty of sets to fill the actual games and when you present your game for funding, you already have the actual playing pieces on hand to show. Also, with the battle pieces made beforehand, the actual rest of the game would be a little cheaper for you to complete.
I don’t know if I’m missing anything here. I’ve never tried to market a game like this. Just wanted to throw it out there.
Your numbers are way low, HBG puts out $10,000 for one mold with sculpting and Production. With 3 molds it goes to $30,000. We do not make money to pay for our items on pre-orders, it does help us get started but not until we have sold quite a number of sets do we actually break even. I appreciate all the enthusiasm for the game, I hope we can raise the money on KS in a few days.
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Great news everybody! We’ve got the Japanese Supplement Set INDIVIDUALS up for sale. Just go here:
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Japan_c_439.htmlAlso, check out the SALE section for Black Friday weekend:
http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Sale-Sale-Sale-_c_151.htmlAlso, a link to our AMERIKA Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/859357440/amerika-board-game-reboot-ww2-alternate-history -
Are you guys thinking of making an Invasion of Japan game? If you are I would prefer it be along the lines of What if Truman decided not to use the nuke and sent in the ground troops.
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Are you guys thinking of making an Invasion of Japan game? If you are I would prefer it be along the lines of What if Truman decided not to use the nuke and sent in the ground troops.
I would love that! A map would be nice even.
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I thought about doing a game like that on a Shogun board
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Something else that might be an interesting idea. A lot of guys are interested in Cold War variants of Axis & Allies. Has anyone ever read the book or seen the movie “Fatherland”? It takes place in 1964 and tells of an alternate history where the Normandy invasion failed allowing Hitler to cement his hold on Western Europe. Germany was then able to reverse the situation on the Eastern Front, beating the Russians back and fighting a sort of guerilla war for 20 years. It doesn’t really give any explanation as to what happened on the Italian Front so I guess you are simply supposed to suspend disbelief there.
The rest of the war in the Pacific went pretty much like the real history: A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing the Japanese to surrender to the US. All of Europe becomes “Germania”. Germany has also developed the atom bomb. In fact, I think they threatened to A-bomb London which caused the British to surrender to Germany (not 100% sure on that). Now the two superpowers are the US and Germany and the Cold War is between them instead of US and USSR.
Suppose there could be a Cold War variant of Axis & Allies but between Germany and the US? Perhaps Germany could still be involved in action in the East as they try to subdue the Russians and that would be a steady drain on their resources. Perhaps there could still be a British Commonwealth that didn’t go along with surrendering to the Nazis just because London did. India would probably be it’s own country; would it be pro USA or Germany? What might be the state of the Middle East and Africa? Germany may control all of Europe, but by 1944 they were pushed out of Africa by the Allies. Yet with London surrendering, might Germany get some of Africa back? -
These are some cool ideas! I did consider the Operation Olympic idea before, but just haven’t had time for an undertaking like that yet. The alternate history Cold War scenario sounds very interesting to me. Too many ideas, too little time! :-D
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There was an episode of “Sliders” that was kind of like that. All it really said was Japan invaded Australia. I’m assuming taking the north, but now there is 2 Australias a Northern and a Southern. Northern was kind of like how East Germany was.
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Axis and allies: RED ALERT!
Based on WestWood’s command and conquer, red alert universe
Soviet Union vs the Allies
Global adds the Empire of JapanSoviets invade Europe
Heavy tanks !! -
There was an episode of “Sliders” that was kind of like that. All it really said was Japan invaded Australia. I’m assuming taking the north, but now there is 2 Australias a Northern and a Southern. Northern was kind of like how East Germany was.
I remember that episode of “Sliders”. Japan did invade Australia and when the Russians entered the conflict in the Pacific, they “liberated” the northern half of Australia while the Western Allies liberated the southern half. Only problem was that the Soviets didn’t want to give the northern half back to Australia. Basically, in that alternate world, Australia took the place of Vietnam. The communist enemy were even called “Outback-Cong”.
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that’s alot more about that episode than I remember.
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I remember that episode of “Sliders”. Japan did invade Australia and when the Russians entered the conflict in the Pacific, they “liberated” the northern half of Australia while the Western Allies liberated the southern half. Only problem was that the Soviets didn’t want to give the northern half back to Australia.
The Commies got a pretty rotten deal in this scenario. I had a look at a map of Australia and mentally divided it in half along the 25th parallel. Just from a rough eyeball-based estimation, it seems that the vast majority of Australia’s roads and cities are situated in the southern half of the country, from which I also assume that most of the population lives there too.
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I know you guys are busy with Kickstarter and Amerika, but I was just wondering if there are any updates on the Japanese Expansion set. Or the UK set?
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I know you guys are busy with Kickstarter and Amerika, but I was just wondering if there are any updates on the Japanese Expansion set. Or the UK set?
Finalizing the proofs for the Japanese Expansion Set, replaced the Swordfish for the UK set, getting the 25 pounder modeled and it will be ready to go after the Japanese set.
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@coachofmany:
I know you guys are busy with Kickstarter and Amerika, but I was just wondering if there are any updates on the Japanese Expansion set. Or the UK set?
Finalizing the proofs for the Japanese Expansion Set, replaced the Swordfish for the UK set, getting the 25 pounder modeled and it will be ready to go after the Japanese set.
I’m guessing the Swordfish, being a bi-plane, was just too hard to make? That would have been a cool piece to have, but at least we still get the Barracuda tac.
I didn’t see any type of truck in the UK lineup. Will they be getting a truck?
Is the 25 pounder considered UK’s heavy artillery? (I don’t know the British artillery designations that well. I’m used to guns in inches or millimeters.) -
I too am sad to hear about the Swordfish.
Knp: the 25lb was known as Field Artillery, not Heavy. The 155mm or the 8.2 inch Howitzer was considered Heavy.
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