HBG - Axis & Allies Parts/Accessories and Custom Piece Sets Store!

[Koningstiger]

@wittmann:

Good news Marc.
I believe the European branch is non longer working, so I did not preorder from Germany this time. Enjoy them, when they arrive.

I did ordr from Germany and got no indication they would not deliver for whatever reason??? Have regular e-mail contact with the person in charge.

[Ben_D]

I’m really wondering about something here…  Doesn’t anyone want the see French set the most out of all the other things available at HBG?  The French set has a way broader range of application than any other set, because it will replace blue Russians and isn’t tied to any particular subset of game or rules, just A&A type games overall.

If I were HBG, I would be prioritizing this set above anything else at this point, since Global 1936 and Amerika have shipped.  I would have bought 2 of these sets a long time ago if I could have; and told all of the other ppl I know personally who own even G40 about it.  Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing, especially when good quality is part of the equation like at HBG.  This set has so much money earning potential it isn’t funny.

Does anyone else agree?

[LHoffman]

@Ben_D:

I’m really wondering about something here…  Doesn’t anyone want the see French set the most out of all the other things available at HBG?  The French set has a way broader range of application than any other set, because it will replace blue Russians and isn’t tied to any particular subset of game or rules, just A&A type games overall.

If I were HBG, I would be prioritizing this set above anything else at this point, since Global 1936 and Amerika have shipped.  I would have bought 2 of these sets a long time ago if I could have; and told all of the other ppl I know personally who own even G40 about it.  Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing, especially when good quality is part of the equation like at HBG.  This set has so much money earning potential it isn’t funny.

Does anyone else agree?

Not in the slightest.

French set is dead last on my priority list. It may be the one set where there are completely new and unique pieces, but you won’t even see them for a full turn before they are basically never seen again. Beyond their extremely limited utility, I have always found French units to be both boring and ugly. Being someone who paints, I have very little excitement to get these pieces in my hands and work with them.

The only French units I am even slightly interested are the ships. I do look forward to getting those because they are both nice looking and potentially useful for some amount of time in gameplay. I suppose if you are playing GW36/39 or other unnamed games that unique French pieces could be more useful. However, even if I had GW36 to play, I would still prefer getting other, non-French sets done first.

I would much prefer a Tiger II to a Char 2c. A Fw 200 over an Amiot 354. A Montana over a Dunkerque. An Shokaku and Yorktown over a Bearn… etc.

I recognize that the French set is inevitable at some point. And that is fine; it should be made. But I would rather see every other major nation get 2 different sets (at least) before I see the French get their first. Just my opinion.

I would rather see HBG redesign and reproduce the existing Russian sets and first US Supplemental set with their new methods before seeing a completely new French set. Both of those sets were early in HBG’s process and not all the pieces measure up to the quality (and sizing convention) that is now standard in HBG pieces.

[CWO Marc]

I understand LHoffman’s point about the utility of an HBG French set in OOB applications, but like Ben D I too have wanted for a long time to see HBG finally produce their French set, a set that’s actually been in the works for much longer than some of their other products.  To me, the problem isn’t so much where the French set falls in terms of priority relative to HBG’s other battle piece sets; the basic problem is that HBG’s rate of production of new sets fell off dramatically after the company’s initial burst of activity which, as I recall, operated at the rate of several new sets per year.  The slow-down occured, if I remember correctly, around the time when HBG switched to computer-desighed sculpts and/or started working on the Amerika project.  It was also around this time, I think, when HBG started greatly increasing the number of projected battle piece sets.  HBG has explained this increase in planned sets by saying that, since the actual production of the sculpts by the factory is the bottleneck of their operation and is something over which they have no control, HBG might as well use productively the waiting-for-the-factory time by designing new sets.  I can see their point, but the counter-argument I’d make from the point of view of an enthusiastic purchaser of their products (whose quality I admire greatly) is that increasing the number of projected sets stuck behind the bottleneck is very frustrating to the people who want to buy them because this simply results in a longer and longer traffic jam.  And this traffic jam has the additional regretable effect of creating tension between the customers who’d like to see Set X produced ahead of Set Y, and who vote accordingly on HBG’s website.  The order in which new sets are produced wouldn’t matter very much if they were being manufactured at the former rate of several per year, but it’s started to matter very much since that rate has dropped.  Which is regretable.  I’ve stopped looking at HBG’s projected set pages because I have no way of knowing in realistic terms when (if ever) those sets will actually become available, so I’d rather save myself the disappointment and frustration of (to use an analogy I’ve previously used) looking through the storefront window of a shop that displays highly desirable merchandise but whose front door doesn’t indicate when the shop will be open to actually sell these wonderful products.  (As a case in point: I pre-ordered the fantastic-looking Amerika game in March 2014; we’re now almost two years later and I still haven’t received it.)

[LHoffman]

Well said Marc. I respect HBG for their great customer service, dedication to accuracy and high quality products. And I realize that as a company they are still quite new and figuring out their market. However, perhaps these time-delay issues should prompt a re-thinking of how to better or more speedily get products from design to shipment. Having significant, customer backed products in the pipeline for years before the customer touches said product is not sustainable. Seeing so many updates on many different projects also fosters an image of working on too much at once and not focusing enough on the promised products.

I have no personal knowledge or experience of what HBG deals with on a business level and what is/is not in their control, so forgive me if I am speaking entirely out of turn. But the companies that survive and thrive do end up solving these issues.

That said, I am very pleased to see my US Sets have shipped and are on their way. Good to see some new units.

[radar231]

Hi all,

Got my U.S. sets yesterday. I am from Quebec city, Qc, Canada. Really like the Long Tom and the Greyhound. Cheers

J. 8-)

[Koningstiger]

@Ben_D:

I’m really wondering about something here…  Doesn’t anyone want the see French set the most out of all the other things available at HBG?  The French set has a way broader range of application than any other set, because it will replace blue Russians and isn’t tied to any particular subset of game or rules, just A&A type games overall.

If I were HBG, I would be prioritizing this set above anything else at this point, since Global 1936 and Amerika have shipped.  I would have bought 2 of these sets a long time ago if I could have; and told all of the other ppl I know personally who own even G40 about it.  Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing, especially when good quality is part of the equation like at HBG.  This set has so much money earning potential it isn’t funny.

Does anyone else agree?

I fully agree. Though it is true that in A&A global 1940 they wouldn’t remain on the board long, I just hate having to use T34’s and YAKs for the French. American equipment (Shermans etc.) would have been a better choice as at least later during the war these were actually used by the French…Moreover, I would also like to use the pieces for e.g. memoir '44 for early West front battles. Currently memoir only provides grey (!!) French infantry, but no tanks or artillery. I’d love to use the projected HBG set for that!

[HBG]

@radar231:

Hi all,

Got my U.S. sets yesterday. I am from Quebec city, Qc, Canada. Really like the Long Tom and the Greyhound. Cheers

J. 8-)

Glad you like them, it is a nice set.

[knp7765]

Here is a couple of pics.  One full set in each color.  Close-up of the Infantry piece.

[knp7765]

Here’s the heavy artillery and the tanks.

[knp7765]

Here are the halftracks and armored cars and the planes.

[knp7765]

Here is the battleship and carrier.

[knp7765]

Finally, here are the heavy and light cruisers.
Also a pic of all of my dark green pieces that I ordered.

These pieces really look good.  Coach did a great job of designing them and the factory did good producing them.  I ordered 15 sets in olive and 10 sets in dark green.  In all of that, only a couple of ships were a little bent.  Most of all the ships were nice and straight.
Even the planes came out excellent.  In past sets , you would get some planes where the wings were kind of bent.  There were a few here but most were nice and straight.  A lot less work for me.
I am really happy with these pieces.  GREAT JOB COACH!!!

[John Brown]

Thanks knp, for showing these pics. They look truly awesome. I can’t wait for mine to arrive. :-D

[crsluggo]

Nice Pics! I’m so looking forward to my sets arriving….

Great looking product HBG!

[Koningstiger]

@knp7765:

Finally, here are the heavy and light cruisers.
Also a pic of all of my dark green pieces that I ordered.

These pieces really look good.  Coach did a great job of designing them and the factory did good producing them.  I ordered 15 sets in olive and 10 sets in dark green.  In all of that, only a couple of ships were a little bent.  Most of all the ships were nice and straight.
Even the planes came out excellent.  In past sets , you would get some planes where the wings were kind of bent.  There were a few here but most were nice and straight.  A lot less work for me.
I am really happy with these pieces.  GREAT JOB COACH!!!

And I thought i owned a lot of pieces…just out of curiosity, what do you need 25 sets for??

[John Brown]

Koningstiger, I have 20 sets myself, but I’m a piece junkie. I’m have some painted, and some that I won’t paint. The olive green will be European Forces, and the Dark Green will be Pacific forces. :-D

[knp7765]

@Koningstiger:

And I thought i owned a lot of pieces…just out of curiosity, what do you need 25 sets for??

This might be a little weird, but I have a set piece count that I like to have for my gaming pieces. Here is what I like to have for the basic game of Global 1940:
Infantry = 100 pcs.
Tanks, Mechs, Artillery = 50 pcs.
Fighters, AA Guns, Transports, Submarines, Destroyers = 40 pcs.
Tac Bombers, Strat Bombers, Cruisers = 30 pcs.
Battleships, Aircraft Carriers = 20 pcs.

I do it this way because I really don’t like using chips unless absolutely necessary, like a lot of units in a small territory. I came up with these numbers basing it on how often each unit is likely to get purchased. I do this for all nation sets, even France and ANZAC, because we sometimes will mix things up with new games like “Alternate Alliances” or play the regular Global 40 game and just use different country’s units for whatever country we are playing. EG. Germany plays with ANZAC pieces, etc.
So when I started collecting HBG sets, I like to try and get the same amounts, or at least close to it. I’ve actually got 5 more sets in each color on another order that I placed after this order that will be coming later. This will total 20 sets in Olive and 15 sets in Dark Green. Olive is my main US color so that’s why I got more of them.

With the units that are different versions of our current units, like infantry, tanks, fighters, etc., I like to try and get them to the same numbers that I have with my OOB pieces. 20 sets will get me to 40 pieces of each. I might get a few more when they go on sale individually later on if I feel I really need to.

As for the supplement and expansion pieces, I match those units up to the OOB unit they most closely match.
Tank Destroyers, SP Artillery, Heavy Tanks = Tanks
Jet Fighters, Naval or Army fighters, Early or Late War Fighters = Fighters
Dive Bombers, Torpedo Bombers, Fighter/Bombers = Tactical Bombers
Heavy Bombers = Bombers
Trucks, Halftracks, Armored Cars, Armored Personnel Carriers = Mechanized Infantry

Anyway, that is why I make such big orders.

[LHoffman]

@knp7765:

Here’s the heavy artillery and the tanks.

Got mine Saturday… Awesome set!

Those Pershing heavy tanks are HUGE! They are great. Gonna look real intimidating on the board.

Essex is a beauty too. Excellently captured.

[georgemak1]

I got mine last Thursday, loved every single piece, but the B-24( its small, skinny wings and body) would have liked it a little bigger, seems tiny next to the British sterling, know it was a little shorter but not to that extend. Also the P-47s wings had to be a bit wider. Nave units look great, amazing detail on the BB, im glad the heavy tank is that size.