The biggest problem I’ve found with painting is trying to keep them looking realistic but distinct enough to tell units apart for people playing with me that don’t know the difference between a Sherman and a Matilda II. Yeah, I know there’s decals but I don’t even want to go there. LOL
That’s why I’m resistant to painting mine - I’m always explaining which ship is which as it is. I finally color coded the tips of the ships - not historical but practical.
@Der:
That’s why I’m resistant to painting mine - I’m always explaining which ship is which as it is. I finally color coded the tips of the ships - not historical but practical.
I’m still working on painting. I’m not even going to attempt painting everything. I’m at the point where the ones I do have painted will be used as “veteran” units. They will be mostly for eye candy and just for fun.
There are some damn fine painters here and I totally respect thier work. However there is no way I’m spending the time and effort to decal units. Unfortunately to realize my complete vision of the perfect Axis & Allies set I’d have to spend a fortune to get all decals I need plus some nicer equipment and tools for painting and modding.
Don’t get me wrong - I do love and much admire the painted units - they just need to somehow be easily identifiable on the map.
@Der:
Don’t get me wrong - I do love and much admire the painted units - they just need to somehow be easily identifiable on the map.
Oh I know what you mean. Tall Paul and his crew of customizers do quite a bit of that. LHoffman just did a bunch of planes for him that have some great detail and designation painting and decals.
I still love painting I’m just not willing to do all of my mini’s. A few just to pepper the board a little is where I’m setting my goal for now.
I really like how these all came out.
Very nice!
Jluna,
I really like how these all came out.
––Me, too! Nice work on a difficult paint scheme. What I like most is how distictive your national ensigns appear,…very important!
“Tall Paul”
Guys,
@Der:
Don’t get me wrong - I do love and much admire the painted units - they just need to somehow be easily identifiable on the map.
Oh I know what you mean. Tall Paul and his crew of customizers do quite a bit of that. LHoffman just did a bunch of planes for him that have some great detail and designation painting and decals.
I still love painting I’m just not willing to do all of my mini’s. A few just to pepper the board a little is where I’m setting my goal for now.
––I think we ALL agree that painted units are COOL,…and add another level of “visual submersion” into our favorite game. Let me share some of my thoughts/concerns:
-1.) Although 3 or 4 guys are working on my units I truly don’t know if I’ll live long enough to see the conclusion of this massive undertaking.
-2.) IMHO it’s extremely important to be able to identify each unit’s NATIONALITY and TYPE, quickly and without confusion from a distance.
-3.) All of my units will have a National Ensign ,or Roundel, placed on them using decals, or when necesary, hand-painting. I prefer I-94 Enterprises decals for this. For example all ships will have a rectangular “flag” decal on their sterns. Armored units will have them on their rear decks. Aircraft will have national ensigns on the top of BOTH wings and both fuselage sides, although this isn’t historically accurate in some cases (USAAF). All Artillery units will have decals on their breach blocks.
-4.) In order to reduce the amount of possible confusion, especially when NEW UNIT TYPES are introduced, I have decided to STANDARDISE the Artillery and Transport Ship units for all nations. For the “normal” 105 artillery I’m using the OOB American Artillery piece. And for the Troop Transport I’m using the Anzac Transport from the 2nd Edition Pacific game. IMHO this will make it much less confusing,….especially when the Heavy Artillery units and numerous ship types are introduced. Both have been “modified” in order to have their national ensigns either on their breech blocks or on their sterns (poop deck).
-6.) I’ve even gone further and had an “Alpha” decal applied to each aircraft to designate it’s TYPE, but this is quite tedious to do. “LHoffman” did a wonderful job on these,…see below:
-7.) All nations will have distinctive paint jobs that will assist in their identification. This extends to the “Special Forces” and “Winter”, “Desert”, and other area-specific paint jobs of each nation.
-8.) Although my Game Map has been enlarged 150% to 48" x 108" I didn’t want to have to use literally dozens of “Territory Control Markers” as I thought they were distracting, time consuming, and cluttered up the map. I noticed the
painter “Allworkandnoclay” was painting national ensigns on the bases of his Infantry units. These were not only cool looking,….but made the territorial control markers uneccesary so I had him paint all of my Infantry units.
----My brother only “marks” certain units in order to avoid confusion with simular sized/shaped units and doesn’t
do any “paint jobs”. Here’s my suggestion for only "marking units of ALL nations:
-Heavy Bombers colored on wingtips.
-Tactical Bombers colored on tails.
-Fighters colored on noses.
-Battleships colored on smokestacks.
-Cruisers colored on sterns
-Destroyers colored on bows
––If you use a distictive color for each nation you’ve further assisted the identification process. A little thought ahead of time does go a long way!
----I realize that these are only my opinions, but I thought I’d express them so that they might assist others in dealing
with their own “issues” of “painted units”
“Tall Paul”
T for Transport
Tall Paul,
Thanks for the input. Definitely some great ideas there. I may have to go back and tweek my stuff. I don’t have a team, but I am determined to complete all my global pieces.
Jluna,
Congratulations
––You seem to be making extremely fast progress on your paint jobs, much faster than us…and they look great.
----Since I’m aflicted with the dreaded “I want it super-detailed” disease our modification/paint/decal jobs are going much slower. But the ones we’ve gotten done so far are just like I wanted them.
----My hat’s off to you. Keep up the good work as I always enjoy seeing your work.
----I truly feel that a set of A&A units look GREAT with only the “coloring” added that designates the different unit types. Everyone here has different talents, tastes, opinions, time and/or financial considerations to keep in mind. But we can all have FUN,…which IMHO is the ONLY thing that’s important (besides annihilating my opponent).
“Tall Paul”
@Tall:
Jluna,
Congratulations
––You seem to be making extremely fast progress on your paint jobs, much faster than us…and they look great.
----Since I’m aflicted with the dreaded “I want it super-detailed” disease our modification/paint/decal jobs are going much slower. But the ones we’ve gotten done so far are just like I wanted them.
----My hat’s off to you. Keep up the good work as I always enjoy seeing your work.----I truly feel that a set of A&A units look GREAT with only the “coloring” added that designates the different unit types. Everyone here has different talents, tastes, opinions, time and/or financial considerations to keep in mind. But we can all have FUN,…which IMHO is the ONLY thing that’s important (besides annihilating my opponent).Â
“Tall Paul”
Indeed sir.
Tall Paul,
Thanks for the input. Definitely some great ideas there. I may have to go back and tweek my stuff. I don’t have a team, but I am determined to complete all my global pieces.
Yeah you are really doing a great job. I’m moving in a different direction with what I want to paint now. I started painting my old Fortress America and A&A Classic pieces in eight color schemes. I got all the FA done and the US, but since I’m not doing decals it’s been really hard to have variable camo schemes and still tell everything apart. Besides that MB pieces are becoming rare and I just replaced some from eBay so I still have a playable set and an “un-punched/played” set in my collection.
Anyway I’ll be finishing some MB UK units and then switching to current and easily available pieces for painting from now on.
Again, nice work man!
Is anyone else using pieces from GHQ Models? I have read a lot of threads here, but I can’t say that I have seen these mentioned. They are metal, so obviously more expensive than the plastic ones from HBG. Do you guys think its worth the investment?
Jluna,
––Let’s see. If I recall there are at least 3-4 A&A painters that use some of the GHQ Micro Armor. “WilTan” and “PanzerPainter” come to mind. Although the white metal used by GHQ allows more detailed units, it’s almost impossible to keep a tank barrel straight. They simply bend TOO EASILY. I originally had planned on using GHQ for a large percentage of my units but ultimately decided against it. Each gamer has to decide for themselves what they will accept or not accept. Obviously there is a price difference, too. They do offer a nice variety of units, though. You might check-out WilTan’s modification thread here in the customizations area.
“Tall Paul”
@Tall:
You might check-out WilTan’s modification thread here in the customizations area.
I will check out that thread. Thanks, Tall Paul.
Toblerone77,
––Well, I’ll confess to being “slightly” OCD, but an old carpentry saying, which I’ve found to be true through experience, goes like this: “THINK twice,….CUT once!”
––Even if you are NOT using decals to denote national identity,…IF your paint schemes are
DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT from one another you shouldn’t have any problems confusing the nationality of any units.
––Think about it. You not only have COLOR to differentiate between countries,….but paint SCHEMES as well.
––Start with a country with a very distictive paint scheme, like “Italian Desert Camo”, and make any other country’s paint schemes that could possibly be near or involved in combat with the “IDC” scheme DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT from it. Then just continue this train of thought until you’ve got all of the countries in the game designed. “Wala”,…you’re finished.
----In my life experience I’ve found that in most cases a well thought out plan BEFORE any action takes place is a winning formula. I hope this helps you.
“Tall Paul”
@Tall:
Toblerone77,
––Well, I’ll confess to being “slightly” OCD, but an old carpentry saying, which I’ve found to be true through experience, goes like this: “THINK twice,….CUT once!”
––Even if you are NOT using decals to denote national identity,…IF your paint schemes are
DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT from one another you shouldn’t have any problems confusing the nationality of any units.
––Think about it. You not only have COLOR to differentiate between countries,….but paint SCHEMES as well.
––Start with a country with a very distictive paint scheme, like “Italian Desert Camo”, and make any other country’s paint schemes that could possibly be near or involved in combat with the “IDC” scheme DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT from it. Then just continue this train of thought until you’ve got all of the countries in the game designed. “Wala”,…you’re finished.
----In my life experience I’ve found that in most cases a well thought out plan BEFORE any action takes place is a winning formula. I hope this helps you.“Tall Paul”
I was kind of doing that. The problem is mostly the ships. However painting the newer destinctive pieces will be much easier. When I started painting the old MB pieces it put the old Fortress America pieces to better use than they had before. I’m actually considering painting my AA50 set. I think it will be much, much, easier.
Even without decals I will be able to spot things on the board easily enough as well as my more experienced co-players by using the newer pieces.
I am going to use different paint schemes for UK units operating in different theaters.
Nice!
