I usually just snap a quick photo of the board with my phone before packing up. It makes it easy to pick up where we left off.
Piece Storage and keeping games intact
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I’m a big fan lately of grouping all my sculpts by unit type rather than individually by nation/color. This seems to work particularly well for keeping ships and aircraft organized. I do this to facilitate faster gameplay, hotseat style! With less time spent unit fishing, and less time putting away pieces as we go. It’s purely functional for me at this point. I want to make it as easy as possible for players to grab and go, and to know what each unit looks like for each nation. […] It seems counter intuitive to mix the nations like this, but I think its actually a lot more efficient. It also helps players to learn what the enemy’s sculpts look like relative to their own, since they will all fish from the same box. […] Fishing by color out of a collective/grouped unit box, is way faster than fishing by shape out of a separate box for every single nation. Better to break them up by type I think just for ease of gameflow.
That’s a clever and original concept. As you say, it’s counterintuitive…but the rationale you give actually makes a lot of sense. A good example of – quite literally – out-of-the-box thinking. :-)
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As Marc says - what a great idea Elk 8-)
I’ll see whether I can overcome my OCD anally-retentive ways and bear to mix up my 41 and 42.2 sculpts. Hang on I’m getting the shakes just thinking about it ……
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I hear you Private and feel your anxiety: it is a big step!
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@Private:
I’ll see whether I can overcome my OCD anally-retentive ways and bear to mix up my 41 and 42.2 sculpts. Hang on I’m getting the shakes just thinking about it ……
One possible solution is to mix the sculpts in a way that’s reversible. The 1941 game comes with fewer pieces than the 1942 game, so put a little dot of water-soluble paint on the underside of each 1941 unit and allow the paint to dry thoroughly before mixing the units. If you decide at some point to re-separate the units, the dots will tell you which ones are from 1941. The system can even be expanded to multiple games by using multiple colours: let’s say, a blue dot for 1941, a red dot for 1942, other colours for Europe 1940 and Pacific 1940, etc. And because the paint is water soluble, you could even wash off the dots at some point in the future to fully reverse the system.
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Hey Marc - this Board is full of good ideas ….
Does that work for you Witt? Shall we take the plunge? :? :?
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You first, then ring me from the hospital.
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All mixed!!!
I’m a big fan lately of grouping all my sculpts by unit type rather than individually by nation/color. This seems to work particularly well for keeping ships and aircraft organized. I do this to facilitate faster gameplay, hotseat style! With less time spent unit fishing, and less time putting away pieces as we go. It’s purely functional for me at this point. I want to make it as easy as possible for players to grab and go, and to know what each unit looks like for each nation.
Finally broke down and did the same thing. For nearly 30 years I only played the 1984 classic version and kept all my pieces in the original strays. After buying the 1942 second edition I decided to use a couple of plastic organizer boxes from HFT to store everything in. I still keep the two games separate for the most part, except the industrial complexes and white AA guns which we use in the 1942 version (don’t really care for the industrial complex counters).
Like the new system better.
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Sorry, but I’d like to resurrect this thread, because its such an interesting topic, and its exactly what I’m debating/thinking about as I prepare to start rebuilding my set(s) after a 30 year absence.
This week i’ll be purchasing a bunch of stuff (after I get PAID of course), to include 1941, 1942 SE, extra units from HBG and possibly printing a custom battle board and grabbing some storage options.
Even though I see playing both 1941 (to introduce my kids to the game) and moving back up to 1942 SE (after the kids get comfortable with the rules), I will probably merge both sets of units into one common pool to share with both games, and I will reinforce the set with HBG sculpts (probably to fill sculpts that don’t come with either game).
I’ve been thinking about custom storage, and I’m leaning on going with a Stanley Removeable Compartment Storage Organizer. There’s a 25-bin one that retails for roughly $12-ish bucks at various stores, and I’m thinking I can get away with buying two of these and using one for Allies and one for Axis to hand to whoever is playing either side.
Anyways, I love reading about this type of project, and love hearing how others resolve the situation as well.
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Having just one storage box for the Allies and one for the Axis would be adequate for 1941, since that game has just five player powers and nine unit types (infantry + eight equipment types). That’s 3 x 9 = 27 compartments for the Allies and 2 x 9 = 18 compartments for the Axis. Things will become tight, however, once you start adding units from 1942, and will get completely unmanageable (if you limit yourself to two storage boxes) once you bring G40/2 into the picture. G40/2 has eight full player powers with fourteen unit types each, plus China’s infantry units. That adds up to 113 separate compartments. Mixing up unit types (for instance one compartment for all aircraft types combined) reduces the number of compartments, but means that you have to spend more time rooting around trying to find the unit you want.
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There are three options for mixing units from different versions I of which I am aware Wolf:
:-o Black Elk’s excellent idea of combining all the powers’ units into a box for each unit type, allowing the colour difference to work in your favour.
:-o Using an organiser such as the one you have pictured to separate unit types by Power. I play with a forum colleague each month and this is how he sorts his units. I actually find it quite a faff finding the right compartment for the unit I want each time.
:-o Using a box for each Power’s units. I do this because 1940 comes with some excellent boxes - one for each Power - and so it seemed the obvious thing to do. Although it means that I have to sort through multiple units of the same colour to get to the one that I want, for me the faff factor is slightly reduced on the previous option, but we are all different.
The first option, as shared by Black Elk, is clearly the best. But I cannot bring myself to let go of the lovely boxes provided for each Power in 1940 just yet.
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Well, I’m neither 100% limited to two, just feeling things out, and ATM, I don’t have plans on any of the 1940 games in the immediate future. So, for the foreseeable future, I’m looking at a merged 41/42… and since 1941 is a “whopping” 8 Infantry, 5 tanks, 4 fighters, 2 bombers kind of thing for each country, think of it more as a storage solution for 1942SE with a few extra units thrown in! lolz… either way, its still 5 countries tops for my immediate future plans.
Also, I’m getting a feel for how many bins i’ll need and how I’m going to break up the countries. The nice thing about the Stanley organizers is they have removeable bins that come in three sizes (small/medium and large), so while “25 bins” is the default, you can add or remove larger/smaller bins to make it have more or less than 25 depending on your needs.
I’m not averse to mixing things that would be easily distinguishable from one another at a glance… like maybe one bin for fighters and bombers combined… and I might even mix nations at least from the same side… it all depends how the compartmentization works. That one guy in this thread put all infantry in one bin, all tanks in one bin, etc, etc… it is easy to pick out German tanks from Japanese tanks in the same bin, so I see the logic in that approach.
I also know its 3 Allied vs 2 Axis, so it’s not 100% even between two cases, but I would put the “neutral” things like Industrial Plants and AA in the same case as the Axis to balance out. No matter, I’m not bound to two and only two, I’m playing it by ear… if I can make them comfortably and logically fit in two cases, I will… if there’s not enough room or not enough bins for good organization, they’re only $12 a pop for the cases, I can get a third or a fourth if need be… either way I’m really looking at a slightly beefed up 1942 SE list of units… i’ll see how it goes this weekend, if I need more cases, i’ll do what needs to be done!
EDIT:
Just saw your post Private Panic… I saw Black Elk’s idea, and it seems intriguing… what I might do is OPTION 4: two cases, using Black Elk’s idea, with all Allies mixed by type in one case and all/both Axis missed by type in a 2nd case (as I can trade out bins from small/med/large to accommodate my plans). -
The nice thing is that any system you devise that is based on trays with dividers is going to be infinitely superior to the Zip-lock bag technique. I used Zip-lock bags in the early days of my collecting activities, but I gave up on it when I got to the point where organizing each power’s pieces required putting several small bags inside larger bags. I discovered Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes around that time, and my life hasn’t been the same since.
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@CWO:
I discovered Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes around that time, and my life hasn’t been the same since.� Â
The mind boggles Marc! What is it that you get up to with these boxes?!
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Or I might just do one really big Ziplock bag… if I had to REALLY organize them… I could use two giant ziplock bags, one for Axis and one for Allies…
[dramatic pause]
Or i’ll stick with the Stanley Bin Organizer idea… when I get everything up and running, i’ll take some pics for the forum.
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@Private:
@CWO:
I discovered Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes around that time, and my life hasn’t been the same since.� �Â
The mind boggles Marc! What is it that you get up to with these boxes?!
Phrased as a formal argumentation:
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Collecting and organizing A&A sculpts is one of my life’s major recreational activities.
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The Flambeau Zerust plastic tackle boxes have greatly helped me to carry out this organization activity.
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Ergo, those boxes have had a major impact on my life.
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Here are some sample pictures of my current tray configuration. These two pictures show the trays for Japan, one of the major powers whose primary sculpts are stored in two trays.
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And here we see the tray for France, one of the minor powers whose primary sculpts are stored in one tray. There’s also a picture of what the tray looks like when the cover is closed.
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So this is why you threw away all your poker chips… you don’t need to stack units on chips! Good Lord, how many sets of the game do you have combined there? That’s a plethora of units!
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So this is why you threw away all your poker chips… you don’t need to stack units on chips! Good Lord, how many sets of the game do you have combined there? That’s a plethora of units!
I didn’t throw away my poker chips; they’re housed in their own plastic storage boxes. The chips are organized into several trays, and compartmentalized within each tray. Currently, I have some secondary trays which are for the old-style small-ridge A&A mini poker chips, plus a primary tray for the handsome new-style large-ridge ones which are stamped with the A&A logo. “How many sets of the game do you have combined there?” is a tough one to answer because the answer depends case-by-case on each unit. Some units don’t go back very far in the game history of A&A because the designs changed or the colour changed (or both changed), or because the units themselves are new. Some go further back because they became standardized at an earlier date. The Japanese carrier, battleship, destroyer, submarine and naval transport are probably the pooled units that go back the furthest; they haven’t changed since the burnt-orange version of the original Pacific game (the early printings of which had cherry red Japanese units).
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Went back and forth between a few stores looking at multiple options for national storage bins, and debated on larger organizers for sides (like one big for Axis and one big one for Allies), or smaller bins for each (of the 5) nations.
Ended up buying five small bins, one for each nation and an extra one for neutral/industrial plants (from my A&A Classic), etc.
Below is a couple of examples… ended up getting 13-compartment Stack-On bin organizers from Lowes for about $3 bucks a pop. They are adjustable… I was only able to pick up 1941 today, so it looks like a ghost-town in each bin… I have room to further subdivide if/when necessary after I get 1942 later this week (had to order it, since apparently Pensacola is only good enough for stocking 1941) and my reinforcements from HBG.
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