Counters to replace "Battle pieces"

[Mikeeboy22]

Hi!

This might be a little strange, but did anyone try to play A&A with counters instead of the usual “battle pieces”?

Why would someone do this? For example using a wall mount map with counters on magnets.

Anyone know such an attempt to create A&A counters?

Regards, Mike

[cyanight]

I have thought about mounting my map on a wall. Its magnetic and can hold a stack of 30 chips perpendicular to the board.

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=33966.0

[CWO Marc]

To me, a big part of the charm of A&A is deploying all of those distinctively-designed three-dimensional sculpts on a map.  Playing A&A with counters rather than sculpts would be a bit like playing Shogi (Japanese chess) or Xiangqi (Chinese chess) with their traditional printed counters rather than playing FIDE chess with three-dimensional men.  It’s a necessary compromise for online play, but in the real world real sculpts look better to me.

[Private-Panic]

I agree with Marc.

But ….

This game can be such a monster and finding space for it - especially the multi-day versions - can be tricky. Wall mounted might be a way around this for those blessed with more wall than table space.

But once you start down that road - triple a projected on to a wall or screen might be even more convenient. Why hadn’t I thought of that option before?

The very thought reminds me why I like to have the board set up though.

[CWO Marc]

@Private:

But once you start down that road - triple a projected on to a wall or screen might be even more convenient. Why hadn’t I thought of that option before?

For somebody with a really big basement, that would be an interesting concept for an A&A bunker: instead of using a physical map table, have the game projected on a large screen and have the players sit at control tables, along the lines of the Strategic Air Command War Room that we see in the movie Fail Safe.  Though I guess that would be an anachronistic mixing of WWII and the Cold War.

[Wolfshanze]

To me, that’s the same concept of using the chassis of a Lamborghini with the body of a Yugo.  A Lamborghini isn’t just about the engine that drives it, people love it because it’s how it LOOKS.

The same thing can be said of Axis and Allies.  Maybe the body of a Yugo is more practical to some, but I wouldn’t bother playing Axis and Allies at all, if I felt I was sitting in a Yugo.

If you don’t know what a Yugo is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MknuRE2Bcg

Built in Soviet-bloc Yugoslavia, the Yugo had the distinct feeling of something assembled at gunpoint. Interestingly, in a car where “carpet” was listed as a standard feature, the Yugo had a rear-window defroster, reportedly to keep your hands warm while you pushed it…