Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

russia / armor /T34/ fighter /sturmovik/ artillery /ZIS/ infantry /mosin nagant/

i do not have great knowledge of the russia navy from ww2, i have seen some pictures of aircraft carriers, and what look like cruiser class ships

@AG124:

I will definitely buy at least one set if the quality is what I am currently expecting it to be. 8-)

However, I do need more information from FMG first, (although I realize you/FMG may not yet be in a position to supply said information):

• What units have been ultimately chosen for each unit of each nation?

• How many moulds, if any, will have to be shared, and which ones for which nations?

• What level of detail can actually be expected (although I assume from this thread higher than the current plastic units)?

• What quality plastic can be expected (although I gather from this thread that it is at least as good as that of WoTC?

• What will the colours look like when applied to the actual plastic from which the units will be made? Will they look exactly as the colours of the dice, including appearance in terms of hue and lightness?

• What colour has been chosen for Italy?

• Will our discussion re unit choices be factored in your actual choice of units for the set?

And of course, eventually, I would like very much to see a prototype or prototypes of some type.

To answer some of these questions above:

1. We are still in the process of obtaining sculpts for all the units.  We can’t show prototypes YET as we have only priced out the mould and production cost with our factory.  Once I have MORE sculpts I will post them here

2)The level of detail will be BETTER than the current WOTC units. The plastic quality will be the same or BETTER than current units.

3. The only moulds that will be shared are most likley the Russian and US Aircraft Carrier.  The Russians will also use the US LIBERTY SHIP as a transport.  Russian Naval sculpts are limited but this is still BETTER than the current units where ALL Russian Naval units are copies.  All other Nations will have SPECIFIC sculpts for each unit!

4. Colors will match COMBAT DICE.  (Russia is not PINK! Im sure some of you can vouch for that).  See other COMBAT DICE pictures on the FMG site under AXIS & ALLIES CUSTOM SETS and you will see the correct colors. http://www.fieldmarshalgames.com/board-games/axis-allies/field-marshal-combat-dice/field-marshal-combat-dice-axis-allies-custom-sets.html

5. A Dark Brown has been chosen for ITALY.  The USSR / ITALY color contrast will be more than it is now.

6. Of course the wishes of the community will be taken into account before the mould is finalized.  Dependent on the availability of sculpts.  See link to other thread above where this project originated and many ideas where presented.

POSSIBLE SCULPT FOR ITALIAN NAVY

ITALIAN CA - AQUILA CLASS
ITALIAN CR - ZARA CLASS
ITALIAN BB - LITTORIO CLASS

wow, those sculpts look impressive, how many fighters does the carrier hold, i have some house rules that allow carriers to carry 3 fighters, are they exactly to the scale of wotc pieces,
i have been looking through my axis and allies game pieces, and have found nothing to compare to those sculpts,
although the pictures of the sculpts are not clear, they appear of a very high manufacturing standard,
if i walked into a shop and found those i would purchase a set

One thing that’s going to be important is the relative size of the ship models.  They’re too close together in the AH molds, mostly because the battleships and destroyers came first, then the cruisers were squeezed into the middle.  Starting from scratch, you can get this right from the beginning and avoid some player confusion.

@ FMG - Thank you for the reply; everything sounds encouraging at this stage, I must say. 8-)

If you are looking for ideas for Soviet WWII Carriers, here is a thread from the AAM Forumini I remember from a little while back; it also discusses Italian and French carrier designs, but there are a good number of Soviet designs at the top of the first post. Of course, none of these designs was ever laid down, someone actually purchasing a Soviet carrier piece to use in A&A could be analogous to the Soviets actually spending time and resources building one of these in RL (of course, getting someone to make a mould for one of these for your set is another task).

In terms of appearance only, I would prefer “Project 72,” if only for its distinctiveness from carriers produced by other nations during this period:

Kostromitinov:

Project 72:

Project 71:

Link (check the top/first post):

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about5369.html&highlight=soviet

EDIT - @ FMG; I noticed that those Italian ship moulds you posted actually came from Panzerschiffe; a company which makes 1/2400 scale warships. Will you be using Panzerschiffe models as a basis for your own molds (albeit with some detail changes to avoid copyright infringement), or are you just posting these as an example? Thanks.

@Imperious:

Except the submarine needs to not look like a toothpick, but more like the old MB AA sub, so it can stand up easily. The German subs are horrible looking IMO.

I love the A&A subs, but agree that the german sub dont stand up easily. But look at the subs from Jeff’s the Wargame, they looks like a flatfish standing up, now is that better than a toothpick ?

Id make all the naval units the same size by type, so the battleships are exactly the same, cruisers have their own size, etc.  just keep the scale just like AA so both types of sets are compatible with each other. Thats where you will make alot of sales because people will just replace entire sets with your set, much like Chess players have different sets depending on what type of game ( tournament, home study,friends house, etc) is being played.

Except the submarine needs to not look like a toothpick, but more like the old MB AA sub, so it can stand up easily. The German subs are horrible looking IMO.

I’m with IL on this!  Ship classes should have their own distinct size and not made to exact scale for ease of identification.

AG124 -  Nice find!  I like carrier on the top.

wow, those sculpts look impressive, how many fighters does the carrier hold,

D142 - Where are the pictures of the sculpts?  I didn’t see any.

@Black:

wow, those sculpts look impressive, how many fighters does the carrier hold,

D142 - Where are the pictures of the sculpts?  I didn’t see any.

the pictures of the sculpts are at page 3 of this thread

the pictures of the sculpts are at page 3 of this thread

I see it now.  I think the first time I looked at it the pictures didn’t load.  Those are very nice samples indeed.

Those Italian vessel scuplts in the pictures posted by FMG are actually produced by Panzerschiffe; a company which makes 1/2400 scale warships. I think that FMG posted those as an example of what he wanted in terms of Italian sculpts, but I am not sure if he is actually using the Panzerschiffe sculpts (there would be copyright issues in making a perfect copy of their sculpt without permission). However, if FMG is indeed going to use Panzerschiffe sculpts with permission from the company, I for one would welcome it, as Panzerschiffe has a great variety of vessels from all relevant nations, with the appropriate level of detail for this scale (other than the lack of a Soyuz class BB and any CV for the Soviets, IMO). Of course, Panzerschiffe is not a substitute for FMG, because of the great cost of purchasing enough of their units to make a complete set, and obviously because of the lack of aircraft and land units in their roster.

Here is a link, by the way (you can go to the Italian WWII section to see the models posted by FMG):

http://www.panzerschiffe.com/Catalog.html

Indeed those pictures were just posted as an EXAMPLE of the kind of ships we are going to make.  We will not use those models.  People are requesting pictures of prototypes but we are not yet at that stage.  What I wanted to represent was the ship classes we are going to use and the level of detail which these models have.  I’m not even sure if they are the correct scale.

With this kind of product there is no such thing as a prototype.  The mould cost is so great that you have your sculpts…  then you have finished product, no in between.  We have a model maker we are working with who is providing the Naval sculpts and he sent us those pictures as an example of the kind of ships he will make.

We are still in need of LAND unit sculpts.  Once again, if any of you have a lead on these please PM me the details.

Thanks again!

Ah, so the sculptor is working on the moulds for the units now, and sent you those Panzerschiffe pictures as an example of the classes he is going to produce for you. As well, he has chosen the Aquila Class CV, Littorio Class BB, and Zara Class CA for the Italians - all excellent choices, IMO.

In terms of prototypes, I indeed see your point. However, later in the production stage, if you feel like posting some of the actual sculpts sent to you by your modeller, by all means feel free to do so. Of course, you may also decide against doing so; any decision on whether and when you can show us some sculpts is entirely in your court. I am just glad to hear that everything is going OK with the set at this stage. 8-)

Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with land (or any) sculpts, as I am not a sculptor. Hopefully, someone else here can help you with that. :|

BTW - If you are considering using the Sovyetskiy Soyuz Class BB for the Soviet Union instead of the old Gangut class (which I certainly hope is the case), maybe this picture will help, as sources for this class are a little harder to find than for most other classes:

@Imperious:

The bases should all be round and a little bit larger than AH.

If these are dedicated A&A pieces the bases should stack integral with the chips. ~ZP

@Zero:

@Imperious:

The bases should all be round and a little bit larger than AH.

If these are dedicated A&A pieces the bases should stack integral with the chips. ~ZP

Great idea, but which chips?  We use the chips from Revised, Europe, and Pacific when we play AA50 as there are never enough chips that came with AA50.