Accurate Miniature Equivalents for Custom Painting your 1940 E&P

I forgot air units get two dice in convoy raiding, good reminder haha

I don’t know about yall, but I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of separate game aids all over the area. Siredblood’s AA50 map is a work of art and took the liberty of adding IPCs and National objectives to the map. Not sure if it’s too cluttered now-- maybe the Natl objectives should be between the IPCs and map. What do you think? First almost perfectly on a 6’x4’ map.

[Artistic credit goes to SiredBlood and BigWatcher]

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My group has taken the ultimate step that many on this and other sites are loathe to do. We have unified turns, 1:Axis 2:Allies. We mainly play a modded AA50 with slightly (5-10) more territories. This greatly increases the speed and playability for several reasons.

Positives
Firstly, the vast majority of the engagements can be done simultaneously without any real issues.

Everyone can purchase simultaneously, and if you are not particularly a-retentive some people can finish their purchasing while others are moving forward with their attack declaring, but please make sure all attacks are declared before any attacks begin, to easy to start conflict there with meant-to/didn’t-do.

The most important factor in time improvement is not the actual simultaneity of the turn but that every turn, every round, attack and defense, involves every player. No one is bored (US/USSR) for turn after turn of waiting to do anything. This engagement greatly increases the camaraderie (heh) and the pressure of the turn. Everyone’s attention is focused. We REGULARLY complete our AA50 to a satisfying surrender in about 3 hours. In fact most of us have young kiddos so we don’t really have a choice.

Another useful point is that if someone brings an uninterested significant other or newbie, Italy makes a great and dynamic option when coordinating with an expert playing Germany. I find that scheduling is one of the hardest issues with getting a group together and perhaps one of the main reasons you would want a shorter game.

Counter points/Solutions
No 1/2 punches with Italy/Germany or UK/US. This might be a bigger problem on Global but I do not feel that it is an issue in AA50. To correct this we use some special rules including a reserved 2nd attack round for unused armies that want to attempt a blitz through/drop past a recently conquered territory or Sea Zone.

Massed Allied navies, especially in Europe. Haven’t really figured this one out, but it is historically accurate and axis can usually get the allies to a surrender point without Operation Sealion anyway. Massed navies is one of the reasons we support the 7/0 Transport rule in the recent editions over the 8/1 of the old editions.

Starting positions for UK and USSR. Since Axis will move collectively ahead of them, USSR and UK might need a little tweaking in the setup. I usually move some of UK’s Pacific/Indian navies one space further from J1. Additionally we give a territory or two to USSR to absorb the assault of G1.

Conclusion
I feel like if you really want to make A&A work for you, it can. It just might take a little more willpower in working through and agreeing to some compromises on OOB rules.

P.S. It always helps if the scheduling problem is with other people, you be the one to set up ahead of time. I always end up falling on that sword.

All, I’ve finally gotten a 3D printer of my own, so I have been able to launch my own little Etsy shop with the mission of getting these models out there as affordably as possible! Huzzah!

While my shapeways store will stay open, doing self-fulfilled prints on Etsy is going to be a win-win; much more of the proceeds going directly to creators, which brings the price down for everyone. The only con is that I will have to maintain the 3D printer and do all of my own post-processing…

Anyway, I wanted to welcome everyone here to the shop with a 10% off coupon for the rest of 2021! Just use coupon code AADOTORG21 at checkout. Come be one of my first customers! Visit my etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NathanDetr0itDesigns

I’ll be adding new things and ideas constantly - including bundling items up for complete kits ala G40 etc., so please DM me or respond below and let me know what else you would like to see!

Have not test printed it yet.  Once I do I will have it on my Shapeways store
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I’m looking for digital mapmakers and digital publishing enthusiasts to help me develop a new map and professional-looking set of rules for an Axis & Allies homebrew set of rules. Any takers?

@General:

I love the level of detail to the map, have you considered using the Star of India from the British Raj for UK Pacific territories?

Glad you liked the custom map.  No, the idea of giving the British Pacific territories distinct roundels hadn’t occurred to me.  It’s a concept that has potential advantages, for instance because it would highlight Britain’s two-income situation in Global, but on the other hand I like having a single British roundel for the whole world because it highlights the extent of the British Empire.  (A grade-school child back in the1930s or so allegedly wrote in an assignment that “The sun never sets on the British Empire because the sun sets in the west and the Empire is in the east.”)