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@knp7765:

I got my order today for the Burnt Orange and Red pieces. They look fabulous. I really like the size of the Nagato and Yamato battleships. The Nagato is right about the same size as the OOB battleships and the Yamato is a good sight bigger. You could really tell the difference if they were on the game board.
The D3A Val Dive Bombers are really nice looking. They set on the table just like the OOB and might be just a hair bigger.
John Brown is right, the Kikka Jet fighters are really cool looking. Sort of like the Me262 but a little bigger with straighter wings.
All of the ships look great. I really like HBG’s idea of putting the name on the bottom. Another example of 1st class service from HBG.
I just LOVE the new tanks. Really great detail and size appropriate.
The Type 89 Artillery looks great as well. I know it is supposed to be Japan’s heavy artillery, but I am tempted to use it as their regular artillery piece.

Here is a couple of my own ideas for a couple of the new pieces:
Light Cruiser = A 3 D 2 M 2 C 10  Perhaps give ASW capabilities, bombard @ 2.
Yamato Battleship = A 4 D 4 M 2 C 22  Takes 3 hits to sink. Rolls 2 dice and pick best result OR roll 1 dice and if a miss can re-roll. Bombard @ 4.

So do any of you like these or have better ideas? Also thought about giving the Yamato an attack @ 5 – too strong?

You know knp, having an attack @5 weapon could seem too powerful but me personally I like to see power on the board. My F2F games are so few and far between that throwing in some heavy hitters never took away from the fun. That’s just me though. I know for a fact I’m in the minority but upping stats and dice with friends and family usually makes for good times.

I wouldn’t suggest it as a tourney rule or anything like that, but blowing stuff up on the board is always fun in my book. As we get more stuff from HBG there’s ways to balance the power between all nations. Maybe you could use it in a series of NAs for Japan. There’s stuff that each nation has that others don’t that’s currently produced from HBG. So for example maybe the US doesn’t have a Yamato as an NA sculpt, but only the US has LVTs and flame tanks. Germany’s Tiger is prime for using as a NA Sculpt. USSR has the Katyushas. The list could go on.

I’m sure you have a big inventory of sculpts LOL, so maybe NA pieces could be worked out until we get pieces for everyone.

@toblerone77:

@knp7765:

So do any of you like these or have better ideas? Also thought about giving the Yamato an attack @ 5 – too strong?

You know knp, having an attack @5 weapon could seem too powerful but me personally I like to see power on the board. My F2F games are so few and far between that throwing in some heavy hitters never took away from the fun. That’s just me though. I know for a fact I’m in the minority but upping stats and dice with friends and family usually makes for good times.

I am not sure how it would work, but it is not new territory to give a unit a 5 roll… old Jet Fighters used to be that way (on defense). And I would argue the old Jet Fighters were much more powerful with a 5 roll than a battleship would be.

It would also incentivize the buying of battleships a bit more. A carrier and 2 planes is still the better bang for the IPC cost, but making Yamatos an attack 5 would close the gap a bit. The only offset would be if you upped their price in addition. However, with the ultimate units, like Yamatos, I am liking the idea of limiting the possible number on the board at one time… adds another dimension of strategy to the game.

@knp7765:

I got my order today for the Burnt Orange and Red pieces. They look fabulous. I really like the size of the Nagato and Yamato battleships. The Nagato is right about the same size as the OOB battleships and the Yamato is a good sight bigger. You could really tell the difference if they were on the game board.
The D3A Val Dive Bombers are really nice looking. They set on the table just like the OOB and might be just a hair bigger.
John Brown is right, the Kikka Jet fighters are really cool looking. Sort of like the Me262 but a little bigger with straighter wings.
All of the ships look great. I really like HBG’s idea of putting the name on the bottom. Another example of 1st class service from HBG.
I just LOVE the new tanks. Really great detail and size appropriate.
The Type 89 Artillery looks great as well. I know it is supposed to be Japan’s heavy artillery, but I am tempted to use it as their regular artillery piece.

Here is a couple of my own ideas for a couple of the new pieces:
Light Cruiser = A 3 D 2 M 2 C 10  Perhaps give ASW capabilities, bombard @ 2.
Yamato Battleship = A 4 D 4 M 2 C 22  Takes 3 hits to sink. Rolls 2 dice and pick best result OR roll 1 dice and if a miss can re-roll. Bombard @ 4.

So do any of you like these or have better ideas? Also thought about giving the Yamato an attack @ 5 – too strong?

The main thing is to have fun with the new pieces, because at home, you can do anything you want. If want a 3 hit and a 5 attack ship, shoot, I would go for it. You, Tolerone77 and knp7765 got me thinking, if your at home doing your own thing and your having fun, that is the main thing.

Now if it was a tournament setting, I might tone it down some, but a home game, the sky is the limit.

Heck, I might try it myself! :-D

Well, perhaps we could give the Yamato a hit @ 5 if we increase the cost to 24, to sort of balance out the power.
toblerone77, that is an interesting idea making the Yamato a National Advantage for Japan, along with certain HBG units for the other countries. Although, have you seen the sculpts for the Allied Super-weapons set? They are including a Montana Class Battleship for the US. That would be able to match the Yamato I think.
There is also plans for a Soyuz class Battleship for Russia, so the Soviet Union would have a super battleship as well, for all the good it would do them (How often does Russia buy a battleship?)
So what do you guys think about my ideas for the Light Cruiser? Should it be given ASW capabilities? Were Light Cruisers able to fight submarines or was that pretty much left to destroyers? I do know that some light cruisers were converted into specialized AA platforms. I don’t know about ASW duties.
Someone had a pretty interesting idea of giving Escort Carriers ASW capabilities. So they would have no attack value themselves, but they would also carry 1 plane which could hunt those pesky subs with the ASW capabilities of the escort carrier. That could be pretty useful, especially if, for example, Germany is convoy raiding UK into the poor house. Send an escort carrier plus fighter out there to clean out those pesky subs.

By the way, I just got my notice that my other Japanese Expansion sets in Yellow/Gold and Light Rose are on their way. YAY! Last summer when they first went on pre-order, I had to make two different orders; orange and red in one order, yellow and rose in the second. Each order was a bit expensive for me, probably because I ordered TEN sets in each color! What can I say, I’m a piece junkie. MORE IS BETTER! Plus, once they are available for individual orders, I am getting a lot more of the tanks. LOVE THOSE TANKS!

I have been reading your joy at the new pieces with a little happy jealousy.
Good on you.

As regards the Super Battleship, if you want a 5 to hit, I think it would have to be 24 to buy and no rerolls.
The Light Cruiser makes sense, but I think you should not allow it ASW capability.
Research if they had the capability by all means.
Perhaps Marc might know.

@knp7765:

Well, perhaps we could give the Yamato a hit @ 5 if we increase the cost to 24, to sort of balance out the power.
toblerone77, that is an interesting idea making the Yamato a National Advantage for Japan, along with certain HBG units for the other countries. Although, have you seen the sculpts for the Allied Super-weapons set? They are including a Montana Class Battleship for the US. That would be able to match the Yamato I think.
There is also plans for a Soyuz class Battleship for Russia, so the Soviet Union would have a super battleship as well, for all the good it would do them (How often does Russia buy a battleship?)
So what do you guys think about my ideas for the Light Cruiser? Should it be given ASW capabilities? Were Light Cruisers able to fight submarines or was that pretty much left to destroyers? I do know that some light cruisers were converted into specialized AA platforms. I don’t know about ASW duties.
Someone had a pretty interesting idea of giving Escort Carriers ASW capabilities. So they would have no attack value themselves, but they would also carry 1 plane which could hunt those pesky subs with the ASW capabilities of the escort carrier. That could be pretty useful, especially if, for example, Germany is convoy raiding UK into the poor house. Send an escort carrier plus fighter out there to clean out those pesky subs.

By the way, I just got my notice that my other Japanese Expansion sets in Yellow/Gold and Light Rose are on their way. YAY! Last summer when they first went on pre-order, I had to make two different orders; orange and red in one order, yellow and rose in the second. Each order was a bit expensive for me, probably because I ordered TEN sets in each color! What can I say, I’m a piece junkie. MORE IS BETTER! Plus, once they are available for individual orders, I am getting a lot more of the tanks. LOVE THOSE TANKS!

I ordered 10 of the orange and red, 5 of the yellow and 3 of the rose color, so no, your not the only piece junkie, LOL. There are others too. You beat me for sure. The thing about this set, is all four colors are great.

I pre-ordered 28 sets of the British set as well, since it is their first set. 10 tan, 10 UK blonde, 5 Anzac Grey and 3 Celery Green.

I think I’m excited more for the British and French sets, since they have not gotten any sets yet, but the American and Facility Set look really good too.

Since HBG made the Yamato so big, I’m more excited about the German set now, and hope the Bismarck is as big as well.

That ship is so awesome on any map, because it dwarfs the other ships. :-D

@knp7765:

Well, perhaps we could give the Yamato a hit @ 5 if we increase the cost to 24, to sort of balance out the power.

See this is where I become reticent… even at 20 IPCs a battleship is not an effective expenditure compared to an aircraft carrier with 2 aircraft. (Even a carrier with 1 fighter). Upping the attack to a 5 AND increasing the cost cancels out any benefit, which I am not sure was even there before the cost increase.

I think it is logical for the Yamatos to cost more, but it depending on how much more, I am not sure if I would ever buy one. At most I would say 22 IPCs, definitely no more than that. A battleship costing 24 IPCs in Original and Revised was ludicrous enough, but even in Global that is too much.

And I am not so sure about the hit 3 aspect yet. Certainly Yamato and Musashi proved they could take a ridiculous amount of punishment, so it is something to consider.

@knp7765:

toblerone77, that is an interesting idea making the Yamato a National Advantage for Japan, along with certain HBG units for the other countries. Although, have you seen the sculpts for the Allied Super-weapons set? They are including a Montana Class Battleship for the US. That would be able to match the Yamato I think.
There is also plans for a Soyuz class Battleship for Russia, so the Soviet Union would have a super battleship as well, for all the good it would do them (How often does Russia buy a battleship?)

Yeah, how often does Russia buy ANY ships. As always, it will be nice to have and dream of, but even in the late stages of a good game for Russia, they will never buy one… ever. There is no strategic reason for Russia to ever build a super-level battleship in Axis and Allies.

Allied super-weapon set sounds like a lot of fun and I am pretty excited about the Montana. I do like the idea of making the Yamato (or super-battleships in general) a National Advantage or nation-specific unit. Again, perhaps with limits on the number in play or something. I don’t know… it is a lot to think about right now and does require some experimentation.

I always liked playing with NAs in Revised… not sure why there are so many haters out there.

@John:

Since HBG made the Yamato so big, I’m more excited about the German set now, and hope the Bismarck is as big as well.

That ship is so awesome on any map, because it dwarfs the other ships. :-D

The HBG Yamato is a bit larger and much better proportioned than the OOB version, but I would not say that it dwarfs all the other ships.

The HBG Nagato is nearly as long and almost looks larger than the Yamato because of it’s larger superstructure and beam.

The HBG Akagi is also maybe only one or two millimeters shorter than the Yamato, so it looks about the same size, especially, if you are looking at them from 3 ft away.

I wish I could take a picture and compare them for everyone, but I don’t have my camera at the moment.

The attached is a sizing picture that HBG put out when they were determining how large to make certain larger battleships (not sure if that was the Yamato specifically)… I believe they ended up going with the second from the top… that looks like the closest length comparison to the OOB and HBG Yamatos I have in front of me. Personally, I would have been fine if they had chosen the largest size, but what they chose is perhaps the best scale for the game.

LHoffman, it my not dwarf the others, but you must admit, it is better than the OOB Yamato, and I totally agree with you about the other battleship. It is awesome as well. I also like that the new Val Dive Bombers are a little bigger as well.

It is just an awesome set. Looking forward to the other sets as well. :-)

@John:

LHoffman, it my not dwarf the others, but you must admit, it is better than the OOB Yamato, and I totally agree with you about the other battleship.

Hands down agree… all of HBG’s stuff is way better than anything OOB (with a few isolated exceptions, but I am sure they will correct that at some point). But the HBG Yamato is a particularly better piece.

Guys,

––All hail,…HBG’s leadership in detail and amounts of production!
Hip, Hip, Hooraaaah!
––Thank you, HBG, for making our gaming experience so much better!  :-D

Tall Paul

@Tall:

Guys,

––All hail,…HBG’s leadership in detail and amounts of production!
Hip, Hip, Hooraaaah!
––Thank you, HBG, for making our gaming experience so much better!  :-D

Tall Paul

Yes, indeed! Thank you! :-D

@wittmann:

As regards the Super Battleship, if you want a 5 to hit, I think it would have to be 24 to buy and no rerolls.
The Light Cruiser makes sense, but I think you should not allow it ASW capability.
Research if they had the capability by all means.
Perhaps Marc might know.

As far as I know, cruisers (light or otherwise) had no special ASW capabilities.  To chase highly maneuverable submerged subs and drop depth charges on them, you need something that’s fast (linear speed) and agile (small tactical radius, i.e. can turn sharply).  Destroyers were very fast and quite agile.  Cruisers were fast, but less agile than destroyers owing to their lager size and greater weight of armour (destroyers had none, hence their nickname “tin cans”).  Corvettes were relatively slow, but surprisingly maneuverable.

Regarding the Yamato and Montana classes, note that the projected Montanas only had 16" guns, whereas the Yamatos has 18.1-inchers.  The Montanas fitted well into the traditional U.S. concept of battleship design, which favoured strong armour protection and great hitting power at the expense of speed, whereas the Iowas class battleships were, because of their emphasis on high speed, real oddballs among US dreadnoughts.  The concept of the Yamatos as national advantages for Japan in an interesting idea that can be argued both ways.  The “battleship school” within the IJN regarded them as Japan’s super-secret ultimate weapons, and this is one reason why they were kept out of action for most of the war, the idea being that they should be saved for the mythical “all-out decisive battle” for which they’d been conceived.  The IJN’s “aviation school”, on the other hand, considered them to be white elephants on which too much steel, manpower and oil had been wasted.  If we compare how much value Japan got out of Yamato and Musashi versus how much it got out of its six first-line fleet carriers (the ones which attacked Pearl Harbor), I’d say that Japan would indeed have been better off leaving the Yamato class on the drawing board and building two or three additional fleet carriers instead.

@John:

I think I’m excited more for the British and French sets, since they have not gotten any sets yet, but the American and Facility Set look really good too.

Since HBG made the Yamato so big, I’m more excited about the German set now, and hope the Bismarck is as big as well.

That ship is so awesome on any map, because it dwarfs the other ships. :-D

Yeah, I’m looking forward to the British and French sets, but I also really want the Axis Minor 2 and US Expansion sets. They all have such cool stuff in them.

As for the Bismarck, I don’t think it will be as big as the Yamato piece. Probably about the same size as the Nagato and OOB battleships because these are meant as your basic battleship. The Yamato is considered a heavy or super battleship, so they made that piece a little bigger.

Thank you for that last piece Marc.

@knp7765:

@John:

I think I’m excited more for the British and French sets, since they have not gotten any sets yet, but the American and Facility Set look really good too.

Since HBG made the Yamato so big, I’m more excited about the German set now, and hope the Bismarck is as big as well.

That ship is so awesome on any map, because it dwarfs the other ships. :-D

Yeah, I’m looking forward to the British and French sets, but I also really want the Axis Minor 2 and US Expansion sets. They all have such cool stuff in them.

As for the Bismarck, I don’t think it will be as big as the Yamato piece. Probably about the same size as the Nagato and OOB battleships because these are meant as your basic battleship. The Yamato is considered a heavy or super battleship, so they made that piece a little bigger.

That is true, I didn’t think about that. Thanks for reminding me. My memory is not as good as it used to be, LOL! :-D

Well let’s see some detailed pictures!!

My pieces arrived today.  Clearly this is HBG’s best set yet with regards to detail.  Every sculpt is on par with the Tiger that was included in the German set.  Since nobody has detailed photos to share, I thought I’d provide some myself.  There is a slide bar at the bottom of this post so that you can see the entire picture.  Alternately, you can click on a picture to see it full size.

Aircraft Carrier:

Heavy Battleship:

Battleship:

Heavy Cruiser:

Light Cruiser:

Destroyer:

Submarine:

Jet:

Fighter:

Dive Bomber:

Artillery:

Medium Tank:

Light Tank:

Infantry:

Overall, just an amazing job.  Doug, please don’t leave the base Japanese set on the backburner too long.

I agree whole heartedly, it is the best set to date. I think this British set is going to be an awesome set and could surpass it. I can’t wait for all these new sets, the American, French, German and Facilities set, as well as the Global Sets.

It is good time to be a fan of axis and allies! :-)

@John:

I agree whole heartedly, it is the best set to date. I think this British set is going to be an awesome set and could surpass it. I can’t wait for all these new sets, the American, French, German and Facilities set, as well as the Global Sets.

It is good time to be a fan of axis and allies! :-)

+1

wow these are awesome! thanks for posting the pics of the pieces close up! we just get too see the design pics on the website.  I am itching to get my set…living up in Canada we always get the cool stuff dead last  :cry:
Agreed, the british are a much needed addition that every A&A game needs! finally a hurricane mould! I been using OOB p40 warhawks and painting them in british colors as they are the closest too looking like a hurricane