HBG - Axis & Allies Parts/Accessories and Custom Piece Sets Store!

Guys,

––Perhaps throwing out a SPECIFIC example for a Russian naval game was unfortunate,…but what you should understand as my MAIN POINT is:
by the time HBG finishes producing the U.S. Sets (don’t forget HBG’s “War Plan Orange” units),…

----We are ALREADY GOING TO OWN all of the U.S. world war 1 Battleships we would need for a
“Pearl Harbor” game.
––And just think, we might have a 1920’s wargame with Japan (which almost actually happenned), including the Battleships and Battle Cruisers like the Lexington and Saratoge that became Aircraft Carriers.
----I’m just saying,…we should keep an “open mind” as to what games we may have available in the (near) future.

Tall Paul   :-D

As far as custom or oob units go I’d still like to have at least one type of everything. I like “what-if” scenarios a lot. I often fanaticize about having scenarios where the allies continue the war against the Soviets or many other scenarios where one might need Russian sculpts that aren’t often purchased in the game.

I can’t read HBG’s mind(s) but I have no doubt that they think about these things too. So whatever they want to produce I’m a buyer pretty much. In one of CWOMarc’s previous posts I believe he has similar sentiment in regards to the days where the best you could get “stock” for A&A was Table Tactics (Which I happen to miss greatly) taking nothing away from them, but HBG has taken custom sculpts to the next level by leaps and bounds.

So while there are some thing I wish they would or wouldn’t have produced I’m glad they’re doing it.

@Tall:

we should keep an “open mind” as to what games we may have available in the (near) future.

Yes, I’m quite willing to do so because, to echo Toblerone’s point, any occasion when HBG produces a new set of sculpts is a welcome one.  There are different preferences about which sets should come first, but everyone seems glad that we’re getting so much variety from the folks at HBG.

Those among us who like to create their own customized game scenarios (including games outside of the historical boundaries of WWII) are particularly well served by all the models and colours of battle pieces that the company has been producing.  Devising custom game rules is something that anyone can do easily, since it requires little more than a word processor.  Creating custom maps is tougher, since it requires software and talents that not everyone has, but at least it’s easy to get the maps printed commercially once they’ve been drawn.  Designing and manufacturing plastic sculpts, however, is something that most people are better off leaving to professionals (even in this age of 3-D printing) if they want to get their hands on a large assortment of high-quality sculpts in multiple copies, which is why I’m happy to see HBG tackling that part of the job on everyone’s behalf.

We are looking at a lot of different things and are in the works of more than I can say but once we get over this hump this year, Amerika boxed game, revamping our website on purchasing pieces, New designs for game and game designers. We will follow this up in our newsletter to keep everybody informed on what we are doing and the direction we are going. Thank you all for your continual support.

Coach, are the British Sets ready to be delivered to us this week or is there a delay? :-)

Thanks,

John

@John:

Coach, are the British Sets ready to be delivered to us this week or is there a delay? :-)

Thanks,

John

We  will start shipping on friday, start. It will take 7-10 days to do them all.

@coachofmany:

@John:

Coach, are the British Sets ready to be delivered to us this week or is there a delay? :-)

Thanks,

John

We  will start shipping on friday, start. It will take 7-10 days to do them all.

Thanks Coach! :-)

Coach, any chance of getting the German Expansion set in Italian Brown? Just about everyone but Italy has a good paratrooper and I for one would love to have that set for my Italians.

Coach has plans on doing an Italian set sometime in the future, but it may be a while since we still have the US Expansion set, Axis Minors 2 set, French WW2 set, Facilities set and French WW1 set in the works.
Also, there are the Global Expansion sets coming up. I think they have started on the first one “Island Warfare”.
Plus there are new full games like Midway and Kursk.
Since Italy is a relatively minor nation, plus we have the FMG Italy set, so I’m afraid that gets put on the back burner.
Although the German Expansion set in Italian Brown would be interesting. It would depend on how much interest there is to justify the expense. Remember, HBG would have to order a minimum of 1000 sets before the factory in China will make them.

@knp7765:

Remember, HBG would have to order a minimum of 1000 sets before the factory in China will make them.

And unfortunately this problem can’t be solved by having China build more Industral Complexes, since the rules don’t allow that.  :-D

Well they did do the US set in orange and white recently and the moulds are already cast. I agree Italy is a minor nation but so is Anzac.  If I have to I guess I’ll just paint some Germans Italian brown.

I do have some FMG units but honesly they aren’t my favorite and I liked it better when they sold the large batches of units as opposed to the way they sell them now.

@toblerone77:

I do have some FMG units but honesly they aren’t my favorite

Some of them are quite good (particularly the SPA and infantry w/ machine gun). The ships, which I once thought were amazing, are incredibly pedestrian compared with the new HBG ships.

But I second Toblerone… I would love to see Italian units sooner rather than later. Be that as it may, since I understand that production is set for some time, but I definitely find Italian units more interesting than a French set or a WWI set.

LHoffman,
I would definitely agree with you on wanting WW2 Italians before the WW1 pieces. Then again, I really didn’t get into A&A 1914 that much and that was the only WW1 game that I even played. I am much more interested in WW2. So I have very little interest in seeing a WW1 set.
However, I must disagree with you on the French WW2 set. I am really wanting to see real French units. I am sick of the blue Soviet units for France. At least with Italy we do have the FMG sets and pretty decent OOB pieces. I really like the OOB Littorio class Battleship and Zara class Cruiser. I also like that tank from OOB, I think it is the Carro Armato 18/42.
Also, I rarely use paratroops in my game anyway so getting an Italian paratroop unit doesn’t concern me so much. I’m sorry to those of you that are really into paratroops, but I can’t vote with you on that one.

@knp7765:

LHoffman,
I would definitely agree with you on wanting WW2 Italians before the WW1 pieces. Then again, I really didn’t get into A&A 1914 that much and that was the only WW1 game that I even played. I am much more interested in WW2. So I have very little interest in seeing a WW1 set.
However, I must disagree with you on the French WW2 set. I am really wanting to see real French units. I am sick of the blue Soviet units for France. At least with Italy we do have the FMG sets and pretty decent OOB pieces. I really like the OOB Littorio class Battleship and Zara class Cruiser. I also like that tank from OOB, I think it is the Carro Armato 18/42.
Also, I rarely use paratroops in my game anyway so getting an Italian paratroop unit doesn’t concern me so much. I’m sorry to those of you that are really into paratroops, but I can’t vote with you on that one.

I used the paras as an example. I agree also with wanting French and WWI units. I just think it kind of sucks that we have Axis minors 1 with Italian Brown  units as well as the upcoming Axis Minors 2 set. For continuity, the German supplemental set could use at least Italian brown units maybe even the other colors. To the best of my knowledge once the mold is done for a set another color set is not as prohibitive in cost. Hence Orange, White, and the older  French-Blue US supplement set.

We have pink Japanese units as well and I’m not sure where the demand for that is LOL. I guess collection-wise I should get some.

I guess what I’m getting at is I’d like to see at least “one of each type” for all the playable nations in the game.

@knp7765:

However, I must disagree with you on the French WW2 set. I am really wanting to see real French units. I am sick of the blue Soviet units for France.

My philosophy on the French pieces is that they are mostly boring and next to useless. I’d rather see the exciting and useful ones first. They have ugly and outdated technology (and god-awful uniforms) and they play a half important role for less than 1 turn in the game. After that they are not seen ever again.

But… putting out the French in the middle does keep me interested until the others come out. I do realize the French need their own set (badly), they are just not high on my list.

Respect your opinion LHoffman but you need to see the other side of the coin, a lot of the ppl that buy the sets, dont use them only on A&a games(rarely play A&A myself), but in Memoir44, Struggle for Europe and Asia and other miniature games out there. Plus France is the only nation that doesnt have its own units and they are long overdue. On the WW1 set Im not very interested myself, but if it expands the customer base, and helps move sets faster in the future then its fine with me.

@georgemak1:

Respect your opinion LHoffman but you need to see the other side of the coin, a lot of the ppl that buy the sets, dont use them only on A&a games(rarely play A&A myself), but in Memoir44, Struggle for Europe and Asia and other miniature games out there.

I do see the other side of the coin and I tried to make statements to that effect. Those are my feelings and would never expect them to be universal sentiment. As for lots of people using them for things other than A&A… I can assure you that in all the discussion on HBG pieces, I have not seen anyone talk about using them primarily in other games. Of course they can be, but the vast majority are using them as A&A pieces.

@georgemak1:

Plus France is the only nation that doesnt have its own units and they are long overdue. On the WW1 set Im not very interested myself, but if it expands the customer base, and helps move sets faster in the future then its fine with me.

Said that too. But, hey, if it makes HBG money and continues their fine products, then I am in full support. I do intend to buy them, but it probably will not be for some time.

Off topic but LH you might like Memoir’44. It plays like and is designed by Richard Borg the designer of Battle Cry.

I must also tip my hat to you also. I’ve suggested it myself as a reason for custom pieces, but I believe you’ve mentioned it as a primary reason, is the simple esthetics of custom pieces.

Recently I’ve played a few games of Revised and Classic teaching my Dad to play. For me it was so cool using HBG units to play Classic that it really revived the game and made me realize just how fun it is when you have just the basic units but with a visual flavor that can’t be beat.

Hey LHoffman,
You should try out my variant of Global 40 where the French join Germany and Italy as a new Axis partner. For one thing, they don’t get taken out round 1 so you actually get to buy stuff with France. Imagine Dunkurque Battleships and Bearn Carriers roaming the Atlantic and Med. Char B1 tanks lumbering across the battlefield. D.520 fighter streaking through the air.

Toblerone77,
I think Japan has enough HBG pieces now that you can almost totally replace OOB, if you use some of the special pieces as just regular units (I-400 Subs as regular submarines, G-10 Rita bomber as a regular bomber, etc.) I don’t think we have an HBG Transport ship yet.
No set has a regular infantry piece yet either. The “light” infantry piece in the first Axis Minors set I think comes the closest to being a regular infantry unit. All the others I think are specialized units – Paratroopers, Marines, Anti-Tank, Flamethrower, Heavy MG, etc.
Wait, there is the infantry unit in the Russia Early War set. I think they are considered regular infantry. Plus maybe the Dutch Soldiers in the neutral sets. I am hoping for more regular infantry units in the future. It’s my ultimate goal to replace all OOB units with HBG.

@toblerone77:

Off topic but LH you might like Memoir’44. It plays like and is designed by Richard Borg the designer of Battle Cry.

I must also tip my hat to you also. I’ve suggested it myself as a reason for custom pieces, but I believe you’ve mentioned it as a primary reason, is the simple esthetics of custom pieces.

I have never played Memoir '44, though I have looked it over in stores. I would not be opposed to playing it, its just that I do not have the desire to go out and buy it as yet. Is my impression correct that it is more tactical than globally strategic? As in A&A D-Day (or smaller) versus A&A G40?

As for the aesthetics of the pieces, I totally agree! That is the main reason I buy them. I have always wanted to have a very technically accurate miniature force to push around the board. For someone who studies WWII vehicle and personnel reference books for fun, OOB pieces are quite droll and pathetically detailed. My intent is to paint all of the pieces I am buying from HBG, something I really love doing, even though it has been some time since I did any painting.

@knp7765:

Hey LHoffman,
You should try out my variant of Global 40 where the French join Germany and Italy as a new Axis partner. For one thing, they don’t get taken out round 1 so you actually get to buy stuff with France. Imagine Dunkurque Battleships and Bearn Carriers roaming the Atlantic and Med. Char B1 tanks lumbering across the battlefield. D.520 fighter streaking through the air.

One reason I like YGs Delta and/or Halifax rules is the changes they bring to G40. I have not actually played either yet, but I am hoping they diversify gameplay from the ruts we sometimes find ourselves in when playing OOB G40/2nd Ed. It may eventually be that people will find the best paths to victory and again get into ruts and paths of doing things, but I think this may be inevitable.

As for your version… it sounds compelling. As much as I really don’t care much for French pieces, I would love to see them used more… especially the ships, I love ships. I would like to see some variant wherein Germany can commandeer French units (esp. ships) or convert them to German units.

One question I have is how your version plays in terms of balance? Theoretically, it might not sway balance issues too much since France is just spending the IPCs that Germany would have or would spend when they conquer France. There could be Axis advantages in having an extra Power in the turn cycle… However, this also weakens Germany in that they have far fewer IPCs to spend against the USSR… plus they forfeit any bonuses they might get from French territories.

It is a very interesting concept. And it does give an excuse to use the French pieces for a change.