HBG Neutrals Painted

@trenacker
I’ve been painting some pieces the last two weeks. I’m having trouble with Rustoleum Lemongrass for the UK. The paint doesn’t apply very well. I use Eden for USA, French blue for France, rustic orange for Japan, flat gray for Germany. Lemongrass is just a pain for whatever reason.

Hey there!

I’m excited to see this expansion! It’s nice to see Canada represented on the board. While it can certainly be argued that they are not big enough to warrant inclusion, Canada did have it’s parts to play in the war. Plus, if the Netherlands can be playable, it’s only right Canada can be as well. I’m also all for more nations on the map. Would love to see something similar done with South Africa, and the Axis minors (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland) as well.

In terms of actual impact on the game, I don’t think it will be much at all.

Besides their light infantry units, Canada can essentially only build one land unit per turn the whole game. True, that rule doesn’t include naval or air units, but with Canada making at best +9 IPP’s a turn (unless they capture territory), they aren’t building large amounts of those either. I think you’re kind of at a wash at this point with the negative impact of UK money being taken away and forced to cross the Atlantic, and adding bonus income to Canada, which still needs the means to get to Europe.

From there, I think the further changes are a wash too. The Germans effectively get 4 free submarines. That’s pretty nice for them. I could truly see that altering some initial builds for a German player. It may allow them to focus a bit more on some air or land forces, knowing they have subs waiting.

On the flip side, the fact that Canadian allies can build an aircraft at -2 IPP’s each turn is potentially pretty big. Again, I know they still have to travel from Canada, but when you consider that the UK, ANZAC, USA, Free France (and the Netherlands, if that Expansion is being used) all get that, that’s +8-10 IPP’s income Allies-wide a turn.

@Harvard3X1 Thanks for the comment :)
The Panther is the regular panzer. The Tiger 2 is SS-Panzer and the E100 is Heavy SS- Panzer
The SS-Panzer can be produced by a max of 4 from round “late 1942” and cost 2 IPC upgraded from a normal panzer in Berlin. Attack at 4 and defend at 5
The Heavy SS-Panzer can be produced by a max of 2 from round “late 1944” and cost 2 IPC upgraded from a SS-Panzer in Berlin. Attacks and Defends at 5 and uses 2 dice. Its has 2 Hit Points as capital ships.

I have seen lots of people here use acrylics and I have on occasion. Most of my paints are enamels though. I find that is stays wet longer (which is a good thing) and doesn’t clump up nearly as much on your brush. I also use enamels in my airbrush. I find that enamels are actually much easier to clean than acrylics. While acrylics are water soluble, they don’t just dissolve, especially if already dry. It involves a great deal of scrubbing and scraping. With enamels, all you need is some mineral spirits cleaner and it takes the paint right off with very little effort. Cleaning acrylic paint out of my airbrush was hell the first time I did it… never using acrylics in there again. In terms of the finish, I can only assume that enamels hold up better to bumps and scrapes than acrylic paint does.

Someone once asked if enamels, by default, have a glossy finish to them. They do not, as long as you are using flat enamels, which seem to be the standard. I use flats and they have an excellent, non-shiny finish. I feel like enamel colors are a little deeper too, on the whole, but I suppose it depends on the brand of acrylic you use. Vallejo seems to be a popular choice for acrylics. I use predominantly Model Masters (Testors) enamels. In general, I would just said to find a brand you like to work with and produces the results you like. Don’t buy super cheap paint… you will get the results you pay for.

Good luck!

@CWO:

Thanks Cyanight and John – glad you find the identification charts useful.  For an actual history of the evolution of the sculpts, I highly recommend knp7765’s photographic inventory, located here…

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=23386.0

…because my I.D. charts approach the subject from a different angle: in almost every case, they simply show one representative sculpt for each nationally-distinctive design produced to depict each unit type that has appeared in A&A over the years.  The charts mostly ignore the many variations (some minor and some major) that have been seen in the sculpts – for example, the two versions of the Japanese field artillery piece, which was produced with the undercarriage either folded for towing or deployed for firing.  The only exceptions I made were for the Panther tank, the 88mm AAA gun and the Stuka dive-bomber (interestingly, all three being German units) because of the peculiar evolution of those three units over the course of A&A’s production history (especially in the case of the gun and the plane, which started out as completely different – and incorrectly-used – units compared to their current status).

Thanks again Marc, I had forgotten about his thread. this will be very helpful as well. :-)

john

Ideally yes, however… the HBG set is missing G40 sea units that the UK Pacific might buy during a game, where the French won’t need any units after the initial setup.

Thanks  :-) that worked a treat. My planes are now all airworthy!

What’s your running cost for a fully painted set of say… one nation?

Is it per piece or?

Like if I take my Europe, OOB set of German pieces, and send them to him, what would you expect the price range to be?