HBG Sculpts for A&A 1942 SE

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.

@bgugs:

They look awesome. I am trying to do almost the exact same order but am trying to break it down by nation to spread the cost out over time (I am a college student so money is tight right now)

Yeah, the costs can certainly pile up, especially since HBG has stopped selling some of the sets, forcing you to buy 5 of each piece at a higher price per piece.

I’ve always had a problem with HBG’s “orange” Japanese units not being of the same tone of orange from OOB A&A… most other colors of custom HBG units seem to match pretty good, but that orange always seemed off to me… so much so I’ve never kept a custom HBG Japanese unit in my nation bins… sad, cuz I really like some of them.

(and yes, I’m one of those anal-retentive guys where if the color is just off a tad, it “ruins” it for me… I know I’m odd that way).

P.S.
Dang, I just realized this forum won’t let you use the first three letters of Japanese units without blanking it out as a profanity.

@Young:

Those look awesome wolf, I would be very interested in getting some of those.

I know you’re in Canada, so not sure how/what your limits are to shopping or ordering online, but here’s a link to the organizers from Home Depot online… if nothing else, you get “the official” name.

I use these for the nation trays
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-7-in-6-Compartment-Small-Parts-Organizer-83039N13/204536852

I use this for the accessories
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-6-in-6-Compartment-Storage-Bin-Small-Parts-Organizer-Clear-and-Black-THD2015-03/301959981

Of course, use them as you will…

As for my flags, I just used Vistaprint and made some small rectangular product labels and you upload your pictures into them… perfect for national bin flags… I made sure to use era-appropriate flags (like the 48-Star American Flag)

https://www.vistaprint.com/marketing-materials/labels-stickers/rectangular-product-labels?couponAutoload=1&GP=04%2F08%2F2018+19%3A55%3A49&GPS=4958753423&GNF=1

@Young:

Thanks CWO Marc, really appreciate your comments… do you play often? I understand there is a lot of players in Montreal, do you have a game group?

For many years I’ve had too much going on in my life, professionally and otherwise, to have had time to do much of anything other than collecting the A&A games.  And, to be honest, I have too many issues with many of the features of the various A&A games that I’ll probably never play anything other than what I’m hoping to create at some distant point in the future when I do have the time for it, which is a completely personalized version of the Global game that, for all intents and purposes, keeps the sculpts and the map board but throws out the entire rulebook and reconceptualizes the game from scratch.  And it’s not even fully correct to say “keeps the sculpts and the map board” either.  I’ll be expanding the number of nations and the number of unit types by making use of the very large pool of A&A sculpts I’ve acquired over the years, for instance the ones from the early-edition games and the ones from 1941 and 1914.  And as I’ve noted in the thread where I’ve posted pictures of my custom table, one of the first things I did to the Global 1940 map was to rework its “under-the-plexiglass” roundel allocations to better reflect the structure of the world as it existed prior to the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, as a starting point from which I can then modify the map (by placing roundels on top of the plexiglass) to represent any subsequent starting date from 1931 onward.  A related project that I worked on to create the infrastructure for this eventual new game was the Global 1940 map inventory, a copy of which I posted over here last September:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36590.0

But at this point I don’t have an actual plan for what this reconceptualization will look like.  Nor am I likely to do so until I have the time to work on this project solidly for months at a time…so this may have to wait until retirement (which isn’t for tomorrow by a long shot) before this idea translates into anything concrete.

@dazzaman77
Can you email me at trisdin@younggrasshopper.org

Yes thats what I’m talking about. Design my own Battle Boards save to file and then get printed. Just need it were its protected from finger print smears and any other stuff.

Thank you YG and DK.

Im working on a display for my HBG Minis.
But I decided to make a small table.

But i picked a different way of making it. Instead of picking out where to place tanks and etc… I played a small war game on it. Hence “Living boards” as each bored is determined by the outcome of a battle.

ORBAT
Allied-3 M4 Sherman/ 1 F-86 Sabre
OPFOR-4 T-34/ No air

Rules
Tanks
Rear- Die roll of 2
Sides -4
Front-5
Top-2
To defeat a shot you have to out roll the die.
Air support is a single sweep of 3 die. Air is called in rolling 4 die and getting 12 and up.

Turns
First 3 turns were moving. Turn 3 had the first M4 fire at a T34.
At the end of turn 3, 1 Sherman had been lost.
Turn 4 saw the loss of one T34
Turn 5 saw the loss of another M4
Turn 6 saw the loss of another T34 and a filed Allied air support call in.
Turn 7 saw no losses despite the Successful role for a Sabre air support.
Turn 8 saw the lose of the Last M4.

Result.
The Bridge leading out of town (Occupied by OPFOR) is blocked with the remains of the M4s.
The ORBAT forces lost half their strength, and must await engineers to clear the bridge.
The Bridge is still intact, but may have some damages due to the exploding tanks.
Allied forces failed to establish a front line on the other side of the bridge.
Images
Is they dont show up, right click and view image. Ill work on fixing them ASAP.
Turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 5

Turn 6

Turn 8

Out Come
OPFOR can push towards a Allied Airbase, where hopefully the Allies can hold to keep Air Support close (12 or Higher. If lost, the die role becomes 18 or higher.)
ORBAT
4 Allied Tanks
1 Allied Air
6 Opfor Tanks
1 Opfor Air
Any comments on how im making my displays? Also hope this is a proper area to post this customization, or would it fall in minis.