The game mats that come in the starters are basically useless. I found a game system that is WWII based and uses 2" hex maps with special terrain hexes (hills, trees, hedgerows, rivers, towns, etc…) to make every game custominzable and different. The game system is currently in production and easy to obtain. If the moderators don’t object, I’d like to mention the game system.
I hope Wizards or Avalonhill wise up and create something similar for the A&A mini’s game or else interest will soon fade (it seems like it has already). I think it would be a good idea for starters to come with a plain hex map (green field, snow covered field, beach head, whatever) and include indivdual hex pieces for terrain. I think 10 terrain hexes in a starter and 2 per booster would be nice. At the least, they should make hexes for hills, trees, rivers, roads, and towns. It would be nice if they could go the extra mile and make terrain hexes for bridges, foxholes, bunkers, barbed wire, hedgehogs, and mine fields.
I’d like other people’s opinion on how to use specialized terrain. I was thinking the following for some:
Barbed Wire: Doesn’t block line of sight, but infantry units can’t move beyond it.
Hedhogs: Doesn’t block line of sight, but vehicles can’t move beyond it.
Bunkers: Vehicles can’t enter hex. Infantry units make cover rolls and gain Superior Armor 2. Bunker has no effect against enemy units in same hex.
Asserting that interest in the game will fade due personal anecdotal experience is a bit of a fallacy. Sorry, I don’t intend to be mean but as it turns out interest in the game is just the opposite.
I should probably write over to Avalonhill for the exact numbers but at GenCon one of the marketing managers mentioned that this games has had a faster rollout and adoption than both D&D Miniatures and Star Wars Miniatures. I’m sure it’s partially due to the fact that it is their third miniatures game and they’ve refined their marketing an business processes. But even so, the game is making them money and.
Furthermore, the activity on, the currently broken, Avalonhill forums for Axis and Allies Miniatures is huge. People are posting like crazy over there in about 5 different forums.
As for terrian pieces, you need to check this out: Combat Zone: Scenario & Tiles. Admittedly, it’s not easy to find this stuff on www.avalonhill.com so eventually I’ll post all of these links someplace on the website.
The beauty of this game is the inherent customizeability. This game encourages using scenario play. Avalonhill has tons of scenarios to play (with different scenario rules) or you can come up with your own. As for the new terrian pieces, that sounds like some great house rules. The rules of the game are simple enough that adding a few house rules for games amoungst friends, is very easy.
You can always make your own too. I took a yard of green felt, traced hexes on it w/ a pen, and made felt-covered cardboard hexes with all the terrain types painted on them(minus swamps…I hate swamps) so that I get a different map each time I play. I made hills out of felt-covered foam. It’s MUCH better than playing on the supplied maps which have difficulty staying flat and like to shift, even w/ plexi over the top. My map took a week of evenings.
I like the idea of bunkers, BTW. Been toying around w/ simple house rules for them but so far have not proceeded w/ them. Should be similar to a fighting platform tho.
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Thanks for the link to the downloadable terrain. The game system I was referring to is Memoir 44 by Days of Wonder. The basic game has a double sided hex board. One side is a beach landing and the other side is grass, it also has some bunker pieces along with barbed wire, hedgehog, and sandbag pieces. I bought the extra game board which has snowy terrain on one side and desert terrain on the other, and I also purchased the Eastern Front terrain pack for the snow covered terrain hexes. They have a terrain pack for north Africa which I’ll probably get soon. Like I said before, I would love it if they included terrain pieces in booster packs.
Yeah, terrian in the boosters would be cool but I bet they’ll save that gimmick for later.
Don’t want to let all of the tricks out of the bag at once, otherwise people really might start to loose interest.
Make up some house rules for using the Memior 44 terrian tiles for A&A Minis and post them here on the boards.
As far as game tiles go, I saw someone post about using “Lost Battalion Terrain Tiles” for A&A Mini’s. The tiles look pretty nice. Although after seeing how Lotus did his tiles I think I might try to do that myself! Nice work Lotus!
That lost battalion game says it uses 3" hexes, but I guess it can’t hurt having larger hexes. Battlecry is a civil war boardgame that utilizes the 2" hex board and terrain hexes, but the Memoir 44 system seems to be the best buy when you consider how much you get for the price. It also includes hedgerow terrain pieces that I’m not sure how to incorporate into the game yet, other than treat them as wooded hexes.
Nice work Lotus!
Thanks DFlynSqrl! :-D
Do the Lost Battalion tiles only come in roads, clear, rivers and gullies? Or does it also have forests and towns too? I was looking at the Memior box last night at my FLGS (For you not Knights of the Dinner Table readers, Friendly Local Gaming Store). I would have grabbed it if I wasn’t buying three more boosters for the game. But I wasn’t too upset: I finally got Stuarts (two!), enough Japanese to play them alone, a Flamingo, and a Renault, so yea… I was happy enough to let the Memior '44 box go. I think. It’s hard to tell with this level of addiction. Heheh.
-=Grim=-
i palyed a few games on the plastic maps and got tired of it, i wanted a 3d game board i took a 3x6 piece of plywood cut it in half and covered it with dark green felt, i decided on 4" hexagons, i cut out a 3 hex pattern out of cardstock, used a black sharpie, and traced the hex onto the felt, i even put a small dot in the center for LOS, i then painted roads, streams and ponds on the boards. i downloaded paper buildings and went to staples and had them colored copied on to cardstock. i then got some spackling compound, and cut out, sinlge hexs, double and triple hexs and put the spackling on the hexs creating small rock hills, and some small green hills, just high enoug to block LOS but still able to cross, the bigger hills are painted to look like rock formation, not crossable, i made tank busters out of firer place match sticks, painted them black and glued them in triangle shape.
the roads and streams are permanent, but the building, hills and rock formations are movable so that every game is different, and each side take turns placing them
That lost battalion game says it uses 3" hexes, but I guess it can’t hurt having larger hexes. Battlecry is a civil war boardgame that utilizes the 2" hex board and terrain hexes, but the Memoir 44 system seems to be the best buy when you consider how much you get for the price. It also includes hedgerow terrain pieces that I’m not sure how to incorporate into the game yet, other than treat them as wooded hexes.Â
I have the game but im thinking that the map would be to small as i had to buy another stater set to get myself another set of maps so that i could play bigger armies. Have you tried it yourself are just proposing to use the same idea for aa mini’S?
i palyed a few games on the plastic maps and got tired of it, i wanted a 3d game board i took a 3x6 piece of plywood cut it in half and covered it with dark green felt, i decided on 4" hexagons,
Word, that’s the route I’m going on. I hope to have a hexed battleboard ASAP, and there’s a TON of 15mm WWII terrain out there on the net. I’ll just nab some of that. The mats the game comes with are OK to learn on, but to perpetually game on these drab, flat maps that have roads mostly going on one direction… blegh.
-=Grim=-
