I have been playing around with different configurations for a custom table and wanted to note some things I’ve landed on that I really like. A main one thing is having the map mounted so that it can slide around as needed on top of a bigger playing area. My table is 65” x 95” in total with a 5.5” arm rest around the outside and the middle is a recessed neoprene surface. I have the OOB Global map mounted on 1/2” rigid foam with a 1/2” aluminum frame around it. This allows the map to slide up close to whoever’s turn it is, but then be in the middle so both players can roll dice In front of them without disturbing the map and in easy view of the other player. (Plus we like lots of room to roll the bones). This ability to adjust the surface along with a standing height, makes it comfortable for long uses because you can move around more and don’t feel as tied down.
Things I’ve learned and changed from original design - I originally used too big of a frame for the map and mounted it on too high of a foam block (you can see these pictures at the bottom) - it made it hard to see the other player’s dice and the big frame took up too much real estate. My global map is mounted on much thinner foam (the framing is bad, you can see if you look closely) but I also used much thinner aluminum angle for the frame. This gives just enough grip when needing to move the map around (I use furniture slides on the bottom, which glide very nicely on the neoprene) but doesn’t make the whole thing too bulky. Having it an inch or so off the surface keeps the dice off, but isn’t so heigh that you can’t see the other player’s dice rolls. When playing other versions (such as Zombies) the board is much smaller, but it can easily swap in and out on the same table since it can move around where ever it is needed or be pushed aside.
I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped. Standing height with a bar stool is a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The 5.5” rim around the table itself gives you a nice arm rest that doesn’t interfere with the gaming surface. I’m playing with how to best add some cushion to this part - open to suggestions. Sometimes I just lay a piece of leftover neoprene on it.
Dice bounce nice on the neoprene and stay off the floor. It also feels nice and has enough give to allow things to slide but be picked up easily. Wouldn’t definitely go with neoprene again as a surface covering.
I made the drawers open to the inside of the table so you can stay hunched over the action while accessing and stowing stuff away. 50/50 on whether I would keep this if I were to do it again. If I were doing it again, I might try to build customer drawers form scratch using actual drawer glides, but that was beyond my ability when I first did this, so I just used clear plexiglass boxes with aluminum pulls mounted on them. It’s nice having them clear, and I was happy with how the pulls came out, but without glides they can be a little fussy sliding in and out of their slots.
I originally designed the table so that I could put a cover surface back on top when not in use, but find I don’t really ever do that, so if I were to do it again, I might not mess with that part (I never even finished staining those as you can see in the pictures).
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Customizers: which A&A games do you own?
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I do not own multiple copies of any games. We do, however, own:
1940 Pacific
1940 Europe
Zombies
1914
1941
classic MB edition
Perhaps in offset to only owning one copy of each, I have purchased hundreds of additional sculpts over the years to augment our games. -
I pick up second/third copies when the price is right.
Usually $5-$15 per game is my limit. It happens every so often, like once every 2-3 years.
More pieces is a definite plus too.I find it cheaper to buy used than just bump up certain armies through places like e-bay or HBC.
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@LHoffman I have multiples of 1941 almost solely for heavy tanks. I think it’s painfully obvious that’s what WOTC was doing there. :) I found them for $8-10 each and decided to go for it. I used the other unique sculpts from 41 and older games to make some bootleg Italians with a can of spray paint.
I don’t own any multiples of the mainline games… because I own multiple mainline games. If I didn’t, though, I could see the rationale for buying copies, simply because it’s easy to run out of units. Revised, for example, shipped with like 1-2 more Japanese infantry than you needed for the initial setup alone. How are you supposed to play ‘army men’ with your reserve units when it isn’t your turn, if all of your plastic is out on the board?
Maybe that’s why I lose :)
I think lots of other people like to paint, customize, and otherwise torture/convert/diy the sculpts. Nice to have extras, in that case, in the event of any irreversible plastic disasters.
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@LHoffman said in Customizers: which A&A games do you own?:
So what is everyone’s rationale for owning multiple copies, or many multiple copies, of the same game. If it is just for collecting purposes, then I suppose that rationale isn’t necessary. But otherwise is it to get pieces, for game value if/when they go out of print, spares, lending them out to others, hosting game parties or tournaments where multiple copies are needed…?
I have various reasons for owning multiple copies, but they all relate to the fact that the sculpts are the feature of the A&A games that I’ve always liked the most (with the maps coming in second place, and the actual game mechanics only coming in third place). I think I once mentioned this in an older thread, but what makes the sculpt / map combination so interesting to me is that it reminds me of the 1970s-era movie Midway, which features two map tables (a huge one in Nimitz’s headquarters in Hawaii and a smaller one on Yamamoto’s flagship), on which some suitably-shaped blocks representing planes and ships are used by both sides to plot the movements of the opposing forces as the operation progresses, as if they’re playing some kind of intricate game of chance and skill. It’s no surprise that the large Global 1940 map has turned out to be my favourite one, and I once used it and my sculpts to recreate the Midway operation (just as a map exercise, not as a game).
But anyway, I’ve always liked the idea of having a sculpt collection that’s large and diverse (both in terms of unit shapes and sculpt colours), because it offers more opportunity to depict WWII military situations on a map. Those opportunities were limited in the old days, when the number of player nations and unit types was small, but now the numbers and the diversity in my collection are large enough to allow some sculpts to be used in ways which go beyond their original purpose. For example: now that I own the second version of the Panther tank (the one introduced in Bulge, I think) in large enough numbers to fulfil every possible application as the standard German medium tank, I can reallocate the first version of the Panther to the role of a Jagdpanther tank destroyer. Ditto with the old small-scale version of the German 88mm FLAK gun: the new big version is actually used in Global 1940 as an AAA gun (which is what it was originally designed for in real life), so I can reallocate the old small version to serve as an 88mm anti-tank gun (an adaptation that actually was done with the 88mm, when the Germans discovered that this anti-aircraft gun was also a superb tank-killer). I’ve supplied China with the old lime-green British equipment pieces from (if I recall correctly) the Revised edition, to make up for the fact that China in Anniversary and Global only has infantry units; the greens don’t quite match, but they’re close enough. I have a tray (I keep all my sculpts in plastic trays) in which I’ve put all of my cherry-red Japanese pieces from the old Pacific game, and I’ve labeled it “Axis Minors” (to stand for Bulgaria and Hungary and so forth), and I have a similar Allied Minors tray in which I’ve put all the old purple Soviet pieces. I have two trays of “ANZAC grey” units: the ANZAC-patterned ones from the second edition of Pacific 1940, and the British-patterned ones from the first edition (with some AAA units borrowed from the second edition game); I’ve labeled the ANZAC-patterned one “Southern Commonwealth Dominions: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa” and I’ve labeled the British-patterned one “Northern Commonwealth Dominions: Canada, Newfoundland, Eire”. And so forth, just for the fun of it.
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Gotcha. I get the pieces thing for sure. I got my Customizer badge for painting pieces and have always loved game figurines, whether for A&A, Risk or other games.
I guess with Historical Boardgaming existing now, in addition to other aftermarket outlets, I no longer see the need for people to buy entire game copies just to get pieces. Depending on the price point and how many are desired, buying the whole game could be more cost effective.
I am EXTREMELY interested in unique unit sculpts; ones we haven’t seen before, even if they are redundant for the unit-types involved. Pieces that are more historically accurate and detailed receive a premium of interest from me. Hence the reason I gravitate towards HBG’s original battle pieces. I guess I just assumed that other people would feel similarly. There are a few OOB pieces which are superior to HBG ones, or worthwhile in their own right, but not many.
I will never again use an OOB Wasp if I have access to an HBG Essex. Or a OOB Sherman vs a HBG Sherman. At least when it comes to painting.
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HBG pieces are great looking BUT shipping to Canada is like buying a game at MSR.
It just isn’t worth using HBG when shipping generally equals and often exceeds the total order price.
Hence one reason I buy 2 copies of each game. (just not at full retail)
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@LHoffman I think if someone likes something they want more of it. : )
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@robert-t I feel your pain. Living in Europe makes shipping HBG pieces next to impossible. Bought my second 1940 Europe 2nd edition set second hand just to increase a number of pieces in the different armies. (2 battleships for Russia is just way to low…)
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@Quirky-Turtle At least you have an ocean as an excuse. Here it just a truck ride north…