Customizers: which A&A games do you own?

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.

@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.

@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.

@CWO-Marc @vodot

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.

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)

@LHoffman I think if someone likes something they want more of it. : )

@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…)

@Quirky-Turtle At least you have an ocean as an excuse. Here it just a truck ride north…