You mean like this?

http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Custom-Map-Operation-Barbarossa_p_683.html

@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

––Calling “Viracocha”----

––My friend,…it’s been way too long since I’ve heard from you. I ALWAYS enjoy my conversations with you.

Tall Paul

@IdaRed:

Thanks for the input John and Marc.  The differences Marc mentioned do matter to me as I am somewhat obsessive about details. I suspect I will end up a piece junkie eventually as well as I’ve always liked miniatures and model building.  I’m not going to be painting my newer pieces anytime soon.  I am very tempted to start practicing on the older pieces first and work my way to the newer sculpts when I am satisfied with my skill level.  I actually got interested in painting game minis by a friend after he showed me his Battlelore set.  He showed me how just a little bit of paint–even a basic paint job–could make a mini so much more appealing and more fun to game with.  I’ve been really impressed with the painted minis posted in this forum.   Â

I need to sit down and budget out minis. I think I am leaning toward just buying new copies of the games and supplementing with HBG minis for additional sculpts.  The main drawback to just buying HBG minis is a number of the basic ones for ANZAC and Italy are out of stock right now.

It sounds as if you already fully qualify as a piece junkie (even if you don’t necessarily own a lot of sculpts right now), so welcome to the club.  :)

It also sounds as if we operate on a very similar wavelength when it comes to the kinds of details that we consider important.  I have a huge amount of respect for enthusiasts who paint their sculpts – often to an awe-inspiring degree of detail – but in my particular case I’ve never been interested in painting or otherwise customizing my sculpts (which is a good thing, because even if I had the interest I wouldn’t have the time and that I doubt I’d have the required eyesight and manual dexterity).  In fact, for me one of the fun challenges of collecting A&A sculpts has always been: how can I organize the sculpts to make the best possible use of the range of designs and colours available, without actually modifying the sculpts themselves?  How can I make use of the changes in design and colour that have taken place over the years to represent more powers that the current OOB represent?

I’m still waffling over some of the choices available to me, but one example of what I’m talking about has worked out so well that I consider it finalized.  I use the nationally-distinctive butternut-grey ANZAC pieces from G40/2 to represent the southern self-governing Commonwealth Dominions (Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), and I use the British-patterned butternut-grey “ANZAC” pieces from G40/1 (boosted with half of the G40/2 ANZAC AAA units) to represent the northern self-governing Commonwealth Dominions of Canada, Newfoundland and Eire.  Initially I had planned to use the “blonde” UK units from D-Day to represent Eire, which starts out as a neutral, but then I realized that this distinction wasn’t necessary: if Eire is neutral then there’s no point in giving it any units at all, and if Eire joins the war then it acquires the same status as the other northern Commonwealth Dominions and thus there’s no need for its units to be different.

@jwo1984:

hey guys, so I was searching some camo desert schemes for HBG’s Valentine medium tank and came across this one. � However looking at the sculps I knew it would be tough to paint these blue lines in because most of the tank is all track! so I cut out and shaped some track guard armour like the photo below just using some clear flexible plastic and glued in too the sides…making these two tanks mk II’s which look to have had the side armour as a pose to the Mk V that HBG has sculpted.

I’m sure whatever you do too it, it will turn out great. Can’t wait too see it painted. Good luck buddy! :-D

@AlphaKappa:

How does their height compare to the OOB infantry pieces?  The pictures on HBG’s website make them look pretty tall, but without seeing them side-by-side, it’s hard to tell.

Can anyone offer any insight, or maybe even post a picture (if you’re feeling generous with your time)?  Any advice would be appreciated!   Thanks.

Note that the OOB infantry sculpts aren’t all the same height; they vary from nation to nation, as you can see from some of the pictures I posted here:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=30440.0

To answer my own question, I am using the supreme map of IL now, IPC values are the same and so are the borders, although not necessarily always the shape of the country, but that is irrelevant.

Iwugrad, do you have any pieces painted that you can post pictures. You will need about 20  posts for the administrator to open up privileges for you to post any pictures.

I can’t wait till you have something to show us.

Good luck on your set! :-D

This may sound like an improbable source, but another idea would be for you to go to some local dollar stores and look around.  Back when I was making myself a dice tower, I discovered that some dollar store chains sell (among all the miscellaneous stuff they have in stock) some plain unpainted rectangular wooden trays of various sizes, made of very thin wood.  Their designs could not be simpler – a bottom and four sides glued together, all made of flat wooden pieces – and they’re cheap in both price and appearance, but they’re about the right size for what you have in mind and they would probably look quite nice if you applied some dark wood stain to them.  And because they’re so inexpensive, picking up as many as you need for your table would be very affordable.  It would also be easy to customize them by, for example, subdividing the larger models into sections by cutting some balsa wood sticks (or other types of woods) to suitable sizes and gluing them inside the trays before you stain them.

Guys,

@cyanight:

––Well IL,…I guess you should be careful what you ask for! haha  :-D
You guys are all CRAZY!,…and I love it!

Tall Paul

YG,

@Young:

Would love to hear from those who have used the file to print their own copy of my custom map… do you have one?
––I would have to say,…NOT YET ! But once I get my latest project going, which will include a large area for a
“GRAND SIZE” War Simulations Room I’ll certainly get in contact with ya’ll.
––I must say, on behalf of all of the other gamers that you’ve already helped with your wonderful map;
THANK YOU !

Tall Paul

Thanks.

Regarding prices, here are some quotes that I got from two different Southern California print shops  (I had posted this also on the thread entitled Ambilzi & Grasshopper’s 1940 Global Map)

The first print shop provided the following estimates (note the $52 set up fee):

SET UP:  $52.05 ( digital color file set up, latex printer set up)

48" x 105" vinyl $142.63  print digital color 4/0 on white smooth vinyl (15oz)

48" x 105" canvas  $300.13  print digital color 4/0 on canvas

48" x 105" versa fabric  $273.88  print digital color 4/0 on versa fabric

53" x 116" vinyl  $174.63 print digital color 4/0 on white smooth vinyl (15oz)

53" x 116" canvas $368.13  print digital color 4/0 on canvas

53" x 116" versa fabric $335.88 please note: print cannot be any larger, printing on a 54" rolld

A second set of quotes from a different Southern California printing company for printing on vinyl (the type of material used for advertising banners):

48"x105" ,  white 64" Roland EcoSol Banner, solvent 6 color Roland 4sf  $230.80

53"x116",    white 64" Roland EcoSol Banner, solvent 6 color Roland 4sf  $258.78

56"x122.5",  white 64" Roland EcoSol Banner, solvent 6 color Roland 4sf  $277.42

(I might check on the AliBaba website to see what I can find for printing services in China.  Also, I’m checking on the possibility of printing on upholstery vinyl and marine vinyl).

I know HBG has a WWI game that uses a full world map. It is in the development phase, but still worth checking out:

http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Global-War-1914-Axis-Allies-WW1-Variant-Map_p_728.html

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.

@Tall:

**––They’re already great,…and on their way to being “PREMIUM”

----You know, I wonder if I my desire for ultimate detail on my units might not be partially to blame for everyones’ “detail addiction” of late. If so I’ll take my ‘bows’ for enfluencing you (in the smallest of ways) in your future endeavors, and I’m anxiously awaiting your future “Premium” works.

Tall Paul**

If you wish to believe that then good for you. Fact is a lot of us don’t have the money to pay for a professional painter let alone a team of them. Fact is, some of us don’t have a whole lot of time to devote to it, but we do learn as we go and so our products keep getting better.  Yes the units you receive may be the best of what any of us could achieve, but like my earlier argument, comes down to time and learning.

**Rich,

Nice Work ! As nice as I’ve come to EXPECT from YOUR paint jobs!

Tall Paul**

Damn……they are excellent.

Man, these are sweet! Great job on these! :-D

That is a very nice blending of colours. well done and keep up the good work.  :-D

@Albert:

@Spitfire38:

I have looked at I-94’s decals and thought about it… the only ones I have trouble with are the Russian stars. I enjoy hand painting the insignia and I feel like it makes it look more uniform when it’s all paint, but like you said, it would definitely save some time  :lol:

Well you could save some effort there as Moscow ordered upper wing stars to be painted out on the eve of the German invasion……plain green was also changed to green with a black disruptive camo pattern   http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/index.html

I didn’t know that they painted over the top-wing stars. Thanks for sharing! If I were to paint them again, I’d probably leave them on or use decals, just for easy recognition on the game board, but I like knowing what was historically accurate.