Re: Field Marshal Games Pieces Project Discussion thread

@Brain:

Yes, I have heard that Feldpink goes well with Feldgrau.

Feldpink + Feldgrau = Feld Elephant…

If you were hiding in a bell tower, and the Germany army was sweeping through the town below you…  what color would it be?

Not Black

I like Panzer Gray or Grey to represent the German Army not Black.

FMG…

The French Army does not wear blue.

The USSR did no have red uniforms.

Name 1 Japanese that wore Orange kit.

See my point? Colors in this game are an abstraction - who would disagree with a blue French color? Yet, honestly, no one wore that in WWII.

If you really want to go down this path - the Germans did have black uniforms.

Just offering my suggestion and my fervent hope that you make at least a small batch of German units in black.

@reloader-1:

FMG…

The French Army does not wear blue.

The USSR did no have red uniforms.

Name 1 Japanese that wore Orange kit.

See my point? Colors in this game are an abstraction - who would disagree with a blue French color? Yet, honestly, no one wore that in WWII.

If you really want to go down this path - the Germans did have black uniforms.

Just offering my suggestion and my fervent hope that you make at least a small batch of German units in black.

It may be possible in the future, however this is already decided. (Special production run?)

We have to match the COMBAT DICE.  We can not switch-up and abandon our many customers who have COMBAT DICE or AMMO BOXES.  We decided to go GREY way before this project was even announced.  GREY is the ICONIC colour of the German Army.  At this point it is written in stone, like so many historical cases…  our decisions today are limited by our decisions yesterday.

I strongly disagree that you are abandoning your customers if you mold the pieces in black. The Japanese roundel is red and white - yet I do not see you casting the pieces in red (or white).

Personally, I love the German Combat Dice as it is, but I do not see a need to slavishly adhere to the same color - the dice goes really well with black units, and a black dice would probably not look as impressive. That being said, I feel that you would be abandoning these selfsame customers by not allowing them to use the pieces they already have in addition to the ones you will make.

I have made a poll on this matter - I am being vehement on this issue because I strongly feel that it would be in your financial interest to make them black, as well as I believe Combat Unit sales will dwarf Combat Dice sales.

Let me put it another way - Avalon Hill would never have come out with nation specific pieces for Axis & Allies under your logic, as the “decisions today are limited by (…) decisions yesterday”, to quote a well-respected member of the community  :-)

One last thing - stone can be recarved… and made into beautiful objects. (Statue of David by Michelangelo… etc.)(ok, I had to throw that in!)

@FieldMarshalGames:

@reloader-1:

FMG…

The French Army does not wear blue.

The USSR did no have red uniforms.

Name 1 Japanese that wore Orange kit.

See my point? Colors in this game are an abstraction - who would disagree with a blue French color? Yet, honestly, no one wore that in WWII.

If you really want to go down this path - the Germans did have black uniforms.

Just offering my suggestion and my fervent hope that you make at least a small batch of German units in black.

It may be possible in the future, however this is already decided. (Special production run?)

We have to match the COMBAT DICE.  We can not switch-up and abandon our many customers who have COMBAT DICE or AMMO BOXES.  We decided to go GREY way before this project was even announced.  GREY is the ICONIC colour of the German Army.  At this point it is written in stone, like so many historical cases…  our decisions today are limited by our decisions yesterday.

Okay, so lets put the black vs. grey to bed.

Next question will be, what is the color of the ANZACs? We saw the pic of the mock up ANZAC die. Is that the color? It will be very close to OOB, but also close to Germany now.

I know most of us can tell the difference between British and German units, but close colors make it difficult to survey the board. Remember when the Italians were first released? There were a bunch of complaints that it was too close to the color of Russians. We all wanted Italy in Light grey.

Anyway, the darker the grey the better for me. Or will it be like the color of the test moulds?

Variable,

I’m sorry but I’m going to give this issue a little insomnia for a bit. Let the voice of the people decide - let’s see what the poll results are.

Yo Imp… You’ve got it backwards! FMG wants to make the pieces to match dice colors. I am contending that they should make the pieces match OOB colors.

My post was merely to state the illogical fallacy of making a color match the historical uniform. Thank you for agreeing with me - now help me convince FMG!

@Imperious:

FMG is correct as usual the pieces have the match the OOB colors and the dice. This is very important.

Once it is feasible they can consider other colors.

The French Army does not wear blue.

The USSR did no have red uniforms.

The new AAE40 colors will have french as blue and FMG must match these. French are always colored as blue historically anyway.

USSR should be colored original milton bradley brown, which is what has been used in most wargames.

If you colored every army according to its uniform, then every color would be too similar as being practical.

@FieldMarshalGames:

It may be possible in the future, however this is already decided. (Special production run?)

We have to match the COMBAT DICE.  We can not switch-up and abandon our many customers who have COMBAT DICE or AMMO BOXES.  We decided to go GREY way before this project was even announced.  GREY is the ICONIC colour of the German Army.  At this point it is written in stone, like so many historical cases…  our decisions today are limited by our decisions yesterday.

Very well then, not a big deal to me.  I understand your concerns.  With these pieces, they would look good in hot pink!!! :wink:

@ Imperious Leader - Well actually, the FMG USSR dice colour looks quite a bit more red than the WOTC USSR OOB game pieces (which appear brown-red to me). The others are largely consistent, with minor shade variations.

Guys,

These pieces should be whatever color FMG wants to make them.

I like the idea of FMG raising the bar and using his dice to set the new standard.  Let Wizards match him, not the other way around.

@reloader-1:

Variable,

I’m sorry but I’m going to give this issue a little insomnia for a bit. Let the voice of the people decide - let’s see what the poll results are.

If you let the people decide, they would want everything for nothing and soon FMG would be bankrupt. Does this sound familiar?

This emphasis on the colors is getting a bit ridiculous.  Can we all step back and moment and admit to ourselves that these pieces are going to be extremely high quality and that we’re all going to buy them regardless of whatever minor variation of color FMG decides to choose for them, and be happy that we’re even GETTING these high quality pieces?

@squirrelfox:

This emphasis on the colors is getting a bit ridiculous.  Can we all step back and moment and admit to ourselves that these pieces are going to be extremely high quality and that we’re all going to buy them regardless of whatever minor variation of color FMG decides to choose for them, and be happy that we’re even GETTING these high quality pieces?

This, right there!

And let’s also keep in mind, these are not to be marketed as “Axis and Allies” pieces, but rather Strategy/War Boardgaming pieces, so adhering to WotC’s colors would be, in that sense, slightly shortsighted imo.

Hear, hear!

Yoper has summed up my point exactly - I want to mix and match pieces to have a huge mix of pieces, light/medium/heavy tanks, or early/late war pieces. FMG’s current decision would leave me with a nice set of A&A pieces, and a nice set of FMG pieces that are not compatible - really, no different than Table Tactics or Xeno games.

It is all well and good that FMG wants to make pieces in iconic colors - but the main market will be for Axis & Allies players, and most will just want pieces that match. Us uber-grognards here (including me, by the way!) would have preferred that WotC make the pieces in Gray - but they didn’t. So, rather than throw away all the sets of pieces we have right now or will have (Spring 1942/Bulge/Europe 1940), which includes the best quality A&A pieces ever released and has some really nice pieces (Panzer, HE111, etc), let us have the ability to combine sets and have expansive armies.

Just a plea from a faithful supporter. I am willing to put money where my mouth is and help pay for molding pieces in black.

@Yoper:

@squirrelfox:

This emphasis on the colors is getting a bit ridiculous.  Can we all step back and moment and admit to ourselves that these pieces are going to be extremely high quality and that we’re all going to buy them regardless of whatever minor variation of color FMG decides to choose for them, and be happy that we’re even GETTING these high quality pieces?

While I agree that the high quality is a plus, the fact that the colors should match is also a top priority.

If the colors don’t match, then it means that you can’t use them in conjunction with the OOB pieces.  All the other powers will match up with the OOB colors allowing for the mixing of parts to get the variety that one wants for all A&A type games (Standard game, variants, etc.).

While I appreciate the constraints that my friends at FMG are under, I would suggest that in this case they need to match their colors to the ones we already have from WotC- Germany is black.

You can do an Axis Minor in gray later.

Agree completely here except that its not a “gamebreaker” for me either way. :-)