HBG's Japanese Sets

Glad to help.

-Midnight_Reaper

End of turn 3. Things are just starting to get going.

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@Tall:

toblerone77 and others,

@toblerone77:

I’m all for having the C-47 and C-46. My Grandpa was a mechanic in India so the planes have some sentimental bias for me. It also may give us heavy and light transports to have both. I would really like a B-29 and gliders.
––I have always favored the idea of heavy(C-46) & light(C-47) transports. I would be tremendously happy if we ever were fortunate in having some C-54 4-Engine Transports one day,…OR even a 4-Engine seaplane transport. WOW!
----BTW, I’ve already received the B-29’s and Gliders and can testify to their high detail.
LOL now I just have to figure out how to pay for all the units I’m going to buy.
––Yep,…This is a reality of life.

“Tall Paul”

TP and others,

I have looked at Coach’s stuff on shapeways.com and it is great. However with my budget the time, labor, and materials to paint them up for my personal taste is out of my budget. I do paint, but that is expensive and I have worn out and used much of the materials I have to paint with. I’m a “mixed” customizer. I like some units painted in detail and I’m still working on much of my collection. I’m also a big fan of collecting solid colored sculpts in different colors and love the beauty and versatility of un-painted, semi-stock pieces for my collection.

All topics aside, I’m a bit of an “odd duck” when it comes to A&A. I would like to see a good selection of transport vehicles for my collection. The more the better.

Lastly, “Nobody Does It Better Than HBG!”

I played my first game of Amerika last night. It was pretty easy to learn once I was finally able to remember which sculpts were the self propelled anti-aircraft units and and which ones were the self propelled artillery units. It took awhile to play because I was carefully going through every step and double checking to make sure I didn’t develop any bad habits as far as the rules go. I can see being able to play a game in under 2 hours including setup if you had 2 or 3 players who already knew how to play. That would be perfect for the lake in the summer when you go into the cabin to wait out a rainstorm. A&A on the other hand would be more of a whole day this is never going to clear up type of game.

It’s a good game and very well made. I picked up the Strategic Markers expansion set with the game but didn’t use any of the extra rules that come with the pieces so I could learn the game first and decide which rules and extra pieces would be appropriate to make it a better game. I did find the map a little small so I am going to get a bigger one for use at home on the big table. I like lots of elbow room and space to line up my tanks without using chips. In the game the Japanese got bogged down in the northwest with the allies holding the line at Hanford Nuclear Research Facility. They had better luck in the south moving inland and taking out Los Alamos NRF. The Germans made it as far as Detroit in the north and Nashville in the south but couldn’t capture Oak Ridge NRF. On the fifth turn the allies were lucky enough to roll big and go first, which meant that they had 2 turns in a row and were able to take back Los Alamos and 3 cities and accumulating enough points to win the game. If the axis would’ve went first on the fifth turn it would have been a different outcome and they might have won on the fifth or sixth turn. It all came down to that one roll…

The running infantry looks really neato!  I always like action poses.

I loved everything about the pieces and I like HBGs inf size more than FMGs which I believe is a little too small.

Hey All,

Our group has gotten a chance to play several rounds of this game now and I have to say that this a GREAT GAME!!  In soo many of the games Italy gets a pretty glossed over look, whether you talk about Italy as a power or just that section of the map, but here, now, finally we have a game that really shows the scope, scale, and desperation that not only the Allies fought for, but that the Axis did as well, determined to keep Italy from being the ‘soft-underbelly’.  Special units, from Tigers to the dreaded Fallschirmjager and the good old American Airborne all are pitted together in a desperate struggle for Italy.

We are working on a bit more detailed review to share here, but we quite enjoyed it.  It blends the classic AA style with special units, territory details, and supply correlation at a scale that is useful for it (read- makes sense) and works for play.  Patton or Smiling Albert, bring on the FMG Italy units and Italy is the battle ground!