Ambilzi & Grasshopper's 1940 Global Map (Video Added)

Also slowly working on making my own pieces and designs for my new resin printer. I’m going to open up an online store for new pieces, boards, rules, and other items in the near future.

My group has taken the ultimate step that many on this and other sites are loathe to do. We have unified turns, 1:Axis 2:Allies. We mainly play a modded AA50 with slightly (5-10) more territories. This greatly increases the speed and playability for several reasons.

Positives
Firstly, the vast majority of the engagements can be done simultaneously without any real issues.

Everyone can purchase simultaneously, and if you are not particularly a-retentive some people can finish their purchasing while others are moving forward with their attack declaring, but please make sure all attacks are declared before any attacks begin, to easy to start conflict there with meant-to/didn’t-do.

The most important factor in time improvement is not the actual simultaneity of the turn but that every turn, every round, attack and defense, involves every player. No one is bored (US/USSR) for turn after turn of waiting to do anything. This engagement greatly increases the camaraderie (heh) and the pressure of the turn. Everyone’s attention is focused. We REGULARLY complete our AA50 to a satisfying surrender in about 3 hours. In fact most of us have young kiddos so we don’t really have a choice.

Another useful point is that if someone brings an uninterested significant other or newbie, Italy makes a great and dynamic option when coordinating with an expert playing Germany. I find that scheduling is one of the hardest issues with getting a group together and perhaps one of the main reasons you would want a shorter game.

Counter points/Solutions
No 1/2 punches with Italy/Germany or UK/US. This might be a bigger problem on Global but I do not feel that it is an issue in AA50. To correct this we use some special rules including a reserved 2nd attack round for unused armies that want to attempt a blitz through/drop past a recently conquered territory or Sea Zone.

Massed Allied navies, especially in Europe. Haven’t really figured this one out, but it is historically accurate and axis can usually get the allies to a surrender point without Operation Sealion anyway. Massed navies is one of the reasons we support the 7/0 Transport rule in the recent editions over the 8/1 of the old editions.

Starting positions for UK and USSR. Since Axis will move collectively ahead of them, USSR and UK might need a little tweaking in the setup. I usually move some of UK’s Pacific/Indian navies one space further from J1. Additionally we give a territory or two to USSR to absorb the assault of G1.

Conclusion
I feel like if you really want to make A&A work for you, it can. It just might take a little more willpower in working through and agreeing to some compromises on OOB rules.

P.S. It always helps if the scheduling problem is with other people, you be the one to set up ahead of time. I always end up falling on that sword.

Lompestein, thanks for the complements, pretty much everybody else was underwhelmed. I mounted a 5 ft version on press board I cut into a circle and mounted on a lazy susan so you could spin it. Played twice on it but the guys I played with were interested in the regular maps.

I made this after injuring my leg at work and was immobile for a while. It took a long time, about a couple of months of daily tinkering. I enjoyed it, kept me busy.

What I had to do was cut the map into about 16 to 20 horizontal strips. I didn’t keep the original files they died with an old computer I used. I used the polar function in gimp under distorts to spin the map into a circle.

I would then individually stretch vertically the strips to account for distortions at the outer and inner extremes. Spin unspin adjust, spin unspin adjust.

All the graphics had to be erased before doing this.

Repair all the borders. I also had to tweak individual land masses and continents by cutting them out and pasting them on new clear layers stretch and pull trial and error.

I believe the xcf file still has the graphics on a transparent layer over the map.

Feel free to do whatever you want to it and send me a pic of your results.

My motivation was the Gleason New Standard Map of 1892
https://www.amazon.com/Flat-Earth-Map-Gleasons-Rowbotham/dp/B01GQUW6PO?th=1

There was also a similar map used in WW 2 for people to track the progress of the war at home.

Thanks for the advice!  I will try a different primer.

Very nice indeed.

Rich,

**––NICE WORK on your Italians. I remember seeing these fella’s in the
'39-Advanced" game we recently played. Although I was mainly concerned with the Pacific theater as USA & Anzac,…my S-2 Inteligence Officer pointed them out to me (Grin).

Tall Paul**

jwo1984 & Others,

––This thread shows how the Shipyard was made by Ebard re-designing his Dry Dock, adding a large wharf area, adding a second crane, several warehouses, storerooms, and supplies to the dock area including some pics of the finished painted units. Enjoy, and ask any other questions you might have.
––It Also shows his Small Naval Base and Air Base (straight) units.

Tall Paul

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).