@The11HP20:
I guess this is where things get complicated. These are the types of units I want in each force. How many of each should I have to ensure I never run out no mater what I’m playing. Obviously I have some house rules in mind.
Interesting question. The answer (at least as I see it) would depend on what you mean by not running out of the types of units you want to use. Part of the solution no doubt involves throwing sheer numbers at the problem: buying multiple copies of the games that contain the units you like. That’s my own standard operating procedure; in fact, the only games of which I don’t have multiple copies are the Milton Bradley one and the D-Day / Bulge / Guadalcanal trio of operational-level games.
However, that may only solve part of the problem you describe because larger numbers don’t in themselves translate into greater unit type diversity. No matter how many copies you buy of A&A 1941, for example, you’ll still only end up with two heavy tank designs (the Tiger and the IS-2) in a total of only two colours on the Axis side and three colours on the Allied side. Painting pieces is one way to diversify the colour range, of course, but not everyone is inclined to use that approach. In my case, for instance, I never paint my units; I much prefer trying to figure out what kind of national sculpt sets I can build using only the colours which come out of the box. And anyway, all the paint in the world won’t transform a Sherman into a Pershing, at least in terms of shape.
Just to toss in another complication which I’ve run into myself: note that the out-of-the box sculpts don’t provide every player nation with units of the same type even when they ostensibly serve the same function. The Global 1940 mechanized infantry unit, for example, is a half-track for most but not all nations: the one for Italy is a truck, and the ones for Britain and ANZAC are armoured personnel carriers. The tac bombers are even more diverse: they include land-based and carrier-based planes, dive bombers and torpedo bombers and ground-attack aircraft and multi-mission planes like the Mosquito. So depending on how finely you want to divide the sculpt types, you may end up with gaps in some of your national line-ups. The best way to fill those gaps, if you’re okay with not limiting yourself to official A&A sculpts, is to supplement your pieces with extra units purchased from Historical Board Gaming (HBG), whose available range keeps getting larger in terms of both colour and unit types.