Sired's Map project - Updated- 4/16 - files available see first post

November Update: Pictured below are some of the new designs and things in the shop, including four new colors and four new units:

Colors:

Units:

IMG_7373.JPG

These and most of my other prints are $0.60 per model or less! Come check them out, and let me know if you have more ideas below.

As always, A&A forum members can use coupon code AADOTORG21 for 10% off your order for the rest of 2021: www.etsy.com/shop/NathanDetr0itDesigns?coupon=AADOTORG21

Here are my latest ship customizations, the CV-4 Ranger and CV-7 Wasp. These two ships have been missing from my aircraft carrier lineup. Now I have all the US aircraft carriers available from the Lexington class to the Midway class.

The Ranger & Wasp have highly detailed flight decks and authentic hull camouflage. As you can see, the realism is taken to the next level. There simply isn’t anything else like them offered on the market. These look good in pictures but they don’t quite capture the magic of holding one in your hand.

Both are fully magnetized to hold two aircraft.

The Ranger is a 3D print sculpt from EBard Models.

Ranger Angled View - EBard 1200x900.jpg

Ranger Stbd View 1200x900.jpg

Ranger Port View 1200x900.jpg

Ranger Bottom View 1200x900.jpg

The Wasp is also a 3D print sculpt from EBard Models.

CV-7 - Angled View 1200x900.jpg

CV-7 - Port View 1200x900.jpg

CV-7 - Stbd View 1200x900.jpg

CV-7 - Bottom View 1200x900.jpg

Visit my site at A&A Boardgaming and see the entire lineup of US aircraft carriers and more.

@Steiner This board is so cool! I love the colors and how 3D it is. I’d love to see photos with all the units setup!

FOR CLASSIC THIRD EDITION RULES
A&A Classic 3rd Edition v3.5.pdf

CLASSIC THIRD EDITION RULES.jpg

IF you can do better, you are free. I use paint. Here is the PC original
axis_allies_PC.jpg

I have been playing around with different configurations for a custom table and wanted to note some things I’ve landed on that I really like. A main one thing is having the map mounted so that it can slide around as needed on top of a bigger playing area. My table is 65” x 95” in total with a 5.5” arm rest around the outside and the middle is a recessed neoprene surface. I have the OOB Global map mounted on 1/2” rigid foam with a 1/2” aluminum frame around it. This allows the map to slide up close to whoever’s turn it is, but then be in the middle so both players can roll dice In front of them without disturbing the map and in easy view of the other player. (Plus we like lots of room to roll the bones). This ability to adjust the surface along with a standing height, makes it comfortable for long uses because you can move around more and don’t feel as tied down.
Things I’ve learned and changed from original design - I originally used too big of a frame for the map and mounted it on too high of a foam block (you can see these pictures at the bottom) - it made it hard to see the other player’s dice and the big frame took up too much real estate. My global map is mounted on much thinner foam (the framing is bad, you can see if you look closely) but I also used much thinner aluminum angle for the frame. This gives just enough grip when needing to move the map around (I use furniture slides on the bottom, which glide very nicely on the neoprene) but doesn’t make the whole thing too bulky. Having it an inch or so off the surface keeps the dice off, but isn’t so heigh that you can’t see the other player’s dice rolls. When playing other versions (such as Zombies) the board is much smaller, but it can easily swap in and out on the same table since it can move around where ever it is needed or be pushed aside.
I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped. Standing height with a bar stool is a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The 5.5” rim around the table itself gives you a nice arm rest that doesn’t interfere with the gaming surface. I’m playing with how to best add some cushion to this part - open to suggestions. Sometimes I just lay a piece of leftover neoprene on it.
Dice bounce nice on the neoprene and stay off the floor. It also feels nice and has enough give to allow things to slide but be picked up easily. Wouldn’t definitely go with neoprene again as a surface covering.
I made the drawers open to the inside of the table so you can stay hunched over the action while accessing and stowing stuff away. 50/50 on whether I would keep this if I were to do it again. If I were doing it again, I might try to build customer drawers form scratch using actual drawer glides, but that was beyond my ability when I first did this, so I just used clear plexiglass boxes with aluminum pulls mounted on them. It’s nice having them clear, and I was happy with how the pulls came out, but without glides they can be a little fussy sliding in and out of their slots.
I originally designed the table so that I could put a cover surface back on top when not in use, but find I don’t really ever do that, so if I were to do it again, I might not mess with that part (I never even finished staining those as you can see in the pictures).
CF362D52-269F-4480-8CBB-08139099138F.jpeg A9E12EA1-66EB-4671-86AC-68C62FD30AD5.jpeg 858DE1F2-030A-4D5A-93E4-70A7D1180ADB.jpeg 8F513EE0-DA37-4BA9-880E-4D5EF7BF431F.jpeg F0188165-757B-4CC1-BF67-5045832283C9.jpeg 2E3CD627-0D31-4121-ACF8-682F9F58A40B.jpeg

@the_good_captain

All my boards are on 5mm foamex boards.
Waterproof, fade proof, and really hard wearing

And on a related point: if you look at an online map of the world and place a rectangular sheet of paper on it so that one of its long edges lies on the equator (alternately covering, for purposes of comparison, the bottom half and the top half), you’ll notice that most of the world’s land masses are in the northern hemisphere.  All of North America, all of Europe, virtually all of Asia, and much of Africa are located there.  The main land masses in the southern hemisphere are South America, the lower part of Africa, Australia, and Antarctica; the rest of the southern hemisphere is mainly water, which means that for A&A map purposes it’s mostly wasted space.  Oceania, a.k.a. the Pacific Islands, including Australia and New Zealand, did see significant action in WWII, so its inclusion on an A&A map is quite relavant…but by the same token Antarctica is a land mass that’s traditionally (and with good reason) omitted from A&A maps.

Wow!  Such cool pieces! (Been awhile Paul)  And there’s others I’ve yet to see that are posted -