A&A 2nd edition custom Battle Board

@Valladares Noted! Will change ASAP

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.

Here’s my collection of Russian sculpts from both A&A and HBG:

Baltic Timper Ship (G40):

Srednyaya Class Submarine (G40):

Gnevny Class Destroyer (G40):

Kirov Class Cruiser (G40):

Kostromitinova Class Aircraft Carrier (AA41):

Gangut Class Battleship (G40):

Yak-3 (G40) and I-16 (HBG) Fighters:

Il-2 (G40) and Su-2 (HBG) Tactical Bombers:

Pe-8 Strategic Bomber (G40) and IL-4 Medium Bomber (HBG):

Yak-6 Transport Aircraft (HBG):

Russian Infantry (G40) and Early War Russian Infantry (HBG):

85 mm Antiaircraft Artillery (G40), 152 mm Artillery (G40), 122mm M-30 Artillery (HBG), Katyusha Self-Propelled Artillery (HBG):

Zis-42 Mechanized Infantry (G40), BA-6 Armored Car (HBG), Gaz AAA Truck (HBG), Gaz-60 Mechanized Infantry:

T-34 Tank (G40), JS-2 Tank (AA41), Su-76 Tank Destroyer (HBG), T-26 Light Tank (HBG), T-34/76 Medium Tank (HBG), KV-2 Heavy Tank (HBG):

A&A vs HBG T-34 Tanks:

No Trenacker. Just get a white primer and don’t forget to put on some sort of clear coat after to protect them.

Bump

@Midnight_Reaper said in A&A Unit Identification Charts:

Also, let me thank you for all the work you put into this. It is both practical and beautiful and I think it’s great work, top-notch in all aspects.

-Midnight_Reaper

Much appreciation. I enjoyed putting those charts together. I own a WWII atlas that was actually published during the war, and which contains all sorts of interesting information about the military situation around the world, and one of the sections at the back has a recogniztion chart of Allied and Axis aircraft, depicted as black silhouettes. It’s a neat feature, and it was the main inspiration for the A&A unit chart project

To answer my own question, I am using the supreme map of IL now, IPC values are the same and so are the borders, although not necessarily always the shape of the country, but that is irrelevant.

Guys,

@coachofmany:

very nice!
**––I’m glad you enjoyed them. Lord knows I CERTAINLY ENJOY HBG’S PRODUCTS!

Tall Paul**