@victoryfirst good eye! I’ll fix em up when I get home
Pacific underwent quite a few adjustments on the other map before morphing into G40, so wouldn’t surprise me that the blocking had some stuff going the drift. Should be a quick fix for those, since sz stuff is a bit quicker to change on the relief. I’ll shoot you something tonight in a few hours
:)
I can see from the highlight in your Polygons step that the baseline boxes you’re trying to add haven’t been emptied of the black pixels from the older base/polygons. Basically it needs to be displaying those boxes filled with white for each rectangle in your base. You can try to stitch those smaller sections together with the shift-click in the poly step like you’ve been doing, and that may appear like it’s giving you what you want, but the actual baseline needs to be modified to ensure that you aren’t assigning duplicates entries or winding up with vestiges of those older lines, like where the polys are overlapping. Right now some stuff from the older image is still in the base, so it’s hanging you up when you go to reassign or change the coordinates for those shapes. The highlight in the polygon grabber is showing stuff based on where your black pixels are located in the base, since that’s how tripleA knows what to grab, like where the borders are. That’s defined by whether the pixel is black, white or something else, in the base image you load up initially.
I think I can see what you’re after. If you’ve already made the entries in the xml for the names and ownership those should still work fine, I’m guessing that’s the time consuming part, since grabbing the poly’s/centers should be pretty fast, unless something is going haywire with your base, which seems to be the issue here. Essentially you just need to create a baseline that’s going to match more or less exactly what you want to see ultimately displayed, so you can see that stuff while within the map creator tools when doing the polygon grabbing step. So that the right stuff is highlighting red/yellow. Shoot me an email or a DM, I’m sure we can this sorted for you.
:)
Once you got the stuff blocked in for the baseline, I can paste whatever over the area for the relief. The newer version of GIMP has some of the tool stuff consolidated, so you might have to mouse over to change from one tool to the other within the same family of tools, or double click to see all the specs. Like to untick the antialiasing. Basically all you’re doing for the base is nailing the 1px black line. If it’s simpler to draw it out in paint or another app might be easier if GIMP is being fussy. Long as the overall dimensions for the board are the same should work as normal for the placement picker once you have the new polys added. The relief I can redo once you go the base looking how you want, and go the centers/polygons for any adjustments, I can crop that part of the relief and change it to match whatever you put together. :)
Nice work! Just sent ya a new one with those corrections. Tried to use the lip trick so it wouldn’t jack up the place too hard. Hopefully got it dialed this time. But let me know if you find any others
Axis & Allies & Aliens
I’m sure it was a top contender on the big brain storm board that lead to the creation of A&A Zombies, but I think Aliens would be cool if looking for a new angle on that. Like just do an X-files riff for the reprint of A&AZ? Have the game start at Trinity and just go off the rails with Rockets and UFOs and little green men from there.
A&A&A
Not news I guess, but the name’s got a ring right ;)
Happy May Days
oh also just for comparison this image is 160px tall so you can kinda figure however many per box, or doing a more horizontal orientation. Most of the units are 54 px tall so basically 2 or 3 rows.
So what I did was to give you 24 boxes on the baseline, 12 at the top 12 at the bottom. I just assigned them greek letters for names so alpha is top left, omega bottom right, like the Iliad hehe. They’re about 160px tall by 925px wide so hopefully enough room to get something going. 160 was about as tall as I could manage without cutting off some of those sea zones, but should be enough to house a several units or icon graphics I’d think. I just cropped into the map rather than extending the canvas so we wouldn’t didn’t have to redo all the centers, the map is the same dimensions. I fixed all the polygons and added the centers, but the labels you’d want to move out of the way for some of the sea zones that gotten eaten at the bottom/top (I’d just raise em all like 200 px and you should be fine.) Here’s an example near the top. When you know how you want them assigned, like who owns the TT how it gets colored up and connected then we can just make a relief for that part. Currently shows the base through. Looks like this just so you can see the space relative to the units. You could put any image or graphic into the relief if there some kind of decorative organization/motif you’re after, but just figured I’d get you started with the big blocks
:)
@victoryfirst if you need more boxes I can subdivide them more or change the dimensions. It’s possible to add boxes along the sides, but to do that you’d have to turn the map wrap off in the map.properties. Otherwise you would have a column of rectangles interrupting the wrap, cause they’d appear where the two sides of the board meet in North America. Reason it works at the top/bottom is cause the map wrap is horizontal, so the effect is less pronounced. Basically the boxes just repeat if a row, but if you do columns then have the map edge to deal with. It’s possible to turn the wrap off for any map in the properties if you want to lock it. In that case for the current map West Coast USA would be on the right, and East would be on the left, and to move a unit across that divide you’d have to click to the other side of the board to each, if that makes sense. I think most would probably be used to the map wrap for a global type map, whereas for the Europe or Pacific theater maps they’d be more used to the no wrap. Just depends what you’re after. Let me know and I’ll try to knock something together for you. Thanks again for finding those errors! It definitely helps to have a fresh pair of eyes. I swear I’ve been staring at the thing for weeks and weeks thinking it was dialed, but then bingo missed a connect hahah. Well hopefully closer now! :)
Catch you next time
Here’s a baseline with some rectangles added at the top/bottom. There are 11 of each. Not sure if something like that is what you had in mind, it just expands the height to 6000px. You could arrange/assign them however, just wanted to get you something simple to riff on.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aox5xnthi8ctu1g/baseline_uhd_global_1940_new_4-19 - Exp.png?dl=0
Hopefully the map is good to go, but keep an eye. Have fun!
OK back in business. Readiest solution was basically just to enlarge Kansu, since the center of the board has a fair of distortion anyway, few more places for units in that TT now, which probably works out well enough. For the sea added a lip where the connections were off. Hopefully does the trick.
For adding inset boxes for the expansion map, probably easiest would be to expand the canvas and but a grid of rectangles along the top/bottom. I can give that a crack sometime this weekend. To get the those spots to do what you want might need a bit of xml work. Like depending on if you want the squares to be mobilization boxes, or overflow boxes like false tiles. The difference would be in how you set up the connections, whether it takes an actual movement go between the box and the associated tile, or if the box is meant to be the same tile if that makes sense.
I’ll shoot ya the updated materials in a sec
@victoryfirst Nice work! OK, another pair of corrections to make ASAP haha. I’ll get a fix for those going tonight. Should be a little faster this time to adjust in GIMP since I saved it out in layers the other day. Far as I know, this is the first actual game to be played using the new map design, so I guess it makes sense that I’d have missed the forest from the trees more than once here lol. Part of the charm of trying to make a couple maps from the same basic projection simultaneously hehe. I think I got a ready solution for the sz 34/44 and Tsinghai connect. Making the base adjustments now. Should have something for ya in a few hours.
Thanks again for the finer toothed comb! We’ll get it dialed :)
OK, I shot you the quickie revision. My solution for now was just to slide Sumatra a bit. Sort of a tradeoff there, got a few more place for the sz round Singapore, but the straits are more abstractly/wide. Another solution would be to do a tilt for the island and tweak the geometry of the sz, but this was relatively quick and worked with the current relief, and figured my be easier so you don’t have rework the unit place too much, just moved like 100px or so to the left. Oh and the label. I shifted the center, but you’ll want to adjust the PU probably. I tried to get the line so it wouldn’t strike across too hard. Thanks again for the eagle eye there!
Let me know if that works for ya for now :)
Right then, I’ll let you guys get back to it. But I’m obviously getting a kick out this game/thread! haha
Have fun!
Oh damn! Hiding in plain sight! Knew there’d be something somewhere, thanks!
Right on, that’ll have to get dealt with ASAP. Give me a couple hours to noodle the base and I’ll shoot you guys a revision :)
Right on!
Here are a couple screens…
To change the national ownership colors, you can open the map.properties and adjust the Hex color codes there to suit your taste for the overall color palette. Like if you prefer more pastel colors and such. UHD basically just means that it’s an upscale to support larger displays. If playing at 1080p probably map view zoom 50%-80% is the optimal range.
The unit folder contains a sub with some extra 54px graphics, some flipped orientation alts for the Frostion unit set, tech expansion type units etc. as well as the older standard 48px unit graphics. Should be compatible for the standard global mods and v3 with a little tinkering. Unit viewsize is at 120% by default for the 54px units (it’s the largest we can go right now) so for the older graphics might make sense to upscale them if you want to use, but hopefully the new ones look cool hehe.
Labels and most of the decorative stuff are upscales from the current global from Veq and Bung. Unit/flag artwork is mostly Frostion’s with a few adjustments/additions to round em out for tech and such. Hepster helped me to dial the map projection for the baseline. Some stuff there is abstracted to service the gameplay. There are some cosmetic additions to incorporate extra island groupings and smaller tts as well, these were assigned to neighboring tiles so those connections are purely cosmetic (ex N. Sakhalin=Amur, S. Sakhalin=Japan with no connection along that border). Similarly Aden=Br. Somaliland, Trucial States/Basra were assigned to E. Persia (no actual connections to Iraq/Saudi). Falklands to Brazil, along with any other stuff in Caribbean to USA aegis there. Basically just for the visual. Sierra Leone was included as British. If you want to turn that off you can Edit mode> and assign the TT to neutral, but it’s Brit by default here. If you want to replace any labels these can be found in the Misc folder. For ex you can change “United Kingdom” to read England and Wales, or “Scotland” to read Scotland and N. Ireland, or make other labelling tweaks of that sort by substituting those graphics. You can also blank all the labels by changing the name of the Misc folder. The under terrain image and baseline map are included too, in case people want to mod em, or generate new reliefs using those materials.
Hopefully it’s fun!
Enjoy
Took me a while to realize this thread was in HR now. I guess that’s cool, anything goes here I suppose haha. Still my first big suggestion is to be consistent with what constitutes a Re-Issue/Re-Print vs a new "Edition’ (or if there is even a worthwhile distinction there) vs an entirely new game which properly should get a new Title.
For me this boils down to whether or not the update/revision can be handled by just updating the manual (e.g. the rules, or the set up cards) vs requiring major changes to other contents inside the box.
If the map does change (beyond cosmetics) like adding new territories and new sea zones, or adjusted connections/boundaries, that’s a new game and it should have a new name. If entirely new unit sculpts are added, that game should get a new title to reflect this, since it’s a very big change. Basically anything that breaks backwards compatibility with an already existing board, or which makes a previous release of that board obsolete.
You know what I mean, like if all I have to do is download a pdf of the new manual with new tech rules that’s one thing, but if I’m required to have a new map and new sculpts that’s a rather different thing. If the only changes are to the rules for existing stuff, or new unit set up cards for existing stuff, or if the changes to the map are only cosmetic, (like a new look and feel, but otherwise all the same TTs/connections) then that release should be a new “Edition” of the previous game’s same name.
Sadly these conventions have not been very consistent in the past, and so I think there is a fair bit of confusion regarding the whole ‘which edition?’ thing. This is part of the reason why I think they should drop the concept of editions for anything which should properly be considered sequels and instead give those new titles. I would look to the conventions adopted in Book publishing for guidance here. If the manual is being re-iussed, and only that, then a 2nd or 3rd edition printing under the same Name makes sense to me. If it goes much beyond that, then it should get a new Title/subtitle, or else some qualifier there like “Revised” or “Advanced” or “Anniversary” or some season/year whatever, to make that really obvious. I think anyway, but I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed already hehe.
It’s definitely a fair point. The unit bloat thing. Here’s an amusing example… shows a standard roster, then tech advances, then expansion type unit concepts I’ve seen floated. This set is generic based on Frostion’s with some additions I added, but gives a quick impression. Cause like many different graphics are required, just to handle the same unit, but in a different state of play. With physical sculpts you’d chip it or flip it, but for the digital version gives an idea of how things start to compound pretty quickly hehe.
I think another alternative to having multiple unit types, is to have cosmetic alts, which could be used in that way, but which could also just service the regular play. This is basically what we get when they vary the sculpts (like what equipment they use for the molds) for units in the smaller boards or satellite games. Or then just a cursory look at HBG shows that there’s probably a demand for something along those lines. So basically instead of paratroopers or marines as a set unit, you just have a handful of sculpts within the infantry box that could be used for these different concepts.
Or same deal for fighter aircraft or artillery or tanks or ship types. I don’t know, say for every dozen regular units you get a couple specialty alts of the same basic sort but a different riff. Very similar to the way they sell the plastic army men as toys. You know with a bazooka dude, and a paratrooper looking dude, an officer with a sidearm, that sort of deal. Basically a grab bag approach, in terms of what they include, but where each alt fits a certain niche that could be expanded. Or not, depending on how into that the player is lol. Since the equipment types Nation to Nation already feature pretty different looking sculpts, it’s not that big of a stretch to imagine the standard unit boxes having a few variants, but still using the same hue for their tints. Probably the expense goes up with more molds, but still, it would provide a lot of options for a look and feel vibe, without necessarily needing a ton of extra unit interactions or new rules per se.
Yeah I really like the idea of the whole med too, honestly. I noticed when trying to find a closer crop, that anytime I tried to zoom in further, it felt pretty claustrophobic and I wanted to scroll beyond the edge, like ‘wait - why stop here?’ Lol
I think I’m too used to seeing maps of the full Med to really get past that. Also it’d be a nice touch for new Roman empire ambitions, even if that ship had already sailed by the likely start date. This would be the board where Italy really makes sense as a player nation to me, like the reason to justify the existence of all those sculpts. Whereas in AA50 and Global, it’s more of a stretch to get them in the mix in a satisfying way. I think a somewhat larger board than the previous tactical games, so they could do the full stretch from Casablanca to Beirut would be pretty cool!
This one shows a fair bit of distortion. Europe was already warped/enlarged, so you can see Spain is a bit beefy from trying to make France/Normandy larger lol, which wouldn’t really be needed for a board with the Med focus. The other side of the Med is more compressed than it’d need to be here. But basically taking the rough G40 divisions for the TTs and SZs, and then subdividing some of those again, like 2, 3, maybe 4 times? Just to get a sufficient number of tiles and a dynamic playpattern going. Stretch-rotate or crop in tighter at the top, like right at Marseille/Milan/Istria, with an transalpine cut at the Po, but aiming to get the whole med in there somehow, with a lot more Sea Zones than shown below, clearly… hehe.
Sneakily foreshadowing a Stalingrad follow up by showing a bit of the Balkans? The theme could still be Torch, but something with a theater wide view on the Med would offer a lot of options if it crept on the margins a bit.
I dig the anti tank and sp artillery idea too! I played a D10 game that had them in the roster and they were fun. This scenario would be a cool one to see a jeep, and an infantry gun, and self propelled artillery. Perhaps an Armor advance towards the end where some even more boss tank types first come online. An apt scenario to do a heavy armor unlock or something.
This one has a lot of promise! More than the reprints/re-issues, with the ‘North Africa’ game we’ll really get to see what Renegade’s bringing to the table. I’m excited to check it out!
Ps. Random aside, but there were something like what, 10 million horses deployed in WW2 just by Germany and the USSR alone? I don’t know that we ever get that in our WW2 set piece sweeps. Except for the opening of the film Fury I guess lol. Might be cool to see one for some kind of general/logistics type bonus sculpt, where we can imagine him headed up the mountains towing a big gun in the endgame hehe.
pps.
Basically just blowing out the regional theaters of the Europe 1940 board, and doing each with a bunch more TT/SZ tiles. Maybe you put them all together like Voltron for the ultimate A&AE advanced board.
If they did the stretch on Europe a little different so you could make one larger board from the smaller theater scale maps.
Here’s an example using Turner’s, but imagining the stretch/warp so that center dividing line is more like the Rome Berlin Axis, doing the squish and pull for a nice spread.
Also, I’m curious, if they’re targeting a 2024 release date, if they already have the game basically roughed out in concept form? Like if they’re already alpha testing and play balancing something? I wish they’d use tripleA for that, like at least for an informal in-house testing type thing for their design team peeps. It could be done with a fairly quick turn around I’d imagine. Digital playtesting is pretty fast. They could probably clock triple the number of test games during the same period, even if it was closed playtesting for just their employees or whatever. It’s a cool tool, and something the A&A community sorta organically willed into existence with just the heart and love of the game, but it hasn’t really been used before for a real alpha test of a new game I don’t think. Although that would be kinda rad. Like it’s basically the role the thing was designed to play, as a map/game creator’s resource to trial the rough drafts. They could use the map creator tools to create a quickie templet, then use that to iterate in alpha. They don’t need to publish it that way, but they could test it like that. Since they can alter board states via edit and save stuff out locally.
Have Beamdog do the polished version with the UI that peeps are used to from A&AO with all the branding for the competitive digital play, after the honeymoon launch/CON FtF period, but by holding a digital AP run before the physical product goes to the actual printers, they could see if there are any big issues and shore em up way early. Like long before it hits the presses, after which point revisions have to be issued via errata. Just do the FtF and digital testing concurrently in-house to catch the breakers and shore it up. They could do that basically soon as they got their map ideas and unit roster ideas dialed. Like just pick someone on the team and have em learn the quickie creator tools to do the xml stuff hehe. Wouldn’t look as pretty, but it would work for the alpha drafting at least, presumably with rules similar to what we’ve seen up to the G40 level. Probably a pipe dream, like normal trend seems to be the opposite direction, but still, maybe Renegade will go renegade, and actually lean into it for a change? That would be so cool! Worth mentioning at least :)
Sounds cool!
Also, keeping with the theme of watching the first half of the film Patton hehe… a cool way to handle the endgame would be Sicily, Southern Italy or even the liberation of Rome. So instead of just Torch and North Africa, which would start with a lot of Vichy touch and go, and end with Axis being ejected from Tunisia/Libya I guess, the game could keep going to Husky into 1943 for the finale? A proper Sand and Sea campaign for the larger med theater, with some naval action and the big amphib landings as the capper.
Basically the later Stalingrad/Eastern front board could dovetail on this one as the follow up, since the two campaigns would have a bit of overlap in the timeline. Instead of Axis winning by taking Cairo, Axis ‘victory’ could be achieved more by just pushing out the Allied liberation of Rome. Allies win by bringing the hammer down and taking the bottom of the boot. I think that’d be fun!
Guess it just depends on the overall scale of the game, but to me that would make sense for a theater map. Basically left side of the board at Gibraltar/Morocco, right side Greece/Crete/Egypt clipping at Sardinia/Naples/Rome for the top of the Board, desert at the bottom. Then we got some decent room for the back and forth and a thrilling conclusion that scratches the itch with a dramatic finish. Before breaking out the next one in the series hehehe.
Ps. Another suggestion, which is more for the art direction. Try to include within the graphics or manual illustrations a Vera May Atkins type for a French Resistance espionage angle. Rosie the Riviter for a home front munitions liberty ship production type thing. Rita Hayworth and Vera Lynn for the USO inspiring the troops. A badass nurse like Juliette Binoche in the English patient. Just something in the collage montage artwork to bring that element into it. Not like a Lady Luck, or Victoria type tutorial advisor, but more in-theme like the real deal. Code breakers, patch me in ops. Obviously those suggestion tilt towards Allies Hollywood nostlagia, but I think that’s to the good. Hire Becca Scott back on too, and keep that tutorial video series going. Shades of Casablanca noir in the embellishments on the margins. Like just a full 1942 sweep for that. I think that would be nice to see in a theater campaign board with this setting and timeline.
For a board crop, maybe something like this?
I compressed the one from the encyclopedia for a narrower width, but that sort of spread, like on the Med highlight I mean. Could come in a bit tighter on the sides and clipping the bottom fifth off at the desert for the tighter focus along the coast.
Then abstracted and bulked out a bit for housing the sculpts, with Sicily more in the middle for the endgame (center board), but still maintaining some room for a naval game, with peripherals for the stage in. Compress it back down to 1:2 aspect for the table once the TTs are beefed up, so you get a similar view, but a bit wider again after it’s dialed for the unit housing.
Plenty of space at the bottom left and top left/right for a couple inset graphics. One for each side maybe? Or blown out a bit further to carve stuff up a bit more. Just for the decorative embellishments, you could put that stuff in neutral Turkey or Spain, or the Algerian stretch of the Sahara. I think something like that would be pretty rad. Anyhow just a quick riff haha
I can imagine it where the narrows in Libya, that’s your main choke point, where the line is only 1 tile deep, and the stuff on either side is like your sliding deadzone that changes hands back and forth early on. For Algeria, Tunisa, Egypt have some coastal tiles worth a bit more, but then some interior 'desert; tiles worth less, but which can allow for maneuvering and breakthroughs. The larger islands split up a bit, and same with southern Italy. USA concentrated more on the left out of Algeria/Oran in that corner, UK on the right out of Egypt, like for seats at the table. And they’re trying to meet at the middle and converge in Libya for a springboard. Axis in the middle (seats at the top of the table), trying to hold the wedge at the center.
For Germany, maybe it kicks off with a Tunisian stronghold or a way to paratroop in early on, but always with that tension in the background, ‘like should we really keep feeding units into Tunisia/Libya?’ with the added challenge of guarding Greece and Crete in the backfield, which could be a swing zone. Or same with Sardinia and Sicily vs the main defense of Italy tension. A more abstract tile near the top could serve as a German mobilization point in Italy itself, like troops coming in from N. Italy and France, or over the Alps or being diverted over from Greece. Then you could get something going where Axis try to race to Cairo initially, but if that fails (likely), then it’s a question of when exactly to pull back from Tunisia/Libya in order to prepare the final defense of Southern Italy. Having that as the big mid-game timing decision.
A North Africa board I think has the potential to be a bit more naval amphib oriented, which would be fun to see in a campaign scale game. Could probably still fit quite a few tiles in the Med and really break up the North African coastline and Sicily so there’s a few ways in for both sides. Couple fulcrums for the balance to hinge on.
For a new unit/sculpt, the paratrooper or air transport would be thematic (especially for Axis in this period), which could be introduced here and then really come into play for the follow up Market Garden. Similarly an Army Base unit that either side can use to try and establish toeholds, as a ground base parallel to the Naval Base or Air Base of G40. Some different way to mobilize units that gets around the concept of an IC with something a bit more flexible for this theater, like a logistics hub. A bunker/pillbox fortification unit could work as well, similar to the old ones, just reintroduced. Or a Command unit, where instead of a Strategic Bomber, we get something with similar stats/movement, but which functions more like a general commanding the forces. That could be fun for this one, since it kinda fits the mold with the big personalities.
The tactical bombers of G40 would seem like a better fit than the Strat Bs of 1942 sec edition for the big guns in the air and bombing. An air transport role for the Strat Bs here, instead of a heavy combat role, could work well. Also the Mech would be nice to have for this one. Not sure what they’d choose for a full unit spread, but it’d be cool if they staged in some concepts here too, so the jump from 1942 to Global 1940 in terms of roster/rules complexity can be tutorialized and introduced in stages via the more focused campaign scale boards.
I’m glad to see these back in print!!! I pine for 3rd editions for 1942 and G40 with A3 panels that stack, but I will take it for sure hehe.
I kinda got my hopes set on North Africa honestly. Like don’t get me wrong, firing up a Bridge too Far for Market Garden sounds fun. Or going all Enemy at the Gates Eastern Front or Stalingrad has appeal as well, although current events might have that last a bit charged. One reason I like North Africa is cause it kinda syncs up nicely with the 1942 starter board, whereas the others would feel a bit further along in the timeline of the war. Starting earlier for a tactical board might be cool, cause if they decide on releasing the others later, they could just do it chronologically. North Africa/Med first, then Stalingrad/Eastern front (could maybe be the same game right?) for the end of 2023. Then for 2024 an updated D-Day/Market Garden campaign and have that one hit on the 80 year anniversary. That would be a nice touch
Rigid map panels at A3 (like the paper size) would be pretty clutch. I mean it’s the name in the name right? haha
I just think that’d be a great way to present this stuff, like the OED or the Encyclopedia Britannica, except all emblazoned with A&A on the binding.
Maybe some of that cool filigree in the embossing, something fancy like that. I’d really go for a map ‘book’ that recalls the 1940s, like a period piece. Keep the badass cover artwork obviously, but instead of doing a highgloss D20-RPG style sourcebook, have it look more old school.
Top Secret mission dossier. Flat folder, maybe with a string to wrap it closed perhaps? hehe Just that kind of look. I think the box that holds the sculpts should also present like something you’d want to leave out on the shelf as well, rather than sticking in a storage closet or under the bed or wherever. Stuff that looks great for marketing on the shelf in a store, sometimes not quite as slick once you got it home. Especially if you have half a dozen already hehe. If the box was more cubic in shape and designed to hold all the plastic sculpts and pylons, dice, chips, towers, perhaps leave one plane of that box more plain lookin? You know instead of having the graphic flare lighting up on all 6 sides of the cube, leave 1 plane of the box that looks more simple, so that side can face out too.
Then sell the maps separately as campaign books. I prefer rigid panels to rolled mats. I have many mailer tubes and poster tubes, but these things live under beds or in the garage or in closets. If the maps stored more like a book I think it be would a lot easier to justify swooping yet more and more, or pushing them out in smaller editions.
Like you keep the starter set big-box edition in print much longer, but the add on maps can be printed in runs. Like do one every couple years even, tournament time, like the Olympics ya know. Keep the torch burning like that. Then we could collect them like Records. Fav album covers, that sort of present.
ps. one last idea for boxing, this may sound nuts, but organize the sculpts into boxes by unit type, rather than nation/tint color. All infantry of all colors in one box. All tanks of all colors in one box etc. It’s easier to fish by color than by type. It’s just as easy to clear the board for casualties when the units go back by type rather than color. I think players follow the convention of sorting units by color/nation because that was how it’s been done. But if the convention was switched in the initial packaging I think that method of unit storage makes the game faster to play, and easier to pick up.
Instead of the national set up cards drawn on the unit boxes, these boxes might have a larger graphics of each nation’s sculpt/equipment type with some details about it. The attack/def cost values of that unit on the box. When units die and need to be returned to the box, or purchased and need to be fished from the box, if these are already sorted by unit type, it’s very easy to just find your own color among the 6 others. Whereas if you have to dig around in your all-one-colored tray to fish by type this takes a fair bit longer. It’s worth trying if you never have before.
