Hey IL, I get what you are saying about the more “iconic” pieces. I personally disagree because I think we would want the best, most powerful and most modern class to represent our ships, but I also understand where you are coming from. Just curious, what models would you prefer for US and British battleships?
Also, I thought Jeremy said that JAPAN was coming after Italy.
I agree with Lozmoid. I don’t understand why ALL OOB pieces HAVE to be replaced. In some cases I can understand, like if you want to get P-51 Mustangs instead of P-38 Lightnings, or FW 190s instead of Me 109s. I would LOVE to see Panzer III and Tiger I for German tanks. Also, if WOTC is going to include the Stuka, it would be great if FMG made the Me 110 for a Tac Bomber.
However, there are some other pieces I would really rather NOT change. Like the Bismarck class battleships for Germany. The Germans really didn’t have another battleship class that could compare to the Bismarck class. The Scharnhorst and Gniesenau were good ships, but they were actually battlecruisers and not true battleships. The Graf Spee was a Deutshland (excuse my spelling) class Pocket Battleship and much smaller than the Bismarck class. It had good armament and speed but lacked the armor protection of a true battleship so if you wanted to be realistic in the game, that would eliminate the “two hit” rule for German battleships. The Bismarck class was the best that Germany had to offer in the way of battleships and that is what we should have.
The same goes for the Yamato Class battleships for Japan. They were the biggest and most powerful battleships built by Japan so that is what we should have in our fleets. I remember Imperious Leader mentioned wanting to see the Kongo class (which was actually a battlecruiser, not a battleship). The Kongo class were very much outclassed by US battleships, even the older models. Why would you want an inferior class of ship to represent your battleships for Japan? Also, the Iowa class should remain the US Battleship for the same reason, they were the best and most powerful battleships put out by the US Navy.
Britain, on the other hand, should have a different battleship. The Royal Oak I think was a poor choice. I would suggest the King George V class for the same reason that I like the Iowa class for US, they were the best and most modern battleships built by Britain.
Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents worth.
A long-range heavy bomber doesn’t necessarily have to have 4 engines. During the later part of the war, the Germans developed the Heinkel He 177 which was considered to be a long-range heavy bomber and it only had 2 engines. However, I don’t think it actually went past the prototype stage because of too heavy needs for other types of aircraft at that stage in the war. If Germany had been more successful in WW2, maybe they would have ended up producing and employing the He 177, like to hit the Soviet production facilities east of the Urals for instance.
I also cast my vote for the SM 79 for the Italian bomber. I thought that one was decided on when FMG first started this project. I was really looking forward to seeing the SM 79 pieces.
The transport plane looks really cool. That’s one I hadn’t seen before.
The fighter plane is fine the way it is. It doesn’t need “fixing” or “changing”. Like Jeremy said, that would be adding more to the cost. More important, it would be going BACKWARDS in this project and I don’t think any of us that are anxiously awaiting these pieces want to do that. We have to keep going forwards. There is now just three pieces left: truck, halftrack and submarine. Once those are done, it’s production and order time. YAY!! We are almost there!
By the way, is that Italian Bomber the SM 79?
Hey cminke,
I was just on the FMG site and they still have the FMG Ammo Box for $249.99. It comes with 8 nation trays and 3 other two-compartment storage trays for China, neutrals and other game parts. The national trays have three large compartments for the pieces (land, air, sea) plus a slot on one side for combat dice. It looks really cool but I don’t like having just three compartments. I like to separate all the different units.
What really drives me nuts are the games like Guadalcanal, Battle of the Bulge, D-Day, Pacific and Europe because they just have one large compartment for each nation. It can be a real pain trying to search through all those pieces to find one fighter unit.
Hey Fishmoto37,
I tend to agree with you some on the price issue. I did the same thing and got several copies of A&A 1942 just to add extra pieces to my collections. However, one big attraction of the FMG pieces is they are much more detailed than the original A&A pieces. For example, check out the battleships. On the A&A pieces, the main guns look like one block but on the FMG Littorio class battleship, you can actually see all three gun barrels. So it’s basically a quality issue, the FMG pieces are of higher quality so they will cost a bit more.
Also, with the FMG sets, you will be getting more pieces than you did in the 1942 games. Not only will you get more of the pieces that you get in the games, but you will also be getting pieces that aren’t in the 1942 games (trucks, tac bombers, half tracks, transport planes, commanders, etc). We must remember that these pieces are being created for all different WW2 games, not just Axis & Allies so some of the pieces you won’t find in any A&A games, at least at the current time.
With the higher quality and more pieces and a greater variety of pieces, FMG is really not asking too much. They are really not making a lot of profit on these either. The cost of creating the new molds and getting a factory to work with them is enormous.
I basically used the A&A gameboard and used a highlighter to color in the Italian territories – Northern Italy, Southern Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Tunisia, Libya, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily. This gives Italy 10 IPCs but cuts Germany down to 30.
I played this game twice – the first time the Axis got trounced but the second time the Axis won bigtime. I put Italy right after Germany in turn order which may be a mistake giving the Axis a bit of an advantage. Jeremy at FMG suggested I try putting Italy right after Russia or Britain. I’m going to have to try that out and see how it works.
I use the Germany set up card and simply replace German units with Italian in these territories. Aside from that, I play the game pretty much like regular A&A Europe.
Hey “kcdzim”,
What game/set are these pieces from. I haven’t seen them before.
By the way, just wanted to add my 2 cents worth. I don’t understand why no one seems to like the lines on the planes. I think they look great. Like the extra detail of the suspension and engine covers on the tanks, that’s one main reason I was attracted to this project. I think it is incredible that they can make such tiny pieces with such fine detail. In fact, after seeing the pics of the new FMG pieces, I have become much more dissappointed with the WOTC pieces. Then again, to each their own I guess. Maybe the more detail/less detail debate can go in the column with the black/grey Germans debate.
Can’t wait to see the production pieces in their actual colors. I am wondering if the detail will be as noticeable on the regular color pieces as they are on the light grey prototypes. Anybody have some thoughts on that?
To “kcdzim”
Thanks for correcting me on the Tac Bombers. I did not know that the Val had fixed landing gear like the Stuka. In that case, you are right and they should have landing gear. It still makes it hard to place them on carriers though.
To “Rorschach”
Thank you for bolding my list on upcoming pieces and correcting “cminke”. I can certainly take criticism like anyone else because Lord knows I am not perfect but I don’t appreciate being told I am wrong then being asked about something which I put right there in plain sight.
By the way, someone correct me if I’m wrong, but with these latest pieces, that leaves only five units left until Italy is complete.
Submarine
Bomber
Trucks
Halftracks/Mech Infantry
Transport planes
Those are the last ones we are waiting on, right? Didn’t Jeremy say that the Bunker/Pill Boxes and Task Force Markers were going on the common pieces set with the ICs, AA Guns, etc.? If that’s the case, then we all just have five more units to be designed and then it will be ORDER TIME.
I’m glad the planes are flat on the bottom, like they are in flight. With the TAC Bombers, WOTC made the Japanese TAC Bombers with pegs that represent landing gear. It looks pretty cool when they are by themselves on the board but it’s hard to place them on aircraft carriers. The Japanese carriers are wider than the others so I can fit the TAC Bombers on them but I don’t think they would fit right on the British and German carriers.
Man I can’t wait for these pieces. I’ve got some money saved up and it’s burning a hole in my pocket. I think I’m going to have to get all new containers for my combat pieces for all the different types.
The way I understand it, once Italy is complete, FMG will put up an order form which will be for a complete set of the AA50 six nations (Italy, Germany, Japan, USA, UK and Russia). When you place your order, you will get the Italians right away and get each other nation as they come out. Plus, with the other five nations, the wait won’t be as long because the factory will be more experienced at making the molds and putting out the product.
As for the other extra stuff like France, ANZAC, China and the common pieces, I think they will be offered later as add-ons.
Minor correction to the Heavy Bombers upgrade. You roll two dice but you don’t just take the lowest result. If both dice come up 4 or less, then you get two hits. In SBRs, you get to add both dice to create more damage to enemy ICs.
Hello. I just finished altering the game board for A&A Europe to include Italy. I think it came out pretty good. Basically, I took 10 IPCs from Germany for Italy. Otherwise I simply play the game the same way. I put Italy right after Germany in turn order.
I tend to agree with those that want Germany to be black so as to match the current pieces, especially if FMG is not going to use the unit types that we have (Panther tank, Me109, Bismarck, etc.). Personally, I think that FMG should use molds of at least some of the current units. I can see giving Britain their own class of destroyer and submarine, Russia their own class of Aircraft Carrier, artillery pieces unique to each country, etc. but I see no reason to replace other units like the P-38, B-17, Spitfire, Me109, Zero, etc. The thing is that we already know the FMG pieces will be so much better detailed than the WOTC pieces. We all saw the incredible detail of the Italian Littorio class Battleship. Well, just imagine how much nicer FMG’s version of the Bismarck, Iowa or Yamato will be. FMG’s pieces don’t need to REPLACE all of the WOTC unit types. They will probably be a significant upgrade in detail and craftsmanship as is. Italy needed a complete overhaul because except for the infantry and tank, WOTC just copied other Axis units and made them brown. It seems stupid to me to have Italy fighting with German U-Boats and fighters and Japanese artillery and bombers. However, for the most part, all the other nations have great unit types and I just don’t think they all need to be changed.
That being said, if the FMG German pieces do come out grey, what color will ANZAC be?