@Nowhere:
@Midnight_Reaper:
You say that like it’s a bad thing! :-D
It is a bad thing.
It’s a thing with no real basis in history. Whether that is a bad thing or not depends on the person watching it.
I love me some HBG sculpts, don’t get me wrong - I’ve sent quite a bit of money to Tulsa as a result. But not everyone can afford to put down a couple hundred American dollars for a complete set of completely accurate sculpts for all 10 powers (USSR, UK, USA, Germany, Japan, ANZAC, France, Italy, China, and Neutrals) available to a player with A&A Europe 1940 and A&A Pacific 1940.
And this completely overlooks the things that A&A 1941 does give to us that we did not have before: a true UK-inspired Transport, a true USSR-inspired Carrier (while the need to actually do this was likely very weak, it was still a short fall in the sculpt inventory), US P-40 Warhawks (great for the China “Flying Tigers” fighter or for putting something other than a P-38 Lightning on a Carrier), a Japanese Carrier (Akagi) from before the war started - one that actually fought in the war, and a set of WWI Battlecruisers that were still active into WWII - UK’s Hood and Japan’s Kongo class.
The full list of what you do get in a copy of 1941, with my commentary, is below:
- Tank
German Tiger I (This is a great piece to have - Tiger tanks are an iconic part of the Wehrmacht)
USSR IS-2 Stalin (This is another great piece to have. And other than Germany and USSR, who else is going to be building heavy tanks most of the time?)
- Fighter
German Fw-190 (The two great WWII piston-engined German fighters were the Bf-109 and the Fw-190. Now we have both.)
USA P-40 Warhawk (Again, this is great for both the “China Fighter” and for putting something besides P-38s on Carriers. Plus, the P-40 was widely passed around to both the UK and the USSR in Lend-Lease - making it entirely appropriate to be seen in UK Tan and USSR Maroon.)
- Bomber
German He-111 (Again, there were two great WWII multi-piston-engined bombers used by Germany throughout the war - the Ju-88 and the He-111. Now we have both.)
UK Lancaster (Another iconic UK Heavy Bomber like the Halifax - and the only aircraft, other than the US B-29, considered by the US Manhattan Project for delivering The Bomb when it was ready.)
- Submarine
Japanese Kaichu type
UK U or Undine Class
(These were both second class, light submarines. While they might be usefully considered for a role as a “Coastal Submarine”, I think that in actual use players would have a hard time telling them apart from the other sub designs on the board.)
- Transport
Japanese Yamazuki Maru (This adds a little spice for Japan’s transport navy.)
UK/Can Fort Class (Mentioned above, this give the UK a Transport that the Empire built, as opposed to being limited to American Liberty Ships.)
- Destroyer
Japanese Akizuki
USA Sumner Class
(These are both designs from later in the war, with changes made to the previous design to make them better at the roles their navies had in mind for them. Again, while they might be considered useful for a different role, I think that in actual use players would have a hard time telling them apart from the other destroyer designs on the board).
- Carrier
Japanese Akagi (Mentioned above, having these corrects the historical atrocity of having Shinanos as Japan’s only carrier option.)
USSR Kostromitinova (Also mentioned above. Russia gets its own Carrier sculpt. Like the last sculpt, UK Illustrious class Carriers in Russian maroon, these will likely sit and gather dust in the Russian player’s pile. Which is also historically accurate, as this design was never built in real life.)
- Battlecruiser / Fast Battleship
Japanese Kongo
UK Hood
(Mentioned above, the Kongos and the Hood started life as Battlecruisers during or very shortly after WWI. The Kongos were rebuilt into fast battleships between the wars. The Royal Navy wanted to do the same with the Hood, but never got around to it before WWII started. Having battlecruisers for the Allies and the Axis makes for interesting possibilities. Anybody want to buy a battleship that has a move of 3, but can not take a hit before sinking?)
Are there place for criticism on this list? Sure! But I think the incessant drumbeat of negativity regarding the historical mis-matches (including Japanese Tigers and American IS-2s) tends to drown out the good things that we did get from 1941.
My 2 IPCs
-Midnight_Reaper
P.S. Edit to fix spelling