New Axis & Allies game 8/28

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:02 am

I love tearing boxes open.

C2000

dfoos · Post by **dfoos** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 1:42 pm

I decided to convert the tanks. I have finished one sherman. I wanted to do one and see how it looked before I did others. Also, I picked the sherman because it is (so far) and (IMHO) the worst looking one of the bunch. I must say, it is actually a pretty nice looking model if fixed up properly. The first thing I did on all the tanks was to tighten up the turrets. they were way too loose. This wasn't as simple as tightening the screws. the posts on the bottom of the turrets were too long in many cases and had to be trimmed about 1/16 - 1/8 of an inch. then the screws could be tightened to my liking. another thing I did that was basic was to fill in the hollow undersides with putty. I didnt like how light they were. The green stuff gives it a nice heft without being too heavy. If you do this, make sure to put a little wad of paper or something over the screw, otherwise the putty locks the screw in placed and the turret either will not move, or will move but unscrews every time you turn it. I molded the putty to the aproximate shape as the bottom of the tank. The Sherman was easy. Some of the other tanks will have to be done after I look at some of my other models as a reference as they are missing parts of the hull. The tiger for instance is missing the lower HALF of the front of the hull. I will have to sculpt this If I want to make it look good. I then took a bunch of little stowage bits that I had from some WTM tanks (they are a little oversized for WTM so they fit these tanks pretty well. Of course one of the things that makes the Sherman fun to model and look at is all the miscellaneous stowage they usually were carrying. These also help hide the lack of details on the model itself. I glued ammo packs, blanket rolls etc.. on the sides, I put crates, sacks and a fuel barrell on the rear deck. Of course some spare track on the front in front of the drivers compartment. I didn't like how flat and undetailed the rear end of the tank was so I put a crate there too. I guess this is a little un realistic, but it looks better than nothing there. We'll just say it's lashed to the back. I found a little 50 cal. ammo case and attached it to the machine gun in the proper place. All these little things really help the overall look. I moved the machine gun so that I could put a tank commander out the hatch. I cut Mr. Red Devil (whom I got plenty of) at the waist and glued him coming out the hatch. he looks pretty good. I had to remove his gun of course. Finally, I painted it the proper color, or at least the color I always use on my sherms which is valejo olive grey, painted the stowage, gave the whole thing a light black wash, decals and weathering and voila, a pretty nice looking tank. I will be doing this to lesser or greater extent to all of the different tanks. I will post pics tonight as right now I have to work. I just wanted to give some ideas to other people like me who can't just leave well enough alone. I already put a few little things on some of the other tanks, like a tank commander on one of the Panzer IV's and some fuel cans, spare track etc. I am thinking avout scribing my own details like maybe the doors, joints and rivets on the side of the turret schurtzen. I can see where this will become a fun little hobby for me. Is anyone else customizing or modifying their AA miniatures. Maybe we could start a new thread with pictures and tips? Is there enough interest from modelers to do this? let me know.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:39 am

Yeah, I wanna see those pictures!!! Please do post them. It sounds like you did a great job. I want to flock my figures when I get them. They would look a lot better than just the black base.

-Ski

dfoos · Post by **dfoos** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 4:06 am

I went ahead and started a new thread for conversions. Pics uploaded.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 12:01 pm

OK, I got my stuff today. So, after the starter and 7 boosters, here's what I got (vehicles):

German:
Jagdpanther
Tiger 1
Panther
MKIV
222
MKII
251 (x2)

US:
Hellcat
Sherman (X3)

British:
Crusader
M3 Stuart
Humber (x2)

Japanese:
Type 95 (x2)

I got some odd dupes as well:

Soviet:
Commisar (x3)

German:
MG42 (x4)
Haptsturmfurher (x3)

British:
6 Pounder (x4)
Vickers MG (x3)

Mmmmm.... This is getting addicting. I should wait to get commons on the cheap though......

-Ski

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:34 am

A good, inexpensive place to get more commons is:

http://www.gamerocket.net

I've been there a few times this week.

C2000

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:40 am

Yeah, that is a great place. I did, however, order another half case.....

-Ski

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:17 pm

Hey, I was putzing around with AAM using Heroscape terrain and some wargaming card buildings. I think this oughta work quite well!! It looks great and should play just as well as the maps. Treat vehicles as doublespaced units......

http://community.webshots.com/photo/127 ... 6679ROblSx

I think I will go to kinkos and size up the buildings to the proper scale. They start out at 1/300, so just double the size and they should be just about right.....

-Ski

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:13 am

I like the HS idea. We'd just have to do alot of mods to it.

Hexes -

Green - clear
Grey - towns
Tan - Hills
Roads - roads
Water - water

You'd have to make it so that if you failed to cross a stream/river that your tank would have to stay in the water and that it'd only cost 1 for the water and 1 for the land hex instead of 2 total. I've even thought about giving figs the disrupted treatment if they stay in the water because of failing the roll.

Somehow you'd have to make use of the old ZOC rule for the hex that the figs/buildings are in. The center hex and all six surrounding hexes. Then you'd have to double the movement and ranges to go with the HS hexes. I'll do some math to figure this out.

dfoos, go to AvalonHills website and look for "rules of engagment". It's on the front page and should give you all of the info that you need.

Anyone have any battle reports yet? I have a couple and will do them soon. Let's just say that 2 KV-1s were more than a match for 1 bad rolling Tiger I.

C2000

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:19 am

I love how this thread is 6 pages long with 108 (now 109) posts and almost exclusively consists of posts by teamski and cruzin2000

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 1:29 pm

Yes!!

And we would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids!!!

Timan, with your diaroma/photo skills, you should enter that contest as well. You'll win the whole set of 48. Beware though, this game is "plastic meth". You'll get hooked like us. The more, the merrier!!

We can try to play online, maybe.

C2000

p.s. You've been warned.

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 1:39 pm

heheheheheheh.... Good point Tman!

I would use the tan pieces for woods (with som litchin for trees) and just use standard green spaces at level 2 for the hills. Roads don't need to be road pieces as you could use tan pieces for that. Anytime you move pieces in a hex with a tree or house, just move them to another space. I think this is done in mini wargaming already......

-Ski

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:54 am

Hey, check this out! I bought a Lost Battalion Games Terrain tile pack for $40 and they are absoluetely perfect for AAM. The tiles are 3" and are double-sided. One side is clear terrain while the other has either a road, river or gully hex. Bada$$!!! I had to order another set! These things were what I was looking for to use with a bunch of different games.....

http://community.webshots.com/photo/127 ... 6238wQVvHY

http://community.webshots.com/photo/127 ... 6439ddLLth#

-Ski

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 1:30 pm

'Ski,

Where did you get those from?!?!? And the buildings!?!?!?!

A friend of mine is making these on his own and using Monopoly hotels/houses for the towns.

I want some!!!!

I was going make some 4" hexes to do that with but you've found them already made. How many come in a pack for $40????

C2000

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 2:36 pm

cruizin2000 wrote:'Ski,

Where did you get those from?!?!? And the buildings!?!?!?!

A friend of mine is making these on his own and using Monopoly hotels/houses for the towns.

I want some!!!!

I was going make some 4" hexes to do that with but you've found them already made. How many come in a pack for $40????

C2000

You can get the hexes here:

http://store.yahoo.com/lostbattalion/europeanset.html

You get 132 tiles and the photo shows all of them in place. The buildings are 1/300 card models slightly scaled up on my printer. I got them while I was on a miniature gaming kick when I was in the UK. You should be able to find them on-line somewhere.

The hexes look like they are the perfect scale-up map for the game. Just add some trees and use colored paper for hills. Use one building per "built up" hex and the hex fits figures and tanks fine. Neat, huh?

I Knew you would like them!

-Ski

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:29 am

Wow, that's a nice site too. I saw S. Craig Taylor's name. That's a name I haven't heard in a looooong time. Remember Don Greenwood? Yikes!!

I'm old.

I might just have to order 2 sets of those. I already have the trees and can make the 3D hills/buildings.

This game just keeps getting more fun every day.

Has anyone else played this game yet?

C2000

KAMIKAZE · Post by **KAMIKAZE** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:11 pm

I've been customizing my tanks. I found out my local hobby shop owner ordered
a bunch of boosters and I bought all his extra commons for a song.

Mark

Website · Post by **Teamski** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:17 pm

zzzzzzzzzz I haven't done squat with any of my stuff yet. I bought a tackle box, the hex tiles and that was it. I'm too busy playing Heroscape.....

-Ski

cruizin2000 · Post by **cruizin2000** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:02 am

I found a few websites that sells singles for good prices. My collection has grown alittle bit.

So far against other people, I'm 6-0. I've played a few solotaire games as well.

The last game was a Pacific battle on the Urban Conflict map and I started on the side with the objective.

I had -
Sherman x1
Stuart x1
M-1 Garand x4
Vickers MG x2
6lb AT x1
Red Devil x1
Mortar x1

He had -
Ha-Go x3
Arisaka x4
AT x1
Sgt x2
Mortar x1
MG x2

Atleast that's the sides from what I remember.

I won hands down!! I had the Sherman, Red Devil and some Garand guys left - he had nothing.
I rock!!

I got the new HS boosters but haven't got to play with them yet. I like the Shaolin Monks, they seem to just hop around and kill people.

Any other game reports?

C2000