• Hey all!

    Been a lurker for a while and finally joined. My dad taught me A&A years ago when I was a young kid. It’s our absolute favorite game. We have played most versions but Classic 2nd Edition seems to be our staple. His 60th birthday is coming up in April and I think for his present I want to build him my version of the “Ultimate A&A Ckassic.” I plan to post the progress here as I go and would love to get some feedback and advice if you’re willing. Also I most definitely did not come up with all of these ideas, I will try and give credit where I can and remember to but the biggest influence right now is The_Good_Captain so thank you for all you’ve done!

    Here’s my starting plan, I’ll try to keep as organized as possible and provide references if anyone wants to follow along.

    Overall Storage Box:

    I have quite a few ammo boxes from my time in the Army, however knowing my Dad something more “upscale” would turn this into a potential display piece in his den. So I’m going to build an ammo box along this style instead (ignore the engravings on it, link for reference only, also not an endorsement of the company): https://relicwood.com/product/us-military-values-ammo-box/

    I’m not sure what size it will be so the overall storage box will be one of the later things I make.

    Country Boxes, aka trays:

    These are going to be in the style of the traditional ammo box (https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/785293641/military-wood-ammo-crate-free-us) but obviously scaled down. My two biggest focuses on these will be having a movey spot (plan on using the IPC chips) as well as a properly spaced section for individual units and dice. I saw a video on YouTube (can’t remember where currently) that had custom boxes made and the creator painted the country decals on the top of the boxes, one in particular was Japan and it was beautiful. Part of me wants to go this route and the other wants to keep the box the raw wood with the army lettering sprayed on with the country names.

    For the inside I am looking at either making the sections native to the box or a thin insert, probably designed and built on a laser cutter like a GlowForge.

    In addition I plan to make the country info cards fit within these boxes for storage (although this may need to change, I hope not.) In addition, I plan to have a set of 6 dice for each country that fix in this box. The “1” dot will
    be the country symbol as well. I would like to find a way to have country individualized dice trays as well, perhaps the top of the country box could be used for this, but I think this will be the last part I do.*

    Country Info Cards:

    I have two thoughts on these. I know how I’m going to design the info part, I’ll post a photo once done. But the actual look of them I have two ideas. I can laminate them to a thin piece of wood or thick cardboard type thing. Or
    I am thinking of sandwiching them between two piebes of plexi-glass held together with weathered 100mph tape and a binder clip (kind of like maps in the Army, although this route might be too modern).

    Map:

    Straight up stealig The_Good_Captain’s map on this one. I love the larger size roll up. I may (box size and time permitting) make a leather map case for it. In addition I am making 4 round “pucks” out of stainless steel, I’m thinking 2-2.5in in diameter and 1/2in high for the corners of the map as “hold-fasts.” I would like to engrave something on the tops but I am unsure what. There are 5 countries so that won’t work. That idea is still up in the air for what to engrave.

    Money and General Markers:

    I love the IPC chips for this instead of paper money. I would like to re-design them to more fit the theme, but that is completely time dependant. The roundels are the largest issue for me. I’ve seen the ones on HBG and they are great…but they are out of stock. So it seems like making them is the best route. In my research the largest issue with the homemade roundels is the white edge of the paper after being cut. I’m toying with the idea of some form of vinyl sticker printout like with a Cricut (never used one before). This would ensure the sides would be so thin as to be unnoticable. I’m just not sure if that would actually work and it will require some more research.

    For storage I saw a video that I loved of a gentleman using a cigar box for all the rounded piece storage and I love this idea. Haven’t thought too much about this yet but I think this is similar to the route I want to go.

    Rulebook:

    I want to reprint this in a thick sheet, something not vinyl but definitely waterproof.

    Battleboard and IPC Tracker:

    For these I plan on redesigning them to be more visually appealing in line with the whole overall theme. I will also mount/seal them in a matching way to the Country Info Cards. I also want to have 2 of the battleboards, one for each side of the playing area.

    Unit Upgrades:

    I plan on sanding all mold lines as well as sanding flat the bottoms. Carries will have holes drilled in the bottom to fit magnets as will fighters. Holes filled and then all pieces painted in nation colors and sealed with clearcoat.
    Fighters may or may not get decals and all aircraft will ahve magnetized stands.

    Extras and Add-Ons:

    *Instead of dice trays, country rolling cups. We usually roll our dice in red solo cups and flip them onto napkins. There’s something great about needing a good roll and smalling that cup over before slowing lifting it. I’m thinking a solid cup for dice rolling with a neoprene mat for slamming would be a solid option for this.

    • Country specific pint glasses and coasters for obvious reasons.

    As of now this is the plan. I would love thoughts and input and if anyone wants me to document the process please let me know! Thank you.


  • Welcome to the site !
    Your ideas sound great. Plenty of guys will chime in with ideas and opinions.

    Good luck !


  • @turfyrocket2829 Good action here. yea definitely show us what you end up with


  • Definitely interested in seeing what you come up with!

    -Midnight_Reaper


  • Update #1:

    After much consideration between the Sired Money (because it looks amazing) and IPC chips I think for play reasons the weight of the chips is the best route. I am looking into custom poker chips manufacturers since the ones online are sold out. While doing this I might try and darken the shades slightly and redesign the faces to better match the original money from Classic.

    This also means I need to add a poker chip rack. I’m thinking something simple like the plastic table inset ones from a casino but crafted out of wood.

    Originally I wanted to make all the parts by hand as I have the skills to do so however I realized that with a 2 year old and a job that’s probably not practical from a time standpoint. As such I found a local makerspace that has both a laser cutter and CNC machine! (Unfortunately this opens up my imagination a bit too much so I must focus!)

    Currently I am working on contacting the space to get advice on their recommended route for manufacturing all these parts I will need while creating far too many measurements and designs!


  • Update #2:

    So I ordered a CNC machine and a laser engraver / cutter since my local makerspace is closed. As such and since the IPC chips are sold out I’m working on making my own!

    They will be made of wood, stained to the proper IPC color. Then the engraved parts will be filled with a corresponding monetary color (copper, silver, gold, etc). I’m going to try both paint and epoxy fills (and a few other ideas) before deciding on which looks best. Also I may weight them if practical. For the design as I really like to original money I’m going to have one side be the number with border and the other the internal image. For example the 5 will have the arm and hammer. I’m a terrible graphic artist so recreating these is proving challenging but this is what I have after about 2 hours of work.

    AandA_Classic_IPC 5.png

    Also I have completed the designs and measurements for the country boxes. I’ll upload them once they are less…roughly drawn. And I have the roundels designed in my mind as well, just need to see if it can be done in practicality.

    Last night I completed the organization of all my A&A Classic pieces and I have 1.99% game. I am missing 5 pieces from the second so working on acquiring them. I also completed removing the mold lines from all of Great Britian in prep for painting while binging Squid Game (I know I’m behind). Germany is tonight.

    If anyone could point me in the direction of painting these I would appreciate it. Especially 2 factors. Do you recommend priming first and has anyone found the proper country colors yet?

    Thank you!

  • '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '13 Customizer

    You don’t want to use the Poker chips for money ? Granted they have no numbers on them but possible to put them on.

    I use
    White 1 icp
    Green 3 icps
    Red 5 icps
    Blue 10 icps
    Black 20 icps

    Can get a case set with 5 colors in them like any Shopko or Walmart or maybe by you some king of store…
    But you probably looking for more fancy money chips ?


  • @general-6-stars
    I would love to use real ceramic chips. However I don’t want the colored pips on the edge and I don’t want the face to have the typical small recessed center.

    I looked for flat chips I could put vinyl stickers on, but could only find white plastic ones.

    A typical game upgrade I would absolutely go the route you described. Since this is a gift and my “Ultimate” version I don’t think that will fit the theme unfortunately.


  • I’m assuming you don’t want to use these poker chips I have in pic. Double click on
    Pic . OK Cool

    54101EE8-3FCF-4830-9F71-B67DFEDC5A2D.jpeg


  • @general-6-stars
    So I actually love that whole setup you have. It looks fantastic!

    Bun unfortunately no, that would be the simplest solution for sure but my mind won’t let me use that with this project as it wouldn’t “match” the whole theme.

  • '22 '21 '20 '19 '18 '17 '16 '15 '14 '13 Customizer

    Right. Just throwin ideas. You’ll come up with something.

    Maybe try googling or e bay custom poker chips.

    Ya a lot of companies that can make wooden chips to your liking. Think I’m gonna get my chips custom made with GF logo with amount maybe. Good Luck


  • @turfyrocket2829 said in Ultimate Classic Version Build:

    If anyone could point me in the direction of painting these I would appreciate it. Especially 2 factors. Do you recommend priming first and has anyone found the proper country colors yet?

    Idk if this is helpful but there was some recent discussion on painting here:

    https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/topic/37964/painted-pieces-take-a-look?_=1644011663072


  • So this update came way later than expected so apologies for that. Life has a way of getting ahead of me!

    Anyway after essentially teaching myself the hard way how to do “graphic design”…and by that I mean make matching measured boxes with text… as well as getting a CNC machine and learning it. I have finally been able to turn all my sketches into actual digital work to start carving.

    This is the base of the country boxes I’m working on. Still torn on wood choice but I think I’ll wind up going with pine in the end or something else with a light color. I’ll be digitizing the covers tomorrow!

    !Country Box Image.png


  • @turfyrocket2829 said in Ultimate Classic Version Build:

    Still torn on wood choice but I think I’ll wind up going with pine in the end or something else with a light color.

    Yellow cedar would be nice but probably hard to come by. : )


  • @barnee Ohhh that would be nice! I also wanted to go with walnut but I’m unsure if that would be too dark. I think I might do one in walnut, one in oak and one in pine. See which looks the best and works the best with the CNC.


  • Update #3.5:

    I have the CNC files for the country component box lids. They are 10mm thick with a 1mm engraving (potentially 2 depending on how the actual cutting looks after, you can never perfectly tell until the cutting happens it seems). I also plan on carving out 5mm depth on the inside of the lid. I would like to have the country cards slot into there but I don’t know that it will work out, but if not the extra space may be of benefit for storage.

    I have 2 styles for Japan, I am leaning towards 2 and for the USSR I think I need to find a way to smooth out the hammer and sickle.

    USSR Box Lid.png USA Box Lid.png UK Box Lid.png Japan Box Lid 1.png Japan Box Lid 2.png Germany Box Lid.png Lid Interior.png


  • Update #4:

    I should be working but am really enjoying this, so I started work on the National Production Chart as well. I want to have it in a light wood with a darker wood making a “frame” or border around all the boxes. I’m still learning and working on this so the “Detailed Pass” image isn’t correct. The boxes should have straight edges to accept the frame but it shows the numbers and words well enough.

    National Production Rough Pass.png

    National Production Detailed Pass.png


  • Update #5:

    Well this project has taken much longer than I originally anticipated. However on the plus side I have learned an immense amount of new skills, not the least of which being 4 different 3D Modeling programs. Here’s the “final” modeling for all the parts except the IPCs, those I will have complete today as I was finally able to get the images needed into vector format. All of the images, words, numbers etc look engraved on the images but will be laser burned in on the final project, the only exception being the country logos on the box covers. This is why some of their depths may look a bit uneven, it doesn’t matter for the tooling and I took my wins and losses where I needed to haha.

    Tooling on these parts has begun and I can’t wait to have this completed as I’m so close!

    USSR Roundel.png USA Roundel.png UK Roundel.png Japan Roundel.png Germany Roundel.png
    Chips and Industry Lid.png Chips and Industry Box.png


  • Country Box.png Germany Lid.png Japan Lid.png

    (Upload rate limited here. I’ll upload the other photos in a bit)


  • USSR Lid.png USA Lid.png UK Lid.png Weapons Development.png National Production.png Battle Board.png

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