Review of FMG Italians and HBG Axis Minors

  • Customizer

    Doesn’t Allwork… use a primer before painting?  Another idea is to paint the pieces and then spray a coat of Dullcote to seal it in.

    That’s what I should have done with my Pro-Axis neutral pieces.  The paint started to chip off of the gun barrels.  I want to see FMG’s Germans to see if they are dark enough to be distinguishable from my Pro-Axis neutral pieces.  If they are, I can simply retouch the color I already used.  If not, then I have to choose a lighter shade of grey.

  • Customizer

    KNP,

    You can read about “Allwork’s” methods on painting in his thread.  He’s very talented and thorough like a professional should be.  He’s also a nice guy to talk to.  His thread is in the “A&A-Global area” and of course he’s the originator.

    “Tall Paul”

  • Customizer

    I painted mine.  Primed then first and painted them in an acrylic.  Holds up just fine.

  • Customizer

    Some pics:

    DSCN2162.JPG

  • Customizer

    More:

    DSCN2163.JPG

  • Customizer

    More:

    DSCN2166.JPG

  • Customizer

    Nice turn-out with the avocado - and the BB mods look smooth.  8-) You sticking to the OOB infantry?  Or using them as a different unit?

  • '21 '18 '17 '15

    Which takes us to the next question: how will the units hold up to painting them?

    FMG’s takes to acrylics just fine, I know this firsthand.  I haven’t tried painting any of HBG’s, but I think some others on here have.

    HBG’s pieces paint well, i use tamiya acrylics, have just invested in some vallejo, will see how they go. By the way, my son beat me to it, he has already painted 1 set of the axis minors, and is using the vallejo paint, he thinks there cool  :-D


  • I love the carrier and the subs

  • Customizer

    @Viracocha:

    Nice turn-out with the avocado - and the BB mods look smooth.   8-) You sticking to the OOB infantry?  Or using them as a different unit?

    I do not plan to switch out all my pieces from OOB to FMG, so I’m keeping the OOB inf to stay consistent with the other inf (not that you could tell on the board anyway).  For mec, I used Table Tactics half tracks.


  • Are table tactics halftracks still available?== because they did come with the now defunct “Central Powers” expansion set.

  • Customizer

    I don’t know if you can still get them.

    I have recently just gotten HBG’s pieces.  I have now switched out the Table Tactics mec with HBG’s trucks, which I will now be using as motorized inf (mec).

    DSCN2230.jpg


  • @jim010:

    I don’t know if you can still get them.

    I have recently just gotten HBG’s pieces.  I have now switched out the Table Tactics mec with HBG’s trucks, which I will now be using as motorized inf (mec).

    yES, they look nice.  I’m using them as mech infantry also because it’s almost impossible to find any of the central powers half tracks on ebay.


  • Great News! Coach is coming out with an “Italian Brown” Minors set next week so we can use the trucks not only to replace FMG’s truck but also as Mech Infantry. Now I’d love to see the Neutral Set come out in French blue so I can add the trucks to the Frence mix.

  • Customizer

    FMG is coming out with a France set and they will have trucks in them.  Plus, they should be more appropriate looking.  Jeremy said the Italian truck was a one-time mistake as far as the size goes, the rest of the nations’ truck pieces will look much better.
    Also, Jeremy may decide to do France after UK, Canada and ANZAC.  That’s not as far away as it seems.  ANZAC and Canada will use the British mold but be different colors, so they should go pretty quickly.


  • @knp7765:

    FMG is coming out with a France set

    This is good news.  Is there an estimate of when it’s expected?

  • '21 '18 '17 '15

    Received my Italian set a few days ago, opened and inspected, while i’m happy with the detail there is a bit of work to be done, the battleships turret problem and all the subs are curved. To make matters worse, i had the dice on order they arrived as well, but i had the misfortune of my package arriving by courier. The box had been crushed, so there were a few broken infantry but can you believe they managed to break some of the dice……    :?   Oh well, win some and lose some. By the way the piece count was almost perfect. Thank you Jeremy, will put in another order shortly.


  • They broke the DICE?  WOW.  That must have been one hell of a hit to the box!!

    Bent subs are easy enough to fix (warm them up to the point where the plastic softens slightly, gently bend back into shape, dunk quickly in ice water to cool and set them).

  • Customizer

    @CWO:

    @knp7765:

    FMG is coming out with a France set

    This is good news.  Is there an estimate of when it’s expected?

    Afraid that’s kind of hazy right at the moment.  First they have to finish up Germany (grey pieces) and the new combat dice, which with any luck should be done by next month.  Next will be a run of Germany (black pieces) which shouldn’t take too long since they already have the mold ready.  Next we have to complete USA which still needs about half the sculpts, make the mold then into production.  After that is the whole process with England.  Canada and ANZAC will follow but be like black Germany, UK mold in differnt colors so that won’t take as long.
    Then, depending on which way Jeremy and FMG want to go, either France or Russia will be next.
    A good part is if the Chinese factory holds true to the contract that FMG is working out with them, ALL sets are supposed to be complete by the end of 2012.  So, assuming this is true and works out well, no matter which set you are really waiting for it should be within a year.  Considering how long it took us to get to finished product with the Italians, I think this is really positive news.

  • TripleA '12

    I finally received my FMG Italy Combat Units & Combat Dice!  :lol:

    Piece count:

    Rifle Inf: 10
    SMG Inf: 12
    Leader: 6
    Artillery: 12
    Mot. Inf: 6
    Mech Inf: 12
    SPG: 6
    Tank: 6

    Fighter: 12
    Tac. Bomber: 7
    Strat. Bomber: 6
    Air Transport: 6

    Submarine: 12
    Transport: 11
    Destroyer: 10
    Cruiser: 6
    Battleship: 6
    Air. Carrier: 3

    That’s 149 units. The numbers in bold are in question as to their correct quantity. How did I do compared to the rest of you?

    First of all, I really love these units. I can’t wait to pre-order Germany.  :-)

    However, I think there should have been more variation between the two Infantry sculpts as they are similar in pose. And in my opinion, the Rifle Infantry unit should have been the higher quantity of the two (as rifles were the mainstay of all armies) and the SMG should have been the lower (making these units more of the Special Forces/Elite type). But hey, no worries.

    The Artillery is great but I would have liked it more if its barrel was pointing upwards a few more degrees. I think Artillery should be pointing up, and Anti-Tank Guns should be pointing straight forward.

    As I’ve said before, the Mot. Infantry (truck) unit is too large for my taste but I’ll happily make do with it unit a smaller sculpt becomes available to purchase.

    I think the Tank could have been a bit bigger but again, I’m happy with it. To be honest, I think 8 Tanks would have been better than 6, even if that meant sacrificing some Transports or Submarines.

    The Fighter is, unfortunately, too small. And the wings should have been more tapered towards the fuselage. This unit is my biggest negative with the whole set.

    I think the Cruiser could have been a LITTLE bigger. And if not, then at least a little taller. Its hull could have been raised a milimetre or two (it virtually sits flat on the sea).

    And finally, it would have been awesome to get 8 Combat Dice in a set as opposed to 6 but I can dream!

    But those are my only critiscms. Other than that, I’m loving it. Thank you for all your hard work, and I hope you take note of all the players’ ideas regarding unit type/size/design etc.

    Lozmoid

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