• How do the HBG minis compare in quality to the units that come OOB?  By quality I mean details and overall appearance. I’m basically looking to upgrade my 1st edition 1940 games with the new pieces from 2nd edition. The HBG units are actually pricier than a new copy of the game but I don’t need another big box and all the extras so I’m trying to weigh the two options.  Any advice?
    BTW, why hasn’t HBG or someone offered an upgrade kit for 1940 1e owners?

    Also are all the HBG minis compatible size wise with OOB minis?  I want to supplement my A&A games with some of the unique sculpts from HBG.

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @IdaRed:

    How do the HBG minis compare in quality to the units that come OOB?� � By quality I mean details and overall appearance. I’m basically looking to upgrade my 1st edition 1940 games with the new pieces from 2nd edition. The HBG units are actually pricier than a new copy of the game but I don’t need another big box and all the extras so I’m trying to weigh the two options.� � Any advice?
    BTW, why hasn’t HBG or someone offered an upgrade kit for 1940 1e owners?

    Also are all the HBG minis compatible size wise with OOB minis?� � I want to supplement my A&A games with some of the unique sculpts from HBG.

    Idared, there is absolutely no comparison to HBG’s minis vs OOB, except possibly you may want to keep your OOB fighters, if you like your fighters to be bigger.

    The detail on HBG’s pieces are hands down so much better and look realistic, plus if you want to add other units besides the OOB pieces, the only way to do this is to buy from a company like HBG.

    It adds so much to your game.

    If you want an advanced game, Coach and the team at HBG, are making a 1936, 1939 and 1942 game map that will have 3 games in one. Each one of these years will have a different setup. You can get this later this summer, when it comes out.

    HBG has so many different units coming out, that you will probably want to add them to your own game, to spice it up.

    I cannot praise Coach and them enough for what they have made for this game, to give it new life. They have added so much to the game, that there is something for everyone.

    I’m fairly new to the game, but have been collecting pieces from Coach for a year and a half, and have amassed an army of plastic pieces, and now I am currently painting them to make them realistic.

    I can’t say enough good things about HBG! I hope this helps you! :-)

    John

    P.S. The second edition, you do know has original pieces for all countries, except for the French pieces, which are really Russian, but HBG is going to eventually have all original French pieces, some day, to replace the Russians.


  • Thanks. What I gather is the HBG minis are the same size as OOB except for the fighter planes which are smaller?

    What about the GHQ micro-armour?  Are those the same scale as A&A board games or close enough?

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @IdaRed:

    Thanks. What I gather is the HBG minis are the same size as OOB except for the fighter planes which are smaller?

    What about the GHQ micro-armour?�  Are those the same scale as A&A board games or close enough?

    If you go to youtube, and look at Dtroy’s painted German ground forces, I think he has the GHQ micro-armour besides his HBG and OOB pieces.

    They look practically the same size, but much more expensive, being that their metal.

    I hope that helps! :-)

    John

    P.S. HBG sells second edition pieces for the axis and allies games. You may want to go on their website and check how much they are.


  • @John:

    P.S. HBG sells second edition pieces for the axis and allies games. You may want to go on their website and check how much they are.

    It is my understanding that from 1st edition to 2nd edition only the Italians and ANZAC pieces changed, plus AAA units for all countries.  Is that correct?

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @IdaRed:

    @John:

    P.S. HBG sells second edition pieces for the axis and allies games. You may want to go on their website and check how much they are.

    It is my understanding that from 1st edition to 2nd edition only the Italians and ANZAC pieces changed, plus AAA units for all countries.  Is that correct?

    The British get their own artillery. mechs, subs and destroyers, but yes other than that I believe the rest is the same. :-)


  • @IdaRed:

    It is my understanding that from 1st edition to 2nd edition only the Italians and ANZAC pieces changed, plus AAA units for all countries.  Is that correct?

    It’s a bit more complicated than that.  The sculpt differences are:

    • The Italians get a full set of nationally distinctive G40/2 unit types.  In G40/1 only the Italian infantry unit was nationally distinctive.

    • ANZAC gets a full set of nationally distinctive G40/2 unit types.  In G40/1 all the “ANZAC” pieces were clones of the British sculpt set.  Note however that even though all the G40/2 ANZAC sculpts are nationally distinctive, many of the designs originate outside of Australia and New Zealand (which was inevitable, because neither country was a weapons producer on the scale of major powers like the US and the UK).

    • As I recall, the UK and the USSR still had a few pieces of “foreign” equipment pieces in G40/1 which were replaced by “domestic” equipment in G40/2.  The new British sub and the new Soviet transport ship (if memory serves) are two examples.  In G40/2, the only foreign equipment still used by those two countries are the American transport (for the UK) and the British carrier (for the USSR) – and those two gaps can be filled easily using pieces from the 1941 game (which provides a domestic transport for the UK an a domestica carrier for the USSR).

    • France has its own infantry unit in G40/1 and G40/2, but its equipment pieces are clones of the Soviet pieces in each game.  Because, however, the Soviet units get slightly revised and slightly expanded in the move from G40/1 to G40/2, the French units get slighly upgraded in the same way.

    • Every country with equipment pieces (meaning everyone with the exception of China) gets a new AAA unit.  With the exception of France, all of these AAA units are nationally distinctive.  No nation had an AAA sculpt in G40/1.

    Speaking of China, note that the single fighter (representing the Flying Tigers) it’s allowed to have in G40 can be conveniently represented by the P40 Warhawk from the 1941 game, which was the fighter that the Flying Tigers actually used.

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @CWO:

    @IdaRed:

    It is my understanding that from 1st edition to 2nd edition only the Italians and ANZAC pieces changed, plus AAA units for all countries.�  Is that correct?

    It’s a bit more complicated than that.  The sculpt differences are:

    • The Italians get a full set of nationally distinctive G40/2 unit types.  In G40/1 only the Italian infantry unit was nationally distinctive.

    • ANZAC gets a full set of nationally distinctive G40/2 unit types.  In G40/1 all the “ANZAC” pieces were clones of the British sculpt set.  Note however that even though all the G40/2 ANZAC sculpts are nationally distinctive, many of the designs originate outside of Australia and New Zealand (which was inevitable, because neither country was a weapons producer on the scale of major powers like the US and the UK).

    • As I recall, the UK and the USSR still had a few pieces of “foreign” equipment pieces in G40/1 which were replaced by “domestic” equipment in G40/2.  The new British sub and the new Soviet transport ship (if memory serves) are two examples.  In G40/2, the only foreign equipment still used by those two countries are the American transport (for the UK) and the British carrier (for the USSR) – and those two gaps can be filled easily using pieces from the 1941 game (which provides a domestic transport for the UK an a domestica carrier for the USSR).

    • France has its own infantry unit in G40/1 and G40/2, but its equipment pieces are clones of the Soviet pieces in each game.  Because, however, the Soviet units get slightly revised and slightly expanded in the move from G40/1 to G40/2, the French units get slighly upgraded in the same way.

    • Every country with equipment pieces (meaning everyone with the exception of China) gets a new AAA unit.  With the exception of France, all of these AAA units are nationally distinctive.  No nation had an AAA sculpt in G40/1.

    Speaking of China, note that the single fighter (representing the Flying Tigers) it’s allowed to have in G40 can be conveniently represented by the P40 Warhawk from the 1941 game, which was the fighter that the Flying Tigers actually used.

    Thanks CWO Marc, I forgot about the French and Russians. :-)


  • @IdaRed:

    How do the HBG minis compare in quality to the units that come OOB?�  By quality I mean details and overall appearance. I’m basically looking to upgrade my 1st edition 1940 games with the new pieces from 2nd edition. The HBG units are actually pricier than a new copy of the game but I don’t need another big box and all the extras so I’m trying to weigh the two options.�  Any advice?
    BTW, why hasn’t HBG or someone offered an upgrade kit for 1940 1e owners?
    Also are all the HBG minis compatible size wise with OOB minis?�  I want to supplement my A&A games with some of the unique sculpts from HBG.

    While I agree fully with my esteemed fellow piece junkie John Brown regarding the quality, compatibility and versatility of the sculpts which HBG has been producing over the years, there are a couple of points that I’d like to mention in case these items are relevant to you (which they may not be, because they’re super-picky points which anyone except obsessive sculpt collectors like me might not even notice).

    The HBG sculpts are indeed highly compatible with the OOB pieces, and in fact are more compatible than any other plastic micro-sculpt I’ve come across in over a decade of collecting.  Their colours and shades are either identical or nearly so; the HBG sculpts follow the same size conventions as do the OOB pieces; and the level of detail is either identical or very close (sometimes a little better than the OOB detail, sometimes a little less, but always close enough as to make no practical difference).  And as John Brown has noted, the range of additional units (and sometimes additional unit types) which HBG has produced is simply fantastic, with even more new sculpts currently in production or being planned.

    That being said, I think that it’s usually possible – in many cases – to tell the difference easily between OOB and HBG sculpts…and not just simply because certain models are only found as OOB pieces and certain others only as HBG pieces.  The OOB pieces seem to be produced using a harder type of plastic than HBG uses, and as a result the OOB pieces have a more shiny, glossy appearance than the HBG pieces.  This of course won’t make any difference if you paint your pieces – but not everyone does so (for instance, I don’t).  Probably also because of the differences in plastic types, the OOB sculpts – at least in my opinion – seem to have slightly smoother surfaces.  This is particularly notable in the units which have the largest, flattest surfaces: the aircraft carriers.  The OBB carriers have flight decks which are highly polished, whereas the HBG carrier flight decks aren’t polished to the same degree, even though they’re certainly flat and smooth.

    These kinds of sculpt details aside, the only other point that should be kept in mind about HBG’s great line of sculpts is that, regrettably, their production rate has slowed dramatically over the past year or two.  As I recall, the slow-down dates back to the time where the company switched to using computer-assisted design for the creation of its units.  The level of sculpt detail increased quite a bit, but for some reason so did the time it takes to get the pieces manufactured.  As an example: the two sets I current have on pre-order (HBG Amerika Boxed, and HBG_WW2_USSet22 ) were respectively ordered on March 18 and August 8 of last year, and neither has so far been delivered to me.  Updates on the status of HBG’s sculpt projects are posted by Coach from time to time in this thread…

    http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=27911.1035

    …so you may wish to check there periodically to see what the latest news is.


  • Thanks for the input John and Marc.  The differences Marc mentioned do matter to me as I am somewhat obsessive about details. I suspect I will end up a piece junkie eventually as well as I’ve always liked miniatures and model building.  I’m not going to be painting my newer pieces anytime soon.  I am very tempted to start practicing on the older pieces first and work my way to the newer sculpts when I am satisfied with my skill level.  I actually got interested in painting game minis by a friend after he showed me his Battlelore set.  He showed me how just a little bit of paint–even a basic paint job–could make a mini so much more appealing and more fun to game with.  I’ve been really impressed with the painted minis posted in this forum.

    I need to sit down and budget out minis. I think I am leaning toward just buying new copies of the games and supplementing with HBG minis for additional sculpts.  The main drawback to just buying HBG minis is a number of the basic ones for ANZAC and Italy are out of stock right now.

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    @IdaRed:

    Thanks for the input John and Marc.  The differences Marc mentioned do matter to me as I am somewhat obsessive about details. I suspect I will end up a piece junkie eventually as well as I’ve always liked miniatures and model building.  I’m not going to be painting my newer pieces anytime soon.  I am very tempted to start practicing on the older pieces first and work my way to the newer sculpts when I am satisfied with my skill level.  I actually got interested in painting game minis by a friend after he showed me his Battlelore set.  He showed me how just a little bit of paint–even a basic paint job–could make a mini so much more appealing and more fun to game with.  I’ve been really impressed with the painted minis posted in this forum.   Â

    I need to sit down and budget out minis. I think I am leaning toward just buying new copies of the games and supplementing with HBG minis for additional sculpts.  The main drawback to just buying HBG minis is a number of the basic ones for ANZAC and Italy are out of stock right now.

    IdaRed, I’m glad we could help you. I just started painting for the first time in January, so don’t worry about impressing anyone. We all had to start somewhere. At least, that is what all the guys have told me. Good luck in your collecting and painting. Both are fun hobbies. :-D


  • @IdaRed:

    Thanks for the input John and Marc.  The differences Marc mentioned do matter to me as I am somewhat obsessive about details. I suspect I will end up a piece junkie eventually as well as I’ve always liked miniatures and model building.  I’m not going to be painting my newer pieces anytime soon.  I am very tempted to start practicing on the older pieces first and work my way to the newer sculpts when I am satisfied with my skill level.  I actually got interested in painting game minis by a friend after he showed me his Battlelore set.  He showed me how just a little bit of paint–even a basic paint job–could make a mini so much more appealing and more fun to game with.  I’ve been really impressed with the painted minis posted in this forum.   Â

    I need to sit down and budget out minis. I think I am leaning toward just buying new copies of the games and supplementing with HBG minis for additional sculpts.  The main drawback to just buying HBG minis is a number of the basic ones for ANZAC and Italy are out of stock right now.

    It sounds as if you already fully qualify as a piece junkie (even if you don’t necessarily own a lot of sculpts right now), so welcome to the club.  :)

    It also sounds as if we operate on a very similar wavelength when it comes to the kinds of details that we consider important.  I have a huge amount of respect for enthusiasts who paint their sculpts – often to an awe-inspiring degree of detail – but in my particular case I’ve never been interested in painting or otherwise customizing my sculpts (which is a good thing, because even if I had the interest I wouldn’t have the time and that I doubt I’d have the required eyesight and manual dexterity).  In fact, for me one of the fun challenges of collecting A&A sculpts has always been: how can I organize the sculpts to make the best possible use of the range of designs and colours available, without actually modifying the sculpts themselves?  How can I make use of the changes in design and colour that have taken place over the years to represent more powers that the current OOB represent?

    I’m still waffling over some of the choices available to me, but one example of what I’m talking about has worked out so well that I consider it finalized.  I use the nationally-distinctive butternut-grey ANZAC pieces from G40/2 to represent the southern self-governing Commonwealth Dominions (Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), and I use the British-patterned butternut-grey “ANZAC” pieces from G40/1 (boosted with half of the G40/2 ANZAC AAA units) to represent the northern self-governing Commonwealth Dominions of Canada, Newfoundland and Eire.  Initially I had planned to use the “blonde” UK units from D-Day to represent Eire, which starts out as a neutral, but then I realized that this distinction wasn’t necessary: if Eire is neutral then there’s no point in giving it any units at all, and if Eire joins the war then it acquires the same status as the other northern Commonwealth Dominions and thus there’s no need for its units to be different.

Suggested Topics

  • 8
  • 6
  • 15
  • 10
  • 16
  • 21
  • 4
  • 82
Axis & Allies Boardgaming Custom Painted Miniatures

25

Online

17.0k

Users

39.3k

Topics

1.7m

Posts