The Most Important Pieces To Customize


  • Hello all.  I thought I would solicit your thoughts on which types of pieces in any version of A&A scream for painting the most.

    IMHO, the most confusing piece on the board in the original Pacific and Pacific 1940 is the USA fighter in China.  Having to differentiate between a Chinese fighter that looks American and any USA fighters in that zone seems like a headache waiting to happen.

    Otherwise, I would say the pro-Axis and pro-Allies neutrals in Europe 1940 need attention.  The fact is that upon being attacked, you’re supposed to pick any random country to donate an infantry to that territory.  If the attacker doesn’t win, the infantry stay there but cannot be moved.  Seems like confusion might set in eventually.

    Your thoughts?


  • This is what I did for the Chinese fighter in either game.


    Sorry it’s a bit dirty, but these were meant to be played with.

    I pulled a P-40 Warhawk out of the Axis & Allies 1941 box, primed it and painted it as close to this as possible…


  • Greece…

    And the roundel that I used for the base…

    (From Axis & Allies War At Sea)


  • Yugoslavia…

    And the roundel I used for the base…

  • '18 '17 '16 '15 Customizer

    Nice man! Especially the Flying Tiger fighter.

    I don’t know… for me it’s either all or nothing. I really like continuity, or uniformity, so having a couple ieces painted and the rest not just wouldn’t work.

    If there was one I would have to pick it would probably be the Chinese fighter. It is the most unique unit in the game, as far as I can tell. While there has never been an issue in any of my games in which it could be mistaken for a US plane, I suppose it could happen. If the US did end up in China somehow, I would think that is a signal that the Pacific war is pretty much over.

    As for pro-neutrals… I have also don’t normally see a situation where they survive an attack and then just sit there. In 97% of my experience they are wiped out in the first attack. And I don’t think it is too confusing to remember that they are still neutrals in the event that they are not destroyed right away. Seems like it would be more confusing to have them painted as a certain nationality and then have to remember who activated them and when they get to move/attack. But, as always, I am for superfluous decoration!

  • Customizer

    An old copy of “Attack!” will work great for neutrals. You can find a brand new copy for as low as $10US on Amazon. I believe there’s amany as eight colors, maybe ten. The scale is compatible to A&A size.

    As far as painting I’m looking to start out with simple stylized paint schemes that give the look and feel of the original piece but adding detail at the same time. I’m going to forego decals or painting national markings as the scale is just too damn small to make painting en masse viable for potential sale.

    I plan to use Testor’s enamel to paint a two-tone paint scheme using the national color and paint and ink to weather and detail. I’m probably going to go against the grain for my fist set and use a high gloss hard finish to make the pieces detailed but still “game like” so if I or a customer wants to use the custom pieces in other games they will have extra detail but still match with the OOB sets. In addition it will enable destinction for house rules.

    As of this post I am still researching painting techniques and have some of my equipment. I’l start with some experimental models which I hope to post in the near future.

  • Customizer

    Robbie your Flying Tiger looks great! as well as your other pieces.


  • I’m right there with you. Looking at yellow green art and fighter from HBG for china but out of stock atm. Looking at HO scale men in white for neutral. Might go with hbg there as well. Toying with custom roundels for pro axis/allies territories. Example…germany attacks strick neutral and losses. Place x number of white infantry and my roundel that says “ALLIES” to denote it is now proallied


  • @robbie358:

    Hello all.  I thought I would solicit your thoughts on which types of pieces in any version of A&A scream for painting the most.

    IMHO, the most confusing piece on the board in the original Pacific and Pacific 1940 is the USA fighter in China.  Having to differentiate between a Chinese fighter that looks American and any USA fighters in that zone seems like a headache waiting to happen.

    Otherwise, I would say the pro-Axis and pro-Allies neutrals in Europe 1940 need attention.  The fact is that upon being attacked, you’re supposed to pick any random country to donate an infantry to that territory.  If the attacker doesn’t win, the infantry stay there but cannot be moved.  Seems like confusion might set in eventually.

    Your thoughts?

    HBG has British infantry for sale. I bought 25 and painted them white to use for neutral armies.

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