I have been playing around with different configurations for a custom table and wanted to note some things I’ve landed on that I really like. A main one thing is having the map mounted so that it can slide around as needed on top of a bigger playing area. My table is 65” x 95” in total with a 5.5” arm rest around the outside and the middle is a recessed neoprene surface. I have the OOB Global map mounted on 1/2” rigid foam with a 1/2” aluminum frame around it. This allows the map to slide up close to whoever’s turn it is, but then be in the middle so both players can roll dice In front of them without disturbing the map and in easy view of the other player. (Plus we like lots of room to roll the bones). This ability to adjust the surface along with a standing height, makes it comfortable for long uses because you can move around more and don’t feel as tied down.
Things I’ve learned and changed from original design - I originally used too big of a frame for the map and mounted it on too high of a foam block (you can see these pictures at the bottom) - it made it hard to see the other player’s dice and the big frame took up too much real estate. My global map is mounted on much thinner foam (the framing is bad, you can see if you look closely) but I also used much thinner aluminum angle for the frame. This gives just enough grip when needing to move the map around (I use furniture slides on the bottom, which glide very nicely on the neoprene) but doesn’t make the whole thing too bulky. Having it an inch or so off the surface keeps the dice off, but isn’t so heigh that you can’t see the other player’s dice rolls. When playing other versions (such as Zombies) the board is much smaller, but it can easily swap in and out on the same table since it can move around where ever it is needed or be pushed aside.
I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped. Standing height with a bar stool is a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The 5.5” rim around the table itself gives you a nice arm rest that doesn’t interfere with the gaming surface. I’m playing with how to best add some cushion to this part - open to suggestions. Sometimes I just lay a piece of leftover neoprene on it.
Dice bounce nice on the neoprene and stay off the floor. It also feels nice and has enough give to allow things to slide but be picked up easily. Wouldn’t definitely go with neoprene again as a surface covering.
I made the drawers open to the inside of the table so you can stay hunched over the action while accessing and stowing stuff away. 50/50 on whether I would keep this if I were to do it again. If I were doing it again, I might try to build customer drawers form scratch using actual drawer glides, but that was beyond my ability when I first did this, so I just used clear plexiglass boxes with aluminum pulls mounted on them. It’s nice having them clear, and I was happy with how the pulls came out, but without glides they can be a little fussy sliding in and out of their slots.
I originally designed the table so that I could put a cover surface back on top when not in use, but find I don’t really ever do that, so if I were to do it again, I might not mess with that part (I never even finished staining those as you can see in the pictures).
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1940 Global table & painted pieces
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And all the Victory Cities are lit and ready for this weekend’s game.
Congratulations – great work! And the timing is nice because the upcoming weekend is the long Labor Day one, which is well suited to long games.
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Can I get some feedback on my Japanese armor? I think I like it, but I am open to suggestions for improvement before I mass produce.
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Jluna,
––Nice paint jobs, my friend. IMHO painted units add that extra layer of depth to a game that you can totally emerse yourself in. Keep up the good work.
“Tall Paul”
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Looks good.
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The biggest problem I’ve found with painting is trying to keep them looking realistic but distinct enough to tell units apart for people playing with me that don’t know the difference between a Sherman and a Matilda II. Yeah, I know there’s decals but I don’t even want to go there. LOL
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That’s why I’m resistant to painting mine - I’m always explaining which ship is which as it is. I finally color coded the tips of the ships - not historical but practical.
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@Der:
That’s why I’m resistant to painting mine - I’m always explaining which ship is which as it is. I finally color coded the tips of the ships - not historical but practical.
I’m still working on painting. I’m not even going to attempt painting everything. I’m at the point where the ones I do have painted will be used as “veteran” units. They will be mostly for eye candy and just for fun.
There are some damn fine painters here and I totally respect thier work. However there is no way I’m spending the time and effort to decal units. Unfortunately to realize my complete vision of the perfect Axis & Allies set I’d have to spend a fortune to get all decals I need plus some nicer equipment and tools for painting and modding.
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Don’t get me wrong - I do love and much admire the painted units - they just need to somehow be easily identifiable on the map.
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@Der:
Don’t get me wrong - I do love and much admire the painted units - they just need to somehow be easily identifiable on the map.
Oh I know what you mean. Tall Paul and his crew of customizers do quite a bit of that. LHoffman just did a bunch of planes for him that have some great detail and designation painting and decals.
I still love painting I’m just not willing to do all of my mini’s. A few just to pepper the board a little is where I’m setting my goal for now.
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I really like how these all came out.
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Very nice!
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Jluna,
I really like how these all came out.
––Me, too! Nice work on a difficult paint scheme. What I like most is how distictive your national ensigns appear,…very important!
“Tall Paul”
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Guys,
@Der:
Don’t get me wrong - I do love and much admire the painted units - they just need to somehow be easily identifiable on the map.
Oh I know what you mean. Tall Paul and his crew of customizers do quite a bit of that. LHoffman just did a bunch of planes for him that have some great detail and designation painting and decals.
I still love painting I’m just not willing to do all of my mini’s. A few just to pepper the board a little is where I’m setting my goal for now.
––I think we ALL agree that painted units are COOL,…and add another level of “visual submersion” into our favorite game. Let me share some of my thoughts/concerns:
-1.) Although 3 or 4 guys are working on my units I truly don’t know if I’ll live long enough to see the conclusion of this massive undertaking.
-2.) IMHO it’s extremely important to be able to identify each unit’s NATIONALITY and TYPE, quickly and without confusion from a distance.
-3.) All of my units will have a National Ensign ,or Roundel, placed on them using decals, or when necesary, hand-painting. I prefer I-94 Enterprises decals for this. For example all ships will have a rectangular “flag” decal on their sterns. Armored units will have them on their rear decks. Aircraft will have national ensigns on the top of BOTH wings and both fuselage sides, although this isn’t historically accurate in some cases (USAAF). All Artillery units will have decals on their breach blocks.
-4.) In order to reduce the amount of possible confusion, especially when NEW UNIT TYPES are introduced, I have decided to STANDARDISE the Artillery and Transport Ship units for all nations. For the “normal” 105 artillery I’m using the OOB American Artillery piece. And for the Troop Transport I’m using the Anzac Transport from the 2nd Edition Pacific game. IMHO this will make it much less confusing,….especially when the Heavy Artillery units and numerous ship types are introduced. Both have been “modified” in order to have their national ensigns either on their breech blocks or on their sterns (poop deck).
-6.) I’ve even gone further and had an “Alpha” decal applied to each aircraft to designate it’s TYPE, but this is quite tedious to do. “LHoffman” did a wonderful job on these,…see below:
-7.) All nations will have distinctive paint jobs that will assist in their identification. This extends to the “Special Forces” and “Winter”, “Desert”, and other area-specific paint jobs of each nation.
-8.) Although my Game Map has been enlarged 150% to 48" x 108" I didn’t want to have to use literally dozens of “Territory Control Markers” as I thought they were distracting, time consuming, and cluttered up the map. I noticed the
painter “Allworkandnoclay” was painting national ensigns on the bases of his Infantry units. These were not only cool looking,….but made the territorial control markers uneccesary so I had him paint all of my Infantry units.----My brother only “marks” certain units in order to avoid confusion with simular sized/shaped units and doesn’t
do any “paint jobs”. Here’s my suggestion for only "marking units of ALL nations:-Heavy Bombers colored on wingtips.
-Tactical Bombers colored on tails.
-Fighters colored on noses.
-Battleships colored on smokestacks.
-Cruisers colored on sterns
-Destroyers colored on bows––If you use a distictive color for each nation you’ve further assisted the identification process. A little thought ahead of time does go a long way!
----I realize that these are only my opinions, but I thought I’d express them so that they might assist others in dealing
with their own “issues” of “painted units”“Tall Paul”
T for Transport
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Tall Paul,
Thanks for the input. Definitely some great ideas there. I may have to go back and tweek my stuff. I don’t have a team, but I am determined to complete all my global pieces.
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Jluna,
Congratulations
––You seem to be making extremely fast progress on your paint jobs, much faster than us…and they look great.
----Since I’m aflicted with the dreaded “I want it super-detailed” disease our modification/paint/decal jobs are going much slower. But the ones we’ve gotten done so far are just like I wanted them.
----My hat’s off to you. Keep up the good work as I always enjoy seeing your work.----I truly feel that a set of A&A units look GREAT with only the “coloring” added that designates the different unit types. Everyone here has different talents, tastes, opinions, time and/or financial considerations to keep in mind. But we can all have FUN,…which IMHO is the ONLY thing that’s important (besides annihilating my opponent).
“Tall Paul”
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@Tall:
Jluna,
Congratulations
––You seem to be making extremely fast progress on your paint jobs, much faster than us…and they look great.
----Since I’m aflicted with the dreaded “I want it super-detailed” disease our modification/paint/decal jobs are going much slower. But the ones we’ve gotten done so far are just like I wanted them.
----My hat’s off to you. Keep up the good work as I always enjoy seeing your work.----I truly feel that a set of A&A units look GREAT with only the “coloring” added that designates the different unit types. Everyone here has different talents, tastes, opinions, time and/or financial considerations to keep in mind. But we can all have FUN,…which IMHO is the ONLY thing that’s important (besides annihilating my opponent).Â
“Tall Paul”
Indeed sir.
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Tall Paul,
Thanks for the input. Definitely some great ideas there. I may have to go back and tweek my stuff. I don’t have a team, but I am determined to complete all my global pieces.
Yeah you are really doing a great job. I’m moving in a different direction with what I want to paint now. I started painting my old Fortress America and A&A Classic pieces in eight color schemes. I got all the FA done and the US, but since I’m not doing decals it’s been really hard to have variable camo schemes and still tell everything apart. Besides that MB pieces are becoming rare and I just replaced some from eBay so I still have a playable set and an “un-punched/played” set in my collection.
Anyway I’ll be finishing some MB UK units and then switching to current and easily available pieces for painting from now on.
Again, nice work man!
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Is anyone else using pieces from GHQ Models? I have read a lot of threads here, but I can’t say that I have seen these mentioned. They are metal, so obviously more expensive than the plastic ones from HBG. Do you guys think its worth the investment?
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Jluna,
––Let’s see. If I recall there are at least 3-4 A&A painters that use some of the GHQ Micro Armor. “WilTan” and “PanzerPainter” come to mind. Although the white metal used by GHQ allows more detailed units, it’s almost impossible to keep a tank barrel straight. They simply bend TOO EASILY. I originally had planned on using GHQ for a large percentage of my units but ultimately decided against it. Each gamer has to decide for themselves what they will accept or not accept. Obviously there is a price difference, too. They do offer a nice variety of units, though. You might check-out WilTan’s modification thread here in the customizations area.
“Tall Paul”
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@Tall:
You might check-out WilTan’s modification thread here in the customizations area.
I will check out that thread. Thanks, Tall Paul.