@dtodd3 Yes, although we haven’t played in a while since I’ve moved and have to build a new War Room.

Hey everybody - I’m pleased to announce that all the known kinks are finally out of my Progressive Arms Research system we’ve been game testing for three years - the whole thing is now for sale at Historical Board Gaming! You can adapt this system to work for any edition of Axis and Allies. You will get the full size professionally printed chart, complete rules, and copy cards.

Click the link here to see my explanation video and purchase…

http://www.historicalboardgaming.com/Progressive-Arms-Research-Chart-_p_2750.html

Hello all - a spare bedroom opened up in my basement and I’ve converted it into my own war room. � The centerpiece is Imperious Leader’s excellent 1942 map which I downloaded to a zip file and took to a local printer.

First an overall view of the table in the room:

Another view - propaganda posters and newspaper clippings from WWII are framed on the walls:

Next the ceiling: 2 strips of bright studio lights. A historic flag from each major nation in WWII is draped to the corners:

Handmade wood and felt dice rolling trays on both sides of the map keep the dice from hitting other pieces:

Handmade wooden trays for each nation:

This map on the wall is a copy of an actual German invasion map - circa Sept. 1942 - Stalingrad.

The closet was converted into a nook with a 40’s look. I keep all my extra pieces and game parts in the dresser below and the radio plays Cds with 40’s music:

A custom production chart at the head of the table - made of sheet metal with magnetic markers:

My custom battle-boards are double sided “attack” and “defense” to increase size and utility - each side of the table has it’s own that can be flipped over according to the situation:

�

Lastly, to avoid those disastrous game ending spills - everyone has his own cup holder under the table. House rule: no drinks on the table!

I’ve been wanting to something like this for 25 years - finally have the space and a good tolerant wife. Now the guys can play and just walk off and shut the door and it will all be there next time. Thanks again to Imperious Leader for the great map! � � �

We’ve done this before and it is a lot of fun. Instead of setting the game up over and over the same way, players each take 5-7 rounds doing an “Arms Buildup”. The amount of money you get to spend for units is inverse to the amount of starting income you have. (i.e. USA gets the least, USSR the most) During arms buildup, you do not need to place units where you have an Industrial Complex. Just put units anywhere within your borders and ships adjacent to friendly borders. After arms buildup ends, the war starts! 

I got a new toy - MS Publisher 2013 - man is it fun! I should have upgraded long ago. These will be our new reference cards for next game….they look a little fuzzy here but they print sharp.

Sorry these won’t work for any versions of Axis and Allies as my game is totally customized, but maybe they’ll give you some ideas…

I’m using the Spring 1942 map but you get the idea with global - it is adaptable - it gets fun because you see your opponent building up somewhere and then you have to react to that. It makes every game a new game with new starting strategies. We don’t find it necessary to put restrictions on what you buy. Each round of buildup you will be observing what others place out and can buy accordingly.

I agree that some pieces can get hard to identify due to extreme realism. The only problem with bases is that they will take up more map room, plus it would look even more unrealistic than colors - ships and tanks floating around on top of rectangles. I have no problem at all with part of each game piece being the country color. For example, only paint the superstructure of the ships grey, leaves the hulls country color. After all, these are primarily game pieces, not show pieces - IMO their primary purpose should be to enhance enjoyment of the game.

@Imperious:

Excuse me but this is essentially my map with a few crude edits. It is not any other.

And what exactly did I do to deserve this? I’ve been nothing but thankful and respectful to you for letting me adapt your map, IL - stuff like this is why I barely visit this site anymore. Isn’t your 1942 map pretty much an EXACT copy of an already published retail map, just made prettier?

This is supposed to be a thread about a map that I adapted. It is what it is - all faults included. Nobody is forced to visit here if they don’t like it.

Here are my Airborne units. The uniform color remains the country color for identification purposes. I painted the bases blue to identify the units as airborne. The allied transport planes have invasion stripes on the wings. The Axis planes have a white tail stripe to identify them.

The units can all be purchased from Historical Board Gaming.

interesting - thanks!

I was reading the rules for this edition today and it says you can win a standard victory by controlling 9 of 12 victory cities. There is no mention of capitals in the victory conditions.

Am I correct to say you can theoretically win this game without controlling any of the other side’s capitals?

@CWO-Marc Thank you for these insights and links - very helpful!

@GEN-MANSTEIN I’m interested in a bigger map - I just want to know it works well before going to all the effort and expense. Please send me your link when you live stream - thanks! (derkuenstlersden@zohomail.com)

I don’t get it. The UK, Russia, and Japan would logically be sitting at the top of your map closest to their capitals. But that would mean Germany could not even reach their own capital from their chair on the other side. I guess I would have to visit somebody with a big map to see it.

Confucius said “Too far is no better than not far enough.”

I’ve been seeing a lot of 4 X 8 maps out there. These obviously look impressive, but how do you practically play on them? How do you resolve the problem of not being able to reach across a 4 foot map? Where do you put all of your reference cards, battleboards, dice rollers, IPCs, and unit trays?

I can see a single guy or two doing this, spinning around to use additional tables for play aids and moving around the table, but what if you have six guys? Don’t you end up crashing into each other to get to distant parts of the map, charts, etc?

I think you are right - thank you!

@Stumblebum Thank you!

@Young-Grasshopper Thanks YG - I’ve missed fiddling with this game - it satisfies a creative urge I have in me, as well as you and others here. Even if ideas fail, they are fun to tinker with…glad to see you still around!