http://miniaturemarket.com/inc/sdetail/65724

This is the only type of these games I like… It’s very worth it. My recommendation for getting started is the 1939-1945 Starter Set, 2 1939-1945 boosters, 2 North Africa boosters, and 2 Eastern Front boosters. From there you’ve got 2 options depending on how you want to build up your collection. Order individual pieces online that appeal to you for specific reasons, or just stock up on boosters to build a generally large collection. Most locations that sell boosters are willing to barter with you if you buy a certain amount of them.

@Motdc:

The starter is not meant, unfortunately, to be a stand-alone game.  You must buy at least a few more booster packs to get a good mix of units to mix-n-match a decent army together.

That’s exactly it. You’ll need probably 4 or more boosters to make the starter actually enjoyable. Anything less than 100 point battles just aren’t fun.

I recommend getting the 1939-1945 Starter, four 1939-1945 boosters, and two Eastern Front boosters, and two North Africa boosters. I found with this game, it’s not terribly fun if you don’t have a variety for pieces for a couple of opposing armies. You’ll broaden your opponent base by having enough stuff to share with an opponent who has no pieces (obviously). The 39-45 stuff is essentially a “greatest hits” collection of pieces from previous sets, so you get some good stuff there. EF has a lot of fun, new, heavy hitting stuff that’s widely unavailable in 39-45. I’d focus on those 2 sets until you have enough stuff to play a good game, where you can diversify armies and not have to pick units over and over because you don’t have enough. If you can’t have 100 points vs 100 points, you won’t be having much fun.

I’ve found that I first started really having fun with this game when I had about 50-60 pieces. Trades rounded out my USA and Germany (the two forces I focused on initially). I’ve got about 1200-1500 pieces now, and in all honesty, nobody needs this many. I got hooked on the collecting aspect of it, and decided “I’ve got all the older pieces, may as well get this whole new set too”… Try and avoid that mentality if you can.

Credit to hey_yu on the official boards for finding the list.

CANADA
ef01 Ram Kangaroo

FRANCE
ef02 Hotchkiss H-39
ef03 Hotchkiss MG Team

UK
ef04 Churchill IV
ef05 Entrenched Antitank Gun
ef06 Sherman VC Firefly
ef07 Staghound

USA
ef08 Jeep
ef09 M12 GMC
ef10 M3A5 Lee
ef11 Lend Lease Half-Track
ef12 M5A1
ef13 U.S. Engineer

USSR
ef14 76.2mm Model 1942
ef15 BA-64
ef16 Fanatical Sniper
ef17 IS-2 Veteran
ef18 ISU-122
ef19 KV-85
ef20 PPSh-41 SMG
ef21 PTRD-41 Antitank Rifle
ef22 Soviet-Polish Infantry
ef23 T-34/76 Model 1942
ef24 T-34/85
ef25 T-70 Model 1942
ef26 Valentine VI
ef27 Veteran NCO

FINLAND
ef28 Finnish Infantry
ef29 Finnish MG Team
ef30 Finnish Officer
ef31 StuG-III Ausf. G

GERMANY
ef32 88 w/ Gun Shield
ef33 Flammenwerfer 35
ef34 Hummel
ef35 Jagdpanzer IV/70
ef36 King Tiger
ef37 Marder III Ausf. M
ef38 Nebelwerfer 42
ef39 PAK 38 Antitank Gun
ef40 Panther Ausf. A
ef41 Panzer II Ausf. F
ef42 Panzer IV Ausf. E
ef43 Panzer IV Ausf. G
ef44 Pioneers
ef45 Sd Kfz 234/4
ef46 SGrW 34 81mm Mortar
ef47 SS-Jagdpanther
ef48 SS-Panzergrenadier
ef49 Tiger I
ef50 Wehrmacht Oberleutnant

HUNGARY
ef51 8mm Huzagol 35M
ef52 PzKpfw 38(t)

ITALY
ef53 Brixia M35 45mm Mortar
ef54 L6/40
ef55 Veteran Carro Armato M13/40

ROMANIA
ef56 Antitank Grenadier
ef57 R-35
ef58 Romanian Infantry
ef59 T-4 Medium Tank
ef60 Vigilant Lieutenant

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about4379.html

http://aaminis.myfastforum.org/about3170.html

I have 2… but that’s better than none, and I’ve had great success when pairing them with an Imperial Sergeant.

I fielded this the other day… Totally dropping out both the 18 point tanks… so that leaves me with 36 points. I’m going to throw in the Shiden-Kai (16) and have 20 points left to spend… Make me 20 points of something!

Get the 1939-1945 Starter Set, obviously, and depending on how much additional money you have left to focus, I’d recommend getting a booster case of 1939-1945 (12 boosters). You can find that here http://miniaturemarket.com/inc/sdetail/129768 for the most reasonable price possible (you basically get 4 boosters for free). The reason I recommend the 39-45 set so much is because it’s the “greatest hits” release, so you get a pretty balanced assortment of pieces for all the medium to major powers.

If that’s a little too excessive for your tastes, or you want some specialty pieces not in it, I’d go with two 39-45 boosters, two North Africa boosters, and maybe a couple of Reserves boosters.

Ammo Dump - 10
Type 92 Machine-Gun Team - 7 (x2)
Imperial Sergeant - 9 (x2)
Imperial Sniper - 8 (x2)
SNLF Paratroopers - 5 (x4)
70mm Type 92 - 10 (x2)
Arisaka Rifle - 3
Japanese Infantry Platoon - 26
-1x Imperial Sergeant
-5x Arisaka Rifle
-1x Type 89 Mortar
Type 3 Chi-Nu - 18 (x2)
Japanese Light Tank Platoon - 33
-1x Type 97 Chi-Ha
-3x Type 95 Ha-Go
Mitsubishi A6M Zero - 12 (x2)

Tell me what you think, and if there’s anything I should switch.