Hi All, I’m Nate from Detroit, MI in the US, currently living near Portland OR.
I first played A&A in middle school when my board-flipping cousins brought a copy of classic A&A to a family retreat. We woke up when it was still dark every morning and played some sort of A&A-army-men-hybrid with the pieces (boards were flipped), which developed over the years into actually reading the rules and playing the game as intended many times. I finally bought AAR in college and drummed up a group of guys to play it with a few times every semester. I would say the real “hook” moment for me was discovering the Caspian Sub AAR strategy articles in the old yahoo group. I can’t tell you how many times I have read those papers!

I own AAR, 41, 42, 42.2, and AA50, but my copy of AAR (with Italy as a separate power sharpied and taped on to the board) will always have a special place in my heart. These days I’m a father of two with a real job, and A&A and board gaming in general is solidly on the back burner, but I dream, and host the occasional game night. I think my main interest here is in tweaking and customization, and in my ongoing search for the spark of genius from those Caspian Sub articles.

Hi all, here are a few things I’m tinkering with to replace the OOB chits, for those of you with access to a 3D printer.

Download them (for free!) from Thingiverse and print them yourself, or support the designer by ordering them printed on Shapeways! I’m still testing, so Shapeways orders should be considered ‘beta’ orders to help me work out the kinks.

Completed so far:

• Minor IC (single, smaller smokestack; smaller building) (Thingiverse Link)
  – New: Order these printed on Shapeways! QTY 10, QTY 20
• Major IC (four taller-than-OOB smokestacks, larger footprint with small buildings) (Thingiverse Link)
  – New: Order these printed on Shapeways! QTY 10
• Major ICs (same as above with two smokestacks) (Thingiverse Link)
• Naval Base token (reversible) (Thingiverse Link)
• Shipyard miniature (Thingiverse Link)
• Airbase token (reversible) (Thingiverse Link)
• Airfield miniature (Thingiverse Link)
  – New: Order these printed on Shapeways! QTY 10
• Recruitment Center token (reversible) (Thingiverse Link)
• Recruitment Center miniature (Thingiverse Link)

Prototype Image:

Minor IC (Thingiverse Link)
14x8x17mm (vs 17x9x17 IC OOB)
New: Buy on Shapeways! QTY 10, QTY 20

Major IC (Thingiverse Link)
17x17x24mm (vs 17x9x17 IC OOB)

Major IC (v2, climate change edition) (Thingiverse Link)
17x17x24mm (vs 17x9x17 IC OOB)
New: Buy on Shapeways! QTY 10

Naval Base Token (Thingiverse Link)
These are reversible (same relief on bottom side)

Shipyard Miniature (Thingiverse Link)

Airbase Token (Thingiverse Link)
These are reversible (same relief on bottom side)

Airfield Miniature (Thingiverse Link)
Order these printed on Shapeways! QTY 10

Recruitment Center Token Thingiverse Link
These are reversible (same relief on bottom side)

Recruitment Center (Thingiverse Link)

Here’s a size comparison on the ICs (middle one is OOB, for comparison):

Finally got my test prints off the company printer! Pic below. The IC is the same size as the OOB IC, for size comparison.

I also shrank the self-propelled artillery pieces by a further ~20%, so I should be down to about 1:350 scale now, which should look better on the board given how tiny the OOB Mech Infantry are. I’ll post comparison pics of OOB pieces with the new smaller hummels and sextons (priests were omitted from this print, unfortunately) from home tonight. For anyone looking to replicate, grab the 1:200 3D files from m_bergman and shrink by ~45% before printing.

Hi All, just a fun post- here are all the unit sculpts I’ve been cleaning up for AAA! The raw files for every one of these (except the roundel) was found on Thingiverse (most from the incredible m_bergman); all have been modified (some more-or-less completely rebuilt), scaled, and edited for printability, and finally repeatedly print-tested by me. All of these have run through the full-color 3D printer I have access to at work- pictures coming soon!

Starting from left and moving roughly to the right in typewriter fasion, the first row has:

• Tiger I (Axis Heavy Tank)
• DH Mosquito (Allied Tac Bomber) (needed extras for Canada- hence the purple )
• Hummel (Axis Self-propelled Artillery)
• USS Independence (Allied Escort Carrier)
• IJN Royujo (Axis Escort Carrier)
• Katayusha (Russian Self-propelled Artillery)
• Me-262 (Axis Jet Fighter)

The second row:

• IS-2 (Allied Heavy Tank)
• Panzer III (Axis Light Tank)
• HMS Atherstone (Escort)
• LCM (Landing Craft)
• USS Midway (Super Carrier)
• D9 (Engineers)
• M3 Stuart (allied Light Tank)
• Wirbelwind (Axis Mobile AAA)
• Me-410 (Heavy Fighter)

The rest:

• 0.75" roundel
• Sexton (Allied Self-propelled Artillery)
• Waco G-4 (Glider)
• Generic kneeling sniper (Special Forces)
• P-80 Shooting Star (Allied Jet Fighter)
• Flaktrack (Allied Mobile AAA)
• USS Des Moines (Battlecruiser)
• M7 Priest (US Self-propelled Artillery)
• Halftrack (Allied Mech Inf.- done but not pictured- needed for canada )

UPDATE 1: I’ve also added some of the miscellaneous bits of my own design that I have been working on over the years. Veterans of the forum will recognize some of these from previous threads I’ve posted, but some are brand new.

UPDATE 2: More units!

(More) Units:

• StuG III (German Tank Destroyer)
• Archer (British Tank Destroyer)
• IJN Myoko (Japanese Heavy Cruiser)
• Beaufighter (British Heavy Fighter)

Misc:

• Damage/flame token
• Grain token
• Oil Drum
• Bar of metal
• Coal
• 3/4" x 3mm disc
• Czech Hedgehog
• Mine token

Buildings:

• Research Center
• Installation (uses/holds an OOB generic AAA unit as the “gun” on top)
• Major Industrial Complex
• Medium Industrial Complex
• Minor Industrial Complex
• Airfield
• Shipyard
• Airbase token
• Naval Base token
• Recruitment Center token

All of these can be found here on Thingiverse!

Beyond just doing this for fun, my plan is to gradually add these units one/two at a time with the group I play with. As we add them and get comfortable, I’ll start locking them behind research and use an early start date and map (like oztea’s awesome 1939 G40 scenario). For the curious, this system uses most of the nations’ tank sculpts as “medium” tanks and the fighter sculpts as “light” fighters- the ones I modeled and printed take on the “heavy” role (USA is the exception with OOB sculpts for both: P-38 HFTRs and hellcats from pacific taking the LFTR role).

Anyway, enjoy. If anyone is curious about rules for all of these extra units and the corresponding point-based tech tree, let me know and I’ll share what I have.

@djensen Thanks for everything you do for this community!

@Midnight_Reaper said in Custom 3D Miniatures: Major & Minor Industrial Complexes, Recruitment Center, Airbase, and Naval Base:

You’ve got some really great pieces here. Thanks for taking feedback and turning it into awesome pieces. You rock!

-Midnight_Reaper

Thanks!

Here’s everything so far:

@Argothair, put me down for helping in general with playtesting, naming territories, and GIMP/art stuff. What help do you need right now?

• I just want to make sure that you know that Inkscape (free/open-source illustrator clone) can quickly and awesomely vectorize raster images- I’ve attached your map, vectorized as a pdf below (this took literally 5 minutes; you can endlessly tweak/refine the process, exclude text, etc…). You’re probably already aware- I just want to make sure. This obviously doesn’t instantly solve your 1-pixel-wide problems.

• I think the Azores in the Atlantic has an expansive effect on Axis mental health (and strategic bombing strategies); what about in one of the two spots shown below?

argo_draft_map.pdf

@Black_Elk playing the POS map with the islands between SZs was just a massive eye-opener. I modified community maps and printed big physical POS & POS+C maps, and I taped your islands to my revised board- my group played 10 or 20 in-person games between 2006-2009 on those setups! So much crunchier tactically, especially in the Mediterranean and PTO, and the initial unit placements were so refreshing.

@Tjoek
I’m working on Honolulu as a tribute to all of this work you’ve done. I actually went and carefully isolated the dot, text and shadows out of the background before I realized you can probably just drop it all wholesale, land and sea bits and all, on the correct island.

Iwo Jima is done already, assuming the rotation is all that was wrong with that one.

The real winner, here, is fricking GIMP. Seriously, I cannot believe something like GIMP exists.

After putting forward this idea last year, it’s been discussed in various other threads so I’m splitting it out here to avoid derailing them. I’m sure someone else has thought of this, but it seemed original and interesting enough to warrant consideration. I see this applying widely but at least to Anniversary '41 and to AA42.2.

Colonial Outpost
Before the start of the game, in lieu of any bid, the Allies may instead elect any one Allied-controlled territory to be the “Colonial Outpost” for that game. If they do, add a Industrial Complex* and AAA unit** to that territory and increase it’s IPC value by +1 (but not over 3) for the duration of the game. If the Colonial Outpost is ever captured by the Axis Powers, the Industrial Complex there is destroyed (not captured) and the value of the territory reverts back to the original value printed on the board.

* This is a Minor IC in games that include Minor ICs
** Only in games where ICs do not have built-in AAA

The background for this idea is the combination of two problems that seemed to have dogged at least the ‘mainline’ games like 42.2 and Anniversary:

1. Axis bias (sometimes extreme)
2. Godzilla-Japan (KJF is an order of magnitude more difficult than KGF; JTDM; etc.)

The consensus fix for balance’s sake is an Allied bid. Bids do offer a kind of flexibility and balance, but are by definition minimal (usually no more than one unit per TT allowed)- and they can be subject to fiddly restrictions or ultimately swept away by a single unlucky roll of the dice. A hitpoint in Egypt in no way guarantees it holds against even a nominal G1 attack; and Indian bid cannot ultimately preserve it from Japan; units in Russia have to be scrutinized to avoid breaking the tenuous R1/G1 balance; and so on. What makes the Colonial Outpost idea so interesting to me is that it can’t be negated with dice alone (it’s a vector change, not just an incremental blip) while also being very simple: just place a factory and bump the IPC value up by 1 (unless it’s already 3+).

Some additional considerations of a Colonial Outpost rule might be

1. Maybe we want to allow any IC placed by the allies as part of a bid to be considered a “Colonial Outpost”, following the same rules as above, ala: “Any IC placed as part of an Allied bid is considered to be a ‘CO’…”
   – This would allow the CO to be just a part of the bid and not the entirety thereof, meaning you could have this AND some elements of a normal bid, or they could be combined for an even stronger CO e.g. CO +1 Inf in the event of a bid of 18, etc.

2. For that matter, maybe we build in a free Infantry or two to the CO, to widen the range of possible locations to include those where a naked IC could fall even before it’s owner takes a turn.

3. Maybe we should set a bid threshold that would have to be met in order to depoloy the CO with this: “In any game where the settled bid is greater than X, the bidding side may elect to waive that bid and designate a CO…”
   – X =…18? 20? You can already just bid a factory, if you want, and the +1 IPC/turn is nearly worthless by itself… but +100% or +50% production capacity is obviously a game-changer in a default 1 or 2 IPC territory.

4. [ G40 only ] Maybe we should preclude the risk-free upgrade of the CO into a full-blown Major IC with this: “If the Colonial Outpost’s Minor IC is ever upgraded to a Major IC, that Major IC is exempt from the special CO rule above and is not destroyed automatically when the territory is captured. Follow the standard OOB rules for IC capture instead.”

I’m teaching either AA50 or AA42.2 to a group soon, and I’m intending to give this rule a try. I’m not sure that this rule wouldn’t also be some fun for the Axis side as well, I just can’t think of a game other than Revised where anyone ever has to bid to take the Axis

@axis_roll to continue this variant discussion, since I just mentioned it in @Argothair’s Balanced Mod thread- where I also took the liberty of naming it- what if when the “Colonial Outpost” (the TT that gets the pre-game boost) is captured, the IC there is destroyed (not captured) and the TT value reverts to OOB?

Colonial Outpost
Instead of a bid, before the start of the game the Allies may designate any Allied territory as the “Colonial Outpost” for that game. Add an Industrial Complex + Anti-Aircraft Artillery to that territory and increase it’s IPC value by +1 (but not over 3) as long as it remains under the control of its original owner. If the “Colonial Outpost” is ever captured by the Axis Powers, the Industrial Complex there is destroyed (not captured) and the value of the territory permanently reverts back to the value printed on the board.

This addition to the rule would accomplish two major things:

1. It solidifies the dramatic pro-Allied swing that the Outpost represents, because it eliminates the potential Axis savings if they capture the Outpost on a TT where they stand to benefit significantly from having an IC anyways (like India)
2. It removes a major disincentive for adventurous or decoy Outpost placements- they are are net-zero for the Allies at worst.

Since the Colonial Outpost is designed to replace outright the bid, my thought is that it should never hurt the Allies even if they just drop it to distract the Axis and never build a single unit there. To weaken the variant while keeping the spirit, you could always leave either the boosted IPC value (but still destroy the IC) or let the Axis keep the IC but revert the TT value to make it less valuable to them.

I would personally much rather play a game with a whole new opportunity or angle of attack than get another couple Russian artillery and some British infantry in Egypt… not because it would be fairer but just because it would be more fun.

@Death_FromAbove Hey, what’s Utah or Anzio (aside from the historical locations)? RE: games right now, I’m still in a season of craziness. Thanks so much for the response!

@cjm2112
Thanks for summoning me back As I said in the PM, since I use an industrial printer I don’t actually have a ton of hands on experience with desktops. That being said, I’ve gotten good quality out of them before, especially if all of the below are true:

1. I’m using a file that corresponds well to the minimum achievable feature resolution for the printer
2. I use print settings that give my models the best chance of coming out well
3. I set my expectations correctly- Trying to print an AAA infantry unit on a desktop printer is going to be tough.

Per @Midnight_Reaper’s request, I’m working on a USS Atlanta and an IJN Agano for Light Cruisers. The Atlanta has existing open-source examples; the Agano I’ll have to rebuild from bits and photos (all current models are pay-only).

UPDATE: new models added!

• StuG III (German Tank Destroyer)
• Archer (British Tank Destroyer)
• IJN Myoko (Japanese Heavy Cruiser)
• Beaufighter (British Heavy Fighter)

Pic below; the Panther, Hipper, and Spitfire are for size comparisons.

Update: I’ve added some of the miscellaneous stuff of my own design I’ve been working on over the years:

Misc:

• Damage/flame token
• Grain token
• Oil Drum
• Bar of metal
• Coal
• 3/4" x 3mm disc
• Czech Hedgehog
• Mine token

Buildings:

• Research Center
• Installation (uses/holds an OOB generic AAA unit as the “gun” on top)
• Major Industrial Complex
• Medium Industrial Complex
• Minor Industrial Complex
• Airfield
• Shipyard
• Airbase token
• Naval Base token
• Recruitment Center token

Update: I’ve uploaded everything to my Thingiverse!

@Midnight_Reaper Awesome resource- thanks for sharing! Talk about mind-stretching (and necessity being the mother of invention), I was noodling around this morning and came across these, and my jaw dropped. Auxiliary Floating Drydock

@Imperious-Leader said in 25 extra unit 3D models, scaled and tweaked for A&A, including Gliders, Light Tanks, Escort Carriers and Landing Craft:

Can you do a ww1 set?

ill buy a load…

need:
German tank, plane, bomber, artillery ( Krupp large guns), Railway artillery, man kneeling with machine gun, Zeppelin, Dreadnought,Dreadnought, battle-cruiser, cruiser, destroyer, transport, sub, armored car,cavalry
UK tank plane, bomber, artillery ( large gun), railway artillery, man kneeling with machine gun, Dreadnought, battle-cruiser, cruiser, destroyer, transport , sub, airship for observation, commander, armored car, cavalry
Neutral forces:
Bulgarian infantry, Romanian infantry, Belgium Infantry, Spanish Infantry

French tanks, bomber, Dreadnought, battle-cruiser, cruiser, destroyer, transport, sub, armored car,

Russian tanks, fighter, dreadnought, armored car,cavalry

Ottoman artillery, Dreadnought, battle-cruiser, cruiser, destroyer, transport, sub, cavalry

sell in groups of 24 if possible of all the same type. I will buy alot to cover US, Austria-Hungary, Italy

Once you see my buying power, well work on American Civil War…

IL, at the risk of taking you too seriously, I would need an upfront commission to get started on these (send me a PM!), but sans-sponsorship I plan to keep my limited free-time focused squarely on WW2 units. That being said, check out m_bergman’s WWI units on Thingiverse for where I would start!

@Midnight_Reaper said in 25 extra unit 3D models, scaled and tweaked for A&A, including Gliders, Light Tanks, Escort Carriers and Landing Craft:

First of all, let me say that it’s great that you’ve made these wonderful sculpts and it’s also wonderful that you’ve decided to share them with us.

I do have some thoughts to share about some of your design decisions. They are your decisions and I respect that. But I think you might be able to take them to the next level with a little help. Says the guy with the ideas, to the guy who would have to do the work if it’s to be done. I’m not going to comment on all of them, just some. If I don’t say anything, then I like it and have nothing constructive to add.

@vodot said in 25 extra unit 3D models, scaled and tweaked for A&A, including Gliders, Light Tanks, Escort Carriers and Landing Craft:

• USS Independence (Allied Escort Carrier)

From what I can see of the sculpt, it looks nice. I would point out, though, that the Independence class carriers were not escort carriers (CVEs) but were known as light fleet carriers (CVLs). The difference being that light fleet carriers worked with the main fleet and the escort carriers worked with amphibious groups and escorting convoys. A typical allied escort carrier class would be the Casablanca class. That said, I like having a source for Independence class ships, as HBG has the US fleet carrier (Essex) and US escort carrier (Casablanca) sculpts covered already.

@vodot * IJN Royujo (Axis Escort Carrier)

I assume you mean the Ryujo class here. Again, this class was made up of light carriers, not escort carriers. They were very, very light carriers, but the mis-designation bugs my inner order-of-battle analyst all the same…

@vodot * Me-262 (Axis Jet Fighter)

More Me-262s is always something I can get behind

@vodot * IS-2 (Allied Heavy Tank)

I like your IS-2s better than the IS-2 in A&A 1941, at least from the angle I’m looking at.

@vodot * HMS Atherstone (Escort)

I’m sure she’s a fine escort ship, and the allies do have need of such a vessel in expanded games. It’s just that as the real-life HMS Atherstone was known as a Hunt class destroyer, why did you call it the HMS Atherstone instead of the HMS Hunt?

@vodot * USS Midway (Super Carrier)

I dig the Midways as a class of ships. It’s just that yours has an angled deck, and they didn’t have those when they were built, they were put in place later in refits in the 1950s. It looks out of place in a game of WW2. Would you consider making an axial deck (a non-angled deck) Midway?

@vodot * D9 (Engineers)

It’s nice to give the engineers some love and using a bulldozer to do so works for me.

@vodot * Wirbelwind (Axis Mobile AAA)

I like having options for SPAAGs (Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns) and you’ve picked a good one here.

@vodot * Me-410 (Heavy Fighter)

Other than by size, how will someone tell the Me-410s from the Ju-88s, He-111s, and the Mosquitos?

@vodot * Flaktrack (Allied Mobile AAA)

Again, I like having options for SPAAGs and you’ve picked another good one here.

@vodot * USS Des Moines (Battlecruiser)

While I dig have sculpts for the Des Moines class available, the Des Moines weren’t battlecruisers, they were just heavy cruisers. The US only designed two classes of battlecruisers, the Lexingtons and the Alaskas, and in the end only ever built one class - the Alaskas. Mind you, if you want to offer Des Moines class cruisers and not Alaskas, that’s your deal. I just might get someone to make them for me, but calling them battlecruisers is a historical inaccuracy in my opinion.

Just my 2 IPCs,

-Midnight_Reaper

Hey MR, thanks so much for the feedback! Let me reiterate that I didn’t create the raw models for most of these, just reworked them for compatibility and printability for A&A. I’m proud of the work (in some cases, significant) it has taken to get them to a printable and playable state, but mad props to the original designers, not all of which I remember off the top of my head.

I knew going in that I was committing some historical faux pas both intentionally and via ignorance, but I’m a “easily-distinguishable-on-the-board” and WYSIWYG-first sort of person with historical fidelity coming in third; nonetheless historicity should be paramount once the first two are assured. I want my group, none of which are WW2 enthusiasts/super nerds, to just immediately “get it”.

RE: Midway’s anachronistic 50’s deck retrofit, that was a rare intentional historical solecism- which isn’t to say it was in good taste- intended to reflect a “Super Carrier” tech that was not achieved in the actual WW2 timeline. Perhaps I could achieve the same end using a rectangular (Axial? I’ll take your word for it) 40’s Midway sculpt by merely enlarging it over the essex/etc? I was worried it would look like just a huge rectange, but I confess I didn’t try printing one. Needs investigation.

Regarding the Ryujo (pardon my spelling!) and Independence as Light (not escort) carriers, you’re obviously correct. Serendipitously, in my half-hour of wikipedia research (keeping your expectations low ) it seems it was the Light (as opposed to escort) Carriers that were known for their speed, which was a primary mechanic I wanted these units to have- so rebranding them as CVL’s is a win-win! A caveat on the light carriers: their historical decks are so narrow (by design, of course) that it’s basically impossible to balance an A&A-scaled plane on them. So: I’ve abrogated naval design history and added a fat landing pad on the deck so a single fighter has room to live happily. Hopefully the tradeoff is worth it for most, but this will obviously make that particular model a non-starter for some.

RE: HMS Atherstone, I can see your point, given that I called the light carrier the Ryujo. It is indeed a Hunt-class sculpt.

RE: IS-2s and the awesomeness of these models in general- yes, they kick some serious ass. 100% of these props should go to m_bergman at Thingiverse, a minor deity of military history 3D modeling.

RE: Distinguishing Me-410s… you’re right. I spent some time trying to doctor up a Westland Whirlwind (damn planes and their paper-thin wings are super time-consuming to doctor for 3D printing)… and it ended up looking identical to the Me-410. I gave up. This is the reason I only have one sculpt covering heavy fighters for everyone, about which I feel bad… but not bad enough to spend another 2 hours doctoring the whirlwind.

RE: Des Moines, you’re right. When I first started working on this expansion, my “Battlecruiser” unit was called a “Heavy Cruiser” and I think that’s why I pulled the Des Moines. Later on I decided I really like the word ‘battlecruiser’. However, similar to the serendipitous mistake on the light vs. escort distinction above, this unit was also meant to be a sweet spot between the CA and the BB combining the strengths of both, but locked behind tech and advancement. Aaaaand after another half-hour of wikipedia research, it turns out that the Des Moines did not sail until 1946; so I don’t see why I can’t call this unit an advanced “Heavy Cruiser” after all.

Hi @AAGamer, I’m doing the latter; preparing and posting them on thingiverse (for anyone with a 3D printer to print for free).

The sources for these aren’t mine, so I won’t/can’t sell them. If you’re interested in having them printed, download them from my thingiverse and find a service provider online who will print and ship the parts to you.

The only happy exception to the above would be if you happen to live in the Portland OR region… then I could potentially print some of these and give them to you at cost, providing I have the bandwidth and time available on the machines I use.