Alright, I said this long time ago, and I actually did this project some time ago… I had some friends asking me about it and suggesting I post my results on the forum, so here goes.

A brief recap… the colors WotC chose for both Italy and ANZAC has bothered me for a very long time… Italy the most, as its colors are just far too close to Russia who is both an enemy nation and one they are often in close proximity with (and often directly fight against)… Italian brown just doesn’t look like an ally of Germany, they look more like a satellite of Russia… it’s just wrong on so many levels to me… and being OCD as I am, it is probably “just me” that it bothers, but for a long time I schemed and plotted to get rid of the Italian brown and replace it with a color that would look nothing like Russia, be unique in its own color scheme, but still “mesh nicely” with their German allies. In the end, I chose a “Metallic Silver”… though really any grey would have sufficed, but I had a lot of metallic silver paint floating around from other projects and I knew the color I had worked well with plastic miniatures so I went with it.

As for the ANZAC player, they weren’t quite as bad color-wise, but once again… grey just didn’t work for me (especially if I was changing Italy to silver/grey)… I always thought the ANZAC player should look something similar but different to the UK player. I really wanted something in the “khaki” range… a little darker than UK biege, but not dark enough to start looking like those brown Italians… obviously, if I was changing Italy to Silver, that opened up the “brown” hues a lot more… but I really wanted ANZAC just a few tones darker than the UK forces… in the end, I chose “Satin Nutmeg”… couldn’t really find a Khaki that I liked.

Below are my results for the entire project and how I made it happen…

Just as a public service, I am having the 1942 SE Supreme map (1625x863mm, shrunk down a slight bit to 57x30" so it can fit on my intended playing surface) printed at my local Fed-Ex Office print shop on outdoor banner vinyl.  It’s costing me about $90 (US dollars) to have this done (might be a few bucks more than it otherwise would have been because I had it resized).  I know not everyone will get the same prices or print the same size, but that’s just to give a ball park figure in 2016 dollars of what a typical big box print shop will charge for such a project.  Kudos to Dedo for making this available to the A&A community! Here’s my results:

Lol… that’s a three year old post you dug-up… I wasn’t ordering from FMG 3 years ago so I can’t comment on what they did then, but TODAY… if you can get FMG stuff from IWNGU (and they have it in-stock), you’re good to go… but trust nothing that FMG says, their reputation around these parts is shot… if IWNGU says they have something, they are completely on the up and up and I recommend you do business with IWNGU… just ignore FMG.

Great work on the new forum… to be honest, I always fear change and it will probably take time for me to adjust, so i’ll just try and get used to the new format.

The following text is all written in HAPPY FORMAT… neither myself, nor anyone else will lose sleep over anything that follows and in the grand scheme of things, YES, this is a VERY MINOR thing… it’s just one that irks me in the “squeeky wheel” category… so remember… happy thoughts… now onto my squeeky wheel finger-wag…

If I may be so bold… I have one small gripe that will probably be ignored, but for the life of me, its the one nagging thing that bugged me about the old forum, and now it’s been moved onto the new forum with a slight change for the better, but the base issue just refuses to die.

It’s the 1980s “Axis & Allies 2nd Edition” forum… that for the life of me, I never have known anyone to refer to the original game as “2nd Edition” as it only confuses people with the more modern versions that are more routinely called “2nd Edition”.

I had voiced several times in the old forum if it was possible to just rename the forum “Axis & Allies Classic”… nobody with the power to do so ever commented… I wasn’t alone, as many people also thought it should just be called Classic.

Now with the new forum change, the word “Classic” has been elevated… but only to parenthesis status… it’s now the “Axis & Allies 2nd Edition (Classic)” forum. That needless term “2nd Edition” is just clinging on for dear life and refuses to die. Why can’t the forum just be called what everyone refers to it as… “Axis & Allies Classic”… heck if you just put “Classic” without the A&A people would understand the forum a lot better than “2nd Edition”.

As a comparison, if this were an NFL Forum and there was a sub-forum about a certain NFL team that comes from Chicago… the average person would probably call it the “Chicago Bears” forum… but I swear, with the naming scheme this forum uses for Classic, it would be known as the “Chicago NFL Team” forum if it were the original forum… and now, after much griping in the old forum as to why it wasn’t just called the “Chicago Bears” forum, finally, with the new forum switch, it’s now called the “Chicago NFL Team (Bears)” forum… [sigh].

I mean I get it… yes, there’s a 2nd edition rules set to Classic… do we need that distinction… is there a 1st edition rules Classic forum to confuse it with? If not, and we only have one Classic forum how but just call it “Axis & Allies Classic”?

Ok… meaningless rant over. Officially loving the changes, even though secretly i’m trying to adjust… if the Classic forum remains 2nd Edition forever and ever (apparently, someone owes 2nd Edition money, cuz that moniker just won’t go), it’s still a big improvement over the old forum and kudos for all the hard work you and others have put into it.

Well done on the forum changes.

I’m grabbing a couple of these 25-bin Stanley Organizers this weekend… removable bins and secure locking with comfy handle to move them around… i’m combining multiple sets, so i’ll need more than just the box and ziplocks.

@bgugs:

Ya I got to this whole site really late. I saw that whole thing posted a couple days ago about IWNGU trying to get these in stock. I will watch their stuff from now on. Thanks for the reply

You’re not the only one… I just found this site early in 2016, so I’ve only been here a little over a year, despite being a big fan of A&A from the 1980s (I did, however recently get back into the game last year).

Anyways, yeah… FMG… ignore them… IWNGU, if they have something you want in-stock, don’t hesitate to order from IWNGU, they are a great and reliable company. Also, HBG is another reliable company to order from. Between HBG and IWNGU you should have all your A&A needs covered if you want to go above and beyond what you get in the box.

Below are close ups of the Italian Army in all its Metallic Silver glory… and YES, that’s a much larger pool of units than what comes with Anniversary… not sure about Global, but its  more than enough for my needs (on purpose, I never want to run short). These are all Global 40 Italian units, with the exception of six M14/41 tanks from Anniversary (combined wtih six M15/42 tanks from Global). I actually started this project as German-controlled “flavor” units for 1942, but when I got Anniversary, they just took over for Italy proper.

This is the paint project in-work… here are the colors I used… primed with grey, painted with metallic silver and clear coated to lock in the colors and prevent flaking… I’ve used this metallic silver on other plastic mini projects before and it has performed beautifully under heavy use and never flaking.

As for painting the units themselves, on such a large scale and to prevent units getting blown around by the spray paint and getting stuck in puddles of paint, I used a non-stick aluminum foil surface with low-adhesive quick-release tape with just enough “stick” to keep them from sliding, but not enough to take the paint with them when you remove them.

This was a six-phase project… 1-primer gray one side, let dry… 2-primer gray other side, let cure… 3-metallic silver one side, let dry… 4-metallic silver other side, let cure… 5-clear coat one side, let dry… 6-clear coat other side, let cure…

Yes, to make sure each cured before sealing with another layer, there was a full 24 hour cure after both sides were done in a certain color or coat.

These are my full-sized unit bins that I use for my other five powers for all my main Axis and Allies games (1941/1942 & Anniversary)… Had to make one for Italy, including a custom flag sticker for the bin.

Here’s all my ANZAC forces spread out… I have no clue how many come with Global, as I don’t own Global, but like my earlier mention that I had an idea to make a “flavor nation” out of the Italians for 1942, I had the same thought for ANZAC units in 1942, and as I’ve moved on to Anniversary, I still don’t have a proper ANZAC nation, but I still enjoy using flavor units for British/UK units in and around the ANZAC nations of Australia, New Zealand and Canada… so for my needs, I have all ANZAC units that get placed in and around those areas in Anniversary, plus a few extra in case someone builds a factory there… I do realize I don’t have things like Battleships or Carriers, but I just don’t see anyone building them for the UK in those places. For me, ANZAC are flavor units only just to spice-up the UK player and for that reason (once again) I wanted the colors to just be a tad-off (but noticeably different) than the default UK unit colors. I even went a little further to “subdivide” the ANZAC forces into ANZ with more British-type equipment and Pacific attire (you’ll see them to the left in the below picture) and more Canadian forces with American influence (you’ll see them to the right in the below picture).

Oh, almost forgot to mention… I never liked the Australian infantry that came with Global… they were like 10-foot tall amazons… since I was repainting units anyways, I decided to go with some 1/72 model infantry and just paint them to blend with the other troops… I chose Airfix Australian Infantry…

Ah man, i started this and didn’t even get to vote… I was going to say 1-3 was ick, but I was okay with anything from 4 through 7.

So… what will it be again… “Axis & Allies Classic”?

Well… here’s a picture of the original gamebox…

CWO Marc is of course quite correct… it doesn’t say “Classic” anywhere… nor does it say “2nd Edition” either.

Maybe, since we’re all about parenthesis… we should do:
“Axis & Allies: MB (Gamemaster Series)”

I’m okay with A&A MB as well… as far as “never appearing on the box cover”, the same can be said of 2nd Edition… while “2nd Edition” does appear on more modern versions of the game, that term was never on the box cover of “Classic” (aka: MB’s version).

Bottom line… having “2nd Edition” anywhere near the Classic/MB version of the game just begs for confusion with the more modern 2nd Edition A&A titles… I really hope I don’t have to wait another decade and another update to the forum to get this nagging issue updated to something more widely understood… Having said that, yes, its still a minor issue in the big scheme of things, but it would be nice to get addressed after all these years and a forum change.

Hey hey… ho ho… 2nd edition has got to go!

P.S.
Having bought MB’s A&A when it first released, there’s definitely “1st Edition” rules in paper with the game, and definitely “2nd Edition” rules that came out some time later… I’ve owned both rulebooks… I’ve never considered “Classic” to be 2nd edition because of the Nova Games version, which is quite a bit different in many ways, but rather it became the “final” version of Classic and what most people who bought it, ended up with… but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a 1st Edition rules set… I’d consider Nova Games version a completely different animal alltogether… kinda like the early Neanderthal version of A&A… besides, I think all of three people might own that version. No matter how you slice it, the “2nd Edition” moniker used with MB’s Classic version, i have always believed to be a silly thing to call it and confusing on many levels.

Great work on the new forum… to be honest, I always fear change and it will probably take time for me to adjust, so i’ll just try and get used to the new format.

The following text is all written in HAPPY FORMAT… neither myself, nor anyone else will lose sleep over anything that follows and in the grand scheme of things, YES, this is a VERY MINOR thing… it’s just one that irks me in the “squeeky wheel” category… so remember… happy thoughts… now onto my squeeky wheel finger-wag…

If I may be so bold… I have one small gripe that will probably be ignored, but for the life of me, its the one nagging thing that bugged me about the old forum, and now it’s been moved onto the new forum with a slight change for the better, but the base issue just refuses to die.

It’s the 1980s “Axis & Allies 2nd Edition” forum… that for the life of me, I never have known anyone to refer to the original game as “2nd Edition” as it only confuses people with the more modern versions that are more routinely called “2nd Edition”.

I had voiced several times in the old forum if it was possible to just rename the forum “Axis & Allies Classic”… nobody with the power to do so ever commented… I wasn’t alone, as many people also thought it should just be called Classic.

Now with the new forum change, the word “Classic” has been elevated… but only to parenthesis status… it’s now the “Axis & Allies 2nd Edition (Classic)” forum. That needless term “2nd Edition” is just clinging on for dear life and refuses to die. Why can’t the forum just be called what everyone refers to it as… “Axis & Allies Classic”… heck if you just put “Classic” without the A&A people would understand the forum a lot better than “2nd Edition”.

As a comparison, if this were an NFL Forum and there was a sub-forum about a certain NFL team that comes from Chicago… the average person would probably call it the “Chicago Bears” forum… but I swear, with the naming scheme this forum uses for Classic, it would be known as the “Chicago NFL Team” forum if it were the original forum… and now, after much griping in the old forum as to why it wasn’t just called the “Chicago Bears” forum, finally, with the new forum switch, it’s now called the “Chicago NFL Team (Bears)” forum… [sigh].

I mean I get it… yes, there’s a 2nd edition rules set to Classic… do we need that distinction… is there a 1st edition rules Classic forum to confuse it with? If not, and we only have one Classic forum how but just call it “Axis & Allies Classic”?

Ok… meaningless rant over. Officially loving the changes, even though secretly i’m trying to adjust… if the Classic forum remains 2nd Edition forever and ever (apparently, someone owes 2nd Edition money, cuz that moniker just won’t go), it’s still a big improvement over the old forum and kudos for all the hard work you and others have put into it.

Well done on the forum changes.

@Ironarrow06:

Does any one have some wisdom for me on how to get an even coat on all sides while air brushing.

Thank you. 

I’m far from an expert, but you can check how I painted whole armies with this method…

https://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=41849.0

Here’s a Youtube video with full details on A&A: Zombies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1kQkVvgViA

@AcesWild5049:

I dont know how you navigated through that website to get this result. I couldnt even get the images to fit into their template without a ton of white space around it. Can throw out a link to the exact page on the website you used?

Ya… they definitely changed their format to something different than when I ordered them… it’s definitely a downgrade on ease of use.

Here’s the link that should get you somewhere close to where you need to be:
https://www.vistaprint.com/marketing-materials/labels-stickers/product-labels?xnav=swsProductOnly_ResultTitle

To get the same items I have, on that page select “Sheet, Rounded Rectangle, Horizontal, 3.5"x2”, White Paper" and then choose the finish you want and hit “Start Designing”… choose “Upload your design”, then add your image.

Finally on the sizing, it might look off, but I actually lengthened some of the flag images intentionally to get them to fit right… realize you need to FILL THE ENTIRE LABEL… this means feel free to have parts enlarged beyond the label… I did this intentionally with flags like the US Flag to get them to fit right… just enlarge it so much it fills top to bottom, don’t try and get the entire length of the flag stripes in. You might have to pull the image down, stretch it taller, then reposition it back to center until you fill the label top to bottom… just do this on all the labels you should be fine.

No problem, hope you enjoy the flag stickers… some of the flag files I posted above are slightly modified… as-in “elongated” over a typical flag… America and the Soviet Union are two of the more prominent examples of the elongated flags. This was to accommodate the “Rectangular Product Label’s” peculiar non-flag shaped size (product labels are just a little longer in width than the typical flag). The files are longer than the stickers turn out, this was on-purpose to give the proper “stretch” over the product labels… as you can see in my final stickers, they look more natural than the elongated sticker files (excess length doesn’t make it onto the flag sticker). Note also the US flag is accurate to WWII USA… as it has 48 stars instead of the 50 star flag after the war.

Obviously Italy isn’t in the Classic A&A game, but I made it and included it for anyone using Anniversary or Global, as both include Italy (I used another set of these stickers on my A&A Anniversary storage trays).

Enjoy.

That’s awesome… now you just need to replace those old [requires tiny fingers] styrafoam trays with something more modern to match all the other great work you did… get some modern unit bins!

This is what you end up with…