I gave up on the minis after a starter pack & two boosters. While the sculpting is decent, especially on the figures, sometimes it's way off - the 6 pounder A-T gun is awful, with truncated, simplified trails. Worse yet, the tanks and figures are not to the same scale - the figures are decently 15mm, the tanks closer to 12mm. And as for the paint job, I couldn't disagree more - most of the minis are painted with just a few base colours - usually just a single colour for tanks - then a very heavy and unsubtle black wash for weathering. It looks quite effective from a distance, or while they're still in their plastic 'bubbles', but at playing range or closer they look poor.
On the other hand, the actual game looks extremely simple, but quite playable. It needs some 'houserulling' for realism (for instance, there seems to be no rule preventing A-T guns swivelling all around when firing - in fact the example of reaction fire does exactly this!), but looks OK. I'm considering using it with 10mm Pendraken metal minis.
I gave up on the minis after a starter pack & two boosters. While the sculpting is decent, especially on the figures, sometimes it's way off - the 6 pounder A-T gun is awful, with truncated, simplified trails. Worse yet, the tanks and figures are not to the same scale - the figures are decently 15mm, the tanks closer to 12mm. And as for the paint job, I couldn't disagree more - most of the minis are painted with just a few base colours - usually just a single colour for tanks - then a very heavy and unsubtle black wash for weathering. It looks quite effective from a distance, or while they're still in their plastic 'bubbles', but at playing range or closer they look poor.
In my mind I was comparing the paint jobs to other CMG products I have seen, so I was not expecting the quality level of hobbyist painted figures. And I'm not normally a historical minis player, so a sculpt mistake that's obvious to you is invisible to me. As a collectible miniatures game, I find A&A to be good stuff but I can't really offer a useful opinion to the hardcore historical minis folks.
In my mind I was comparing the paint jobs to other CMG products I have seen, so I was not expecting the quality level of hobbyist painted figures.
I wouldn't even put the paintjobs on a par with the D&D minis myself. The sculpting of the figures is good though, as were the tanks I've seen so far. The guns, however, were below par. Oh, and the german A-T gun is NOT a Pak 38 (50mm) as advertised, the mini is a Pak 35 (37mm).
And as for the mix of minis... well, the game assumes you can, and have to, mix US, USSR, British & French on one side, and German, Italian and Japanese on the other to make up a force, and with only 40 minis total in the initial release (sure, more will appear rapidly), that's a helluva limited selection! It would have made far more sense to limit the initial release to one historical front, probably Western Europe.
And as for the mix of minis... well, the game assumes you can, and have to, mix US, USSR, British & French on one side, and German, Italian and Japanese on the other to make up a force, and with only 40 minis total in the initial release (sure, more will appear rapidly), that's a helluva limited selection! It would have made far more sense to limit the initial release to one historical front, probably Western Europe.
I totally agree. The set we cracked open had a reasonable mix of Germans, Brits, and Americans, but the rare was a Russian KV-1 tank. What were we supposed to do with that tank?
My problem with this game is the scale of the map is way out of wack. A 10 foot long tank fully fills a 100 yard hex and dwarfs the roads, trees, and buildings. Who thought this was a good idea?
AAM had the unfortunate honor of being the game I played right after Memoir '44. After playing Memoir '44, no other wargame-light was going to be any fun. I didn't even want to finish the game. Neither did my opponent - in either game I played. We were all relieved when it ended.
Then I played more Memoir '44. Seriously, kids, that is one fun game.
My problem with this game is the scale of the map is way out of wack. A 10 foot long tank fully fills a 100 yard hex and dwarfs the roads, trees, and buildings. Who thought this was a good idea?
I don't know how much of a wargamer you are, but this is a common if not constant feature of miniature wargames (without hexes, usually). The mini scale is way out of whack with the ground/terrain scale. There are some games where tanks actually move less than their own length in one turn!
Admittedly, the hexes and the actual artwork of the terrain make it look worse in this case, but it's not something I find unusual.
AAM had the unfortunate honor of being the game I played right after Memoir '44. After playing Memoir '44, no other wargame-light was going to be any fun. I didn't even want to finish the game. Neither did my opponent - in either game I played. We were all relieved when it ended.
Then I played more Memoir '44. Seriously, kids, that is one fun game.
Most definitely. I just got the eastern front expansion pack for it this past week and, since I was spending money, picked up the desert/snow terrain board as well.
I am Days Of Wonder's willing recipient this week, apparently.
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If you people are going to sink your money into a WWII miniature game, I recommend that you try out Flames of War instead of A&A miniatures. Unlike A&A miniatures, you don't have to worry about getting a figure you don't want. The entry price is about a hundred (rulebook costs $40 and I believe the starters costs around $60 - $70). There are 4 faction starters out at the moment - U.S., Britain, Germany, and USSR.
The blister packs are at a good price (I saw a blister pack of a lot of soldiers for $16).
The drawbacks are that the soldier figures are way too small for me to paint them and that the tanks require assembly.
I personally have no interest in historical wargames but the rules for this game seemed interesting (although I only skimmed through the book). There seems to be a fog of war in effect and you use scouts and intelligence units as a beacon to use air strikes and long range weapons.
Anyway, it may be worth it for you guys to take a look. If you like the simplicity of A&A then that is fine but if you want a more satisfying, more in depth wargame then I recommend this game. Also if you just want to focus playing just one country, get this game. It is better to buy just the figures you want in your company then to keep buying randomized booster packs and hoping to get the units you want.
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