Axis or Allies?

Johnny may hellp if you set this section up as a poll. Be better able for people to see split then.

Thanks kie!

I really think SS and Heer should be put down as separate options rather than just "German infantry". After all the SS weren't even officially part of the Wehrmacht (And they didn't like each other).

You missed a few:

BRITISH INFANTRY, EUROPE
BRITISH INFANTRY, NORTH AFRICA
BRITISH TANKER, NORTH AFRICA
BRITISH PARATROOPER

US INFANTRY, M41 BASE, ALL THEATERS
US INFANTRY, M43 BASE
MERRILL'S MARAUDERS

GERMAN GEBIRGSJAEGER

ITALIAN BERSAGLIARI, OFFICER
ITALIAN CAVALRY

JAPANESE INFANTRY

FREE FRENCH (PROPER)

POLISH INFANTRY, SEPTEMBER 1939
POLISH CAVALRY, SEPTEMBER 1939
POLISH 1ST ARMOURED, NWE
POLISH 2ND CORPS, ITALY
POLISH PARACHUTE BRIGADE

Heh.

Me, Brit infantry and airborne [edit - tx Tim] and commando. Oh, and Brit KD for desert / Mediterranean, I forgot!
Heer, Fallschirmjäger, Waffen SS

Also, with a few borrowed bits could do Russian.

Can do
Heer, Gebirgsjager & SS (with rebadging)
British Infantry, Airbourne, Commando.

Poll amended

I can do Yank airborne, Tommy infantry, Tommy airborne, Jerry Heer, Jerry SS, Jerry Luftwaffe, Jerry Fallschirmjager

Still got to get/do a few bits & bobs to the lufty & fallshy kit and I'm not 100% happy with the lufty

I can do Brit infantry, both KD and BD. I intend to expand in the future though.

This raises another point.
For some a bone of contention, for others a speed bump that needs to be navigated subtly.
How anal/accurate does the dress need to be?
Personally for myself and those that participate alongside me, the fact that a fellow player has made an attempt at a periid style loadout so that they fit in is enough.
Even if it means that individual or group need to be taking part as resistance/partisans for the time being.
Likewise, weapons. Is there and where is the line drawn?
Personally, I feel some games may need to relax the dress rules just a little, and I mean literally just a little, not do away with them altogether.
To get new blood involved and then retain them we need to offer an opportunity to get involved without expecting or insisting they lay out a few hundred quid before theyve even stepped foot on the field.

Josh at Gunman is always great at lending out kraut and soviet kit

This raises another point.
For some a bone of contention, for others a speed bump that needs to be navigated subtly.
How anal/accurate does the dress need to be?
Personally for myself and those that participate alongside me, the fact that a fellow player has made an attempt at a periid style loadout so that they fit in is enough.
Even if it means that individual or group need to be taking part as resistance/partisans for the time being.
Likewise, weapons. Is there and where is the line drawn?
Personally, I feel some games may need to relax the dress rules just a little, and I mean literally just a little, not do away with them altogether.
To get new blood involved and then retain them we need to offer an opportunity to get involved without expecting or insisting they lay out a few hundred quid before theyve even stepped foot on the field.

Well at the moment its down to the game organisers, I think there is a pretty good mix of games with diferant kit level requirements. Plenty where you can wear your favorite WW2 kit even if that unit/type was not at the battle, games where look alike kit is alowed, games where kit is restricted to the units that participated and some even more demanding. But I think that is good as it mean's all are catered for. Also for players who have put a lot of effort into their kit its nice to have a few games where it more prescriptive, thats not being anal its just sometimes if you have gone to the trouble of getting it as close to right as you can its nice to be surrounded by chaps who have done the same

wrt the poll list, iirc there is a limit to the number of categories you can have (maximum of nine?), but 'SS Heer' should be changed to just SS as there was no such thing and there is already a 'German army' section. I would suggest the Heer, SS and FJ covers most of the German options within the poll limits.

Some loadouts are easy to morph, e.g. British infantry into commando (different hat)), airborne (different hat), Polish airborne (different hat), engineers (hat), armoured (hat.... yet get the idea).

Some people have also invested in early/mid/late war kit, and temperate/tropical/jungle stuff but again the vast majority of events aren't that specific. For most things, 'German', 'British', 'Russian', 'US' is quite sufficient.

I have been collecting kit for some years now have amassed an alarming quantity of stuff.

British infantry/airborne/commando etc etc plus British desert kit.
German Infantry (various periods and units including GD, Gebirgsjager, Panzergrenadiers, Pioneers etc)
Fallschirmjager
Luftwaffe field division (and Luftwaffe ground crew, flak gunners etc)
Waffen SS

Adding bits of desert kit to all the above turns them into Tunisia/Italy/ hot place sort of Germans..

Soviet infantry early & late war, summer & winter uniforms.

Some of these can morph into others, it would be easy enough to bodge up a Japanese uniform from Soviet trousers and puttees plus various other bits of kit. Should I be so inclined.

Cheers
Martin

How anal/accurate does the dress need to be?
Personally for myself and those that participate alongside me, the fact that a fellow player has made an attempt at a periid style loadout so that they fit in is enough.
Even if it means that individual or group need to be taking part as resistance/partisans for the time being.
Likewise, weapons. Is there and where is the line drawn?
Personally, I feel some games may need to relax the dress rules just a little, and I mean literally just a little, not do away with them altogether.
To get new blood involved and then retain them we need to offer an opportunity to get involved without expecting or insisting they lay out a few hundred quid before theyve even stepped foot on the field.

In an ideal world, we'd all have all the kit for every scenario possible (hehe, wouldn't that be so cool). You can also have all the kit and play like a total jerk, so the kit is only half the requirement for an immersive experience. Speaking as an organiser, we have organised games with quite specific kit requirements, and got over 50 participants - Crete and Sevastopol being examples. I think they worked for the following reasons:

1. Event was announced with plenty of notice, with clear kit advice, so players knew what was required, and how much time they had to acquire it, if they didn't have it.
2. Kit and weapons were freely offered for loan by organisers and players, to assist those who needed help in completing their kit.
3. The kit specified was accurate to the historical scenario, and generic - e.g. German infantry, wool Feldgrau, no camo. British infantry, mix of KD and wool allowed.

New guys should be helped with loan kit, but they also need to show a bit of intelligence and buy the right kit. If somebody's bought US Marine kit because they think it looks cool, they shouldn't complain if they're told that it isn't correct for Normandy. As many of us on here constantly tell new guys - buy basic infantry kit and you can't go wrong.

FJ and Herr

British:

Royal Ulster Rifles for Normandy.
London Irish Rifles for North Africa and Italy.

German:

Heer
FJ.

Any German for me:

Heer
SS
FJ

These I have done or could easily do with a change of hat :

British & commonwealth infantry and variations thereof (Polish, Indian etc), for NWE, North Africa & Italy
British & Polish Air landing.
US leg Infantry, paratroop & glider inf.
R.A.F.
French Infantry 1940, free french armoured forces 1944.
Civilian & resistance roles.
Soviet Invfantry (with borrowed kit )

Not averse to sewing on or removing a badge or painting over a helmet stencil as required.