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Notes from the OCD Ward.
Want to play scenarios from the books, comb-bounds, or downloads, but don't want to mix up your counters? Make you own boxed games! I started doing this with Tank Battles and have been doing custom sets for a while now. Current projects include Barbarosa North: the battles of Army Group North consisting of Perryman's two Leningrad books and scenarios 1-8 of Blue Division by Bennighof, and Transylvania 1940: the Second Rumanian-Hungarian War, in which I face the challenge of creating a story arc and scenarios for the brushfire war between the Reich and the USSR that derailed Barbarosa.
To feel my disease you must accumulate counters, maps, and boxes. Boxes can be repurposed from other games or for the purists, ordered from Avalanche...you have to ask Dr. B. to make them available as an accessory when you go to the online page store, they aren't automatically available and often are all spoken for for new releases.
You need scads of counters. Buy used sets from the various online marketplaces of consimworld, boardgamegeek and others, and also keep an eye out for reduced price sets Noble Knights. Don't hesitate to pick up supplements with counters at the gc discount when they are drastically reduced, as happened recently in the Avalanche Summer Sale.
You need maps. DO NOT try to secure separate sets of maps for every boxed game you create. Put together a map file of maps from the used games you've scored and draw them out when you need them for play.
You need counter storage. For small projects, I use GMT trays, for larger ones zippies are the solution.
Next step is the laborious and eye killing task of putting together a counter manifest for the proposed boxed game. You've got to record how many of each unit type you need to be able to fill out scenario requirements in any game in the scenario pack. This will involve writing, and rewriting lists of counters, and comparing each scenario's needs with what you have already recorded.
At the same time you are assemblying the scenario o.b.'s, put together a list of all maps required to play the scenarios you are assembling.
Finally comes pulling the counters and recording how many you have found (so far) for your projected inventory. Where possible, keep countertrees intact while pulling counters, as they are a good organisation tool. As you accumulate mounds of loose counters, separate them into bags by nationality and group category i.e. infantry, armour, artillery, transport, so you can find them more easily.
Once you've pulled everything you need, box the counters, along with the scenarios, a copy of the system rules and charts, and confirm that you have all maps needed in your maps box.
The last step is labeling the box. Depending on your project, the cover of the scenario box could become the front cover. Seal with heavy duty shipping tape.
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