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I have been waiting so long for the computer game, I bought myself a copy of the boardgame. Its a thing of beauty. Wonderful smell. I now humbly join the EIA community!

ORIGINAL: ktotwf

I have been waiting so long for the computer game, I bought myself a copy of the boardgame. Its a thing of beauty. Wonderful smell. I now humbly join the EIA community!

Welcome brother.

Now you just need 6 friends to play with. (Or 7 personalities [:)][:D])

that is 6 buddies with the stayiong power to keep playing even after they are out of it

ORIGINAL: ktotwf

I have been waiting so long for the computer game, I bought myself a copy of the boardgame. Its a thing of beauty. Wonderful smell. I now humbly join the EIA community!

did you snag it off eBay?

Yep. EBay. Paid a pretty penny. Those things go for MONEY on there these days.

Do the counters seem a little clunky on the gameboard to anyone else?

ktotwf:

Congrats on the purchase! Now for a few points of advice (LOL) ...

Laminate the rule book and charts page.

I had to finally put my rule book in an environmentally sealed, temperature / humidity controlled, light resistant box in order to preserve the document in its original form.

Mine somewhat resembles the actual look and feel of the dead sea scrolls!

BTW: Your point on the counters is not unusual. I think this is because of the fact that this is an area based (As opposed to hex based) board game which makes the relative size of the counters different in each area. We ran into the same types of issues in development of the PC game.

Thank you and good playing!

We always laminted the map (have to cut it to make this happen at most OfficeMax's or wherever you go) and then would use Sticky Putty to hold the counters in place. The only problem with using Sticky Putty is that the counters do get a little mangled over time.

EDIT: For the map, we would putty it down to a piece of stiff cardboard or wood or whatever we could find (usually cardboard).

How long does it normally take you guys to resolve a combat? My first time was Charles vs. Davout and it took more than 15 minutes for one battle.

That's about average ktotwf. Although some of the larger battles can take longer to do all of the math just to set it up.

About the counters, there is a Yahoo group for EIA that has a file that you can print out different counters. They are mostly for EIH but can be used. It will take a while because you will have to glue the front and back together. I did that with note cards and then laminated them. They look nice and work pretty well.

Do you guys generally use the "Reduce Napoleon's Ratings in 1809 + 1812" rule, or not?

What other optional rules do you use or not use?

Nope

For the Map,
Buy two large pieces of plywood (I suggest 1/2 thickness for strength) and two pieces of Plexiglass.
Sandwich the map between these two pieces.
I have seen a version of the map that worked well, cut into four pieces where the two 'left' pieces and two 'right pieces were hinged together (on the bottom) for easier carrying. Secure the map between your wood and plexiglass with either Clear sealing tape or even better a Silocon sealant/adheaivse.

My map is on a two piece design. there is a 1/2-1 inch boarder of dead space bettween each edge of the map and the edge of the board except where the two piceces fit together. the 'free sides of the map are sealed with silocon sealant adheavesive with a layer of Clear sealing tape on all sides. This map has been left out in a thunderstorm and is still like new!

For the manual, and all information sheets.
Next Cut the manual down the spine, buy a three ring binder and a package of document protectors. Use the Sealing tape to insure the pages are sealed into the document protectors.
You get the idea. Not this is great for bookkeeping as you can use greese pencils to keep track of everything!

For the pieces,
I have seen, but not done myself, a person who encased each and every counter in a hard plastic casing. How he did it I have no clue. I have seen others 'shrink' wrap their counters but again I am not sure how they did them. Personally I keep my counters in a screw & nail sorting/storage box.

Just some suggestions on how to perserve your game.

ORIGINAL: RichAhlgrim
I have seen, but not done myself, a person who encased each and every counter in a hard plastic casing.

spray urethane, or lamination (the former has the advantage of sealing the sides).

Then when you have done all those things to the map and counters put them all in the attic, because apart from learning how to play the game you will never use them again

I have an unpunched copy that I bought on ebay, which will never be used apart from reading the charts and rules, but you are right it is a thing of beauty and I will never part with it.

Then head on over to the EiA yahoo site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/empiresinarms/ and become a member, find and download any of the numerous Cyberboard gameboxes, post that you are a newbie looking for a game and before to long you could be involved in as many EiA pbem games as you have time for.

Have fun...maybe I will see you in a game sometime

Steve

As far as playing the game, me and my player partners (using the map lamination with sticky putty and counters) have gone through 6 games' worth of counters and 3 maps. After awhile the putty gets all over the place and it's easier to throw the game out and the counters start to tear apart or become unreadable, but remeber this was back in the day when gaming stores (which two of the players worked at one) could order EiA. From the sounds on the board, I take it the game is out of print? If so, that simply sucks and so does Avalon Hill.

EDIT: The name of the gaming store was a little place called Bit of England. It was actually, first and foremost a dart hobby store, but it sold all kinds of games (wargames, RPGs, chess, checkers, billiards, etc) stuff also. The manager was an avid EiA and WiF player and when one of my friends started working there we all kind of got swept up by wargames (this was a time ago). Those were the days. [&:]

[:D]

Here's my two cents:

Get the cyberboard. There you can find the map (EiH, EiA, etc....) and all the counters in a .jpg or .bmp format. I printed the map with a programm like poster at approx. 1,5m*1m. Next go to a do-it-yourself-store and buy on of those metal shelfs (you only need the metal shelfs, so leave the rest in the store;-)
I screwed together the shelfes, so I got one plain surface, just big enough for my printed map. Then I glued the map onto the shelfs simply with wallpaper paste.
Next I printed out the counters on Photopaper. Cut them out and glue them on cardboard and add some magnets on the backside (In Germany, the refrigerators got a magnetic stripe around their doors, so go to your local recycling center and ask if you can get the magnetic bands, you can easily cut them into the right size) .
There we go: A metal map with all the counters on magnets. So you can hang the whole thing on the wall in your livingroom. So you don't have to clean up the whole thing evertime after playing. And your spouse cannot complain anymore about vacuum-cleaning around the huge gaming table in the middle of the room
I use this map for playing EiA via email and it's great. Everyone in the groups is jealous...when you stand in front of your map like Wellington, to plan your next offensive strategies
Have fun!

cu
grudge

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

As far as playing the game, me and my player partners (using the map lamination with sticky putty and counters) have gone through 6 games' worth of counters and 3 maps. After awhile the putty gets all over the place and it's easier to throw the game out and the counters start to tear apart or become unreadable, but remeber this was back in the day when gaming stores (which two of the players worked at one) could order EiA. From the sounds on the board, I take it the game is out of print? If so, that simply sucks and so does Avalon Hill.

EDIT: The name of the gaming store was a little place called Bit of England. It was actually, first and foremost a dart hobby store, but it sold all kinds of games (wargames, RPGs, chess, checkers, billiards, etc) stuff also. The manager was an avid EiA and WiF player and when one of my friends started working there we all kind of got swept up by wargames (this was a time ago). Those were the days. [&:]

[:D]

Yep it is out of print. Avalon Hill as we knew it went the way of the dodo back in the 90s. It still exists as a part of Hasbro, but puts out very few titles from before
and the new stuff is nothing you would associate with AH. I wonder if the rights to the boardgame reverted to ADG or if Hasbro/AH still has the rights.

Does anyone know where I can find the instructions for the tiny Waterloo scenario? It would make good practice.