Sired's Map project - Updated- 4/16 - files available see first post

[siredblood]

Project is complete, see bottom pic.

Video on map:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mabYTEqvzKc

Map file is print ready for 32x70 size shown in the vid.
File is 250dpi, plenty enough to blow it up, you can zoom in to 300x and still looks flawless.

Map file is 20.00 (US)

For you 20 bucks, youll get 2 versions of the map, my version with changes, and OOB version. Files are in .tiff and .psd.

See video for more details

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original post:

Units are painted, Battle Boxes on hold till I get parts, custom pieces on hold till Jan,… so its map time finally.

Overall I really like the map, but unfortunately some things bother me enough, so I might as well redo it with my own art. I have almost 20 years in digital art and have made many terrain’s for 3d games so this should be a breeze.

First things I need to change are some of the sizes, Britain and Europe in the yellow outline will be enlarged, while Africa will be reduced in size. Areas in red I just want different roundels to match my painted units, example Italy uses the Fascist roundel.

New epic water, new painted terrians, adding mountain ranges, deserts, etc.

What I don’t want–

• No border changes
• No IPC value changes
• No adding country roundels that are not a playable country, while I see many who have done this, and yes it looks epic, but I just want to see whos playing. *Main reason- every so often we take 5, and count our countries to verify income (youd be surprised how many times the dude on chart duty fked up), I just want to see roundels of playable countries.
• No charts/graphs, just a clean map. *Reason- I have a custom Portable Game table, which has crap built in (income tracker, turn tracker, turn sequence, and R&D, in addition, every country has its own set of cards which shows, combined arms, unit profiles, etc.
• Don’t want Facility icons, I like my air/naval base pieces.

So aside from those, im open for other ideas/changes. Hopefully this is done in the next couple weeks, as I got other things (customizations) to attend to :P

Ill update this post with progress pics along the way, so far all I have is the map in its proper layers to make them adjustable, I have finished Britian though (not painted yet, just resized) which ill post a pic as soon as all the resizing is done.

PRPJECT COMPLETED :)

[GeneralHandGrenade]

That’s a really good idea changing the sizes of the continents and UK. There is only a fraction of the number of units south of the Sahara compared to the northern hemisphere. If you stole a small piece of the Anglo Egyptian Sudan territory you could add it to Egypt because there always seems to be more units located there during a game.

[siredblood]

Not a bad idea, actually pretty damn good, consider it done

[rasater]

This is a great idea! I always find space to be lacking in central Europe, and Africa has too much of it, given the amount of minis that tend to end up there.

I actually had the exact same idea, to create a map with Europe enlarged, but you beat me to it! Also, I’m sure, considering your experience, that you will do a much better job of it than I ever could.

Another idea I’ve had is to add a bit more water and land at the top and bottom of the map. I’d, personally, like some more space up there, especially in seazones 71 and 127 (Archangel and South Africa). Love it or loathe it. It might be something to  think about.

I have to say I love what you’re doing with your customizations, Sired. You are a true artist. I’ve been lurking the forums for quite a while now, but I just had to comment on this since it’s one of my biggest gameplay gripes. :)

Keep it up, man! Cheers!

[siredblood]

Thanks for the comment rasater, great idea! In addition to increasing the water in those areas, I’ve also already increased the water between Europe and Britain. If work goes ok today, as I plan to be home by noonish, I’ll get a first look pic up today, otherwise it’ll be tomorrow.

Thanks again for the great ideas! These ideas are not just for me, it’s for everyone as when done the map will be made available.

[seancb]

Gripes for land.
Poland, Bessarabia, Holland, England (London), Egypt, Normandy

SZ80 too small

Blowup box for Gibraltar would be nice

South of Sahara too large, Northern rim too small

My 2 cents

[CWO Marc]

Various map-fixing / map-modifying ideas can be found here, in case they’re of any interest to your project:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=38677.0

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=38708.0

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=38721.0

[siredblood]

Thanks for the more feedback! Gibraltar has been made a tad bigger. Im having trouble with the sea zones, its time consuming (more then I thought) to keep them all in check, but Africa is done (with a tad more sea one at the bottom, and all its sea zones have been properly redone. Im currently in the Med.

Ill look into SZ80, Idk where that is without cheating and taking a peak lol

Thanks for all the links, I had no idea the USSR names were bunked up, ill have to do research prior to any name changes…. I will though for sure, thanks.

[siredblood]

Here is a quick progress pic, Africa is good to go. Sea zone lines have been adjusted to meet up where they are supposed to, with no changes to the original game play.

The interior lines may be more adjusted later, I just need some guidelines, once those are 100% I can place the names/ roundels/ IPCs.

I left the layer of the original size, so you can see the diff. In addition, the same font/size/spacing/Font FX were replicated.

[rasater]

Lookng great so far, Sired!

I’m assuming you’ll extend Europe and western Asia southward in order to enlarge it. Or do you have something else in mind?

It’ll be interesting to follow this project. Looking forward to it!

[CWO Marc]

@siredblood:

Thanks for all the links, I had no idea the USSR names were bunked up, ill have to do research prior to any name changes…. I will though for sure, thanks.

Yes, my standard joke about the A&A depiction of the USSR is that “Timguska” makes it sound as if Tim Hortons has opened a coffee shop franchise in Siberia.

One other thread that might be useful to you is my Global 1940 2nd Edition Map Analysis, which you’ll find here:

http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=36590.0

[seancb]

Egypt a bit larger would be nice.

[siredblood]

Thanks for all the great feedback! Ill be finishing up Europe today (its done, just not the sea zones/ territory names). Also, about Africa, the Northern territories will be as large as I can make them without totally distorting Africa.

I hope to have another pic up tonight, if not, tomorrow then.

Again, thanks for the feedback, lets get this thing right the first time! Don’t want to pay 200 bucks for a print, to go “F*CK!, should have done that!” lol.

[siredblood]

The resize is complete, please look around at the boarders and point out any errors if you see any. Pay no attention to the roundels/name placements, ill zero them in when I paint the terrain. Ive matched the OOB font for zone names and water, still need to match the IPC value (why they are not on)

Also, im going to setup the board tomorrow to make my vid of the painted units, at that time, ill address any more territory border adjustments.

Thanks for looking and the feedback, the rest of the map needs little work, just a repaint now :)

[dedo]

From a point of view of someone, who unfortunately failed to play global (due to missing co-players): most missing project, great ideas and very fine adaption - Merry Christmas to the community, this is a gift for most of the players! I think you are on the right way. When adapting the smaller maps of 42 and 41, I hadn’t to face the problem of ‘not enough space’, on those maps, there are much less territories especially in Europe/Asia and the map projects based on the idea to enlarge the complete map in size. However, I did some adaptions when I scaled some single neutral territories (Mongolia, Switzerland), which were too big in size in comparison to the important territories. If anything, as an additional idea but no big deal, reducing space of strictly neutrals in global could work perhaps (yes, I know, some players incorporate attacks of strictly neutrals into their strategy).

[IWillNeverGrowUp]

Looks like a good start Sired.

Pripet Marshes can be smaller still without affecting the game play or borders, allowing more space around it for Eastern Poland and WEstern Ukraine.
Same with Switzerland, increasing France, Western Germany and Northern Italy.
Bessarabia still looks too small to me.
I think Egypt can use a bit more space still too. Maybe extend it down into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and reduce Ethiopia a bit more as well to keep the borders correct.

Why did you make Norway/Sweden/Finland/Karelia smaller??

[siredblood]

Thanks for the replies!

I agree Egypt should be larger, im going to shift all the upper Africa territory lines left. Never thought about making the marshes smaller, good call!… ill look more into other impassable areas as well now.

As for Findland and such, I was going for larger sea zones, ive never had a game where those countries were over crowded. Could be just my games though, is it more active then I thought?

[siredblood]

Oh, another question, I noticed when you put the US together, it don’t line up, say you want America to be stage center. Is this an issue for anyone? I don’t mind making it line up, if anyone would prefer America in the middle, this would make the sea zone numbers flow correctly. Me personally, I don’t know if I would like it better/less/same.

Anyway just a thought as ill be getting the rest of the map ready for paint.

[IWillNeverGrowUp]

@siredblood:

Thanks for the replies!

I agree Egypt should be larger, im going to shift all the upper Africa territory lines left. Never thought about making the marshes smaller, good call!… ill look more into other impassable areas as well now.

As for Findland and such, I was going for larger sea zones, ive never had a game where those countries were over crowded. Could be just my games though, is it more active then I thought?

Our Finland can get crowded sometimes. I do tend to play highly unconventional moves though. ;)

Oh, another question, I noticed when you put the US together, it don’t line up, say you want America to be stage center. Is this an issue for anyone? I don’t mind making it line up, if anyone would prefer America in the middle, this would make the sea zone numbers flow correctly. Me personally, I don’t know if I would like it better/less/same.

Personally I don’t think having the US in the middle would work as it’s really more of a staging point for the US player rather than actually used for the majority of the game. I imagine this is why the US has always been oddly split on all A&A maps.

[siredblood]

Thanks for al the feedback! All the above was taken care of (with the exception of the US lining up, I scratched that) The entire Europe map lines, layers are complete and I started painting the water, ive noticed im not too happy with the default convoy icons, so ive decided to toy with new ideas.

I hope to have a pic up later today sometime.