VASL Map Database

von Marwitz

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I've made quite a bit of progress on this; now have complete info and map image links for all of the boards on github...now I need to figure out how to display the map images which are not on Github.

I saw that advancedsquadleader.net has quite a few map images...does anyone know if I need to seek permission to link to them, and if so, from whom to seek such permission? I can't find any contact info on the site.
I know that Paul Weir on this forum keeps a private offline database of map thumbnails but can't help you directly with your question.

Cheers,
von Marwitz
 

Paul M. Weir

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I have a lot of thumbnails but have not updated that set in about 2 years. I scanned in boards at 100 dpi and shrunk them by 5 to give 1/5 sized images at 500 dpi. My purpose was to print those on light card so when I was indulging my usual DYO habit I could play round with the reduced cards to get the terrain configuration I desired. Less weight, easier to play with and less risk of my clumsy hands tearing the originals.

Though I don't use VASL, I believe my efforts to be no better than the images contained in VASL board files. In addition, due to the low cost of disk space, I did not compress them much, so they quite likely take up more space than their VASL equivalents. I just looked, they are about 1.5 Mb each, hardly thumbnail size, but just right for printing well detailed 1/5 mini-maps.
 

76mm

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hey are about 1.5 Mb each
Paul, thanks for your explanation. Wow, that is quite a size difference from the VASL boards (gif files); I just checked one of the VASL geos, and it is a mere 109kb. I think I'll probably end up hosting these on my website, so to minimize download traffic I guess I'll go about extracting the VASL boards.

Good idea about printing the 1/5 size maps; I'll be doing more or less the same exercise, but am going to try to do it digitally in VASL.
 

Paul M. Weir

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I almost forgot the main advantage of my "minis" When in the process of matching what I might want in terms of terrain with what map boards I have, I don't have to clear a whole table and I can spin the minis around and shuffle them in the space of a dinner plate. Of course when I have decided what boards and orientation are best, I'll still need the table for the full sized boards and game.

I could have compressed the .jpg files. Having spent some not inconsiderable time scanning a board in 2 halves, joining the half images and cleaning the final image up, I didn't want to loose too much detail to compression algorithms. Similarly, I scan my scenarios at 600 dpi despite that 200 or 300 dpi would be quite likely be sufficient for my needs. It only adds a few seconds extra to scan at the higher resolution. As eyes age, magnifying a high quality scan gives clearer results than a lower quality scan. If you incorporate many such images into a document and the document size becomes a problem, then it's almost trivial to make lower quality from high quality images and insert those copies.

My scanning approach is to use the highest setting that you could ever imagine needing (in my case 600 dpi). You can always copy images from high to low resolution but visa versa doesn't work. The only disadvantage is that file size will go up roughly with the square of the resolution. On the other hand you will never be tempted to re-scan because you decide your initial work was not good enough.
 

76mm

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OK, here is a first draft of this map database; I've found 353 maps so far. I tried to find publisher/module information, but was not always successful, so if you can fill in any gaps let me know. Or if you see any mistakes or incorrect classifications, etc. The key for abbreviations (other than publishers/modules) and terminology is on the second tab of the spreadsheet ("Notes").

All images are linked to hosting sites, so the images won't work without internet access.

Hopefully I'll be adding more maps as I find them. I've found this site (http://vasl.batisse.free.fr/index.html ) which seems to include quite a few maps, so I'll try to add them at some point.

Hopefully someone will find this interesting and/or helpful!
 

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Michael R

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The "batisse" maps might not be worthwhile to include. They are standard maps that somebody made more pretty for VASL. They are not available as physical maps to purchase.
 

76mm

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They are standard maps that somebody made more pretty for VASL. They are not available as physical maps to purchase.
Sorry, but what are "standard maps"?

Personally I am a VASL-only player so don't really care if maps can be purchased in physical form, as long as they are functional and reasonably high-quality VASL maps
 

76mm

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OK, I will take a closer look at them. As long as they are not duplicates and decent quality VASL maps I'll probably add them.

But I didn't realize that there are any maps published by MMP which were not available in paper copies (at least at some point)?
 

Michael R

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OK, I will take a closer look at them. As long as they are not duplicates and decent quality VASL maps I'll probably add them.
But I didn't realize that there are any maps published by MMP which were not available in paper copies (at least at some point)?
The Batisse maps are personalized duplicates of selected MMP maps.
 

76mm

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BTW I still need to add some CH maps from the list linked by macrobo which I didn't have already; hope to put up a new version within a couple of weeks.
 

RRschultze

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Dear Ian

I am confused - which pack is that? - apologise I am not a good at military history

Cheers

Rob
Apologise I should have expanded my answer. CH released 4 modules on actions within the Korsun Pocket called ‘Hell’s Gate’ 1-4
 

76mm

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Here is version 1.1 of the ASL Map Database, I've added 43 CH maps (up to 396 maps). At this point I don't think I have any more maps to add; if I've missed some, let me know and provide me with a link to/copy of the map.
 

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