Historical - geomaps

skarper

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Something ASL gets wrong is that at longer ranges - say 100m+ - troops lying prone in open ground are nearly invisible and very difficult to hit/kill. You could suppress them/pin them down easily enough but in ASL troops in open ground die too easily under even moderate fire.
 

M.Koch

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Galmanche and St.Germain looking really good...
Still waiting for a "second" board 49, urban changing to rural countryside
 

Eagle4ty

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You mean deirs? (F4)

Something we don't see much of (if at all) on regular geomorphic maps: irregular valleys. If a valley exists on a board, it's contiguous and several hexes in size. And that's fine ... but picture a large area of level 0 terrain with several single-hex level -1 hexes scattered about. Or, for that matter, a scattering of single-hex level 1 hexes.
Almost exactly what I had in mind. Some of course would widen into valleys but with more of a wadi/gully effect for movement. Yes, I like your idea, add in a few diers and hillocks and you have some pretty active open terrain.
 

DWPetros

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Here's something Tom Repetti and I worked together on - a Ukrainian village. The idea - to present the sort of terrain shown above in photos, which tries to show the broader, open, flat terrain with depressions seen in the Ukraine (based on aerial photos).

14204
 

Eagle4ty

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Also, there are many, many sketches of geomaps that would work. Here's one showing some Balka-like terrain.

View attachment 14205
Nice stuff but would like to see some -1/2 level or +1/2 level terrain thrown in to enhance the undulation of terrain in these areas. Diers and Hillocks are already part of our terrain tool box but seldom used beyond Desert scenarios. Bringing them forward into European terrain (most likely) as BFP has done in Crucible of Steel can only enhance the gaming experience and widen or horizons of terrain types encountered and tactics to be employed. Shear slopes and razor-back ridges would also be a nice addition to mostly PTO terrain types. As always JMHO.
 

DWPetros

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Nice stuff but would like to see some -1/2 level or +1/2 level terrain thrown in to enhance the undulation of terrain in these areas. Diers and Hillocks are already part of our terrain tool box but seldom used beyond Desert scenarios. Bringing them forward into European terrain (most likely) as BFP has done in Crucible of Steel can only enhance the gaming experience and widen or horizons of terrain types encountered and tactics to be employed. Shear slopes and razor-back ridges would also be a nice addition to mostly PTO terrain types. As always JMHO.
I realize that there are terrain types; Slopes, Diers, etc. that technically would help create more realism. However, I personally stay away from them in my design (see upcoming Slaughter at Ponyri) because I don't like the attending complications. Interpreting these rules accurately, quickly, requires a lot of brain juice and time - something I'm personally not keen to do, and something I think many, perhaps most players also share. Many guys just simply don't have the time or patience for these kinds of rules, and I get that. Life and ASL is complicated enough already!

ASL has the capacity to involve, practically speaking, many kinds of additional rules that increase the realism - but at a cost. Much of the time, the cost isn't worth the benefit (also see non-terrain 'Pack Mule' or whatever, rules).

For me, I don't mind the idea of having some of these additional complicated terrain rules on hand, but also having an agreement with an opponent to ditch them at any time upon agreement. So, for instance, we can use those mapboards that have this specialized terrain but ignore some of the features (ie. Slopes), but still have a great game of it.
 

wrongway149

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We definitely need more scenarios using Steppe Terrain to represent the open terrain of Ukrainian and Russian Steppes in the south. Your average mapboard set up of 1.5 boards wide and 3 deep would, more often than not, possess not a single building except a small shed, barn or lean to. The Hillock, Deir and Wadi would be more prevalent with perhaps a very small village with a few stand of woods/brush.

Not totally flat but not nearly as claustrophobic as the current maps that struggle to give one a line of sight of more than 250-300 metres.

Anyone in North America who lives on or near the "North American Plains" of Canada and the US would be very familiar with the terrain.

View attachment 14169
The woods here on the left could be an example of one hex of Light woods' -- yet other regular woods would also be on this map.

How could we represent both at the same time?

Orchards are light woods?
 

wrongway149

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I realize that there are terrain types; Slopes, Diers, etc. that technically would help create more realism. However, I personally stay away from them in my design (see upcoming Slaughter at Ponyri) because I don't like the attending complications. Interpreting these rules accurately, quickly, requires a lot of brain juice and time - something I'm personally not keen to do, and something I think many, perhaps most players also share. Many guys just simply don't have the time or patience for these kinds of rules, and I get that. Life and ASL is complicated enough already!

ASL has the capacity to involve, practically speaking, many kinds of additional rules that increase the realism - but at a cost. Much of the time, the cost isn't worth the benefit (also see non-terrain 'Pack Mule' or whatever, rules).

For me, I don't mind the idea of having some of these additional complicated terrain rules on hand, but also having an agreement with an opponent to ditch them at any time upon agreement. So, for instance, we can use those mapboards that have this specialized terrain but ignore some of the features (ie. Slopes), but still have a great game of it.
Agree with Don -- but honestly some small (1-3 hex ) one-level hills scattered about would likely have the same effect.
 

Robin Reeve

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The woods here on the left could be an example of one hex of Light woods' -- yet other regular woods would also be on this map.

How could we represent both at the same time?

Orchards are light woods?
Have a different center dot (size, form or colour) like with buildings.
 

FrankH.

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At the risk of hijacking your discussion, one idea I have not seen talked about is, in reference to geo boards, the use of a small number of small, short, connecting overlays for gullies and streams, and also of having gullies or streams designed into connecting to roads at or near exits, particularly at the long ends of existing, or new, geo boards. SSR may also designate certain sections of roads instead as gullies or streams, possibly depressions and/or brush/light woods. Specialized small overlays may also help here.

Thusly the many existing road intensive boards which represent mostly western and north central Europe may be repurposed to largely gully and depression and/or X/depression terrain in eastern and southeastern Europe, and to some types of Pacific Islands and / or for South Asia and/or North and East Africa and/or Mediterranean Islands.

I share your lack of enthusiasm for Diers and to some extent for Hillocks as well.
 
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