Historical - geomaps

DWPetros

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I've been thinking a lot about preparing 'historical geoboard' ideas and am soliciting feedback along that line.

We already have a few of such geoboards; some fairly recent ones were designed with actual historical terrain in mind (the latest Fort board). The general concept - a battlefield that both comes close to the historical field layout / and also can be used for other battles. A hybrid; specific while still versatile. Easy to produce, not a lot of fancy rules / SSRs - could easily lend itself to an AP or Journal.

Yesterday, I spent hours trying to create such a layout for Cassino. I've not quite gotten there yet with it, but its a promising idea. (would need a bunch of Rubble overlays though :)
I can think of all sorts of other places/battles myself, but thought I'd throw it out there for general comment. Not much interested in one-off / obscure battles - more straight forward Russian front / Western front stuff.

What battles do you think would lend themselves to this kind of treatment?
 

footsteps

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From the dusty archives...

Beny et La Geste
14124
14125
Peggy Sue

Together, they approximate Pegasus Bridge.
 

footsteps

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More dusty archives...

Ortonita (i.e. Ortona)
14126

Pesky Pipe Dream (i.e. Budapest)
14127
designed to be compatible with the SPDE river overlays I had developed.

Bread and Circuses (southern edge of RB map)
14128

Galmanche (France, near Caen)
14129

St. Germain (France, near Falaise Gap)
14130
 

62nd Army

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Don

Cool idea. I do agree with you that they need to "useable" as regular geo boards as well.

Just my 2 cents, but I always thought that the smaller HASL maps should have been made into geo
boards. Just seems like more use would have come of them. :)

Thanks
Joe
 

DWPetros

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Footsteps,
I like em! I like the Galmunche, St. Germain best - they seem most likely to lend themselves to other battles. Ortona to a degree, though B60 approximates this design.
I think we're lacking in Eastern front locations - especially Ukrainian, but in general, most Russian front areas seem lacking in our current mix which is more 'springtime in France' oriented. The challenge for Russian front terrain - it's more open, less full of terrain, and ASL loves its terrain (places to hide, things to do there, etc). But we lack here and we could definitely use more of it.
 

Eagle4ty

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Footsteps,
I like em! I like the Galmunche, St. Germain best - they seem most likely to lend themselves to other battles. Ortona to a degree, though B60 approximates this design.
I think we're lacking in Eastern front locations - especially Ukrainian, but in general, most Russian front areas seem lacking in our current mix which is more 'springtime in France' oriented. The challenge for Russian front terrain - it's more open, less full of terrain, and ASL loves its terrain (places to hide, things to do there, etc). But we lack here and we could definitely use more of it.
Time to come up with a Ukrainian Balka, not quite a gully and too wide for a traditional wadi but not deep enough to be considered a valley.
 

skarper

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It's an intriguing idea.

ASL is dependent on high terrain density so if you make a map that is close to real terrain tactics have to change.
 

DWPetros

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It's an intriguing idea.
ASL is dependent on high terrain density so if you make a map that is close to real terrain tactics have to change.
Agreed that we must adapt tactics to the terrain. We've done that with the typical, springtime in France boards pretty handily, but have also for the more unique terrain types; desert for example. But I get what you mean - certain more accurate looking terrain can have limited terrain density which causes the player to work differently.

But I think with good planning, we can have it both ways, as there are some very historical kinds of layouts that both haven't been done yet and which also provide a lot of good density. I've become more a fan of the 'irregular', less evenly spaced terrain blobs, with both open/dense spaces combined on one board. I also like the mundane - the boards that have not so much definition or pattern - but mix well with other more specific boards. 'Transition' (city/rural) boards are cool. Less is usually more.
 

The Purist

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Footsteps,
I like em! I like the Galmunche, St. Germain best - they seem most likely to lend themselves to other battles. Ortona to a degree, though B60 approximates this design.
I think we're lacking in Eastern front locations - especially Ukrainian, but in general, most Russian front areas seem lacking in our current mix which is more 'springtime in France' oriented. The challenge for Russian front terrain - it's more open, less full of terrain, and ASL loves its terrain (places to hide, things to do there, etc). But we lack here and we could definitely use more of it.
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.

14169
 
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bprobst

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Time to come up with a Ukrainian Balka, not quite a gully and too wide for a traditional wadi but not deep enough to be considered a valley.
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.
 

The Purist

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It's an intriguing idea.

ASL is dependent on high terrain density so if you make a map that is close to real terrain tactics have to change.
Open spaces would require an change in tactics as manoeuvre would become more important. Scenarios would require the tools to suppress the defence by fire while the attacking force moved forward by bounds to close the range.
 
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The Purist

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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.
Open 'Steppe Terrain" would also need terrain like this -

14170

The stream that cut this valley is perhaps 4 meters wide and chest deep in the spring, waist deep in the summer and frozen over in the winter. The valley itself meanders and is perhaps 10-12 meters deep and 300 meters across at its widest point.

This particular example feeds a larger stream and opens up into the broad valley posted upthread.
 
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