52 plus square feet ASL gameboards!

larrymarak

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Today (7-16) CH announced the release of UBER scale maps for their Drive to the Volga series. Volga 2 ..Mamayev Kurgan...is more than 52 square feet of map. And that's one of the smaller releases!
 

Sparky

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Comprised of 75 boards. :eek:

(for Volga 1 & 2 together)
*spits beer on monitor*

75 huh. No way!!! I found the 24 of Omaha the limit of anything I can set up without knocking out a wall and losing a wife.

I saw the illustrative pic of that. Crazy man. Two things,

One that really is unnecessary. Though I'm sure someone will find it of interest and buy it. Stalingrad simply doesn't need to be that big. There has only been one HASL that might merit that .. that kind of size and grith man. That would be Berlin which was the most map and counter dense product I think ASL has ever seen. Big area, high counter density and with as many as 8 separate location in hexes. Those CG's required some steady hands. Not exactly beer and joint friendly ASL play there no sir....

The second and more important perhaps. With the increased size, perhaps (and is if the debut pic is any indication) the sterile Hexdraw quality graphics that CH seems to have gone to in recent maps are taken from .. ehhh.. whatever.. on normal maps to really standing out how bad they are when blown up so big.
 

larrymarak

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Whether this is practical depends on the area in play of a particular scenario. A smallish play area on standard hex side ASL maps might be 3 or 4 12 by 18 inch panels from this set. Mamayev Kurgan features a lot of small scenarios. A full map scenario for MK would require two pingpong boards with a walkway between 2 7 by 3.5 foot layouts. The full campaign, whenever it is finished, will consist of a dozen or more releases, covering the approach battles in 17 July through the final defeat on 2 February. At this scale you'd need an entire gymnasium!
Sounds impossible, but CH has issued all 5 beaches at Normandy at Monster hex scale, so who knows......
 

RRschultze

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I was tempted to get the Uber DTW map (prefer original one though!) then looked at dimensions - I think it will be 10' x 7' assuming they are 2" hexes. I have the berlin Uber maps all 33 of them - sure are pretty and played a large scenario using 18 of them - LOS checks are a nightmare
 

larrymarak

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Its amazing. So far 4 sectors of Stalingrad have been mapped (out of perhaps 20) and 2 published. This thing will be ideal for ( is it? 1:235 scale miniatures play). Every street , every alleyway, factories, businesses, residential districts and more. Can't imagine playing an 85 counter scenario on a completed map the size of a one or two bedroom house!
 

stuh42asl

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Well currently playing the first scenario "Butovo" for the Gross Deutschland portion of Death Ride Kursk. So far one the last two modules are finished and delivered, the map size is about 60- 70 square feet, and the grand total for counters is over 25000. So the uber maps are impractical for Stalingrad ,most people will not be able to play that bundle unless they have a unfinished basement with a hell of a lot of free space.
 

larrymarak

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Definitely requires a gymnasium floor. I like 2.25 in hexes because it allows you to play miniature to scale on the boards, but my game table only accommodates 4 12x18 panels, with an open patch for counter tray and set up chart. I only buy a monster or Uber set IF it contains mostly small scenarios. I can use the Monster scale Mamayev Kurgan map, but for me Uber panels would only be useful for small DYO scenarios.
 
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