LFT's new HASL map.

[Honza]

Here is a thumbnail of LFT's new HASL map which will be released soon. France May 1940 mainly infantry vs infantry battle!

 

[thedrake]

This map will make for a good late war SASL CG too.

 

[Honza]

I'll be honest and admit that I do not find the map very attractive....

 

[lionelc62]

I'll be honest and admit that I do not find the map very attractive....

hello
The map is 100 % based on the real terrain configuration. What do you find not attractive in it ?
Lionel

 

[Honza]

I think it is the large mass of brown hills and dark green trees. The whole thing looks very dark and ominous. It is not ugly......just not very aesthetically pleasing either. My apologies are due because I do not mean to insult someone else's creation. But I did want to express my thoughts on it.

 

[Craig Benn]

Honza wants another Stalingradesque shattered cityscape (try saying that quickly or drunk).

It looks fine to me. There's not enough non urban or France40 HASLs so this will be a nice addition.

 

[Honza]

Oh it is definitely a welcome addition. Just wish they used a lighter palette.

 

[lionelc62]

I think it is the large mass of brown hills and dark green trees. The whole thing looks very dark and ominous. It is not ugly......just not very aesthetically pleasing either. My apologies are due because I do not mean to insult someone else's creation. But I did want to express my thoughts on it.

No problem, Honza, we welcome all remarks !

We have 6 levels on the map so we had to use some darker shades of brown for level 6.

Lionel

 

[Larry]

Dark and ominous while playing a war game ... seems like the right ambiance.

 

[Tuomo]

Sorry to hear that, Jan. I do pay attention to the overall palette, but this one seems to have missed it for you.

FWIW, although you can't tell from the picture, there's a good number of Paths cutting through the masses of Woods (and Light Woods, Brush, and Orchards) on the hills. There should be a lot more infantry movement in these areas than you might expect.

 

[sdennis]

Interesting question... why do we always make level -1 through level 3 the same colors (for the most part)? If you have 6 - 9 levels would it be better to "lighten" -1 through 3 so that the highest level is not too dark? i.e. maybe our current shade for level 3 is now level 6 and we lighten up all the way down?

I assume we do it because -1 to 3 is "normal" and deviating from that might confuse us...

 

[Philippe D.]

Also, why are there non-geomorphic boards with level -1? I mean, the levels are arbitrary anyway, so except for geomorphic boards where you at least have a reference (the level of border hexes is 0), I don't see why not just declare the lowest level to be level 0. It is, at best, confusing for those rare instances where level is indicated.

 

[Robin Reeve]

Whatever we can feel about the map - I like it a lot btw - once we will be moving counters on it, we will enjoy it.

 

[Xavier 658]

Hi Jan,

My apologies are due because I do not mean to insult someone else's creation. But I did want to express my thoughts on it.

No need to apologize: about colors and tastes.... Plus I don't think Tom would take offense about it; it's always a pleasure to work with him and he respects what the designer wants, and tries to stick to the original idea and design. So it's great you give your opinion: when I first saw the map I also found it far too woody. FWIW, the original map was even wider and extended eastwards. We removed 6 or 7 full hexrows and despite this, the woods are still covering about 65% of the map.

Nevertheless, as Robin pointed out, when you will be pushing counters on it you will really enjoy it, believe me. Plus there are many details that can't be seen on the picture above.

So please, don't refrain to express your feelings / thoughts about our products since all your opinions are worth to be said.

Best,

X

 

[lionelc62]

Hi Jan,



No need to apologize: about colors and tastes.... Plus I don't think Tom would take offense about it; it's always a pleasure to work with him and he respects what the designer wants, and tries to stick to the original idea and design. So it's great you give your opinion: when I first saw the map I also found it far too woody. FWIW, the original map was even wider and extended eastwards. We removed 6 or 7 full hexrows and despite this, the woods are still covering about 65% of the map.

You removed 10 hexrows from my first map !

One of our fear at the beginning of the project was : are the fight in these deep woods interesting or boring ? I can say that it is not boring at all because the counter density is not very high and you always have opportunities to attack / counterattack.

The map is large (despite the 10 hexrows removed ) so you may need to buy trucks and / or even Wagons just to move reserves to the 'hot' areas during the CGs.

Lionel

 

[Tuomo]

Interesting question... why do we always make level -1 through level 3 the same colors (for the most part)? If you have 6 - 9 levels would it be better to "lighten" -1 through 3 so that the highest level is not too dark? i.e. maybe our current shade for level 3 is now level 6 and we lighten up all the way down?

I assume we do it because -1 to 3 is "normal" and deviating from that might confuse us...

You should have seen the map for Kohima. 20 levels. Really hard to figure that one out, but I think we got there eventually.

Real-life mapmakers (and people who work with geographic info systems) spend a lot of time thinking about palettes, both gradient and banded (a given number of colors). How the palette affects the message of what's being displayed, etc. Fascinating stuff.

Over time, the green-to-brown-to-white progression has become pretty standard, I guess because it works. It's like the Times New Roman of palettes; won't dazzle anybody, but is just a solid, reliable, set.

Given the ETO location of Inor, and the prevalence of Green terrain types, it seemed fine, and not worth over-thinking.

Now, the DTO maps we've done for LFT, THOSE have a different palette

 

[Xavier 658]

You removed 10 hexrows from my first map !

ooops... I thought I only had removed 6 hexrows, sorry

X

 

[zgrose]

I think the jump right to brown started to box maps in. Just as a random example I found while doing a tiny amount of research.
obviously some issues/overlap with grain but I think illustrates how much more color space we could probably play with if we take another pass at things where beneficial.

 

[Russ Isaia]

Late to the game but I am surprised no one has remarked on the very linear appearance of the natural terrain. Ignore the roads, buildings and paths and it looks a bit like an abandoned open pit mine that has gone to seed (and tree, lots of trees). Complete with the edge of the bottom pool of water at the bottom left (in this case blue instead of the standard dingy brown).

This snippet illustrates the issue. That top brown feature is a higher elevation, right? Yet it is more consistently linear than the man-made feature, the grainfield, below it.



P.S. I am in awe of anyone with the technical skill, knowledge, and experience to produce work of this high quality. Thank you.

 

[Tuomo]

No, Russ, that brown feature is a Plowed Field. And that water in the SW corner is just a section of a river/canal.

Tom