New maps ...

With the absence of wargaming conventions due to corona, it has been quite a while since I bought something. But this week a package arrived, with the Giant Book of Scifi Battle Mats.

It's quite a useful item, withclean-wipe sheets of various scifi ground plans. Ideal for fighting out small encounters in a roleplaying game (which might or might not be one of the games I'll start running in a few months).

You can read an extended description of the item (and seeing all the various floorplans included) on the link above, but here you can see a quick impression of the versatility of the maps.

My drawers of Scifi figures and scenery items for some quick photoshoots ...

A desert world ...

An ice world ...

A jungle world ...

Onboard a spaceship ...

Spacehulk-style corridors ...

Mecha combat in a cityscape ...

... and even spaceship combat.

Just a wild idea ...

Many years ago, I bought one of the Columbia block games, Victory, together with all the expansion maps, new unit types, logistics expansion etc. I've always liked this game and its simplicity, although a good scenario setup is necessary to prevent it from becoming a big long draw.

I never sold my copy of the game, although I have sold many other board games of which I was sure I would never play them again. I always had in the back of my mind the idea that someday Victory could be used to play out a big war between nations.

Yesterday, when I was reorganizing the storage space in which I keep a number of boardgames, I suddenly couldn't resist bringing out Victory. I tried to lay out all 16 maps to form a coherent whole (not that easy, given the constraints of the maps), and the result you see below.  I tried to build 2 main land areas in opposite corners, with a couple of islands in between.

My Victory-map layout.

At once, I started to imagine wars between the 2 countries in the lower-left and upper-right. Perhaps one of them would have taken the islands in the middle, rich in resources. Perhaps neutral countries (upper-left and lower-right) would be forced to choose sides. Perhaps there would be some sort of peace council trying to set the matter? What sort of governments would all these countries have, that would determine their stance in the conflict? In short, I was dreaming up an imaginary setting in which these countries went to war.

Just an idea ...

Mapping experiment

As mentioned yesterday, I have been experimenting with a new way of drawing maps for scenarios. It basically consists of a mix of drawn features and photos of actual terrain pieces. Here's the first result, a map for the Holowczyn game with the first four Swedish units already on:



It still needs some work, such as (obviously) adding all the other units and blending in the photos a bit more, but it is finished enough to give an idea of the final look. Comments appreciated!