Mapping the Battle: Successful Wargames Cartography
Fitting a historical battle onto a standard 6x4 games table may mean squeezing or morphing reality to make the terrain fit. But how far can you change things before it stops being historical and becomes a work of fantasy?
I struggle with the idea of compressing distance in order to get all features of a battle on a table. To me it effectively extends shooting ranges/speeds up movement for the compressed area. That could disrupt the relationship between time and space, and visibility. Unless you add some rules to counter this effect. Or you have to treat the different areas you want to model as different tables, with a 'virtual gap' down the board. But then I've probably got OCD 😄
What I usually try to do is to capture the essence of the historic battlefield. What are the major terrain features that made the battle flow or proved to be decisive? No need to try to replicate very tree or hill.
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I struggle with the idea of compressing distance in order to get all features of a battle on a table. To me it effectively extends shooting ranges/speeds up movement for the compressed area. That could disrupt the relationship between time and space, and visibility. Unless you add some rules to counter this effect. Or you have to treat the different areas you want to model as different tables, with a 'virtual gap' down the board. But then I've probably got OCD 😄
ReplyDeleteChris, I’m with you…including OCD.
DeleteWhat I usually try to do is to capture the essence of the historic battlefield. What are the major terrain features that made the battle flow or proved to be decisive? No need to try to replicate very tree or hill.
ReplyDelete