Planning the new map of Germany

The existing map has served the campaign well.

The major cities and rivers have been plotted from the AA Road Atlas of Europe, so they should be reasonably accurate. The major (red) roads join those cities, the minor (yellow) roads join minor towns, and the tracks (brown) join the remainder.

There are two reasons for changing the maps.

First I want them to be more user friendly to the campaign. Each square will remain one days march. But I want the major cities to be four to six squares apart. This would be the most convenient distance for each phase of the campaign. I also want the maps to be less cluttered, so I will only show the major (red) roads on the map of all Germany.

I also want to revise the national borders as they were in 1813. I would also like to show the borders for the larger elements of the Confederation of the Rhine; such as Westphalia, Bavaria, Wurttemberg and Hanover. These borders will allow me to plot fortresses, which can then introduce the opportunity to have sieges.

The current maps are fine for my solo game. Using ProFantasy I can zoom in and out with ease. But the change to PBEM means that I have to use them on Blogger, where the campaign diary and battle reports are published. It is not possible to zoom in and out to the same degree, so the maps will have to be designed to use there.

This map of all Germany will only be used to show the grand strategic view of the campaign. And as a master map from which to make the more detailed campaign maps.

To improve the current map I need to determine the main mountain ranges and the national borders. I have asked for help on both TMP and my own Campaigns of Napoleon forum, and have received lots of useful suggestions.

I am working on the outline of the new map, and will post it here shortly.