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ADVICE ON MAP MAKING
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Hello
Hawks and friends,
I
have been map making with AC/FB editor for a long time now. The first ever map I made was the battle of
Mollwitz for AC/FB (War of the Austrian Succession) and I remember Sir Will and
Drake giving me encouragement to continue map making. Looking back on that map now it was truly
awful, but we all start somewhere. I
think the watershed for me was the map of the battle of Blenheim I made to
commemorate its anniversary, its crude by today’s standards but really cemented
my satisfaction for making maps that people get enjoyment from playing.
So,
hear is a step by step guide of how I go about making a map. I hope to encourage every hawk to try to make
at least one map employing some of these techniques. It is not an exact science and everyone
should aim to achieve their own style. I
hope none of you find this patronising and people of course will have variations
on how they go about making a map, skip the parts your familiar with.
Please
give it a try, recently map production has really slowed and seeing other
people’s maps generates new ideas etc that improve the quality of all the maps
for the better. If you start now then
your basic terrain will be completed in time for the final release of the EW
Mod and you can then place the detail and the troops. I look forward to seeing and playing your new
maps.
Stu
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STEP ONE: WHAT MAP?
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Ok,
maybe the toughest stage of the map making process is actually choosing which
historical battle you want to recreate.
My advice would be to forget the battles that other Hawks have already
made. Choose the Napoleonic battle that fires
your imagination? What is your favourite
battle? What battle have you read about
recently? If there is already a map of
the battle you would most like to make do it anyway and just filch all the best
ideas and make a newer and improved map.
The
battle about which you are the most passionate therefore is the battle you
should try to emulate. If you are
passionate about your chosen battle it will reflect in your actual map.
I am
going to use my recent
‘Give me night, or give me Blucher’
‘I tell you that
The
romantic in me loves the final confrontation between
Making
a map of
The Tsar demanded of his General: ‘Why do you not
advance?’
Kustov answered ‘I wait until all the troop coloumns
are untied.’
The Tsar retorted ‘We are not on the exercise field
where one awaits the arrival of all the troops to begin the parade.’
The reply ‘Sire it is precisely because we are not on
the exercise field that I do not begin.’
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STEP TWO: GOOGLE IT!
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If
you own an extensive Napoleonic library that covers your chosen battle by
including a map and an OOB then you may wish to skip this next part. If you want a really detailed account of the
battle purchase the corresponding Osprey Campaign book. They are invaluable for troop dispositions
and maps. If there is no such Osprey
book or like me you are thrifty with your hard earned pennies then get yourself
on Google and search for maps of your chosen battle.
The
best source of information is miniature war gaming sites. If we take
Scenario
for
Also
try Google images with the same search terms.
(N.B. You can use any search engine, neither I nor any of my family
works for Google!)
If
that bears no fruit then a post at the forum usually results in one of the guys
being able to produce some information about the battle.
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STAGE THREE: TEMPLATE.M3D
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So
once you have found a halfway decent map you are ready to begin. However, much like a carpenter must sand down
a piece wood or a painter prime a wall we must prepare our terrain. All my maps start of on a template called………
Template.m3d. (m3d. is the tag that is automatically placed on the end of the
names you save maps under). Your
template is a prepared map where the resources are infinite and everything is
ready for building.
THE
LAYOUT OF THE EDITOR
You
can work in two modes. Close up or
zoomed out (called ‘L’ mode). Choose
between them using the ‘L’ key on the keyboard.
Unless it is detailed touches I work almost exclusively in the zoomed
out mode because this is the mode that the games are generally played in and
therefore first and foremost the map needs to look right in ‘L’ mode.
Two
things you need to do to make your template.
First
is choose the correct map size by opening the editor, selecting the menu from
the top of the screen and then choosing create new map. Select the ‘Big’ option. ‘Normal’ is too small for all but the
smallest of skirmishes. ‘Huge’ has an
inherent problem in that scenery you have placed disappears after a set
time. Do not therefore use ‘Huge’ as you
will be wasting your time.
Second
is to set the map up with infinite resources, unless you want to try your hand
at a map where the sides have limited coal etc for ammunition. If you are new to map making try a standard
infinite resources first.
Infinite
resources are created in one of two ways.
- Select ‘set start parameters’
from the tool box in the editor then click on all players, then set the
values to 99999999 click generate, then save your map. Load it straight up and you should have
infinite resources. To test place
some troops and see of the food resources goes down. (This is known as the easy way)
OR
- Load up a map that
already has infinite resources.
Delete every troop and tree/bush/river, level the terrain using the
smoothing tool, and paint a standard green colour all over. (This is known as the stupidly hard way
and is the one which I did)
Now
save your map with an appropriate name such as Template or Base. This is then the foundation map upon which
all future projects will begin life.
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STAGE FOUR: FLAT MAPS
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It is
finally time to get creative. Look at
your chosen map. It is probably what I
call a flat map. Like this example of a
If
you transfer it exactly as it is portrayed on the map the troops will end up
being deployed like so.
This type of straight up
in the air look is in my opinion a bit flat if used all over the map and does
not show of the troops in their best light.
Troops look much better where you can have the majority positioned at an
angle like so.
Turning our present map
into a sketch the map would resemble something like this.
It’s
a bit flat and boring.
What
we need to do then is to twist our flat map to set it at a more stylish angle. Angled maps achieve two things. First I think they look better. Second they provide you with a wider front
because you are working diagonally. Go
wild, twist your map right around, decide who you want to have towards the
bottom of the map, the attackers or defenders.
So
possible options with my flat
I am
going to go for the one on the right.
Bearing in mind that the French will have to be shown struggling up the
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STAGE FIVE: THE UNDERCOAT
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Before
we can sketch our map into the editor we need to decide on the basic colours.
What
time of year was the battle fought, what was the weather like and what country
was it fought in?
Open
the texturing tool and have a look at all the colours on offer. In order to achieve a good shade we are going
to have to do some mixing. By holding
down ‘Ctrl’ on the keyboard and selecting colours you can choose more than one
at a time.
Additionally
you can choose to have individual colours mixed in a greater strength by
clicking on it twice three times etc…
Here
are some examples of different terrains and the colours I used.
Height of summer, with
light greens and a tad of yellow thrown in for sun burnt grass patches.
Bitterly
cold winter, where recent snow fall has left the ground frozen in a muddy
slush.
Snow
covered plain.
For
Make
a note of your base colour cause you will have to keep coming back to it to
paint over mistakes, and if you are anything like me there will be a lot of
mistakes.
We
also need to choose which grass texture to use.
Select the ‘detailed texture’ tool from the toolbox and select an
appropriate texture. I generally use
either this one for muddy, winter battles.
Or
this one for summer grass.
Most
of these textures cannot be seen in the zoomed out ‘L’ mode but are necessary
for when you zoom in. Because you cannot
see most, covering the entire field with it is a bit of a chore. Select the largest brush radius and start in
the top left corner of your map. Then
move up and down alternatively making sure you are overlapping your strokes to
cover the entire map with the texture.
Lastly zoom in and wizz around to check there are no bald patches.
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STAGE SIX: WHAT IS GOING
WHERE?
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Now
that you have the right angle for the map you can sketch out the dimensions of
the battle. I do this using bright or
dark colour so the overall layout can be seen on the mini-map.
This
will all disappear on the map and is just so that the dynamics of the field and
spaces in between the various features can be gotten right. So for the
You can
see that using various colours I have directly mapped out the angle for the map
and all the important terrain features such as roads, building positions, major
wooded areas, streams and rivers and the main elevations.
I
also check to ensure that the angle of the
Here
I am making sure that the position of the Grand
This
stage for me is really important.
Playability will be partly dependant on how well the field has been laid
out. Can the positioning allow the grand
battery reach where it was meant too? Are the farmhouses positioned close
enough to the edges of the field to make flanking attacks difficult? Have I kept the shape of the battle? Take your time on getting the layout so that
you are happy with it.
Once
you start placing terrain it is really difficult to go back so save the time
and trouble by spending just that bit of extra time on trying out different
layouts at this stage.
From
here on in its downhill all the way.
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STAGE SEVEN: ELEVATIONS
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Please
note that Drake prefers to use the editing tool named edit relief. He wrote some advice on the use of this
technique and I believe there still to be a link for it at the forum. I do all my elevations by hand and therefore
will concentrate on this way, but so that all choices are laid before you have
a go with the edit relief tool.
There
are most likely to be a few elevated formations on your chosen map that played
a key role in the battle. Ridges and
hills that are essential if you are going to get the look of the map correct. Dealing with essential elevations first then.
On
my
I am
therefore going to make sure I get these elevations correct first. Choose the raise hill tool and fix at an
appropriate radius. Hold down the left
mouse button and gently raise up to the required height. The right mouse button lowers terrain.
Do
not raise the elevation too high or horrible black shades will appear.
WARNING:
Trees and bushes placed onto the ground before the elevation is raised will
tend to keep their full shading but those placed on top of an elevation after
it has been raised for some reason lose their detail. So if you are creating a hilly wood place the
wood first.
To
polish of the elevation gently run along with the create plateau tool as this
rounds of the edges nicely and irons out that staggered look that sometimes
appears. Then remove your sketch
markings to consider the finished product.
If
you want your elevations to have a sharper incline then again employ the left
mouse button and the create plateau tool and run it along the incline of your
elevation.
The
right mouse button makes the incline gentler.
Now
we can deal with the non-essential elevations.
The general rise and fall of the battlefield. Select the raise hill tool and apply a
generous amount of random sweeping whilst holding down the left mouse button
all over any remaining flat terrain.
The result is a random,
but controlled landscape that does not appear flat and bland. Compare the two pictures below, one looks
significantly better and it is the one that employs this technique.
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STAGE EIGHT: FLORA AND FAUNA
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As
with the placing of the colour textures holding ‘ctrl’ and selecting multiple
bushes and trees allows for a random placement that gives a more realistic
look.
Use
only two or three tree/bush types to keep a consistency and choose flora and
fauna that is in keeping with the surrounding landscape. Then add a little of a darker base colour shade
under the trees for finished effect.
Here
is a German forest
Spanish
Wood (note the added stones)
Dutch
Wood
Less
is more; keep brush strokes small in radius and delicate. This looks poor and the concentration of
sprite objects may cause crashes.
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STAGE NINE: RIVERS AND
STREAMS
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Sketch
out the route of your river (this should already have been done when working
out the layout of the map earlier).
Remember that there is no need to create massively wide rivers, smaller
efforts allow for greater emphasis on curves that give a much better effect
than straight thick river lines. Here is
how I go about making rivers.
Then
select the add water tool and apply over your outlined. Set the coast width quite high to allow for a
shallowing effect at the rivers edge.
Remove
the outline by applying your base colour all over the area and you are left
with the basic river.
Choose
the create plateau tool and using the left mouse button run along the length of
the river to lower the terrain and make the banks of the river.
Add textures that become
more concentrated as they reach the edge of the river. Here you can see that the banks are muddy
where the water line rises and falls with the rain. This effect decreases as we get further
away.
Using
the same principles as in the previous stage add appropriate flora and fauna
and maybe a few stones. Remember not to
apply too many.
Finally
add a stony texture (This gravely texture is my personal favourite since it
does not give too bright a look.)
Bake for 20 minutes on a
medium heat (only joking) and you have something that ends up like…
See
the same steps applied for small streams.
Press F5 to access stream options and select the tiny, almost invisible,
green boxes that circle the chosen stream sprite to determine its
direction. Then place as you would a
tree or bush.
Add
bushes and reeds as above and you will end up with something resembling this:
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STAGE TEN: ROADS AND FIELDS
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Roads
are fairly straight forward and I have three types of road category. The paved highway, the major road, and
tracks. Below is an example of
each. You will see that the paved
highway and major road are framed with a darker shade to emphasise their
importance.
My
advice is to keep roads relatively small in width; large roads distort the
proportions of the map so I try to keep them no wider than 4 troops
abreast.
Where
a road crosses a river or stream you will of course require a bridge. They are placed in the same way as buildings
and use the arrow keys when the bridge is selected to move it into an exact
place. Ensure that all bridges are
placed in a neutral colour (I always use Brown) so that players cannot select
them during the battle. The water
running below the bridge must be deleted in order for units to cross and you
need to zoom in and add some forced blocking using the blocking tool to ensure
that troops will cross in an even manner.
Roads
always look quite bare so to ensure a good finish they generally need to be
lined with fields or bushes and trees and ditches. Here are some examples:
As far
as fields go I have two categories.
Firstly the type of background patchwork fields that are designed purely
to prevent large flat green plains. Fill
the gaps between roads with a criss-cross of hedged fields.
Then
choose one ‘field’ colour (usually a type of green) and fill the majority of
the fields. Break up this effect with
the occasional muddy or ploughed field.
The
second types of fields are the more detailed farmland type, and the type that I
shall employ on the
Firstly
map out your basic field shapes. Fill
most with lines of bushes to represent various different crops. The occasional field can be a corn field but
do not place too many since this can cause crashes.
To
make a cornfield place some mills and wait for the crops to grow to their full
height.
Zoom
in close and turn on ‘scroll lock’ then select the paste terrain tool and draw
a box around as large a patch of the corn as you can. Then press ‘ctrl’ and ‘c’ together. An option box will appear in which you can
put an appropriate name. I use 1Corn as
this will make it appear at the top of the paste terrain options list.
Go to that option and
select 1Corn from the list and place on the map. Remember to turn ‘scroll lock’ of as it will
mess up the use of other map making tools.
Add
as many of these as is required to make your cornfield and then place suitable
textured shades and perhaps prune the cornfield to the right shape. I also delete some of the cornfield so that
it is not as concentrated.
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STAGE ELEVEN: TOWNS AND
BUILDINGS
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The
same principles as with flora fauna apply to buildings. Do not place too many and limit yourself to a
couple of buildings that share the same architectural style needed for the
battlefield.
Use
the arrow keys to get placement just right.
Too close together can cause crashes but you can still aim for a tight
nit placement. The key to a good village
is the detail. Place some walls, bushes,
alleyways and streets, a little town square, signpost, barrels, compost piles,
little gardens and church graveyards.
Not something of each in every village but a selection throughout.
Here
are some examples:
Note
the walls and are used to frame the village and streets criss-cross between the
buildings. In the bottom right corner
you can just make out some small gardens that help add detail when placed
around a major town or village.
This
is the main square at
A
small Spanish village demonstrates how limited use of building types creates a
more realistic and pleasing overall image, rather than a multitude of ill
suiting buildings.
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STAGE THIRTEEN: FINISHING
TOUCHES
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This
one is nice and quick. Lastly, wizz
around the map and fill any obvious gaps with a small rise in terrain, rock
formation, wooded copse or field.
Make
sure that any unneeded blocking is gone from hills and valleys.
Ensure
that you have created a simple, yet beautifully captured impression of your
chosen field.
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STAGE FOURTEEN: CONVERTING
THE OOB
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This
can be a nightmare depending on the type of OOB you have, below is an example
on how I converted part of the I Corps of the French Army of the North for
I Corps
Commanded by Général de Division Marquis Jean Baptiste D'Erlon
*1 GENERAL AND 3 AIDES*
1st Infantry Division: Général de Division Baron
Joachim Q du Passage
1st
Brigade: Général de Brigade Quiot
54th
Rgmt de Ligne
55th
Rgmt de Ligne *2 LINE REGIMENTS*
2nd
Brigade: Général de Brigade Bourgeois
28th
Rgmt de Ligne
105th
Rgmt de Ligne *2 LINE REGIMETS*
2nd Infantry Division: Général de Division Francois Donzelot
1st
Brigade: Général de Brigade Baron Schmitz
13th
Rgmt de Légere
17th
Rgmt de Ligne *1 LINE
REGIMENT AND 1 LIGHT INFANTRY REGIMET*
2nd
Brigade: Général de Brigade Aulard
19th
Rgmt de Ligne
31st
Rgmt de Ligne *2 LINE
REGIMENTS*
Waterloo
of course is a special battle since everybody knows everything about it, even
down to the colour of Private Clayton’s (1st Foot Guards)
underwear. But the aim is not to exactly
replicate each soldier but to capture the feel and spirit of the battle.
For
example in
Do
not be afraid to tinker the OOB slightly in the name of playability. The OOB may have a cavalry corps that
includes 8 regiments of Hussars. So many
will unbalance game play so just place 3 regiments. They are represented on the field still but
not so they will make the map unbalanced.
A good
tip. The more obscure the battle you
create the more you can get away with before somebody points out that only one
regiment of jaegers were deployed behind that rivulet on the upper east side
corner of the map rather than two!
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STAGE FIFTEEN: TROOP
PLACEMENT
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Neat
and tidy is the order of the day here.
If troops are on the approach to the battle field then place them in
coloumns. Line up the artillery into
nicely formed batteries of about 3 guns a piece (unless it is a grand
battery). I have seen a few really good
maps where the troop placement has detracted from the overall look because
insufficient time and care was taken over placing the units. For example artillery facing the wrong
way. Just take the time to line
everybody up in neat rows and columns and have all your generals, guns and
aides facing the enemy. It truly makes a
good map great when the troops have been carefully placed.
This
may seem drastic but compare the two:
Lastly
add the finishing touches. A unique
character unit and command post. A
surgeon’s station maybe staffed by a few priests. All these little touches make a map. When a player can see a single commanding
officer outside a tent in L mode they realise that this map is populated by
some 16 thousand little men and these individual details help to create an epic
feel.
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CONCLUSION AND STYLE
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I am
not going to say much on the subject of style save to say that it is something
that you will establish yourself over time.
My advice would be to try to employ a limited palette of colours to
maintain a theme throughout the whole map and
keep
it simple and small and neat. Remember
that more is less.
I
hope that this has been of some assistance.
Take your time and remember to make a map that you want to make, not one
which will fill a missing gap or that others have requested. There are no limits to how creative and
daring you can be. Go wild.
Stu