Debacle at Waterloo?

[sweeteye]

Back in the 90's I made a hand made Waterloo board game...Improper storage has left it deteriorated badly and I have decided to give it another attempt....this time with the aid of the computer.I want to go back to basics with the map and found an old style map on the net.The image comes from the 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885–90).The image is now in the public domain.I colored out the troop positions and colored in the woods and streams.Used the Vassal program to put down a hex overlay.It took only a couple of hours to finish and is ready enough to send to the printers for a tabletop boardgame map to be made.Making the counters will be the next step.Will take some time to complete them as the game will be on the battalion level and a lot of counters will be needed to represent the armies.I have no real plans for trying to release it to the public for sale..As usual I create wargames as a labor of love and for my own enjoyment...[;)]

[wodin]

SUPERB!!! You've got the talent to create maps from scratch..love it.

[sweeteye]

Thanks Wodin!....It is from scratch ....kind of sort of......I just felt like taking a shortcut on the map....rather than marking out all the slash lines for the ridges and of course the roads etc....I do kind of like it though....just needs yellowed to make it look like an old piece of paper[:D]

[BAL]

Nicely done. If/when you have it printed, ask for a parchment type paper which will give it that "period yellowed" look.

[sweeteye]

Thanks BAL......I am going to have a copy printed for myself....I checked at a local print shop today and it will be roughly $30.00 to have one copy made,depending on size...OUCH! I am sure the price would come down if I ordered a large number of copies....This is what deters me from producing a complete game for sale....By the time all the needed components were printed it would become quite expensive....lets see... just for the sake of it...mapboard and counters plus the cardboard backing for them,plus glue.....Rulebook and various game charts......dice........boxes would be needed plus additional printing for the box cover......oh yeah...also shrink wrap and something to apply it with.....Perhaps eventually if there would be an interest in the game....Computer games really dominate the marketplace...

[Darkspire]

I use this for my DnD maps, it should work for wargaming as well, there is a free version so you can see what it does, very useful and very comprehensive, it has saved me many hours of work and trees as well as I can create the map with the program, put it on a memory stick and take it down the printers to get a good sized print of it instead of wasting loads of hex paper, buying the full version is really worth it if you are a keen cartographer.

Darkspire

[sweeteye]

Cool...thanks.....Am downloading it as I type...Looks like it could be very useful...

[wings7]

Andrew, well done! It's great to see games created out of the labor of love! [:)]

Patrick

[sweeteye]

Thanks Wings7....I must say this is the least I have labored on a map in a while....I did make a couple of adjustments to the map this AM along with morning coffee...added the woods that were in close to Hougomont and doctored up a section of the ridge along the British left near Papelotte.Uploaded the adjusted map to the first post.That should do it for now,guess I will go see about having the map printed out today...........

[JeffroK]

From the base map you have to do a lot (maybe not too much)of editing to make the terrain clear.

Do the roads clearly crass a hexside or do some run along the edge?? Look at J15 to the left of Hougomont.

Will villages/chateau be in 1 or 2 or 3 hexes??

Does 1 or 2 green dots mean a forest?? As in P13.

Just some observations from years of playing TEWT type wargames using real life maps.

[sweeteye]

Hello JeffK......I know what you mean about the terrain being unclear in some hexes...I guess I will resolve the problems by creating a list of woods hexes, farm fortresses,villages,and soft ground that could be referred to. As far as road hexes go I would have to say that in a case where a road is not clearly in one hex or another either hex could be used for road movement....I may go over the map some more for terrain clarification...Will have to think about it a bit....Thanks for bringing it to my attention again as it is important.

[sweeteye]

Will have to wait several days for the printers to make my copy of the map.Decided to start on working with the game system by creating a partial game so to speak.One French corps against one British corps....I made the counters without any unit ID's or combat/movement values.Have the preliminary values in my head and on paper.This evening I am playing a small tactical to get ideas for the combat system...I can see it is going to be a real "pile them in" kind of scenario[:D] lots of advances and retreats.....[8D]

[Darkspire]

What software are you using there sweeteye? I am not a tabletop or PC wargamer and know very little about the types of programs, I get really lost with all the WITP etc in the comments, some I have found by Googling, even with images but I am stuck on what you have there.

Thanks

Darkspire

[sweeteye]

I am using "Vassal".....very nice board gaming software....many games available for it or you can use it to create with...also very free to download...here is the link just for the sake of it.....

http://www.vassalengine.org/download.php

[Darkspire]

Thank you, that looks like it could really help with planning DnD campaigns, might even be able to transfer my own hexgame and try it out.

Darkspire

[sweeteye]

After much thought I decided to change the game "Debacle at Waterloo" to the brigade level for infantry, and regiment level for cavalry.Having a battalion level game simply created an enormous number of counters to work with and made the game very bulky. Artillery counters will be based on a particular number of batteries to determine strength.Infantry combat factors will be determined by the number of battalions in a brigade.Cavalry combat factors derived by one fourth of a factor for each squadron in a regiment.The counters are supposed to be aligned with the hex grain in the vassal module for determining facing.When I tried to utilize counter rotation in the module the screen freezes up.A bug or an error on my part,I am not sure which..I did another test play round and was able to work out the combat system some more.Much faster playing on the brigade level.Picked up my table top mapboard from the printers.I had the map printed on heavy vinyl paper.Very nice....spill resistant and lays out flat even after being rolled up.The hexes are one inch from side to side,very large.....Counters are being handmade from 3/16th inch thick foam board and will be 3/4th inch wide!!!...Huge counters..........

[sweeteye]

Finished the table top counter prototypes.Edited the combat system and am ready to start testing again.Not the sharpest photos but they will do for now.

[nate25]

Can we please have a little better shot of a sample of the counters?

Looks great!

[sweeteye]

Sorry...that is about the best I can do with my cellphone....I might try to change the lighting again...

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: sweeteye

Sorry...that is about the best I can do with my cellphone....I might try to change the lighting again...

warspite1

Debacle? No it wasn't - we won [:)]