# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Board Game Mapping >  Battle for Fallujah

## John Anderson

So, while Haffenberg is my first map that I have 'exposed' the community, my first 'real' map was for an MA course that I have been working on this year. It's a conflict simulation design course and we were tasked with designing a wargame based on an historical battle. I chose the April 2004 battle for Fallujah, and this is my map and some of the coalition unit counters.
The map was taken from a google earth image of Fallujah and I then used CC3 to place the buildings and roads and Illustrator to add the rest. The counters have been done using open source images and PS.
John

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## John Anderson

...and here are some more of the counters I'll be using. First are the rest of the coalition units. Next will be the nationalist and jihadi units...
John

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## John Anderson

...and here they are...

John

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## John Anderson

And lastly, some of the counters and markers I'll be using as well as the backs of the two distinct coalition unit types in the game. There are still some more to be done in this group, but any comments or suggestions about how they look would be fantastic and much appreciated.
John

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## Steel General

Interesting...

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## ravells

Beautiful looking board. I really like the hex overlay on the google earth map. I also really like the Fallujah building size and distribution - would make a great fantasy city.  It's interesting, I have no idea about the mechanics of the sim, but I would have thought at this scale the M-198 battery would have been 'off board' artillery. The counters look really professionally done. Well done and have some rep!

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## John Anderson

Thanks for the kind words. Do you think the colours work, or are there are unclear aspects of either the map or counters? As for the m198? Yep, it's off board, but is placed on board when a unit requests artillery support. In terms of the system? It's solitaire and is primarily about the player trying to gain ground, capture wanted insurgent leaders and destroy the insurgency's centre's of resistance.
John

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## Sigurd

I think the colours work.

Its off topic but I'm a little uneasy with the closeness of the history to reality. It still seems too significant to become a game to me. Objectively, I like the work.

The building density and layout is very good. Did you pull that from city maps? What source did you use?


Sigurd

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## ravells

I think the counters are fantastic, but I'm not sure what the definition would look like when they're printed to scale. I guess that's why wargame counters usually go for very simple symbols - then again, they didn't have photoshop and illustrator then  :Smile: . Still, if they don't work to scale you might want to go for something simple and traditional like the illo below.


With the map, if what you want is clarity, then you have it. But for atmosphere, I'd try (just to see what it looks like) more muted earth colours for the hex overlays....more gritty and atmospheric. Do main roads have any significance in the sim?

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## John Anderson

> I think the colours work...


Cool. Clarity is all for something like this.




> ...Its off topic but I'm a little uneasy with the closeness of the history to reality. It still seems too significant to become a game to me...


Yep, it has only been 5 years and I did go into the design aware that there would be quite a few people who were directly involved in the battle still around. It's something we (the class) discussed at length and out of 8 students, we have 1 x war of Afghanistan, 1 x mogadishu and 1 x lebanon, all of which have the same time issue. The rest of the class are doing sims which predate WW2. 

I think as long as it is handled with respect and honour and abstracted to a certain degree (there's no blowing up mosques for example and I refrained from using actual marine's names) I like to think that it can be approached with sensitivity. Also, from here in Blighty there is also a certain detachment to that particular battle. 

Would I have done a consim of the British pacification of Basra or the current British involvement in the fighting for Helmand Province? Not sure, never thought of it. Also, this was never designed for public consumption, rather as an exercise in researching and designing a conflict simulation from the ground up. But, yes I do understand your concerns and hopefully those concerns have informed the way the game has been designed.




> ...Objectively, I like the work...The building density and layout is very good. Did you pull that from city maps? What source did you use?


Thanks  :Smile:  The buildings were created via CC3 (specifically City Designer) and simply layered over the top of the google maps image. I think there are about a thousand individual buildings rendered, and you can imagine what that does to my little PC. The CD buildings were from the Middle East range.




> I think the counters are fantastic, but I'm not sure what the definition would look like when they're printed to scale. I guess that's why wargame counters usually go for very simple symbols - then again, they didn't have photoshop and illustrator then . Still, if they don't work to scale you might want to go for something simple and traditional like the illo below.


The counters will be printed at 3/4 inch and I'm lucky to have a photo printer where I can get the resolution very high. It will cost me a small fortune in ink however. These counters are, effectively, version 2 of my games images and the playtest versions were a lot simpler. I've included some images of my first counters for comparison. 




> With the map, if what you want is clarity, then you have it. But for atmosphere, I'd try (just to see what it looks like) more muted earth colours for the hex overlays....more gritty and atmospheric. Do main roads have any significance in the sim?


I would love to make more of the overlay colours, however they have to be clearly defined as the four colours have definite meaning. The Green hexes signify open terrain, the yellow is urban, the blue is industrial and the red is very dense urban. I think that if I brought them too close together on a colour range they would be a bit confusing. However, I shall have a play and see how they look.

No, the roads have no significance in the game and are purely decorative.

John

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## DungeonMasterGaz

This looks like a really great project. The board is beautifully rendered, and I like the different zones you've created within the city. I'm a CD3 user, so I can imagine the work you put in to draw all those mililions of tiny buildings!! I also like games that are tactical, chess-like, with added twists and was happy to see the real-world influences represented with the media and political pressure tracks - nice touch!

As a confirmed boardgame geek, I prefer the old-style counter designs rather than the ones with photos. I think the map has all the bling you need, so perhaps going with more gritty counters will bring things down to earth. This would look fantastic with detailed minis as the pieces, but there's me just wishing!

DMG

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## John Anderson

> This looks like a really great project. The board is beautifully rendered, and I like the different zones you've created within the city.


Thanks.  :Smile: 




> I'm a CD3 user, so I can imagine the work you put in to draw all those mililions of tiny buildings!!


OMG. It. Took. Forever! And the fact that CC3 opens the last image saved meant I had time to tear my hair out while the bloody thing loaded every time I started it up again.




> I also like games that are tactical, chess-like, with added twists and was happy to see the real-world influences represented with the media and political pressure tracks - nice touch!


The political and media aspects are the most important aspect of the game. If the coalition just keeps blowing **** up, they lose. The red numbers on the counters represent heavy weaponry, the over-use of which will push the media track up as images of burning schools etc get broadcast around the world (pro insurgent media had the effective monopoly on images coming out of the city). As the media track rises it pushes up the political pressure track. This can lead to an automatic end to the game as the politicians put the brakes on the mission. 




> As a confirmed boardgame geek, I prefer the old-style counter designs rather than the ones with photos. I think the map has all the bling you need, so perhaps going with more gritty counters will bring things down to earth. This would look fantastic with detailed minis as the pieces, but there's me just wishing!


This is why I decided to post these here. The feedback has been great and has made me relook at the map and counters with a different and more critical appreciation. I'm not sure I'll use everyone's ideas, but they are getting me thinking. As for minis? My course prof recoils at the thought of blocks, so minis would send him over the edge!  :Very Happy:  By the way, my user name over at Boardgame Geek is Salar.

John

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## Gamerprinter

Nice job, I like the fact you chose a recent battle giving it a "current events" feel to it. Nice looking board.

But where are the Journalist Tokens?! I don't see a Geraldo Rivera token!  :Razz: 

GP

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## John Anderson

Thanks again, I hunted high and low for an open source film camera icon thingy, and then decided to go with clear yet functional. 

These are the rest of the markers and that should pretty much be it on the counters, markers and map.

John

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## John Anderson

[sigh]...except for the counters/markers I have changed that is.
John

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