"Mapping Napoleonic Europe" Topic

I have always found it difficult to run a Napoleonic campaign using commercially available maps. The maps available show a modern road system, making it difficult to follow historical movement.

Then there is the problem of scale. I want to campaign over Germany, France and Spain. A map which shows terrain, such as rivers and woods, would cover such a small area that I would need a huge collection. And even then they do not show wargame terrain such as hills or woods.

I have tried to develop my own maps. First hand drawn and later computer assisted. These have worked quite well, but I now want to create a series suited to a PBEM campaign.

I much admire the excellent set of map made available by Malcolm. Unfortunately they are not suitable for my own campaign. My wargames table is made up of 2x2 foot squares and I can not recreate the battlefields which Malcolm's maps show.

With his advice and encouragement I have created my own maps using the same Profantasy programme which he used. During the past two years I have developed and improved them, but am not really happy with the result.

So I have decided to start from scratch and try to develop a set of maps which will be suitable for my campaign requirements, but also reasonably historically correct.

I have been working on this project since Christmas, and have developed an outline of my campaign area. There is a grid system for daily movement and major cities and rivers are plotted from a current road map.

I now need to add terrain. I find it very difficult to determine this information from commercial maps, so I have used the mountain ranges shown in Malcolm's maps,

My campaign is set in 1813, and I would also like to include national borders. The maps I have been able to locate which show this information are too large in scale. If anyone can suggest a source I would be grateful.

I have posted details of my map making to date on my blog, and will be posting updates on this current project. You can find it at

link

Have you looked at these maps?

murat.ca/maps.htm

Who is Malcolm?

Major Mike those maps on your link are fantastic. Thank you for the link. And you answered my previous question. Thank you.

@thistlebarrow you could utilise something like the maps from Empires in Arms boardgame as an option?

Wow, those are absolutely awesome!!! Very nice indeed.

The Murat.ca maps are very pretty, inspiring even. But there are a few geographical issues. I'm not sure if they're deliberate for game-play or not, but for instance:

Istanbul is on the wrong side of the straits. Koblenz is on the wrong side of the Rhine, Frankfurt-a-O is on the wrong side of the Oder, Duisburg is on the wrong side of the Rhine, etc.

There are some weird arrangements, like Potsdam being shown north-west of Berlin (it is actually to the southwest), or Wittenberg not being on the Elbe. (It is… or at least it's less than a mile from the river.) The city of Bremerhaven is on the map, despite it not existing prior to 1836. (It was specifically built as a deepwater terminal for Bremen during the Industrial Revolution.)

Those are just the ones I noticed at a glance. I don't know enough about the geography of other places, to say.

Again, I don't know if that matters in game terms or not, but it could potentially raise some issues if you wanted to recreate an historical campaign that involved any decisions about river-crossing, supply bases, etc.

Major Mike
Thanks for the link. Those are the "Malcolm" maps I referred to. Lovely maps, but unfortunately not suitable for my campaign.

Marcus Maximum
I have the CD game of Empire in Arms, but unfortunately there is not enough detail to transfer borders or terrain to a scale map. I assume that the maps are the same on the boardgame?

The Murat.ca maps are very pretty, inspiring even.

Brought tears to my eyes…even. What an almost overwhelming sense of deja vu…

These maps (murat.ca/maps.htm) are phenomenal, takes my breath away.

I started my own, very humble, map project in the days of blueprint (10x10 to the inch) paper in rolls, Leroy Lettering sets, Letraset geographic features and India Ink.

I only managed, with pen & ink, Southern Britain, Northwest & Central France, Central Europe before burnout struck. Still have the rolled blueprint paper here somewhere.

Kudos, cheers & etc, to Malcom, and thistlebarrow2 for posting this here. When time permits I must definitely look into all this much, much, further.

Thank you…

There might be something you could use from one of the links when something similr came up before:

TMP link

Regards

Unfortunately, while beautiful, the murat.ca British map shows Milton Keynes which was not even conceived of until 1967. The British map is also missing several major roads which have been around since Roman times. I use this only as an example as it's an area I'm familiar with but it calls the accuracy of the whole project into question rather.

The maps are inaccurate and imperfect, but they are also entirely functional for my purposes and entirely free. People had suggested that I try to make campaign maps to sell, and even try to sell my campaign system, but as soon as one aims to do, for however paltry a sum, the level of professionalism must be exacting.

When I was making the maps, I would have loved such feedback. Now that I'm not currently caught up in them, I'll file away the points for later consideration.

Meanwhile, I'll hope that the OP's maps will one day be complete and available to other gamers to use to their heart's content.

malcolmmccallum:

The maps are inaccurate and imperfect, but they are also entirely functional for my purposes and entirely free.

Exactly…and easy enough to Photo Shop Milton Keynes out.

Thank you for sharing the maps.

Hi Malcolm

As you know I am a great admirer of your maps, and would not wish to be associated with any criticism of them.

Having spent many months trying to develop my own maps I am only too well aware how difficult it is to avoid erors.

I only regret that due to my need for a grid system I have not been able to convert your maps for my purpose.

I have, however, used them to plot the mountain ranges and even to determine which of the present day major cities should be so used during the Napoleonic period.

As I have said before, I am very grateful for your assistance and suggestions in the past.

best regards

Paul

Paul, Try these, perhaps? Join the site (free), download, import to a program like photoshop, or any drawing program, and grid at the scale you want- you can add terrain features shown on other maps with some research as needed. The British maps from 1812 -1832 are the best for Europe, I think. The link is to Spanish maps.

link

Why do you need a grid? Why not a simple point and path system-- that is points with a series of paths (roads) between them). I made several campaign maps this way, including several on computer which gave the access paths on the matrix and took care of the movement. The terrain at each point can then be simply the area of your table top available generated outside from the point and dependent on what the average type of terrain at the point is.

Armies moved almost exclusively on the roads anyway, and battles sometimes miles from the nominal town from which it drew its name.

malcolmmccallum, what tools did you use to create them? Those are lovely maps; I really like the overall "look and feel"

Campaign Cartographer 3

Whirlwind

Thanks for the link. I had not seen the discussion before. Some very useful links there.

GQG

Thanks also for your link. I had not seen those maps before. I think they contain too much information, but always useful for more detailed research

OSchmidt

The grid on the strategic map, which is historical and factual, is both one days march and one battlefield. There is a second map which in which nine squares covers the same area as one square on the strategic map. Each of these squares represents one of my 2x2" scenic squares which is use to make up my wargames table. The overall effect is a map which allows the campaign players to pick a battlefield/wargames table and gives them an accurate picture of what it will look like. It sounds complicated, but if you have a look at my blog you will see what I mean

I have tried to do the same thing with a conventional map, but it just does not work so well.

malcolmmccallum,

Thanks for sharing; my earlier post was a bit rude, for which I apologise; the maps themselves look fantastic.

OSchmidt, I think point and path is the way to go, myself. It can be done on the simplest level as you describe, or in a more detailed fashion, with compass and pins like it was 'back in the day'. The 'points', for planning a march, will always be cities, towns, hamlets, perhaps but not usually a terrain feature. The path will always be a road or track that is (hopefully) suitable for the logistics of the maneuver, with suitability dependent on a number of variables.
Napoleon had to plan on a larger scale map and accurate smaller scale maps were rarely available- he had to rely on sketches, reports and his own eyes to get a picture of the terrain and make decisions. I like to have that represented in our campaigns. Tactical information has to come from other sources. With compass and pins, this requires two scales of map and an umpire for practical application but it's really a challenge.

There are a series of road maps of Eyrope done in UK in about 1803. I'll try to track down my notes tonight and post. They show roads and travel times between cities. Library of Congress has a set and will make photostatic copies. These are large format maps and are perfect for map campaigns

Its a pity they did not have Google maps and GPS in Napoleon's days.

I collected a lot of maps from books etc, and what annoyed me was that they are all in different styles, some with contours some not. etc etc.

The Post Road Map IWM mentions can be downloaded as a file from this group.
Two other maps of germany and Austria for use in campaigns can be downloaded as well.

link

The maps of regions of Germany in the David Rumsey Map Collection are detailed and have terrain drawn on them: davidrumsey.com

Druzhina
sites of wargaming interest

Paul, well done. I'm extremely lazy and while I've spotted a couple of the anachronisms in Malcolm's maps myself, I cannot face reinventing the wheel twice from Malcolm's work, the campaign system is enough for me.

I too would not have got too wed to the small map matched to big map grid system, but gone with a system which generated a battlefield at whim from a list of attributes. Something akin to the DBM terrain list and random placement. I'd then let the better/defending general modify that arrangement dependant on how long they'd been at the location. Quick and easy, and reduces the initial overhead by quite a lot. Still, every system has its flaws and its benefits.

Druzhina

Thanks for the line to david rumsey, and also to sites of wargaming interest. Both look very promising.

Thanks to everyone who has provided suggestions or links. Lots of research to do now.