"Wagram in 2mm" Topic

Finally done. 500+ labeled units. 7' x 4' table. The entire OOB at the battalion, squadron, and battery level. Is this a world record?

More pictures here:

link

Beautiful!

Wow lovely work!!!!

Thanks.
It was a long time in development, but it's nice to finally have it done.
Here's another shot. I adjusted the exposure a bit because it was so dark in the room and I was shooting RAW files (for some reason) which always come out flat.

That deserves a mention in despatches.

That is spectacular.

My only suggestion would be to make less intrusive labels – unless the intention is to pick them up once play starts.

In the corner is an orange label "Radetzky." I might do a flag with his name and a base edged orange (I assume the units are marked with the corresponding color?)

Another thing you can do – more for observers really – is little flags mounted on washers with place names. Key villages, hills, etc. Do them in an old style it can add to the "ambiance."

But still very, very impressive!

I need to get printing….

Outstanding!
You may have mentioned this before, but where is the map sourced from?

Hi everyone, thanks for the kind words! It's been a journey.

Allen- the map is pieced together from Mapire. It's the Cadastral Map. I screen captured it, then put it together electronically into one large file. Then I used the program Split Print to break that image file into 60 individual pages. I then cut the border off those pages, and glued them together. Then I flipped it over and backed it with duct tape to make it tougher.

For a convention, the entire map will be placed underneath plexiglas and the edges of the plaxiglas taped to the table to avoid shifting. I also want to put some lamination-type material onto the front of the map to protect it from spills. That might be tricky.

The map was a lot of work. I'd say about 12 hours total, half of that on my hands and knees while I pieced it together. Now that said, by using Split Print I was able to print this out for $25. USD On a large-format printer it would have cost around $150 USD minimum. And the three rolls of duct tape required to cover 28 square feet cost $15. USD. The models only cost about $100 USD to print at treatstock.com, so the total for all of this was right around $150. USD

All that said, I'm a huge fan of maps as a playing surface for wargames of this scale. I like maps as works of art, and I really like hex-and-marker type wargames. This project is an attempt to create a sort of hybrid between a normal wargame and a hex-and-marker style game.

I included the ground-scale in the corner, 10mm = 100m. The models were designed specifically for this ground scale.

Here's the link to the map file: gum.co/QLoBx

All that said, the troop placements in the pictures are not entirely accurate, just because I was in a rush. The cavalry units in particular are not all in the correct places (the Austrian cavalry are missing from the action on their army's left flank, for example). If I were to do this at a convention I would use Scott Bowden's map, but here I used the old Grande Armee scenario at Deep Fried Happy Mice, which only gives the corps deployments. I set everything within those up from memory.

Extra Crispy-

The division commander labels are all screwed up in the pictures. Eventually I'll add in placards for the corps commanders that incorporate the corps commanders names, utilizing the appropriate national colors. Good thinking on using some sort of period script as well; that would add a lot. This project is all about the spectacle so I shouldn't cut corners at this point (or whenever it is I get a chance to put this on as a convention game; who even knows at this point).

The other problem (which I didn't think about until it was too late) is that keeping track of all of the division commanders (and cavalry brigade commanders) present is pretty hard for the non-expert. I need to add the corps number into the placards. I may also add Blucher stats, troop numbers, and (for the conventions) whether the officer was wounded or killed during the battle, in French or German.

Your idea on place placards is great, I'm going to use that idea. I also have my 3D buildings which I might use.

Very nice!

Frederick- thanks!

Extra Crispy- I wanted to add, the color on the placards was an aesthetic choice. With such small figures the map tends to be dark. The bright colors are meant yo bring some snap to the table. The Austrian colors are obviously from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire's standard. Conveniently they are also the modern-day German national colors. The French colors are more varied, to evoke the more colorful uniforms. Generally they proceed from red, blue, yellow, and green. Some "allies" likd the Portuguese, have their own color-code. I may add some extra "bling" for a convention (whenever that happens…) which would depend on the rules used.

great achievement, the map was worthwhile the production and shows your enthusiasm.

I am quite impressed about the foot print of the units, almost no room for manoeuvre.

@forwardmarchstudios
Thank you for the map info.

@ForwardMarch:

I'm with you on dark versus color. For my WW2 and moderns, I use "seed beads" on the stands so you know which tank goes with which company. Up close they look a bit loud, but in a game they are subtle enough. Here is a close up:

And here is a shot from a game:

I think for your commanders, a more neutral label with a colored outline/base edge might be a nice compromise. If they were glued to 1/8" material you could paint the edge. This will pop quite a bit and let you make the label more "historic" looking. Take a look on You Tube at the Baz Battles channel for some ideas – I like his graphics a lot and think they would be a nice mesh with your map.

Very impressive. It's also grand that the Marchfeld was so flat.

With my 6mm stands, I have used angled plastic [^] to make
a place for labels that don't show up across the table and are legible without having the label show faceup at the back of the stand.

While you can get very small angled plasitc spars [1/2 to 1/4 inch faces, I am not sure that would work with the small size of your stands. The beads are a bit more abstract but do indicate who belongs to what command.

How do your rules count casualties with so many battalions/squadrons?

McLaddie,
Thanks.
As far as counting casualties, there are a few ways. It really depends on the rules used. The OB information for each game piece is included on its label, so you cold keep a tally on a roster if you wanted. Alternatively, they're not so small that you can't place a twist of cotton on top of them. By inking some cotton brown and some black you could create a three-tier hit system. You could count hits at the individual level, the brigade level, or even the division level. There's a lot of options.
BTW, this is the project where the number of guns in the battery and their weight is listed, along with the type of battery and the OOB info. Although I did not do so here, it would even be possible to break down the number of howitzers in each battery if one wanted to do so. But that's getting pretty fine-tooth. Possible though.

If played on plexiglas you could also write the casualties down on the glass as "X"s, then erase them after the game.

FMS – I love the look of the map. I do my large scale printing on banner vinyl. Currently it's about £7.00 GBP/square metre through Pixart Printing and detail is good. You can print both sides fs you want to consider the environment and have more options, plus it's pretty indestructible. You might find someone similar in the US?