"17th Century Map of the Rheinland" Topic

Using old maps from the 17th Century, I was able to piece together a war game campaign map that follows the Rhein River from the Alps to the Upper and Middle sections. This should be useful for campaigns in the 30 Years War and the Wars of Louis XIV. including Turenne's famous Rheinland Campaign.

The map is about 23 1/2" wide by 38" long and has been printed on slick card stock. I plan to mount it to 2 pieces of heavy cardboard to make storage easier.

The map includes some smallish towns that were destroyed and rebuilt as a consequence of several wars, the most devastating including TYW and the War of the Palatinate (LOA.) I tried to keep the period flavor as much as possible while still being accurate in the modern sense. The symbols for towns and cities were taken from the antique maps. Towns that exist now but did not exist in the 17th Century were not included.

Here's a sample of how the map looks, as usual I tried to make the graphics similar to good 'ol Avalon Hill board game
maps.

Cheers!

Gallo

Nice Work, do you have a linkto the whole map?

Looks both nice and useful.

Very nice! What graphics program do you use to make your maps?

Hi Anselm, i don't plan to put the whole map online. Basically, it's printed on paper and currently in my basement, ready to be mounted to cardboard backing. Whirlwind, thanks for liking my map. For some reason, the picture I placed on my Flicker account looks way brighter than the actual map. This is the second campaign map I've made for the 17th Century. The first was The Spanish Netherlands (mostly Belgium). My next map will be northern and central Spain and then I'll do southern Spain and northern Italy. I have painted WSS war game figures (20mm Les Higgins) that I use as markers to represent military forces.

Cheers!

Gallo

Hello Rufus,

I use Adobe Photoshop to make the map. I use separate layers for rivers, towns and cities and of course, all the names. I import the hex grid which I built in Adobe Illustrator.

Cheers!

Gallo

Gallo, do you mind if I repost on the Wargame Maps topic on ConSimWorld?

Any reason for not making the map available?

Hi emckinney,

Sure feel free to repost to other forums. My main reason why I don't make it available is that someone else might try to profit from it financially after I did all the work. That's always a problem with two dimensional printed products. Very easy for a product pirate to print and sell. I was thinking it could be a difficulty for those who make card houses and buildings and forts, etc., as well. I do like to design card scenery so maybe sometime I'll make some simple but detailed card houses for free use.

Cheers!

Gallo

To bad, I would have loved to use the map for a TYW campaign

Hi Anselm,

I'm not sure what your needs are for TYW but I can tell you how I proceeded. Since I was primarily interested in the Rhein Valley campaigns (1618-1715), I started with a modern map of Germany free online. I also found topographic maps and of course, I used google satellite maps. Then I went here:

link

(Make sure to click on the British flag at the top for English translation.)

This, I believe, is a Czech Republic website with a huge collection of maps, some dating back well before my period of interest. By cross referencing the ancient maps with the modern ones, a person can get a reasonable idea of how to make a map for that time in history.

I was thinking of the TYW also. My map would only cover the campaigns on the Rhein but, of course, The Swedish campaigns in Northern Germany, campaigns in Bohemia, campaigns in Central Germany would all require area maps. I think one of my main purposes of making the maps was as a reference to supplement my reading about actual campaigns, I could never follow along too well because of my ignorance of European geography.

I will continue using the website I mentioned above as I make my Spanish and Northern Italian maps. To me, the site is a real gold mine.

Cheers!

Gallo

That is great. Good work Gallocelt. Too bad you don't sell it. I lived in Weinheim for 5 years and frequently have ad-hoc 30 years' war, wargames based on that area.

Great looking map. Good job!

Thanks, Mike TJ and 79thPA for your comments. I would like sometime to travel in Europe (preferably after Covid is kaput). Now that I have made the map, I am especially interested in seeing the Rhein area.

I will have to figure what went wrong between Flicker and TMP since the map sample I included looks so bright and color-saturated. It certainly didn't print up that way. Maybe it's just the difference of computer screen vs. paper. I'll have to add a picture of the map after I get it all mounted on the cardboard and sprayed with sealant.

Cheers!

Gallo

I actually live there, so If you need instruction wäre to Go, feel free to contact me

Great map Gallocelt, you really have a talent there. Like a number of others I've also been trying to put together a map for a TYW campaign and something like your map would be perfect. Mine are horrible.
Understand your concerns about people commercialising your work but have you thought of offering your maps through Wargames Vault so that you can capitalise your efforts and the rest of us can enjoy your maps?
Cheers
Joe

Thanks, AnselmFranz! Who knows, in a couple years I might take you up on that.

Thanks Jay. I might have to look into Wargames Vault. The Rhein is certainly an important area for TYW campaigns. I'm not sure how to handle the whole TYW, however. There was fighting all over what is now Germany. Also battles in Bohemia Italy France and Spain and probably other places. Not sure what would be priority besides the Rheinland, perhaps Northern Germany for the campaigns of Gustavus Adolphus.

Cheers!

Gallo