"How Many Maps do I Need?" Topic

Let us suppose a quick battle-generator campaign. As I have sometimes seen done, there is a campaign map of little detail. When opposing forces arrive at the same point, there is a battle, and the battle map is taken from an existing stock reflecting the size of the table and nominal ground scale and the general condition of the meeting point--a river, a crossroad or mountainous terrain if that's what the campaign map calls for. The table, for these purposes, is square for maximum reusage. So:
1) How many broad types of temperate zone maps do I need? How many for campaigning in the Middle East/North Africa?
2) How many maps for each type, to minimize the "didn't we already fight this one?" problem? (Figure no more than one or two games a month, and repetition after a year or so is acceptable.)

Thank you for your consideration.

Well, start with the Perfect Captain's set of terrain cards:

link

Something that I saw in the Marching into Zululand Champaign was each movement box had a the general terrain listed. As in open, mountain, rough, river, etc.

The actual on board set up was based on a die roll for number on terrain features based on the general terrain of the square.

I should think that a simple set of tables and die rolls should suffice:
1 roll for general terrain type (hill, forest, clear, rough, urban, etc)
1 roll for secondary features (stream, chasm/ditch, hedgerow, copse of trees)
1 roll for special features (building, bridge, refugees, nothing, etc)

The tables can be as large/complicated as makes you happy. Once you've fought in woods, fighting in other woods shouldn't be that different unless there are secondary features.

I did not make myself clear. I have a stack of maps, thank you--usually historical battlefields specific to a region and a broad general period. The questions were
1. how many "general terrain types" are there? (And what are they?) and
2. how many examples of each should be sufficient?

Thanks.

For starters on types, the classic board game Titan has 11 tactical battle boards which gives quite a lot of variety over the course of a long game:
Brush
Desert
Hills
Jungle
Marsh
Mountains
Plains
Swamp
Tower (urban if you like)
Tundra
Woods

It depends on what is important to the battle.

If I have a dozen scenarios that just need a chokepoint, one bridge at a river will suffice for all of them. If I have a scenario where an island in the river, a couple of fords and a bend are important, it will need its own map.

General terrain types? All terrain is specific. So, again, it comes down to what your scenarios need and how your rules implement those equities.

I grew up in mountains and forests, fought in other mountains and forests, as well as deserts, urban environments, and at sea. Earth's ocean is one connected thing. But it's not one thing, nor one terrain.

This gets at what defines "a gamve" (or "a gaming event", if you prefer). It is the intersection of players, rules, and scenario (which in my taxonomy, includes terrain). Depending on what the relationships among the elements, small changes in one can have large effects or large changes can have small ones.

how many "general terrain types" are there? (And what are they?) and
2. how many examples of each should be sufficient?

What you're asking is fairly abstract and nebulous. Remember the KISS principle. So I suggest:

1. Close country, where visibility is less than effective personal weapon range, with the odd clearing/clear space. Could be woods, brush, bocage, tall crops or similar. Can be difficult to move through for formed units and forces the use of roads and tracks for formed cavalry/artillery/wagons/vehicles.

2. Open country. Visibility is greater than effective personal weapon range. Examples are meadow land, prairie, urban parkland and similar.

3. Mixed- should be obvious.

4. Rolling. Could be open, closed or mixed, with low hills and ridges over the majority of the map.

5. Urban/settled. Small inhabited area/s may occur on any of the other four types, but this refers to a large inhabited area with many larger buildings and possible walls.

6. Mountainous. Usually open terrain, may have patches of close terrain. Slopes slow troops moving up and down slope. Few, if any, flat ares where formed troops can deploy. Formed troops, vehicles, etc are forced to use roads.

7. Swamp/moor/wetland. Usually close country, though moorland can be open. Difficult to move through- formed troops will become disordered off roads, and forces more reliance on roads and tracks for normal movement. Dice to see if troops can deploy, if the player wants them to, because what looks like solid ground may not be- and vice versa (eg gravel just below the water surface).

From there you can tailor maps to suit the rules and the campaign theatre, mate, or dice for them. If you have period maps then you'll know where urban and mountainous areas are. Wetlands can be placed in lower ground near watercourses.