I have been playing around with different configurations for a custom table and wanted to note some things I’ve landed on that I really like. A main one thing is having the map mounted so that it can slide around as needed on top of a bigger playing area. My table is 65” x 95” in total with a 5.5” arm rest around the outside and the middle is a recessed neoprene surface. I have the OOB Global map mounted on 1/2” rigid foam with a 1/2” aluminum frame around it. This allows the map to slide up close to whoever’s turn it is, but then be in the middle so both players can roll dice In front of them without disturbing the map and in easy view of the other player. (Plus we like lots of room to roll the bones). This ability to adjust the surface along with a standing height, makes it comfortable for long uses because you can move around more and don’t feel as tied down.
Things I’ve learned and changed from original design - I originally used too big of a frame for the map and mounted it on too high of a foam block (you can see these pictures at the bottom) - it made it hard to see the other player’s dice and the big frame took up too much real estate. My global map is mounted on much thinner foam (the framing is bad, you can see if you look closely) but I also used much thinner aluminum angle for the frame. This gives just enough grip when needing to move the map around (I use furniture slides on the bottom, which glide very nicely on the neoprene) but doesn’t make the whole thing too bulky. Having it an inch or so off the surface keeps the dice off, but isn’t so heigh that you can’t see the other player’s dice rolls. When playing other versions (such as Zombies) the board is much smaller, but it can easily swap in and out on the same table since it can move around where ever it is needed or be pushed aside.
I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped. Standing height with a bar stool is a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The 5.5” rim around the table itself gives you a nice arm rest that doesn’t interfere with the gaming surface. I’m playing with how to best add some cushion to this part - open to suggestions. Sometimes I just lay a piece of leftover neoprene on it.
Dice bounce nice on the neoprene and stay off the floor. It also feels nice and has enough give to allow things to slide but be picked up easily. Wouldn’t definitely go with neoprene again as a surface covering.
I made the drawers open to the inside of the table so you can stay hunched over the action while accessing and stowing stuff away. 50/50 on whether I would keep this if I were to do it again. If I were doing it again, I might try to build customer drawers form scratch using actual drawer glides, but that was beyond my ability when I first did this, so I just used clear plexiglass boxes with aluminum pulls mounted on them. It’s nice having them clear, and I was happy with how the pulls came out, but without glides they can be a little fussy sliding in and out of their slots.
I originally designed the table so that I could put a cover surface back on top when not in use, but find I don’t really ever do that, so if I were to do it again, I might not mess with that part (I never even finished staining those as you can see in the pictures).
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Sired's Map project - Updated- 4/16 - files available see first post
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Thanks DK!
Sorry the updates have been scarce, im having issues with the file being so big. Every so often, photoshop will freeze up, and the file being so large, it needs save as a large doc in photoshop (not the standard .psd) which takes like 10 min…. so saving often takes forever, and not saving is risky.
I have broken down the project into separate mini projects, but then I have other issues lol. Needless to say, project is not as easy as it should be.
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Sired, you’re using Photoshop, I take it?
Is there any mapping tutorial you found useful, or was it all just trial and error?
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Sired, you’re using Photoshop, I take it?
Is there any mapping tutorial you found useful, or was it all just trial and error?
Ya, photoshop…. I have 20 years with photoshop, 8 years of 3d game design, ive painted many 3d game terrains. It is different painting in a 3d program vs photoshop, but I was able to kinda set up painting in photoshop to mimic a 3d application. I have many plugins that are for 3d model texturing, which are helping out in this project as well.
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That’s awesome! I really look forward to seeing the result!
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going to do a test print, then do a quick setup, a side by side difference of Europe. Europe is still unpainted, but I want to make sure no more edits are needed before. Also, ill be able to see borders better, make sure I didn’t miss or goof up anything.
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Save it in such a way that you can make custom maps from the base map.
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Finally got around to taping it together. Obviously I still need to paint terrain, but needed to make sure the new size worked well, which I think it does. I setup the units the same on both sides, same as in the same location in a country as well. There was no need for a full setup to see its way better in proportion.
I printed a few in color, just for fun.
Also with a full print, I can now sit with the game board and really look for errors in borders and such, will be way easier the looking on a screen, also I can just draw all over this where needed for notes.
Also, it looks like 2 images, but the paper map is actually over the OOB map, side by side. So to compare is “real time” I guess you can say.

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Nice!
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Looking good - I’ve found it’s a trick to enlarge Europe and the Med without ending up with a badly deformed Africa - you have to really walk a line there…it really helps the immersion to have fairly accurate continent shapes…
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Can you take more time tracing the continental outlines so they match better? Its important that the land areas perfectly match as well as the sea zones. I notice a tendency to “round out” the forms in that picture. All the jagged data of the coastline needs to be transposed accurately, you may even consider drawing the continents from actual maps and fitting them together after enlarging them.
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Nice to see more progress on this map! What font did you use for the country names? It seems very close to the actual font used.
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Thanks for the comments!
I think Africa looks great, im painting that now!
I admit my lines suck, I just drew them fast, over laping, etc. didn’t matter. What look good on screen needs to be tested live, which is what this was for, do the units fit better, or not, where more improvements can be made… im happy with the fitments, I do have a few adjustment I would like to make, then I can finalize the lines.
As I start painting, I spend more time on the actual lines of the continent, no worries :)
As for the fonts, ill have to look, the number font and name font are different, and they are both licensed fonts, so will cost 25 bucks or so.
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Franklin Gothic Heavy is the font for Axis and Allies
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@Imperious:
Franklin Gothic Heavy is the font for Axis and Allies
That’s for sure not what I use, not saying that’s not it, im using ……B---- something T, ill look. If gothic works, then cool, its free.
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@Imperious:
Franklin Gothic Heavy is the font for Axis and Allies
Unfortuntaly the fonts used on the 1940 maps for either country names or seazone numbers aren’t close to Franklin Gothic Heavy.
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?? Download any of my maps and check it out. It can’t be true.
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Barbedor is the font.
Im going in tomorrow for my second print test.
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This is gonna be great! Looking forward to seeing some more land painted! :) Great work. Keep it up!
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Barbedor is the font.
Thnx siredblood!!! Barbedor Heavy definitely is the font used on the OOB maps.
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Im glad you found it, the quality of doing this right will pay off in the end. Just take your time on doing this map right including the cartography of the land areas. You might even consider drawing some areas based on their actual shape ( think Norway, Spain, Italy, England, German coast and Baltic coastline).
Keep posting pictures of work in progress so we can give you feedback!





