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I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped.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).
CF362D52-269F-4480-8CBB-08139099138F.jpeg A9E12EA1-66EB-4671-86AC-68C62FD30AD5.jpeg 858DE1F2-030A-4D5A-93E4-70A7D1180ADB.jpeg 8F513EE0-DA37-4BA9-880E-4D5EF7BF431F.jpeg F0188165-757B-4CC1-BF67-5045832283C9.jpeg 2E3CD627-0D31-4121-ACF8-682F9F58A40B.jpeg
Sired's Map project - Updated- 4/16 - files available see first post
-
Various map-fixing / map-modifying ideas can be found here, in case they’re of any interest to your project:
http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=38677.0
-
Thanks for the more feedback! Gibraltar has been made a tad bigger. Im having trouble with the sea zones, its time consuming (more then I thought) to keep them all in check, but Africa is done (with a tad more sea one at the bottom, and all its sea zones have been properly redone. Im currently in the Med.
Ill look into SZ80, Idk where that is without cheating and taking a peak lol
Thanks for all the links, I had no idea the USSR names were bunked up, ill have to do research prior to any name changes…. I will though for sure, thanks.
-
Here is a quick progress pic, Africa is good to go. Sea zone lines have been adjusted to meet up where they are supposed to, with no changes to the original game play.
The interior lines may be more adjusted later, I just need some guidelines, once those are 100% I can place the names/ roundels/ IPCs.
I left the layer of the original size, so you can see the diff. In addition, the same font/size/spacing/Font FX were replicated.
-
Lookng great so far, Sired!
I’m assuming you’ll extend Europe and western Asia southward in order to enlarge it. Or do you have something else in mind?
It’ll be interesting to follow this project. Looking forward to it!
-
Thanks for all the links, I had no idea the USSR names were bunked up, ill have to do research prior to any name changes…. I will though for sure, thanks.
Yes, my standard joke about the A&A depiction of the USSR is that “Timguska” makes it sound as if Tim Hortons has opened a coffee shop franchise in Siberia.
One other thread that might be useful to you is my Global 1940 2nd Edition Map Analysis, which you’ll find here:
-
Egypt a bit larger would be nice.
-
Thanks for all the great feedback! Ill be finishing up Europe today (its done, just not the sea zones/ territory names). Also, about Africa, the Northern territories will be as large as I can make them without totally distorting Africa.
I hope to have another pic up tonight, if not, tomorrow then.
Again, thanks for the feedback, lets get this thing right the first time! Don’t want to pay 200 bucks for a print, to go “F*CK!, should have done that!” lol.
-
The resize is complete, please look around at the boarders and point out any errors if you see any. Pay no attention to the roundels/name placements, ill zero them in when I paint the terrain. Ive matched the OOB font for zone names and water, still need to match the IPC value (why they are not on)
Also, im going to setup the board tomorrow to make my vid of the painted units, at that time, ill address any more territory border adjustments.
Thanks for looking and the feedback, the rest of the map needs little work, just a repaint now :)
-
From a point of view of someone, who unfortunately failed to play global (due to missing co-players): most missing project, great ideas and very fine adaption - Merry Christmas to the community, this is a gift for most of the players! I think you are on the right way. When adapting the smaller maps of 42 and 41, I hadn’t to face the problem of ‘not enough space’, on those maps, there are much less territories especially in Europe/Asia and the map projects based on the idea to enlarge the complete map in size. However, I did some adaptions when I scaled some single neutral territories (Mongolia, Switzerland), which were too big in size in comparison to the important territories. If anything, as an additional idea but no big deal, reducing space of strictly neutrals in global could work perhaps (yes, I know, some players incorporate attacks of strictly neutrals into their strategy).
-
Looks like a good start Sired.
Pripet Marshes can be smaller still without affecting the game play or borders, allowing more space around it for Eastern Poland and WEstern Ukraine.
Same with Switzerland, increasing France, Western Germany and Northern Italy.
Bessarabia still looks too small to me.
I think Egypt can use a bit more space still too. Maybe extend it down into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and reduce Ethiopia a bit more as well to keep the borders correct.Why did you make Norway/Sweden/Finland/Karelia smaller??
-
Thanks for the replies!
I agree Egypt should be larger, im going to shift all the upper Africa territory lines left. Never thought about making the marshes smaller, good call!… ill look more into other impassable areas as well now.
As for Findland and such, I was going for larger sea zones, ive never had a game where those countries were over crowded. Could be just my games though, is it more active then I thought?
-
Oh, another question, I noticed when you put the US together, it don’t line up, say you want America to be stage center. Is this an issue for anyone? I don’t mind making it line up, if anyone would prefer America in the middle, this would make the sea zone numbers flow correctly. Me personally, I don’t know if I would like it better/less/same.
Anyway just a thought as ill be getting the rest of the map ready for paint.
-
Thanks for the replies!
I agree Egypt should be larger, im going to shift all the upper Africa territory lines left. Never thought about making the marshes smaller, good call!… ill look more into other impassable areas as well now.
As for Findland and such, I was going for larger sea zones, ive never had a game where those countries were over crowded. Could be just my games though, is it more active then I thought?
Our Finland can get crowded sometimes. I do tend to play highly unconventional moves though. ;)
Oh, another question, I noticed when you put the US together, it don’t line up, say you want America to be stage center. Is this an issue for anyone? I don’t mind making it line up, if anyone would prefer America in the middle, this would make the sea zone numbers flow correctly. Me personally, I don’t know if I would like it better/less/same.
Personally I don’t think having the US in the middle would work as it’s really more of a staging point for the US player rather than actually used for the majority of the game. I imagine this is why the US has always been oddly split on all A&A maps.
-
Thanks for al the feedback! All the above was taken care of (with the exception of the US lining up, I scratched that) The entire Europe map lines, layers are complete and I started painting the water, ive noticed im not too happy with the default convoy icons, so ive decided to toy with new ideas.
I hope to have a pic up later today sometime.
-
This is what I came up with, I like the idea of the silhouette as its what it does for the standing army, which ill probably use (just make my own style). I left the one YG used on his map to show the size is still the same.
Painting didn’t get too far, as I spent most of the time of trying different convoy ideas. The sea zone lines, I mimicked the original, as though its my map, I want it to have the look of the original.
-
Those convoy markers look great. They fit in really well.
-
Those convoy markers look great. They fit in really well.
Thanks! Ive actually modded them slightly, I replaced the ship silhouette with a transport, the same transport art used from HBG convoy marker (as I use those)
Water painting went well yesterday, should have updated pic Friday
-
Looks great, Sired! Can’t wait to see the land zones painted!
One thing I noticed is that some of the seazone borders don’t line up as they do in the OOB map. I found two in particular:
Border between SZ97 and SZ99 connects with land in Albania rather than Greece, meaning that Greece is completely surrounded by SZ99 whereas in the OOB map it borders both SZ97 and SZ99.
Border between SZ93 and SZ95 doesn’t line up with the border between Northern Italy and Southern France, meaning that Northern Italy has access to SZ93 and SZ95, which is different to the OOB map where it only has access to SZ95.
You might have noticed this already, but I just wanted to make sure. :-D
I think this is going to be a great improvement to gameplay. Central Europe always gets so congested! :-)
Keep up the good work. Happy new year!
-
Looks great, Sired! Can’t wait to see the land zones painted!
One thing I noticed is that some of the seazone borders don’t line up as they do in the OOB map. I found two in particular:
Border between SZ97 and SZ99 connects with land in Albania rather than Greece, meaning that Greece is completely surrounded by SZ99 whereas in the OOB map it borders both SZ97 and SZ99.
Border between SZ93 and SZ95 doesn’t line up with the border between Northern Italy and Southern France, meaning that Northern Italy has access to SZ93 and SZ95, which is different to the OOB map where it only has access to SZ95.
You might have noticed this already, but I just wanted to make sure. :-D
I think this is going to be a great improvement to gameplay. Central Europe always gets so congested! :-)
Keep up the good work. Happy new year!
awesome thanks, I was hoping if there were flaws they would be pointed out! Thanks again!
-
Cool! Glad to be of help!
Another thing I thought of; border between SZ122 and SZ123 (Iceland) could be moved a little further to the west (left). Just to make it a little more clear that SZ123 is accessible from SZ117.
Again, great work. Keep it up!
Suggested Topics
