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I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped.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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Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file and setup charts (Updated May 30th 2018)
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@Imperious:
Your right about the font, i now remember that the Franklin font looked better so i went with that.
That’s not a problem. Do you happen to know what the original font was called?
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I stopped looking because that Franklin font is better and sorta similar to OOB
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Yes!! Finally managed to finish the European Theater of the map. Just for you all to get a feeling of how big this rework is to fix all the dust particles, scratches, fold creases and scan line - I’ve added a picture that shows all the changes to the original map.
The results are very satisfying and I cannot wait to finish the Pacific theather and get this clean map printed.
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WOW, you can really see where the boards were stitched together.
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Quick update to you all. 6 months have passed, but not without progress on the map! I’ve fixed all lands / islands except for America on the pacific board. This work took forever to complete, but I’ve learned a lot on this journey and will retouch some of the things on the european side as well. Especially better contrast on country names.
I’m currently battleing my way through the pacific to minimize the visible lines of where the scans have been stitched together. See this image as a reference of what I’m talking about.
Please note I’ve also:
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aligned sea borders better and in straight angles
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moved Honolulu to where it should be
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flipped Iwo Jima to it’s right orientation (inspired by Intrepred’s great work)
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it’s still WIP as you can see from the dark line running north of Wake Island and through Hawaii
Let me know what you think!
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Just a quick update to let you all know this project is not dead. After some months out of the running I’m regaining energy and started working on this map again. Still some work to do, but I hope to be able to get you posted on a more regular basis.
See my separate thread for my OOB map of Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition. This is what I’ve been working on the last week after contacting Young Grasshopper when I saw the problems with the warped boards on his Youtube channel.
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Awesome….can’t wait to see the final product
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Nice! Looks like we both are back to maps at the same time!…. think we began around the same time as well.
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Nice! Looks like we both are back to maps at the same time!…. think we began around the same time as well.
Yes I think you’re right. It’s some serious map time for the community :wink:
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Some good progress lately. I’ve finished retouching all the scratches and other small damages on the boards / scans.
As I found a way to scan my own boards in good quality I was even able to use my 2nd edition board itself to add the 2nd edition changes to the map. See the two examples below for Western Canada and Mexico (left: original map file from YG, right: 2nd edition changes). Note that using my own scan I was able to regenerate the original artwork on Western Canada and Western United States without visible color differences.
Next stop: color correcting the visible overlaps between different scans. They are visible in the sea zones. Especially on the Pacific side of the board.
Stay tuned!
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This map looks great! Looking forward to completion :-)
Looking at the 1st edition pacific board, I’ve also noticed that Sydney and Calcutta have the round victory city symbols rather than the square capitals symbols… at least that is what the first edition board looks like, maybe it’s rectified in the 2nd ed. Calcutta mightn’t need one since it’s part of the UK, but it is essentially a capital. I corrected this myself on YG’s board but you might want to do it on your own board.
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This map looks great! Looking forward to completion :-)
Looking at the 1st edition pacific board, I’ve also noticed that Sydney and Calcutta have the round victory city symbols rather than the square capitals symbols… at least that is what the first edition board looks like, maybe it’s rectified in the 2nd ed. Calcutta mightn’t need one since it’s part of the UK, but it is essentially a capital. I corrected this myself on YG’s board but you might want to do it on your own board.
Checked my 2nd edition OOB boards, and indeed they still have the round VC symbols. Great spot!
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This map looks great! Looking forward to completion :-)
Thanks!
I’ve also noticed that Sydney and Calcutta have the round victory city symbols rather than the square capitals symbols…
Wow never noticed this before! Thanks for sharing this with the community. I will definitely address this.
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This map looks great! Looking forward to completion :-)
Looking at the 1st edition pacific board, I’ve also noticed that Sydney and Calcutta have the round victory city symbols rather than the square capitals symbols… at least that is what the first edition board looks like, maybe it’s rectified in the 2nd ed. Calcutta mightn’t need one since it’s part of the UK, but it is essentially a capital. I corrected this myself on YG’s board but you might want to do it on your own board.
Checked my 2nd edition OOB boards, and indeed they still have the round VC symbols. Great spot!
This map looks great! Looking forward to completion :-)
Thanks!
I’ve also noticed that Sydney and Calcutta have the round victory city symbols rather than the square capitals symbols…
Wow never noticed this before! Thanks for sharing this with the community. I will definitely address this.
You’re very welcome for the spot… it’s what happens when you have a bored guy staring at a game board :lol:
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You’re very welcome for the spot… it’s what happens when you have a bored guy staring at a game board :lol:
If you are ever bored again, please do stare at the board again and share your finding :-)
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After finishing retouching all the scratches and other small damages on the boards / scans it’s time to work on the bigger picture. Resulting in some good progress. I’ve been working on the color differences in the sea zones and have finished the pacific and indian ocean. If I mist a spot please let me know. :wink:
What you can see in the images:
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The color balanced sea zones off course
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The removed neutral army icons (as I play with miniatures from HBG)
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2nd edition changes to the board (West Canada, Mexico, no Burma Road name on the board, Palau Island spelling correction)
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fixes to the board (Iwo Jima in right orientation, Honolulu to the right location)
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Himalaya stronger black stroke on text (exactly as other text on the board)
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Calcutta and Sidney now show the square capital instead of the round VC icon. Once again thank you for spotting this sjlr1.
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Anything I missed to tell you 8-)
Pacific
Indian Ocean
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Looks great! :-)
Those colour corrections make a real difference -
While your fixing things, I listed more errors on my thread, misspelled china territories, Calcutta is in wrong location, etc, the list is right before the newest pics on page 12.
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While your fixing things, I listed more errors on my thread, misspelled china territories, Calcutta is in wrong location, etc, the list is right before the newest pics on page 12.
Thanks sired! I was aware of the Suiyuyan -> Suiyuan that needs to be corrected, but it seems you changed far more names. Could you share the source of these changes? I did some “googling” but found many different spellings of same areas and some were hard to find to begin with.
And I will look into Calcutta.
An other thing on my todo list is the horrible fake island near Celebes. But first I will focus on finishing the sea zones on the Europe side of the board.