Tjoek's A&A Anniversary OOB Map file (Updated March 23rd)

@Tjoek:

@2Huskies:

Hi Tjoek,
By chance are you planning to do any work as far as enhancing the border colors in the Soviet territories to make them stand out more, which was part of my original request earlier in this thread? If not, I know someone who may be able to help me with his Photoshop software, but I’ll have him wait for the new file at this point. I look forward to seeing the new file and your new enhancements!

Sorry I forgot about your message when the thread went into the quality / resolution discussion. With the colour and contrast corrections I’m currently working on I believe the borders should be more visible so please let me know how the file looks when it’s finished later this week.

Hey Tjoek,

So earlier on I passed your original map file to my friend who enhanced the Soviet and German borders to make them stand out more. Then, when your new file came out, he did them again along with Italy. Your new file definitely was much nicer in its color balance, even for the borders. Thanks again for the work you did. My personal version just has them stand out a bit more, and the Soviet borders colored deep red.

If you are interested, I can provide you my personal version for you to include as another option in your Dropbox. I told my friend I would at least see if you were interested in the work he did already in case you wanted to include this alternate option for people to download. Perhaps it would save you some time than if having to do it yourself if this request is made by others.

I haven’t actually printed the map file yet as I am waiting to see how Young Grasshopper’s map turns out first. Please let me know if you want to take a look at this alternate version for possible inclusion in your maps versions. If not, it doesn’t bother me.  :)

Thanks again for all the work you are doing on this map and on the Global 1940 2nd Edition map!

They printed it without the anti-scratch laminate that I asked for, gotta wait now until the end of the week for the right one… in the meantime, they sold me the defective one for 40$ (which my buddy Iron Stitch has already claimed). The colors look good on the one they showed me.

Was that a matte laminate or gloss YG? (I assume matte) So the map is good to go other than your missing Laminate?

@Tjoek:

@2Huskies:

If you are interested, I can provide you my personal version for you to include as another option in your Dropbox.

I’m definitely curious to see what your friend did. And if I like it I might include it in future versions. I will PM you my email address.

Sounds great Tjoek! I’ll pass it your way! Let me know what you think.

@Tjoek:

If you are satisfied with it and doesn’t see any areas to fix I will finalize the IPC tracker variants and start working on the Italian roundels version.

Aside from Honolulu being on the wrong island, I think the map looks fine… and not that Honolulu is a game breaker either… i’m fine with WotC’s silly mistake. The color changes you made from the first version are absolutely fantastic. Now bring us those Fasces roundels!

@Tjoek:

Other artistic deviations from the ‘real’ roundels are:

• USSR: has a fictive roundel based on their star roundel and their hammer and … (don’t now the English word  :-)) from their flag

The word you are looking for is sickle - the Soviet Hammer & Sickle was a big thing - 40 years ago.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_and_sickle

-Midnight_Reaper

So hoping I can print this map this weekend!

@Tjoek:

Today I finally found some time to continue my work on this map, so I’ve updated my first post to link to the new files.

In short:

• 3 different versions: OOB, OOB with Fasces and OOB with Income tracker

• some more stitch and scratch fixes

• a better scanning noise removal to better preserve colours

Looking forward to your comments!

Woo Hoo! on my lunch break right now, but i might actually print the OOB with Fasces this weekend!

@Tjoek:

I would love to see pictures of your printed map!

So would I! (because that would mean we finally have a good one-piece map solution to Anniversary).

And…. edit…

Just picked up my printed map from Fed-X print shop… but stuck in errands and traffic from Hell… can’t wait to check it out at home…

Okay… per request, here’s pictures of Tjoek’s AA50 OOB map file, printed up…

Details:
For various reasons, I went ahead and printed the map at the same size as the original board map (which is 24"x46")… but now I have a one-piece map that I can roll up, and I won’t have anywarpage or “three-pieces-sliding-around” issues.

I took it to the local Fed-X Print Shop, they recommended Outdoor Banner Vinyl (I asked for measurements, official name and thickness in mm… they looked blankly at me and said “it’s called outdoor banner vinyl, that’s what’s on your receipt”… and indeed it is… so not sure what else to call it other than "outdoor banner vinyl from Fed-X print shop).

They charge $6.99 (US-Dollar) per square foot and if you go for the default size of 24"x46", that turns out to be 8-sqft… with tax, it was a $60 project grand total. If you want to enlarge it to a bigger size and go through Fed-X, that’s what you can work with for estimates.

I didn’t do anything fancy like lamination or sticky sides or whatever… it’s a straight up printing with no frills… right now, I just wanted a warp-proof single-piece reproduction of the OOB map for cheap and Tjoek’s map file offers just that. I might do something fancier later for a larger size, but right now, I just wanted a reprint in a single piece that works better for our group (and it does). I got exactly what I want for $60… I think that’s pretty good. I can always make another down the road if I need to.

Attached are 4 pics for your viewing…

Pic-1, the vinyl map (with Fasces), straight up…
Pic-2, the vinyl map with the original board placed over the right and left sides (center piece not placed) to show how exact the vinyl matches the original board on layout.

Pic-3: Italians enjoying their new Fasces roundels
Pic-4: Japan perusing the Pacific

@Nowhere:

Okay… per request, here’s pictures of Tjoek’s AA50 OOB map file, printed up…

Details:
For various reasons, I went ahead and printed the map at the same size as the original board map (which is 24"x46")… but now I have a one-piece map that I can roll up, and I won’t have anywarpage or “three-pieces-sliding-around” issues.

I took it to the local Fed-X Print Shop, they recommended Outdoor Banner Vinyl (I asked for measurements, official name and thickness in mm… they looked blankly at me and said “it’s called outdoor banner vinyl, that’s what’s on your receipt”… and indeed it is… so not sure what else to call it other than "outdoor banner vinyl from Fed-X print shop).

Hey Nowhere Man,
This is very encouraging! The colors in your picture actually look better on the printed vinyl than colors of the original board! Thank you Tjoek for this fine work!

My needs are almost identical to yours Nowhere Man. I don’t plan on doing anything fancy such as lamination either. I also just want a nice, clean rollup mat that is completely seamless. I will have my board increased 1.5x in each direction, and I’ll be sure to post pictures as well. That should make it roughly 3 ft by 6 ft.

The “Outdoor Banner Vinyl” could very well be called Scrim Vinyl, which is what my local print facility recommended to me. It is supposed to withstand wind, rain, sunlight fade, and other harsh weather conditions (might as well throw tornadoes into the mix :-D ….).  I think they recommended you the right choice.  I’m just hoping it is the same material as I was recommended in case others here would like to request the same thing.

Finally, your second set of pictures with the pieces on it look EPIC! Thanks for sharing! I cannot wait to get mine printed up!

@Tjoek:

Really awesome to see that map! Especially with the original boards on top.

Thanks for sharing this with us Nowhere Man.

NP, ty for making this incredible map file, it was really needed for AA50… I did the old map on top of new map picture as almost an afterthought… I was more curious to make sure my print shop made it the same size as the original map… I was actually surprised to see the colors on your map were more vibrant (and pleasing to the eye) than the original game board.

A last thought on possible adjustments, I know you have an income tracker as an option on one of your maps… so this would (in theory) eliminate the need for a separate income-tracker board… BUT (there’s always a “but”)… the income tracker board with AA50 also has the tech tracker on the same board… if you print up your map with the income tracker, but also need the techs tracked, you STILL have to use that board (thereby defeating the purpose of the income tracker). If there would be a way to put both the income tracker and the tech tracker on the printed map file, that would completely eliminate the possible need for the board… just a thought… as for me and my group, we’re pleased as punch with this printed map (and we like using the income board anyways).

@2Huskies:

Hey Nowhere Man,
This is very encouraging! The colors in your picture actually look better on the printed vinyl than colors of the original board! Thank you Tjoek for this fine work!

My needs are almost identical to yours Nowhere Man. I don’t plan on doing anything fancy such as lamination either. I also just want a nice, clean rollup mat that is completely seamless. I will have my board increased 1.5x in each direction, and I’ll be sure to post pictures as well. That should make it roughly 3 ft by 6 ft.

The “Outdoor Banner Vinyl” could very well be called Scrim Vinyl, which is what my local print facility recommended to me. It is supposed to withstand wind, rain, sunlight fade, and other harsh weather conditions (might as well throw tornadoes into the mix :-D ….). I think they recommended you the right choice. I’m just hoping it is the same material as I was recommended in case others here would like to request the same thing.

Finally, your second set of pictures with the pieces on it look EPIC! Thanks for sharing! I cannot wait to get mine printed up!

I’ve had maps made in the past at Fed-X and always took their recommendation but never asked specifically what they used. Seeing people talk about different types of vinyl, I wanted to know exactly what they used, and to make sure they used the same on this map as my prior maps (that i’ve always been happy with), so I took an older map in the print shop with me to confirm… the first person I handed my old map to asked her supervisor what it was and I could’ve sworn I heard him say something like “yeah, that’s SCRIM VINYL”… when I came back after all was said and done to pick up the map and asked what they used (talking to a different person), that’s when I got the answer of “that’s outdoor banner vinyl, it’s on the receipt”… but I did hear the word “scrim vinyl” used when I first dropped it off.

The thing I really like about this type of vinyl is that it lays incredibly flat… I also roll my maps up with print-side facing out… that way when I unroll it, if there’s the slightest bit of curve, its a downward one towards the table and flattens even quicker… I always store my maps in poster tubes (like this one here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AJ569N2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1 )

Saw this information when I looked it up… they are definately one-in-the-same…

Scrim vinyl is the most common substrate for printing outdoor banners. Scrim vinyl is a polyethylene substrate, reinforced with polyester cording. This internal cording is what gives it strength and durability to withstand damaging winds and weather conditions. The smooth surface makes it a great contender for displaying graphics and text. If you pair scrim vinyl with  solvent-based inkjet printing; you will get a sharp, color saturate set of graphics that will last. The solvent-based inks will actually become encapsulated into the substrate, creating essentially a tatoo within the fibers of the vinyl. The colors are vivid, and the inks do not fade to sunlight; and last even longer when laminated. The embedded ink image, with its permanence, can potentially outlast the surface of the scrim vinyl! This substrate can sustain between three to seven years of wind and weather, depending upon its abuse levels and if its been laminated. Longevity is the name of this game if you are looking for a solution will likely last beyond the original purpose of the signage!

I have 1941, 1942, Global and now Anniversary maps all printed in this material… I can attest it lasts with a lot of play and lies flat. I’ve heard really great things about show-floor, but its hard to break away from something thats been working for our group for so long.

Should this thread be moved and pinned to the AA50 forum? [shrug]