Love this video. I also hang game maps on my wall. Mark Mahaffey can be really uneven, but his map for Red Winter is a masterpiece. I also really love the map from Legion’s Maori Wars. And finally, the Library of Napoleonic Battles series maps are full of such period flavor. We are blessed in this hobby.
I am a GIS Specialist and work with cartography everyday as part of my profession so it is no surprise to me that map analysis is a common interest that draws a lot of us into wargaming!
I do play LOB games and do like the maps from that series (e.g none but heroes). However I personally find the maps from the GCACW series to be an order of magnitude more appealing (and fully functional) - worthy of framing. My favourite game map of all time is from Amateurs to Arms. If you want a map that looks like an authentic map, this is it. And a great game to boot. Last recommendation - Frederick. Despite it being a mounted board I have it framed and on my wall anyway between plays.
Another vote for the GCACW maps. Kibler's skills on full display. Just finished all the Hood Strikes North scenarios, and the map significantly helped the experience be phenomenal!
Thanks very much for all the effort and commentary. I too love maps, which drew me to board gaming in the first place. Choosing several bulge maps was an interesting choice and a good opportunity to look at different approaches. For some of my own favorites, I would call out Rick Barber-A Most Fearful Sacrifice and Devil Dogs being my two favorites. The art and color choices for the map, cards, and counters for Compass Games Brotherhood and Unity-Tomislav Cipcic & Ilya Kudriashov- are stunning and convey information beautifully. A map that totally blew me away at the time was Redmond Simonsen's Lille, from SPI’s Art of Siege 1978. Stunning to see no hexes and a powerful homage to the maps of the Vauban period.
Very fun and thoughtful list! I like the Battle Hymn maps for the same reason you mention. I think Napoleon's Triumph IS visually appealing (though i like first printing of Boneparte at Marengo a bit more). The D-Day series maps are great. I like Simonitch's maps as well - though i'd choose Holland '44 just because the terrain is so interesting. I'll echo the surprise at the lack of a Rick Barber map. They took me a little while to like, but now i really appreciate them. Dark horse candidate not on your list: Friedrich by Histogames is absolutely one of my faves.
A good selection, would agree with every one of them. Rick Barber’s Summer Storm map has always been a favorite of mine, and I could easily fill a top ten list of entirety Simonitch maps - every single one of them pops.
I love Simonitch maps, for me they are the perfect fusion of form and function. His map from US Civil War is jaw-dropping. I also adore the GCACW maps, even though artistically I've seen better-looking rivers, roads, forests, towns, etc on other maps, somehow it all just fits together, and the level of detail is amazing. Plus the map is just so central to game play. Beautiful maps, too, from Clash of Arms and New England Simulations. Unfortunately, I just can't agree with your assessment on maps from Dean Essig. Not a fan of the terrain not conforming (or loosely conforming) to the hex grid; the white hex grid leaps out for me since everyone else uses black grids; the "marching ants" hex coordinates are distracting; and the choice of fonts would cause a graphic designer to go apoplectic. His games are still awesome, though. By the way, I think it's virtually a prerequisite as a wargamer to love looking at maps. 😊
I really like how your list contained games that excelled in only one of your criteria instead of all just being well rounded maps. Like others I love Rick Barbers' maps (so many great ones). I also love the Levy & Campaign maps and Bayonets & Tomahawks.
Thanks. Agree with your number 1 map. Also the way that the 'barriers' of various terrain types define the los/movement costs. As for the game; I loooove the orders system.
Pity it has the wrong period names for almost every single city. The designer didn’t use the 1943 Soviet names (except, hilariously, Stalino) because of Putin. But using German names is not a problem, apparently. Moronic, and confusing if players refer to any period or history book map. Might as well have a WWI game with Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Lvov, Wrocław rather than Konigsberg, Petrograd, Lemberg or Breslau.
I got this one, in part, because the map looked so good, but I wish they either printed the map on a single sheet or made it so the two sections lined up property. Beautiful, but flawed.
Nice choices man. Gotta love a good map. I always felt the Devils cauldron/where eagles dare maps to be really visually attractive, also some of the Charles Kibbler Library of the Napoleonic wars are very attractive.
@WiseGuyHistory hi, Yes I know what you mean, it's like playing a game on a huge ordinance survey map. Tactical detail on a big scale. It truly is grand tactical. Also, I'd forgot about 1914 Nach Paris. Beautiful, colour's, hues, tones and texture to the map. Great subject to discuss. Thanks for posting.
Really interesting video again. Although I can't disagree with you more on at least the pure aesthetic look of the MMP maps by Nicolas Eskubi. I can't quite pinpoint what it is about them, but I really dislike the various pale shades with white hexmap overlaid, something really puts me off about that. Having not actually played a game on one of these maps, I assume they are this way from a functionality standpoint. I do agree with you however on the Clash of Arms maps by Tim Scleif et al. where I really enjoy all the hand draw little details, maybe that is what I like and why I am not drawn to the MMP maps which have a very opposed style.
@ wiseguy: Hearing you describe your love for maps was awesome! You sound like you might be a student of Edward Tufte. His book “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” is a profound experience. Recommended to all. Tufte states that Minard’s famous graphic of Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia “may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn.”
Yeah I love Minard's graphic; I have a colleague down the hall who has an enlarged version in a frame! A key impact on my research has been 'The Cartographic Eye' by Simon Ryan. It's focused on Australian exploration, mapping, and 'claiming' land, but I drew on it for understanding mapping during wartime.
When it comes to visual appeal (I haven't played them), check out Compass's/Parker's recent The Last Gamble and GMT's/Herman's Pacific War. Oh, and of course GCACW, which I'm somewhat surprised you haven't included. On the NT map, the locale boundaries are disconnected and placed somewhat haphazardly; they are one of the things Simmons would like to improve, similar to Guns of Gettysburg and Triomphe á Marengo where they all connect cleanly.
Rick Barber already was mentioned multiple times, but not the game which in "nominate" - Devil Dogs Bellau Wood 1918 is 60% bought because of his art on map..and because it is mounted ) And Burning Banners map looks astonishing, though I saw it only in videos.
I would love to get your opinion on the "Custom DDAOB Map (reduced confetti; increased readability)" I made on BGG for D-Day at Omaha Beach. I think it completely improves both the functionality and aesthetics from the original dramatically.
@@WiseGuyHistory It prints well even if you enlarge it somewhat from the original map size as I've seen others do. It also is an option in the Vassal and TTS modules for the game if you want to try it digitally.
Not one Rick Barber map? Most Fearful Sacrifice is not only a fabulous gaming experience but the map is simply the most incredible Gettysburg map ive ever seen eclipsing every other map. Cost a small fortune to ship it to me in Cairns but its stunning. Campaign for North Africa is in my top 5 a beautiful rendition of the scenery.
interested for your opinion, of the "Pub Battles" range by Command Post Games, certainly a different approach to a wargames map. No hexes or grid, and fundamentally played on a period map of the battlefield.
2 things. #1 Wacht am Rhein...is there anything better than those black counters on that map? Nope. #2 Kibler's GCACW maps are my all time favorite. Perfect slice of Americana for the conflict at hand.
I share your appreciation of the period flavor this map displays. For me, functionality is less important than historical aesthetics. A few more thoughts, I like maps with fewer locations, less color differentiation, and less layers of information. Like you, I grew up studying military atlas style maps, and for me, most wargame maps look too illustrative and colorful - to the point of resembling comic book art or seeming toylike. When counters are added to over-illustrated maps, the effect is too childlike. I also like maps with larger hexes and less terrain/elevation variety. While a few realistic battlefield features may play a significant role in small scale tactics, they seem distracting when I'm moving large number of units across an area as large as the Ardennes or Northern Virginia. I dislike most point-to-point games due to the ugly, intrusive, communications lines that connect points. To summarize, I like simpler, less colorful maps that let me focus on the big picture, not the many minor game-centric terrain features. Again, I prefer to see only the information of significance to the simulated level commanders. Real commanders are generally far less informed than their wargame counterparts. What makes warfare interesting to me is the challenge of making decisions based on imperfect and incomplete information. Military sketch artists and map cartographers have no responsibility to lead armies to victory. They are historical fashionistas.
@@WiseGuyHistory Hi Nathan - I replied to this question via email using the address you sent me so I could send you some map art. The map art has also been sent to your email address in a separate message. Please send me any comments after you have time to look at the map(s). Thank you.
It really depends on what your area of interest is; for Australian historians, Simon Ryan's The Cartographic Eye has been very important, but it's largely about the political and social impact of maps, rather than their creation.
It's a heavy investment of time, very complex, with a lot of rules checking [and likely errors], and a frustrating experience for many, but I think it's an amazing gaming experience if you can plow through all that!
I terribly disagree! I dislike every MMP map I’ve seen. Most I’ve seen are OCS, SCS and BCS. Boring colours, unattractive design, rubbish hex numbering system, but most importantly terrible terrain clarity. I HATE game maps where you have tiny slivers of terrain in hexes, or where there are multiple terrain in a hex. Just terrible design. Because it is obviously a design choice, and the designer chose to make the players work harder than necessary. It may possibly look nice (but MMP maps do not look nice), but utterly fails it’s purpose of aiding the players to play. Btw I have owned numerous MMP games, so the sub-standard maps haven’t stopped me playing them. But I do not like them, at all. None but heroes looks like a child has scribbled over it in crayon. Very ugly. And underneath that, a typically confusing MMP map. It might rank as one of the worst maps I’ve seen! I’ll bow to your experience and assume it plays a lot better than it looks. I think a well done area game map is the best map. With hexes, the designer doesn’t have to think about area size, connections, etc. In an area map the designer must have play tested the game a lot to make sure the effects turn out right. So Triumph of chaos and Vento Nuovo’s Moscow/Leningrad/Kiev 41, get high marks from me. Knut’s maps for Fall Blau and Kharkov are very pretty (much prettier than S’42) AND they are very clear and useful for a player. Rick Barber’s maps are almost always beautiful, but often not that clear.
@LG. You mentioned this yesterday, so I had to take a look ;-) I do largely agree that whilst aesthetics are important, playability is key. Any map whilst pretty that hinders play shouldn't be on a top 10 list. Ed Wimble's Jena! has some really nice Rick Barber autumnal maps but it can't win any competition for a best wargame map as (1) there are no hex grid references, (2) set up provides town names (my 18th Century geography of Prussia is terrible and this is a 3 map game) and (3) the spelling of at least one town on the map is different to the spelling in the set up scenario (thanks to Ed Wimble for answering this question on BGG). Anyone who doesn't agree can come along to the Cardboard Emperors and I'll leave the game with you for 2 hours whilst I have a beer!
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A Most Fearful Sacrifice game map by Rick Barber (RIP)..... immerses you into Gettysburg.
I've always been fond of the map for Avalon Hill's 'Russian Front'. It was certainly the most beautiful map of its era.
Love this video. I also hang game maps on my wall. Mark Mahaffey can be really uneven, but his map for Red Winter is a masterpiece. I also really love the map from Legion’s Maori Wars. And finally, the Library of Napoleonic Battles series maps are full of such period flavor. We are blessed in this hobby.
I am a GIS Specialist and work with cartography everyday as part of my profession so it is no surprise to me that map analysis is a common interest that draws a lot of us into wargaming!
I do play LOB games and do like the maps from that series (e.g none but heroes). However I personally find the maps from the GCACW series to be an order of magnitude more appealing (and fully functional) - worthy of framing.
My favourite game map of all time is from Amateurs to Arms. If you want a map that looks like an authentic map, this is it. And a great game to boot. Last recommendation - Frederick. Despite it being a mounted board I have it framed and on my wall anyway between plays.
Another vote for the GCACW maps. Kibler's skills on full display. Just finished all the Hood Strikes North scenarios, and the map significantly helped the experience be phenomenal!
Thanks very much for all the effort and commentary. I too love maps, which drew me to board gaming in the first place. Choosing several bulge maps was an interesting choice and a good opportunity to look at different approaches.
For some of my own favorites, I would call out Rick Barber-A Most Fearful Sacrifice and Devil Dogs being my two favorites.
The art and color choices for the map, cards, and counters for Compass Games Brotherhood and Unity-Tomislav Cipcic & Ilya Kudriashov- are stunning and convey information beautifully.
A map that totally blew me away at the time was Redmond Simonsen's Lille, from SPI’s Art of Siege 1978. Stunning to see no hexes and a powerful homage to the maps of the Vauban period.
Oh wow, I've just gone and looked at that Lille map! It'd be nice to see that upgrade for the modern day!
Very fun and thoughtful list!
I like the Battle Hymn maps for the same reason you mention.
I think Napoleon's Triumph IS visually appealing (though i like first printing of Boneparte at Marengo a bit more).
The D-Day series maps are great.
I like Simonitch's maps as well - though i'd choose Holland '44 just because the terrain is so interesting.
I'll echo the surprise at the lack of a Rick Barber map. They took me a little while to like, but now i really appreciate them.
Dark horse candidate not on your list: Friedrich by Histogames is absolutely one of my faves.
A good selection, would agree with every one of them. Rick Barber’s Summer Storm map has always been a favorite of mine, and I could easily fill a top ten list of entirety Simonitch maps - every single one of them pops.
I love Simonitch maps, for me they are the perfect fusion of form and function. His map from US Civil War is jaw-dropping. I also adore the GCACW maps, even though artistically I've seen better-looking rivers, roads, forests, towns, etc on other maps, somehow it all just fits together, and the level of detail is amazing. Plus the map is just so central to game play. Beautiful maps, too, from Clash of Arms and New England Simulations.
Unfortunately, I just can't agree with your assessment on maps from Dean Essig. Not a fan of the terrain not conforming (or loosely conforming) to the hex grid; the white hex grid leaps out for me since everyone else uses black grids; the "marching ants" hex coordinates are distracting; and the choice of fonts would cause a graphic designer to go apoplectic. His games are still awesome, though.
By the way, I think it's virtually a prerequisite as a wargamer to love looking at maps. 😊
I really like how your list contained games that excelled in only one of your criteria instead of all just being well rounded maps. Like others I love Rick Barbers' maps (so many great ones). I also love the Levy & Campaign maps and Bayonets & Tomahawks.
GTS maps are in my top 10. In particular Race for Bastogne…functional and evocative
Thanks. Agree with your number 1 map. Also the way that the 'barriers' of various terrain types define the los/movement costs. As for the game; I loooove the orders system.
Another great video, all those maps are really outstanding. I also liked the map of Almoravid so nice art!
Next, you should do counters. I actually called this eye candy beautiful map, and beautiful counters. I want it.
Summer Storm map is one of my favorites.
Absolutely love this! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Great video, from a fellow map enthusiast!
Thank you! Anything you feel I've missed or should add?
Traces of War had not only my favorite map, I thinks it exceeds all other maps in quality and beauty by an order of magnitude.
Pity it has the wrong period names for almost every single city. The designer didn’t use the 1943 Soviet names (except, hilariously, Stalino) because of Putin. But using German names is not a problem, apparently. Moronic, and confusing if players refer to any period or history book map. Might as well have a WWI game with Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Lvov, Wrocław rather than Konigsberg, Petrograd, Lemberg or Breslau.
@@lawrencegough I noticed that, but you can't have everything
I got this one, in part, because the map looked so good, but I wish they either printed the map on a single sheet or made it so the two sections lined up property. Beautiful, but flawed.
Your opening graphic shows Pericles and Pax Pamir, so I hoped they’d appear somewhere.
@jazzlovr6515 They were both initially on my short list, but were pushed down the order as I worked through it...
I was waiting for Fontenoy, a truly beautiful map!
Great list.
I used to draw maps, hang the national geographic maps on my wall and imagine i was sailing around the world. Maps are amazing.
Nice choices man. Gotta love a good map. I always felt the Devils cauldron/where eagles dare maps to be really visually attractive, also some of the Charles Kibbler Library of the Napoleonic wars are very attractive.
Yeah I thought about TDC/WED, I like the map, but I think for me it's more the appeal of the scope than the map itself.
Sorry, to clarify, what I love most about the TCD/WED map is how big it is, rather than any particular features of it, if that makes sense?
@WiseGuyHistory hi, Yes I know what you mean, it's like playing a game on a huge ordinance survey map. Tactical detail on a big scale. It truly is grand tactical.
Also, I'd forgot about 1914 Nach Paris. Beautiful, colour's, hues, tones and texture to the map. Great subject to discuss. Thanks for posting.
Yes, the Kibler maps for The Library of Napoleonic battles are exquisite. Those and the GCACW maps are, for me, the best maps, period.
Really interesting video again.
Although I can't disagree with you more on at least the pure aesthetic look of the MMP maps by Nicolas Eskubi. I can't quite pinpoint what it is about them, but I really dislike the various pale shades with white hexmap overlaid, something really puts me off about that. Having not actually played a game on one of these maps, I assume they are this way from a functionality standpoint.
I do agree with you however on the Clash of Arms maps by Tim Scleif et al. where I really enjoy all the hand draw little details, maybe that is what I like and why I am not drawn to the MMP maps which have a very opposed style.
@ wiseguy: Hearing you describe your love for maps was awesome! You sound like you might be a student of Edward Tufte. His book “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” is a profound experience. Recommended to all. Tufte states that Minard’s famous graphic of Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia “may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn.”
Yeah I love Minard's graphic; I have a colleague down the hall who has an enlarged version in a frame! A key impact on my research has been 'The Cartographic Eye' by Simon Ryan. It's focused on Australian exploration, mapping, and 'claiming' land, but I drew on it for understanding mapping during wartime.
A Most Fearful Sacrifice
When it comes to visual appeal (I haven't played them), check out Compass's/Parker's recent The Last Gamble and GMT's/Herman's Pacific War. Oh, and of course GCACW, which I'm somewhat surprised you haven't included.
On the NT map, the locale boundaries are disconnected and placed somewhat haphazardly; they are one of the things Simmons would like to improve, similar to Guns of Gettysburg and Triomphe á Marengo where they all connect cleanly.
I was initially drawn to the Blind Sword System games by the maps. For game play, however, they were far too busy and confusing.
Rick Barber already was mentioned multiple times, but not the game which in "nominate" - Devil Dogs Bellau Wood 1918 is 60% bought because of his art on map..and because it is mounted )
And Burning Banners map looks astonishing, though I saw it only in videos.
I would love to get your opinion on the "Custom DDAOB Map (reduced confetti; increased readability)" I made on BGG for D-Day at Omaha Beach. I think it completely improves both the functionality and aesthetics from the original dramatically.
I'll check it out! I don't think I've seen or heard of this before, thanks PrimalAce!
Oh wow, very cool, a much trimmed/cleaner version! I'd love to get this printed somehow...
@@WiseGuyHistory It prints well even if you enlarge it somewhat from the original map size as I've seen others do. It also is an option in the Vassal and TTS modules for the game if you want to try it digitally.
@@WiseGuyHistory Be sure to grab the dropbox link version if you're thinking of printing it as well ;)
Not one Rick Barber map? Most Fearful Sacrifice is not only a fabulous gaming experience but the map is simply the most incredible Gettysburg map ive ever seen eclipsing every other map. Cost a small fortune to ship it to me in Cairns but its stunning. Campaign for North Africa is in my top 5 a beautiful rendition of the scenery.
I like Rick Barber maps, and I considered a few different ones for the list, but no particular map really stood out as 'Top 10' for me personally.
interested for your opinion, of the "Pub Battles" range by Command Post Games, certainly a different approach to a wargames map. No hexes or grid, and fundamentally played on a period map of the battlefield.
Yeah I've seen videos, but haven't played any of them.
I love maps to my favorite for detail are diffraction entertainment tsww. Anyway great video
Ah I haven't played TSWW yet! Another one to add to my 'maybe I'll eventually play this' list... :-(
Some great choices there. It's a shame those LOB games haven't been reprinted by MMP. Maybe one day....
2 things. #1 Wacht am Rhein...is there anything better than those black counters on that map? Nope.
#2 Kibler's GCACW maps are my all time favorite. Perfect slice of Americana for the conflict at hand.
I share your appreciation of the period flavor this map displays. For me, functionality is less important than historical aesthetics. A few more thoughts, I like maps with fewer locations, less color differentiation, and less layers of information. Like you, I grew up studying military atlas style maps, and for me, most wargame maps look too illustrative and colorful - to the point of resembling comic book art or seeming toylike. When counters are added to over-illustrated maps, the effect is too childlike.
I also like maps with larger hexes and less terrain/elevation variety. While a few realistic battlefield features may play a significant role in small scale tactics, they seem distracting when I'm moving large number of units across an area as large as the Ardennes or Northern Virginia. I dislike most point-to-point games due to the ugly, intrusive, communications lines that connect points.
To summarize, I like simpler, less colorful maps that let me focus on the big picture, not the many minor game-centric terrain features. Again, I prefer to see only the information of significance to the simulated level commanders. Real commanders are generally far less informed than their wargame counterparts. What makes warfare interesting to me is the challenge of making decisions based on imperfect and incomplete information.
Military sketch artists and map cartographers have no responsibility to lead armies to victory. They are historical fashionistas.
I respect what you've been saying in these posts Leslie. May I ask, what are some of your favourite games that satisfy what you're referring to here?
@@WiseGuyHistory Hi Nathan - I replied to this question via email using the address you sent me so I could send you some map art. The map art has also been sent to your email address in a separate message. Please send me any comments after you have time to look at the map(s). Thank you.
Gcacw games have really nice maps that show every trail made and lot of information to study your maneuvers.
Yeah, i just need to get around to playing them! I've been tempted for many years but am worried about solo suitability...
@@WiseGuyHistory They work great solo, since action points come with dice rolls
IMO The Devil Caudron is the best.
Have you done play videos on triumph and chaos deluxe ? I enjoy complex but this seemed over the top
Yep, they're all in this playlist: ruclips.net/video/0N18TUBowOI/видео.html
GREAT VIDEO
Thanks!
Is there a book about the history of cartography that you can recommend?
It really depends on what your area of interest is; for Australian historians, Simon Ryan's The Cartographic Eye has been very important, but it's largely about the political and social impact of maps, rather than their creation.
Is Triumph of Chaos worth playing despite its reputation of being errata and rules heavy?
It's a heavy investment of time, very complex, with a lot of rules checking [and likely errors], and a frustrating experience for many, but I think it's an amazing gaming experience if you can plow through all that!
@@WiseGuyHistory thank you for producing great wargaming content
Thanks mate!
if i do not like the map i do not but the game
Monmouth, BAR
Yeah I thought about that, but decided to go with Fontenoy instead.
I would put Risk on the list… ;)
Hmm, maybe Risk Legacy once we've torn the world apart and covered it with stickers!
I terribly disagree!
I dislike every MMP map I’ve seen. Most I’ve seen are OCS, SCS and BCS. Boring colours, unattractive design, rubbish hex numbering system, but most importantly terrible terrain clarity. I HATE game maps where you have tiny slivers of terrain in hexes, or where there are multiple terrain in a hex. Just terrible design. Because it is obviously a design choice, and the designer chose to make the players work harder than necessary. It may possibly look nice (but MMP maps do not look nice), but utterly fails it’s purpose of aiding the players to play. Btw I have owned numerous MMP games, so the sub-standard maps haven’t stopped me playing them. But I do not like them, at all.
None but heroes looks like a child has scribbled over it in crayon. Very ugly. And underneath that, a typically confusing MMP map. It might rank as one of the worst maps I’ve seen! I’ll bow to your experience and assume it plays a lot better than it looks.
I think a well done area game map is the best map. With hexes, the designer doesn’t have to think about area size, connections, etc. In an area map the designer must have play tested the game a lot to make sure the effects turn out right. So Triumph of chaos and Vento Nuovo’s Moscow/Leningrad/Kiev 41, get high marks from me.
Knut’s maps for Fall Blau and Kharkov are very pretty (much prettier than S’42) AND they are very clear and useful for a player. Rick Barber’s maps are almost always beautiful, but often not that clear.
@LG. You mentioned this yesterday, so I had to take a look ;-) I do largely agree that whilst aesthetics are important, playability is key. Any map whilst pretty that hinders play shouldn't be on a top 10 list. Ed Wimble's Jena! has some really nice Rick Barber autumnal maps but it can't win any competition for a best wargame map as (1) there are no hex grid references, (2) set up provides town names (my 18th Century geography of Prussia is terrible and this is a 3 map game) and (3) the spelling of at least one town on the map is different to the spelling in the set up scenario (thanks to Ed Wimble for answering this question on BGG). Anyone who doesn't agree can come along to the Cardboard Emperors and I'll leave the game with you for 2 hours whilst I have a beer!