39 replies to this topic

[TWolfWD]

I've spent a great deal of time making various maps for my brother and I to play on, using poster board and pastels. I know plenty of you have created 3D maps and diaramas, but that's not what I'm asking about. All in all I've made about 10 myself, with 4 more in the works. I was just curious who else is doing this, and do you have pictures to share?

This is a swamp map I made using 2 pieces of poster board. I created a clearing in the middle of the two boards to act as a town, which I create using cutout hexes, so that I can make a different town each game. It's a difficult map to navigate, but makes you think all the more about how you're moving your lances about.

Spoiler

The following 2 pictures are a Moon Raid scenario (inspired by mechwarrior 2). The first image represents the moon base, a central hub which acts as the actual bulk of the base, and two wings which branch out to the Mech docks. The scenario plays like this. The defending player must prevent the destruction of the central hub, while player two must destroy it, then withdraw. Player 2 has no obligation to focus on the defending mechs (without the base, they're stranded). The defending mechs have a tonnage advantage of about %20, but their 3/4 of their pilots do not begin in their Mechs, and are instead in the central hub, with a 1 hex per turn movement. Essentially, the defenders have been caught off guard, and only the patrol Mechs are immediately ready to fight. This gives a fast attacker a chance to cut the defending forces in half if they can disable one or more of the mech docks. If the pilots are in a hex that's destroyed before getting into their Mech, the pilot is killed. It ended up being a great deal of fun.

Spoiler

The base above would go into the lower left corner of the map below

Spoiler

Edit: Placed photos into spoilers to make the thread cleaner.

Edited by TWolfWD, 07 June 2012 - 11:14 AM.

[Costello]

i went one step further. even though i did this as well.. What i did when i played the TT was i accually got some florist foam and lichen , twigs and the like and made 3-d hills and forests even to scale so you could get to mech level for different elevations. was really hard to set up new terrains sometimes but was hella fun when you saw the hights and what not. I highly recommend it if youve never tried it as it isnt all that expensive either.

[Tirick Fire]

That is some really nice pastel work on the maps. I've thought of doing this myself, but have not, as of yet. I like your base layout, and the map it is destined for. You've done an excellent job with the shading on it.

Making 3d elements would also be quite cool, I've experimented with 3d paper terrain, but I'm not 100% happy with the design, although it was modular, allowing bits to join at any edge.

[TWolfWD]

Thank you for the feedback! I thought about building 3d terrain using the poster board, cutting out and folding the pieces to make elevations, but it seems like a lot of work, and would need some sort of support structure within. I doubt the posterboard would support the figures on it's own.

I've also been thinking about collected packing styrofoam. It seems to me that 1" thickness would be perfect for 1 level of height. The material is also easy to carve into the shapes you want. If I get around to it, I may have to post the results. I am intrigued by the idea of seeing the levels.

[Costello]

the floral foam at a craft store is roughly 1" in height almost perfect for lvl 1 terrain. and is already green/easily shaped. it was fun to work with for sure, and is cheap for pple on a budget. I am here in north eastern indiana and since ive moved have no other TT gamers to hang with .

but your maps do look good as well though. very nice work.

[Dirk Le Daring]

Great work.

[SideSt3p]

Looks fantastic. Keep up the great work

[Karl Streiger]

Actually i'm working on a cheap map with 3D hex tiles. Initially i wanted to buy heroscape terrain tiles...but i think i have some spare time so why not to make it self. Decided to use 40mm hexes...because the 30mm hex are to small to fit for some of the newer mech miniatures. 50mm would be better but you need a really big table to have the range of a LRM

[TWolfWD]

I have been noticing some of my new mini's aren't quite so mini anymore. I hadn't thought to increase the Hex size though. Perhaps I shall have to. I'd love to see what you end up with using those 40s

[Tirick Fire]

Are they 30mm? I thought the standard was 1.25", which is a little over 30mm.

That said, what size do you all of you use as 'standard' for your own custom maps?

[TWolfWD]

I traced my hexes off the hex maps included in the introductory box set, so whatever those are. I have to ruler to figure it out, just unlabled straight edges.

[CaveMan]

Hell, I made my own *minis* sometimes. The thing that made Battletech awesome was you didnt have to buy a bunch of extraneous crap like GW games, etc. in order to play. All you needed was a rulebook, dice, some record sheets, a place to set up and anything that could stand in for a 'Mech. No having to go on ebay to find the right mini so you could have the 'Mech you wanted.

[Vermaxx]

There was a computer program a few years ago that let you design your own hexes and assemble them any way you wanted, then print the file at a copy store in the correct sizing. I forget the name, I didn't get very far into it becuase I was working at a call center and got sidetracked (with paintball and airsoft if I remember correctly).

This was definitely a hobby where you could easily do a lot of work yourself rather than buying the new thing. With today's picture editing programs you could probably just superimpose a hex map over a google earth shot and spend a couple dollars to get it printed. 3D maps are definitely cooler but hard to change things up if you want an etirely different layout.

Unless you did square segments and arranged them together randomly...

[Sebby]

I have extremely fond memory of spending weeks with my older brothers making a customizable giant cardboard 3D hexmap.

'twas frikkin awesome.

Sadly my 'bros were 8 years older than me and got tired/too busy for Battletech fairly fast afterward. And then the giant map had to rest in the garage where it got humid and rot'd away TT_TT

[Arikiel]

I actually prefer the hexless rules variant. Makes it feel more realistic. Plus you can use most of the same terrain pieces you would use in other games. For hex maps you did a really good job though.

Edited by Arikiel, 05 June 2012 - 10:05 PM.

[Vampyr]

I am impressed. Great work!

So what was your process of getting the hexes on the posterboard?

[TWolfWD]

Vampyr, on 06 June 2012 - 06:01 AM, said:

I am impressed. Great work!

So what was your process of getting the hexes on the posterboard?

It's quite barbaric. I place an already Hexed map underneath and dot the corners of each Hex through tracing. I need a makeshift light table for this. once I have each corner dotted, I take a straightedge and make the connections.

[SilverWolf]

I did some 25years ago, gave them away, due to moving

[TWolfWD]

Here's the best map I have currently. It's been hiding in storage for the last year, so I went and dug it up.

Spoiler

As it can probably be assumed, Light green trees represent light, while dark green represent heavy. The same goes for water, light being level 1, dark being level 2. The outpost is filled with generic building hexes that I'll have to remake, and the wall consist of reinfoced level two structure. This map is one of my favorites to play in objective based games, as it provides great room for manuevering.

I'm currently in the process of making new maps for a campaign I'm going to be hosting for my brother. If anyone's interested, I'll be documenting my (barbaric) process.

Edited by TWolfWD, 07 June 2012 - 10:51 AM.

[Atlas3060]

I've bought Heavy Metal map and made 2 inch hex maps for my group then laminated them in the past.
I was the unofficial cartographer of the group for a while, but lately I've been slacking in my activities.