Village of Albridge - First City Designer Project
This is my second crack at using CC3, this time with the City Designer set. Overall I'm reasonably happy with it, but now I need some input.
This map is an expansion of an existing map found in the D&D Adventure [I]"Reavers of Harkenwold" [/I] found in the Dungeon Master's Kit in their essentials line. As part of the adventure, and hopefully without too many spoilers, the heroes participate in the "Battle of Albridge" which is a series of three encounters set just to the south of the village. However, in advance of the battle, the characters are supposed to help the raised militia of the town in planning the defense of the town. As such, I know that my crew will want to have much more than just the close-in village map, but rather a larger map that includes the surrounding area, but is still close-enough in to see the various buildings, fields, hedgerows etc... So I started building this map, but am now at a point where I need some critique and input.
Here's what I have so far:
If you want a much larger version go here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Agatheron/DnDMinis/Maps/Albridge-First-Draft-Large.jpg
The central part of the village is developed directly from the map from the adventure itself. I imported a bitmap of the town map, and simply drew over top of it. The original map went from just below the dirt road at the top of the picture, to just south of the river with the buildings and fields that hug the shoreline. The width of the map is determined by the inner part of the two forested areas on either side of the town north of the river. Outside of that, the design part is mine, including the hedge-lined fields south of the river.
The scale marker in the lower left corner indicateds 500 feet... so this map is approximately 1 mile x 1 mile in terms of area. The battle in question will involve approximately 200 soldiers on either side, so this is not an unrealistic size for that kind of a fight.
What I want to do is flesh out the map well, but provide some stuff of tactical interest. I'm trying to build in a steep-ish forested ravine in the darker areas on the west side of the stone road so that it gives some focus as to where the battle is most likely to take place (southeast). However, I want the whole map fleshed out, rather than me looking lazy the further out from the center I get.
I'd appreciate any input you might have for me.
This map is an expansion of an existing map found in the D&D Adventure [I]"Reavers of Harkenwold" [/I] found in the Dungeon Master's Kit in their essentials line. As part of the adventure, and hopefully without too many spoilers, the heroes participate in the "Battle of Albridge" which is a series of three encounters set just to the south of the village. However, in advance of the battle, the characters are supposed to help the raised militia of the town in planning the defense of the town. As such, I know that my crew will want to have much more than just the close-in village map, but rather a larger map that includes the surrounding area, but is still close-enough in to see the various buildings, fields, hedgerows etc... So I started building this map, but am now at a point where I need some critique and input.
Here's what I have so far:
If you want a much larger version go here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Agatheron/DnDMinis/Maps/Albridge-First-Draft-Large.jpg
The central part of the village is developed directly from the map from the adventure itself. I imported a bitmap of the town map, and simply drew over top of it. The original map went from just below the dirt road at the top of the picture, to just south of the river with the buildings and fields that hug the shoreline. The width of the map is determined by the inner part of the two forested areas on either side of the town north of the river. Outside of that, the design part is mine, including the hedge-lined fields south of the river.
The scale marker in the lower left corner indicateds 500 feet... so this map is approximately 1 mile x 1 mile in terms of area. The battle in question will involve approximately 200 soldiers on either side, so this is not an unrealistic size for that kind of a fight.
What I want to do is flesh out the map well, but provide some stuff of tactical interest. I'm trying to build in a steep-ish forested ravine in the darker areas on the west side of the stone road so that it gives some focus as to where the battle is most likely to take place (southeast). However, I want the whole map fleshed out, rather than me looking lazy the further out from the center I get.
I'd appreciate any input you might have for me.
Comments
this is an amazing map! It's great how much detail you already added for this map scale (e.g. the structured fills of some fields and the fenced areas).
As for tactical delicacies: One major factor is always movement of troops. You could add some features that help or prevent such movement, like forested areas, hills, ravines, lakes, roads or more bridges or fords. (By placing troops or obstacles accordingly, these can also be used to force an enemy to move along a certain route.)
Another item is command and control. Even with wireless radio (which is not available here, I guess) it's difficult for a leader to get a clear view of the battle. The location of hills from where you can have a good look might influence from where a general might want to lead his troops. He'll need mounted soliders or soldiers on foot to transmit his messages to the sub-leaders, but that might not be played out in much detail. Lastly, one or more sides (if their headquarters are not directly in the village) may need to commadeer one of the outlying farms as their HQ, where reserve troops might be hidden. Camps can also be located in open areas, if available.
Is logistics a topic for this battle? Supplies are transported via roads, so the more vulnerable a road is (steep slopes at the sides are perfect for an ambush), the more troops are needed to protect the carts. On the other hand, the more side roads are available, the more difficult it will be for an ambusher to determine where to set up the ambush.
So... was that in any way helpful? :-)
Nils
Supply lines are less a concern in terms of the actual battle. There's some stuff in the lead-up to this fight that handles that, and it does impact the actual outcome of the fight. In this case, I'm more looking at a tactical skirmish that might involve 200 soldiers on each side, the vast majority of whom are on foot. Neither side has cavalry at its disposal. What horses are available are primarily use for command and control.
Thanks for your input so far. It's great will be very helpful as I flesh out the map.
Especially like the way you did the fileds with the brown edge. Is that an outer glow effect?
Since the town is near a river I would have expected something like docks and a few boats.
And since there seem to be bit of forest near the town I would expect more trees further out.
Like the way you did thoos trees btw. A very natural look.
More trees would certainly give your heroes a few tactical opportunities.
Here's an update on where it is now:
A larger version here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Agatheron/DnDMinis/Maps/Albridge-Second-Draft-Large.jpg
While they were not part of the original map, I will be adding moorings and a small wharf for transport fairly close to the north side of the bridge.
I'm torn between forest and field. The larger regional map is fairly open with a few copses of trees. I'd like to have some pastureland, but am not sure how to best represent it.
really nice how this map is developing! I like the small river and lake in the ravine.
I have no idea about the campaign background and whether you have any preferred battle plotline - do the PCs know that the invading forces arrive from the south? If so, I would expect them to set up some scouts on the southern hill and to the west of the ravine.
As for the invading force, I expect of course they will try to take over the farms south of the river, while at the same time to gain control over the only bridge (sneak attack through the ravine with a small squad?)? Maybe some individual buildings on the green road to the south might give some nice intermediate targets.
Do you plan to create some smaller scale maps for individual fights?
Nils
Would leave this map as it is right now.
Will make a fine map for the heroes to discuss tactics.
@Nils: the players will know the invading force will come from the south. The group will be overconfident, plus Albridge is the only bridge across the river in the region, and it is very likely that the two ferries will be pulled over to the north side, inaccessible to the mercenaries... So the only way to cross into the north side of Harkenwold is by way of the bridge on this map.
As for close-in tactical maps, I already have one supplied with the adventure. Some of the farms on the south side, particularly around the houses are modelled after those maps.
Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions. I'd appreciate whatever other input you might have.
That having been said, after I rendered this, I noticed that the wells throughout the map were on the wrong layer, and so cast a shadow as if they were much taller than everything else. Please ignore that flaw, I've fixed that now
Here's a bigger map:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Agatheron/DnDMinis/Maps/Albridge-Almost-Large.jpg
Anyway, any pieces of input to add? I can almost call this one done
Nils
And the link to the bigger one is here:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/Agatheron/DnDMinis/Maps/Albridge-text-large.jpg
I had fun with this.
And like I said before, really love the way you did the woods.
I have CC3, CD3 and DD3 along with the 2011 and 2012 annuals.
My current project is a city map using Jon Roberts style.
I found it difficult to create the forest using the tree provided in that style.
I am wondering if any of the other master mappers out there can tell whether the forests were done using a filler or did the map maker here do it manually?