I used to create the maps for the following games:

The below map is finished, but not the game. Design in progress since 2014.

The below is played with the Legion Games Battle of the Little Bighorn game, but I made a custom map for it to explore a tactic in which Custer might have tried to disperse the Pony Herd (ala Captain Biddles' (John Wayne in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" instead of trying to attack the Indians directly. (P.S. My wife wears a yellow ribbon for me sometimes and I give her yellow roses on our anniversery, because I am an armored cavalryman.)

This map is going to be used for a Hammer's Slammers Game (based on the the work of David Drake (and with his permission) if I can get the mercenary flavor done right. A portion of the same map will be used for another episode of Alien Invasion pitting the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment against a Martian Invasion, partly inspired by a twilight zone episode.

You should be married to his Sister, Torill, as I am. 😜

When (IF) it ever gets published as part of a game, there will be a terrain effects chart depicting elevation, water courses, road, vegetation types, terrain types (ford, bog, etc) and their effects on movement, combat, and spotting (if any).

So, when I look at your mesa just above, I can turn it into a mesa or canyon by switching my focus slightly.

MAKE IT STOP!!!!

For various reasons, I flew to Seattle and was able to visit the Little Bighorn as I drove back. Weather and some other issues conspired against me so I only had two hours on the battlefield. Here is a photo of me at the visitor center with the Little Bighorn Game I like best.

This view is from Calhoun Hill to Last Stand Hill in the distance. It's kind of hard to see, but it is sort of in the center of the picture and there is a small group of trees to its left where the current cemetery is.

The units were unable to support each other and so were all destroyed individually by the Sioux and Cheyenne.

This is the area where I took the photo. Calhoun Hill is South and I was standing on the highest point on the hill top.

This is the map I drew in CC3 of the same area. Due to the contour interval I selected for the map (100m vice 20m), Calhoun Hill, the small hill where the 7 is, and Last Stand Hill are all obliberated. Drawing all the 20m mines would probably overtask the software given the size of the original map to say nothing of the number of nodes required.

I don't think I'll be going back. It's a long dang drive from Merritt Island to Billings, the most civilized city near the battlefield and back. Covid forced me to cancel my 5 - 7 day trip I had planned before. Sigh.

Wyvern is very generous in remarking upon my work. All my maps are made by using contour maps, usually at 1:100000 to 1:24000 scale and I mostly trace the contours and other features. My attempts at more generic maps look more like a 6 year old's scribbling. I was chastised mightily in third grade for my inability in penmanship, coloring, and staying inside the lines...

Having said that, I love drawing contour maps.

An intersting article detailing 6 maps from antiquity. Some are quite simple (world map from Greece) but another is 22 feet long and details the Roman Empire's road network; not to scale but with mileage between points and landmarks.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/6-of-the-worlds-oldest-maps

A sad day. Jim was very good as well as being prolific. He gave me some inspiration.

Yes, I would be using the game Assault to play. I used it when I was in the Army to train my officers and think about tactics.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8284/assault-tactical-combat-europe-1985

You can go here to the National Map https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ and select areas in the US and zoom in pretty far and you can display the contour lines. There are measureing tools so you can see how far a given path is and a profile tool so you can see the roughness of the terrain. However, the height is exaggerated so it looks like you are climbing mount everest, but it can give you a good idea of how things are in relative terms.

The closer together the contour lines, the steeper the slope. If they come together, or are very dense, or even end, with just one contour along a spot, then you have reached a cliff. Here's a screen shot which may help.

There are similar sites that provide information in other ways.