Santilus and Colonia Gaia Superba battles model maps

[Bretton]

Hi fellow cartographers

It seems like eons since i posted my last message here; I've been overly busy these past few moths, so it makes me really happy to have got a moment to post this one.

As I said when joining the guild, I'll keep on uploading the maps I've done in the past years. So today I'm posting these two "model maps" I made in may 2019 for an ongoing roleplaying campaign set in an alternate Roman Empire.

The images were done with world machine and photoshop. Red cubes represent Roman forces; while brown and white ones do represent Carthaginian units. Green and yellow represent local tribes, who fought against the Romans in Santilum, but changed sides in the battle for Colonia Gaia Superba. Cilinders represent artillery -mainly catapults- or elephants.

Hope you like them, and will be happy if anyone should comment!

[Falconius]

That's a pretty cool approach to (what are those types of maps called ? Battle maps?) battle maps. Obviously it gives a much better idea of what the lay of the land is actually like than the typical black and white rectangles marching around a 2d battlefield with squiggly lines.

[Kellerica]

An interesting approach. I especially like the cities in the second one. The elevation on both looks quite cool.

[Ilanthar]

Nice maps with a cool render of the land !
If I may, it clashes a bit with the frame, though, imo.

[Bretton]

Thanks for your comments!

That's a pretty cool approach to (what are those types of maps called ? Battle maps?) battle maps. Obviously it gives a much better idea of what the lay of the land is actually like than the typical black and white rectangles marching around a 2d battlefield with squiggly lines.

I don't know how they should be called, either. Battle maps seems fine to me, although I'm no native English speaker. Now that I think of it, I don't even know if there's a special word for them in my language, either.

An interesting approach. I especially like the cities in the second one. The elevation on both looks quite cool.

Thanks! Elevation is what I wished to work most, as it was important for the outcome of the RPG campaign.

In fact, cartography played an important role there, as the PCs had the mission to cartograph frontier areas for the Emperor's cartographic service. Depending on their performance, the legions would do better or worse, thus influencing the outcome of the campaign. I'm quite satisfied with this idea, as it gave ful sense to travelling, wilderness encounters, etc. Everything that happened in the game had its reward in cartographical terms, and exploring become the motor of the game.

Nice maps with a cool render of the land !
If I may, it clashes a bit with the frame, though, imo.

I agree with that. It's just because of a wink in the game. It's supposed to be a 19th ct. photograph (the frame too), held in a 22th century museum, of an 18th model (like Vauban's) depicting some 15th century battles. More or less.