Help and inspiration needed.

[Paracelsus]

Hi everyone.

I have a plan!
It’s ambitious one and I’m not quite sure, if I’ll ever succeed but I’m ready to give it a go.
I think I need some help and good advice along the way, i.e. before I even start.

The plan is to make a political and economical educating board game in which each player is a chieftain who has to strife for power, so he can become a member of the nobility and become the king’s most trusted.

The board game is called Hóvðing. This is Old Norse for chieftain.
We are set in Denmark around 1020 AD.
Canute the Great is king of Denmark and England and will in 1035 AD be succeeded by his brother Harthacnut. When he dies in 1042 AD the Viking Age has come to an end.
It is also at this point that Christianity is accepted as a state religion in Denmark, and the rising of stone churches begin (they are still spread all around Denmark).
Through plundering, trading, building, military build-up, taxation, use of religion, seafaring aso, the winning player will be the one who is most powerful when Magnus the Good seizes power in 1042.

At first I thought of making a hexgrid map of Denmark, the most northern part of Germany, half of Sweden and the most southern part of Norway. Hexgrid maps have a lot of advantages but as the idea grew I ended up changing my mind. A map - of the same area - divided up into regions is better.

Here I fell short.
I have tried to make some good looking maps but I haven’t been able to make any satisfying ones.
I would really like to make them look like the maps from Lord Of The Rings Risk, El Grande or similar looking ones. Can anyone help me?
I have seen some very good looking maps in here; however, I can’t find any tutorials on these.

http://img.ozgameshop.com/toys_and_g...risk_1_raw.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/53/109556211_4d8a109982.jpg

Also, I need some brushes.
There are some very wonderful map brushes available which I can use. But there are none of Dark Ages/Viking Age buildings (see links below).
How do I make these as seen from above?

http://www.denstoredanske.dk/@api/de...g?size=webview

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AQLHv2-LDX...ga%CC%8Ard.jpg

http://www.museum-sonderjylland.dk/B...del-1-stor.jpg

T.I.A.

[Paracelsus]

Well, I spent most of day going through a lot of posts in here, and I am now sure that I'll be able to solve most of my problems myself.

[Chick]

That's the best way to start, Paracelsus. When you have your first image ready, post it for critique and ideas. I'll look forward to seeing what you can do