One of the things I’ve had in the back of my mind since I
started this project was to play some sort of solo campaign and for that I need
a game map. I’ve found some images on the web of Boer War hex game maps, but
they are very lacking in detail and such games are thin on the ground anyway,
so I have resorted to knocking up my own.
I thought I’d start with the Natal area as this seems the most interesting in terms of terrain and is where the action kicked off in the real war. In drawing up the map I have used my copy of The Boer War Atlas as well as the excellent British Battles website and various other maps found on the web.
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| The map is A4 and each hex = approximately 5 miles |
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| A detail from the area around Ladysmith (in case you can't zoom in on the larger map) |
I don’t expect to get any prizes for my draughtsmanship, but I think the map contains all the ingredients I need for a campaign, now I just need to write some campaign rules!
You've really produced a very detailed and excellent map dealing with the Natal theater for the Boer War Ian! I'm excited to see how this develops as you make progress with your rules!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brad, now I just need to develop a few ideas!
DeleteHow are you going to run a solo campaign game? 'AI' generated orders for both sides? Solo-play for one side and rule driven responses by the other? If the latter how do you deny yourself 'intelligence' on where everything is? Really looking forward to seeing how you crack this one.
ReplyDeleteHi Rob, my idea is to have a simple dice driven initial deployment followed by a dice driven strategic order for the British. This will hopefully have the British trying to do something stupid! I'll explain more in the next post.
DeleteReminds me of those lovely Featherstone maps in his books. I have thought about a Zulu war campaign so will watch this with great interest and unashamedly copy your ideas!
ReplyDeleteIt was Featherstone's Northwest Frontier campaign in his book Solo-Wargaming that was the partial inspiration for this campaign!
DeleteThat is certainly an interesting part of the country to mount a campaign. It will interesting to see whether anything develops along historical lines. Looking forward to seeing the various actions unfold.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob, I'm thinking I may need to redraw the map by shifting it up a bit having read a bit more about the actual campaign!
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