Rake Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 I’ve finally taken a stab at the Editor and begun a map of the St.-Barthélemy. Unfortunately, I noticed too late that Rokko had already made a map of this ville for a campaign (http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=100414). It seems like every time I start thinking about making a realistic-based map, someone has beaten me to the punch. In any event, the map I’ve started is rather large and I’m too far along to stop now… although it’s probably only 5-10% complete. The map is roughly centered on St.-Barthélemy. It extends from La Tournerie in the east to just south of La Tête à la Femme. I may, depending on just how long this takes extend it another click to the west toward Juvigny-le-Tertre. It could also stand to grow at least another half Km to the north to cover the area north of Bois du Parc and the activities around 3rd Platoon of B Co. I could also extend it to the south to try and match the north side of the map that JSB was making around L’Abbaye Blanche… although his last post on the subject was over a year ago and he mentioned a crash that cost him a bit of his work. Here’s a part of what I’m working on: First the topo… And a top down of the central portion of the map (and the only part that has any detail other than the topo). St.-Barthélemy lies at the top left; most of the buildings a just place holders for the time being. In the center is Langotière and Sablonnière is along the southern edge: The southern entrance to Sablonnière… … GE from today… There isn't a lot of photography on Google Earth except right along the main roads... and literally nothing that I can find from Panoramio. So, a lot of the interior is going to be guesswork and my own decisions as to what this place may have looked like in 1945. I do have the aerial photo from 1946, but all that helps with is the placement of buildings, bocage, etc. And, finally, a shot of Sablonnière from the road from St.-Barthélemy (looking SE)… Still lots of detail work left to do just on this small farm. If anyone’s interested, I’ll follow with some additional closeups after I take the GF to dinner and a movie...dammit! (I'd put a grin here, but that would exceed the 5 pic limit) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkerner Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 That's looking very, very nice, Rake. Keep the pics coming! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Backer Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Very nice indeed. Looks like some of those French magazines I get where you see the location in 1944 and today. Well done! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastamon Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Looks great Rake. Looking forward to this one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipanderson Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Rake, Just to add my congratulations too... Look forward to its publication... . All the best, Kip. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl.Upham Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Looks great! A bit more hilly than I would have imagined; always makes for nice surprise encounters. The patience it must take to complete such a grand design eludes me; however Im sure Ill download it and steal some sections for my own battles...hehehe 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rokko Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Don't worry Rake. I myself am now pretty unhappy with my own St.Barthelemy map and my motivation to continue is slim. I would suggest not to rely on modern sources too much. The map you've posted is defeninately a modern one. There is a website on the 30th US infantry division where you can find a map from 1943. And here you can find aerial photographs from 1947. http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 Don't worry Rake. I myself am now pretty unhappy with my own St.Barthelemy map and my motivation to continue is slim. I would suggest not to rely on modern sources too much. Don't worry, I'm not . I do have the '47 aerial photos and am trying to rely on those as much as possible for positioning bocage, buildings, etc. A lot has changed in 68 years... but somehow, much still remains the same. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 Looks great! A bit more hilly than I would have imagined; always makes for nice surprise encounters. The patience it must take to complete such a grand design eludes me; however Im sure Ill download it and steal some sections for my own battles...hehehe If you think this is hilly, you should have seen the map when I first got started... I had my scale off by a factor of three. Imagine these elevation differences compressed into one square kilometer :eek: Note to self: Don't try to set the scale from the Geoportail scale bar 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted January 7, 2013 Author Share Posted January 7, 2013 Okay, after dinner and a movie last night and an afternoon of Netflix movies, the SO has departed and I have a few more pics... Looking NW toward St.-Barthélemy; it's starting to flush out in the center of the map. Lots of trees, but the relief and use of low bocage means there are some long, keyholed LOS's: Langotière: Lastly, for today, looking south along D5 from just south of St.-Barthélemy. This is roughly the position of Guns 1 & 2 of 3d Platoon, Co. B, 843d TD Battalion. The LOS from this point is roughly 1100 meters. Of course, on the morning of battle it was only 20-30. A lot of tricking out to do in this area still: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 A few new shots: St.-Barthélemy still needs some fleshing out, but the buildings are now more than just placeholders Some long lines-of-sight from the top of the hill... some will get cut back as trees and bocage fill in, but there will still be some long, keyholed positions Much of this area was farmland with a few isolated farm settlements. Most of the bocage on this map is of the low variety with some higher hedgerows placed where Google Earth (and the '47 aerial photos) seem to indicate. There will be plenty of gaps, large and small... D33 looking back up the hill toward St.-Barthélemy... this section of the road sits in a 1-2 meter cut section; the topo of the roadway is not finished... Same spot from higher up... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadsword56 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Awesome. One can really see why this was key terrain in the battle. The horizons look particularly good with these map views -- whose horizon mod are you using? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 The horizons look particularly good with these map views -- whose horizon mod are you using? Only Aris can do that kind of work 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rake Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Awesome. One can really see why this was key terrain in the battle. Yeah... you can look at a topo map all day, see the ridge lines and draws, but until you see it in 3D, you (or I) don't realize how dominating the view is from the top of the hill. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradley Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Just gorgeous. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Yeah... you can look at a topo map all day, see the ridge lines and draws, but until you see it in 3D, you (or I) don't realize how dominating the view is from the top of the hill. Heh. I had a very similar experience when putting together the "Be Evil Unto Him" map. That 2km x 2km chunk of the ground just east of Vire is an area of intensive farming and rolling ridges, although written accounts talk of it being a heavily wooded region. I thought that was odd, because the aerial photos and topographical maps make it clear that, actually, there is hardly any woodland in the area. There are lots of trees, but very little woodland - and not even many orchards. Then suddenly, when the map was nearly complete, the written accounts suddenly made sense. From ground level, viewing obliquely across the valley, all you see is a mass of hedges and tops of trees. The whole valley appears to be heavily wooded, which is naturally the way soldiers fighting there in 1944 would remember it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splinty Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 Really looking good Rake! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankster65 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 You are an artists. Beautiful! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undercovergeek Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 does anyone have a link for the sexy horizons - cant find them in the repository 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger73 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 does anyone have a link for the sexy horizons - cant find them in the repository Be this the one? --> http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=2388 (substitute "Aris" for "sexy" next time . . . ) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undercovergeek Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Be this the one? --> http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=2388 (substitute "Aris" for "sexy" next time . . . ) lol - are they not Sicilian? i may have misunderstood - is there a Sicilian and Normandy one? Found em ta! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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