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Misc thoughts on DIY boards and pieces
I like "pimping" boardgames. A long-term project is an Axis & Allies game using wargaming pieces and a 15 x 6' board (yes, I have located a source for croupier sticks). Another project I'm doing is Avalon Hill's History of the World, and that project has prompted this post just to kick around ideas for PG and share resources.
The first thing I needed for HOTW was a large board. I mean big. I managed to find a jpeg of the board itself. Used a freeware program to change the DPI from 100 to 600. Sent the file to a website I found called vectormagic.com After a lot of emails and $100, I got a 45 GB EPS and PDF file of a redrawn, un-pixellated map that looks fantastic.
Then I sent the EPS and PDF files to BannersOntheCheap.com. Very helpful people. After 2 days I received my map, beautifully printed on a 4' x 5' sheet of nice 13-oz vinyl. It's fantastic. I can't wait to finish the soldiers (1/72 plastics), make up my cities, and finish the "monuments" (36 plastic parthenon-type buildings I sourced on teh internet from RIsk Godstorm). I'm making the cities from styrene strips connecting little tower-like pieces from LOTR Monopoly games to make fortifications. The cities themselves will be made of tiny jumbles of buildings I found on the web too.
That's for bragging. Anyhow it occurred to me that some of this stuff could be helpful for DIY PG efforts. For example, I really enjoyed reading the magnetic mapboard posts. But I was wondering, why use magnets for the board and the pieces? It seems to me if I could scan the maps to decent PDF or EPS quality, and find the right printer (BannersOntheCheap only prints on heavy vinyl), I could get the maps printed on Tyvek or at leat much-thinner vinyl. If I secured that sheet over a piece of sheet metal, and then just did magnetic counters, wouldn't that work for a magnetic board too?
All this has also left me with some questions about graphics editing. I've tried freeware programs (GIMP) and so forth and it's too much like work. I'd really like to find someone who could scan maps for a reasonable fee -- maybe even someone who could do my dream axis and allies board graphics. Anybody know anyone who'd be willing to do that?
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