reveal of the map...

hi all it is about time I showed you the map of oronegro some of you might recall this tutorial working on map and how to for you to do. well even though there were no comments on it I assume you saw how to turn a google terrain map into a new world. well this is what I have come up with. though I assume that I'll be adding allot more to this map in the future...

have to do a key and add a few more locations but basically roads are brown and railways are black, rivers and seas are blue and dams are grey

 well there you go this is my second post today so if you want take a look at the previous one as it has my latest discovery.

Last war Chronicles

now I am an active member on a few forums around on the web... and one of them is that all famous one the Wargamers Guild... now recently I asked a questions there. the ones I normally ask here, but of coarse the greater audience there got immediate response... I asked what AFV's I should get, what would be recommended, etc, etc. and yet one of the things that came up was another members made up near future scenario... last war chronicles now the last war Chronicles is a really quite apocalyptic scenario, not what I want for Oronegro but still cool and inspirational. just look at these pictures from the site it is some pretty cool stuff.

this is the robotic army not my cup of tea but I do like a handful of droids running around causing caos

more dangerous russians than you can wave a M16 at

they look dangerous and appear to have the equipment I want for my oronegrians

and of coarse the USA love it or leave it... basicaly part of his story as well

I must say I am rather fond of this scenario as it draws allot of parrallels to my own story. the idea of a south american country erupting into civil war a new nation which then is tawn appart is quite nice. that and I love the idea of a few zombies and aliens... the robots only a handful in the sewers and rebel secret bunkers perhaps.

I've added a poll

well look up in the top right corner of this blog and you'll see a little poll. you can select all you want, please note that the first vote by me was on "more sleep" I have had a busy weekend but more on that later :-D

just a qick post what I will say is that I am thinking of allowing others to post on this site to really open up the thinking atmosphere

working on a map... and a how to for you to do one too

recently it has been getting colder and wetter outside and at school being stuck outside has become more and more depressing. luckily some of the schools computer rooms are open during lunch time (and I can eat there yea) so I got down to working on stuff for Oronegro.

I must state at this point I cannot show you the map it is saved at school and even though my father could use the school network to access my files (hence why I tell people not to save dodgy stuff onto their computers) he is working so I'll leave him alone for now.

what I can tell you is how to make one your self! first of all I only know how to get this to work on Windows7 my machine runs XP so I cannot get you all an easy to look at guide :-(

1. go to google maps and turn on the "terrain" setting
2. find an area of the world that you think has the right coastline, relief or river system. do not worry about orientation!!! try to avoid areas that are famous i.e whole continents. also try and select places with very few place names.
3. (this is where you need Windows 7) select the "snipping tool" and select the area of land you want, do not get the arrows and controls in the image
4. copy the image into Microsoft paint (the 2010 edition or newer) now to edit the place, first up rotate and flip the image until it is hard to recognise and is the desired orientation.
5. now lets get recolouring and renaming. first up there is no need to do this if your are happy already. so lets get rid of any unwanted place names. to do this use the pick colour tool to get the ground colour around the words. then use the brush or pencil tool to cover up the offending words. this can be done to any words or terrain items on the map, just remember to select the colour of the surround in terrain to blend in the edit. add green areas for forest, try and get the colours to shade just like the terrain so that you don't end up with a green mass.
6. now for some roads and railways. to do this we need some colours, black for railways and the normal colour for roads on the map (use select to get it) just draw on what you want and set up your little road networks. at this point you might want to add other systems like power lines and irrigation ditches but please expect me to explain this as I did not do it myself. all I can say is pick a different colour and get painting.
7. rivers and water. now forests may not be of priority in these maps, it is hard to add green without messing up the map, but rivers are important, use the normal google map blue and use the paint brush for this one, then you could use the pencil around the edges to blend it in a bit.
8. towns. simple really just add some roads, put in a pattern (grid is realistic) then use the pencil to look like shading, use a similar colour to the roads, I used the same. then use the Letter tool to write in a name, go for a small font, and a easy to read one, select white as a colour, type in the name and done.
9. blending the terrain. to do this use the pencil. select a colour half way between the two colours. then use it around the boarder between the colours, it should work though I have yet to try it on vegetation.
10. final steps are to see if you like it and to make sure that you included the FACTS of maps

• Frame
• Arrow pointing to north
• Color (not nessisary)
• Title
• Scale (if no scale write not so scale in a corner

Also A key would help people to interperate the map

so there you go have fun mapping and I hope to show you the map soon

NEXT GAME ? Franonian and Rayonian relations

well you saw my last game. but I need a new one. I have one plan which is that the forces of the oronegrian army go into clear out the area only to come into contact with some rebel army regulars and specialists, not to mention Karri .C. Tuf's goons. But after that game I have no idea what to do. Karri's revenge (if she survives the previous game). perhaps the Rebels send in paratroopers. I'll need to do allot more painting to do that. I have some Spetnaz for them.

So I need ideas. I have allot of figs waiting in the wings. German peace keepers a British tank. heaps of ground crew personnel. for the airbase when I get around to it. NOT TO MENTION THE NEW US GUYS for my Oronegrian army, (the original Caesar set)

In the last game I had the diplomats from Rayonia, I saved them but only just. but suspicions amongst my commanders in the HQ have grown that maybe the Rayonian diplomats helped the rebels plan the ambush.
Now let me make this perfectly clear I do not suspect Rayonia of any plots (sorry Fran your Intel is not my only source). But what do I do. I surly cannot operate my military machine without pledging my allegiance to one of these people.

Now before you say GOWAN WHY ARE YOU BOTHERING TO ADD THIS STUFF. It'll add a twist to my game lets face they set up fictitious nations either of which can supply me or the rebels, and as they are not real they can send me equipment that no real nation would send together i.e BTR-80's and Challenger tanks at the same time. also it just makes my embassy district look cool if I include these countries... the Franonian and Rayonian embassies can be facing each other and show signs of firefights between the buildings :-P

now I know it is not the smartest idea but why not? and I would be quite happy to add your fictitious nation to the list.

ah it is good to have connections...

hi all well I have two things to announce today first my number of followers matches my age, then my new haul of scratch building goodies and Finlay some other connections that equal going to the movies... so first up the followers.

on this blog I always knew right from the start followers would be important. I needed them to help with these crazy ideas I keep having (less of late due to head cold). so the number of followers reaching my age is quite a special moment. Captain Richard's miniature Civil War is my new follower, from captain Richards miniature civil war. though I assume many of you passed this milestone without batting an eyelid.


now onto more important issues... my latest gifts.


thanks to Pete a family friend I get the occasional delivery of foam core. though I only got a bit the first time and did not expect to get more yesterday I got a knock on the door and low and behold Pete with an armful of foam core and card. all different thicknesses as well. one piece was the same as the stuff I got before but the rest is thicker or thinner... so lets take a look at this pile of greatness...

by bed may not be the home of this stuff but with the table being used  to make ginger bread men it'll do

thicker on the left thinner on the right. the paper at the back is some very fine sand paper.

this is the thick foam core... great for bunker walls or as you will see one day soon, boat hulls.

so there is the surprise gift now onto the movies, last week I had that terrible cold which made me miss school. but it also made me miss going to the movies with my friends family for his birthday. But they knew that I wanted to go and reshuffled the trip up to Auckland. it was a good time even before we went in. we went into toy world which despite the name has a great little selection of models, then we went into the cinema to see.... The Avengers. I really enjoyed it, still have to decide who was my favourite, we watched it in 2D and for once I felt that watching it in 2D was the right thing to do, unlike other recent movies where there are shots just to make the 3D audiance go WOW. so thanks guys.


P.S they are fans of the other blog and started one of their own... but that is for another post. but let me tell you they were excited to see my works first hand and really enjoyed it. so maybe if I go to a wargame any time soon I'll bring those boards along.

modern streets post8 board complete

well there we go. it is done at last. it's been a long hard project and I assure you that more will be done but for now these 2 boards will do. I'll wait a few weeks before I start a new one.

with the slums going in the 2nd board is full time to party.

they may not be as grand as the church but who cares they are done

blue and yellow just to add some colour

and the whole board. you can see how it takes up the whole table

can you spot the guys in the church tower. or are you all focused on the crisps (chips).

well I am done for now. I have got ideas for a market and a police HQ. also I am planning on adding an embassy district (maybe with the HQ) so Franonia, Rayonia and Harad and others. send me your emissaries as Oronegro welcomes the world.

currently reading... Soviet war power (the school library is a gold mine)

well as the title state I am reading soviet war power. first some formalities... the book was first published by salamander books LTD in 1980 and then Corgi (this edition) in 1982... OK got that out of the way. I got this book out from the college library today after browsing through it for the last few weeks just when I got a chance. needless to say that this is one of those books that is not your common read these days. the school obviously has a good library or a terrible one (mostlikley terrible) because I have not seen this book, nor it's sister book "American War power" which the school has, anywhere esle. clearly the school is either getting these awsome books in or it got them years ago and has not bothered to get rid of them (I think the latter).

BUT I called my school library a gold mine...
that is because it not only has the books stated but others too;

• modern British and European fighter aircraft (old)
• Modern wheeled AFV's (very good and broad but still old)
• submarines (I have not looked at)
• The fighting man (not looked at yet)
• How weapons work (and they have this at a school???)
• American air power?

of coarse it has far more than that but for me currently these books are useful....but there is way more like for you ancient fans there is the fantastic Greece and Rome at war. I must say that the fiction section is bland but the reference books look quite good.

so what to I hope to do?

well look at what would be cool for Oronegro's army of coarse. and maybe making a few rules