Europe 1814

Well, here it is. The map I've withheld details on, yet hinted to for months. It's a rock-paper-scissors based map.

http://home.comcast.net/~bob.battle.scar/Images/Europe_1814.jpg

To address some things hopefully before people ask or comment:

These territory boundaries are based as much as possible on historic boundaries of 1814. France controlled much more area than the France region, however the idea of the map is how Europe is reshaped after the fall on Napoleon. It is conveniently timed before Waterloo and a few territorial changes that would make game play less fun. 

Also, Lithuania was clearly a part of Russia at the time. However, this was shortly after Napoleon pushed to Moscow and the Russians burned it to the ground. Basically saying, this area is what was part of Lithuania in 1795 before the Poland-Lithuania commonwealth split up. However, the other areas of the former Lithuania are named with the Russian names and are part of the Russian region. Warsaw is the old Poland (part of the Poland-Lithuania commonwealth) and as such the region will be Prussia and Poland.

Italy was fully under the control of France at the time, or directly under the Napoleon family control. Sardinia and Sicily were separate from each other and Italy, but together they all make a great region for game play.

The Ottoman Empire Extended beyond the map, and included parts of Africa. This was mainly coastal area, as inland was desert and weather claimed or not, is clearly not on the map. The Ottoman empire in Africa wasn't enough to create territories in Africa for a Europe 1814 map.

Russia extended beyond the map as well, however as many people are aware that the Europe subcontinent ends around where the cut off is on the map where the Ural mountains are. The map was already too wide, so I couldn't actually extend it to the Ural mountains. Other than army gathering in Russia, the Napoleonic wars didn't extend past what is shown on the map. And before anyone mentions it, Napoleon's invasion of Egypt was under the French Empire pre-revolution and doesn't count as Napoleonic wars time frame.

Continuation of last post:

Finland was officially part of Russia, however they had just taken it from Sweden. With the Russian armies retreating past Moscow, then later pushing all the way to France, it is reasonable that Finland could have separated from Russia or that Sweden could have regained the land. So, more or less this is a minor fictional area of the map just for game play because Denmark and Sweden region was too small with 3 territories. Norway was a part of Denmark at the time, but Sweden was not. Again, just put them together for game play purposes. Additionally, lower Sweden was cut in half and divided by Berlin and N. Rhine because it was far too confusing with Denmark having so many islands right there the same color as Sweden.

The Iberian Peninsula region includes Spain, Portugal, and Catalonia. Catalonia had been taken by France and was officially a part of France in 1814, however, it was returned to Spain in 1815 and honestly, it makes for better game play to have it in the Iberian Peninsula region. Spain and Portugal were at war during the Napoleonic wars, however it would have ruined game play to have it neutral or part of the British Isles region. England had a significant fighting force in Portugal during the time. 

Central Europe is more or less whatever was left over. Germ. is an abbreviation for Germania and not Germany. This land was officially part of France at the time, but doesn't fit with the France region on the map. Also, the German confederation has many issues that make it hard to implement in a map, and wasn't around until 1815. Foremost of the issues is that several territories were half in the German commonwealth and half out. No I don't mean regions, I mean some territories were literally half in the German confederation and half not. So the confederation of the Rhine is more appropriate, of which I split it in half for game play purposes. Along with this, the Netherlands was united in 1815, but was also officially France in 1814.  There is no area on the map to divide Netherlands into two regions, and it just doesn't fit well with the France region for this map. Illyria was the Illyrian provinces, which were also officially France in 1814 but became apart of the Austrian Empire in 1815. I am still debating changing this territory over from Central Europe to Austrian Empire region.  

This is an insane map! I can't wait to play on it! I have to addmit when I people said stuff like rock-paper-scissors map I wasn't sure what they meant....the rock-paper-scissors thing will be hard to get used to though....

I don't have any suggestions....

Man you couldn't have done better! When will the map be up on the site?

Further continuation:

Several territories had to be arbitrarily formed and in some cases simply have a major city as the name. 

The Rome territory is comprised of one very small neutral country at the time, and land that was officially a part of France in 1814. However, it is obvious that this is better suited for the Italy region, and there is no other name that I could find that was acceptable for the territory that would suit it well. 

Madrid is the area between two mountainous areas in Spain and mainly consists of New Castile area and east to the ocean. However, because of old Castile being in the Leon territory, I didn't' want to confuse anyone by naming the Madrid territory Castile. Leon is being used as a historical name for the area before the Leon-Castile merger, and consists of much of the land during that time and the land extending to wards Catalonia.

Paris was the best suited name for the territory in that area. I almost named the Normandy territory, Britanny as both regions are fully part of this territory, as well as Orleans. However Orleans is land locked so that wasn't a good option. Gascony was extended closer to how large it was at some points during the Hundred Years War. Provence probably would have been better suited to be named Languedoc as it was the larger of the two regions of France, however, I have no idea how to pronounce it and Provence fits better on the map. I know France was more divided into provinces and regions than this, however 5 main territories and Corsica provided better game play.

Berlin territory consists of two main areas in Prussia, but I couldn't decide between which name to use and Berlin was a better choice since it was shorter.

I decided to go with Moscovy and not with Moscovia (mainly because Vexer has used this) and not with just Moscow. I think it sounds better, and feels more historical even if it's more appropriate for older Europe than the 19th century.

Bosnia could just as easily have been named Serbia, but it was easier at the exact time I was naming it to use a name that started with a B than one with an S. Quite honestly, there are about 4 other names that could work as well. I'm not really sold on Bosnia, but won't change it unless someone gives me a good argument as to why I should.

And yet more:

I decided against Albania being it's own territory. I couldn't quite fit it in with all the text and the size of the circles and military symbol. Also, it didn't fit the game play without removing Candia.

I decided to go with Candia, though Candy was a close second choice. I'm sure someone is going to say they want it named Crete. My firm answer is, no, it's Europe 1814 themed and the names need to reflect this. And with that said, someone will go look up and argue against me for the choice of Illyria. It's easier to just put Illyria than Illyrian Provinces as that doesn't fit, and any abbreviation would be confusing. I am not going to name the Illyria territory neither Croatia nor Slovenia.

There were a couple of options I could have done in the Austrian Empire, however, suffice it to say these are the best divisions that I can come up with. However, I'm willing to accept any strong arguments if someone thinks they can improve the line divisions or names.

Switzerland was taken by France and remade as the Helvetian Republic after the Helvetian people. First, for the purposes of this map I provided the territory the land between it and the territory named Rome to prevent the Provence territory from attacking the Italy territory and to allow Switzerland to connect to Rome. Second, it became Switzerland soon after, and it sounds cooler. Also, as you can see I had to abbreviate it to Switz. There is no way to abbreviate Helvetian Republic and have the general public know that it is Switzerland.

Northern Ireland issues weren't of any real concern until almost a century after this time frame. I will not consider making a North Ireland territory for this map. However, I may need to split England into two territories for game play purposes. I'm still thinking about it. One would likely be named London if I did this.

Basically, I spent hours and hours and hours doing research. The worst part of the map if you look at it historically is my divisions in Russia area, which are mostly arbitrary. I'm more than open to suggestions in that area. If anyone cares to look over any of the areas that I decided upon for regions, territories, or their names and think they have a better idea: please feel free to say so, but expect me not to read it without some historical research posted as your reason why you would like the change.

The map features 55 territories and has unique style of game play for this site. Vexer asked me months ago if I'd redo the Europe map that had been posted in the forums (the one Pntbttr is working on) and I decided that I didn't like the game play of the map. Europe is a big land mass and there is a little too much connectivity in the middle area. The rock-paper-scissors game play reduces much of this and makes some of the inner regions easier to defend. I wish I could have revealed more details about this map much sooner, however I wanted to make sure the idea of rock-paper-scissors didn't get laughed away before it had a chance to be considered a valid idea for game play.

@Pntbttr: When it's done. I need to fix the look of the connectors and arrows for one. I also really want people to have a good chance to look it over for game play. It took me hours to come up with what I did, and I could have easily made a bad choice or two in the placement of the cavalry, artillery, or infantry.

That reminds me. The basis for using those three is historically based on the fact that they were the main components of warfare at the time, as well as the symbols used on original Risk board game cards. These symbols are not copies of the ones used by the original Risk. Now, one thing that couldn't ever be done was cavalry being used to attack artillery. The artillery would literally tear the cavalry apart, unless there were extenuating circumstances such as they happen to sneak upon them from the rear over a hill and catch the artillery off guard. So even though it is reasonable that artillery could obviously attack infantry, it's quite obvious that infantry can't keep up with cavalry. So 2/3 fit quite well, and any other selection on what cannot attack what, would be less well fitted.

Excellent!!

Cool idea!
 
And i love the history behind it all!

I think people will need a book just to learn how to play!
The history is cool but people want game play and the looks more do they care if you're on the money with names and countries...there are a few that care..Glanru ...you're one of the few, but wow! Good history class! Now we will feel like it's a real war! Great job! 

good work glanru. this map rule

Very clever map. Nicely done Glanru. 

I've updated the land texture, water texture, legend borders, and the arrows.

http://home.comcast.net/~bob.battle.scar/Images/Europe_1814_update.jpg

love it