Conquer Club

For the next project, I would like to prepare the :

Battle of Actium.

Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Marcus Antonius (and generals/admirals) against Gaius Octavius and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (and generals/admirals).

Current Version V26 Large


31 BC. An epic sea battle fought at Actium in Greece, where after some initial fighting, Cleopatra fled the scene and Marc Anthony thinking all was lost followed her to leave his legions to the mercy of Octavius, who eventually become the first Emporer Augustus of Imperial Rome.

The original map & preparation poll is at the bottom of this post.

The Map - Battle of Actium

Massive 96 territories

* 11 regions consisting of:
M.Antonius 15
M. Antonius Camp 3
Cleopatra 7
Canidius 7
Insteius 6
Sosius 6
Arruntius 13
Octavian 15
G. Octavian Camp 3
Lurius 12
Taurus 9

The HexesThe results of the preparation poll which indicated that map be done in hexagons, I used hexagons for the background sea, and joined two hexagons together to form smaller vessels. This was quite good actually as it enabled me to used the rear of the joined hex for the armies and the names go up front. Large vessels, named after those of the Commanders/Admirals/Preafecti of the fleets (after some experimentation) were given larger joined hexes on which to place artwork of quinqueremes and triremes used in this battle.

Original Busts
Treatment was given to the orginal busts, placed on oval backgrounds similar to a brooch to identify who were the main players in this battle.

The Border
One of the ideas for this design was that it could contain some mozaic tile-like design, thus the border became this weave of a typical roman era mozaic border.

Game concept
This map I think will appeal to many, as it reverts to the basic RISK type map, with basic conquer tactics. The only different aspect will be the bombardments allowed from the larger ships to their neighbouring large ships which is similar to the use of ballistas typical of roman army tactics.

Colours
The colours used have been chosen from the list appropriate for the colour-blind.
Octavian's groups have been allocated reds and browns, in conjunction with the fact that main colour used for the Roman Arny was the Regal Red, usually bordered by Gold.
M. Antoinus' groups have been allocated blue, while Cleopatra was allocated Royal Purple as this was here favourite colour.
The colours are strong, but not blinding or glaring, and should certainly not "hurt" anyone's eyes!

Fonts Used
Two fonts used are:
Title and Bonuses - AntiquaSSK
All others - Arial Greek (for clarity)

Names
Apart from the clearly defined large ship names for their commanders, two or three options were tossed about to name small vessels and armies.
Oriiginally i wanted to go with using Oiii as in latin numbering, but decided not to go there as it would not appear in the XML in orer. Arabic numbers were considered but I thought that would have been ordinary. Finally i decided upon using Oa...Om as this would clearly define whose command ships were under, as well as providing a listing in the xml based on the alpha characters.
This fits in very well within the bounds of the space restrictions, thus alos allowing a massive number of terts to be incorporated into the same size small map i use of about 600px wide by 500px high.


Please enjoy!

*************************************************************

For voting, a reference map is below for guidance.

There are four considerations I would like the Forum to give guidance on.

1. At which stage of battle should this map be done:
A. pre-battle scene setup
B. after fighting has commenced and as Cleopatra is fleeing
C. Other - please state

2. The style of map -
A. should it be a use of hexagons across the board/map
B. A flat map in the style of world 2.1
C. A 3D style map with raised figurines

3. The use of artwork, would you prefer -
A. Original busts and historical paintings
B. Movie style scene such as from Liz Taylor's epic but treated with filters and textures

4. The use of fonts and colours -
A. Leave up to the cartographer
B. Historical Roman lettering and spelling with historical colours

With regard you answers, please leave something below in the form of:
1. A
2. C
3. B
4. A

Results will be compiled in a spreadhseet and posted in this thread.

Thanks heaps everyone (in advance)!

1. A
2. A
3. A
4. B

1. A
2. A
3. A and B preferably A
4. A

1. A
2. C
3. B
4. A

same as your example
(not because im too lazy to type it out, well slightly but also because that is what i would have chosen)

1. A
2. A
3. A
4. B

May I suggest using the Latin names Octavianus Caesar and Marcus Antonius for the map?

Here's a nice image about the Battle of Actium that you might want to add to the map at a later stage:

Ruben Cassar wrote:Here's a nice image about the Battle of Actium that you might want to add to the map at a later stage:

Yes...thanks Ruben....I had actually seen that Castro...though i really don't like it, i may still use it...it looks more like something from the renaissance period.

1. A
2. C
3. A
4. B

1. A
2. A
3. A
4. A

After 8 responses ( including my own) the poll is indicating:
1. A - pre - battle
2. A - hexagon map
3. A - original artwork
4. A - Cartographer's choice.

1 -A
2 -C
3 -A
4 -B

I'm on the all A train as well

i'd like a poll to vote no against the idea We have a lot of ancient battle type maps in progress and this idea doesn't impress me. Maybe it's that history bores me a bit -- but i think the majority of people would like maps that appeal to a greater mass.

IMO please dont rag on me

zeppelin90 wrote:i'd like a poll to vote no against the idea We have a lot of ancient battle type maps in progress and this idea doesn't impress me. Maybe it's that history bores me a bit -- but i think the majority of people would like maps that appeal to a greater mass.

IMO please dont rag on me

Thanks zeppelin90...your comments are noted and appreciated.

cairnswk wrote:

zeppelin90 wrote:i'd like a poll to vote no against the idea We have a lot of ancient battle type maps in progress and this idea doesn't impress me. Maybe it's that history bores me a bit -- but i think the majority of people would like maps that appeal to a greater mass.

IMO please dont rag on me

Thanks zeppelin90...your comments are noted and appreciated.

Personally I hope they are noted and instantly ignored. This is his personal opinion not what the majority think. Also if he doesn't like these type of maps he can always ignore them and play the others, no need to stop the development of a map.

1. A
2. B (but actually your style never stops to amase me)
3. A (or none)
4. A (but offcourse you will add B anyway )

Any more suggestion options from Page 1 for the Battle of Actium?

1. B
2. A
3. A
4. A

I liked the idea of 'Cleopatra's Flight' but it looks like the community thinks otherwise.

anymore interest in this one for the preparation poll on P1?

this is going nowhere fast community? Votes please if you're interested!

anymore takers for this poll?

I think I'll wait for a map at this point.

Do you have a rough sketch?

Coleman wrote:I think I'll wait for a map at this point.

Coleman...do you have preferences for how this map should appear...this is the idea of this poll on P1.

unriggable wrote:Do you have a rough sketch?

After 30 June when the poll ends unriggable