[Abandoned] Alamo

[generalhead]

Alamo:
generalhead
52 territories
35 drop territories
1v1 one player drops inside of the Alamo/ Texan army and the other player drops outside of the Alamo/ Mexican army
cannon bombardment,
Mexican, and Texan army, unique game play:
The Alamo is a place where a great battle was fought. Pretty much all of the Texan army was massacred.
I know this map has been talked about, but I don't know if it has been tried.
I checked the forum but didn't see an attempt.
I am new at this so be gentle.

Alamo story:

Spoiler

Originally named Misión San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years. Construction began on the present site in 1724. In 1793, Spanish officials secularized San Antonio's five missions and distributed their lands to the remaining Indian residents. These men and women continued to farm the fields, once the mission's but now their own, and participated in the growing community of San Antonio.

In the early 1800s, the Spanish military stationed a cavalry unit at the former mission. The soldiers referred to the old mission as the Alamo (the Spanish word for "cottonwood") in honor of their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila. The post's commander established the first recorded hospital in Texas in the Long Barrack. The Alamo was home to both Revolutionaries and Royalists during Mexico's ten-year struggle for independence. The military — Spanish, Rebel, and then Mexican — continued to occupy the Alamo until the Texas Revolution.

San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835, Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano volunteers against Mexican troops quartered in the city. After five days of house-to-house fighting, they forced General Martín Perfecto de Cós and his soldiers to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo — already fortified prior to the battle by Cós' men — and strengthened its defenses.

On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.

The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6, 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness and headed for the Alamo's walls. Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo beat back several attacks. Regrouping, the Mexicans scaled the walls and rushed into the compound. Once inside, they turned a captured cannon on the Long Barrack and church, blasting open the barricaded doors. The desperate struggle continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. By sunrise, the battle had ended and Santa Anna entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of his victory.

While the facts surrounding the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt about what the battle has come to symbolize. People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against impossible odds — a place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason, the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

V31

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V30

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v29

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Starting Position Spread Sheet

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Starting Positions Spread Sheet

888's

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Starting neutrals and territories map

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Player to territory drop count

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1. 1v1 will entail that one player is dropped inside of the Alamo and one player is dropped outside of the Alamo
   So 11 territories drop inside for player one and 11 territories drops outside for player 2
2. 2= 11
3. 3= 11
4. 4= 8
5. 5= 7
6. 6= 5
7. 7= 5
8. 8= 4

Map Sketch:

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First Draft

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v1

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v2

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v3

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v4

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v5

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v6

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v7

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v8

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v9

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v10

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v11

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v12

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v13

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v14

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v15

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v16

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v17

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v18

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v19

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v 20

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v21

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v22

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v23

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v24

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v25

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v25

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V26

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V27

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V28

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V29

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V30

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[generalhead]

H e l l o
Any one who visits this thread please feel free to critique my map and let me know what you think would make it better
Thank you in advance for you opinion. GH

[koontz1973]

First of, welcome to the foundry. We are always looking for new blood to feed the hungry wolves. First of, I will point you here. The foundry handbook has lots of info for you but anything you need, just ask away.

I like it and whilst it meats the demands for a drafting room move, I am going to leave it here till you get one done in GIMP. Paint will never give you a map that can progress. I look forward to seeing where you take this one, but here is a final thought for you:

Style - what is this supposed to look like in the end. Go and look at the other maps and decide now on what you hope to achieve with the final map.

koontz

[generalhead]

Thank you for your information and Input.

[koontz1973]

I always find it easier with new map makers if they can clarify what they want so I can help them more and understand what they want. Remember, this is your map and I am here to help you. So anything, just ask.

[generalhead]

I am working on graphics right now. I have run through the natty dread gimp tutorial a few times. Now I am working on a gimp rough draft. Even After I run it through it will still need a lot of detail added.

[koontz1973]

nattys tutorial is good for a start. Please do not rely or think it will get you a quenched map. Looking forward to seeing what you give.

[generalhead]

"Boss Man" can you take a look at my first draft and critique it for me. Thank you for your time.

[koontz1973]

For a first draft, it is interesting.

But here are a few simple things you can do to make it a whole lot better.
Go and learn GIMP. Follow nattys guides, and here are a few places that you can visit.
http://www.cgtextures.com/
This guy is good. Has lots of videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E84BNlYv ... re=related

Your territ breakup is good.
Fill the bonus zones in with solid colour for now as I cannot tell what is what.
GP looks pretty much organised now so that can be left alone till a lot later.
Images need to be royalty free. So you need to prove the ones you have are. But does a pirate fit this map?
Never use the pencil.

GH, this map is going into the drafting room as it meets the criteria. [Moved]
The more you post new drafts, the more you will get in the way of feedback. Do not wait for it as it may not come. Keep practising and keep posting improved drafts. Until it is good enough, it stays in the drafting room.

[koontz1973]

Now that you are in the drafting room, you need to keep the title of the thread up to date.

Name - date - page number of current image.

[generalhead]

"Boss Man" can you take a look at my New Alamo draft and critique it for me. Thank you for your time.
I basically started the map from new. I kept the layout the same, but had to start over due to some continuity issues. I redid the texture and revamped the Alamo walls.
I changed the texture of the north-east key. And I moved the impassables to the south-west key.
Do you think I need to add some trees or would that create too much clutter?
What major issues do I need to work on?
What am I missing?

[koontz1973]

I must say, from your first one, it is getting better. (Take the current draft out of spoiler tags so everyone can see it when they come into the thread).

Colours - mute them a lot - very bright now.
Lines - still to think. You have used the paths tool but why do you have some straight, some curved and some of both? Use one type, a curve is best. Some do not even meet. Use a fuzzy paint brush as well.

Keep at it, keep plugging away. It is getting better.

A useful tip for you - advertise your map. Use your signature and even send a PM to friends and clan mates. You are going to need more than me to get this going forward.

[tkr4lf]

I like the idea. As a native of Texas, I've always enjoyed the story of the Alamo, so to be able to play it on a CC map would be cool.

I'll echo Koontz in saying that the colors need to be muted quite a bit. Also with the territ/border lines. They look pretty bad. Especially the ones bordering the river, they're very pixelated/jagged and could use some cleaning up.

Any particular reason why Davy Crockett is outside of the Alamo? On the same note, why is Santa Anna in the North Plains and not in one of the Mexican Army areas?

Also, what's up with the river/s? Is that how the river actually is? I know there is a river near the alamo, because of the River Walk down in San Antonio, but I'm not all that familiar with the layout. Is your depiction of it fairly accurate? It just seems a bit odd is all...

Nice first draft(s).

[generalhead]

Thank all you for your input.

1. I will fix the colors
2. For some when I struck the territory lines they came out like that, that will be addressed
3. For davey Crockett and Santa anna being outside of their territories, I was trying to make the game play more balanced, but now that you point that out it does seem silly
4. In all of the Alamo diagrams that I research there were either rivers or some kind of water way around the Alamo, I did modify them for game play
5. I will start to advertise, I didn't know that it was a requirement

[koontz1973]

Yep, the pics I looked at, the river does seem to go like this. It is almost like a moat going around the fort.

tk, any help you can give with the story and history would be received very well by GH, but more so by me as I do not know this story apart from the fort was lost.

Adverts are not required, but it always help to get more input on a map.

[tkr4lf]

Ok, fair enough about the river. I will admit, I don't know the area all that well, only been to the Alamo a couple of times.

As for the story, give me a bit to think on it and see how any of it could be added to the gameplay for the map. I'm sure something cool could be added to really make the gameplay stand out and add to the theme.

I'll post back in a bit.

[generalhead]

yes, definitely tk if you could help me keep the integrity of the map that would be great. I would not want to offend you or any one else that is from Texas by doing a unrealistic Alamo map. Thank you.

[tkr4lf]

Ha, you wouldn't offend me at all. But sure, I'll try to do what I can. I think it's more about making the map all that it can be than trying to be as historically accurate as possible. Being historically accurate is nice, but fun gameplay is even better.

I just spent the past several minutes reading up on the wiki article for the Battle of the Alamo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo). There is lots of information in there that you could use, mainly about placement of cannons and armies, plus names of commanders that you could name the bonuses after instead of a generic "Mexican Army 1", etc. Having each one named after the commander that led the attack would be a nice touch.

Here is some of the more important stuff I found.

The first night of the siege was relatively quiet.[49] Over the next few days, Mexican soldiers established artillery batteries, initially about 1,000 feet (300 m) from the south and east walls of the Alamo.[50] A third battery was positioned southeast of the fort.

Santa Anna posted one company east of the Alamo, on the road to Gonzales.[51][64] Almonte and 800 dragoons were stationed along the road to Goliad.[65]

At 10 p.m. on March 5, the Mexican artillery ceased their bombardment. As Santa Anna had anticipated, the exhausted Texians soon fell into the first uninterrupted sleep many had gotten since the siege began.[90] Just after midnight Mexican troops began preparing for the final assault.[91] The troops were divided into four columns, commanded by Cos, Colonel Francisco Duque, Colonel José María Romero and Colonel Juan Morales.[88][89] Veterans were positioned on the outside of the columns to better control the new recruits and conscripts in the middle.[92] As a precaution, 500 Mexican cavalry were positioned around the Alamo to prevent escape of either Texian or Mexican soldiers. Santa Anna remained in camp with the 400 reserves.[89][93]

At 5:30 a.m. troops silently advanced. Cos and his men approached the northwest corner of the Alamo,[92] while Duque led his men from the northwest toward a repaired breach in the Alamo's north wall.[95] The column commanded by Romero marched towards the east wall, and Morales's column aimed for the low parapet by the chapel.[95]

During the third strike, Romero's column, aiming for the east wall, was exposed to cannon fire and shifted to the north, mingling with the second column.[20] Cos's column, under fire from Texians on the west wall, also veered north.[102] When Santa Anna saw that the bulk of his army was massed against the north wall, he feared a rout; "panicked", he sent the reserves into the same area.[103]

Some pictures I found that are interesting. Can be used for cannon/army placement, etc.


This one is some game that you can play (online, I guess?). Looks interesting. Pretty useful for locations of cannons and armies (although these may not be entirely accurate, see later photos) as well as to show you the different types of walls. Notice how the Northeast and South Central portions of the wall are basically just palisade, instead of the thick walls of the rest of the mission.


I couldn't find one showing the roads around the Alamo and where they lead to, but this one shows where Goliad is in relation to the Alamo so that the information above (Almonte and 800 dragoons were stationed along the road to Goliad.) can be used as best is possible.



Here's one showing the troop movements of the first wave.


There is a lot more information in the wiki article, as well as out there on the rest of the internet. This should give you plenty of information about where to place the Mexican armies, what to name them (after their respective commanders), where to place the cannons inside the fort, etc.

Some thoughts on gameplay I had were possibly expanding the auto-deployable people from just Santa Anna and Crockett to Austin, Bowie and Crockett for the Texians, and Santa Anna, Cos, Duque, Romero and Morales for the Mexicans. That might be too much, but it could be cool to have each of the major commanders/big personalities on the map as auto-deploys to convey their significance to the fight. Bowie, might be worth it to instead of making him an auto-deploy, making him worth say a +1 or +2 to the deploy, thanks to his charisma, etc., but to have a decay on his actual terit, to signify his illness and the fact that he didn't even partake in the battle, since he was basically on his deathbed.

There is a lot more that could be done with this, too.

I'll let you mill this stuff over and post your next draft before I add any more ideas. It might be worth it to completely re-draw the map so that there is room on the eastern side of the fort, since a lot of action took place there as well, it seems. Up to you though.

Hope this helped.

(As a side note, I just realized that the attack took place on March 6, which just happens to be my birthday. Crazy stuff.)

[koontz1973]

Great job tk. Now lets see what GH does with it.

[generalhead]

Wow, you are awesome tk, this will definitely come in handy. Thank you
and now its time to get to work, back to the grind.

[tkr4lf]

Sure, no problem.

I'm excited to see what you come up with.

[generalhead]

1. alot of my border lines are still too thick and worbly, I will work on that
2. I will also review tk's notes and check on game play and factuality.
3. deleting one indian region (one is enough)
4. checking continuity
5. revamping game play
6. adding bonus regions
7. looking to add roads
8. adding army commanders for both sides

[MagnusGreeol]

Salut General & Koontz,,
Bravo for Your ideas and involvement both of You,, General- I say it's a great plan,,,,And after reading what Koontz has to say,,I'd say Conquer Club Members are lucky to have Him,,,Seriously Big Helper,,,I can't give info like that,,,But I'll back You General ,,Do what Koontz suggest and hopefully We see each-other at >>>>>--------THE-ALAMO-----------> LOL2U Both---- In Life & WAR----------->>>>--------MAG-OUT--------->

[tkr4lf]

1. alot of my border lines are still too thick and worbly, I will work on that
2. I will also review tk's notes and check on game play and factuality.
3. deleting one indian region (one is enough)
4. checking continuity
5. revamping game play
6. adding bonus regions
7. looking to add roads
8. adding army commanders for both sides

About the Indians...

It may be worth it to get rid of them altogether. The way I see it, they don't add much to the gameplay and honestly seem to take up room that could be better used to focus on the actual battle. The Indians basically didn't play a role at all in the actual Battle of the Alamo. According to the wiki article, the biggest role they played was in attacking the Mexican army on it's way north from Mexico, but quite a bit before they made it to San Antonio de Bexar. So truthfully, they don't really belong on a map that portrays the battle. Plus, like I said, getting rid of them will clear up room for more Mexicans. It seems like they just about had the Alamo surrounded, so having all the land around the Alamo as Mexican armies would be better than having Commanches there for some reason. It would also give you more room to be able to have 5 different Mexican army areas, so that you could have all 5 major Mexican commanders placed onto the map.

Just a thought, do with it what you will. Looking forward to your next draft.

[generalhead]

That's is a very good point. I will do that. Thank you Tk you are awesome!