The map looks excellent - fantastic artwork - the seas and shores are great and the lion.
And the map is a great for its geographical accuracy.
Or it was, until:
The M-place? (crosses himself)
"so I added M... too"?
I'll try to be objective - if the map is about the old counties then Manchester would be inconsistent. London could be argued for, although technically it used to be Middlesex, Surrey etc. (was the City of Westminster seperate maybe). Both are the diametrical opposite to the 'green and pleasant land' tag.
London has capital status etc. though so it is an understandable exception to the theme of the map (and maybe even worth +2 considering all the borders?)
If you do go for London, then surely if you're going for a small city as well then it would be right to have Birmingham before the M-place?
Seriously, why put M... in too? London is the capital and is one of the world's biggest cities. M... is just another city like Birmingham (and Leeds for that matter). The inset makes it look like the size of London.
Plus you'd get the Yorkshire tribe complaining if they are reduced to 3 terits and there's the M-place.
With Cheshire still there, the M... place, no Birmingham, Yorkshire down to 3, it would be a bit political, the working classes wouldn't be happy as a representation of their country. I'd say go modern or old school rather than ITV. It's just not cricket.
The rest of the map has had so much time put in to make it an accurate geographical representation of the old counties. That is a huge feature of the map. People from over the water wont realise, and possibly many southerners, but the northerner will.
GloucestershireTricky one, as you say, the bonuses wouldn't be right if it were where it should be. Maybe some tinkering with the bonuses might solve it, athough the bonus system is another good feature.
4-way bordersAgain, a tricky one. Having some sort of small image sprang to mind but I cant imagine it looking right - you might have no option but to alter slightly - the foundry would forgive you. Maybe someone will think of something though.
Westmorland borderI'm not sure if Westmorland extended a bit more to the south - the furness part of Lancashire seems slightly large - might make it slightly easier to fit the name in as well. Here's a link:
http://www.picturesofengland.com/mapofengland/historic-uk-counties.html[spoiler=Non Objective Comments]I'll put a sticker over the name on my screen and enjoy attacking it, leaving one guy in, and attacking it again. Worth losing points for.
In fact, I'll just pay you not to put the M-place in. Or the ITV spelling Manchister lol[/spoiler]