In the rules supplement Rock the Casbah (RTC), there is an area called Michelin Guide Anyone. As I wanted a physical map for the campaign I header off to my local Barnes & Nobel. While there were no Lebanon maps I did find a Lonely Planet guidebook on the Middle East. It was a cute read with a nice size chapter on Lebanon with nice city maps. Their web site is also well designed.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/lebanon
I like the aerial views of the existing camps. This is a resource I am sure all sides would have loved to have had.
I ended up getting the map from my friends at Franklin Maps in King of Prussia. It is a fun store to wander through.
The map is 1:200,000 scale so it has most of the villages I need. Or at least I think so as the spellings are a little off. That is a problem I have had for as long as I have gamed this part of the world. With an interest going back to the 1916 Arab Revolt to Lebanon in 1982 every writer has his or her own take on spelling. It gives hope to this poor Catholic school speller.
Google Maps is also a pretty good source. Plenty of construction and destruction since 82 but it will still provide a good feel for it. Google earth also has some extras that give you street level views in some cases to help with terrain making.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with spellings as things transliterated from Arabic tend to change over time. It gets worse the father back you go. Researching items from 1948 is pretty tough because of that.
I love the beginning of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom were I believe the publisher asked in writing a few questions. One of which was the spelling of towns and names and his inconsistencies. I believe T. E. Lawrence spelled Aqaba three different ways and he had no problem with that.
ReplyDeleteMy other period that I have enjoyed researching in the 1948 War of Independence. Their villages in many cases changed names, moved or disappeared. A distant project for me would be doing the battle at Yad Mordechai.