Our system is that I sketch everything, using a color-coding system to distinguish different terrain and human features. The different shades of green, of course, show vegetation (dark green is woods, pastel green is light woods, pea green is a mixture of high grass and scattered trees, dark pea green is thickets and the like, light pea green is high grass, etc.). Purple shows buildings or CSA encampments. Yellow is fences and other enclosures. Brown is for roads, with light brown for farm roads and paths. Blue is for water, with darker meaning wider. Contour lines are gray or black, with darker meaning lower (there are four heights levels overall, each representing another 50 feet of elevation). Bright red lines indicate ravines (which let units move without being in line-of-sight, unless enemy units are adjacent to the ravine).
Overall, southwestern Missouri was sparsely populated, so this map has fewer signs of civilization than most -- just a few scattered farms and houses.
Hexes are 75 yards. In this case, I cropped the edges so I could upload it, so the actual map will be bigger. So, this gives you an idea of the maps we'll be featuring. We hope to be able to show you the real thing before too long, but I doubt it will be this month -- good graphics take time!
