Here's what Harry has to say about forthcoming map changes:
Notable changes in Maps from previous editions.
Americas
Mexico and the USA have more hexes, Canada less, all 4 major US cities on the west coast are now shown, Dutch Guiana added allowing a new home country, some sea boundaries changed and coloured dots to show the only locations you can go to and from the other maps. The chart that records the impulse’s weather is also on the Americas map.
West Europe
France and Netherlands are a bit bigger, Belgium and Switzerland a bit smaller. Netherlands beak has been added making it harder for Germany to invade Belgium without declaring war on the Netherlands (as historical). Scheldt Estuary also added making the strategic outflanking of Belgium easier.
Scandinavia has been substantially changed. Its now possible to invade Oslo. Many new off map hexes have been added (including Iceland and the Faeroes islands), and Stockholm made more Stockholmy. The Mediterranean’s sea borders have been changed dramatically and a lot more western African off map boxes added.
Finally Great Britain has been pivoted 1 hex further away from Scandinavia, one sea area removed up north and the Azores added on the south west of the map along with one of the two cadre boxes just so you don’t have to remember how many bonus build points you are going to get.
East Europe
Many changes, again a lot more off map hexes both up in Finland and the Kola peninsular, and down south in Southern Africa. Some changes in the Balkans but the biggest changes are in Russia which has been substantially altered. The Dnieper line at its shortest point was 20 hexes wide now its 22 which makes the battle in the south much more fluid.
The soviets need to rely on manouver more to survive but on the other hand when they are coming back, the Germans will find it more difficult to defend the Dniepr line too. And then there is the Gibraltars’ of the east, Leningrad and Rostov to provide perfect shoulders to a shrinking Soviet defence.
Furthermore, the rail network is now the 1942 network not the 1934 previously used and just checking the two maps is one example of the vast endeavour that was the industrialisation of the Soviet Union in the 1930s that gave them the ability to resist the Germans in the 40s.
Finally if you notice the east, its not the prairie steps that it used to be. Our previous maps were only partially equal areas projection (as opposed to almost completely now) and when we got to the north eastern end of the eastern Europe map our artist ran out of cities and terrain and the distances between Kazan and Kubyshev became ridiculous. This has now all been fixed, the cities and rails put in which gives the Soviets much more resistance in this part of the map.
Asia
Probably the biggest changes are on this map. First to make the distances between Kazan and Sverdlovsk reasonable (much less than they used to be) we only have two choices, move the terrain to the map edge or move the map edge to the terrain. Doing the latter not only takes into account the shorter distance in the higher latitudes, but also turns the Asia pacific map into a globe which is intuitively right.
The rail network has again been improved here, more cities added in Siberia, the rail network extended through connecting Iran and Iraq via the Persian corridor to the Soviet Union making this a viable route for invasion and counter invasion. Also the connections between Europe and Asia are spot on now (their was a 200 km discontinuity in some sections of the old maps).
But the biggest changes are in East Africa, India and the Dutch East Indies with the latter two being much more accurate in their terrain, resources and coastlines and the former being dramatically increased in size to allow the entire east African campaign to be fought out without the requirement of the African map (which is why the African map is now only available in the Superdeluxe games set).
We now also include all Madagascar and East Africa going all the way down to South Africa and we also now allow you to cut inland at the vital rail junctions of Port Franqui and Elizabethville. Nothing quite so disconcerting than watching your enemy apparently fly across the map in one impulse and all of a sudden be deep behind your lines. With Territories in Flames and vastly expanded territorials for all major powers including potential freebies when you conquer them, Africa should see a lot more action in future.
Pacific
Biggest changes here are in the pacific itself where it is now 4 sea areas from Pearl to Tokyo allowing a bit more strategic depth on both sides. Again the distances have been calibrated much more accurately, and more islands added where necessary. It really displays the rich chain of islands in the south Pacific as opposed to the almost open ocean of the North.
On the mainland the biggest change is the addition of all the roads in Siberia to connect up to their Pacific ports so reflagging US ships to Soviet ownership and bringing in lend lease via the east is now a very viable proposition. We have also included two famous roads, the Silk road(s) potentially allowing Soviet support for China and also the Road of Bones which allows the Japanese or Russians to potentially outflank each other.
I’m looking forward to my first game where the Road of Bones is the road to victory.
