• Please make sure you are familiar with the forum rules. You can find them here: https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?threads/forum-rules.2334636/

Level Design Good book for mappers

Trendkill

Grizzled Veteran
Nov 21, 2006
642
4
Dorset, UK
I've been reading the book Soviet Field Fortifications 1941-45 from Osprey. Obviously I thought I'd point it out because it'd be a good resource for mappers on how to accurately map Russian trenches and fighting positions. It's got some good diagrams on trench layout and construction which differs a lot from what I see in most maps. It also shows what sort of defenses would be put up around a building strongpoint (for anyone thinking of doing Pavlov's House ;)).
I would post pictures and info from it but I'm pretty that would be copyright infringement so all I can do is recommend it to you guys :D.
 
Thanks - Osprey new vanguard series is a trusted resource for tanks- and expect it do be the same for specifics like this too.
Theres a massive selection and many i'd like to pick up-thing is, they are so specific it can be expensive to build a wide collection, as they command a reletivlely high price even second hand. You seldom see them reduced in bookshops.
But the one you mention sounds particularly good.
 
Upvote 0
I have the 'German Field Fortifications" and I'm gonna assume it's just as good as the one for the russians.. (except this one covers alot more theatres.. so maybe the russian one is in more depth?).

Either way, I've always liked Osprey's books.. they seem pretty solid and well worth the money.

I guess.. I might as well post this somewhere.. but I've found a -really- good resource for mappers / inspiration.. although alot of the historical accuracy would be a few decades off (so you got to remember to trim out the obviously modern stuff):

http://community.livejournal.com/ru_abandoned/

Pages and Pages of photography of abandoned sites (mostly in russia or former Soviet-bloc countries, but not always).

Enjoy.
 
Upvote 0
I've got a plenty of books with positions of the frontlines at various times in the war, but mostly your well knowns - seelow, kursk salient and the like.
One in particular is built around these tactical maps in particular, but as it concerns all theatres of the war and it still isn't as comprehensive as I'd like.

In my dreams I'll find a site that shows an overview of the entire area, and from amassed information would simultaineously display the fronts and units involved dynamically as you click though the months or even weeks.
It could also give rough information of known weather conditions at the time, I find it very near impossible to find out whether obsure areas snowed over or rivers froze at certain times in the past, unless you fluke a picture in a book.
Google earth could help pointpoint a specific location and provide further detail, once an area caught your interest.
As i say, in my dreams.
 
Upvote 0
One thing the Soviet Field Fortifications book doesn't do is provide specific examples, so there is no overhead maps or anything of actual battlefields and how they were defended. However it shows what ideally the defense would look like according to Soviet defensive doctrine. It also goes into depth to show how trenches and fighting positions should look, whether they be simple 10 minute jobs or elaborate trench works with bunkers, anti-tank ditches and all the 'trimmings'.
 
Upvote 0