Military Unit Symbols

The new Campaign map is a big, remarkable, almost Churchilian tool with which players have already begun planning strategy and will soon be able to plot real movements of enemies and friendlies . To make it easier to plot (hmm, doesn't sound good), I've tossed together a set of digital Nato-style unit symbols that may be dragged onto your map image to make tracking game progress easier. Most, if not all, image handling programs (e.g. Photoshop; Photoshop Elements, etc.) will let you bring in these .png files into your map, move them around, resize, and duplicate as you wish. The download link is below.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xa78jt1749xwfoa/Unit%20Symbols.zip

A few notes & tips:
*If you're using PS or similar products, you'll want to maintain the symbols on layers separate from the actual map to allow for easy, future adjustments, i.e., you probably shouldn't "flatten" the image;
*Symbol colors are as close as I could get them to historical. For instance, British red, Spanish red and Portuguese red are all different.
*The symbols were originally created as vectors, before being exported to the rasterized .png files in the download -- so they can be made immune to resolution/pixelization degradation at any size. If your software supports it and you'd prefer to work with vectors, let me know;
*The basic set of symbols was selected because those are the ones I suspect will be most heavily used. If there is need for others, don't hesitate to ask. For instance, we might need to represent Spanish guerilla units, which could be done in a few seconds with a new unit symbol and, perhaps, using a new hue that's a tint of the basic Spanish yellow;
*It is also possible (and easy) to create non-generic symbols with specific unit designations (e.g. Andalusian 1st Division) which are typically shown to the right of the unit type symbol. As we get into the game, I'll be happy to entertain requests for specific unit sets, if players would find it helpful.

Let me know if there are any questions, suggestions, or problems.

Best,
Ron

I use Paint Shop Pro which also uses layers but I can't fathom how to save the file and yet still have elements of a layer moveable later; everything gets fixed (using the proprietary .psp file format).

Thanks Ron,

I've started using my own symbols in Fireworks (with transparent areas around and underneath the icon so I can see more easily where it is) based on the traditional symbols, but it's great getting them into wider circulation.

And I totally agree, that huge map is wonderful to pore over - extra kudos for Digby, can't wait to see how the situation has developed on Wednesday.

The map is giving me some concern. There are too few roads in some areas I think though so far I have resisted adding any.

there is a version of Napoleonic Unit Symbols on the excellent Mapsymbs site by the talented Tim Mouat http://www.mapsymbs.com/fontstuf.html its well worth looking at the other resources on the site as well

Links deleted

Nice work, Ron. I agree, a few more roads. I have original without hexes, if you want it. I can rehex it after without changing locations.

Nice Job Ron.

Small correction on the player starting locations.

Neal and myself have been switched. I am Villava in the South East and I believe Neal is Vives in the North East.

Hays

Druid_ian wrote:there is a version of Napoleonic Unit Symbols on the excellent Mapsymbs site by the talented Tim Mouat http://www.mapsymbs.com/fontstuf.html its well worth looking at the other resources on the site as well

I also use these fonts by Mouat.
But I still use the crappy default MS Paint to draw briefing maps. Could someone tell me again what freeware paint programms are good?

Hays wrote:Nice Job Ron.

Small correction on the player starting locations.

Neal and myself have been switched. I am Villava in the South East and I believe Neal is Vives in the North East.

Hays

Thanks, Niall. Change has been made to the Player/Leader map download link in my post above. If these maps have value, I'll adjust as new players are added, assume new roles, drop out, etc. in the course of the campaign.

Leffe7 wrote:

Druid_ian wrote:there is a version of Napoleonic Unit Symbols on the excellent Mapsymbs site by the talented Tim Mouat http://www.mapsymbs.com/fontstuf.html its well worth looking at the other resources on the site as well

I also use these fonts by Mouat.
But I still use the crappy default MS Paint to draw briefing maps. Could someone tell me again what freeware paint programms are good?

Gimp is the best one in my opinion almost as good as photoshop

That's spectacular, thanks Ron.

The embossing really adds something - more than I'd expected.