Ok Flippy. Hypothetical situation here: You can have 2 maps featuring Finland. Any of the 3 wars, all equipment available in the battles will be made. What 2 battles would you pick, making sure there is some variety, and why?
Of course a battle of Äyräpää-Vuosalmi which would provide the players with
1) Infantry battles
2) Aerial Combat to keep em whiney flyboys off your back bitching for more flight maps
3) Tank Combat
4) Variation to terrain with;
a) Thick forests with hills and cliffs ideal for infantry combat in tight and rough terrain
b) Open fields with farms which are of course best suited for the tank combat
c) Key locations from historical events such as the Äyräpää railway station and a ruined church near Vuoksi beach
d) Slight dose of naval combat as the map would be divided by a river. Landing across Vuoksi would be amazing.
5) Artillery was a big part of this battle, so it would give those spotter-boys and artillery-heroes like myself something to do
Why I picked this instead of *gasp* Tali-Ihantala, which you all know I love so dearly? Because I think Tali-Ihantala would be either hard to do, or it would not provide enough variation to the gameplay. With Äyräpää-Vuosalmi, you could keep everyone happy, even feature some naval warfare on top of that (OK there were only sturmboots and russian made pontoon ferries... but at least you would actually have the water as an important element to the map. This map would also remind people from 0.7 Karelia as it would have the river crossing and landing possibilities, but it would be much more bigger. Not to mention the importance of this battle, not only was it the second biggest battle during the Continuation War, but it was also the last battle to be fought on Karelian Isthmus.
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My second map would be something you wouldnt guess that easily. I admit the first one is just an easy one to pick out as most of you know how dearly I love the battle of Äyräpää-Vuosalmi. But this one would be from totally different war. It would be Summa from Winter War. Located on the Mannerheim line, Summa would provide the players with a totally different setting: A map from a war not seen in a Forgotten Hope game. Not only would this map be different in both weaponry, layout, looks and feel but it would of course play totally different. One of the biggest and toughest battles of Winter War were fought in Summa, and I think that would make it a suitable candinate.
Summa would bring the players:
1) The chance to see Winter War first time in Forgotten Hope (Minor plus side, but still a plus side)
2) It would be totally different to the previous idea in many ways
3) Weaponry would of course be different as its 1940
4) Infantry warfare is always appreciated among the public
5) Planes for both sides
6) Infantry & Anti-tank vs tank combat opposed to many tank vs tank maps we have
While this map would lack the naval warfare of Vuosalmi, it would still be a very interesting map as it has very cool locations that were fought over. Of course the main theme would be mainly the same, gameplay wise the map would play similar if not the same as the previous idea (but dont they all?) with finns defending against the red army attacks and then making counterattacks to regain lost grounds.
Anything specific you were looking for in my answer, Uranium?