BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Miniatures and Terrain => Gaming Terrain => Topic started by: Mendrugo on 18 October 2017, 13:48:29
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Urban warfare is a core part of BattleTech, but the original city maps (street grids with building counters to place around) left something to be desired. The more detailed dense urban maps were definitely a step in the right direction, but still have oddly angled buildings drawn to conform to the hexagonal map structure.
My preference has always been to break out the city battle maps from TSR's Marvel Superhero RPG - a 3x3 grid of poster-sized city maps perfectly scaled for BattleTech miniatures to rampage through the streets, including slums, skyscrapers, parks, hospitals, research laboratories, bars, restaurants, police stations, shops, warehouses, and construction sites.
I scanned in my maps (much loved...much taped) and stitched together the entire 3x3 grid (the upper right is a hodge podge from non-grid maps, since they ended the line before completing the ninth map), and Photoshopped away most of the wear and tear (thank you, clone stamp). I then cut out the individual blocks and resized them to fit inside standard BattleTech hexes (a city block fits in a 7-hex circle, with margins on the side for pavement).
I'd like to use this thread to showcase the buildings, which I'm going to print out and mount on foam core board for use as highly detailed map tiles in city fights.
The first (attached) is a highly shrunk down version of the full map (since the full size original is 88 MB). The large compound in the upper right is a ComStar HPG station (repurposed from Marvel's United Nations building map).
Link to all files (220 MB): http://www.mediafire.com/file/09rt5xef5t656e1/Buildings.zip
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The abandoned and condemned building is accompanied by a partially demolished building and a construction site. Using several of these would be a good way to convey a city that has seen some heavy fighting, or one that has been abandoned.
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This Abandoned Warehouse is only half a block in size - fitting nicely into 4 hexes. Perfect for staging attacks, or filling with supplies to keep the troops of Operation RAT pushing forwards.
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This tile is centered on Alan Michael's Ice Arena. In one fight, I recall arguing that I should get a few bonus cool-down points if I had a 'Mech standing inside and firing out, similar to (or even better than) standing in water. (This predated the official rules for cold-weather environments) Also includes Nigel's Sports Shop and the zamboni shed. (Watch out for Deadpool...)
Hellions on Ice!
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Intended to be backed up against a river, Alken's Fish and Fruit Market is a half-block without a sidewalk at the back. In addition to Alken's, you'll find the Kaulthco Paper warehouse. Whip out your flamers and have a fish fry. Plenty of fuel at hand.
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A block of apartments with an alley running down the middle, this tile has hosted any number of vehicles lying in ambush in the empty lot (in the full size version, a Demolisher slots in just perfectly). Guido's Grocery is conveniently located if your tank crew needs cannoli.
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The Apex Health and Casualty Building is architecturally interesting, with a two-story angled glass front. I keep having images of a hidden 'Mech announcing its presence by triggering Jump Jets and coming crashing out through the glass.
I also like to start VTOLs involved in urban scenarios on the helipads marked on the tops of several of the skyscrapers.
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The Archdiocese is one of the buildings from the New York City Campaign Set, which eschewed the generic buildings from the 3x3 map grid and modeled major NYC landmarks (in an off-putting orange/yellow/brown color scheme that I desaturated).
The accompanying terraced skyscraper and super-high-rise would be good to evoke the Inner Sphere's ultra-dense major cities.
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There's one diagonal thoroughfare in The City, and it cuts through some of the blocks. This works out reasonably well when mounted on hexes, allowing the diagonal transverse, though the angle is just a wee bit off center.
In addition to the Armstrong Hotel, this block adds some neighborhood character with The Bear Paw Bar (a Clanner hangout if I ever heard of one), a newsstand, the Falcon Agency (a very Clanny block, indeed), the Maxton Building, and a gas station.
Many a time, the gas station got targeted because of a house rule allowing explosive materials to do splash damage (echoing the instakill outcome when any fuel bunker in the Crescent Hawk's Revenge was blown up with any 'Mechs adjacent).
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The Augra Apartments block is fairly generic - adding Downtown Realty and the Carista Clinic. On the plus side, there's a parking lot where you can set up a tank ambush, or hide a Mobile HQ.
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Auric Rent-A-Car offers a lot of open space - a rarity for dense urban locations. Good for setting up a command post or an artillery battery.
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This block has a fair number of pop culture references.
The Blue Parrot club is a reference to a 1953 UK murder mystery movie.
Rick's Cafe has relocated from Casablanca to downtown Manhattan.
They're joined by Hair Lines, Clothes Horse, the Paradise Theater (Styx's 1981 album title), the Aurora Building, and LaBudde's Gift Shop.
The alley offers a nice spot for a mugging 'Mech (or a hopeful Hetzer) to hide, and even offers a narrow port through which an UrbanMech can take a sneak attack shot over the roof of the Blue Parrot.
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This far less complicated block includes an abandoned Warehouse, Avery's Furniture Warehouse, and the Northerly Art Gallery.
Sounds like a block Cranston and Rhonda Snord would want to visit, to add to their collection.
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This block brings oodles of parking (a great treasure in a dense urban environment, giving units a place to step out of the line of fire on the straightaways), as well as a parking garage where any number of tanks could lie in wait.
Businesses located here include Badger Foods, the Public Works Storage Facility, and the Alard Lofts (a converted warehouse with no known connection to House Allard-Liao).
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For your planet's equivalent of Wall Street (or if you plan to summon Gozer), some skyscrapers based on New York's Banker's Trust building.
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For your next convention or infantry brigade billeting needs, the high rise Barclay Hotel stands ready.
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Going the other direction (and throwing in some more pop culture), this block features the Bates Motel (Norman?), its arch-rival EZ Nite Motel, as well as the odd pairing of the Fit'N'Fun Health Club and a MacBurgers franchise.
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Another of the blocks along the diagonal cross street (Lincoln Avenue), this is the lower-rent part of town, with tenements, Marcello's Pawn Shop, Bing's Bar, the Cakes & Ale Bar, and the Lincoln Street Mission.
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The Brand Corporate Warehouse is fairly generic, but was intended by TSR to be a regular locale for bad-guy activity, since the Brand Corporation was created in the 1970s as a villainous energy company that dabbled in supervillain creation and tinkering with dimensional barriers in the name of greater shareholder returns.
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A mixed light commercial/residential block, the east side is apartments and a private home, while the west side has very, very dated retail outlets - TV Shed (aka Radio Shack); Ron's Attic (comics); Butler's Badger Bar and Grill; Quikie Burger; and Video World (perhaps a hangout for the Arcade Rangers?). It also has a very literal mom and pop grocery - the "Ma & Pa" grocery store.
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Tagging this thread, some nice looking maps!
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This block includes a demolished building (heavy rubble hex, for sure), along with the Spring Water Center, Brown's Moving Services, and the "Bar-for-All" Bar.
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Stretching two blocks, Buchanan Park lets you get some light woods for cover. It's intended to go with the Government Building, which is fronted by another, larger (and artistically divergent) chunk of Buchanan Park.
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The Bureau of Public Works has a nicely landscaped entryway, and is abutted by Pegasus Engineering, Tobias' Garage, Phoenix Gas (there's that splash damage again), and Octavian's restaurant. This building served as the "key" for the Advanced Set battle map, explaining why all the features are labeled.
(They got punny for the other sets, doing that on the "Key Building" or on "Key Industries")
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The Carthage Hotel is a solid chunk of real estate, adjoined by a hotel gift shop. Though why they need a quarter of a city block to sell overpriced hotel bathrobes...
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The Cathedral is from the New York Campaign set. Major cities in the Inner Sphere could be expected to have similar structures, at least where freedom of religion is tolerated.
And now you'll never confuse your pinnacles, crockets, and dormers again.
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This split block gives you some elbow room via the alley and construction site. The Executive Building, Centennial Building, and the Hotel Claire provide comprehensive cover.
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This is a financial district block, featuring the Center City Bank & Trust, the First Planetary Bank (originally First Bank of New York, which seemed out of place for terrain intended for BattleTech use), and the Universal Express Traveler's Checks Office (another dated reference).
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Given the fact that a lot of TSR people also did work for FASA back around the time this was drawn, I can't help but speculate that the Charette Building was a shout-out to Robert Charrette (Wolves on the Border, Heir to the Dragon, etc.).
It's joined by Ivor's Pub, Barris Jewelers, 5th Avenue Optics, and the high rise Garfield Condominiums.
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The Chateau on the Park luxury hotel may not have its own giant gift shop, but it makes up for it with more flags than any other building on the map.
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Not explicitly named "Chinatown," this strip nonetheless features Ho's Laundry Mat and Chin's Bicycles. With abandoned buildings, a vacant lot, and a hock shop, this screams "pending gentrification." (Or the "Unproductive Quarter" in a Combine city.)
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The City Dispatch building would theoretically be a launching point for first responder teams (fire, medical, law enforcement). It would be fun to have it as the starting point for the Vehicle Annex police dirigible.
The split block is joined, across the alley, by the Bruce, Monson, and Fenner Buildings.
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The Civic Museum features an interior parking lot where a 'Mech with jump jets could lurk in ambush - or even fire out over the one-story passage between the museum and the Calwell Art Annex.
The fact that the Civic Museum is five stories tall makes it a possibility that the exhibits may include Primitive BattleMechs - maybe still in working order. :)
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Given that this was from a collaboration between TSR and Marvel, no surprise that comic and hobby shops are frequent tenants in the commercial space.
We also have The Cavern dance club (Do the Moloid!), Coda Records Recording Studio, Visionary Graphics, the Juliette Dance Studio, and Jim's Fashions.
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Not sure exactly to what extent the Knowles family was known in comics circles in 1988 (pre-AintItCool News/Harry Knowles), but one might suspect that Knowles Information Services is a shout-out.
It's joined by Weinlein's Books (probably a shout-out to Len Wein, co-creator of Wolverine who...wow...died just last month), Keliher's Apartments, a Community Medical Center, and the Cunningham Day-Care Facility (We sit yer kids down in front of the TV and show them looped reruns of Happy Days. Trust me, they love it. Ayyyyyyyyy! Sit on it, Potsie!)
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This is the big Magilla - my minis didn't have much use for Terra's United Nations building, but the attached grounds and the big disc in the parking lot (originally a fountain, repainted as an HPG transmitter) just screamed ComStar Compound.
First, we have the park ground to the west, with monuments to Jerome Blake and Conrad Toyama. (The whole compound is too large to post all at once)
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And now the public portion of the compound, with a large main building for customers. (File size limits...)
Rather than one door for each Great House, it has 10 - perhaps they're double doors, or the other five are for the general, non-aligned public.
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And finally, the core of the compound, the HPG dish, along with offices. The main machinery of the HPG would be buried underground, running the length of the compound.
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This construction site was somewhat lazily drawn (the girders were dirt brown to avoid adding extra coloring costs - TSR was in heavy cost-cutting mode when the "Webs" box came out), so I touched it up where I could.
The girder grid would be a fun playground for battle armor.
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Back to the slums, this low-rent residential strip includes Mabel's Abandoned Boarding House, Joe's Garage, and Crum Apartments. When you want quality, you want Crum.
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Dobson Plaza is definitely uptown, pairing the Dobson Ltd. office building with Spartan Bank and the Le Grand Domain hotel.
Amusingly, there's a tiny "TM" mark by the "Insti-Teller" banking machine label. This must have been before "ATM" caught on.
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This two-block long, half-block deep industrial strip was situated on the riverfront. It includes Keeler and Thompson, Peoria Plate Glass Co., and DocTech Labs (an Objective Raid target if I ever heard one, in a LosTech universe).
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The map bundled with the Secret Wars II supplement was an attempt to showcase blocks with more of a West Coast, low-rise, Hollywood feel.
Thus, we have Empire Broadcasting joined by Yogurt Top Health Foods, the Hair Boutique, and Angel Inc. (Along with the Tailory and Alphonse's Fine Liquors).
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The Empire State Building - all 102 stories of it. Now all we need is to get a Mandrill totem 'Mech up there battling AeroSpace Fighters...
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Lincoln Avenue gets ritzier as it moves northeast, passing the Fibre Building and the Stone Building.
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*snip*
It's joined by Weinlein's Books (probably a shout-out to Len Wein, co-creator of Wolverine who...wow...died just last month)
*snip*
It sounds like more of a shout out to Heinlein to me... Perhaps a portmanteau of both?
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The First National Bank is in a shady part of town, rubbing shoulders with Bail Bonds and a Pawnshop. There's also a Savings and Loan, a Currency Exchange (Yuan for Escudo! Eagles for Pounds!), and the law offices of Hanson and Sons.
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It sounds like more of a shout out to Heinlein to me... Perhaps a portmanteau of both?
Certainly could be the case. The Len Wein connection came to me since this was a Marvel product of the 80s, and he was a major creative force there from the mid-70s.
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Crime central for Marvel's New York, the Fisk Building is where Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, makes his lair. His neighbors aren't much better - as previously noted the Brand Corporation has its fingers in all sorts of destructo rays and other mad/corporate science origin-story-fodder.
Given the company they keep, the El Fernando building is probably up to no good as well. (Secret lair of...El Seed! And his rooftop garden...of doom!)
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Meanwhile, over in the bad part of town, amidst abandoned liquor stores and Monty's Groceries (get a Haul every time!), we find the innocuous Fisk Spices Warehouse. As well we know, Wilson Fisk is nothing more than a upstanding member of the legitimate businessman's club, and an importer of spices.
Probably a good spot for your AToW characters to go looking for QwikStim or Spazz.
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Four Freedoms Plaza is, of course, the HQ of the Fantastic Four. I painted out the giant "4"s on the upper slopes of the building, leaving a towering spire that comes to a 53-story point - suitable for any high-tech BattleTech city.
Especially in certain portions of the Nebula California...
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The Gaston building anchors a small commercial block along with Olson's Five & Dime. Smaller neighbors include Rosenstein's Fine Jewels, Schweinenger's Furs, the Trende Shoppe, 8th Avenue Bakery, Second-Hand Memories (a pawn shop), and Angelino's Restaurant (possibly a Three's Company reference, since that's where Jack Tripper/John Ritter worked).
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The General Dynamics Building seems quite appropriate. The real world company is an aerospace/defense conglomerate. Fitting to put it in a BattleTech city fight.
(A tiny bit of Photoshoppery will turn it into BattleTech's General Mechanics firm, inventors of the Wasp)
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The Globe Press factory was the central location in the Basic Set's included adventure "Day of the Octopus," in which Doc Ock unleashes a giant robot on the city. Hmmmm....Octodroid vs. Spider BattleMech...
Across the alley, we've got Minski's Foods, Ace Handling, and the competing establishments of Jo-Jo's and Josie's. That's a lotta Jo, right there.
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Located just north of the other half of Buchanan Park, the Government Building would be a suitable government administrative HQ for a planetary regime. Snipers on the 12-story roof would have a clear field of fire at any hostiles trying to come through the parkland.
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Had to split Buchanan Park into two files. Buchanan Park South abuts the Government Building, while Buchanan Fountain is on the north side. While the other Buchanan park (across the street to the south of the Government Building) has lots of trees, this is a bare expanse of immaculately trimmed lawn.
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Buchanan Fountain
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The Guthrie Mansion is nestled among luxury Windsor and Windsor II Townhouses, with the punnily-named On the Lamb restaurant nearby.
("on the lam" is an archaic phrase that means on the run from the police.)
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A well known Korean restaurant in NYC, the Hahn Kook Palace shares space with high-rise towers, a bookstore, a Bible Society, and Hicks & Son in this mixed-use block.
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Hammer Industries (owned by Iron Man comic nemesis and lame Iron Man 2 villain Justin Hammer) anchors this extra-long city block, sharing space with other villainous businesses - Muffin's Flower Botique, Valu-Mart Card Shop, and the Generic Fish Market.
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Pay at the parking kiosk when you visit Hannah & Sons, Dry As You Wait Cleaners, Marion's House of Pets (any Cuddle Bears in stock?), Hebray's Place, and the Money Store.
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The Henkel Museum of Art might be a reference to South African artist Irmin Henkel.
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Highley tower, at 21 stories, is certainly high. It adjoins the Sutherland Group Insurance Building, the Manchester Hotel, and the Arthur St. Garage.
I once tried to put a Striker up on the top of the garage for a better shot. It spent seven turns driving slowly (to avoid control rolls on pavement) up to the top, and then when it got there, it found the 'Mech it had wanted to shoot at the base of the building kicking its supports out. The structure collapsed before the Striker could get back down.
(In retrospect, I shoulda just driven off the edge and tried to Death-From-Above the sucker with a wheeled light tank.)
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Meanwhile, far from the sparkling office towers of midtown, we come to Honest Gary's Used Cars. What will it take to put you in this pre-owned Charger today?
For the less budget-minded, there's Price's Fine Autos. For the "drink until your cognitive ability parallels the missing-link"-minded, there's Ogg's Pub.
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New York's International Building is famously fronted by a three-story statue of Atlas holding up the globe. (Or, in this case, a statue of Hanse Davion sneaking off with a Capellan planet...)
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The ITT building is another soaring office tower in real-world Manhattan.
At one point, I tried to 3D model some of these buildings - building up the floors with pink styrofoam (available cheap in large sheets from Home Depot and carvable with a HotWire). The low-rise city blocks actually looked pretty good, but the skyscrapers were pointless. I think the tallest I made was 25 stories - over 2' at 1" per floor. Those were impressive eye candy from a distance, but became a hassle once gameplay actually started, and were so high that there was no chance of anyone getting a combat unit up there.
(One guy at Historicon did get his Venom up to the 13th floor of a building by hopping from rooftop to rooftop, but that just made him a target for everything else on the board, and his flaming wreckage soon rained down on the streets below.)
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The Julian Ward Howe school seems to (almost) be named for the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic - Julia Ward Howe. Typo or gender-swapped alternate reality?
Alongside are the Texas Arms and some town houses.
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The junkyard is an odd blending of art - from two different map sets (Secret Wars II on top, Avengers Coast to Coast on the bottom). Look at the detail that went into the SW2 junked cars, compared to the bare bones (and out of scale) wrecks on the ACTC map. For this reason, the ACTC and Webs maps are the two weakest - with far less detail and creativity than the ones from the Basic Set; Advanced Set; New York, New York; Fault Lines; and Secret Wars II.
(Those original ones essentially made a five map + shaped grid. The maps from "Webs", ACTC, and an X-Men box filled in three of the four corners.)
Roger Moore's Barbershop is almost certainly a S.H.I.E.L.D. front, since the entrance to SHIELD's underground HQ was through a barber shop in the 60s and 70s comics, and Roger Moore is known for playing super spy 007.
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The Kaverian Motel is a good close-up on the quality slippage from the core five to the final three maps. The roof vents on earlier maps were drawn to show the angled fan blades recessed inside the housing. These are much more abstract (circle, x, +, done!), and the inkers didn't even bother to color the chimneys black on the interior. The clusters of tiny shops that gave the early blocks character are mostly replaced by much larger buildings with fewer features.
Notably, the last three maps came out when TSR was being run by Lorraine Williams, the Buck Rogers heiress who forced Gary Gygax out and spent most of her tenure cutting costs, laying off staff, pushing out untested products with sometimes questionable production quality, and trying to milk the Buck Rogers property for a few more bucks. (She reputedly hated games and gamers - not a great fit for CEO of TSR.)
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The Keash Mall, by contrast, is a very nice piece from the Advanced Set map. Note that the artist even shaded it to show late morning shadows. The mall is anchored by Mogul's and J.P. Arson's department stores, and fronted by a Quikie Burger.
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The Key Building, from the Basic Map, was a way to fit a guide to the various symbols used on the map without surrendering precious real estate that could be used for super hero brawls.
It's attached to DSL Studios. Probably nothing special there...except that DSL backwards is LSD.
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They used the same trick on the "New York, New York" character roster book map, but on a smaller, dockside Key Industry Building.
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Klaver Plaza has more Fisk Import Export Services offices (to go with Fisk Tower and the Fisk Spice Warehouse). Whereas the first wave of maps generally remained generic (references to Fisk and Brand notwithstanding), those references were more frequent in the second wave, with numerous references to Stark, Fisk, and Brand properties, not to mention Four Freedoms Plaza.
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The Krupp Building is a high-rise office tower. I think it was a neat concept that it's flanked by One Angel Tower and Two Angel Tower, which are slanted, so that you could envision them as wings sprouting from the rear of the Krupp Building.
The courtyard with the statue would also make a nice hiding spot for an ambushing UrbanMech.
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The Bakersfield Eatery fronts the tightly packed Manchester Apartments.
The yellow triangles represent antennas. It would be fun to give a Blakist team a localized Blackout mission - sweep through the city and take out as many communications antennas as you can, disrupting local coordination efforts and prepping the way for a full-scale Word assault.
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The artist for the original maps (Dennis Kauth, who also did the Campaign Cartographer and D&D Gazeteer maps) clearly had a lot more time to put into the maps than the artist for this one, Stephen Sullivan.
This is a desaturated version, since the original has a notable blue/green tinge (which you can still see in the master "the city" map at the start of the thread.)
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I'm including the landmark buildings from the New York Campaign Box for completeness, but to my eye, the windows/doors are too big, the designs are blocky and lack detail, and the original color scheme (yellow/orange/brown/magenta) was garish.
This is based on the McGraw-Hill building - a major publishing house.
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McKinley Park appears on four separate maps, explaining the different textures on the grass. This one required a lot of photoshopping to look even close to aligned. (Given the size, it will need to be posted in parts)
To me, the pond outline summons images of a blue rubber ducky.
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McKinley Park, east side, representin'
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MegaMedia Productions (with its M-shaped pond) was intended to represent a major Hollywood studio. (In the Secret Wars II comic, a frustrated writer gets his wishes granted, gets powers, and goes on a rampage against his bosses, MacBurgers, and pop culture in general. By the time he's disarmed and returned to normal, he realizes he's destroyed both his own home and his place of work.)
I believe the mottled hue is due to a soda stain.
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Metro Holding is a good objective raid target when you want to recover your unit's captured personnel before they get transferred to a more secure internment camp.
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The Midtown Plaza Hotel looms over the Public Library next door. The roof garden would be a nice place to stick a Thumper battery.
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Not a shout out to BattleTech author Steve Mohan, but he'd be right at home in the Mohan Towers apartment building. Local small businesses include a Currency Mart, the Heard's Words bookstore, and the We-Fix-It repair shop.
I've got no clue what goods or services Sharon's White Rabbit might be selling.
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There are a few accounts of local police departments taking on invaders in extreme circumstances (fighting the Clan Invasion on one world using SWAT teams and an UrbanMech, deploying in defense of Atreus City during the Jihad, etc.). The Municipal Building serves as both a Precinct HQ for the police, and also a training academy.
This makes it an excellent Objective Raid target for groups wanting to destabilize local centers of authority. It also makes it a logical staging point for Copper-class SecurityMechs and other law-enforcement-related equipment from the Vehicle Annex.
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The Museum of Science and Natural History sounds like a positive font of LosTech, for the motivated mercenary. It adjoins the Hayes St. Library, the Crimson Ram Greek restaurant, and the Minute Bank (with the city's other Insti-Teller (TM) banking machine).
(A Google search for "Insti-Teller" only turns up one reference, from a 1986 Alabama newspaper, referring to ATMs as "Insti-Tellers" Looks like TSR's legal department erred on the side of excess caution here.)
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The Radio City Music Hall is now pleased to present.... The 'Mech-ettes! (Cue 20 Vixens in line doing synchronized high-kicks)
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A 'Mech in the center of this block has firing ports on all four sides and two ways to withdraw. A nice nook surrounded by the High-De-Hole Bar, B. Deere Greeting Cards, Riedel's flower shot, the Niles/Arcade movie house, and the C&M Food Store.
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Branding is a lost art in the slums of Old Town, if Swill's Liquors is any guide.
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The Old Town Mall is densely packed with interesting little stores (nearly all of which invite armed robbery, befitting it being in a Marvel super hero game): Diamond Resale Shop, Rings, Etc., Empire Bank, Currency Exchange, and Kim's Curios & Odd Antiques (Dr. Strange runs a tab here.)
I presume Sandwich Queen is a lawyer-friendly distaff counterpart to Burger King.
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The Oracle Industries Building construction site has a nice, deep pit. Be fun to use it as a 'Mech trap with a dirt-covered tarp stretched over the top, and baiting a 'Mech into following you through the girder grid.
The artist here didn't even bother with drawing girders, and just drew a simple line-art grid. I wish they'd been able to assign Dennis Kauth to all of the line's maps.
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Another block for the Unproductive Quarter, we have apartments and low-rent housing across an alley from the Overton Storage warehouse.
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Parking can cost more than housing in major urban areas, so this seven story Parking Garage is far more important than Watry's Jewelry or Richard's Golf and Goal.
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The Peabody Food Court has a unique glass-topped atrium (though the cooling bill on sunny days must be murder), surrounded by Gaishin's sushi bar (Kurita), Die Schwarzer Haus (Steiner), Big Ben's British Pub (Davion), and The New Delhi (Marik...or at least Regulus). Put a Chinese restaurant across the street (either the Red Dragon or the Jade Peacock), and you've got the Star League in miniature.
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This block has some questionable eateries - "Fast Burgers & Fish"? I guess when you want your surf & turf in a hurry... Add in Pierce Photo, Baur's Bakery, the Eye-to-Eye Clinic, and Wright's Ton-of-Art Supply.
What do you suppose the "Etc." covers in Pizza, Etc.?
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On many worlds in the Inner Sphere, ComStar handles local mail delivery as well. With a main ComStar compound just a few blocks away on the full map, though, this Post Office shows that this isn't one of those worlds. We also have the Falstaff Apartments (named after the Shakespeare character, most likely), and One Simon Tower.
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Public School #507 is flanked by the Higher Ground theater, the Organdy restaurant, Harrison's Tai-Kwon-Do (reflecting spelling conventions of the 80s), and the Danse Academy.
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The Randolf Building, Mardon House publishing company, and Crystal's department store share a block with townhouses and condos.
Printed at full size, the alley is just wide enough for a Striker or Hetzer miniature to slip through, giving them an advantage over 'Mechs when fighting on the mean streets.
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Rathbone park is the largest park in the city map, and was originally split between the Basic Set map and the Secret Wars II map (accounting for the shift in the grass texture halfway through the park)
The first chunk is the western edge - the curved area is where the St. Arbogast Hospital is located, but you could also slot in any of the blocks with a trimmed off corner there, including Guthrie Mansion, the Museum of Science and Natural History, Dobson Plaza, the Civic Museum,
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The next chunk is the duck pond. I remember one battle where I hid an Annihilator at the bottom of the pond, and greatly surprised an enemy force when it surged out of the depths, autocannons blazing.
The ducks immediately migrated south.
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The southeast portion contains a parking lot and a bandshell for performances or political speeches. Be a nice visual to have a couple of 'Mechs flanking the stage, holding up "APPLAUSE...OR ELSE" signs.
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Another soaring skycraper, reaching 71 stories, this attempts to recreate the real-world RCA Building.
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Another block packed with interesting little stores, this is anchored by the Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant. It seems to be located in the kid-zone, hosting the Annie Plowman Candy Store, the Candy Cane Toy Shop, and Richard's Costumes.
It's also a one stop shop for chaotic-evil characters, with Roundel's Liquor Store, Stokes Firearms, the Royal Gem Jewerly [sic] Store, and a drive-thru bank. Buff up at the health spa, get a super villain costume and some guns'n'booze, and go on a rampage.
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More likely to show TriVids than ancient two-dee films, the Reel Adventure Movie Theater offers 40 parking spaces, which it shares with the 4th Avenue Bus Depot. While waiting for your bus (or Land Train, depending on local conditions), you can visit Dot's Grill or the Burger Pit.
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Robert Holmes Memorial Park is an interesting example of the poor scaling between maps. A standard basketball court is 15 meters long, but when put on the BattleTech maps at this scale, each is at least 45-60 meters long.
Perhaps these could be introduced as part of the Noisiel Games for 'Mech-scale basketball. (The Spider steals the ball and triggers its jump jets, going for a slam dunk on the 40-meter-high hoop!)
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This block was drawn in the early 1990s, when the speculator craze must have made it seem plausible that Billy Bob's Baseball Card Emporium and Esoteric Comics could afford the rent on a quarter of a Manhattan city block, with Rossi's House of Style taking up the southern half.
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The Roxxon Corporation was created during the 1970s energy crisis, and can be summed up as "Exxon's lawyer-friendly Marvel Universe evil counterpart).
It's flanked by the Midtown Utilities Building and the Elliot Building.
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Just in case you didn't get Roxxon's vibe already, Roxxon Plaza features a sculpture entitled "Enfolding the Earth" (which I photoshopped to "Enfolding the Planet" to make it less Terra-specific).
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On the Basic Map, the St. Arbogast Hospital adjoins Rathbone Park.
Googling, it looks like Saint Arbogast was a 7th-century missionary to the Frankish Empire and an early Bishop of Strasbourg. One of his miracles was bringing the son of Merovingian King Dagobert II of Austrasia back to life after he died in a boar hunting accident. So slapping his name on a hospital seems to fit.
Now where was he when Robert Baratheon went boar hunting near King's Landing?
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Saint Bartholomew's Church is a representation of the actual building in NYC. Named for the 1st Century apostle who was killed while preaching in Armenia.
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Saint Matthew's Church adjoins the Harrison Street Police Station and the closed-down Harrison Street Fire station. It features the only graveyard on the city map. Like St. Bartholomew's, it's also named for an Apostle.
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Luxury highrise apartments adjoin a building meant to represent New York's Sak's Fifth Avenue.
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The Sargent Memorial School seems grimmer than some of the other schools on the map, with only a paved courtyard as a playground and no green space.
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The School District administration building, garage, and warehouse are in a poorer section of town (adjoined by high rise tenements), but enjoy underground parking (a nice place to hide tanks when trying to take enemy forces from the rear).
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The Sherman House Hotel adjoins a pet store, a video store (streaming video is LosTech), and a water works.
Damage to the original map wiped out the title for the other building, so I BattleTech-ified it as an outpost for Ceres Metals, which was originally described as a trading cartel with operations spanning the Inner Sphere, rather than simply the core of the Capellan defense industry.
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Siekman Shipbuilders is a half-block warehouse designed to fit on a riverfront or coast. With five stories to work with, they could have drydock facilities inside and launch directly into the water.
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This is a representation of the famous skating rink at Rockefeller Center, complete with the statue of Prometheus.
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Back in the slums, we have more abandoned buildings and "shanty town" houses. Guests at the Sleep Cheap Hotel might have a hard time doing that due to the noise from the Hot Time nightclub next door.
Who rents televisions? Maybe a big screen for a big game broadcast, but what sort of business model is that?
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Slipped Disk Software is a pun good for people familiar with both spinal injuries and antiquated removable storage media. While laughably dated, the Fax X-Press building could be a good locale for AFFS to base their black-box "interstellar faxes" in.
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More Roxxon action at the Roxxon gas station. The La Elmore art gallery is a shout out to TSR contributor Larry Elmore.
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This block is a representation of New York's Summit Hotel, and adjoining high rise apartments.
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This block seems to be in the map's "chinatown" as well, hosting Ling's Furniture Refinishers and the Jade Peacock oriental restaurant (arch rival of the Red Dragon Chinese restaurant). Sun Industries anchors the northern portion of the block.
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Tanaka Industries is a good piece for a Draconis Combine business district setup. You could almost imagine Uncle Chandy going for a contemplative stroll in the rooftop garden.
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Another block for the Unproductives - high rise tenements.
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And, for a change of pace, low-rise half-block tenements.
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The Thayer Hotel shares a small parking lot with the Owner's Trust Bank.
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The Galileo Hotel has a fancy fountain arrangement out front.
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The Hayward Building offers its tenants a decent amount of green space and natural lighting in the atrium.
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This block represents the enormous Waldorf-Astoria hotel, but would also be suitable as an SDS Naval Laser double barrel emplacement.
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This represents the Time Life Building in NYC. It's a big box with chimneys on top.
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This is one of my favorite bits on the map - a convention center, parking tower, and insurance company on the south side, connected by a skybridge to a high-rise trade center on the north side.
It would have been great eye-candy to 3D convert, back when I was doing that, but the skybridge looked prone to snapping, made just out of styrofoam. Plus, the model would be 2' high, creating storage and transport issues.
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Another small retail/service block, businesses here include the Hobby Shop (a shout out to the stores that sold these maps), a Pawn Shop, a Liquor Store, a Handgun Emporium, an unemployment office, used books, an electronics store, a bakery, and a jewelry store.
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Apartments and abandoned buildings share space in this residential strip, anchored by an office building and a gas station (Union 84 seems to be a proxy for Union 66, a chain of gas stations bought out by Phillips and then Conoco. The "Lone Wolves" supplement this map came in was written in 1984).
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This is a representation of NYC's Uniroyal building.
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Lowder's Video Haven is one of about five or six video rental stores on the maps. They're still thematically appropriate, since BattleTech is the "Future of the 80s." Just substitute vidchips for videocassettes, and treat your mercs to a "Tri-Vid and Chill" night.
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The WMAR Radio station anchors a split block with Darwin's Computers and Hast's Sporting Goods. On the other side of the alley, you have Phillips 44 Flavors (a proxy for Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors), Nouveau Art Gallery (a pun based on the "Art Nouveau" style popular between 1890-1910), and the Iron Hand Martial Arts Studio (Probably intended as a home base for Iron Fist in the accompanying adventures).
This the only radio station on the map. The iPad-based MechWarrior Tactical Command game features a scenario where a radio DJ is coordinating resistance efforts as the Clans seek to take over a city. Might be a good objective raid target for a War of '57 scenario, where Capellan-backed or home-brew insurgents try to seize control of communication hubs to broadcast propaganda.
"The Farmers' Freedom Army will usher in a new utopian planned society. Every citizen will be given 40 acres and a mule, then assigned a strict production quota to fill...or be executed as an enemy of the state. Rutabagas Uber Alles!"
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Last on the list, we have Woodman's Lumber Yard. I can see a few Crosscut LoggerMechs on staff to handle large cutting orders.
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This is freaking awesome, do you have a zipped folder with all of the individual structures by any chance?
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So if my math is right, this map is what, 100-ish hexes on a side?
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So if my math is right, this map is what, 100-ish hexes on a side?
I sized each file to fit into a 3x3 hex circle, using a jpg printout of a full size HeavyMetal Map file as a reference (overlaying the building on the HMMap and resizing to fit), with margins at the edges to be the roads. Since it is a 9 x 14 grid of city blocks, each sized to fit into a 3 x 3 circle of hexes (one hex at the center and the six around it) with margins at the edge for the roads, that works out to a 27 x 42 hex space (wider if you want more than half-hexes of road between blocks - in that case multiply by 4 instead of 3, getting a 36 x 56 hex playing area).
If the maps are used at the original miniatures scale, rather than mapscale, then the whole grid is about 8' long and 5' high.
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This is freaking awesome, do you have a zipped folder with all of the individual structures by any chance?
PM me - file size limitations make sharing easier via e-mail
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An excellent addition - I dredged up the "internment camp" map from the "Nightmares of Futures Past" adventure - a great addition for scenarios involving extracting friendlies from prison camps. With a bit of photoshoppery, the facility also makes a suitable firebase or garrison outpost.
I made a blank hexmap in HM Map and overlaid the hex grid onto the Marvel map. Not a perfect alignment, but it'll suffice. The full file is too big to post, but I've attached a shrunk-down thumbnail.
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Did the same for the Suburbs map from the same adventure. Unleash the SuburbanMech!
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For those who want to make a custom internment camp layout, I've cut out all the buildings, guard towers, roads, fences and gates from the Internment Center map and put them into HM Map hexes. Print as needed, cut, and build your facility to suit.
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And now, the single family homes and yards made into hexes. Print, cut, and embellish your hexmaps. Then rampage through the 'burbs!
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I have placed all the building images onto hexgrids, so you can print, cut out, and use as map tokens. You can access the files (37 MB) here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/6fcd4tz0e537b10/building-hextiles.zip
The suburbs and internment camp tile pages are also in that folder.