Wargame Terrain

There are certain buildings that when you see them you know where in the world you are located.

The Eiffel Tower you know you are in Paris, France.  The tower Big Ben and Parliament building you know you are in London.  The Diet Building and you are in Tokyo, Japan.

Lenins Tomb in Red Square you know is in Russia.  The White House you know is in Washington, D.C.  The Reichstag for Berlin.

 A while back I decided to do certain national capitals for wargaming purposes.

Rather than do the whole city exactly like it is, my plan is to build or obtain certain key architectural elements of the city that are instantly recognizable, such as the Arc de Triomphe and  Eiffel Tower for Paris, France.  In this case the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower are not this close together, nor on the same side of a river.  But in a wargame model those things can sometimes be overlooked.

I think building wargame terrain is not unlike building a movie set, you have to give the audience the impression of the location without having to build it exactly.  Not unlike people who build battleships out of matches or toothpicks.   From a distance they look just like the New Jersey, but on close inspection you can tell they are just a pile of sticks.  And for most wargame purposes, that's enough.