Hi all!

I just found this site the other night, when I found a link to the site to a thread on Axis & ALlies Miniatures maps. I was immediately intrigued by this great site! In truth, I have always loved anything to do with maps/cartography...and can be lost in a map or atlas for hours on end. Just something about them do it for me. I used to be a Draftsman....board, and later CAD....so I am sure that has a tie in.

I am a Fine Artist, and that would be another tie in. I think maps are wonderful works of art in their own right, in my humble opinion. I love to draw, but am a painter, primarily. I am also an avid Gamer, board and miniatures, and have always wanted to design and produce my own game maps...perhaps my own games some day as well! I am a Moderator of a game section on a WWII site, designing the section from scratch, and one of the things we do there is play games online, where the Gamemaster recieves orders from the gamers via PM, and takes photos of the action and posts a running SitRep for the community to follow along. I mention this because, I started my own Axis & Allies Miniatures game, and one of the tools I gave the gamers was to post a diorama game map of the battlefield they are playing on, using a graphics program called HexDraw. I've only started using HexDraw, so it's nothing fancy; but it is certainly more than I ever thought possible, for my limited knowledge of game board design. It was so much fun! I am hooked on designing maps!!!

I realize there may be much better programs or methods out there...or perhaps not. That's what I am here for...to learn from your experiences (beginners or masters), maybe share some of my experiences for those that can tolerate my "newbieness", and plain have fun reading along.

I look forward to exploring more of the site, and meeting many of you.