Fantastic Frontiers: Mesoamerican Map

Here's a sample of my Postclassical Mesoamerican map for the "Conquest of the Aztec Empire" scenario, in 80's-era Gazetteer style. The full map looks to be about 4' by 6' long, and also covers most of Tlaxcala, Puebla, Morelos, and substantial parts of Veracruz and Hidalgo - so this is only about a tenth of it! I love the idea of a big map full of jungles and mountains, with a shining city of gold to admire plunder at the end of it! Many of the terrain decisions and city locations are a matter of conjecture, so I just eyeballed a dozen different maps I found on the internet and averaged out any disagreements. Here you can see the environs of the Basin of Mexico, including the western edge of the inhospitable Plateau of Anahuac.

Tlaxcala: The thorn in Moctezuma's side

The intent for this scenario is to pit Cortes' small, plucky force (and its native allies) against the larger and more professional forces of Panfilo de Narvaez, in a race to Tenochtitlan. Historically, Narvaez had already lost that race by the time he landed, and was outmaneuvered by Cortes and his numerous native allies into a rapid checkmate at the Battle of Cempoala. To make the situation more interesting, I've envisioned an alternate history in which Cortes delays the offensive until the following spring, eliminating his head start. I'm also going to write the victory conditions in such a way as to encourage neither expedition to attack the other until a certain amount of success against the Aztecs has been attained (although I do want to allow a certain amount of proxy-war that involves surreptitiously arming the Aztecs and other natives!)

It should also be easy enough to play the campaign in a solitaire or cooperative mode for educational purposes, by eliminating the rival expedition.