Both!

I think actual software/kit for making the map is paramount (the Master Terrain/Forge stuff?) That is, it could start off as a flexible 2d application that you can build up into a 2.5/3d project if desired.

The other stuff would just be frosting on the cake. I was really citing the GW stuff for baseline examples.

This is a really neat idea. I'd love to see a 3d or 2.5d world map. Not very practical at a gaming table but it would be inspiring and that alone would be good enough for me.

Gaming purposes aside this would look almost more like artwork than gaming. Just thinking that this could be printed out in standard and then run through a sepia filter for the parchment look.



Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

Registered just to comment on this.

Modular hexagonal tiles, with some basics:
Plain
Grassland
Barrens (dirt)
Desert
Tundra (ice lands)
Ice (frozen water)
Coast (beach and light blue water)
Sea (blue water)
Ocean (deep blue water)

And some Natural Props:
Lone Mountain
Start of a Mountain Chain
Straigth Section of Mountain Chain
Curved Section of Mountain Chain
Intersection of Mountain Chain
Mountain Variations (Ice Mountains, Gray Mountains, Brown Mountains, Dark Mountains and Volcanoes)
Lone Forest (small enough to fit in 80% of a tile, leaving some forest border)
Forest Patch (fit 100% of a tile, thus allowing to connect other patches to make huge forests)
Forest Variations (Jungle, and different types of trees, including Snow versions and a Burned Forest)
Lone Lake
River Sections (including a Delta)

Some Civilization Props:
Roads (straigth scetions, curves, intersection, crossroads)
Roads Variations (Brick, dirt...)
Signposts
Entrance to Dungeon

And Building Props:
Tavern ("you wander for days, finding a lone tavern in a crossroad...")
Tribe
Village
Town
Wall Sections (wooden and stone, to allow making a walled Village)
Watch Tower
Fort
Stronghold
Castle
Acampment (beds and fireplace)

And People Props:
Caravans (led by horses, bulls... Maybe the animals can be attached to the carts?)
Infantry with Melee Weapons
Infantry with Spears
Infantry with Bows
Horses with Melee Weapons
Horses with Spears
Horses with Bows
Siege Weapons

And maybe a rulebook, why not?

Now, the idea is to picture the advances of the group of adventurers (or army). When they find a Walled Village besieged with Catapults and Infantry, they move to the Village Works and Siege Works for the Roll Play (if adventurers of a RPG), or resolve the battle in a skirmish (using rules from a rulebook to war?). They could, as told earlier, take a picture of the map after done and print it in sepia.

Think about a miniature version of the World Works miniatures!

EDIT: Don't forget to think outside the box! Railroads, Highways, Industrial, Modern and Futuristic Cities, Ports, Spaceports, Ships... The tiles would then be atemporal! No need to made them medieval-only, right?