Thanks for the ideas, Mark. I'll keep them in mind.
Thanks for your comments too, Bob. I understand what you mean with the different colors/hues to show the type of terrain and climate. I wonder if there were some way to use other images to show that, like ^ for mountains and # for jungles, and * for forests. Or even to show a lighter or darker shade of that color for those areas.
I've got 2 6ft x 2ft tables sitting side by side (FYI,from Office Max; they're plastic. Easier to haul up and down stairs), and a 4ft x 2ft to put at the end. I can put the whole SfEnA map down and have some space left over.
I've got an older copy Jeff Stien's "The Wargame: WW2" map and the tables fit that just right.
If I make up the PTO map, it won't be any wider than 4 ft. If I go to game conventions, the largest tables there are 8ft x 2 1/2ft. I'd love to have room for a ping pong table, but not going to happen.
And I know what you're talking about with the different pieces. I got a poop load of AnA pieces, from Ebay, both the original game and the newer ones. And I wondered how to make them different for SfEnA. I could've just bought the metal ones, many of which I did purchase, BTW. (Not too many biplanes in AnA!) I've added paint to them, not just the color for the country, but for the pieces themselves. For instance, I differentiate between medium tanks and light tanks by putting a dot of a different color on the light tanks. (Check out military symbols sometime and you'll see what I mean.) Heavy tanks have a colored bar across the back of the turrent. I did the same with the "fighters", so now naval ftrs can be distinguished from land ftrs. (Land ftrs can only land/take off from land. Naval ftrs have a little more flexibility.) Capital ships, same way. BB's have 4 dots on the top, BC's have 3, CA's have 2, and DD's have none. There are probably other things you can do, but this is what I've done.
But to return to the map, I just never felt like any mercator projection of the earth did justice to some of the important concepts of "conflict simulation." The Peterson projection was another map to use, but the areas around the equator seemed to be stretched north and south. The platte caree projection is the one I like best.