So the classic cold war military game Twilight:2000 by GDW gave the tools to referees to run a very deep sandbox type game in central Poland as the world slides into anarchy. (I did a pretty involved fan project around that specific sandbox already.)
But thinking about it more, I got interested in exploring other locations in this fictitious war... especially after looking at the RDF Sourcebook about the situation in Iran happening concurrently to the game's main sandbox in Europe. In particular, I got interested in the Trans-Caucasian region, which is the mountainous area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. This is a very ancient and diverse mountainous region, which also would have been a key front in WWIII... a bottleneck that holds a major oil pipeline and also non-Russians under the soviet rule for over 60 years.
Close up of map
So I designed a map of the region using cold war era CIA maps for reference and made it in the style of the other GDW campaign maps. It was a fun bit of cartographic fun for me and could be used by a referee looking to run a campaign in Asia Minor with a whole different set of issues to confront his or her players.
The map is available as a high quality print-on-demand poster via Zazzle, and as a digital download or more affordable mini-poster via RPG Now.
Please note: In real-world history, the withdrawal of the Soviets led to a number of ethnic clashes with a significant loss of life to the region. My intent is not to make light of those events, nor am I expressing an opinion this history. I have just sought to learn more about a part of the world I previously knew little about, and make a fun game aid in the process.