DienBienPhu- How difficult to convert?

[Gurachn]

Hey Mallard,
Great to see an interest in this ver underrepresented battle!
I actually started looking into having a go at making one myself, but never got much further than the planning stage.

I did manage to come up with what I think is an accurate map of the battle field as it stood during the various stages of the battle (based on topographical maps, and aerial photos).
Comparing this to your map I can see there are a few fairly significant divergences from the actual terrain, e.g your map is a lot hillier than the actual site, especially west of the Nam Youn, which is very flat. Some of your firebases are a bit off also, especially the key Dominique's and Eliane's.
I was also a bit surprised to see some Sherman's and AMX APC's! I'm pretty sure the only armor they had were those few Chaffee's.

I can see that you wanted to include the whole scene, but it might have been better to not include Gabrielle and Isabelle, as they are actually quite far away from the main areas near the airfield. Removing those would have let you keep the area proportional, without the map getting crazy huge. In any case, these (along with Beatrice) were almost separate battles in their own right.

Of course as you said, ideally this battle really needs to be split into several parts to cover the various major actions.
If you ever feel up for having a stab at that, I would be happy to share my maps and research notes.
-G