Yeah, the trees plot never made that much sense. Even if it was the straw that broke the camel's back, you can only blame so much nonsense in the channel on the fog of war.
Time was when the plot event would be announced, then we'd get a write up from Fastjack or (back in the day) Capt. Chaos. They'd introduce you to a situational expert, explain their reason for speaking and in broad strokes what was on the line as it applies to Shadowrunners. Then our guide would lay out the specifics, usually starting with a bit of propaganda lifted from the official source, before they shredded into it and told you the delicious truth you knew was there.
When you got done you knew the blow by blow. You knew the big capping events that went back for years and the players that maneuvered things into place. From a gaming perspective you could take it or leave it for your game; but as the next plot book was written, or the next, you knew the bulk of the understanding as those who make it their business to know understand it. And you expected that the next book would build on that understanding (and the details that were obfuscated) to frame the next event or take the metaplot to the next level.
I'm not getting that for War!, though. It's sort of like the Bogota source book with some tacked on details about why there is a war going on. Then some 40 pages of Fields of Fire sounding stuff and about 30 pages of crunch. But it sounds like the writers aren't getting into that much setting detail about the war, and I hope that's not the case. I hope they have for whatever reason decided not to share the particulars for now. But when I look at the quality of the proofing and the world building I question that hope. It is pretty sloppy when they don't even include a map. I mean, I hope there was a map provided in the research notes that were collected by the staff. Otherwise how can you expect internal consistency from anything they've written? We might as well write down the proceedings of a few weeks table games and call it world building.
Bitching about a map in a book called War! can sound like getting a new car and bitching about a missing drink holder. Who cares? But this is a book less about war than about a war. And I expect that the products being put out by CGL will be held to highest standards of quality, or else they will be held from publishing until they are ready to be sold. That means the writers planned out the proceedings of a war at some point, and have used a map to do so. At least, it should. You need to know more than "Aztlan up and that way, Amazonia down and that way, Bogota in the middle". That means that the staff think this book is ready to go without a map or details of the specific units fighting on both sides.
As a GM I can find a map, and plan out some maneuvers around the area. I can write up some unit details and come up with some paracritters and milspec blood magic to throw at each other while my players try to work the shadows between the fox holes. But I'm not being paid to write a book called War!. And I'm expected instead to pay for one that doesn't even bother to include a map; but tells me everything I need to know about Bogota, how much damage a nuke does and suggests it might be fun to go shoot the ghosts of Jewish concentrations camp victims so I can plunder Auschwitz.
