Jexik's Maps (Burn Gully, last page)

[Jexik]

I probably would have put some maps up sooner, but since I'm stuck on an iMac, anything I do on Virtualscape has to be on someone else's computer. Nevertheless, I've finally gotten around to getting something together.

Since I prefer small games, almost all of these maps will be designed with 24 hex starting zones, one master set, and 500ish point armies in mind. Another quirk is that I will be doing my best to make fun maps without using Road to the Forgotten Forest. Don't get me wrong- it's a great expansion. I'm just trying to spice things up a bit.

Now for the maps.

I love Forsaken Waters. 75% of the time I am introducing a new player and I want to do a 1v1 game or 2v2 to show them the ropes, I get this one out, and play with the Winter Holdout scenario with the reinforcements. The name of that scenario inspired me to create a remake with Thaelenk Tundra. I suggest that you play straight-up 1v1 or 2v2 games on it, or take the exact same scenarios straight out of the RotV rulebook.

Here's the link for download: Winter Holdout

It uses 1 TT, 1 RotV, and Slippery Ice/Light Snow rules.



I will redo this next map soon, likely with 1 SotM, 1 FotA, and 1 VW.

My next map, Boardwalk Through Fire, is a bit of an experiment, but I'm rather excited about it. The longish footprint was inspired by Velenne's Marr Highway, the use of lava fields on height was inspired by Jormi's Hot Heights, the extensive use of battlements to control the flow of traffic was inspired by GameBear's Embattled Fen, and the relatively few levels in the middle of the map are inspired somewhat by UPC.

In the end, I hope the conglomeration of these elements together with slightly different uses for ladders and ruins make this very much my own unique creation.

Link.
Boardwalk Through Fire uses 1 RotV, 1 VW, and 1 FA.



The goal behind it is to make a dynamic map that doesn't punish melee units. If it works as planned, players will constantly have to move and look ahead. I will playtest it this weekend, but I'd like to hear other people's input. I'd like to know basic things like whether it fits easily on your table that you regularly play on, as well as if it's fun, maddening, whatever.

Note: on BtF, I notice that I forgot to place the glyphs. If you like to play with glyphs put two on it. Each of them should go on the lowest level of water, on the side that is not adjacent to lava field. (Next to the little level-2 rocks).

Note 2: I put it together and found out that it has some pretty major issues with allowing figures to move along the roads in its current form. Krug and Grimnak don't come close to fitting through. Either some of the battlements or the ruins are going to have to go. Together with the already lacking glyph mentions, I'll redo this map at some point.

[InfinityMax]

I'm really not a map expert. I usually play on stuff other people build. But I'm not sure how melee-friendly that boardwalk is going to be. You've got walls and height separating the height from the roads below, so that if you don't mind letting your ranged units get hot feet, they can fire down at the melee guys without much fear of reprisal.

But I could be totally wrong. Like I said, maps aren't usually my bag. I just play on whatever's set up. Whatever the case, that's a very interesting map.

Winter Holdout looks cool, though. I like that the best elevation in the game is right in the middle of the frozen pond, making it difficult to access and forcing you to sacrifice a turn or two to get into position.

[Ormus]

Winter Holdout!

[Jexik]

Originally Posted by InfinityMax

I'm really not a map expert. I usually play on stuff other people build. But I'm not sure how melee-friendly that boardwalk is going to be. You've got walls and height separating the height from the roads below, so that if you don't mind letting your ranged units get hot feet, they can fire down at the melee guys without much fear of reprisal.

Anything with a Height of 4 or greater should be able to engage anything on the battlements overlooking the roads (a height of 5 will be needed for those little 2 hex wide spots along the road). The other side of it is the idea that if you can force the ranged units to leave their safe fortified positions at the end of the round, they might get clobbered at the start of the next one. I'll have to playtest it to see how this actually plays out. You might be totally right.

[Nadi]

Jexik,

I agree with you on the RtFF. I find myself ALL THE TIME using RtFF sets and it's rare that I make maps without them. Making maps without them is probably more of what the community needs here, so bravo on that one.

Maps look good, especially Winter Holdout!

[gibberish_47]

Boardwalk looks like a great map. Excellent use of lava.

[GameBear]

I am happy to see someone else focusing on small-scale maps, particularly ones that do not use the forest set. Boardwalk Through Fire certainly doesn't look like the typical 1 MS map; I'm looking forward to seeing the reworked version. Hopefully you'll have more frequent access to VirtualScape in the future.

[DrRansom]

Board walk looks like a fun map. I like your use of battlements. We use them like that in our games to make bridge rails, ruins and what not.

If you have any 3 player ideas kicking around, consider entering the contest.

[Jexik]

I've got a new map now ready for download! (Edit: I'll get a new version of this one up soon (5.08.0)

I went into this map with a few basic ideas.

1. I wanted to try to make a map with just 1 MS and 1 TT, and see what I could do.

2. I wanted to make a map that had a mostly symmetric footprint, but slightly varied height and LOS blockers would break up the symmetry somewhat.

3. I didn't want glyph control to be determined by the iniative roll on the first round. Both glyphs can be reached by either player with 9 flying or 13 walking spaces. This means that Minions of Utgar, Sentinels of Jandar, Deathreavers, 4th Mass, Knights of Weston + Gilbert with 1 or Jandar symbol rolled over 3 turns, etc... will all take 3 turns to reach the glyph. Even Cyprien, Theracus (without Acolarh or Mittens), and Shades of Bleakwoode will take two turns to reach these glyphs. Although a player who puts 3 order markers on the same unit and wins initiative on the first round might still take both glyphs, his forces will also be spread out.

4. Height will be difficult to obtain. Most of the heights are covered by heavy snow, which makes some places even impossible for double-spaced ranged units *cough* Q9 to reach.

5. Together with all of the above, I had the basic idea of only showing Rock on one side, and to have the other dominated by grass and ice. It should look roughly like a yin-yang.

Dharma



Edit: I noticed when I downloaded it at least that my map description got garbled. In it I remind the player to use Heavy Snow and Normal (non-slippery) ice. The two suggested glyphs are Astrid and Gerda, but I also recommend trying out other complementary pairs of glyphs, like Crevcor/Ulaniva, Proftaka/Erland (symbol-side up), Rannveig/Valda, Wannok/Dagmar, Sturla/Mitonsoul, etc.

As always, I'm open to any constructive criticism and ideas. All of my maps are works in progress at this time.

[Jexik]

For anyone who went to the DFW Feb. 23 Team Tourney and got a chance to play on Winter Holdout, what did you think? Did you find it balanced? Fun? Ugly? Any glaring issues?

If anyone's played on Dharma, I'd also like to know how that went. It felt pretty fun and balanced to me, but I'm biased, and I've only played a few games on it.

[Jonathan]

I liked it! I dig the 3 hills in the middle aspect, and the fact that the side hills are taller than the middle hill. Start zones have a lot of cover, and it takes a while to get over to the other start zones, which is nice as well. I'd play it again, no questions asked

[Jexik]

What about glyphs? When I first tried it out with similar glyphs to the original, I felt that Astrid, Gerda, and Valda were a bit too much. I think I've got 4 mystery glyphs on there now, but I'd like to narrow it down to a few good spots.

I also like the idea of potentially putting a few thematic glyphs instead to reflect fighting with the elements, like Wind, Wound, Intercept Order Marker, Pit Trap, and Initiative, probably face down and distributed randomly across 2-4 of the locations I've got.