Utah NHSD 2012

[qt.bangerang]

qt.bangerang for sure...possibly one more but wont know until it gets closer.

[ortimus]

My Opinion only:

I disagree with having only a 24 hex starting zone. Most of the cheaper commons are only strong when you can swarm with them. I think that I should have the option of fielding 36 vipers, should I choose.

[twigleg2]

Originally Posted by ortimus

My Opinion only:

I disagree with having only a 24 hex starting zone. Most of the cheaper commons are only strong when you can swarm with them. I think that I should have the option of fielding 36 vipers, should I choose.

I agree. The problem is that most maps are made for armies of 24 or less.

[UtahScott]

I remember discussing larger start zones some year, maybe more than just one year. I'm pretty sure our NHSD has been using that 24 hexes since 2007, but the specifics were posted on Game Night Games' event calendars for 2007-08, HSers.com just has post-game threads.

I think the Battlefields of Valhalla group settled on 24-hex zones way back Fall 2006, before they had even started creating maps; early 2007 certainly. A main reason was to ease map construction: that's the size of the largest hex-tile. Feel free to look that discussion up.

I personally don't care if your army is larger than that (your opponents might); official rules say if your army exceeds the established start zone you can't field the excess figures. If your opponents don't mind, you bring extra hexes to extend your start zone as evenly as possible around the rear perimeter of the marked start zone, no extra pathing onto the rest of the map.

[UtahScott]

Final map voting starts tomorrow. Check the second post.

[Sheep]

Originally Posted by UtahScott

<snip>

The Hotway or the Highway by HeroScaper2010 - (2x VW? That's a lot for one map...)


<snip>

Obviously no one bought Auggies Custom Lava...

[UtahScott]

Originally Posted by heroscaper2010

Obviously no one bought Auggies Custom Lava...

There is a difference between making one map or fifteen maps.


Here's YoYoWilly's map submissions:

Ruins of the North ------------------------------------------- The Fighting Gets Hot


While you're voting this week, please give some feedback here for YoYoWilly on these, willya?

My issues are with the overly narrow pathways/pinchpoints on both maps. For the lava map, he hasn't specified startzones, 23/24 startzone spaces seem obvious, but I don't know if #24 is on the bridge or lava field.

(PS. Apparently I can render high-quality VS maps now, yay me!)

[lotr_fan2]

I am Greg's friend and I'll do my best to be there. I am very interested on what people have to sell, I am just starting my collection. I also set up a facebook group called "Heroscapers of Utah", you are welcome to join.

[qt.bangerang]

Originally Posted by UtahScott

There is a difference between making one map or fifteen maps.


Here's YoYoWilly's map submissions:

Ruins of the North ------------------------------------------- The Fighting Gets Hot


While you're voting this week, please give some feedback here for YoYoWilly on these, willya?

My issues are with the overly narrow pathways/pinchpoints on both maps. For the lava map, he hasn't specified startzones, 23/24 startzone spaces seem obvious, but I don't know if #24 is on the bridge or what.

(PS. Apparently I can render high-quality VS maps now, yay me!)

My concerns are the narrow pathways as well. Both maps really hurt melee units and the ruins map would be dominated by anything with ranged flying.

[UtahScott]

Originally Posted by qt.bangerang

My concerns are the narrow pathways as well. Both maps really hurt melee units and the ruins map would be dominated by anything with ranged flying.

I said this in an earlier email to Will, FWIW (he'll be revising both builds):

Spoiler Alert!

How much have you playtested them? At first glance, both look very restrictive in regards to movement. I have particular issue with the following:

The Fighting Gets Hot: You have two Road bridges across the lava. Where's the rest of the road? Why not make it two or three hexes wide? It's a big bottleneck. So are the sides. Each side has two areas with bottlenecks at least two hexes long; the 1-hex rock side has a single-hex bottleneck that's four hexes long. All I have to do is park high-defense figures in three spots (or Deathreavers) and then shoot you to pieces with range. There's simply no way for melee armies to cross without being easily blocked off. Needs wider pathways!

Ruins of the North: At first glance, the battlements and center entryways make it really hard for walking armies to get to the center. Only six-Move figures can climb over the battlements from the start zones into the center. Those that can't have only three hexes on each side where they can climb over battlements (4-Move) or go inside, and one of those is the ladder space. There's no LOS blockers at ground-level to protect from ranged attacks on height. Each side only has one ladder up to the top. There are several narrow crossings above that can be blocked by a single figure. ...[b]ut I feel the current builds of both maps are too restrictive to movement to include them in the map voting, for ground-based troops especially. I'll open them up for discussion for everyone in the Event thread....

[UtahScott]

Originally Posted by lotr_fan2

I am Greg's friend and I'll do my best to be there. I am very interested on what people have to sell, I am just starting my collection. I also set up a facebook group called "Heroscapers of Utah", you are welcome to join.

You're Ed, right, Greg's new neighbor? I've got some stuff in my basement I'll list up for you...I look forward to meeting you. What's your BGG handle?

[UtahScott]

Thanks for everybody who voted on the maps this year (all half a dozen of you!), it helped narrow down some things.
Final map list is now in post #2.

Results: Three categories were pretty clear. The Road race was a three-way tie for second (everyone wants to play on Kingsbridge, looks like). As there are four other maps using multiple Master Sets, I thought it would be nice to ease that burden a bit by picking Mayberry for second place; with a double Marvel build, it can stand by itself.

The Lava race was the other three-way tie, but for first place. I could have broken the tie by rolling a d20, or voting myself, but Vorago was the only map that had an extra person voting for its inclusion, so it got the first nod. Stygian Rift got the other, because 1) it's not Ember Canyon Road and 2) four other maps were using Forgotten Forest, and half of those required two sets each; Stygian Rift doesn't use Forgotten Forest, so it eases the overall FF burden.

To recap, we now have a bit of everything: half of the maps are BoV, and two of those are newly inducted. All Master Sets are represented, and if the FF pine trees in the Road category are replaced with uncapped Fortress pillars, we'll have all terrain expansions represented as well.

BoV maps: 50%
RotV maps: 5
SotM maps: 2 (3 if we trade some swamp water for normal water on Kingsbridge to ease pathing issues)
BftU maps: 3
Marvel: 1
Special Mad-wookie bonus: 5/10 maps! Let the wookiee win...



VOLUNTEERS & BUILD REQUIREMENTS (16 maps for 32 players)
Maps in Bold need two copies built.
Build volunteers will pre-build or bring all materials/instructions the day of the event. I should have extra stuff down the road in case of emergency.

First Maps: (3 needed)
BoV: Swamp Thing - RotV, SotM, (FotA road/pillars) or FF (pillars preferred but trees are OK) [UtahScott (done) &twigleg2 ]
BoV: Mole Hills - RotV, (FotA pillars) or FF (again, pillars over trees) [qt.bangerang]

Road: (3 needed)
Kingsbridge Underpass- 2xRotV, SotM?, 2xFF, FotA. [ortimus & UtahScott, done]
Mayberry - 2xMarvel (no second floors), 2xFF [UtahScott, done]

Lava: (4 needed)-dd--- (4)--------
Vorago - BftU, VW, FotA [The B.I.V. & Tiranx]
BoV: Stygian Rift - 2xBftU, VW [UtahScott & UtahScott, done ]

Jungle: (3 needed)
BoV: Quasatch Playground - RotV, 2xTJ [ UtahScott x2 ]
BoV: Sirocco - 2xBftU, 1TJ [UtahScott, done]

Ice: (3 needed)
Spring Thaw (heavy snow) - RotV, 1TT [ortimus & UtahScott, done]
Frossenmere - SotM, 1TT [ortimus]