Review of High Ways or the Highway, Jungle Edition!
I've had this map up for a few months now, and it's probably time to write up my thoughts and vote.
Overview
Despite the unwieldy name, this is a great map in a lot of ways.
1Mmirg has made excellent use of all three sets (RotV + FotA + TJ). The battlements are well placed, including the nearly-successful attempt to even out the two ruins from RotV. I particularly like the battlements next to the bushes; the bushes get smushed a bit so they actually block line-of-sight.
(It seems to me that the bushes almost never block line of sight. There's nearly always a foot or something you can see through the not-quite-dense-enough foliage.)
The use of the battlement bases as hidden support is also pretty sweet.
There was consistently action on all three 'lanes', though a strong+weak glyph pairing sometimes closed down the weak side. Even in those cases, it was not uncommon to use the ruins cover on the weak side to flank.
Unit-specific concerns and crazed rant
There is no obvious Raelin perch (there's still plenty of places for her, of course), and it's reasonably difficult to bog things down with a rat screen. There's good balance across a lot of army types.
On the other hand, there's no high-ground water. This anti-Microcorp design choice should be enough to deny the map on it's own.
When will the oppression of the Microcorp stop? Why are all map makers so bitterly opposed to our boys in black? Jealousy, no doubt, but we also can't rule out the possibility of chronic drug abuse. It certainly can't be that the microcorp aren't as great as I think and... uh...
<Cognitive dissonance kicks in and fomox abruptly stops this line of thought. Uncomfortable feelings never mean you might be wrong, they mean Utgar is trying to trick you. So just avoid those feelings and you'll get to be "right" forever.>
Whew. The microcorp
are the best, as we all, deep-down know they are. Someday map-makers will stop working so hard to keep them down.
Back to the Review
The best thing by far on this map is the use of ladders. Just awesome. The single ladders on each side of the start zones help speed the advance for some (but not all) units in the start zones. The ladders by the glyphs provide height without restricting two-hex units from reaching the same (nearly the same) position.
The ladders in the middle are fantastic. I've never had so many fights and maneuvers around ladders. It was all "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Wyrmling" in there. We had to go back an consult the FotA rulebook a few times, wondering "wait, can you really do that?". The answer is frequently yes, and it's a lot of fun.
(One disappointment: No, you can't have a two-hex figure straddle the two ladders, even though it totally fits and is awesome.)
Weaknesses
Like many maps that use road tiles, I found it to be pretty rare that using the road bonus actually made sense. I did use the "highway" on a few occasions, but you're generally going to be on the high ways. (Or on ladders!) This is not a big complaint, because the road rules are pretty restrictive.
Verdict
I've decided to start putting my verdicts into spoiler tags. That way people won't just read to the bottom and find out that Chewbacca is Han Solo's father.