"Fire in the Belly" - (6/30/09) mrkurtb's new battlefield

[mrkurtb]

Download Fire in the Belly here.
Newly uploaded 6/30/09.
Designer notes are toward the bottom of this page.













Download Contingency Plan here.
NOTE: Contingency Plan was a last minute modification to Counterclocked! to make it eligible for Rÿchean's 2009 GenCon Map Contest. Feel free to try them both and then post which one you prefer.











Download Counterclocked! here.

[A3n]

This looks great. I like it's simplistic design yet the complexity of the battles it offers. I will try this it out this weekend.

Cheers

[mrkurtb]

Download here.

Designer Notes: (spoiler alert, strategies are discussed below)

We've had a blast on this map. I hope you do too. Counterclocked! is somewhat of a selfish endeavor as it has been designed to emphasize many of the aspects of Heroscape that I personally enjoy most. Specifically, I love aggressive games, difficult and important strategic choices, melee combat, and making life dangerous for Q9. I'll address each of these below.

1) Aggressive games Three road hexes as part of the starting zone leading to key heights and glyphs on a small map almost assures a fast start. (NOTE: it is 1st round Z-bomb starting zone proof)
2) Difficult and important strategic choices Once you set up this map you'll see why "Counterclocked!" is an appropriate name as the road hexes tend to direct the action in a counterclockwise flow. But here come the tough decisions. Do you try to control the glyph and height up the road, control the glyph nearest your starting zone, or both? Each choice is not without its hazards.

The easier glyph to grab (up the road) is actually harder to hold; after all, it is next to your opponent's starting zone. Plus, when reinforcements don't start on road hexes, your supply line becomes very tenuous very quickly.
Perhaps it is easier to control the glyph nearest your start zone. The problem is, should your opponent go after the same area, you are likely to come in second in a race to the two choicest heights on your side of the map.
Maybe, you should choose to control both glyphs. Tempting as that sounds, often trying to do too many things spreads one's army too thin.

3) Melee Combat Trees, a small map, road, no dominating shooting galleries, and the summoning glyph make melee more playable.
4) Not Q9 friendly Many of the same aspects that make the map Melee friendly also make it dangerous to Q9. In addition, there are no Q9-friendly 2 adjacent height hexes that allow him to dominate the entire map.

Have fun.




NOTE: MOVED THE ABOVE TEXT AND PICS HERE IN ORDER TO PLACE ALL MAPS IN FIRST POST. REGULAR POST FOLLOWS...






Thanks A3n, hope you have a blast.

My next map is called Contingency Plan (both for gameplay and contest reasons) and it is simply a modification (actually probably an improvement) to Counterclocked!.

Thanks to Gamebear who politely informed me while there was still time left in the GenCon map contest that my map was 17.5 hexes, (1/2 hex too long). I replied that while it may not have fit the 17 x 15 hex size, it was smaller than the 19 x 13.5 requirement. .....um yeah, it was just about that time that I took a moment to actually think about what zigzag hexes versus straight line hexes really meant. Boy, did I feel dumb.

Actually this may have been fortunate. After uploading Counterclocked! earlier today, my only regret was that there were 3 choke points. I felt their placements were acceptable but nevertheless in a perfect world they wouldn't be there. Being forced to tweak the map allowed me to eliminate these choke points thereby lessening (if ever so slightly) the extreme effectiveness of the DeathReavers.

So here is Contingency Plan






As always, hope you have fun.

[A3n]

First of all let me say this is a great map. we had some fun on it & the fact that the start is so spread out is part of what helps the game play be interesting & different. Great Map!

However the starts on both sides next to the wall doesn't fit a character in, that leaves you with 1 less starting spot on each side, which was fine for all my games but after you had the trouble of size for the GenCon contest, now you don't have the required amount of starting positions. That is a bugger cos I was going to vote for your map (as long as it wasn't up against mine ).

But it is fun just the way it is.

Cheers

[mrkurtb]

A3n,

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Glad you had fun.

Just curious, which figure did you have trouble fitting in next to the wall?

[mrkurtb]

Designer notes for Fire in the Belly:
This map was designed by my son, jrkidb, and me. The basic concept is almost a year old however it has undergone much fine tuning.

Reflecting my son's personal preferences, the goals of Fire in the Belly were to have a cool looking map and have lava on it.

Reflecting my personal preferences, as with just about all my maps, the goals of Fire in the Belly were to (1) force players into tough decisions, (2) make a fast, action-packed battle, (3) don't make it easy for Q9, and (4) do make it friendly for melee (monks love it) and single hex heroes.

Tough decisions include:
* Should I advance along the road (which is a lot farther) or should I concentrate on crosssing the height and the painfully slow water(ugh)?
* Should I try to capture the very valuable +1 Attack and +1 Defense glyphs, or should I camp out on height?
* If I capture these valuable glyphs, do I tempt Hot Lava Death or do I move off at the end of a round?
* Do I make an all out assault on the Summoning Glyph and then attempt to destroy my opponent's big hitter or do I summon my own big boy into the fray?
* While picking my army, do I stay away from high point figures to deny my opponent a juicy Erland target...
* ... or do I pick a high life single-hex hero to take advantage of the Glyph of Kelda?
* There are 2 ideal sniping spots on each side, this is by design. The problem is, if I have 3 or 4 ranged squad figures where do I place the 3rd and 4th figures without leaving them in jeopardy. Do I settle for only 2 nice, safe attacks or do I chance it with 3? Case in point: I always think the KMA should be devastating here but they don't live up to their potential as often as they should because they are usually only effective with 2 out of the 3 figures, unless number 3 is vulnerable while standing on or next to road or at a height disadvantage. The placement of the road is designed to make the heights easily contestable. Plus it is very satisfying when an opponent is overly reliant on that height, to take it and then go to town on their start zone.
* Do I attack my opponent's height head-on or do I use the road to flank around to quickly attack unsuspecting figures in their start zone?

The two big fat juicy +1 Attack and +1 Defense glyphs along with Erland should make for a fast start and reward aggression. Bringing Q9 on this map is a recipe for frustration as he won't fit between the "wall" and the ruins and he doesn't really have a good place to camp out.

I believe this map rewards skilled players and punishes lazy play. There are opportunities for mistakes and frustration and I think there are nuances that many won't discover in their first game or two. As basic as these sound, the combination of lava, height, and roads require you: to know ranges, both yours and your opponent's; to know how far your movement will get you especially when attacking across the lava and up the heights; and to never forget about map control around Erland and Kelda.

My son and I have played many pitched battles on this map and hope you enjoy it as much as we have. Let me know what you think.

As always, have fun!