auralerogeny's maps

[auralerogeny]

Crossguard Canyon

Uses: 4MS, 2FotA, 3RttFF and many extra tiles from bumper packs.

In this map, I was aiming for a battlefield that had three separate layers to play on. The first layer is the ground at the base of the cliffs, the second layer is the top of the cliffs, while the third layer uses elevated peaks on the mountain, with ladders allowing figures to jump from one side to the other, sort of like a Theives Highway (over the rooftops).

There are several ladders that lead up the back of the cliff, some are separate and shielded from the others, while the one that leads to the Theives Highway is open to both sides and vulnerable to attack.

The road goes completely around the entire map, allowing for swift movement for all attacking forces. Glyphs are everywhere! There are several summoning glyphs on the top of the mountain, to assist in bringing troops to the summit.

While this map uses 2 castle sets, that is mostly for the ladders and the road tiles. Only two wall sections are used as sentry posts over the bridge.

When I played this map, everytime flyers went straight for the summoning glyphs, right out of the gate! It was quite exciting to scramble for as many as possible.











Formidable Fortress

Uses: 4MS, 2FotA, 3RttFF, 1TT and many extra tiles from bumper packs.

This is a map that I designed for a large get-together among my friends, who never showed up. (exept for one loyal participant and his freind!). I designed this map to be three separate maps, two meta-maps and one larger map, which would be played separately for several games. Then, as the grand finale of the day, I would surprise my guests by combining all three maps into one large map, as they were designed to do.

This first map is the Tundra Meta-Map, as seen below. The red cloth below the map is just a buffer between the glass table and the small piece of glass the map sits on. Since I knew I'd move this map across the room to the other table, I built it to fit on this particular piece of glass, but didn't want it to scratch my table!


This map is the Forest Meta-Map. I used the idea of the Theives Highway for this map, on a much smaller scale.



This is the largest map of the three, and the centerpiece of the group. I am very happy with this fortress, it is one of my favorites. The bridges allow for swift retreat to the keep, which has a lower fortification as well as a way to walk around behind it without climbing to the top, getting the road bonus the whole way. It features a paved courtyard, with sparse amounts of grass as well as two interior decorative trees, giving it more of a polished look. There are two doors, one on either side, as well as a raised wall section to allow the water through the castle, an intentional weakness in it's defence.

The three separate maps poised together, ready to be connected together...

...and POW! Shock and awe, baby, shock and awe. Too bad there were only two people there to witness it, rather than the planned 8 or 10.

So, we decided to go straight for the big map, as the two that showed up only had a couple of hours. We each drafted a 1000 point army, and since we were limited on time, they each started where ever they wanted in the two smaller maps on either side. I was fated to defend the Fortress.


Alas, our great battle was not to be. We played about 45 minutes, before the weather turned nasty outside, and the guys had to leave because of freezing rain, sleet, and the sun was falling from the sky.

Our battle was left unfinished. Game day was an unfortunate disaster.

Here is a couple of shots showing how both the Tundra and the Forest Meta-Maps can fit together.





Elvendar

Uses: 4MS, 2FotA, 3RttFF, 1TT and many extra tiles from bumper packs.

For this map, I had a concept of a castle battleground (rather than a fortress), that met with and delved into a mountain, while the castle is built on top of a lake.

I am extremely happy with the castle and the front of the mountain, however I plan on redesigning the back of the mountain, as it has no contour and is just a boring flat wall. This was necessary upon building, as I ran out of room on the table, and had to go straight up. I'll give it some more thought and update the pictures soon with a more interesting cliff, I'm thinking some overhanging walkways and a shallow cave...This is one of those instances where I wish that I had more ladders!

I wanted a series of higher towers and wallwalks, proceeding from near the front of the map to the top of the mountain. You can gain height on the bottom section of the castle via the central tower in the lake, but you can gain height on that tower by climbing the castle section embedded into the mountain, and you can get height on that portion by going to the small tower in the mountain in the back. I was thinking of chess, and how you can use one piece to back up another piece to reinforce your position, while at the same time this can be turned against you if you let someone sneak behind.

I apologize that the glyphs I intend to use for this battlefield are not present in the pictures, they were added later, and added a lot of strategic options. There will be both an attack and defense +1 on both sides of the mountain, for each player, and there will be two healing glyphs at the base of the central tower in the lake, as well as a couple summoning glyphs at the top of the mountain, and the lucky twenty-sider at the junction between the two bridges on the protruding grass space. The range glyph or the movement glyph will be in the shallow cavern I want to build into the design at the back of the mountain on ground level.













"Vallhiliath"

This is the map I entered into the Scapegiving Map Contest, and WON!!! It uses a lot of everything! It's very complicated, so I apologize for the rediculous amount of pictures below, but I wanted to have enough angles to keep everyone happy.























I'm hoping that K/H Addict will build this map oneday and post pictures of it, and maybe a battle report.

"Vallhiliath Jr."

This is a much smaller version of the map I entered into the Scapegiving Map Contest. It uses 3 MS, 2 FOTA, 1 RttFF, 1 TT as well as several extra bumper hexes.





I didn't realize on game day that I had set out my stash of nice coasters.


Hanging his head in shame after the complete annhialation of his entire army.




K/H Addict has also played this board, and has graciously posted pictures in this thread.


"Crumbled Castle"

Uses: 1MS, 1TT, 1FOTA, (2)2 hex rock, (4)1 hex rock, (2)2 hex snow.











I've got to figure out how to upload my VS file of this! This is one you absolutely need to see in 3D mode with the camera rotating around it. There are a lot of nooks and crannys to hide in, and you can't see them all in these few pictures. I have more pictures, but thought that this would be plenty for starters. I'll share more pictures upon request.

"King of the Keep"

Uses: 1MS, 1TT, 1FOTA, (2)2 hex rock, (4)1 hex rock, (2)2 hex snow.

This board is perfectly symmetrical.

The object of this scenario is "kill-em-all."






Each player begins with one outpost, the Keep in the middle is up for grabs. The door to the Keep begins the game open and undefended. Players must reach the "door guard" space as per the castle rules to close the Keep door. If all players are killed inside the Keep after it has been claimed, and the door is left undefended, then the door remains locked, unless a flying figure is able to fit inside the keep and open the door. If such a circumstance happens, the door is locked from the inside and must be attacked to gain entry. Successful entry in this way will obviously result in a destroyed door, leaving a poorly defensible Keep.

NOTES FOR CLARIFICATION: Each player may start four figures on the walls of their respective outpost, these ARE starting spaces. The glyph locations are random, choose whether or not you even wish to use them. The six ice hexes in the large Tundra portion of the battlefield should be double stacked (2 layers of 6 hexes). They are double stacked to represent that they are even in height to the adjacent grass and snow hexes, even though ice adds no height.

Remember: The Keep is hard to defend, but offers the defender a good vantage point over most of the battlefield. Ranged units on the Outposts have height advantage over the defenders of the Keep. Ranged units on the rock spaces in front of the Outpost are only nine spaces below the defenders of the Keep, therefore the defenders of the Keep do not have "extreme height advantage," only regular height advantage, as they are only nine tiles higher. Most double-spaced flyers (dragons) can't fit inside the Keep, and there is only room enough for one double-spaced figure to fit on the wall (over the door). There is easy height advantage directly in front of the Keep door, making the door harder to defend. With the direct route between Outposts and the windy road through the large Tundra, there are several avenues for melee units to attack your Outpost. Choose your army wisely!


"Arctic Siege"

Uses: 1MS, 1TT, 1FOTA, (2)2 hex rock, (4)1 hex rock, (2)2 hex snow.






This battlefield was one I designed to make the castle a little harder to defend. There is the back way in through the Tundra, and also a way to sneak behind the walls over two water tiles off to the opposite side of the castle. The Tundra offers good LOS blocking for the attackers, and most of the snow and ice is up high enough to negate the extreme height advantage of the castle defenders.

"Ice Shelves"

Uses: 1MS, 1TT, (2)2 hex rock, (4)1 hex rock, (2)2 hex snow.

This board is NEARLY symmetrical. In each minor instance of asymmetry, advantages and disadvantages were thought out to make the board even sided to both players.




There are a couple of ways to sneak behind the pillars supporting each Ice Shelf, to help melee units in their approach of ranged attackers. Starting zones are the 24-hex grass tiles on opposite ends of the boards. They are NOT directly behind the ruins.

NOTE: In each of my maps, I always use rock hexes under ice. It is a pet peeve of mine to see grass and sand under the ice tiles, it just looks tacky to me. Special care is given so this does not happen, resulting in a more coherent look throughout all of my maps.

If anyone would like the VS file to any of my maps, feel free to PM me with your e-mail address and I'll happily send them to you.

[LongHeroscaper]

These are good maps. I like the second map the most because it is well thought out. I like the idea of using a mountain of snow to invade the castle. The two water tiles that can be used to get into the castle are also nice. Lots of possibility to play the game.

[Taelord]

Those are pretty cool maps

[auralerogeny]

Originally Posted by LongHeroscaper

These are good maps. I like the second map the most because it is well thought out. I like the idea of using a mountain of snow to invade the castle. The two water tiles that can be used to get into the castle are also nice. Lots of possibility to play the game.

For everyone's clarification, he is referring to "Arctic Siege."

Thank you very much for the compliment. That map is a lot of fun to play, I've played it several times, and each game has been drastically different. There are several ways to infiltrate the castle, between the two back entrances, breaking down the door, and flyers. (We also have a house rule that HUGE figures such as Jotun, Grimnak, etc. can attack the defenders of the wall, as long as they are adjacent. They are so big they could easily reach in with their weapons.)

Thanks also Taelord, I strive to make my maps look as cool as some of yours!

[Satyr]

Obviously I like crumbled castle concept ... I seem to have one of them somewhere around HERE (shameless plug) The river running through it is brilliant and I like the glaciers. It's got a good look to it.

The passage on the right side seems slightly handicapped by the snow hex out to the edge ... easy fix would be to add one to the opposite side.

One question ... where are the starting zones ??? The triangles at the top and bottom seem a little small, unless you start right up next to the ladders.

Overall, I like it!

[monkeyfish]

Good maps there, however I think they would look a little cooler if you posted pictures of them being played on.

[auralerogeny]

Originally Posted by Satyr

Obviously I like crumbled castle concept ... I seem to have one of them somewhere around HERE (shameless plug) The river running through it is brilliant and I like the glaciers. It's got a good look to it.

The passage on the right side seems slightly handicapped by the snow hex out to the edge ... easy fix would be to add one to the opposite side.

One question ... where are the starting zones ??? The triangles at the top and bottom seem a little small, unless you start right up next to the ladders.

Overall, I like it!

Thank you for the compliments. I must admit, your castle (I'm glad you linked it to this thread) was the inspiration for this map. I don't have as much material to work with, and didn't want to have a tundra off to the side, so I decided to work the castle around the tundra. I also like dividing maps up with water sometimes to push the players around a bit and make them use more of the map.

I actually noticed the snow tile you mentioned before I posted these pictures and did exactly what you said, that's how it is on my dining room table now, quick easy fix.

Yes, the starting hexes are where you mentioned, and they do go right up to the ladders on either side, and spread out to the left and right.

I've played this board twice now, and both games were totally different. We ended up using the tundra and the outer sides of the board more than I expected. It was pretty fun. I had glyphs on the outer ends of the walls, Defense, Attack, Range, and Movement, as well as the Healing glyph on a water space under the castle, in the middle of the trench.

I was surprised that I could use Syvarris and attack straight through the castle, along the same line as the trench to the starting zone on the other side, it made for very interesting gameplay, because my opponent never saw that coming and had to scramble to get out of the way. It was pretty cool.

[gibberish_47]

Originally Posted by auralerogeny

NOTE: In each of my maps, I always use rock hexes under ice. It is a pet peeve of mine to see grass and sand under the ice tiles, it just looks tacky to me. Special care is given so this does not happen, resulting in a more coherent look throughout all of my maps.

I also do this, asthetics are sometimes even more important to me than a balanced map.

Also you're maps are very nice, you've made excellent use of the small amount of terrain. The Crumbling Castle is an awsome map. I love the ruined castle look, and my latest (unposted) map has castle ruins as well.

[K/H_Addict]

guy, you haven't seen anything. Wait until he uploads his Vallhiliath Junior map.


Wait till i take pictures of his Vallhiliath (original; contest entry) map.

[gibberish_47]

Well I can't wait to see 'em, then!

[auralerogeny]

K/H just set up Vallhiliath Jr. on his table tonight...I'm bugging him to take pictures send them to me. I can't build Vallhiliath Jr. until hopefully Sunday, because they require all my material as well as a freinds...

[K/H_Addict]

here are the pics i took:


here they are: