Viegon's & Family's Tournament Style Maps -- new maps 6/12

[Robber]

Ok. I built your map and spent over an hour playing around with it. The closest it got to what I was talking about is this one...



But the map turned into this.



I like both of the above. The first one, the one that's most like yours, uses treasure glyphs. The other one has 2 random power glyphs.

[Viegon]

Thanks, Robber!

Those are some nice suggestions. With the glyph options, I originally wanted to put Treasure glyphs on but couldn't find anywhere to put them. I do kind of want to keep the start zones apart, with the few games I played on Running from Shadows before submitting it I liked the strategy in it, it made for a quick games where you can come at your opponent from different angles (and he/she back at you).

With your second map, my only complaint would be some of the massed (for lack of a better word) flat area outside the startzones, which flat area is something I always try to avoid.

On the issue of the bridge walls, I'd like to keep them on there because of 1) I like to use all the pieces possible, and 2) I like the look it gave the map with the eroded area. Personally though, I don't mind "breaking" the rules every now and then, since some of the terrain/map building official rules seem a bit silly if I do say so myself.

Again, thanks for the ideas, I'll try messing around with my map some using those ideas and get back to you.

[Viegon]

Added another map of mine to the OP: The Fire and the Filth. It uses 2 SotM and 1 VW. It's symmetrical and decently balanced I believe, though large-ish and works for games more around the 600-700 point range.

[Typhon2222]

Talk about a cartographically-talented family. Two of your maps just won in their respective categories, while another two did very well. I've never seen such a collective familial triumph before.


Could I make requests for minor modifications to our two winners?

Warning! Watch For Falling Rocks: If I'm not mistaken, the build instructions lack ladders for level 4. Also, the JPG image is missing indication of SZ spaces.

Running from Shadows: Having played on this two nights ago, I can say that I really really like it. It's just a lovely design. While I understand many of Robber's suggestions, I don't feel that we need to change the map that radically for our tourney. I.e., I'm happy to leave the Wannok, the elevated level-7, and the water tiles where they are. The one thing I will push for quite strenuously, however, is simply to remove the two bridge walls. I understand the desire to use every part of the set. And the walls do look cool, absolutely. But they reduce movement on the part of the map that most needs it. As it is now, the elevated 7-hexers do provide height advantage, for ranged units, against the closest enemy SZ. To counter that, the enemy needs to be able to rush. But the walls make that substantially more difficult. Removing them would open up much-needed movement along those corridors.

As you can see, both suggestions are very minor. Let me know what you think of them, and drop a line when you get updated PDFs/JPGs uploaded, so I can include them in our tournament thread.

I'm delighted to think that we'll be playing on these; and will press our players to provide as much feedback as possible.

Keep up the tremendous work, you lot.

[Viegon]

Wow, I'm just glad we could enter, it sure was a nail bitter in the Forest one for a bit.

As to your requests:

Warning! Watch for Falling Rocks: It's missing the ladders on level 4 because (correct me if I'm wrong) when building on VirtualScape with ladders you skip every other level, since ladders are 2 tall pieces. As to the JPG, your right, we'll get that fixed.

Running From Shadows: I can understand the need to remove the walls. I was hoping it'd work with them on there, but I was worried it would just cause too many problems. I'll work on changing that.

Thanks again, I look forward to the input.

[Viegon]

My brother, the BlackHeadedLuckSucker, has ventured off into the world on his own, and therefore have created his own Map Thread. And so, I've removed his maps from this thread.

And in addition, I added another of my maps to the OP: Settling Ashes.

[Robber]

Settling Ashes looks really good! Remember to keep in mind flying figures when designing maps, though. Figures like raelin become especially powerful on maps like this. The treasure glyphs take away from the danger of Raelin being able to cover the glyphs, but I'd watch out for this in the future.

I also am wary of the height in the SZ. Remember that maps should promote movement around the board, and having height so close to the SZ really kills that theme.

+Rep!

[Viegon]

Thanks Robber!

I know what you mean, Raelin is generally my main concern when designing a map. Though, truth be told, Settling Ashes is one of my little bit older maps, and I didn't even bother to really look over it when I was creating the PDF.

The height in the start zone was extra pieces, but it is positioned so that even low ranged (but not melee) opponent's can get lava field height on it.

[Viegon]

Found out when building Settling Ashes today that there were some mess-ups in it, and some of the pieces were the wrong ones, pushing over the sets I said it used. I revised it and updated the OP with the new version (and also making note that it uses 2 extra shadow tiles, from Mika Connour).

[Viegon]

Time for another map: A Hole in the World.

With this map, I was trying out the technique I've seen explored a couple times here on HeroScapers of putting the start zones really close together, but then have a wall or something in-between. I struggled with the available pieces on this one, and it came out a little bit on the unstable side (and not to pretty with some of the gaps on the side). The awkwardness of the 24-hexes also put some blank space off to the side that won't see any play.

A HOLE IN THE WORLD:
Date Added: 3/25/12
Author: Viegon
Sets: RotV x1, RttFF x2
Suggested Glyphs: 2 Wannoks by the bridge walls, 2 Dagmars on the heights

[Viegon]

And we have more! My brother, Zettian Juggernaut, has put together the below map (which plays quite well from the couple games I had on it), and now I bring it here to show the rest of you.

I present...

FLAMIN' TOPS:
Date Added: 3/28/12
Author: Zettian Juggernaut
Sets: RotV x1, VW x1, TJ x1
Suggested Glyphs: Any 2 Treasure Glyphs. Attack +1 and Move +2 work well for the power glyphs
Notes: Plays best with 2 large ruins instead of one small/one large.

[Viegon]

Another map! Here we have "Sometimes, Things Really are Just Black & White". My idea when designing this map was to make it, well, black and white. I buried all the grass and only used the concrete in the start zones, so all you've got is the Asphalt and Snow, with some ice and glaciers. It came out a bit smaller than I wanted (and narrow is some spots), but that's what you get with limited terrain like that, I guess.

SOMETIMES, THINGS REALLY ARE JUST BLACK & WHITE:
Date Added: 4/3/12
Author: Viegon
Sets: Marvel x1, TT x1
Suggested Glyphs: Attack +1 works well
Notes: Normal Snow and Slippery Ice