Wilds of Valhalla: MAP REVIEWS

[TREX]

Here we go:
Wo-Sa-Ga's Quarry
by @master4sword

first impressions: This map looked quite interesting from first glance, and appeared to be fairly balanced as well. I fought @El_Donas on this one. It was the first match of the tournament for me. My army was Darth Maul and 2x Hydras, his army was Darrack ambershard and a whole army of Mezzodemon warmongers up to 450 pts. We started up the game. I sent out my hydras up to the higher ground on the sides, el donas immediately ran down into the middle area with the glyphs. He took a defense glyph, I wanted to go and pry him off of that one, so I went to bring a hydra into the middle. This is where I found out that this area of the map was completely unfriendly to 2 spaced figures. I had to jump my hydra down over the bridge piece and was able to take the other glyph. Don't know how, but it was another defense glyph. I was able to kill off all of his mezzos that were over there and then surprised him with a turn on my other hydra where I brought him down above his start zone and nibbled on more mezzos from height. He eventually brought the one hydra down to one life and killed it. The other hydra was able to lay waste to most of all the rest of his mezzos but I had to finish up the game with darth maul who almost didn't succeed in killing darrack. Ultimately the middle of the map was really a death trap for 2 spaced figures. Not really able to move around in there well and also limited ways of getting out of the pit. The map was really fun to play with the exception of the middle two spaced figure death trap. It was the only game I won that tourney as well. I would say it needs a little bit of work to balance out the middle area.

[TREX]

Mountain Pass by @Yodaking

I actually got to play on this map twice. The first would be against @Sir Heroscape . To catch that game, Sir H actually filmed it for his You tube channel, so I'll give an overview of my tournament game against @Tiranx 's Wife. My break is over at work, so, to be continued......

[Yodaking]

Just watched on youtube and what a great game! Never seen so many successful pouncing wolves and the Werewolf Lord taking control of a Hydra was pretty epic. That really put TREX behind the 8-ball but he battled back to an even showing. Fun to watch and it was clear you both were having a real good time. As far as the map goes, I was a bit surprised to see how often a Hydra was able to see past an obstacle for a ranged attack. I guess being a large figure with 4 heads has it's benefits.

[TREX]

Alright, back for more reviews on the maps used at our latest tourney from this map competition.

First thoughts:
The map looked pretty balanced and showed that there were some places of value in there. Particularly on the road in the middle and the two glyph spots on the side. Now, since I was really plowed from the glyphs the night before on this map, I had a small advantage in how this map was set. But I am beyond help when it comes to army selection because I rarely bring super competitive army builds with synergy and bonding and instead bring a hard sell that I might find fun to play. Also more of a challenge for me. Armies were, My darth maul and x2 hydras vs Torin, eldgrim, and a bunch of stingers.
The challenge in this tourney was keeping the enemy army off all the wannock glyphs. So I set up my army to charge one of the glyphs right away. It paid off. I lost initiative, so TW(Tiranx's Wife) immediately charged the one glyph with eldgrim. She overextended him and reached the glyph. The glyph was the move glyph. That was a godsend for her stingers. I realized this and was already charging over with a hydra. Her next move was torin on to height with his extra move. I could not resist in getting to pound on torin with a hydra, so, I ignored the little dwarf sized human champion, and got to pounding torin with the hydra. Adjacent to him of course. In no time I killed torin with the hydra. But in the meantime, TW brought a bunch of stingers up real quick. At first it was like bringing the hydra a snack, but she soon realized this and spaced them out just enough to limit my attacks per turn. Soon the first hydra fell. After changing blows with the stingers again with my second hydra, He killed a few stingers but soon also fell to TW's spaced out stinger beatdown, getting every stinger drain except one or two of them the entire game. She did have to kill one stinger one time. Finally I ran maul up and force pushed eldgrim off that glyph and chopped a stinger. He took some fire but ran up to kill more stingers. TW put eldgrim back on the glyph, so I was forced to take the Sith down there and just finish him already. TW played out her strategy nicely using the same one she had used on the hydra's limiting how many attacks they got by spacing her pieces out. With all the stinger drain maul fell and I lost the match. Not by much.

There are only 2 concerns on the whole map gathered from both games. I felt a tad hard to uproot figures from the glyphs on the sides. with the rock out crop there, there was only one space on each side to shoot the glyph holder with height. The other was how many spaces it took to reach the top middle. When you wanted to try for the road bonus with a 5 move figure, you have to settle for 4 spaces on turn 1 to get the bonus on turn 2. The balance concern is for a 6+ move or flying figure can take a height on turn 1 where figures that walk with a 5 or less have to wait til turn two. These two small gripes can be worked around and still the map was pretty balanced, and was a load of fun. So at the moment This map was still top notch and I feel it is tournament worthy. All the map can and could be played on. Altogether great job on this one @Yodaking . It did capture the theme of a mountain pass and I imagine it will go into our list of recommended maps.


Well, those were the four maps I got to play on in the tournament. I will build the other ones and post reviews on those as well. It has came to mind that I need to finish reviewing all the maps from our last contest as well.

[NecroBlade]

Congrats, caps! Very unique map. Look forward to trying it sometime.

[caps]

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

Congrats, caps! Very unique map. Look forward to trying it sometime.

Thanks Necroblade! I hope it plays well.

[TREX]

Hey @capsocrates , you'll have to let me know how well you like the tower after you get it.

[caps]

Originally Posted by TREX

Hey @capsocrates , you'll have to let me know how well you like the tower after you get it.

Should be here in time for the tournament this weekend. I can't wait to try it.

[caps]

Originally Posted by TREX

Hey @capsocrates , you'll have to let me know how well you like the tower after you get it.

WOW!! The pictures do not do it justice. It's incredible. Thanks Trex for making such an awesome tower, and thank you Trex, Tiranx, and Sir Heroscape for running the contest!

[TREX]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

WOW!! The pictures do not do it justice. It's incredible. Thanks Trex for making such an awesome tower, and thank you Trex, Tiranx, and Sir Heroscape for running the contest!

Super glad you like it. Now go win your tourney with it.

[Tiranx]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

WOW!! The pictures do not do it justice. It's incredible. Thanks Trex for making such an awesome tower, and thank you Trex, Tiranx, and Sir Heroscape for running the contest!

Trex brought that tower to the tournament in Rexburg. Knowing we couldn't keep it, Sir Heroscape and I used it in our game. I couldn't believe how quietly it rolled dice. Just so you know Caps, if it rolls horribly, it is because Sir Heroscape wasted all the good rolls.

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Tiranx

Trex brought that tower to the tournament in Rexburg. Knowing we couldn't keep it, Sir Heroscape and I used it in our game. I couldn't believe how quietly it rolled dice. Just so you know Caps, if it rolls horribly, it is because Sir Heroscape wasted all the good rolls.

HAHA! Very true...poor Tiranx never had a chance against my 6 squads of Drudge on height!