3-Player Magma Temple

[MacBryce]

Hi all,

Last weekend my wife and I finally managed to play Magma Temple. I wanted to play this map as soon as I saw it on The Dice Tower, but living in Europe made it too expensive to acquire the VW and RTTFFs needed to built it. A couple of months ago I moved to the US and finally I got to playing it. Needless to say, it was awesome.

Now there's a chance that a friend will come play with us in the near future, but I do not want to deconstruct the map this soon. So that's why I am turning to the wise oracle of HS:

What would be the best way to play Magma Temple with three people, and what changes would you make to it, if any, to accommodate this?

Thanks for any replies!

[Ninja Status]

This looks like an interesting map. Though, to make it easier for three people to play on this I would suggest expanding in this area:

Maybe have a flat area like a couple of 24-hex pieces expanding out from the sand and tree line. IMO, it would make it easier to hold three armies while still keeping everything in balance. Good luck!
-NS,

[MacBryce]

Thanks, Ninja.

I was thinking in the lines of that as well, but it would probably put player 1 and 2 at an advantage as the higher ground is in the castle. Although, they will probably have losses trying to get to the higher ground, which could make things interesting again.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

I'd rebuild the the outer portion of the map, rotating the red and blue start zones to the upper left and right, respectively, and creating a third start zone in the area Ninja suggested, such that the three start zones were roughly equidistant from each other and the top of the Temple. And I'd add terrain adjacent to the back wall of the Temple, to give red and blue the same access to each other that each will have to the new, third start zone. Of course the glyphs would have to go.

A less radical solution would be to add terrain to the areas immediately adjacent to the red and blue start zones, such that the third start zone is the same distance from the left and right entrances of the Temple as the red and blue start zones, respectively. Or perhaps a little less, to make up for the strategic disadvantage of being between the other two players.

[MacBryce]

Those are good ideas. Thanks! Bringing the temple more towards the middle of the map by adding land on top is probably a nice way to go.

Here's a different idea:

What if I have one team start in the temple and have them defend it from the other two? How much points more or less would that team roughly need to get? (This is not for a competitive tournament.)

[kolakoski]

Well met!

2:1 in OMs might be advantage enough.

The Gang of Four, on those occasions when one of us is missing, generally plays with one player controlling two armies (generally me), against the other two, insuring balance. And you wouldn't have to rebuild the map!

[MacBryce]

Fun idea, I'll try it out. Would be hilarious to see the castle defender jump over the walls trying to stay alive if both players are effectively attacking him or her.

[ssnover95]

Another thing you could do to morph the two ideas together is have an army approximately equal to 3/4 of the total of the two armies between players 1 and 2 where some of the smaller army's units start in the temple (as maybe a scouting force), while more of the units start in the area that Ninja Status outlined. Would make it interesting to see if the player can hold the high ground in the temple long enough for reinforcements to arrive.