Sheep's Map Thread - New Map - 11/26/23

[Sheep]

Originally Posted by superfrog

I like the combination of 1xBftU, 1xMarvel, and 1xRttFF.

It's different, but enough terrain to have a decently sized map.

Originally Posted by Dragoon

How about Just the hexes and crytoliths of Shadows over innstrad, with Rttff x2, and SotM? I think that could make for an interesting map.

Originally Posted by Black_Charos

3 vw + 2 tt

Thank you all! I will try those soon!

On other news, I keep messing around with The Hotways or the Highways and I've finally come to an updated version that I think will provide some better gameplay.

The Hotways or the Highways 4.0
Requires: 1 BftU, 2 VW, 1 FotA


Noteable Changes:

Start Zones:
-Now split
-Should accommodate the Marro Hive much better now
-There's now a road built in them

Pathing/Accessibility:
-Changes to the start zones and spaces immediately after them should allow for easier access to glyphs, height, and road
-Removed all battlements
-The right side out of each start zone got a big overhaul. This allowed me to move all of the shadow to level 1 and make the glyphs 9 walking spaces away and 7 flying spaces away from each start zone
-Lowered the 2 single-hex road tiles in the middle of the road to level 1. This allows double-hex figures to move more smoothly/freely along the road

Height:
-Removed the 2-hex lava from the top of each hill

Stability:
-Readded some castle bases under the hills to free up the lava tiles that were under there. Still extremely stable.
-Added some much needed stability under the far edges of the level 3 7-hex lava field tiles

[caps]

1xSotM + 1xVW
1xSotM + 1xTT
1xBftU + 1xRttFF
1xBftU + 1xFotA

[Sheep]

Got a new map I'm excited about. Here it is!

Sabertooth Jungle
Requires: 1 BftU, 2 TT, 1 TJ


Sadly I didn't even think about room for the Hive until I made the .pdf and was thinking about the start zones...

Oh well, I guess that's something to work on for Sabertooth Jungle 2.0 (or just replace the ice and/or snow in the SZ with the Hive base ).

Some special building instructions (also stated at the bottom of the .pdf):
- All of the Outcrop bases are used as Shadow hexes (no Outcrops)
- 4 of the 6 1-hex Glacier Mountain bases are used as Ice hexes (no Glacier Mountains)

Feedback, as always, is appreciated! Thanks everybody!

[superfrog]

Looks cool. It's big for such restricted terrain sets. I think the hive thing is totally okay, most players and TD's would know to just replace 6 ice hexes with it.

The one thing that bugs me is jungle by the glyphs. That makes them too easy to hold, imo.

[Sheep]

Originally Posted by superfrog

Looks cool. It's big for such restricted terrain sets.

I started with getting the 24-hexes to have the least amount of terrain underneath. This really helped get it bigger. The 3- and 4-hex Glaciers conveniently fill in the spaces and block line of sights. Honestly, midway through the build, I had huge gaps on the sides and that 7-hex area with the Palm Tree in the middle. I also had the 7-hex Dungeon tiles sticking out behind the 6-hex Glacier. I thought I was doomed, but once I removed the 7-hex Dungeons and put them on the sides and figured out I could use the Glaciers to really fill in the space it turned out nicely. I was building with a bunch of 1-hex snow pieces by the end though.

I think the hive thing is totally okay, most players and TD's would know to just replace 6 ice hexes with it.

Agreed. I have an updated version in VS already that accommodates the Hive, but I don't like the SZ as much and I had to replace the snow by the 3-hex Glacier with the Ice tiles, making a crucial deployment section Level 0.

The one thing that bugs me is jungle by the glyphs. That makes them too easy to hold, imo.

I disagree. The glyphs are on Level 0 which means everybody attacking the glyphs will get an attack bonus. The Jungle adds a Defense bonus against range, that's negated at melee, promoting melee over range.

[Sheep]

Here are two separate versions (one with and one without Hive accommodations):

No Hive accommodations:


With Hive accommodations:


Here's the original version for comparison:



A couple of noticeable changes either way:
- Correctly placed the Jungle bushes on Level 2 by the Shadow
- Exchanged the 3- and 4-hex Glaciers and moved the 4-hex one slightly to block LoS from the Shadow on Level 2.
- Added some more water around the glyph (bring on the Greater Ice Elementals! )

With the Hive accommodations meant I had to lower the Water hexes by the Palm Tree in the middle to Level 0 to free up a couple of land tiles.

I like the Hive accommodations, so I'll probably move along with that one unless convinced otherwise.

[Sheep]

This is the map from above with Hive accommodations.

Sabertooth Jungle 2.2
Requires: 1 BftU, 2 TT, 1 TJ


I have made some changes to the aesthetics by changing some lower, covered up levels. The 4 Ice tiles in the middle now cover snow, instead of a 2-hex Grass and a 1-hex Grass and Rock.

[Sheep]

Just finished a game on Sabertooth Jungle 2.2.

Armies:
Team 1:
Arrow Gruts x5 + Swog Rider x3 + Mimring + Ice Troll Berserker
= 510pts/24hexes

Team 2:
Death Chasers of Thesk x4 + Ogre Pulverizer + Ogre Warhulk + Nerak the Glacian Snow Rider
= 520pts/17hexes

Glyph Pool:
Glyph of Valda [Move +2]
Glyph of Gerda [Defense +1]
Glyph of Dagmar [Intitiative +8]
Glyph of Ulaniva [Unique Attack +1]
Glyph of Wannok [Wound]
Glyph of Kelda [Healer]
Glyph of Lodin [Lucky Twenty-Sider]

Game Summary
The Death Chasers get their head start and take the glyphs after losing initiative. The Gruts are able to take down a couple of their Orc enemies. Mimring gets a Fire Line shot at the Pulverizer and 3 DCs, killing 2 DCs. On the next turn, the Pulverizer, well... simply put, pulverizes Mimring. The Death Chasers targeted the Swog Riders when possible, once utilizing an initiative switch to kill a Grut, take the Initiative glyph (although it ended up having no effect), then move to even ground with a Rider and destroy it.

Once the Arrow Gruts were able to set up an effective camp with the Riders right outside of the SZ, and Mimring was gone, the Ice Troll moved up. At first the rolls for Ice Troll Charge were terrible (4, 1, and 2, I think in that order), but he did destroy the Pulverizer along with some boosted Gruts. Nearing the end, the Troll took out the second to last DC on the Defense glyph, and the Gruts took the final one out right after.

With Nerak and the Warhulk left with full life vs. the full life Troll and 10 Gruts, it was the end of the round. Team 1 wins it and the Troll engages Nerak (who is on Shadow and Snow) from height, and ends up hammering Nerak off his Swog, causing Team 2 to lose their first OM. The Troll takes the next turn to engage the Warhulk on an even ground, snow space in the center (the hulk is on the shadow and adjacent to the tree, all nearest his own SZ). Not satisfied, the Troll hopes he can charge up a couple of hexes to gain height against the Ogre, he does (the first successful Charge of the game). With 6 attack dice, he lands 3 wounds against the Warhulk.

The Warhulk doesn't want to over react against the Troll, so he successfully disengages, travels across the center water spaces and engages an Arrow Grut and slaughters it. This move forces the Ice Troll to have to roll for Charge in order to re-engage the Warhulk on even or high ground, and the only space the Troll can guarantee engagement is a shadow space. The Troll chooses to attempt the Charge from a non-adjacent Ice space - any luck for the Warhulk and an unsuccessful Charge attempt would mean that the Warhulk could engage numerous Gruts all at once.

Spoiler Alert!

However, it was not to be, and the Troll takes height again on the hulk (from the opposite, mirrored spaces as the last attack) and rolls vs. one shield - the Warhulk falls, and Team 1 wins!

This game was a lot of fun! All of the map was used, every path was taken, and LoS was a big deal (at one point the Pulverizer even got in the way of the Arrow Gruts taking pot shots at the DC on the Defense glyph ).

I was certainly glad to see that the center water hexes didn't go to waste, as the Warhulk ran through the one side. For most of the game, the Chaser on the Defense glyph was rolling +3 defense (glyph, jungle, and Nerak). The Jungle bush did exactly what I wanted it to do in keeping the ranged units from easily killing the figure on the glyph.

My one regret with Team 2 is that I didn't attempt to push forward with Nerak and the Chasters until late in the game. I found out that I could keep Nerak covering the glyph along with a lot of the Shadow and spaces adjacent to Jungle in the center. This would've helped the Deathchasers push forward more against the Gruts.

Anyways, it was a great game to play! The Pulverizer pulverizing Mimring and the Troll destroying the Warhulk were the two highlights I pulled from the game. Crazy!

[Sheep]

Version 3.0 of Sabertooth Jungle is here!

Sabertooth Jungle 3.0
Requires: 1 BftU, 2 TT, 1 TJ

Special Build Instructions (also stated at the bottom of the .pdf):
- All of the Outcrop bases are used as Shadow hexes (no Outcrops)
- 4 of the 6 1-hex Glacier Mountain bases are used as Ice hexes (no Glacier Mountains)

After a couple of games, I noticed that the Jungle Tree on the outside of the map near the SZs wasn't getting any use. With that in mind, I moved those in towards the center and replaced them with a single space Glacier. This required moving the 3- and 4-hex Glaciers back to their original positions.

With the Jungle Tree adjacent to the 3-hex now, that will allow a better, safer encroachment from the left side to the opponent's center/right side.

[caps]

It seems like now that high snow hex right by the start zone (the highest point on the map??) gives Raelin a great view. Also really great for figures like Syvarris. Maybe too great?

[Sheep]

Got a brand new map to show everybody. Time for everyone to start running!

Gauntlet
Requires: 1 RotV, 1 VW, 1 TT, 1 TJ

[superfrog]

You should have entered this in the Wilds of Valhalla contest! Looks really fun, honestly. I think it's too hard for melee figures to move laterally, but the three zones look balanced at a first look, so nice work on that.