FishTako's Maps Dragonslayer Ch1: Swanscombe River Crossing

[rednax]

Small amount of tiles -

Bilatteral Symmetry -

Aesthetics -

Seriously, FishTako, these look like some really fun maps. I hope I can play on them sometime soon.

I admit, I'm really jealous of Unabridged. SotM + RttFF is one of my favorite combinations and I usually have trouble coming with a creative shape for the road, and Unabridged looks great. The use of the 24-hexers is really good, because although not perfectly symmetric, should work well. I like bilatteral symmetry a lot, and have been having trouble figuring out ways to work those 24-hexers into some of my more recent maps.

I hope you don't mind if I steal the concept used with the 24-hexers in Unabridged.

Glacial Overflow looks great with all those LoS blockers. The concept for Kill-Switch is great, too. I haven't seen a new map-maker this good in a while. Thanks for sharing.

(The name for Unabridged is great too!)

[FishTako]

Originally Posted by RoninValentina

I love building maps with minimal tiles, so I'm glad you're giving it a go. It seems odd to me that it will take longer reaching the glyph by using the road rather than cross country travel though. (Because the the road bonus can't carry you onto the glyph, merely adjacent.)

That's an excellent observation RV and something I struggled with when building the map.

I'm really torn on whether or not the Wannok glyph on the hill side should be on the road. I'm also a bit torn on the placement of the 2 smaller trees next to the large evergreen. If I move them back 1 hex, the glyph becomes seriously protected but does encourage more road use to race up to the hill on order marker 3 to steal Wannok.

As for the Astrid glyph, the idea was for the bridge to function as a quick access point for a melee figure to attack the glyph holder and less of a means to grab the glyph.

I'll need to play test this one both ways to be sure it works as intended.

[FishTako]

Originally Posted by Kaiser Cat

I can't say I like bridge maps that don't make the bridge at least 6 levels high. (So figures can walk under them)

I love the kill switch concept, though.

Thanks for looking! I'm a big fan of tall bridges too... but with so few tiles...

Originally Posted by rednax

Small amount of tiles -

Bilatteral Symmetry -

Aesthetics -

Seriously, FishTako, these look like some really fun maps. I hope I can play on them sometime soon.

I admit, I'm really jealous of Unabridged. SotM + RttFF is one of my favorite combinations and I usually have trouble coming with a creative shape for the road, and Unabridged looks great. The use of the 24-hexers is really good, because although not perfectly symmetric, should work well. I like bilatteral symmetry a lot, and have been having trouble figuring out ways to work those 24-hexers into some of my more recent maps.

I hope you don't mind if I steal the concept used with the 24-hexers in Unabridged.

Glacial Overflow looks great with all those LoS blockers. The concept for Kill-Switch is great, too. I haven't seen a new map-maker this good in a while. Thanks for sharing.

(The name for Unabridged is great too!)

Thanks for the kind words Rednax. The bilateral symmetry was tough and it's hard to tell if the start zones will favor one side over the other given the asymmetric nature of the swamp water placement using the 24 hexers. I tried to balance the swamp water on both sides but the yellow team has a slight advantage when trying to go for the bridge side glyph while the blue team has an edge moving toward the central sand hill. I suppose only more play testing will tell.

And please, steal/borrow as many concepts as you like. I'd love to see more SoTM maps!

[FishTako]

Unabridged v1.1 Now Uploaded

Download Here

Change History:
- Fixed incorrect start zone markers. The start zone had 25 hexes. It is now reduced to the proper 24 hex count. Funny how fielding an Ashigaru test army will quickly fill up a 25 hex count!

- Rearranged a couple tiles for improved aesthetic symmetry.

[FishTako]

Durgeth Wetlands v1.0 (uploaded 4/19/2010)
Here's another SotM map. I wanted to create an abandoned structure that was overgrown with moss. It features some crazy perches but the glyph are protected beneath with no LOS. This map cheats a little with the interlocking wall walks to create the swamp tile overhangs and to maximize road tiles.

I like the way it turned out aesthetically... I've theorized about it's playability but have yet to actually play test. Enjoy!

Materials:
1 Swarm of the Marro
2 Road to the Forgotten Forest
1 Fortress of the Archkyrie

Download Here

[FishTako]

I've had a lot of time to think about Heroscape recently. The ideas keep coming and are screaming to get out of head. Check out:

The Marvelous Scrum v1.0 (uploaded 4/19/2010)
The Marvel set is definitely underused due to the minimal number of tiles included. Here's a CTF scenario style map that uses 1 master set.

Materials:
1 Marvel: The Conflict Begins

Download Here

Scenario: Goal
Players must capture the opposing team's glyph and return it to one of their start tiles while preventing the opposing team from doing the same.
The first team to score twice wins.

Special Rules:
- Anytime a figure lands on their opponent's glyph, they automatically pick it up and may continue their movement. A figure carrying a glyph in
this manner may not use special movement abilities and has their move number reduced by 2. A figure may pass the glyph to an adjacent
friendly figure after attacking. Special movement abilities are specified below:

Flying
Stealth Flying
Swing Line
Super Leap
Hyper Speed

(Note: These restrictions are just like the ones in the scenario included in the master set rulebook)

- If a figure carrying a glyph is destroyed, the glyph is dropped on the space the figure last occupied. If a figure lands on its team's glyph,
immediately place the glyph back on it's starting position. If the glyph's starting space is currently occupied by an opposing team's figure, it is
immediately picked up by that figure.

- A team scores by returning the enemy's glyph to one of their start zone spaces while their own team's glyph is secure (on it's starting space). The first team to 2 points wins.

- At the start of each round, starting with the player who LOST initiative, each player may place one of his or her destroyed figures in one of the 2 green start zones within the ruins. There can be a maximum of one figure from each team in the green start zones. If a player already has a figure in one of the green start zones, he or she may NOT respawn another figure at the start of his or her round. Since all figures may re-spawn at will, Thanos' rejected by death power is now enhanced. The player may add 2 to the power's die roll.

- Figures may stand on but may not pass through the 1 hex tile denoted by the yellow start marker. This represents the second wall of the ruins.
There are only 2 paths out of the ruins: one is through the breakable wall and the other is through the 1 hex opening in the roof.

[FishTako]

Minor Update to Durgeth Wetlands

Revision History:
- Version 1.1 uploaded 4/20/2010

Build Changes:
- Changed foundation layer of tiles to improve stability of the map.
- Rotated corner walls for improved figure placement under overhangs.

Map/Gameplay Changes:
- Exchanged position of large evergreens with 2 small ones.
- Added 1 hex height to periphery road tiles to balance glyph distances.
- Added 1 hex height to road for better access to 2 hex swamp perch.
- Removed periphery 2 hex swamp mounds.
- Raised single castle towers adjacent to the 7 hex overhangs.

[FishTako]

New map added: Subterranean Forest v1.0 download it here.



I'm continually intrigued by the challenges of minimal map building. The challenge really appeals to the engineering side of me. There are really 3 main considerations that drive the map making process:

- Aesthetics
- Game-play
- Structural integrity / resources

While one of the primary goals of any cartographer is to construct a pretty map, this rarely equates a fun map to play. Fun maps need to present options to the player. All the while, using a minimal tile set encourages economy of placement by hiding "holes" under your larger hexes, however, too many empty holes eventually threaten the overall stability of your build. Anyway, I think this map hit a pretty good compromise between those 3 axis.

For those of you who are just getting into the game and only have access to 1 Underdark set and the Road set. This one's for you. Cheers!

[MegaSilver]

SubFor is a really neat map! You also seem to be a great newbie map maker, which seem to be popping up on here recently (rednax and Lyneceus).

But yours are really neat in the fact that you take small maps and push them the the extreme, like with SubFor. It reminds me of Marr Highway, but a smaller version, which is nice.

MegaSilver

[RoninValentina]

Originally Posted by FishTako

I'm continually intrigued by the challenges of minimal map building. The challenge really appeals to the engineering side of me. There are really 3 main considerations that drive the map making process:

- Aesthetics
- Game-play
- Structural integrity / resources

While one of the primary goals of any cartographer is to construct a pretty map, this rarely equates a fun map to play. Fun maps need to present options to the player. All the while, using a minimal tile set encourages economy of placement by hiding "holes" under your larger hexes, however, too many empty holes eventually threaten the overall stability of your build.

Absolutely true, and I'm glad you're a convert to the cause.

[FishTako]

New map added: A False Parley v1.0 download it here.

My fascination toward map making continues to grow. This one was inspired by some of the talk regarding split start zones in the BoV thread--most notably, Dignan's Striking Distance.

Most of us have come to accept start zones as big clumps on opposite sides of the map and have built armies and adopted strategies to leverage this initial positioning. I was pleasantly surprised to find how many new considerations need to be weighed when playing on split start zone maps. While it seriously messes with tried and true and can cause all sorts of headaches when it comes to initial order marker placement, the increased tempo it can provide is simply exhilarating. Enjoy!

After weeks of fierce and contentious skirmishes, both generals have sent an advance party to parley at the crossroads of Upper Bleakwoode
Springs. Discussions have now gone awry and the ambassadors from both armies find themselves in the thick of a growing conflict separated from their main forces.

Originally Posted by MegaSilver

SubFor is a really neat map! You also seem to be a great newbie map maker, which seem to be popping up on here recently (rednax and Lyneceus).

But yours are really neat in the fact that you take small maps and push them the the extreme, like with SubFor. It reminds me of Marr Highway, but a smaller version, which is nice.

MegaSilver

Thanks!

[FishTako]

New map added: Partners in Necessity (2-3 players) v1.0 download it here.

This was a real fun one and attempts to provide a different take on a 3 player map. The initial advantages of the 3rd player are quickly offset by the combined might of the first 2 players. There is a fine line that players 1 and 2 need to cross before breaking their temporary alliance.*

3 Player Special Rules:
In a 3 player game, both players 1 and 2 set up before player 3 (red start zone) places any figures. The 3rd player automatically wins initiative on the 1st round of the game.

*This map is not for the faint of heart as the 3rd player will be in the hot seat for the 1st half of the game.

In a 2 player game, the players may opt to remove the Marro Hive LOS blocker.