superfrog's maps -- OP redone + Vixen updated 3/16

[Leaf_It]

I'm not a judge, but I just want to point out that 6+ move figures are the only ones that can reach the lava glyph in a single move, making them the only figures that would likely ever try to go for it. I would Either add some patches of rock, or spread out the lava as Sir H suggested.

just my

[superfrog]

Valley of Skulls version 2.

Start zones are better, lava is easier to get off of, ruins are more dynamic, glyphs are more accessible, and level 3 grass has been removed to enhance the appeal of the lava.

Thoughts?

It's not much smaller, to Sir Heroscape's point. In fact, there's more hexes on the table now. But the start zones aren't shoved way far back, so deployment is easier.

[Sir Heroscape]

MUCH better version. I really like it.

[BiggaBullfrog]

I like v2.0. The lava area looks a lot more interesting now and I can see play happening across the map.

All the little pockets of high ground in the grass area concern me slightly - camping armies love those things. They can creep from hill to hill when they're not being attacked and bunker down when they are, and they'll have a lot of Jungle cover while doing so against range and height against melee. However, any attacking range will also get the jungle and melee will have good defense on even ground plus jungle while approaching, and will probably at least have the lava glyph will little pushback (though range can sit on the rock outside the start zone and shoot the lava glyph). Basically, it's a little concerning because of how slow and campy that matchup will be, but it's always that way anyway, so as long as it doesn't prove to be really bad for some reason, I think this map is really solid.

I have a very very very mild aesthetic nitpick in that the rock in the lava area looks like it's trying to form an A, which looks a little weird to me. Though I guess I just need to tap into my school spirit a bit more: Go Aggies!

[Nomad]

Valley of the Skulls reminds me a bit of Elswin Plateau, but with lava. It looks like an interesting and solid build to me. Well done superfrog.

[superfrog]

Silence and Solitude build instructions. It uses 1 RotV and 1 TJ, with 2 random glyphs.

Addressed some concerns from the BoV about balancing the "lanes" and giving less of an advantage to the left and the middle. The map has been flattened and glyph areas rearranged to make the glyph positioning more equal.



Asphalt Cocktail build instructions. It uses 1 BftU, 1 M:tCB, and 1 RttFF, with 2 random glyphs.

I took off my favorite part of this map (the "negotiation" start zones), because the BoV reviews mentioned how that front-loaded the map and gave too much advantage to Rats and Raelin. It's a little more straightforward now, but hopefully just as fun.

And yes, this is about 4 years after these maps failed out of the BoV. Better late than never, right?

[superfrog]

east is up.

It uses 1 M:tCB, 1 BftU, and 1 TJ, with 2 random glyphs and 2 random treasure glyphs.

Glyphs of Brandar are Treasure Glyphs (not shown in the topdown, but they go on those grass spaces).

Thoughts on this map from anybody?

Some notes on the build:

This is the smallest map I've ever built. Even smaller than both of my 1 Bftu/1 VW maps.

Outcrops are omitted, which allows for a big shadow pit in the middle using the bases.

Both sides can reach each power glyph in 8 spaces.

8/14 level 1 spaces (not counting SZs or glyphs), 18/24 level 2 spaces, 18/34 level 3 spaces, and 0/6 level 4 spaces are covered by jungle. All level 1 spaces (not counting SZs or glyphs) are covered by shadow.

Lateral movement is pretty free-flowing since so much of the map is level 3.

Sand and rock are completely buried in this build, and grass is used to mark all 4 glyphs.

@Sir Heroscape @BiggaBullfrog (or anybody else?)

[Sir Heroscape]

Whoa! Haha, and that’s why we have these contests...what a fun unique design. I’ll have to come back to give it deeper thought, but there is no lack of aesthetic appeal that’s for sure. I really like how it looks, but I’ll have to comment on balance later.

[TREX]

I really like it as well. A critique off the top of my head would be that 2 space figures cannot pick up the treasure glyphs. Other than that it looks like it would be pretty fun.

[superfrog]

I don't mind if 2-space unique heroes can't pick up treasure glyphs too much. They can still get them if they kill whoever gets them first

[BiggaBullfrog]

Cool map, sf! It's got a really cool aesthetic going on. I'm not sure about it for tournament play, however. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of choices (especially for ranged units that can hit almost the whole field in one move), and I think most games would be pretty predictable just due to how small the map is. I do think it would make for great non-standard tournament games (like smaller armies, scraps, heroes/uniques only, etc), but I think a lot of the standard army sizes/point totals would be too limited on it. I do think that if you were to expand the map out some, with most of the height on level 1/2 and small power points on 3, then it could make for a really cool map, especially if you are able to keep that neat aesthetic with the dungeon/marvel sets you've got going on.

[superfrog]

Not having played on it, I can't disagree with you, but I'd like to think that there's a fair number of choices (left/right/t-glyphs/glyph 1/glyph2). The small size does mean that range can reach a lot, but I again like to think that that's mitigated by all the shadow and jungle (which covers almost every space in the middle of the board).

I'll probably tinker with it a bit more and end up submitting it anyway without a major overhaul.