Wilds of Valhalla: MAP REVIEWS

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Hmm. I don't have an entrant of my own this time, so I'll make a few comments and vote later, so people can tell me I'm wrong before I do actually pull the lever.

April looks very strong. I like the theme, I like the LoS blockage, I like that it's reasonably compact. It needs the glyphs to function as intended, I think, which is a feature & not a bug. But worth noting. Otherwise the pathing gets tight in the center and on the inner ridges of the high ground.

WSG's Quarry looks a little wide-open for my taste. The terrain features hinder, rather than help, melee. There are a few places where range pods could set up and be dominant, I think. It's a lovely map, though. It evokes wilderness, for sure.

Marro Thaw is a beautiful map, maybe the most beautiful of the set. I think the unusual shape, though, might create both practical problems at a tournament and game-play problems, vis a vis balance between the starting positions.

Mountain Pass has "tournament map" written all over it, in a good way. I like the pathing all over the place, and I like the road. This doesn't really evoke the "wilderness" theme the way some of the others do, because of the dungeon tile (masquerading as stone) and the road. I like the use of height and shadow. But this one would look good at a tournament, and that may be my most important criterion. Too much opportunity for Z-bomb like attacks? Maybe.

I'll come back to the others later. They all look good! Congrats to the finalists!

Savage Corridor is a good-looking map. Very tournament-friendly. I'd have to look, but I *think* it's a classic Nomad map, and I'd use it in a tournament. It's a wide road, though, and an intersection. The violation of the "wilderness" theme might be too much for me to overcome on this one.

Sinking Runnel is a beautiful, expansive map. It feels like wilderness and looks like fun. But I don't trust its asymmetry, and I also don't care for the huge open area that isn't between the start zones. I'm looking for a map I'd select at a tournament, which I know is not one of the official criteria. But it's one of mine.

Jungle Fire is another great-looking map with road. Too much? I'm not sure. It's not as road-intensive as Savage Corridor, but it's close. I like the use of height; I think it's a beautifully designed map and I like the delivery of the theme. The little elbow of water on the edge is bugging me a little. What's it there for? Why go in it? Otherwise, I like this one a lot.

Volcarren Paradise is a good-looking map from Robber. I like the use of jungle to help the melee units overcome the absence of LOS-blockers. Is it enough? I'm not sure. The non-lava height hexes on the edges look dominant.

Primærskog I *love* the rugged look of this map. It really feels like a wilderness, without resorting to ice or lava to drive the point home. Too rugged, perhaps, for a tournament? Is the start zone on the right too restricted by the solid wall of water in front of it? I don't know. I do like this one, though.

Halcyon Possibly my favorite. It feels a little wide-open, but perhaps the LoS blockers are enough. I like its large size. It stands out in a crowd. Too long for a tournament table? Maybe.

They all look great, everybody! Thanks to all for contributing to this fun contest!

I'll vote later. Maybe not today.

[TREX]

Nice map reviews @Dad_Scaper . I was about to do the same but realized I'll play on a bunch of them before this contest is over. Ill post after the tourney I guess.

[Yodaking]

I used the road tiles and no offense taken at all. The reality of it for me was I wanted to use some trees and so the road tiles came along for the ride. Same with the dungeon tiles and the rock outcrops. I was more focused on the 3D elements I wanted to use to create a 'wild' map and less focused on the terrain tiles. A story could be easily be made up to justify both.

A long forgotten trade route under the mountain has been reclaimed by mother nature. Part of the roof caved in years ago letting in the snows of winter and the seeds of a near by forest. Yet some broken pieces of the once mighty road still linger to tell the tale for those who wander by. Utgars' ork scouts have discovered this cave and informed their master of it's location. With it secured Utgar could launch a new surprise offensive. Luckily Jandar's spies have also intercepted this information and now two armies race to the lost road to see who will control this newly found strategic location.

.......or something along those lines.

[Dad_Scaper]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not *that* concerned about theme. Certainly not as much as I am about quality (and tournament readiness) of the map. But it wouldn't be fair to the thread, I don't think, to discuss the maps without reference to their execution of theme.

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Don't get me wrong. I'm not *that* concerned about theme. Certainly not as much as I am about quality (and tournament readiness) of the map. But it wouldn't be fair to the thread, I don't think, to discuss the maps without reference to their execution of theme.

Agreed 100%. Very well stated. I like the discussion. As for me I will abstain from too many specific comments considering the contest is still running. But we'll have plenty of reviews after the tournament and we'll be doing our own play testing so stay tuned for those.

[master4sword]

I got around the "roads come with the same expansion as trees" issue by simply burying the roads under other terrain

So many awesome maps. I'm glad I've got a few more days to decide where my vote goes!

[superfrog]

Originally Posted by master4sword

I got around the "roads come with the same expansion as trees" issue by simply burying the roads under other terrain

So many awesome maps. I'm glad I've got a few more days to decide where my vote goes!

Quite a few of us thought that way about roads (at least me, you, legoboy twice).

[Nomad]

Thanks for running this contest. There are a number of maps that I plan on building to use for our next event. Sorry though - I didn't realize that the execution of the theme meant that road tiles should be excluded. No offense taken here either. I enjoyed designing Savage Corridor and sharing it. Best of all, we have had a few good battles on the map already.

[caps]

As far as map size is concerned, Halcyon fits on the poster board I use to transport tournament maps.

The first iteration did *not* fit and I tightened it up a fair bit.

[TREX]

No worries on maps that have road tiles. We left the theme fairly vague to give a broad variations of maps and didnt say anything regarding not using road tile. I personally love these entries and am anxious to get to try them all out.

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by TREX

No worries on maps that have road tiles. We left the theme fairly vague to give a broad variations of maps and didnt say anything regarding not using road tile. I personally love these entries and am anxious to get to try them all out.

I agree here.

I was agreeing with Dad_Scaper's previous comment on the importance of focusing maps on the theme, for example if you made a castle with a fortress door and everything...it wouldn't be very convincing. That's why backstories can be so helpful for covering theme, even with road pieces...you can still write a backstory that creates the theme for the map.

Either way, all very good maps, and I'm excited to see how this turns out.

[Tiranx]

You know, Marro Thaw kind of reminds me of Turret Rocks from the BoV. Not in aesthetics, but in design. I remember somewhere that the BoV said they probably wouldn't pass a map like Turret Rocks anymore.

Regardless I am really excited to play on Marrow Thaw and hope it is balanced for tournament play. It is one of the most aesthetically pleasing maps in my opinion.