New Maps! (Casual Play)

Codex
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PREFACE

As part of my project to create & proxy a new faction, I figured it would not be a lot of additional work to proxy up a page of 9 new maps for my playgroup.

Since we play casually, we often random a map to play on for each game after choosing (or random-ing) our factions. So in case there are other casual players out there, here are some new map ideas. Initial play-testing has shown these to be fun for casual play and no more game-altering than the initial 12 maps.

I found fun artwork to go with each of these ideas for my proxy cards and got the formatting very similar to the originals. The last map is a “local theme” that would not be appreciated by most players, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

I know many of the players on this forum are more competitive (rather than casual) players, but I still figured maybe someone else will get some fun ideas or value out of me sharing these. I have found the first two maps to be particularly fun and less one-sided than I would have initially thought.

Enjoy!!!

MAPS

THE FRONT LINES - All patrol bonuses are doubled.

THE HALLS OF EXPERIENCE - Heroes enter play at max level. (Abilities trigger.) Dead heroes must wait an extra turn to be resummoned.

THE LIBRARY - Players can’t build the surplus add-on but automatically get its effect.

TOWERS OF STRENGTH - Bases have 30 HP and all other buildings get +1 HP.

TUNNELS OF MYSTIQUE - All spells cost 1 less to play. (Minimum of 0.)

THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY - Players may tech in cards from any Codex. (You do not need to meet the Spec req for any card, but do need the corresponding tech building in play.) All heroes can cast any spell as if it were their own.

DESCENT INTO MADNESS - Upkeep: Randomly discard 2 cards, then draw 2 cards.

GATES OF PARADISE - Healing 1. Upkeep: Repair 1 damage from each of your buildings.

PURE MICHIGAN - Upkeep: Roll a 6-sided weather die.

  1. Winter - all units and heroes take 1 damage.
  2. Spring - flip a coin. Heads: Phew! play as normal. Tails: it is Winter.
  3. Summer - all players gain 1 gold.
  4. Fall - all players draw a card.
  5. Fool’s Season - roll again
  6. Construction - you must pay 1 gold to attack this turn.

Edit: Formatting & typos

4 Likes
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I will say, none of these are worse for balance than certain map cards, and overall, some amusing effects. Winter is hell on having a board at all, apparently. I would recommend Pure Michigan only affect the active player, as having 2 effects happen before you can even react is a little too random for what codex can handle.

3 Likes
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Pure Michigan is hilarious, conceptually.

Descent Into Madness is interesting, and I wonder how it and Library change the early game due to reshuffles.

3 Likes
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I love these. Cliffs of Insanity seems like a headache to play, but the rest all seem really fun and silly (as map cards ought to be). I actually want to try playing with some of these.

2 Likes
5

I actually really enjoyed playing on the front lines… double patrol bonuses creates a very defensive dynamic (as do a couple other of these maps.)

Tunnel of Mystique (-1 spell costs) actually very beneficially affects blue (Lawful Search + Boot Camp become 0 cost cantrips, which really helped with balance in the game we played.

We also played Halls of Experience (heroes enter at max level) with White vs Green and it was a surprisingly even match (with me, the slightly stronger player, playing green.)

Pure Michigan is just a silly card. Obviously, I and my local group, live in Michigan, where we joke all the time about the weather being very random. I happen to love the fact that we get all 4 seasons, very distinctly… however, we also joke about sometimes getting all 4 seasons in 1 week. As far as balance goes, the time we played it, we ended up with a lot of Summer & Fall (2/3 or 3/4 of turns). Statistically, there should be only a 1.5 out of 5 chance of winter (30%), so it should not happen 2 turns in a row often. But the idea is to have Winter have a noticeable adverse affect on everyone. By comparison, Construction only affects the active player (20%), there’s a 40% chance of a beneficial affect, and a 10% chance of no affect (real spring.)

Glad you enjoyed the ideas conceptually.

2 Likes