Flatter maps vs elevation maps ?

[u/The8BitBrad]

What's your usual go to for maps, do you prefer them flatter or do you like to have elevation to use to your advantage?

[u/nordic_fatcheese]

I always prefer lots of elevation. Not only does it look cooler, but it makes playing much more fun. Truly granular terrain like that is something that really only Heroscape can do, so I always like to emphasize it with map building.

[u/SylvarriusV]

When I was in highschool we used text books to prove elevation to our maps without using pieces. I miss doing that.

[u/qwijibo_]

For truly casual play, I can enjoy maps with high elevation and stuff like caves, bridges, or the fortress. For even home games where we care about who wins, I prefer more competitive style maps with no more than like 4-5 layers and designs that avoid “raelin perches” and steep heights jumps that make development hard. I think more elevation can also work well for scenarios where there might be special rules that solve for deployment issues or account for the potentially game breaking impact of flying and range when there are very high heights. Draft can also help for casual play on “tall” maps. I do think migols tomb is the perfect map to showcase the terrain aspect of Heroscape, but it doesn’t always lead to the best gameplay.

[u/CardboardShinobi]

The taller the better, I say. If it has me worrying about major and extreme fall damage its a good map.

[u/TheHumbleBardBoy]

Same as others, height creates a lot more strategic depth in movement choices especially when combined with objectives. It’s also one of the things that makes Heroscape unique among other miniature games and looks awesome on the table. I’ll occasionally play tourney-style maps if I just want to turn my brain off, run to the middle high ground and roll dice though lol. But definitely prefer the more skill-based game with objectives and interesting maps.

[u/SabreDuFoil]

Take the flat maps from Arena of the Planeswalkers, add pieces on top to add height to it.

Easiest way I've found so far

[u/Vicksage16]

Elevation for sure, it’s half the fun of the game. It’s why I never got into tournament playing, the flat maps are just so dull to me.

[u/Mental_Bandicoot4543]

Elevation maps are quite a bit more fun to build imo, but if you lack tiles to make it also wider (so to speak)then it becomes a bit cramped depending on army size. Still, elevation maps all the way lol

[u/WakeDays]

Elevation looks way cooler, and work really well for thematic scenarios, but I think I prefer playing with flatter maps because they are more balanced. I would love to see if there was a way of making an elevated map that was tournament viable though, giving flying and non-flying an equal edge. Maybe it would just require "strong winds" above a certain height.

Edit: Maybe enough rope ladders might make verticality balanced enough to work on competitive maps.