MFO@Nottingham

Once again the MFO Mapster team has put together a map so dark, so scary, and soooo frightening, that you'll want to run off into the woods and hide! And this map is perfect for that, because it's one huge forest. Hundreds of straggler trees, all spaced a few tiles apart, litter the central region of the map.

Each player has an open area of land to build on and a ring of forest surrounds the edge of the map. But in order to venture your way to your opponents you'll have to brave the dark woods. The trees are spaced apart to allow a style of gameplay in which there are no chokepoints. As always, scouting is crucial, and placing outposts in the forest is an essential tactic. Because of the open layout of the woods, an attacking army can march right through the trees and mysteriously appear from any direction. Cavalry units have a distinct advantage, as they can cover and protect the huge amount of open space.    

The spacing of the trees in the middle region of the map makes constructing a foward base a little more interesting - you'll have to find and use one of the several small clearings because there isn't enough room between the trees. Or perhaps you should take a small group of woodcutters and create your own clearing. The open forest allows you to plan your attack from any side of your opponent's town. But expect the same from your opponent. This map requires careful planning, player's won't be able to just run a group of villagers to the enemy's town. You'll have to find a clearing, and when you get there, someone may be waiting for you.  

Just like any other map, once you find the important central gold and stone, you can be sure that your opponent will soon find it, also. But unlike other maps, there is a limited amount of space to build upon near these resource clearings, so fighting will be tense. Amassing an army in the woods will become a popular course of action.    

King Of The Hill - It's INSANE on this map! The clearings in the forest make for an interesting style of play. Find a clearing to build a base near the castle and you've won, right? Maybe not, because there's bound to be another clearing on the other side of the wonder, and you can bet your enemy will be there waiting for you. Or will you try to take some woodcutters to the wonder to develop your own real estate venture? Of course, you can always ignore the wonder and make a bee-line for your enemy's base. They'll never see you coming. But will you have enough left over to win the battle over the wonder before time runs out?  This map promises some intense KOTH gameplay with wonder ownership changing in the final momements of the game.  

See post here for description with graphics:  http://mrfixitonline.com/readPosting.asp?PostingId=242534