This subject defines most of my favorite maps on the site...I love playing them, but suck at playing them.  Many of these are maps that I've made, and I thought the gameplay would work one way, and I stick to that, but that's not how the players have played them.  I LURVE that about this site!!!!!

I've recently been playing Gauntlet a lot and seen so many plays I'm overwhelmed!  I tried really hard to make that map for different styles of play, so that the aggressive Warrior could beat the timid Elf but then be beaten by the smart Wizard only to be overtaken by the careful Valkerie, and the stats bare that out to an extent.  I'm very happy with that!  btw...I'm releasing a "Random Player" version of the map so you won't get to pick, because it's not played much anymore and it should be.

All that aside, I'm curious what makes you play a map for fun, rather than "I win".  I love my maps a lot and not just because I have an ego bigger than Pluto, but because I usually make them for a style of play we don't see a lot.  I love RiskyKong because it's a different way of thinking about attacking. and I love Rent is Due because of the hold bonuses and fortify style.  I like playing Fall of Rom because of the way the neutrals are placed an how you have to try to set yourself up without knowing what anyone else is trying for.  I love Castles, because it says be aggressive, but maybe not too aggressive.  And I'm a HUGE fan of Gates of Hell because I have no idea what I'll try to do from one turn to the next because you have to think so far ahead.

Now those are what I like playing, but I've lost my map making mojo recently, but I've got ideas, so I want to know...
What is it about your favorite maps that makes them your favorite?

I've got 2 maps right now that are done graphically, but I don't think there is anything "fun" about the gameplay wise, and Risky don't play that, so you tell me what you like, what you want, and I'll do my level best to make themes and play that'll give it to you.  I promise, I'll try not to make it too complicated.

I Welcome replies to my editorial... 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I LOVE Game of Hordes even though most players think it may be a flawed map, I enjoy the different play and how the best players on the site play it.

For me, if Hugh and/or Blackdog join game on my maps, I've won any battle I choose to fight.

"It doesn't matter if everyone gets the joke, it only matter if the right people get the joke"
-MST3K

I like simple, strategic play. I want to be able to outwit my opponent.  I want to be able to use the dice to leverage that play. 

I'm liking the spy vs. spy tourneys these days, I like rent is due, Millennium falcon, and squirrels of suburbia.  What do they all have in common?  

Their simple, but not straightforward. 

It's hard to pin down what I like. When a new plain old geographic regular map goes live, I think it's great for the site, because lots of people like that. And I play a lot of those just for mindless distractions. But, the boards I really like are challenging. They are new puzzles that I want to figure out.

I wish I knew what the secret sauce was for that "new strategy feeling". Sometimes you don't need a radical departure to get really new game play. (Fall of Rome is almost a normal board, but it doesn't play that way!)

And sometimes really radical ideas that shouldn't work actually do work and that's what's required to make a new fun game. The Risky boards are a lot like that. There's inevitably some whiner who can't stand the 5 unit territory cap and proclaims the game unplayable as a result. But it is playable, and it is interesting gameplay!!

I like games where a crazy comeback is possible - sometimes that's a big board where weak player can find a small continent or a remote corner to climb back into a game (Europe 1560, Antastic, HexGear), sometimes that's a board with a handful of capitals (Kings and Men, Seven Kingdoms, Castles), sometimes that's a board with complicated interconnections & one-way attacks & vision (Total Wargear, Koprulu).

For much the same reason, I'm a sucker for simulgear games that let you maneuver (RockEm SockEm! Axis & Allies). 

And while I confess that I like those boards because I know how to win on them, I play Australian Risk for all the same reasons - and I NEVER win that. 

For me a fun map is one in which there are lots of valid strategies.  More choices is more fun, less choices is less fun.  Also feeling like you have a say in the game.  More random is less fun, more influence is more fun.  Also games where you feel like you know how to play, but still have more to learn.  Like the old Othello motto - "A minute to learn...a lifetime to master."

btw - I added my answer to my bio page on the wiki:

http://www.wargear.net/wiki/doku.php?id=wargear_personalities:bio:ozyman

Just wanted to mention it in case anyone else wanted to also.