This is the official voting thread for the July 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013 contest.

Rules: http://www.wargear.net/wiki/doku.php?id=designer_workshop:map_making_contest

Contestants: http://www.wargear.net/wiki/doku.php?id=designer_workshop:map_making_contest:january_2014_unthemed_contest

Vote tabulation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18vUv0JygDYz4bHpTUI7QjJVE5FFPzvKcljsPQjhciSs/edit?usp=sharing

Summary

You must have played all six maps to vote.  Vote by ranking the maps in any manner.  You don't have to rank all the boards (i.e. if you just had a top 3, that is ok too) - ties are ok.  Mapmaking contestants can vote, and can vote for their own board, but must vote all 5 positions if they vote.   Full details at the rules link above.

Only votes cast in June will be counted!

1. War of the Roses - Weaker graphically, but easily overcome by gameplay. Fun, unpredictable, winnable from a variety of starting positions. Great game.
2. Fresco - The inverse of Roses in that it's prettier than it is deep. It's my design, but I have no problem saying I think it's one of the better looking/styled maps on the site, which is worth something. The gameplay isn't a wild departure from the original RISK - a little faster and more aggressive - but that's not exactly a bad thing. I have a lot of fun because the games are quick and suit my attention span. Rewards multiple styles of play with wins.
3. Pirates - I thought about this more, and I like this map better than initially voted. It's pretty big, which is alway an undertaking to make. It still reminds me of the old Hawaiian Islands map, and that's not a bad thing. Showing the spheres of influence was done pretty elegantly and unobtrusively. Pretty good map.
4. Seven Redux - It's hard to put my finger on this board. It seems like a fun, original concept; I probably need 100 more games to decide if the strategy really goes much deeper than Connect 4, though. Looks clean and polished.
5. India  - Ok map. Decent image. Ok gameplay.
6. Mayan Adventure - Never really liked this map. Graphically, it was one of the better looking maps that made it to Warfish, but that's a low hurdle. The layout makes every game feel the exact same, just in a different corner of the map.

Mostly just gut reactions on my personal enjoyment and not necessarily a critical analysis.

1. War of the Roses - Love big complicated maps. Love the "german" style board game win condition.

2. Fresco - Don't normally like the plain risk map or things like it, but I felt like this map forced me to be much more tactical in my thinking than I normally am (and rewarded more tactical play). Enjoyed every game I have played on it. Nice looking too.

3. Seven Redux - Pretty. Enjoyed every game I've played on it. Not convinced that the strategy is deep. Maybe could use a diced scenario ala M57's maps?

4. Pirates - Good graphics. Seems like a well made map. I like the choke points and one way borders. But I haven't particularly enjoyed any of my games on this map so far for some reason.

5. India - Pretty graphics. Normalish gameplay.

6. Mayan Adventure - Don't get this map.

6 Votes for Pirates of the Carribean: What can I say, I'm a sucker for well-implemented non-traditional game-play concepts, and I really like the way the trade winds significantly impact gameplay on this one. The use of circle ..umm I mean square territoriy markers is warranted because of the necessary proximity of territories. Ozyman gets props for creating a lot of scenarios, especially for 1v1 gameplay - an area woefully under-addressed by too many designers - but demerits for his territory naming convention (e.g. Bahamas1, Bahamas2, etc.). This board is a bit choke-pointy for my tastes, but then what do I know? - I hate Antastic!, one of the most popular boards on this site.

5 Votes for Fresco: Fresco is a beautiful semi-miniature (about one continent less than WarGear Warfare). I’m mixed about its use of circle-stlye territories.  Personally I prefer to see them used when a board might otherwise get too convoluted with graphics, but I understand that this is about minimalism. Game-play is fine, but with this one I prefer things a bit more choke-pointy. Hmm.. I am persnickety about choke-points, aren't I? Don’t let those smaller lakes confuse you, most of them have no impact on border connectivity.

3.5 Votes for War of the Roses  &  Mayan Adventure (tie)- I’m not very comfortable voting for myself, so other than to say that I’m particularly pleased with it, I’m going to purposely vote my board in the middle of the pack, giving it a tie with Mayan Adventure, and focus my comments on Mayan Adventure..

I have fond memories playing team games with my brother on this board on Tos. I think it was and still is a beautiful board with a great interworld gateway concept, and can’t help but think with hindsight that its layout was lurking in my subconscious while I was designing Quantum Entanglement.  All that said, it is an import.  I can’t help but wonder that if it was made here, its designer would have taken advantage of some of the features here that could even better support the backstory.

2 Votes for Seven Redux:  This is beautiful board.  It’s really really hard to make a determanistic game that works on this site - Believe me, I know ..I’ve tried.  I think Amidon37’s Hex may be the only one that truly works.  I believe that even Go-Geared needs dice to off-set whatever imbalance is created by the best of opening position set-ups.  My spidey-senses tell me that the opening sequences in SR are just too limited.  I believe this board could be improved with dice.

1 Vote: India  This is a nice first effort by its creator, who I know put a lot of work into it.  I realize that geography and political bounderies are what they are, but I just feel that the lack of chokepoints and wasted space on the map combine to make this a less than stellar board.

disclaimer/clarification - I have played all of these boards either Live, or in Dev AND Review - I hope that counts.  For those that I have played only in Dev and Review, I'm currently playing or trying to play them live in order to satisfy the spirit of the competition as much as possible - but in doing this I'm confident that my assessments won't be affected.

Hmm.. Just re-read the rules and realize that we only get to vote for five boards, so..

1. Pirates

2. Fresco

3-4 (tie) Roses and Mayan

5 Seven R.

6 (no votes) India.

I tried to be a bit more methodical in my voting this time, although everything is still just my opinion, and quite frankly I probably haven't played all these maps quite enough to grok them completely (especially WotR)  I gave scores for Innovation, Graphics, Thematics, and Fun Factor, then totaled them up to get the winners.  I counted Fun Factor 2x as I felt that was most important  Overall, I thought it was a pretty good crop of maps. 

#1) - War of the Roses - 20 - Not the most fun for me personally, but I can see where it's a strong map and why a lot of others like it.  Clearly the most innovative of the bunch.  Even though I rank it first, I do have two 'criticisms'.  I haven't played enough games to say for sure, but it seems to me like the game mechanic adds a lot of risk/chance at the very end, which I'm sure some like, but I'm not particularly fond of.  The other thing I didn't really like was spending so much time hunting on the board, trying to find matching shields.  I'm sure it's something that becomes second nature once you've played enough games, but I'm about 5 games in and still have to look for most of the shields.  Great use of a fun theme, and overall a very well made map, and I bet if I continue to play it, I will grow to like it more & more.

• Innovation: 5
• Graphics: 4
• Fun Factor: 3
• Thematics: 5

#2) - Pirates - 19 - This one is my map, so not too surprising that I find it the most fun.  As I've mentioned before it's inspired by Pirates of Malta on TOS, in that it has lots of small continents, as well as lots of chokepoints, one way borders & of course pirates.  I thought the graphics came out really nice & I'm happy with the way the 'circles of influence' look and behave.  IMO it plays well with large groups & small groups.  Rarely does it end up in crab games, which can be common in larger maps, but at the same time, you rarely get card-driven chain eliminations.

• Innovation: 3
• Graphics: 4
• Fun Factor: 4
• Thematics: 4

#3) Fresco - 14 - I'm not a big fan of small maps, but this one plays well.  Not too much to say about it.  I especially liked the continent bonus 'mini-map'.  A good example of a minimalist style map done well.

• Innovation: 2
• Graphics: 3
• Fun Factor: 3
• Thematics: 3 

#4) Seven Redux - 13 - Only a 1 for innovation since it was a remake, but Raptor did a fantastic job with the graphics.  They really look sharp.

• Innovation: 1
• Graphics: 4
• Fun Factor: 3
• Thematics: 2

#4) India - 13 - I feel like this map had potential, but it's a bit too straightforward.  As Cram mentioned, starting position counts for an awful lot & the upper-right area is a bit too dominant in play for my tastes.  Good map for a first time map-maker, IMO could have been a great map with a bit more time spent play-testing & balancing.

• Innovation: 2
• Graphics: 4
• Fun Factor: 2
• Thematics: 3

#4) Mayan Adventure: 13 - Gave this a 1 for innovation since it's also a remake.  I have not had particularly fun games on this map, but I'm not sure why.  Maybe like Cram said, it's too much of the same in every direction.  Graphics really look good (are they from the original?) and it has a nice theme to it, but for whatever reason it just never clicked with me.

• Innovation: 1
• Garphics: 4
• Fun Factor: 2
• Thematics: 4

Great breakdown Ozy. I will follow your approach after I complete Pirates and India. Wish you had gotten me in a couple of your Pirates dev games as it looks like my kind of map. ;)

1. War of the roses - this is well constructed - easy to play - fun - and unique in design. - it takes a bit to learn, just due to having to sort out where things are and which approach is best to getting at them, but there is lots of room for play growth and development and several different win strategies.  One of the few boards out there where you can leverage luck as a strategy. 

2. Pirates of the Carribean - I can't win at it, but I've enjoyed losing everygame I played here, so that says something.  - a part of me wishes it was just slightly more piratey in theme however. 

3. India: Great map for hordes play, small and intimate, and the rest of you's are right... more time balancing and some willingness to redraw the borders of a map will take a board to the next level.  But well done none the less. 

4. Seven Redux - yeah, I think it's strategically similar to connect 4. Graphically very nice, lots of scenarios to help keep us interested and offer all the combinations of game type. A Very  good implementation of this game overall. 

5. Fresco - Although I feel like the time has been taken to make the territories follow a structure that keeps gameplay interesting, I don't feel like this board has all that much to offer. It's just slightly too open for my liking, and I feel there is a disconnect between the value of the continents and how difficult they are to keep - and therefor is more of a luck centered experience.  It's not bad however. 

6. Doom's mayan adventure - its a good big map, but I don't feel it offers anymore strategy or thematic engagement than any other board.  I also have no connection to the theme, so that might be killing it a little. 

I was going to do an elaborate explanation ala Ozy, Ratsy, M and Cram, but alas a kidney stone is making life pretty miserable, so I'll cut it short.

#1) Pirates of the Caribean.

This looks to be the funnest map. And, I think it can be slightly thematically improved. For example, I might allow the ships to have an artillery barrage attack between ships and ships and some land spots.

#2) War of the Roses

The most innovate, but also most complex.

#3) Fresco

Simple yet elegant.

#4,5,6 tie) India, Mayan Adventure and Seven Redux

Sorry to hear about the kidney stone Thingol.   I hope that gets better soon.  I've heard they're miserable & my dad had several, so I'm wondering if/when I'll be getting them.

Also -

LAST DAY TO VOTE

FOR YOUR FAVORITE MAPS!!!

i'll put in later today

Ok, here's the winners & prizes:

#1) War of the Roses - $100

#2) Pirates of the Caribbean - $50

#3) Fresco - $30

#4) Seven Redux - $10

#5) India - $10

Congratulations M57 and the rest of the winners.  Please contact Tom about the prize money.

Thanks @Ozyman for running the competition thread.  Congrats to all.