Ancient Greece

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Looking good to me.

We should wait for a couple of people to comment on it in case we have missed anything or the game-play needs tweaking.

In the meantime, perhaps you could input it into your simulator and see how it plays?

I feel there needs to be an extra outlet from and to Troy which keeps the 2p theme working and fair. Sparta vs Troy.
I've only added one extra connection for suggestion. Troy to Scycros (island) thoughts? maybe it helps with the choke points issue in the north.


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The extra connection will make the map a bit easier. I think it's a good choice.

Was fun to see the font develop on this. Started out pretty unreadable to me, and now it looks fantastic!

Labels are SO hard because there's so many different names used. Cities, tribes and regions from so many periods of history! I know the google maps you've used, lol, looked at a lot of them myself. Just a few suggestions you might want to consider, I tried to find stuff that related to the Iliad that people might recognize more than some of the more esoteric names, but still keep it pretty accurate geographic/historical/mythological wise.

 Graeca Ilyria you can change to Chaonia. Deriopos should probably be Epirus? Aeolia can be Mysia. Phtiotis is the modern name, Phthia the ancient, also the home of Achilles. I would change Thessaliotis to just Thessaly and switch it to where Olympus is. Then switch Phthia to where Thessaliotis is. And rename current Phthiotis to Malia. If you want to keep Olympus in the map for the name recognition you could switch out Perrhabia or Peira instead. Since they both also border. N. Locris is just Doris. Save you some space in that area where it's all built up. Maybe switch Paeonia to Macedon. Ida to Knossos. Thrace islands to Samothrace or Imbros (Samothrace is more famous, Imbros has more people and fits more with the 'os theme, but it's now Turkish and has an official Turkish name that no one can pronounce lol) or at least Thracian islands. Carpathus maybe Karpathos, again to fit the Greek 'os theme.

I would give consideration to changing Achaea to Mycenae and changing the title to Achaeans vs. Trojans. Or Argives vs. Trojans. Or Mycenaeans vs. Trojans lol. So many names. Perhaps just keep Achaea and do Mycenaeans vs. Trojans, then you eliminate the duplication of names. Also, if you want, Sparta to Laconia and Athens to Attica. Regions instead of cities.

And I KNOW it would probably throw off the territory count. But Messinia should really be split in two with the northern bit called Elis.

OMG I'm so sorry for all that. I like names lol.

Ancient Greece with modern latitude/longitude lines in the background?

Feel like the texture might be too prominent.

But at the same time, I feel like both of those things give it a very globe/rounded feel. It tricks the eye into thinking it's almost 3D.

Scyros and Sporades are... there's just something off. One, the colors. They're kind of all similar between the Pink of Troy, Red of Thessaly and Beige of Boeotia. There's a couple solutions. Simplest is just play with the shades a bit. But I'd be in favor or switching them both into the Green island region. Remove the Euboea/Scyros connection and add one to Euboea/Sporades. And then switch the connection from Scyros/Troy to Scyros/Lemnos, or Sporades/Lemnos. Make that new region a +3. Then push the border of Magnesia so it insulates Olympus and make the territory +3.

Good luck!

Edits. Changed suggested names. I added the 57th territory Ellis.

Theme name, Spartan vs Trojans I think just works because the regular person knows what a Spartan is, and that a Trojan has
something to do with a Trojan horse and the city of Troy. An Achaean or Mycenaean, isn't something I was too sure of before making
this map, until rewatching the movie Troy or 300 sequels and hearing them and going "ahh". Helen is known as Helen of Sparta or Troy,
and thus the scenario, plus I just think Spartans vs Trojans sounds cool lol.
Names like MT Olympus, Athens, Sparta and Troy although cities, I like for the same reason, familiarity.

I did have a go at your suggestion but the distance of the islands, and messiness of connections wasn't working well.

Reverted to the original idea, but thinned the drop shadow on the islands for the colour to distinct them to it's region better.


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Looks great! I thought it might be a bit difficult to change that stuff around, but thinking outside the box sometimes helps! The colors look much more distinct now, so no issue.

I had a feeling you'd stick with the Spartan thing. And I get it. My counterpoint to this would be most people who get into Risk and maps are also pretty big history buffs. And Spartans just isn't correct. One of the main points of the Iliad is it was supposed to be about Greeks coming together as one people, not just a bunch of city states with individual goals. Sparta is mentioned twice in the text. It's just...not important. Achaeans really is the word you want. Although plain old Greeks would be fine too. Okay, off the soap box.

Gameplay looks good. I'm not seeing any major issues. Excellent mix of small/medium regions. The only thing I would maybe suggest is bumping the bonus for Boeotia. The formula for bonuses doesn't always scale well for big regions. The region is so central and would probably not be able to be held for very long. A 6 or even 7 bonus wouldn't be inappropriate, although I'd say 6 would be fair. Honestly, if you already have it controlled to where you can utilize the chokepoints for the larger map, an extra 1 or 2 reinforcements are not going to make a difference, that person has probably already won the game.

Again, just to me I'd wait for other people's opinions, the texture in the background looks a little too prominent. Especially in the sea and Asia Minor.

Great work as always Hood!

Probably doesn't need a theme title. The thought just came as I considered using Troy and Sparta labels, and what if the two greatly
known cities could work as a theme in a 2p caps game. It wouldn't be too incorrect. The war started because a Trojan stole a Spartans
wife. King Agamenmon who eventually led the whole of Greece in war, did it in honour of his brother King Menalaus of Sparta. The rise
of Sparta was after the fall of Troy. Sparta might not have been that important during the Illiad, or was it?
King Agamenmon of Mycenae and King Menalaus of Sparta are brothers who were both married to Spartan princesses. Was Agamenmon a king
because he married a Spartan princess? lol, anyway, I don't feel that it is too wrong, and I reckon historians might forgive the title
for a board game. . I've enjoyed making the map, and more fascinated with Greek history/mythology.

I understand the texture thoughts. I had gone to bed thinking it looked good, and woke up thinking hmmm, I dunno.
I had already started on a new look (very ugly) until I read the feedback, Vexer said it was beautiful and had potential, and Matty/Cireon
said it looked good. I tested it with the darkness of the game room and think it looks better against that.

Agree bout the yellow region bonus.
Ancient Greece bonus change

I agree with this. My Greek history is limited to the films I have watched.
The Trojan Horse & The 300 Spartans came out 1 year apart (1961 & 1962) and although they were both before my time, these films were always on TV in the holidays in the UK in the late 60's and early 70's.
I think the theme will be recognisable by a large majority of map users.

I also like the texture, the denim makes it look like a canvas map.

(Edit) On Cap suggestions, the 3p has 5,6,8 steps, there is a 6,6,6 with Pelagonia & Messinia, but it messes up the;

feedback

I like axo's suggestion.."Clash of Titans"

Sounds good as a theme, the player can then imagine which conflict they are in with most of the main districts now included.

Theme name edit. Clash of the Titans 1200 bc
capitals edit.

2 player 6,6 steps (border cap)

3 player 6,6,6 steps (border cap) triangle

4 player 5,5,5,5 steps (inland cap) 

5 player 5,5,5,5,5 steps (inland cap) 

6 player 4,4,4,4,4,4 steps (inland cap) 

7 player 4,4,4,4,4,4,4 steps (inland cap) 

8 player 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,3 steps (inland cap) 

9 player 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,3,3 steps (inland cap) 

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The 5p Cap in Rhodes is just a 3 step from Chios you can make it 4 by moving it to Karpathos, however, this makes that region defendable with a Cap on 1 of 2 borders.
Alternatively, you could get rid of the Chios - Ionia connection.

Could you please also move the Karpothos label more South West.

If you are removing the Chios - Ionia connection, I will wait before reviewing the other Cap positions, as it will change the steps for some.

The mountain at Doris needs to break through the border line, similar to that at Thessaly.

Chios - Ionia connection removed.
Karpothos label moved.

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Cheers Hood.
I'll look at Caps later.