Haven

by Michael Sims, 2008 Diplomaticcorp

Overview

The Haven was created to be the greatest Fog of War game of all time. It ran in the summer of 2008, in Once Within a Fog so Dreary.

Civilizations

There are 19 civilizations in The Haven. They are:

• Archers
• Barbarians
• Centaurs
• Dwarves
• Elves
• Faeries
• Gnomes
• Hobbits
• Knights
• Leprechauns
• Magicians
• Nomads
• Ogres
• Pirates
• Rogues
• Samurai
• Trolls
• Undead
• Wizards

Victory Conditions

There are 102 supply centers:

• 57 starting home centers
• 36 neutral centers
• 9 special build centers

52 centers are required for a solo victory.

Map Features

As typically happens in games like World War IV, it is usually very difficult to obtain a victory with a majority of supply centers. As nations grow large, it becomes tougher and tougher to keep expanding, and too easy to force a stalemate. The Haven map was designed to change all that, by circumventing normal stalemate lines:

The Underworld

The Haven is played both above and below ground. The underground passages are connected to the overworld at 5 points - one in each corner, and one in the center. The crossover spaces are:

• Mount Nimro (center)
• Cave of Ordeals (northwest)
• Dragons Teeth Mountains (northeast)
• Hoarluk (southwest)
• Nowwhat (southeast)

A unit in a crossover space exists on both maps, even tho it will only show in the overworld portion. A crossover space is connected (via land, for army movement only) to all spaces adjacent to it in both worlds. For example, an army in Yggdrasil (underground) could support a fleet moving from Thon Tholas (overworld) to Cave of Ordeals (both worlds). But once the fleet occupied the Cave of Ordeals, it could not move into either underground space - only an army could do that.

The Eternal Build Centers

There are 9 special centers on the board, designed to create hot spots and extremely desireable centers to capture. This is because any power may build in one of the 9 eternal build centers! There is no delay in the holding of such a center before it is buildable. If you capture one, you may build there as soon as it becomes vacant in a winter turn. The 9 eternal build centers are:

• Telmar (northwest)
• Spiral Castle (northeast)
• Dargaard Keep (west)
• The Julianthes (central / island)
• Myth Drannor (central / island)
• Never Never Land (east)
• Whoville (southwest)
• Krikkit (southeast)
• Spirit Pond (underworld)

The Names

The names are taken from over 75 fantasy books, movies, shows, games, songs, places, mythologies, fairytales, folklore, and a few of them completely made up. The more you can relate to, the more you were probly a fantasy geek growing up!