Fantastic Maps – Watchfire Keep

By Thilo Graf

This latest instalment of Jonathan Robert’s Fantastic Maps-line comes as a pdf with 35 pages, 1page front cover, 1 page how-to-use.

In tradition with the series of excellent and beautiful maps that has continuously received top ratings from yours truly, the pdf begins with a one-page overview of the map before offering 17 pages of the same map, blown up for use with miniatures in both full colour and grayscale. All the maps come with grids that facilitate using them as combat terrain.

It is here I’d like to mention that watchfire keeps feature prominently in the borders of my nations and thus this map is very appreciated – just think of LotR or similar fare to recall how iconic these locales can be. It should also be noted that, while the keep does feature a prominent stack of wood piled together, this could also be for a religious rite (Burn the Witch/Wickerman, anyone?) or simply a stacked up pile for the winter that has been arranged so it can easily be set ablaze when the enemy approaches, offering more uses than necessarily intended. The keep features 4 large towers and two smaller ones as well as three buildings, enough room for a small garrison and/or a group adventurers seeking shelter… or trying t take the keep!

In tradition of the series, we also get maptool-files, high-res jpegs of the keep, a bonfire png-file and an alternate version of the maps in A4-format for Europeans like yours truly. There are no maps of the interiors of the keep’s buildings, but if you need some inspiration, just consult your KQ 18, the adventure featuring this map can be found there, albeit not with as much support, miniature-friendly versions etc.

Conclusion:

What can I say, this latest instalment of Jonathan Robert’s beautiful cartography once again leaves (almost) nothing to be desired – the map is beautiful, the pdfs are all bookmarked and the map serves an as of yet uncovered niche within my map-array and comes with the plethora of support we know from the series. While I consider the lack of interior maps a bit of a drawback, I do like the idea of presenting a watchfire keep map enough to refrain from detracting a whole star, resulting in a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

Endzeitgeist out.

Fantastic Maps – Watchfire Keep is available from: