The impact a map can have on a game is often overlooked. A good strategy incorporates a tactically-sound map choice. But when it comes to locale, sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. We're here to help you make smart decisions when it comes to HeroClix real estate.


Official Title: Street Riot
Environment: Outdoor
Map on Reverse: None
Dimensions: 24" x 36" (16x24 squares)
Set: ROC 2019
Status: Modern

So, just to let you guys know, there was a bit of confusion over which maps were going to be released for the ROC in February and March. I previously said that the Courthouse from a few weeks ago was going to be in February with the idea that this map, "Street Riot" would be released in March, and it ended up being the other way around. This map is already available, and anyone interested in the Courthouse will have to wait another week to pick it up. At any rate, we got the next Monthly ROC map for you! Capping off our theme of Law and Order, may I present the Street Riot!

Making Yourself At Home


Street Riot is our first Outdoor map of the season, and is characterized by two medium-sized areas of Elevated rooftops directly in front of each opposing Starting Zone, with a valley of cars and burning cars in between the two. At face value, this gives both players a semi-fortified high ground to settle in to very easily from their own Starting Zone, with a no man's land in between that you can shoot down in to. However, one thing to pay attention to is that the Blocking littered throughout the streets. While this won't prevent you from firing from one rooftop to the other, those kinds of firefights are unlikely because both players would have to commit to that strategy AND have a Range of at least 10, which is unusual in any meta scene that doesn't include Sniper Rifle Constructs. That said, if you did have a high Range team like that, it wouldn't be hard to catch an unwary opponent off guard by luring them on to their rooftop, and then firing at them before they realize they need to go for cover.

In most cases, however, one or both players will feel safer by slowly moving in to the central area and using the Blocking terrain along the West side as cover. There's a very similar layout of Hindering terrain on the East side, which can also be useful, but unless you're sporting Stealth, many players won't find it as useful as simply using the Blocking terrain, which will still work for shots coming from a rooftop. This means that while the center of the map can seem like a kill spot for snipers, it's actually rife with cover. If you're planning on using Snipers, I'd recommend someone who can take Blocking off the board one way or another. Otherwise, this is actually a better map for running up to snipers, and engaging in a short or mid range fight.

It's worth noting that while characters with Flight are normally better off on Outdoor maps (or anywhere), the advantage is less pronounced here. Most of the Hindering and Blocking terrain is done in small clumps, and it's almost as easy to walk around as through, so that's not an issue. The largest obstacle Grounded characters will have to deal with is literally right in front of them when they start the game, and while the Elevated is definitely prominent, it's fairly simple to surmount. The largest obstacle you might face are tie-ups for people trying to climb the ladders, so that's worth noting (either as something to avoid or something you might want to use for yourself).

Instead of directly engaging the enemy, it's worth noting the map as a good way to avoid them for a few turns. Setting up snipers on the rooftop in front of your starting area, along with some cheap tie-ups can stall for a lot of time, especially against a Grounded enemy. While there are four ways to get up and down each rooftop, they're spacious and more than a little out of the way from each other, so rerouting can cost a lot of Movement. Additionally, if you hang back and use Sidestep to peek over the edge, you're likely too far away from the other rooftop to be shot at (as I mentioned before), but also hidden by the Elevated edge from the ground forces until you want to be. This means that your opponent will likely have to commit something tempting to draw your sniper out, or waste more time trying to sneak past it. This can give other characters more time to hang out in your starting zone and spin dials or make pogs if that's your game, and the map does show some strong potential for that kind of thing, especially against Grounded teams.


Stuck in a Lease

When it comes to choosing a Starting Zone, there's a couple things to note here. The first thing is that between the North and South Starting Zones, Grounded characters will have a slightly easier time crossing the Northern Starting Zone than the Southern one because it's a relatively straight shot, so if you have a lot of Grounded characters and want to get on or past the Elevated terrain more quickly, the Northern Starting Zone is for you. That said, there's another, probably more important thing to pay attention to, and that is the orientation of the Blocking terrain near the center. You see, the majority is moving at a diagonal in a NW-SE line. That doesn't sound like a lot, but the difference can be important. When you're traveling through the middle, you'll likely want to use the Blocking terrain in the center for cover, and the cover is orientated so that people on the Southern rooftop can still make diagonal Lines of Fire down a lot of that area while the Northern rooftop has a more difficult time with similar Lines of Fire. So, if you think you'll be crossing the middle at some point, or simply want to shoot at the other player while they're crossing the middle, my recommendation is to take the Southern Starting Zone for those Lines of Fire (or at least to keep your opponent from having them).


This map is nice enough to give you as couple of options on how you want to handle it. You can try to cross the middle if your team is one that needs to get up close, or you can simply hang back to your rooftop, and wait for enemies to try and come at you. Make sure to keep away from the edge if you have Movement powers like Sidestep or Running Shot. It's unlikely that your opponent will be able to shoot at you from their rooftop, but stranger things have happened, and you still don't want them to have the (more likely) option of simply running off of their rooftop to cheap shot you.

Vacation Spots

I think casual games are really where the organized chaos of this map shines. The two buildings create a lot of space to fight not only in front of, but around, and it's great for battles that want to spill in to several areas, because you can have multiple fights all over the map with just enough space that they won't all bleed in to each other. This is actually an ideal map for any kind of control point or capture the flag type game, each rooftop providing ample fortification while the middle area is sort of a no man's land.

It’s Getting Kinda Crowded

So, if you want to get crazy and place multiple players on this map, the rooftops actually do a good job of separating the East and West sides of the map, so each player will have an option of either attacking the people on the other side of their rooftop, or using the rooftop for cover while you attack someone directly North or South of you. Because of the traffic spillover, it's difficult to connect the map to itself either East or West, but connecting it to itself North or South fits very organically. Even better, I've been holding on to this over the last few months, and it's pretty cool.


All four maps during this Quarter are designed to connect together to create an extremely large Indoor/Outdoor map with plenty of nooks, crannies, and corners to fight to or from. This makes the maps great to collect together, and even better if you happen to have multiples of the Prison Tier, since it can connect with itself with or even without the Battle Royale map. I have to say I like this a lot, especially since it manages to do it without each area feeling completely homogenous with each other.


I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here

adw009 Punisher is a fun high damage, lost cost figure that can take good advantage of the area. He can't quite hit from one rooftop to the other, but he's within the Rule of 3 range if you have some people to increase his Range, and you can always give him one of the weapons from the Punisher Van, or just some Lantern constructs. aou045 Black Panther isn't a bad bet if you want to get a little closer. He ignores most of the terrain for Movement, and can make the most use of either the Blocking or Hindering terrain to move up while his opponents are unable to pick him off. If you happen to be exceptionally lucky or exceptionally well off, eax067 Captain Marvel isn't a bad choice here either. He's got an respectable Range, can ignore all of the cover in the center of the map, and has no trouble pulling back or moving in if you want to control when he or if he dies with all of the extra terrain types. ai032 Nova can also have a lot of fun here, using the middle as cover while he Hypersonics around, and getting Energy Shield/Deflection in the meantime as long as he keeps on the move.



This Side Up

Theme: 4/5

A good way to freshen up the "street map" design with some new aesthetics. You've got cop cars, ambulances, free floating money, burning vehicles, and some cool effects with the smoke and the police lights.

Clarity: 4/5

This is a relatively straightforward map for how much is going on. That said, the fires kind of blend in with the Blocking terrain markers, and there's just a bit going on in the middle. Each end of the map isn't so bad, but that street in the middle, where the action is most likely to be, just has a lot going on, both aesthetically and in terms of terrain, so it can be difficult to find cover, especially good cover.

Tactical Impact: 3/5

The map is either good for excessively long Range teams or terrible for them. It's either a map where your characters are very exposed, or it's a map where you have the cover you need to move in close. Really it's somewhere between the two, and there are places and strategies for both players to advance themselves.

Balance: 4/5

Overall, there's plenty of area for characters of all types to shine, which I was mentioning earlier. I'd also point out that I personally feel like the Southern Starting zone has a bit of advantage over the Northern one, which is actually pretty nice for anyone "stuck" on this map because they lost a roll off. It's subtle, and not as noticeable as some other maps with Starting Zone based advantages, but it's definitely there.

Terrain Diversity: 3/5

Pretty typical fair with Hindering, Blocking, and Elevated scattered around the map. It's all in healthy amounts, though it can kind of feel like most of the Blocking or Elevated is regulated to specific areas.

Overall: 4/5

A solid street map aesthetic combined with some cool visual flairs and a standard fortifiable Starting Areas on either side of a more chaotic and dangerous middle. The fact that we haven't even gotten a map like this in a while actually makes it worth a look, and the fact that it combines with 4 other maps along similar themes is always a good play in my book.

In the Neighborhood

Ace Street
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=579522

Genosha
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=588033

The Trenches
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=601001



You can get this map for yourself over at the ROC Store at http://gamermats.com/roc

Shoutout to eMouse's Heroclix Atlas for the easy to read map layouts.

Not digging this one as much as the others we've seen do far.