Review: Rite Publishing – Trader’s Wharf (Fantastic Maps)

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Fantastic Maps: Trader’s Wharf
Trader’s Wharf is a fantasy battlemap, for the Shadowlands campaign setting, with cartography by Jonathan Roberts and published by Rite Publishing.
By Lord Mhor
RP-FM-SL-Traders-Warf

Learn more about Trader’s Wharf here
Purchase Trader’s Wharf here
Find other Fantastic Maps products here

Trader’s Wharf is perfect for a fantasy encounter by the sea or the river. The depicted terrain includes a small merchant ship docked on the shore next to a nice little warehouse, with quality terrain features for fantasy encounters. This battlemap is perfect for some serious medieval mayhem!

OVERALL

This is a beautiful battlemap. The art is excellent and the terrain allows the characters or their antagonists to approach the dock from land or sea with equal facility. What players get, once the sheets are assembled, is an artistic depiction of a medieval or renaissance private dock with suitable surroundings.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 10 out of 10
Jonathan Roberts has done an excellent job with this publication, which includes a square-grid depiction in full color as well as one in printer-friendly greyscale. The panels are sized such that they can be printed on both letter or A4 paper. Owners of this product should print this at actual size, with no scaling. There are complete instructions, and the panels are set with an overlap for precise positioning and taping. The white edges can be entirely removed and the pieces will combine seamlessly. One excellent way to make this last is to get adhesive lamination sheets from an office supply store and cover the sections, cutting the plastic to fit. Alternately, a print shop can easily laminate the sections. Either way, once assembled and taped together using the slight overlap provided, nothing shifts or stains when players get excited and spill their beverages during a hasty boarding action or while attempting to pillage the warehouse.

Visual Appeal: 9 out of 10
If you’ve been spoiled by multiple-layer PDF renditions, be aware that this is a single-layer file, so what you see is what you get. In my opinion, this map is perfect. The debris and stacked items inside the warehouse are well-depicted, as is the dock and surrounding terrain. The color selections are beautiful, and they give this battlemat a realistic appearance. The ship at the dock is well-rendered. If you’ve seen the Princess Bride movie, this ship is very close to the size and shape of the ship operated by Vizzini the Sicilian villain, roughly 60 feet from bow to stern, and is fully detailed in another product: Fantastic Maps – Merchantman. If you want internal details of the lower decks or would like to float off in the ship after leaving the dock, pick up that product as well.

Desire to Use: 10 out of 10
As a high fantasy genre gamer, I’m using this! I’ve already laminated my set and will be enjoying it at the next gaming convention. This battlemap perfectly depicts a shoreline haven for characters or their foes. Whether the characters are armed with swords, crossbows, or magic wands, this is an excellent product for the ragged edge between the land and sea!

Overall: 10 out of 10
Trader’s Wharf is a high-quality addition to your fantasy environments and another fine product from Rite Publishing. Trader’s Wharf allows the Game Master to establish a rich tactical shoreline situation that is visually appealing.

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