I found this map hard to hold. This is the best well balanced map I made. Although the enemy does break through rather quickly. I am going to to update this map, with a storyline, and make it a little bit easier. Download it now to see if you can hold it. I found it hard on normal and nearly impossible on Very Hard. Comments welcome.
Playability: 2
I played this map at very hard, and found several areas of the map had small glitches which held up my troops, forcing me to have to manually move them again to thier destination. Also, I had to continously open gatehouses to allow the horsemen from around the keep to get down to the action to mop up the engineers (who were doing nothing but sitting near thier trebuchets and catapults drinking coffee)
Balance: 2
The map was just too easy. The majority of the troops just sat around and waited for me to come to them, or came on in small allotments which made them easy to kill. My second tier of the castle was never even assaulted. As mentioned above, the trebuchets and catapults never fired the first stone. A better approach is to have the engineers in place, and have them build the seige equipment. That way they will move closer, and actually operate the equipment.
Creativity; 3
The castle was nice, and I liked the idea behind the levels of terrain stepping upward. But nothing really creative beyond that. And no need for the three enemy keeps to even be on the map.
Map Design: 3
The map itself was good, but pieces of it looked as if the designer had been in a hurry to finish the map, and several elements, especially the area of foaming water, were disproportionate and out of place.
Story/Instructions: 1
Simply put, there was none. Every map should at least have a storyline, and a mini-map is always a ratings booster. Also, there should be an in-map story, as well.
Overall, the basic elements are there, but I believe the designer just needs to hone his craft and perhaps invest a little more time and thought into the maps