Cartographers Map Pack 4: Frozen Expanse Map Guide

Quick answer

To play Cartographers Map Pack 4: Frozen Expanse, choose it as your map sheet before setup, then treat every pre-scouted space as already filled and plan around the frozen lake in the center. Because the lake rewards surrounding it with a large bonus, your first priority each season is claiming the shoreline before opponents box you out.

What the Frozen Expanse map changes at the table

Frozen Expanse is a map pack for either Cartographers or Cartographers Heroes, so you can drop it into whichever edition your group already owns. Each sheet is double-sided and printed with pre-scouted spaces plus a frozen lake, which means part of your map is decided before the first card is flipped. That shifts the opening from pure improvisation to reading a fixed landscape and filling the gaps efficiently.

The pack also adds two ambush cards and one hero card. If you have only played the base game, expect the ambush cards to punish players who leave obvious gaps or ignore terrain placement rules. The hero card gives you a new option to build around, so it is worth reading before you deal.

How to set up a Frozen Expanse game

Give every player a Frozen Expanse sheet with the same side face up, then shuffle the two new ambush cards into the ambush deck and add the hero card to the hero pool. Keep the base terrain deck unchanged. Because the pre-scouted spaces are identical for everyone, the game stays fair while still feeling different from a blank sheet.

One common mistake is mixing map packs mid-game or letting players choose different sides. Decide the side before anyone draws, and note that the lake is the only feature that pays a large surrounding bonus, so it will dominate early decisions.

Reading pre-scouted spaces before you draw

Pre-scouted spaces are already filled in, so they cannot be drawn over or changed. Before the first season, scan your sheet and identify which terrain types are already blocked off. Those blocked zones limit where you can legally place new terrain, and the new terrain placement requirements mean some shapes simply will not fit in certain corners.

Spend thirty seconds marking the edges of the lake and the pre-scouted clusters. Players who skip this step often waste a turn trying to place a shape that has no legal home, which is the fastest way to fall behind in a map pack scoring race.

Planning around the frozen lake

The frozen lake is the centerpiece of this map. Surrounding it earns a large bonus, so the player who controls the ring of spaces around the lake usually wins the map. Because the lake is fixed, the competition is about who can fill those surrounding spaces first and with the right terrain.

Do not treat the lake as scenery. If you leave a gap next to it, an opponent will take it. If you overcommit and ignore the rest of your sheet, you may still lose on the standard scoring categories. Balance is the point: secure the lake bonus while keeping your other regions coherent.

Using the new ambush and hero cards

The two ambush cards in Frozen Expanse are designed to interact with the tighter map. When an ambush is revealed, check whether your pre-scouted spaces already block the worst outcome. If they do, you can often absorb the hit; if not, you may need to spend a turn repairing your map instead of expanding.

The hero card gives you one more tool to plan around. Read it during setup and decide whether it supports a lake-focused strategy or a broader scoring approach. Do not assume it replaces your normal priorities; it adds a layer, it does not rewrite the map.

Step-by-step: playing Frozen Expanse

1. Choose the map side before dealing: Lay out the Frozen Expanse sheets and agree on one side for all players. Do not let anyone flip mid-game. Checkpoint: everyone should have the same pre-scouted layout and lake position.
2. Mark the lake and pre-scouted spaces: Trace the lake edge and circle any pre-scouted clusters. These are fixed and cannot be drawn over, so they define your legal placement zones. Common mistake: assuming you can overwrite a pre-scouted space later.
3. Shuffle in the two ambush cards and hero card: Add the new ambush cards to the ambush deck and the hero card to the hero pool before the first season. Checkpoint: if you forget, the map plays easier than intended.
4. Prioritize the ring around the lake: In the first two seasons, place terrain that touches or surrounds the lake whenever the shape fits legally. The large bonus is worth more than a scattered small region. Common mistake: ignoring the lake until late, when opponents have already claimed the shoreline.
5. Respect the new terrain placement requirements: Frozen Expanse adds placement restrictions, so check each shape against the pre-scouted spaces before committing. If a shape has no legal home, use it elsewhere or skip. Checkpoint: never force a placement that violates the printed terrain rules.
6. Score the lake bonus first, then standard categories: At the end of each season, count the lake surround bonus before moving to normal scoring. This keeps the map pack's main reward visible and prevents disputes. Next step: compare your lake bonus against opponents to see who controlled the center.

Frozen Expanse at a glance

• Cartographers: Map Pack 4, Frozen Expanse: Cartographers: Map Pack 4, Frozen Expanse can be played with either Cartographers or Cartographers Heroes, and includes 75 double-sided new map sheets featuring pre-scouted spaces and a frozen lake, two new ambush cards, and one new hero card. You do not need a specific edition to use it, and the sheet count supports repeated play without running out of fresh maps.
• Cartographers: Serrated Coast Map Pack Bundle: The Cartographers: Serrated Coast Map Pack Bundle includes Maps 4-6 (Frozen Expanse, Kethra's Steppe, and Hornhelm) plus the Champions Mini-Expansion for free, and ordering the bundle saves money compared to buying separately. If you already know you want more than one map pack, the bundle is the cheaper route and adds a mini-expansion you would otherwise buy on its own.
• Cartographers: Skills 1 (Mini-Expansion): Cartographers: Skills 1 (Mini-Expansion) adds 8 cards for more gameplay options to Cartographers and Cartographers Heroes, introducing skill cards that are revealed three at the start and usable once per round by spending gold. Skills give you a way to mitigate bad draws on the tighter Frozen Expanse map, but they add a gold-spending decision each round.