Since the scenario isn't tightly connected to board terrain I think you could use any deployment you wanted to.
The intent of the flood mechanic is to avoid a player hiding the 'it' unit in a corner or at the very edge of their deployment zone, or otherwise behind some los blocking terrain. The hope is that a clever player could use units with scouts or decent ranged units to maybe snipe out 'it' from the beginning. I think if both players agreed to not cheese it to much, then you could skip it.
If a unit is destroyed but not by the opponents unit the opponent designates one of their remaining unit as their new it: "If a unit designated as 'it' leaves the battlefield without being destroyed by an opposing players unit, the opposing player must designate one of their units as the new 'it'. It must be on the battlefield or otherwise enter it as soon as able."
This actually sounds really fun because it encourages you to take the most tricked out hero you can.
And AoF has a ton of huge mounts like Dragons.
I don't know if the intent was actually Tough(12-15) Heroes but given the cover image I assume so.
Also because everyone will pick the biggest mount they are possible allowed (even without flying or fast) probably the two powers that makes you invulnerable and always win combats are to strong.
You can charge around units, so ironically it feels like the attacker is going to have to do everything he can to lock down the Ascended - defending - so it doesn't reach his zone. But he literally can't win combats until he takes 3 out of four objectives, that'll be difficult.
If both players had their own Ascended/something similar and could damage each other you'd have a Havoc Hero on a Dragon vs Imperial Hero on a dragon duking it out, or a Lizard T-Rex vs some Zombie Dragon with a Vampire or similar. Which granted, if they were the same the theme would be diluted, but I really like the image of it in my head.
I think you'd need to playtest this a bit but could probably make it really cool.
The idea behind the random table is that you roll it at the start of the turn, but it scores the points at the end of the turn. So at the start of the turn both players will know what will score them a point. Then they can deliberately try to set it up so that their unit is 'it' at the end of the turn and fulfil the requirements to score an extra point.
You might be correct that 12" is to much. The idea was to stop people from hiding their 'it' unit in the corner or deep into their deployment zone but perhaps 6" would be better. The original name for this mission was 'Game of Tag', but I tried to make it more thematic, so a pitched, locked in battle sounded desperate and cool to me.
Moodboard is ok. Flavor is ok. One of the missions I did not submit was focused around a train. It's a really cool concept.
Rules & Complexity This seems extremely complex. The train starts at objective 1. It can move up to 3 objectives a turn at max speed. It needs to reach objective 14 across four turns. 1+(3*4) = 13. Unless there's something I've missed it is impossible for the one driving the train to win even at max speed all 4 turns.
Adherence to theme
There's a progression. But it's a train, and its minimum speed is 0, so it's possible it doesn't move at all, and its speed doesn't continually increase. There's no wagons added. I don't see the growth.
Moodboard looks ok. Flavortext is nice. Alien ecosystems are cool.
Rules Clarity
Some superfluous rules. Not to bad. The rule seems a bit complex. There are three types of special terrain, and they all have their own rules, there's some random effects some of them chain into other effects.
Adherence to Theme
Things only grow conditionally, either on a 6+ on a D6 or if a player includes blast/indirect weapons in their army. Not sure how reliable that is. Alien ecosystem growing in explosive spurts is very on theme though.
Concepts & Originality Moodboard is really good. Models and they match the concept. Flavor is short and to the point. The concept seems straightforward enough.
Rules Clarity Some superfluous rules but not to bad. There are a lot of different npcs. It would have been fun if the moon did something as well. Overall pretty clear what is happening.
Adherence to Theme
There's a defense force that gets launched so there are more and more ships. This is on theme.
Moodboard is ok. Includes Models but no model of a Titan. There is a picture though of two of them fighting. Flavortext is fun. I made several missions I didn't submit and one of them was fighting an NPC Titan. It's a cool concept.
Rules Clarity There are some superfluous rule that repeats the core rules. The game seems modestly complex. I don't think it's to bad. The Titan seems extremely easy to kill since it has no Defense.
Adherence to Theme A Titan that eats stuff and objectives and grows from it is on theme. Running around the terrain and eating things is a cool idea.
Moodboard is ok. Includes Models but no model of a Titan. There is a picture though of two of them fighting. Flavortext is fun. I made several missions I didn't submit and one of them was fighting an NPC Titan. It's a cool concept.
Rules Clarity There are some superfluous rule that repeats the core rules. The game seems modestly complex. I don't think it's to bad. The Titan seems extremely easy to kill since it has no Defense.
Adherence to Theme A Titan that eats stuff and objectives and grows from it is on theme. Running around the terrain and eating things is a cool idea.
Concepts & Originality Moodboard is pretty cool. The flavortext is on point.
Rules Clarity I don't understand.
...after reading trough the rules very carefully I think I understand it. I think it would be simple to play. You just run a durable and fast army up the middle of the board and hope they don't die. Lots to keep track of and set up and understand though.
Adherence to Theme
It's not greatly on theme. The zone might grow by a couple of inches, and units for the defender replenish. The concept of a growing nightmare would be on theme and really cool but the rules doesn't quite model that.
Moodboard is cool and includes actual models and I think they are opr models and they're on theme. Flavortext is short and to the point and opens up for a cool concept.
Rules Clarity Some superfluous rules that only repeat core rules. Not to many npcs. The rules seem modestly complex. The NPC direction is fairly simple, they just stand and fight.
Adherence to Theme Not entirely sure how things grow. It says grows your reputation in the flavor but that's a bit of a stretch.
Moodboard is very cool and evocative. Flavortext is short and to the point.
Rules Clarity
Some superfluous rules already covered by core rules, but could be worse. The rest seems moderately complex. Had to read trough it a couple of times to figure it out.
Adherence to Theme
Gathering more and more resources is on theme. It feels difficult to gather for more than one turn. You'd probably need to leave at turn 3 to reach the drop off point with the speed malus. Theme is there but might be complicated to fulfil.
Moodboard/Cover is cool and very spooky. The guy on the ghost horse with a flaming head especially Flavor text could have been shortened and is a bit generic but works.
Rules Clarity Many superfluous rules already covered by the Core rules. Seem super complex. An npc model and a token mutation effect with five different mutations, multiple phases and bloodlust tokens and invocation tokens and you get tons of VP.
Adherence to Theme It's on theme. Would be better if the Harbinger was guaranteed to spawn. Feels unlikely for it to happen. Would be better if you could pick up the token earlier than end of Turn 2. So the theme is there but it seems... difficult to get it to work?
Cover art is nice. Moodboard is nice. I like the pink AI ship monsters battling it out. Flavor text is not overly long.
Rules Clarity. Many superfluous rules. The deployment is non-standard and scoring seem progressive so their inclusion is necessary. Many other things could have been skipped: Battlefield, Army, Deployment, First Turn, who goes first, how to gain control objectives and more are all unnecessary. Over half the mission just repeat the core rules. The actual special rules seem a bit but not extremely complex. A couple of things to keep track of but not to bad.
Adherence to Theme
It is on theme and a bit cinematic. The gimmick is cool.
