From the rules, it seems that a player only plays three map tiles total to create the game board: two for his quests and one home tile. After the home tiles are placed no more tiles are placed, Is that how others understand it? Could make for some small maps, though not seeing the tiles yet it's hard to say.

yeah i was considering this too.But it makes sense considering that game has only 6 "years" and that we can move units max 2 areas. So an average tile has got 3 area+3 home areas per player gives us 9 areas per player. So in two player game we have 18 areas, and in 4 player game it gives us 36 areas (and thats the size of the board in promo photos). I think its that will do or otherwise we could have games where players had battle once per game.

I agree. It works out nicely, it just didn't fit into my preconceptions or experience playing other tile games (like TI) where you lay out everything or almost everything.