One night recently I just could not get to sleep. The nerves in my right leg were constantly sending pulses of pain from the ankle to my knee and then back again. (I have been told by the Occupational Therapist that this is normal when one begins doing exercise after such a long time being immobile.)
I tried reading ... but just could not get comfortable. There was nothing on TV were watching at that time during the night and YouTube seemed to be overwhelmed with videos that I did not want to watch. In the end, I chose a recorded book (John le Carré's A SMALL TOWN IN GERMANY) to listen to and within a few minutes I had drifted off into sleep ... and then I began to dream!
Somewhat unusually for me, I actually remembered part of my dream when I woke up. It had been about discussing and playing a version of the Fast Play 3 x 3 Portable Wargame on a hex grid rather than a square one. I jotted this down on a notepad that I keep next to my bed ... and promptly forgot about it until yesterday.
Using MS Paint I created a suitable hex grid, and this is what it looks like:
Now, it has ten hexes (shown in green) with three hexes in each outer column and one four hexes in the central column. This is the area over which the battle will take place and a further row of three hexes (shown in light grey) are placed at either end to act as the Reserve Areas.
If I build such a hex grid using some of my Hexon II hexes, it will be approximately 60cm x 30cm, but if I leave off the Reserves Areas (which I know quite a few 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame players do) it will measure approximately 40cm x 30cm, which is approximately the size of an A3 sheet of paper.
I don't know if I will develop this concept any further, but if I have another dream about it, I may well do so!
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Bob, I'm sorry to hear you had such an uncomfortable night. Using hexes has always annoyed me because one cannot deploy units in a straight line, but I've solved this by using the half-hex (dividing from left to right vertices) as the unit of area for deployment, movement and measuring ranges.
ReplyDeleteAs long as one's units are no deeper than the distance from top (or bottom) face to the imaginary dividing line, there is no problem deploying in one or the other half-hex. Using half-hexes also enables me to reduce musketry ranges to more reasonable proportions for the black powder era and to make more subtle differentials in movement and ranges for different weapons or types of unit. And I can still use my Hexon II terrain!
For FP3x3PW games, one could either have the Reserve area occupy two half hexes on each flank and three in the centre, or one half hex on each flank and two in the centre. If one wished, the number of half hexes across the battlefield between the opposing armies could be reduced slightly to make the game even more 'portable'. I would recommend adding some Hexon II half-hexes to enable the rear of the armies' Reserve areas to be a straight line, standardise the depth of those Reserve areas and fill the A4 sheet.
Best wishes,
Arthur
Arthur,
DeleteThanks for your very helpful suggestions. Its certainly given me a lot to think about.
A half hex is a sort of rectangle with the corners cut off, and if I went down the route you are suggesting, I can see that a number of interesting possibilities present themselves. I certainly need to play around with this a bit more ...
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteWow - I was just reading Arthur's comment, and although having had some ideas in that general direction, never really thought of a field 9in effect) of half-hexes. That I shall have to examine more closely!
Shame about the leg problem. Having endured (very occasionally) attacks of gout, I can sure lord relate to the disturbed sleep!
I think I have seen some 10-hex battlefields on facebook, possibly in the PW group. Memory indicates, though, that they have been oriented with the 'long axis' paralleling the front rather than 'normal' to it. That might be something to think about.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteMy leg is a lot better now. The Occupational Therapist tells me that the pain is a definite sign that some of my nerves are beginning to regain some of their 'lost' functioning, and that it is a very positive response to my increased use of strength-building exercise and improved mobility.
Arthur's point has given me lots to think about, and as you will see from my recent blog post, I have begun looking at orienting my hexes along the longer axis. Its not something that I have done before, but I think that I need to look at its potential in more detail.
All the best,
Bob
I'd like to see a game played out on it. Funny you should mention a Portable Wargames dream. The other day I dreamt I was playing an ancients 3x3 variant on a 5x5 board. It was kind of a cross between DBA and the Portable Wargame. Mulling it over, I expect at some point I'll come up with something.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteI hope to be able to try the hexed version of the 3 x 3 tabletop sometime soon, and when I do, I will certainly blog about it.
A cross between DBA and PW would be an interesting project to undertake. The simplest thing to do might be to use the PW game sequence and movement rules and to adopt the DBA combat system.
All the best,
Bob