I've had some interesting feedback from Arthur1815, Mark Cordone, and Archduke Piccolo and I have been playing around with my hexed version of the 3 x 3 Fast Play Portable Wargame. In my last blog post, my hex grid layout looked like this:
My first change was to add a half-hex to each of the three hex rows (as suggested by Arthur1815) ...
... and this made the whole thing look better. (I think that the aesthetic side of wargaming is something that should not be ignored. I'm a great believer if something looks right, it probably is.)
I then divided each hex into two (again, as suggested by Arthur1815).
This immediately increases the number of grid areas.
I then changed the full-size Reserve Area grid areas to half-hex, which makes the whole thing far more aesthetically pleasing.
My 15mm Belle Époque armies are mounted on the following sized bases (width x depth):
- Infantry: 40mm x 20mm
- Cavalry: 40mm x 30mm
- Artillery: 40mm x 40mm
- Machine guns: 40mm x 30mm
The half-hex measures 10cm across and 5.8cm high ... so I can fit two single-base infantry and/or cavalry units or an artillery unit in each half-hex.
This means that the single-base infantry and cavalry unit can advance straight ahead or obliquely BUT the artillery unit may only advance obliquely.
It is worth noting that Archduke Piccolo is also looking at the use of half-hexes, and I thoroughly recommend that anyone who has found this blog spot interesting should read his recent blog post.
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Interesting, I'm looking forward to seeing it play out. I've been doing some experiments with squares in the reserve area. Doesn't make any real difference with offset squares, but they also present the problem of units not moving directly forward. However I really like it for straight 3x3 grids.
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteI've been playing around with various ideas using bits of hexed paper and a pen as well as looking at various boardgames. Interestingly, the latter are almost overwhelmingly flat side uppermost but with movement going across the board (i.e. towards the point of the the hexes).
The offset square grid does have several advantages over the hex or standard square grids ... but although I have tried using one, I still prefer either a hex grid or a standard square grid.
All the best,
Bob