Hexon Starter set??

[TriOpticon]

I've emailed Kallistra this but it seems they are away until July 7th so I thought I would go ahead and post here to see what others might suggest.

Hello! I am interested in purchasing some of the Hexon terrain but I have a few questions. I am in the USA so I know shipping is going to be painful so I wanted to place an order that would see me able to have plenty of variety in my terrain and only order smaller things in the future.

First, I play 3mm modern and 6mm SciFi, Fantasy and Ancients/Dark Ages/Medieval. Mass battles, of course. I also do some spaceship gaming. I also play a lot of board wargames and would love to put some of those into miniatures

The largest size that I could make is 8 foot x 4 foot. Not that I would always play on a table that big so let’s assume a 6x4 table would be the typical gaming space.

I was thinking of getting:
3 of HEXON II Box Set - TRILPE 7 MIX – So this should give me 21 of each type to get a good mix and would be enough for an 8x4 table.
1 of HEXON II Box Set – BLACK – Just a small set for some spaceship gaming, although I could get more of this also. I need to check some of my hex games for typical table size

My uncertainty comes to how much road and brooks to get, along with is it better to get single hex or multi-hex pieces? I thought about getting each of the road and stream sets which include multi-hex pieces and single pieces which should give me plenty of variety.

Same goes for hills, escarpments, mountains…

I'll take a look at some of my hex based games to see some of the scenarios they setup to help me get an idea, also.

I’ve searched the forums and TMP but haven’t found anything that directly answers my questions (but everyone raves about the product so I feel confident about buying it).

So I guess I am looking for some suggestions for a really nice starter set that would keep me happy for awhile.

Most likely I would order at the end of July after I attend Historicon.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[dane]

Hi

on the web site there are some blank hexon layouts here https://www.kallistra.co.uk/index.php?page=72
what I have done is laminate the one that fits my table and have drawn out and laminated all the hexon scenery i have so i can work on designing tables for games you could do it for the roads/streams you wantand see how they fit.

Dane

[TriOpticon]

Dane, that is a good idea. I was also looking through some of my board wargames and checking out what they would need for terrain, etc. Along with some pictures of non-hex games I've played to get a sense of how much terrain we use.

Do you find yourself using single-hex terrain pieces more than multi-hex pieces?

I may import some of those blank layouts into PHOTOSHOP and draw them out that way also.

I wonder if anyone has created a map set for TileEd to build layouts. That would be nice.

Thanks again, Dane!

[dane]

Hi

it depends on the game if we are in a more rural setting the large multi hexes are good built up arears single and double hexes are more useful

Dane

[TriOpticon]

As I am looking at maps and such and I try to convert them to hex as needed, I definitely see the benefit of both single and multi-hex pieces.

[Norm]

One box of tiles will give you about 4' X 3'

My own preference is towards the two tone earth/grass mix for tiles and then to have the three tone for hills and things, so that they stand out from an anonymous background.

How you lay your tiles will matter, I prefer to play from the wide edge of the table and have the hex vertex (point) pointing toward, so that each unit has two units in front of them (like in Commands and Colors). If you have the flat edge forward (I think the Kallistra rules use the tiles that way) then you may need a different number of tiles that I use, BUT at 4 foot wide I am using 6 tiles to give me 12 hexes wide and at 42 inches deep, I can get 4 tiles deep for 12 hexes that way, so 24 tiles that way or on a 3 foot deep table, I can get 3 tiles (or 9 hexes).

Once you establish the size of your hex field, I would buy enough stream to run the length longways of the table once and enough road to either do that twice or enough to go from each table edge to the other side once (so that would be two lengths).

For hills, you have an option of going with pre-mould or slopes. To cover all your configurations you will need quite a bit of slope plus extra flat tiles to build up height - I would be tempted to leave them for a much later purchase and instead buy the pre-mould. The large 15 hex hill is very useful, as are the 8 cell hills. I would also throw in a 3, a couple of 2's and a few single hex hills. I would leave escarpments for another order if budget is an issue.

I would also order some blank templates of differing sizes, as they are useful for you making your own terrain and mounting buildings on etc. If you do that, also buy a bag of their flock that they use toto cover the tiles, so that you can get your bases to match.

On the subject of of pre-flock or not, I realise there is a price difference, but in my experience, their flocking is several times more effective and better looking than I have been able to do. If you want toI texture your terrain instead of universal flocking then unflockd terrain is obviously the way to go. In your mind needs to be future compatibility.

In some ways you need to have this and use it to get a better understanding of where you want to go with it, so in your mind it is worth relegating some thing to what will almost certainly form a second order.

I do like their 2 hex wide stream. This page in the below link may help.

http://commanders.simdif.com/painting-table.html

[TriOpticon]

Norm, thanks for that reply. Extremely helpful. That link also had a lot of good information plus a nice video to show the various pieces and the sort of things that can be done with other terrain, blank templates, etc.

I am definitely going with pre-flocked. I've heard nothing but praise for their pre-flocked items and I admit I am a bit lazy/slow when it comes to doing terrain. I would rather be able to get it onto the table and playing as soon as it arrives.

Lots of things to think about.

Thanks again!

[Sally]

Hi TriOpticon, welcome to the forum. Sorry for the slight delay, we have been away for a few days and are now catching-up with correspondence. Please check your email inbox as Paul has responded to your enquiry. I hope you find the email helpful.

[TriOpticon]

Thank you, Sally. His email was extremely helpful.