"Hexing a table for miniatures" Topic

have put up an information page that shows how many hexes are needed per table size, also there is a video that discusses the nature of hexes for figure gamers.

the page is to help those that want to migrate a boardgame to the miniatures tabletop or want to convert miniature rules to a boardgame format.

LINK
link

Very interesting and very useful.

For my permanent Kallistra setup, I ordered halfhexes tomfill in the ugly gaps on the edge of the table. Deifnitely worth it.

That looks just fantastic! I love the Hexon stuff. The shipping is prohibitively expensive to the USA. Maybe less so now that the exchange rate has changed. Dunno.

Hexon looks great and I want it, but not with those horrible shipping prices. For a basic box set, shipping is 30 British pounds to the U.S.! That is almost half the price of the box set. They need a US distributor.

I've recently sent some finished, painted models to the U.S. ans, as they were worth quite a lot, I sent them UPS and insured.

The box was a 50cm cube, weight probably 20kg or thereabouts, and it cost me £80.00 GBP or so.

Postage of big things (or heavy things) ain't cheap!

John T

When I think of how much I have spent in the search of 'my ideal terrain set-up' over the years from cloths to boards to home-made hex set-ups etc, it come to many times more than I have ever spent on Hexon.

I think if it is a product that you like and it suits you, it becomes a worthwhile investment that will give many years of good service, but it is of course hard to evaluate it until you have it, so a bit of a catch-22.

I had been wanting to buy the Hexon II terrain hexes for some time. The more favorable exchange rate for dollars to pounds following the Brexit vote resulted in an order to Kallistra. I made it a very big and expensive order (I got 6 boxes of the standard tiles, 3 flocked and 3 bare, along with lots of single hexes and slope hexes). The postage, while large, was not an large portion of the final cost.

Phil Dutre – I wasn't aware Kalistra sold half-hexes. I'll have to go back and check on this.

Kallistra don't sell half hexes, you need to e-mail Sally. I believe they will do this as bespoke work to order. My understanding is that it is simply a single tile cut into two halves rather than a mould injected stand alone item.

Being the case, I suppose it is something you could attempt yourself if you use a fine toothed saw and made some sort of jig so that every tile was cut the same way – that is probably what I will do.

Nice work normsmith!

I love my Kallistra hexes too.

It looks like you are using Kallistra's own stream pieces.

I looked at them, but decided I wanted my waterways to be lower than ground level, and so I sunk them into the hexes.

I think it makes a big difference. You can see how I did it here…

littlewars

PS,I don't have half-hexes but they sound interesting!

My understanding is that it is simply a single tile cut into two halves rather than a mould injected stand alone item.

Exactly right. I simply asked them to cut the tiles in a pack of single hexes for me. There was no extra charge.

Exactly right. I simply asked them to cut the tiles in a pack of single hexes for me. There was no extra charge.

There was a small extra charge when I ordered half-hexes 2 years or so ago. Their policy might have changed – in either direction :-)

But anyway, my Kallistra terrain with all the add-ons is the best investment for my wargaming I have made over the years. I have green-flocked tiles, desert tiles, sea tiles, …

My first Kallistra box was ordered back in 2005 or 2006, and I'm still using those tiles, although some green flocked tiles start to show signs of discolouring. But then it is my permanent setup, so the exposure to light for so many years probably had some influence :-)

If you;re wondering how the half-hexes look in action, there are photographs all over my blog, but here is one of the best photographs:

link

BTW, you can have them cut side-to-side or point-to-point.
The point-to-point ones are the most useful, since the zig-zags along the other direction are not that objectionable.

Keith that is very effective, I have wondered about doing single hexes that way (when I last saw your site), but didn't think they would fit in with using the 6 cell tiles. Are all your tiles singles?

Phil, interesting that you mention light. I e-mailed Kallistra this morning to ask about the effects of having a semi-permanent set-up in a sun lounge – I am thinking about the UV effects and potential fading.

All of the Kallistra stuff looks great. One day I shall have some!

Normsmith: most are 6-hex tiles. This works because rivers in battles usually go straight across the battlefield. Either from right to left for river crossings or front to back down one flank. So most of the battlefield can be made from 6-hex tiles but you do need a few singles too.

Centrino: yes you should, I'm very very happy with Kallistra's stuff.

Thanks Keith, I will look at this more closely, the impact is impressive.

Using inverted hex tiles to make rivers … clever!!!

Phil, interesting that you mention light. I e-mailed Kallistra this morning to ask about the effects of having a semi-permanent set-up in a sun lounge – I am thinking about the UV effects and potential fading.

I guess it's not different from other flock fading in the sun over the long term. I've seen this on some miniature bases as well, when I leave some troops next to a window for too long.

I don't mind it that much, since the entire table still looks consistent. But I can imagine that at one time, I might want to replace a couple of tiles.

I like what you did with the rivers. Thanks for sharing

Glad you liked the inverted hex rivers.

I got the feeling from their How To Guides that Kallistra use light green static grass (Noch: 50210). This is normally used on model railway layouts which are often a semi-permanent set-up. So I guess it is fairly resistant to decolouration over time, although a long time in bright sunlight will make anything pale.

Anyway thats my best guess, but I'm just jealous because I have to pack mine away after every game!

Keith, Kallistra got back to me and reflected your view.

I am guessing that Phil uses the connector clips on his permanent set-up as the tiles are nice and tight. I don't clip, but perhaps should make a better effort to at least clip the edge like Kallistra do in their video, but the temporary nature of set-up does not encourage it.

I noticed the colour difference when one of my wargaming friends opened a new box, and the tiles looked very green to me. Greener to what I am used to.

So, perhaps:
- there is a difference in colour of the flock between new tiles and tiles from 10 years ago.
- all tiles fade in colour of the years.
- mine have faded visibly because it's my permanent setup and they are exposed to light for many years.

But as I said, the effect is minor. It's not as of my tiles are not green anymore, they are green, it's just that have lost a certain crispness (for lack of a better word). I have added terrain elements over the years, and the colour difference is not objectionable at all.

E.g. the single hex slope elements on the right side of my table in the picture above were purchased last year. The tiles were bought over 10 years ago. You have to look carefully to see a difference.