"Do you use GeoHex?" Topic

Are you using GeoHex terrain products for your miniature wargaming?

I've got a hill set purchased back in '95 or '96 that still serves honorably. By this point the top surface/flocking is unsightly, due to the slings and arrows of time (and claw marks from two generations of cats), but underneath a groundcloth they still proudly serve as the high ground.

Nope

I have a lot of Geohex, I love it but for some reason most of the sets I have were never used.

No.

Still have several sets but have moved on to Hexxon since I now play more in the smaller scales.

It did look very nice but too slow to set up for me.

martin

It looked beautiful, but was time consuming to put up. With three cats around, it had to be taken down after every game.

A gamer friend has boxes, and boxes, and… boxes of Geo-Hex. It was a game changer in its day. It was also exorbitantly expensive! My friend met the designer/maker, and bought numerous more boxes of second's off of him, some years ago. I believe my friend has every type of terrain the guy ever made!

I love Geo-Hex (as long as someone else buys it). It does have its quirks, though. It can be challenging to keep it together, when you are making large setup's with it.

When you cover a table entirely with it, it is gorgeous! On larger tables, I found it challenging: I leaned over a 6-foot wide table, placing my hand on a hill, to avoid falling over, as I reached for the center… My hand pressed into the foam hill, and my heart clenched inside my chest! I feared I had ruined an expensive piece of terrain! I am always very careful, now, when he deploys it.

Having played on it since the mid-90's, I am still a fan of Geo-Hex. It has withstood the test of time, handsomely. For WW II, 6mm games, it is amazing. Cheers!

I have a couple of sets of Geo Hex, use them occasionally. I use it mostly for micro armor games.

I have some and I have used it off and on for 30 years. It seems best on tables designed for it with a little rim around the edges and then covered completely with Geo-Hex, but my tables are not made like that.

I agree about both the price and the damage cats can do to it.

Bunkermeister

I have a few sets but rarely us it as I don't have a table in my house to play on and traveling with it is a major hassle.

My friend who has a permanent table uses it and his table always looks fantastic.

It is great to play upon.

Have and use for 28 and 30mm. Not always the best tool if all you need is a hill, but great if you need a ridge, and indispensable when you need a board which rises toward an edge, or a large hill of a specific shape.

Sometimes requires maintenance, but maintenance is part of miniature warfare. After every game, troops or terrain in need of repair--or just not looking as good as they might--are put aside instead of being put away. A little filler, some paint and a bit of flocking is all you need to keep Geo-Hex as good as the day you bought it.

Sgt Slag, I never had any difficulty such as you describe. Has your friend lost the little polystyrene triangles which keep the pieces aligned?

Used to have a ton of Geohex. Switched over to Hexon II and never looked back.

I should probably sell mine.

Yes, almost every game. It is great stuff and it saves me a lot of time and storage space if I had to build all those hills and ridges. There are two drawbacks first is the connectors and second the look of the terrain. All those gaps between the pieces. I started covering them with fabric from Hobby Lobby which solves that problem. It also prevents the hexes from sliding around so no connectors are needed.

link

link

Yes for 20 years.

robert pipenbrink, my friend does not use the connectors. It is a challenge to keep them together. Any bump does seem to shift them easily.

I agree: for micro-armor (what I referred to as 6mm), Geo-Hex is spectacular. I think Geo-Hex is great, but it has limitations, just like every thing in miniatures gaming. I've tried a few different options, and all have their pro's and their con's. Cheers!

I used Geo-hex for years and literally just disposed of it, as part of a move, last week.

Yes!

No, but I use Hexon and have done for years.

No

I have them (I got a big lot, second hand) and use them. Probably not as often as I could/should.

I don't have the connectors, but I will have a cloth on the table beneath them – usually felt – so they don't slide.

No

Anyone looking to part with their Geo Hex please let me know! I got into miniatures gaming on the tail end of their run and never really got a chance to acquire any.

Russ

Loved games on it. However only had one set. The set has stood the test of time nicely.

Generally use wargamer cloths now with foam hills under.

No, and I'm simply not a fan. My biggest issue with it is that's so light that it doesn't stay in place nicely on the tabletop. I have friends that put it on the table a lot and I just power through, doing my best to be more careful with the ground layer than the models for a change!

Sarge, eto, the connectors came with the set for a reason. Your friend, Sarge, is demonstrating that reason. My advise would be to buy a sheet of polystyrene, paint it black and cut it up into equilateral triangles no more than 1" on a side. Place them in the little grooves at the corners of the Geo-Hex, and it will stop shifting when you bump. Otherwise, it's like never putting your car in "PARK" and complaining when it rolls downhill.

or just do what I said above and you don't need connectors.

I have it. Use it. Love it. Often now I use it under a game mat. Go figure.

Yes I've used it quite a few times, Purchased quite allot of it, also.

I had a lot at one time, but sold it off for other options well over 20 years ago.

Frequently. Strips of packing tape can hold pieces together, if needed.

One of the downsides I see with Geo-Hex, are those plastic clips, used to hold the pieces together. The terrain pieces are foam, and I remember seeing some of the clip slots damaged. They also add a bit of time to assembly and setup, if you use the clips in every corner of every piece. It adds up on a large table size, covered in Geo-Hex. I believe my friend stopped using them to avoid damaging them with the clips (it ain't a perfect world, after all).

I agree that using felt underneath Geo-Hex pieces would go a long way towards keeping them in place. So, too, would using a raised border around the edge of the tabletop, to hold them in place.

One of the joys I find in my gaming hobby, is to find solutions to the diverse issues the hobby presents. There is always some sort of challenge facing us gamers. This keeps it interesting, especially to see how other creative minds find a way to meet said challenges. It really scratches an itch for me, to find a solution. Often I find more than one possible solution -- it's all about choosing an acceptable compromise, and when a better solution comes along, it may be time to shift, again… Cheers!

Isn't Hexon just the UK version of Geohex though? Seems well supported and updated but the shipping costs to the US are prohibitive!

DeRuyter, the Hexon tiles are, I understand, 100mm (4") flat to flat--equivalent to GHQ Terrain Maker, though Hexon sells them in clusters. Geo-Hex are 12" flat to flat. It gives you faster assembly for a large board, but as your ground scale changes there are troubles representing small but important features. I use Geo-Hex in 28mm where a battalion in close order might take up a foot of frontage. In my microscale armies where 1" might equal 100 or 150 yards I generally switch off to something better able to represent that. But you can see that Sgt Slag disagrees with me. I'm sure others do as well.

Sgt Slag, I'm a suspenders and belts man--a mat below the Geo-Hex and clips. Yes, I have seen damaged slots, but they can be fixed. Maintenance is the price you pay for regular usage.

I do use Geo-Hex. I don't use the clips.
link
link

I actually like 4" hexes, and have overlaid a 4" hex grid with dots. They are subtle enough for me to ignore, or use when I want to.

andy

I do not use Geo-Hex but opted for GHQ's Terrain Maker instead.

I actually enjoy making the terrain for my games and like the 4" hexes for their size and versatility. I realize that many here prefer other terrain but this works for me.

To minimize the sliding, I put the hexes down on a felt cloth which acts to keep the hexes from moving around too much.

Here are pictures of a couple of my layouts with Terrain Maker.

A Russian Front game from 2 years ago.

A North Africa game from a week ago.

My winter Terrain Maker. I have not played a game on this set for a long time. Maybe time to do a Bulge or East Front game soon.

Copied from my post on the "Do you make your own hills?" poll:
***
I began by making my own with spray paint and 1" foam insulation, based on what I'd seen other gamers do (back in the early 1980s). 20 years later, I went hog-wild on Geo-Hex and bought a ton of that on the collectors market not long after it went out of production. I wanted something that looked better and was modular. But I found quickly that the drawbacks were many. It took acres of storage; it was easily damaged (don't spill or lean on it! Or even drop a figure on it!); and it took FOREVER to set up a complete game table compared to slinging those foam slabs on the table where needed (and they accepted all manner of abuse without complaint).

I sold off all my Geo Hex collection eventually and went back to those soft foam insulation sheets, cut and painted to need. Set up and transport easily and if they're damaged, costs pennies to replace. Storage is still a bugaboo, but not as bad as rigid Geo Hex slabs.

Geo Hex looks fantastic, but that wasn't enough for me to overcome the practical aspects.

After my own cork system I went to Hexon II but I am in the UK. We use a closh underneath and its not really a problem. Hexon II has connectors but I have never used the. Can't see why it would not work on other brands.

Storage space can be an issue. However If you want big hills you are always going to use that volume regadless of the system Excepy our fold flat hills and they are an aquired taste.
We got Hexon folk to make us some Flat (less than 1/18") hex so the basebourd uses very little volume.

Hexon being plastic is close on invulverable, particularly if you buy ready flocked. There flocked stuff has survived persectly hundreds of game, my onw flocked versions need regular maintainace. Not brok a hex yet and thats at least 15 years and proably more like 20.

Interesting. I have Terrain Maker for microscale games on 3' boards--but I rigged them for connecting tabs as well. usual procedure is to set up Geo-Hex for 6'x8' home 28mm games, with undercloth and connectors the day before the game.

I rig Terrain Maker for the day before the away game, and can usually transport it in two pieces, saving assembly time on the day. Again, TM is used on a cloth, the hexes representing hills and ridges only. I'll confess I do sometimes think of making a frame of 1x4 boards to fit around the 3' square away table.

I had a lot of Geo Hex when it first hit the market in the 1980s. Enough for my 6ft by 12ft table. I finally gave it away for just the cost of shipping it.

I've used the canvass mats made by The Terrain Guy (long out of business) and more recently I've graduated to Cigar Box mats and put pieces of foam hills under the mats.