You may remember that I acquired a hex cloth back in June that I could use for Commands & Colors Napoleonics games with the Hinton Hunts. C&CN and variations (noteably Tony's Ramekin rules) have been a staple of our little group over the last few years. Although, obviously, I like to play games with Muskets & Marshals, this is not always practical where a visiting General may only have a couple of hours or so available to play. C&CN is a good go-to with its short playing time and easy to remember rules.
The mat has 120mm hexes which work fine with my figure movement trays. What I lacked though was a suitable hex terrain system. Cutting hexes from MDF for hills by hand would be a chore too far for me but fortunately those nice people at Warbases (just down the road from us) do this neatly by laser and luckily 120mm hexes are the maximum size the have in their stock range.
I've glued three 3mm MDF hexes together to make some experimental hills. I tried this first time without any clamps which was silly as they turned out more than a little bit skew-whiff. Having purchased some mini-clamps my second attempt has been far better. For built-up areas I've painted 2mm MDF hexes in brown on which I can place a single 15mm building that can be easily removed when the hex is occupied by troops. I did briefly think about making some scratch built buildings that would allow placement of troops inside but this seems like a lot of effort and I'm happy with my solution.
I probably need to make another 10 or so hills and then possibly some river sections.


That's a very nice looking set up for C&C Ian, great mat. A quick tip for making hills if I may, get a sheet of 5mm foamboard lay an MDF hex on it with a slight blog of blu tac in the centre to hold in position and cut round using a sharp scalpel. I then glue together 2 x 5mm hexes topped with an MDF hex for quick and effective 12mm tall hills. I just use spots of superglue and hold for a few seconds for alignment :) I then edge the hills with my trusty Vallejo Earth texture but you could just use filler :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lee that's an interesting way to do it. I'll probably stick with the 3 x 3mm MDF but I do like the idea of filling the edges as the joins do show!
DeleteThat is a nice photo, I have had a hex set, but they were 100mm across and I think your 120mm just gives the right amount of space for figures and terrain to breathe, while still being able to use the mat on an ordinary table.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm, the overall mat dimension is 1.8 x 1 m so it could just fit on an odinary table I think.
DeleteThat should read 1.6m!
DeleteWonderful Ian. All the better for the presence of your wonderful troops!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
Cheers James, of course this is all tony's fault!
DeleteI should have mentioned that what got me making those ''sandwich'' hex hills was because I'm tight and it was cheaper than stacking expensive MDF :)
ReplyDeleteNowt wrong wit' counting the pennies Lee!
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