I have been playing a few small ancient naval games with 5 to 10 ships per side. There is one thing I have found frustrating, and that is the measuring and checking of angles for ramming in my games. So yesterday I decided to move to a hex grid and cut out a template for 4 inch (side to side) hexagon in preparation. This evening I have been marking up the hex grid with the template, not marking the whole hex, just marking the corners of the hex. Having laboriously completed this carefully to avoid misshaped hexes, I then went over dabbing on a bluey-grey using a piece of cut foam in the form of a wedge. My hope was to make the dabs look like waves in the hope of disguising to a certain extent the hex look.
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| The completed blue felt gaming mat. |
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| Ancient ships in the hexes. They all face one side of the hex. |
I chose the 4 inch hex because this will also work with my Napoleonic and WW2 ships.
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| My semi-flat Napoleonic ships made from MDF wood and cardboard. |
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| My balsa wood WW2 ships are a slightly snugger fit to the hex. |
Now that I have the hex gaming mat all prepared, I need to revisit the rules and amend them to work on a hex grid. I suspect the biggest challenge will be differentiating the different ship speeds (move distances).
Another approach is just to mark the centres of the hex (ie each of the 3 corners of an equilateral triangle) and the principle is that ships always have to face towards another dot. The free game rules on the War Artisan website show this. http://warartisan.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/SampleGame.207214805.pdf
ReplyDeleteYour waves look very convincing!
Simon
Hi Simon, thanks for the link I will be having a look. The marking of the centre is an approach I have not yet tried. Cheers Peter
DeleteI like the effect (and the hexes). I look forward to so battle reports with pictures taken on this mat.
ReplyDeleteThanks. There will definitely be a few battle reports once I start my ancients campaign.
DeleteSurprisingly effective at disguising the hexes!
ReplyDeleteThanks. The photo seems to make the waves stand out more than they actually do.
DeleteTo be honest I find the dots a bit confusing to the eye, although my eyesight is not great anymore so it may just be me. Thinking about other marking methods it occurred to me you could use narrow tape (e.g. the stuff used for black lines on whiteboards about 3-4mm wide) to mark out the hex borders (you've got spots for a guide) and then do a series of light sprays with a few different shades of blue. Peeling it off should leave the spots, albeit toned down a bit by the spraying but hopefully also some discernable, but not obvious hex borders. If you do I would strongly recommend a trial on the back or a spare off-cut first as it's not something I have tried myself.
ReplyDeleteIt is less confusing when there are ships on the tabletop. On occasion in some recent battles I have had to double check the ranges. Thanks for another alternative, I will be looking at other options when it comes time to making another mat.
DeleteNaval warfare through the ages! Those ___remes (__ 'cause I don't know how many decks!) are looking especially marvellous Peter.
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Hi James, thanks. The smaller models I will treat as Triremes and the larger ones as Quadriremes or Quinquiremes. Regards, Peter
DeleteLooks great, splendid ships of different periods!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteHow did you mark these? Paint? Chalk?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of doing something like this, except that I'm using a thick blanket rather than a proper mat at the moment.
I used paint, a watered down white acrylic, and went over a second time where they were a bit watery. The blue material is felt so rather than use a paint brush I cut a small triangle of sponge/foam and dabbed on the white. Good luck with your mat.
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