Hex VS octagon

Hey guys / gals,

I have never totally been in love with the idea of hex spaces. I know they make it very easy for maneuverability and there is no wasted space but I made an octagon style map. (or stop sign shape)

PROS:

1 ) Every unit now has the ability to make a 90 degree right or left turn.
2 ) Increases every units line of sight.
3 ) Gives your units more options in movement.
4 ) When making your own map its easier to lay out.

CONS:

1 ) Unlike hex spaces octagons don’t line up exact so you will have dead spaces on the top, bottom, left and right.
2 ) Because of the dead spaces you have less spaces for the same size map.

If you like the idea of using the octagons here is how I did it.

1 ) I used a ¼ sheet of 3 ply, plywood. I’m sure you could use a variety of other material I used this b/c this is what I had on hand at the time.
2 ) I used the same dimensions as the four hex sheets.
3 ) I made my octagons 2 ¼ inch tall and same size wide.
4 ) Depending on your skill with shape layout it may be easier to make a pencil mark every ¾ by ¾.
5 ) Every octagon will need 9 spaces something like this.

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

Spaces 1, 3, 7 and 9 will be diagonal.
6 ) The dead spaces (located next above 2, left of  4 to the right of 6 and below 8) will all be ¾ inch wide and tall.

Have any of you folks tried this? Let me know what you think,

-LT04

Dezrtfish,

I hadn’t thought of the distance being diffrent. Thats deffenitly makes a good point. Is there a diffrent shape out there that will fit together like a hex but gives units better line of sight?

Before some one asks about how the defense rating for the sides works what I had thougt of doing was having the defender roll a die like you would for cover.

I’ll deffenitly look into the other options for aiding the distance problem. It seems like a lot of work with the chains, although it does seem fair.

Let me know if you have a diffrent solution or come up with a formula for easy conversion.

-LT04

Dezrtfish,

Here’s what I did still not right but closer to realism. I made an octagon shape map to match the spaces. So now there is more distance to travel diagonally until you get to the center of the board.

I know its still not as accurate as your chain I idea but it works for me. The way I see it if I’m gaining ground faster this way so is the other player so its not that big of a deal to me.

On the octagonal map I made, I made a scaled down version of Operation Market Garden. (Scaled down in both number of units and size) My game board is 4’ by 4’.

I didn’t keep it all that accurate I’d say there were close to a dozen bridges in that operation, but I only made 3, one for the US 101st ABN DIV the second for the US 82nd ABN DIV and the third for the British 1st ABN DIV.

I made it a four player game each above mentioned division is a player, then the forth player is obviously Germany.

I decided the German player has to set up first. I set up garrison HQ’s for all the perspective units to base around. The German divisions are much smaller then the allied one (historically accurate) however, there a lot more of them then the allies.

The 101st and the 82nd can set up and around their side of the bridges the 1st can not due to the historical account they never made it that far. I put there initial DZ 4-6 spaces away with no cover until they get to the bridge. Or they could move away from the bridge into the tree line and make their way through the back door. (Also has its draw backs moving away from the objective.

I have specified how many points of INF or ARM can be deployed when. The allies will chose their units like you would in a normal AAM game; however, they can place anything but ARM initially. Each allied unit has a second DZ to receive reinforcements on round 3. Some how the 9th SS Recon Battalion made it across the river to occupy the allied DZ so on round three they will simultaneously deploy to marked locations. (In a nut shell they deploy like the paratroopers units.) Again reinforcements will not be allowed to have ARM but may choose jeeps, ART or other units. I decided that was probable due to a lot of reinforcements came via gliders.

The Airborne units were to hold until XXX Corps made it down Hell’s highway to supplement the fighting forces. This is when the Allies can place ARM on turn 4. (Again to clear things up the allies choose their units prior to the game beginning. So the German player won’t have any curve balls. They just deploy like ABN units.)  The 82nd and the 101st ARM support gets deployed at the same time near the same place 82nd should get there’s first 101st second (historically correct) the ARM deploys in open ground where if the German player took this into accountability could have placed mortar and ART units in the tree line to take pop shots prior to them concealing them selves behind their perspective divisions. The 1st ABN gets there ARM supplement on turn 5 and should get there as fast as the other divisions.

The space just past the bridge on the opposite side is the objective and has to be taken by round ten or the Axis wins.

In the end the Axis Army is just a little bit larger than the allied army but the Axis receives most of their units up front.

I’m not posting points b/c I want to fine tune them after I play a few times to make is possible for both sides to win and possibly adjust the reinforcement schedule. I’ll let you know how it goes if you are interested.

-LT04

It’s getting dark now, (I work on it im ny shop) I’ll take one tomarrow.

Was thinking of doing a lot more home work on operation market garden and making it more realistic. Granted I can’t make it all that real b/c there were three allied ABN Divisions plus XXX Corp how many points would that be? But I’m open to any input I’ll make a new topic in the WWII history section for any sugestions.

-LT04