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March 24, 2024. Dear Daniel of Hexed Crafting Hi there MECHWARRIOR Girl from 30 years ago, a friend had introduced me to this amazing wargame. It was proposed as a game of chess evolved in the sense that with the very robust and very balanced construction rules for mechs, and even other warfare assets, that it was like you were playing chess, yet desigining your own pieces was certainly a unique option to this particular game. Played 40k for quite some time, ended up making several terrain pieces, and enjoyed the taking nothing scraps of literally anything then making it into something tangible for giving your battlefield, literally some 3D imaginative character. I have been watching your videos quite extensively. I have been a game Master of table top RPGs since first edition Dungeons and Dragons in 1983. The only remaining product from GW I still own is SPACE HULK. I use it to create the proper atmosphere for when I game Mother the ALIEN RPG by free league or MOTHERSHIP. I was attracted to the very innovative board design where because the corridors and room pieces which interlocked and created a dynamic board experience where each provided scenario was uniquely laid out differently and yet you could also design your own layouts also. Getting into BATTLETECH again. I am the proud owner of the 25th Anniversary Intro Box Set that I believe that was when CATYLYST revived the legendary game. Cost wise its much cheaper for miniatures and also I appreciate the simplicity of the set up. Problem when you play these tabletop games, as much as we love our 3D terrain, it's challenging to find a suitible place to literally store it. I appreciate your phenomonal attention to detail as BATTLETECH is played on HEXMAP style sheets. Often the 3D's of the Map features have to be imaginally visualized. I became very inspired by your videos, and I am hoping to buy some 1 inch thick insulation foam and make a hex template in order to cut them and then make hill pieces congruent to the map sheets that I currently have presently. I struggle with room restrictions, so I would like to make actually form fitting buildings and hills which are to scale like on the actual map sheets. This way its still easy to store and be able to keep the map properties respectfully the same, at least in the principle of height. Also I have two packages of foam core board which are literally sitting there, sadly its all black so I will have to properly design a cardboard template then cut time consumingly unless I use some form of a white crayon. It will take me some time but I have titanium scissors so since the foam core is super thin I will glue a few pieces together to get the one inch for level one, and 2 inches for level two. In making modular dungeon tiles, and sci-fi tiles I found this to be extremely difficult to paste paper textures to the surface of the foam core. Perhaps with the pasting of layers slowly at at time, this may prove to be successful. This material is literally just sitting there, so if I can repurpose it that should be perfect. I also have double layered cardboard which I could cut a thick hex template to actually cut out. Its what I have and money is tight, I have a glue gun and a gallon of white pvc glue, so if I can just get some pieces which will fit on the map sheets I currently own then this will be awesome. I could use some construction paper as I don't really have any paint, to try and make it forest, or paste a paper hexpage and then use crayon to colour the tiles as another hack solution. I could use some of my extra nail polish too maybe as well, if I have green that is. I saw someone use 12 inch bulletin board style hexagonal pieces using a hex 1.5 inch then spray paint it green for forest or brown for desert and it would prevent the board from getting fully primed but it would mark proper hexes on it. These then could be put together. The person also took thick plywood, I have none of this high end saws or major wood working tools, I just want to have some neat inexpensive 3D hextiles to give dimension to the default map sheets. The person who designed these hexagonal 12" boards said you would need about 6 or 7 for a 1v1 lance on lance engagement. Very cool looking. So to get the 3d hills I could stack them for either a canyon or just a gentle elevation to a sprawling mountain. It looked really awesome. When Christmas comes its easy to buy the village trees they have usually they're fairly cheap. I don't have a Michael's craft supplies store anywhere near me at all. I could take the 2x corrugated cardboard and glue them vertically to the desired inch thick with a hex template exact to the size of the map sheets. I have tons of that also. I hope that I can find something that will actually work well. Cheap nontoxic and simple and last a long time. I will have to see what I could potentially to and make something that can be diverse enough feature wise for a battlefield, and able to make it varied enough to make it still interesting. Hexagonal buildings I was thinking of doing or using cracker, or some cereal boxes to make some interesting hi-rise style buildings. When you made the bunkers I could affix unique thicknesses of cardboard to add visual indentations to make it look like a hi-rise style building. We will have to see. When in my Warhammer 40k making terrain days I cut foam board into modular bricks and made a battlement out of it by interlocking the pieces and then using a lighter to weather and weather erode the bricks in a sporadic method. I made some really cool stuff back then, but storing those things is super hard. The dungeon tiles, actually came out beautifully. I probably can find some cheap paint at my local bargain store. Paint some of my mechs too. Found an alpha strike box set of a lance of 4 mechs, so I bought that years ago. Well that's all for now, I wish I could buy a few of those hexagonal pieces as long as they were same dimensions as the map board. I think they're about an inch by inch but its important to keep with in the play mat dimensions. I am guessing your hexes are slightly larger? also I am guessing you're making a base floor map and then adding the dimensional features on top of it? Anyway very interesting and I wish I had half the room to even work on those projects, I often have to completely clear off my desk in order to work on one thing then the next and then so forth. Thank you for your videos, I can't seem to find any that use a form of cardboard style. Gluing several layers together I believe can also work. I order enough from AMAZON so I never not have any cardboard. Thanks for your time and consideration. Miss Jayee.. if you like please email me jayeec73@gmail.com

Aaarrggghh metric system. Maybe the guy narrating doesn’t know we don’t use metric in the U.S.

I've expected simple geometric solution with circles for perfect hexes...

Love this guide, just started with building and thinking about proxxon. Only concern is the dust/fumes when working with XPS. Do you use any kind of protection while cutting that many items?

Cool video! But, much simpler math can be used! Say you want a face of 2" for your hex. Draw a 4" circle, then draw a 2" line from a point on the circle, to the next point. If you connect them all, you should have a hex with 2" faces. Same works for metric as well. ;)

Thank you for sharing your ideas. I would like to share an alternative method that does not require waste and may help you produce more uniform hexagons : Try dividing your hexagons into (3) parts : (1) rectangle and (2) triangles. The smaller pieces can be more easily cut to the correct size, then assembled in a more uniform shape. If rectangles and triangles are each cut from strips, then the only waste would be an end-strip that could be used with another board. Cutting a blank, then removing (4) triangles, wastes approximately 1/4 of the blank, and therefore approximately 1/4 of your board. However, if you cut strips in (2) different widths that match the short length (width of one side) and the long-length (the two triangles at either side of the rectangle), then you will have no waste, since the end-strip might be used in the future. Using (3) blanks increases your manufacturing time to that necessary to accurately cut each blank, but the overall uniformity of the finished hex will be higher since the triangles will share matching angles. There are other benefits that will come to mind in the context of purchasing, manufacturing, quality control, storage, assembly, and end product. Glue is probably the easiest method of assembly.

WOW SO EASY! All I need to do is buy hundreds of dollars of large tools I don't have money or room for.

...or just hold it with your free left hand...

Can this work with 52mm measurements?

A new hexagon can be made from a rectangle and two (wasted) triagles on each (long) side.

Keep the little triangle off-cuts as they can be used to square up the map.

Made it with 1/4 inch foam board had to layer it to make levels

You are out of your mind.

I don’t have easy access to foam, can I use cardboard?

Needle nose plyers and bend a tiny bit of the bottom of each wire at a right angle instead of snipping it. Then glue it to the magnet. Will give it a better grip on the magnet, and you can just bend them straight up afterward if needed.

Awesome video series! Thank you very much! Tons of great ideas and info. Something I've seen for random repairs a plastic parts that I've seen in CZcams videos. You could try putting the super glue on the magnet to hold the tree down and then sprinkle baking soda around the base. It'll mound up and it forms a very hard bond and it might hold the tree a little better for when you remove them on and off the tile for play

The one thing I want to make is a taller arm.

I was wondering if it would be safer, that instead of using a soldering iron or heated spoon if the hollowing-out can be done using a small paintbrush (like the one you used for the blue paint) dipped in a small cup/dish of acetone (nail polish remover) to "melt away" the foam chemically and let the tiles dry/evaporate before applying paint. The only issue with the idea is that I don't know if acetone would affect the type of insulation foam panels you are using compared to simple styrofoam drinking cups, which acetone can completely dissolve/melt.

Thank you for this tutorial! I’ve always wanted a simple(ish) way to make hexes for TTRPG / Wargaming stuff and this is exactly what I was looking for! Great stuff!

I use a slightly different flock mix for forests. Generally with fall redish brown mixed with burnt yellow flock to represent leaf litter under the tree canopy.. it helps differentiate the forest area when trees are removed.

I just use a hex shaped paper punch. I have a 1.5", 1", 7/8 and 3/4. I paint cereal/frozen pizza boxes with sponge technique. So like a dark grey base, light oversponge, random flicks of black or secondary color softened/blended in. I make a lighter stock and darker one, probably do three pizza boxes of each at a time. Let dry, punch out about 70 hexes per pizza box, light tone in 7/8, dark in 1' (or light in 1" dark in 1.5") and glue the light in the middle of dark, eyeballing. Once I have a stack of a few hundred hexes I just glue them all onto corrugated cardboard or XPS sheets. Either make a large, flat, square hex map or 7 hex tiles, 14 hex double tiles, or custom shape tiles. Let dry, cut the excess cardboard away. Easy. I can make 30+ 7h tiles in a day. I stack them on a flat map if I want height. Obviously they're not as tall as 1" xps but they communicate the concept.

my friends this is not for any casual like me. It seems to make a simple board game Im going to have to buy overpriced hexigons :/

That seems to be the most difficult awkward way to make hexes that i have seen. I do perfect hexes using nothing but a craft knife and a metal ruler.. Im puzzled this seemed to be the most inefficient use of time.

Don't mean to sound critical but takes to long in the intro. Just list the arts and get on with it. You can describe them later as you use them.

Thanks for the tutorial; two dimensional terrain is gross.

Chill video man. I am looking forward to building a bunch of these hills.

I'm looking at making a display board for an army that happens to be on bases that have a hex design. However the hexes are more like 2cm on long diagonal. I'm probably going to score most into the board, but still want a heap of tiles that can be broken/stacked/scattered as well - f you were going to do these as little 2cm versions, would you make 1 long hexagonal stick first then cut each tile off with the hot wire?

Buy $3000 worth of tools, and you can cut some sweet $2 foam terrain!

Can I contact a witch about hexes?

nice Happy little trees

I am not sure long-term if it is less expensive... but have you considered using cut strips of sandpaper for your roads? You can customize the scale of the texture by selecting a finer grit for smaller scale modeling. Your complex intersections could be one piece, simply by tracing your shape on the back of the sandpaper and then cutting it out. The seams would be more apparent using this method, if you used multiple strips side by side and they were not flush. Glue and then paint to preference afterwards. Again, you could hot glue... but tacky glue or some other alternative would be best. You would prefer not to have glue lumps underneath creating an uneven impression for the tarmac/blacktop/cement. As for your markings, use some painter's tape as you have been here is an example of what I mean, shown in a video from some random guy I watched weeks back. czcams.com/video/E5W4FKqRbSs/video.html as well as this guy czcams.com/video/tWaC201XQjc/video.html not sure if that is what you meant by 'stencils'.... Hopefully that helps. + Afterthought... you would have to check the scaling as it's probably too wide. Vinyl Automotive Pin striping. It comes in rolls of different widths and varying lengths (most around 150 feet). Easy to cut and stick down initially. If you are worried about peeling later or from game use, cover with a thin layer of your Modge Podge. ...and Bob's your uncle! Matte Modge Podge should also cut down on the shine if you accidentally picked up the gloss version of pinstripes. -Can't wait to see what everything looks like all together finished and ready for a game!

Late to the party.... Just found you. What are you doing? Save your lungs! Stop wasting resources like butane and accidentally burning through your bases. Use your hot wire cutter from the previous videos. Laterally cut them in half height-wise. Take the (now) top piece, hollow out the centers like reverse that you did for your 'hills', and glue them back to your 'base' piece. Paint or fill as previous. If you want, cut it in thirds. Then step your two top upper pieces. The lower level can be for your deep water. Glue the center pieces on your larger lakes around your deep centers. (use tacky glue for these parts, it won't melt anything) top I--- -----I I '---- ----' I cross-section view from the side I '---------' I bottom Experiment with different transparencies of your resins. The deeper they are layered the darker they become. Do some further research. Model Train Terrain How-To videos are invaluable, as well as those weird resin-filled table top furniture videos. I would forgo the push pins, you don't have enough surface being supported and they are only distracting you. Put your pieces flat when you are working on them with the resin.

Huh I was just thinking about making that before I found this video.

Facepalm. I had the skillset to do terrain for 40k, and DND. Until I saw this I did not connect the dots just because the scale changed.

Glueing the pipe cleaners like that is a real clever move, great vid.

Dang I never recognized the potential of the speedsquare, very nice move.

What I think the proxxon needs is a taller arm.

Alternative: print out a sized paper template of hexes, then use the hotwire to cut the exterior shape of the desired terrain formation, then lightly trace the interior hex segments with a hobby knife directly on the paper. Voila!

That looks great. I may have to try this in the future. Thank you for showing!

I bet if you were to glue the short faces of your cut off pieces together, then cut some rectangles to fit between the 45mm sides, you could glue them all together and have even more hexagons. And with the seems where the pieces are glued together, it would probably look like cobblestone. Though I know, cobblestone doesn't really fit in with Battletech.

Gerard Boom created various tools to be used with the Proxxon Thermocut. They are just perfect. Search for "shiftinglands".

Lacking a reason why I care at start

The little triangles. Lay them on their long edge and arrange in a circle. Affix to a base of your preference. Use a filler material to form and shape craters.

Pledge Floor Polish is Magic!

Seems overly complicated to me. I just made an MDF jig that uses the original groove and is much more rigid.

What are you using to cut the hex shapes?

Man. It feels like there ought to be a more efficient process for such a simple shape.

Fun vid. But I think You could have done a much better job a lot easier without having to modify the tool at all. All you needed to do was make a new tabletop that slides over the top of the existing tool. A sheet of mdf...A cpl pieces of T-track and now your ready to go. T-Track is the best way to mount fences. And there are a zillion different fences commercially avail. Just go to any site that sells woodworking supplies. And away you go. czcams.com/video/FNtqYVLTBFc/video.html How to install.

Do you know if epoxy putty (AKA GreenStuff) will work on this stuff?

The speed square fix is a good idea.