Hex map

A hex map, hex board or hex grid is a gameboard design commonly used in wargames of all scales. The map is subdivided into small regular hexagons of identical size.

The advantage of a hex map over a square grid map is that the distance between the center of each hex cell and the center of all six adjacent hex cells remains constant. Compare this to a square grid map where the distance from the center of each square cell (of side length $x$) to the center of its four diagonal adjacent cells is longer than the distance to the center of its four cardinal adjacent cells ($x$ SQRT2 instead of $x$).

The disadvantage of a hex map is that any given hex has an adjacent cell in only six directions (usually N, NE, SE, S, SW, NW) instead of eight, as in a square grid map. In addition, no hex cell has an adjacent hex cell lying directly east or directly west, making movement in a straight line east or west more difficult to consider than on a square grid map.

The hex map has been a favourite for many game designers since 1961, when Charles S. Roberts of the Avalon Hill game company published the second edition of "Gettysburg" with a hex map. The hex grid is a distinguishing feature of the games from many wargame publishers, and a few other games (such as the popular German game "Settlers of Catan)".

A few abstract games are played on a hex grid, such as Hex and the television game show based on it, "Blockbusters". Several variants of chess have also been invented for a hex board.

ee also

* Hexxagon
* Tile-based game
* Hexagonal tiling

External links

* [http://www.nomic.net/~uckelman/mkhexgrid mkhexgrid, a hex grid and hex paper utility]
* [http://grimbb.awardspace.com/hex/ Grim's Hex Paper, a TrueType Font]
* [http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/hexagonal/ Free Online Hexagonal Graph Paper PDF Generator]