- Hex map
A hex map, hex board or hex grid is a
gameboard design commonly used inwargame s of all scales. The map is subdivided into small regularhexagon s 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 , whenCharles S. Roberts of theAvalon 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 game s are played on a hex grid, such as Hex and the televisiongame 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]
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