Operational Terrain 7 – What size Hex/Square Grid to use?

Grid Size 5 - 4 Inch Hexes - Banner

Cards on the table, I should have started with this experiment first. It might be too late, because I’ve been doing a lot of Experimenting on a 4 Inch Hex Grid, but I thought I’d see how my 15mm figures fit into the hex grids (4″ and 5.5″) and square grid (4″) that I’ve already got. The answer … not very well. This is, of course, for my as yet unwritten rules for operational level wargames called Deep Battle.

Read more

Operational Terrain 1: Experimenting with River Templates for 4 Inch Hexes

Rivers for 4 inch hexes 1 – Templates for most likely options - Banner

Quite a lot of the Operational Level Wargames I looked at recently use a hex grid. And 4 inch hexes seem about the right size for the table top – at least to me – so I have been wondering what to do about terrain. My normal terrain will sit on hexes fine. But rivers are different. That realisation lead to experimenting with templates for generating river features to sit on top of a hex mat.

Read more

PowerPoint Maps: Drawing Maps for Crossfire

Making Papa Eicke 15 Tweak - Banner

Okay, we’ve decided our map scale, got our table grids and our Crossfire Symbol Catalogue, now what? Time to actually draw a map for a Crossfire Scenario.

In this post I explain how I go about drawing a map for Crossfire. All that preparation from earlier posts makes drawing such a map really easy.

Rather than talk in general terms I thought I’d take you through the process I used to draw the map for Papa Eicke – A Crossfire Scenario.

Read more

PowerPoint Maps: Creating a Symbol Catalogue for Crossfire

Crossfire Symbol Catalogue - Banner

I’m always happy to invest a bit of time to make my life easier later. So now that I’m seriously looking at using MS PowerPoint for drawing my wargaming maps I thought I’d invest a bit of time in getting the basics right. For map making the key is a Symbol Catalogue containing all the elements I need before I actual draw anything. This post describes how I put together a Symbol Catalogue for Crossfire.

Read more