I just wanted people to see what I've been working on for the past few weeks. Its a hex-based system for use in Starship Combat in my new campaign and first Star Wars RPG Campaign under the FFG system:

This is a general overview. I have just over 40 of the hexes completed, and will be adding asteroid hexes, an a large 9 hex planet.

This is a closer view.

Each piece has been laser cut so they are all the same, and fit together perfectly.

I received the pieces in raw timber, and so undercoated them grey, and then painted them black. I then used white paint to "flick" onto the black surface to give the illusion of stars.

Each hex will be a range band which does work with the current system very well.

I'm yet to decide on the scale of the minis though. I may just revert to counters as the X-Wing (and even WOTC) minis are just that little bit too unwieldy.

Where did you get lasercut hexes? I've been wanted to do something similar for a Dreadball pitch.

A business called BP Laser in Brisbane Australia do it:

www.bplaser.com

www.facebook.com/bplaseraustralia

Tell Paul and Bec that I sent you

They send overseas too.

Wow. Cool stuff there. Shipping to me will cost a bunch, but the cost of their stuff is pretty cheap. I'll send a query about making a hundred or so 3.5cm hexes.

Meanwhile, keep us up to date on the project. I'd love to see the finished project. Have you considered tinting the different range bands?

Edit: Oh, and of course painting some grass/rockcrete/whatever on the flip side would make them dual-purpose.

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

As for tinting, I've got it so that you just add to the board as you go given the rules above - so no tinting required. I'm also considering a red border around each hex to help with visual identification.

Well done, it looks like a blend of 'Twilight Imperium' with 'X-Wing' the miniatures game. Way to go.

Very sweet looking hexes. Are you going to put a finishing coat of some kind on them once you paint the reverse as well?

Those are really cool. Thanks for sharing.

Here is some of the things I have done with them since:

Very sweet looking hexes. Are you going to put a finishing coat of some kind on them once you paint the reverse as well?

I basically lacquered them which did cause some bubbling with the print for the planets and the asteroids, but generally it worked a treat.

On the reverse side, I decided to add a terrain til similar to a cityscape (as seen above), and at some point will do a desert tile and a forest tile.

I love those extra pics, especially the detail on the planets. I'd love to do space battles on those.

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

should be logarithmic. Close same hex. Short 1 hex away. medium 2-3 hexes away. Long 4-8 hexes away and extreme 8 or more.

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

should be logarithmic. Close same hex. Short 1 hex away. medium 2-3 hexes away. Long 4-8 hexes away and extreme 8 or more.

Looking at the picture of the tiles on the table, the linear interpolation of range bands may be a concession to the realities of an infinite imaginary playing field being represented on a very finite piece of furniture.

** EDITING SCOUNDREL - Whoops, I hit the quote button twice. My bad! **

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

should be logarithmic. Close same hex. Short 1 hex away. medium 2-3 hexes away. Long 4-8 hexes away and extreme 8 or more.

In the same Hex = Close

Moving Close to Short = 1 Hex

Moving Close to Medium = 2 Hexes

Moving Close to Long = 3 Hexes

Moving Close to Extreme = 4 Hexes

The speed to distance moved formula is calculated as per the rules.

It's all an abstraction anyway. Use whatever method works best for your group.

Sure. I am just explaining what I use and why in response to Daeglan's comment.

I did this as my players and I were having difficulty visualising where things were. This helped.

These are neat, but too bad it reduces space fights back to the two-dimensional thinking that even Khan couldn't escape from...

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

should be logarithmic. Close same hex. Short 1 hex away. medium 2-3 hexes away. Long 4-8 hexes away and extreme 8 or more.

Have to agree to disagree. The range bands are constant. The speed to hexes moved is where the logarithmic aspect lies.

In the same Hex = Close

Moving Close to Short = 1 Hex

Moving Close to Medium = 2 Hexes

Moving Close to Long = 3 Hexes

Moving Close to Extreme = 4 Hexes

The speed to distance moved formula is calculated as per the rules.

Look at how the range bands are defined. each band is a bigger number.

short range is several meters.

Medium is several dozen meters. Clearly a bigger area between short and medium

as you go through the ranges each one is logarithmicaly bigger. If you think about it if it takes 2 manuevers to go from engaged to medium range and it only takes 1 maneuver to go across short range... you start to see that 2 short range incremements are inside medium and 4 short range increments are inside long.

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

should be logarithmic. Close same hex. Short 1 hex away. medium 2-3 hexes away. Long 4-8 hexes away and extreme 8 or more.

Have to agree to disagree. The range bands are constant. The speed to hexes moved is where the logarithmic aspect lies.

In the same Hex = Close

Moving Close to Short = 1 Hex

Moving Close to Medium = 2 Hexes

Moving Close to Long = 3 Hexes

Moving Close to Extreme = 4 Hexes

The speed to distance moved formula is calculated as per the rules.

Look at how the range bands are defined. each band is a bigger number.

short range is several meters.

Medium is several dozen meters. Clearly a bigger area between short and medium

as you go through the ranges each one is logarithmicaly bigger. If you think about it if it takes 2 manuevers to go from engaged to medium range and it only takes 1 maneuver to go across short range... you start to see that 2 short range incremements are inside medium and 4 short range increments are inside long.

But doesn't have to be translated to an abstract representation such as these hexes.

The intent is to have city scape and grass/forest on the other. As for range bands, if it's in the same hex it's close, one hex away its short, two is medium, 3 long and 4 extreme. It's that simple, and works for movement and firing distances.

should be logarithmic. Close same hex. Short 1 hex away. medium 2-3 hexes away. Long 4-8 hexes away and extreme 8 or more.

Have to agree to disagree. The range bands are constant. The speed to hexes moved is where the logarithmic aspect lies.

In the same Hex = Close

Moving Close to Short = 1 Hex

Moving Close to Medium = 2 Hexes

Moving Close to Long = 3 Hexes

Moving Close to Extreme = 4 Hexes

The speed to distance moved formula is calculated as per the rules.

Look at how the range bands are defined. each band is a bigger number.

short range is several meters.

Medium is several dozen meters. Clearly a bigger area between short and medium

as you go through the ranges each one is logarithmicaly bigger. If you think about it if it takes 2 manuevers to go from engaged to medium range and it only takes 1 maneuver to go across short range... you start to see that 2 short range incremements are inside medium and 4 short range increments are inside long.

But doesn't have to be translated to an abstract representation such as these hexes.

problem is when you don't things get wonky as characters move around. If it is 1 bad guy and 1 good guy it works. But when you have 2 squads of stormtroopers and 6 pc's and you are trying to keep everyone relative position correct. That is where you start to have problems.

This is the chart that my players use:

This is just what we use and it works for us. Everyone else's mileage may vary. This works for our group, and I'm hoping by posting this it may work for others. Unfortunately it doesn't take into consideration 3 dimensional space, but if my players describe what they are doing, we kind of fudge that. But as its fairly abstract anyway, I don't see using it as anything more than a guide is harmful in any way.

This is for Starship/Vehicle combat only...just want to point that out.

problem is when you don't things get wonky as characters move around. If it is 1 bad guy and 1 good guy it works. But when you have 2 squads of stormtroopers and 6 pc's and you are trying to keep everyone relative position correct. That is where you start to have problems.

We haven't had a problem yet, although it does get a bit odd when people are flying around in vehicles and one of the players crashes and survives only to start shooting at some of the swoops which were flying around. This is something that I don't think the system handles well, and you have to be VERY abstract - Characters VS Vehicles.

problem is when you don't things get wonky as characters move around. If it is 1 bad guy and 1 good guy it works. But when you have 2 squads of stormtroopers and 6 pc's and you are trying to keep everyone relative position correct. That is where you start to have problems.

We haven't had a problem yet, although it does get a bit odd when people are flying around in vehicles and one of the players crashes and survives only to start shooting at some of the swoops which were flying around. This is something that I don't think the system handles well, and you have to be VERY abstract - Characters VS Vehicles.

Are PCs in one vehicle of multiple? As it is the many vs the many where you start to have trouble.