TFT - Game Accessories

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally Posted by JLV

Personally, I find them extremely useful for what I assume their intended purpose was -- figuring missile weapon range effects. I also find them useful for mapping, believe it or not, feeling that a 10' square is pretty close to a megahex, and a 5' square is pretty close to a single hex (not as close, but still a useful guide). In short, I'd hate to see them go away.

(Slightly off-topic, but still at least tangential...) Finally, didn't someone do a "conversion" thing where they showed how to convert megahexes into squares at one time? That might be a very useful tool for helping convert mapping into grid paper for buildings and the like, while simultaneously retaining the advantages of hexes for combat and range calculations. (I can't find it in my files right now, but I distinctly remember the author dealing with odd room shapes, corridors, T-intersections, and so on.) And hexes are enormously important to TFT's tactical combat simulation -- without them it not only wouldn't be the same, it also wouldn't work nearly as well.

Given that a hex is a hex... I mean, it's been a very long time since I've had any TFT materials, and I don't recall something as basic as the exact size of a hex... but given that movement, range, and distance are measured in terms of hexes, does it really matter whether a hex is a yard or a meter? In my erstwhile TFT clone, I assumed that one hex was either one yard or one meter. Three meters (or a megahex, or a "multihex" as I called it) comes in within rounding error of ten feet across.

I'll quote myself here:

If using a square grid, one multihex is a group of nine squares arranged three-by-three; it might prove useful to set one multihex to be 10 feet by 10 feet. In a square grid, assume that for lateral movement, one diagonal square is equal to two squares of movement distance, but for areas assume that one space diagonally is equal to one hex (one yard or meter).

I happen to have a couple of Noteboards that are marked with both squares and hexes. These are great for both square-grid mapping and hex-grid movement. If I didn't have those, I would use a transparent sheet; overlay it on a one-inch square grid to draw my maps, then overlay it on a one-inch hex grid for play. Or I wouldn't bother, and I'd just draw square-grid buildings (or dungeon walls, etc.) on hex-grid media using a ruler.