Standard hex size on geo maps

Tater

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What is the standard hex width (inches) of a geo map hex. I think it is 5/8ths.
 

STAVKA

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In metric measurements.
Geo map: 20mm
Red Barricades: 25mm (+25%)
Hatten in Flames: 27mm (+35%)
 

footsteps

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I believe the "hexes" are not mathematically perfect, and you will do better measuring rather than calculating.

JR
That is correct. The geo boards would need to be 22 3/16" long in order for the hexes to be symmetrical in all directions.
 

larrymarak

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Hence using the various scale CH Geo boards. Hex size up to 2.25 in side to side. CH has given up matching legacy grids in favor of wider boards.
 

jrv

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vasl boards are regular hexagons. If you print a vasl board or overlay, you will find it is incompatible with a standard board. Most overlays you probably won't notice the difference, but at full board size the difference is very apparent.

JR
 

Philippe D.

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I believe the "hexes" are not mathematically perfect, and you will do better measuring rather than calculating.

JR
This is a shocking revelation.

True story: back in the early 80's (I was maybe 12), about when I discovered wargames and the aesthetic beauty of a hexagonal grid, I used my primary school geometry (possibly with some advice from my mom, who was a high school math teacher) to fill a large sheet of paper with as accurate a hexagonal grid as I could manage - I wanted to design my own wargame. I probably spent more time drawing than I did thinking of the rules of the game...
 

jrv

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This is a shocking revelation.
The fact that you are shocked gives an indication as to how close they are to regular. They are not off that much. I think I found this out when I was trying to help someone print a vasl map. He couldn't get the sizes to match, and I could not either. I suspect this had something to do with the size of the paper that Avalon Hill had available, but that's only a guess.

JR
 

Brad M-V

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The thickness of the hex line needs to be halved in order to get the true measurement of each hex size, so measure from the outside of the hex through it's centre to the inside edge of opposite side. ;-)
 

Rock SgtDan

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Like to hear the story of how the 1970's draftsman laid out these slightly elongated hexagons.
Or perhaps he drew one row of perfect hexagons, then photographed them at a slight angle, then used that negative to "stamp" a board's worth of rows? No, that would change the width of the hex lines at "upper" vs "lower."

How does this relate to that run of SL boards that don't match up? 1-4 IIRC?

Did Monarch print boards using a roll of paper, then slit it into strips and cut to length longways? Wondering about the precision of the cutting tools & how they were designed. Or did a human watch & adjust every cut?
 

larrymarak

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Like to hear the story of how the 1970's draftsman laid out these slightly elongated hexagons.
Or perhaps he drew one row of perfect hexagons, then photographed them at a slight angle, then used that negative to "stamp" a board's worth of rows? No, that would change the width of the hex lines at "upper" vs "lower."

How does this relate to that run of SL boards that don't match up? 1-4 IIRC?

Did Monarch print boards using a roll of paper, then slit it into strips and cut to length longways? Wondering about the precision of the cutting tools & how they were designed. Or did a human watch & adjust every cut?
The mystery gos back to Panzerblitz, the first Geoboard game Avalon hill produced.
 

djohannsen

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I was surprised to see that (as of 1959) this is exact... Knowing that the meter is defined in terms of basic physical properties, I assumed that the 25.4 conversion was only an approximation. Who knew that the yard was redefined in 1959 so that this conversion is exact?!

Wow! I learned something non-ASL here at Gamesquad. Today is a great day!
 

Gordon

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So the standard geoboards are not regular hexagons. Are the deluxe boards regular? HASL maps? Let's hope so.
On a related note, I was looking at "HexDraw". Does anyone know if that has a geoboard option or does it only draw regular hexagons?

TIA
 

footsteps

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I doubt that the deluxe boards have "perfect" hexagons. As with the geo-boards, there's probably a slight aberration to conform to printing or cardstock sizes. No idea about HASL maps, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have the same slight aberrations. Doesn't really matter for any of the maps/boards as distances in ASL are measured in hexes, not inches or centimetres.

HexDraw generates "perfect" hexagons. That isn't a deal breaker, because I don't print direct from HexDraw. After exporting from HexDraw, I do final touch-ups etc. in GIMP. Then I alter the aspect ratio to match 8:22 (or 16:11 for Fort boards) so that the final product aligns with standard boards. At 400 dpi, a file that is 3200 x 8800 pixels shows no distortion discernible to the human eye.
 
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