Heroscape Town Terrain

  One problem with using Heroscape is the size of the hexes. Of course, the game was designed to be used with uses single figures on the hexes. To use units complicates the matter. I now mainly use Command & Colors style units; 4 bases to an infantry unit, 3 bases to a cavalry unit, and 2 bases to an artillery unit. These units, which are 15mm, fit on the Heroscape hexes. However, if you want to add feature such as builds and woods, it becomes crowded on the board. I Have found some smaller trees that work well representing woods. Adding building to represent built up areas is more of a problem. The building used don't give much room for the figures.

    With my recent work of using Heroscape hexes with Command & Colors rules,  I had some issues with Heroscape. To put a board together using these hexes can be a challenge. To put a river the way the set is designed really complicates it. However, using the C&C idea of placing tiles on top of the board solved that problem. The river hexes are very thin, and by just placing them on top of the board, I believe, doesn't distract from the game too much.

    My next problem was towns. Heroscape has hexes that look like cobblestone; they came with a set to build walls. I always thought they would  look good for town hexes. After seeing the river on top of the board, if only the cobblestone hexes were thin like that, it would be great. I took one, and after much work (and a painful blister) I cut one down.  After some filing and sanding, I tried it on the board. It locked down nice and tight on the board. I cut down four more ( I also found a system that it only took a few minutes and no more blisters).

   I still wanted houses on the hexes though. My original thought was to make building outlines with balsa wood. While thinking of how to go about it, I was looking at one of the little wooden houses used in my game. I then thought, what if I cut one of these houses in half? Cutting one in half, repainting it and adding a matchstick chimney, it was a nice looking little building. What's more, It gave me more room for my figures to stand. I proceeded to cut several more down. One I added a tower to represent a church.  I am happy with the result.

   Now I am thinking of how to use built up areas. I am thinking for farms, a building would be
on a regular green hex. A village would be one or two cobblestone hexes; a town three hexes; and a city four or more hexes. Maybe such areas would only count as one hex, and only allow one unit to occupy it. It could be fun to have a large city, where each hex could be occupied, and each hex would have to be fought for, such as a WW2 game.  I will have to give much thought to the problem.

One of the houses before I cut it in half.

The town, with a river running next to it.

A unit of infantry moves in to defend the town. I fought a game to try my new town hexes out. I also wanted a smaller battlefield, so I decided to divide the board using the river; the river was impassable. 

The end of the game. The Shiak army has defeated the Brookshire army. The Shiak troops move through the town to give chase to the fleeing Brookshire army.