Farewell to hex mats

There are many games out there that require players to use hex mats in order to play the game.

 As I play a few games that require hexes, I duly purchased a hex mat. It wasn't perfect - the hexes were bigger than I wanted and this wasted a lot of valuable gaming space.

 So I came up with an idea to play hex based games without the need for a hex mat.

I printed out 'hex rulers' (for want of a better term) that are laid down in front of the plane being moved so that you can move the plane according to the rules that indicate movement by the number of hexes the figure is moved along/through.

I have used this successfully for both "CY6!" and "Algenon Pulls if off". For the demonstration in this post I will be using "CY6!" as an example:

The plane is in place ready to be moved

I chose the manoeuvre I want to perform... in this case a 'L43'

I place the 'hex ruler' in front of the plane

Move the plane to the required position

And remove the 'hex ruler' from the playing area

 Simple and fast to use. It also mean you don't have to count hexes to move, which speeds up play a bit more.

Rather than print out every manoeuvre needed for each plane I printed out a number of straight sections and some side sections that are placed next to each other in the correct position as needed. The example above is actually two sections.

 You also need a firing arc template that you place in weapon arc required for the firing plane/arc, and this too helps speed up play, as you can tell exactly what the range and if the target falls within the arc of fire.

 I have played a number of games using this method and those I have played with have enjoyed the ease and speed with which it is used.