The Maine Gamer

tgov:

Recently I have been having a conversation via email with another wargame designer regarding the drawing of wargame maps. He has provided some wonderful insight into the process he uses and I asked him where he gets his blank hex grid he uses for most maps. He sent me the file he uses and mentioned that there had to be an easier way to make hexes for a wargame map than using a scanned image or something similar, specifically using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. This got me thinking; in the past I have just created my hex grids the ‘hard way’ by drawing a hexagon and then duplicating it into a small grid, then duplicating that small grid until I had the size desired. There are a few problems with this, one of them being hex drift. This occurs when you don’t get the hexes exactly lined up with one another and the tiny misalignment gets magnified the more it is repeated. Sure there is a way to resolve this by setting up a rather complex series of guides and grids, but it is a pain.

The tutorial below is very image heavy….just a warning ;) Also, this isn’t the only way to do it, it is just the way I have found to make it quick every time I need a hex grid.  The initial setup is a pain, but for future use it will save time.  

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