Friday 19 March 2021

From MilesR: My Last Submission - More Hex Terrain (139 Points)

 

My last submission for Challenge XI is yet more Hex terrain - not Stalingrad themed but useful for all types of wargaming.


On the left side are some forested hexes and a test for a field.  The trees are removable - there's a plastic sabot inserted to hold the trunk and protect the foam from wear and tear.  I want to use these hexes with 6 to 15mm scale miniatures and you can see they look pretty good with some of the 6mm ACW stuff form my Snow Lord Altar submission.
I like how the field came out - its a little bright so needs to be toned down but size wise it works well (I think).

The right side has pine forested hexes and some streams.  The gloss gel is still drying so you can see some of its original white color.

There are some 15mm Soviet tanks to show how the terrain also looks works with that scale of miniature.  Having terrain that can serve multiple scales is a must if you are a gaming gadfly such as myself.

I'm really happy with the streams and made a little over 5 feet of them.

The road sections are all standardized and are really fun to make.

Here are some additional hexes that just didn't fit on the table.
I did sneak 1 Stalingrad related hex into the mix - the final building from the Russian Village set made by "Things-from-the-Basement". They make really well designed kits and I recommend them for 15mm scale WW2 scenery.









One of the reasons this post is a little rushed is I have a 1:1 scale project that I promised my wife I would finish soon.  As you may recall, we had a bit of a flood in the basement and had to remove all the carpet.  My wife really wanted to put in some "wood vinyl" flooring and I have started the project but have a ways to go.  The past 12 months have been difficult for her being a Dr and treating covid patients, especially this past winter.  She told me she's lost more patients during the 3 months of Nov-Jan than she has in 30 years of being a medical professional.  If she wants a new floor, she gets a new floor.  

As for points, this will require a little math and I share your collective excitement at that prospect!  Each hex is 4 inches across flat side to flat side.  The formula to calculate the area of a hex is:

Area = 1/2P(a) where

P is the Perimeter and a is the apothem

I'll spare you the gory details and just say the area of each hex is 13.856 inches and there are 80 of these hexes in this submission.  We now need to measure the average height of the hexes.  These range from 3/4 of an inch for flats and up to 3 inches for the trees.  The weighted average height of all 80 hexes is 1.354 inches (and yes, I did measure it out).  


So the total cubic inches of hex terrain is 80 hexes x 13.856 x 1.354, which equals 1,501 cubic inches.  We now divide that volume by the 216 inches which comprise the "holy terrain cube of quantification" and that yields 6.950 terrain cubes.  Multiple 6.950 times 20 points per cube and one gets 139 points for this final submission.  See, isn't math FUN!!!!!!  No need to thank me for my magical mathematical ministrations - that's just the kind of guy I am.


As always, the Challenge is an event I truly cherish, especially in these difficult days and I want to thank all of you, the participants, who make the Challenge such a wonderful event through your  grace, camaraderie and astonishing painting skills.  I am deeply grateful to all of you and appreciate the privilege of being a fellow participant.


I also want to thank my fellow minions and, of course, Curt - it was a blast to be part of the team and I want to thank you for not blowing up the spreadsheet.


Now to begin work on the incantations for the final statistical summary in a few days.  I'll need to order extra kittens to sacrifice this year



11 comments:

  1. Wonderful work Miles. I'm usually not a big fan of hex terrain, but I have to say your's is exceptional. Really impressive all around.

    Thank you, Miles, for all your help and support for this year's Challenge. Such a godsend. I look forward to your last stats wrap-up.

    Now, get on getting that wood vinyl flooring down for your lovely wife. :)

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    1. It's my pleasure to help out in whatever minor way I can. Now I do need to get back to getting that floor down. As Peter can attest, as he has met my lovely yet fierce wife, she is really scary, terrifying at times so I best get to it.

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  2. An excellent final entry, well done. The Stalingrad project has been inspiring and humbling to watch from the beginning to end. After so many magnificent hex tiles, some simple wooden flooring should be no problem at all.

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    1. Thanks Stuart - Stalingrad is one of those projects that "got away from me" and ended up being a lot bigger than initially scoped. I'm hoping for some epic games in the coming months up at the club and some big participation games when ever we get those back up and running.

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  3. Great final post, been a joy to paint against/with you this year.Good luck with your actual flooring and pass on the thanks of the world to your wife. We have all learnt this year who is actually important

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    1. Martin - both you and Noel are the best thing in the world to have - worthy opponents! it was a pleasure to match paint strokes with you but I must concede that you're painting quality far exceeds my own. We maybe tied in points, but the quality edge goes to you, Sir

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  4. I do like hex terrain, and it's great to get some ideas here.

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    1. It's been a very fun little excursion on terrain making, but a little addicting. I, of course, blame my dear friend and club-mate, Ed for getting me "hooked on hexes". He has a magnificent collection of hexes for use with micro-armor. Ahh I can remember the first time Ed exposed me to his terrain and his honeyed words of "Hey Kid, wanna try a hit of hexes, you can stop anytime..." I wonder how many other poor souls Ed has ensnared to hex-addiction.

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  5. Wonderful final entry mate.

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  6. Super entry, I've enjoyed your terrain building this challenge enormously! Good luck with the floor!
    Best Iain

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  7. Loving your hex terrain Miles. And I love it when you talk geometry. Good luck with the floor, I’ve put done laminate and it pushed my skill set to the max. But your lovely wife deserves her preferred flooring.

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