For many years, the hexagon (or “hex,” as it’s often referred to in wargaming) was the be-all, end-all of board wargaming. I can’t remember a game without it, except for some early Avalon Hill titles (Midway and Tactics II come to mind). Suffice to say, I am something of a grognard, and I love the simple hex. It’s granular, it reflects both facings of units well when it matters (like a lot of 19th-century tactical games) and allows for simplistic reflections of movement on a very easy-to-use geometric plain.
So, when Avalon Hill started to release games like Storm Over Arnhem, with its area movement, I turned my nose up at it.
Let’s be honest. I shouldn’t have. As it turns out, I missed out on a good one. To make matters worse, I went on to play and fall head over heels in love with Breakout: Normandy!
So, why do designers go with area versus hex movement? I mean, there’s got to be advantages and disadvantages, right?
Well, the advantages area movement has are fairly simple ones:
- Declutters the board – Yes, I know most wargames have stacking rules, but let us face it. It’s a lot easier to put the multiple markers to the side of your “stack of doom” than it is to crowd the darn hex with it!
- Settles arguments over what’s “In the hex” – You don’t know how many times I’ve been party to “Come on, you don’t get odds. Shift for those woods. There’s barely a sliver of woods in the darn hex!” Yeah, you don’t have those issues as much for area movement. Just color-code the area, and you’re golden.
The disadvantages are, simply put, you lose that granularity you get with hexes. As I said, for strategic and operational games, area movement works well. Not always for tactical games, but like most conventional wisdom, there are some exceptions. For instance, Raid on St. Nazaire comes to mind. Although, its “area” movement is more point-to-point!
But there are still a lot of arguments even today, and I can see the points of both sides. Area movement works really well when it’s used properly, and like any other aspect of game design, it can be misused badly. Then again, so can hexes. And how many of us remember games with all sorts of printing problems and hex maps that were hard to read or had horrible misprints that affected play? Down in front Light Division!
Light Division was an awesome game on, at the time, a very timely subject. But 3W sadly misprinted the map, and even though the game was nominated for a Charles S. Roberts award that year (and in my mind, could have won), but lost out to Modern Naval Battles. The funny part? Both games were by the same company.
But that’s the entire point of this article. Whether you play area movement, hex movement, or are a card game player, all of them are tools in the game designer’s quiver. All of them are there to make a game and achieve the design goals.
But it’s how those tools are used that makes a game “meh!” or “wow!” And I will admit, I’ve had some good taste over the years, or at least I think so? I mean, you’re talking to a guy who thinks Cortes by XTR was one of the best wargames he ever played. Yes, I know, the subject is obscure, and the rules could be better written at times, but it really did have it all. It was a 16th Century Stalingrad! Who wouldn’t want to game that out? The map was simple, easy to read, and considering most of the map was one big city? They did a lot to make it look really good for 1993 standards!
And I still buy quite a few area movement games from time to time. I just picked up last December City of Confusion by High Flying Dice Games.
It’s got a really nice area movement map, and I am looking forward to giving this a try. It looks like it’s a low complexity, high-action game with a very clear and easy-to-read map. We shall see, and I promise a review in a future article.
But, as I said, I don’t think any gamer should get too wrapped around the axle about what form of movement or map a game is, as long as it’s fun to play.
At Epoch XP, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch XP’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.
–
(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)