GHQ Terrain Maker

For some reason I am always drawn to modular terrain. Some of my older posts show some of my efforts in the past. But one that has never even made it to the gaming table is my collection of GHQ's Terrain Maker system.

The hexes come in 1/4", 1/2", 1", and 1 1/2" sizes. The 1/2 " is the standard hex used to models flat terrain, roads, farms, and anything without much of an elevation change.

 The 1/4" are great for modeling rivers and trenches. The 1" and 1 1/2" are for hills.

Sample hexes - small creek, country road, and uhhh...empty.

2.5' x 2.5' ACW skirmish

GHQ is known for their 1/285 micro armor and the Terrain Maker stuff works great at this scale. The biggest complaint I have about it is that the lightweight Styrofoam hexes tend to shift around quite a lot during play. Especially if you have a fat fingered gaming partner.





One solution I came up with was to cut up flexible magnetic strips into small pieces and then lay the hexes down on a board coated with magnetic paint. I haven't tried this yet, but with the fast approaching need for a WW1 style trench set up I have a feeling my remaining blank hexes will be devoted to trenches and no mans land.

If I had to make one more complaint it would be the set up time required to create a playable surface. Though Im sure with proper planning this could be mitigated somewhat. GHQ does also offer an interlocking board that can be used with the hexes. Never tried it, anyone who has is welcome to comment on its effectiveness.

All in all, I love the Terrain Maker system. It is incredibly flexible, light weight, and not its not oppressively priced. For $9.95 you get 24 1/2" hexes that can create a surface of 2'x1.33'. Not cheap mind you. But consider that the competing Hexon II system from Kalistra runs around $75 for a 3x4 surface and doesn't lend itself to easy three dimensional representations.