Review: Hex Terrain Toolkit

The Hex Terrain Toolkit, henceforth to be referred to as the HTT, was originally launched as a Kickstarter, making it's funding goal without much difficulty. Mind, I wasn't involved, or even aware, of the Kickstarter, I stumbled upon the HTT by happy accident while searching for a new project...

Fortunately for me, when the Kickstarter ended, the designer of the HTT made the product available to the public at large...

As I have been using the HTT for several weeks now I don't have any fancy unboxing video or a lot of pictures for this review. But, after cutting 'a few' Hexes, I can offer my experience with the HTT...

The contents...
In the picture below you can see the delivery form of the HTT, Six sheets of plywood filled to capacity with components. I barely remembered to take a picture, you can see I had already started taking out the components, before getting started for real...

The only picture I have of the unused HTT... 

The costs...

The HTT can be bought in several different packages. I opted for the most complete set, including all the different options. I have used most of these, but not all, yet...

This complete set, called the Professional Toolkit costs £80,- With shipping that's around €100,- (should be about the same in $). For that you get six sheets of precisely laser-cut plywood containing all the pieces you need. 

The technique...

The HTT is designed to be used with a handheld hot wire cutter. As I use a Proxxon model with a table I had to make some minor adjustments to the basic Hex-module and the depth cutter. Apart from that I can use the HTT as intended.

The design is extremely precise and accurate. All the different pieces correspond perfectly, no need for further adjustment.

The HTT works with just about any type of styrofoam that can be cut using a hot wire cutter. I use a rather dense type of styrodur, but any kind will do... I think that's one of the strengths of the HTT, you can use it with (potentially free) styrofoam packaging or left-over bits of insulation.

A pile of scrap pieces of styrofoam,
left over after cutting a dozen or so Hexes...

Cutting basic Hexes takes no time at all, and, as with most things, practice makes perfect. The other, more specialised Hexes like hills and rivers, take a bit more time.

A few basic Hexes...

The designer of the HTT has his own YouTube channel, filled with informative videos on how to utilise the kit to it's full potential. These videos played a large part in convincing me to purchase the HTT.

Hex Terrain Toolkit YouTube channel

The design...
The HTT contains pieces to make a whole assortment of different Hexes. Most important are the standard, flat Hexes. Next are the hills, you can make these in several configurations. River and cliff Hexes can also be made in several different variations. The pictures below (taken from the Kickstarter page) show the Hexes that can be made with the HTT....

From left to right, hills with one, two, three and four high points...

An example of the set-up used to cut a hill Hex...

All the different river Hexes, including bends and wide and narrow rivers...

The set-up for cutting a river Hex, in this case a bend...

A few river Hexes combined with regular, flat Hexes...

The assorted cliff Hexes and even more hill Hexes...

The river and cliff Hexes can also be used as trenches and dungeon corridors. The only limitation is the users imagination (of lack thereof). I can safely say I haven't explored the full potential of the HTT, yet...

In addition to standard sized Hexes, the HTT also contains the components to make half or quarter Hexes, used to smooth out the edges of your terrain. I personally don't use these as I actually like the shape of the edges...

To further illustrate the versatility of the HTT I recommend watching this video, made by the designer of the kit...

Below the surface...

The Hexes showcased on this blog are just the surface of it all... What's below is just as interesting and equally important! The HTT offers some clever solutions to create flexible interlocking Hexes. This system makes a frame (to keep all the Hexes firmly in place) redundant.

Hex-shaped holes and pins, risers (to allow for creating height difference in your terrain) and snowflake Hexes make sure the Hexes don't move around when used. This system comes in two different designs. I opted to use the simplified version as I won't be making half Hexes for the edges.

The Hex-shaped hole and pin system, combined with a riser and a hill Hex...

The pieces used to create the snowflakes and the hole and pin system...

Snowflake Hex and Hex-shaped hole and pin system...

An example of a foundation layer of snowflake Hexes...

An example of how the snowflakes combine with the surface layer of Hexes...

Cutting these snowflakes takes a lot of time, but for me these are well worth the effort. They keep the Hexes in place and don't allow any gaps or movement...

The scale...
While I use the HTT to make terrain for 6mm (1:285) wargaming, I have seen examples in use with 15mm, 20mm and 28mm. So whichever scale you prefer, this should work just fine...

The verdict...
Sure, it takes a lot of time and effort to create your own Hex terrain, but the Hex Terrain Toolkit makes that easy. Furthermore, it guarantees a level of accuracy you just can't get if you cut Hexes by hand. Add to that the sheer number of options provided by the kit and you have a great and very practical tool at your disposal with which you can make pretty much any kind of terrain you might need...