The Battlehex Terrain System, by Talon Games, is a modular hex-based terrain set. The Basic Set comes with nine baseboards and a couple dozen terrain pieces (in various shapes) which you put on the boards to create your battlefield layout. All pieces are made of extruded polystyrene foam, flocked, and the base boards are hexed. It is the "official" board of Reaper Miniature's CAV mech combat game.
First of all, my initial impressions upon receiving the package. The website clearly states that the basic set is shipped with a "protective storage box." Mine came with a storage box alright- the cardboard box they mailed the stuff in. The package is basically the boards and terrain thrown into a giant plastic bag and then thrown into a big cardboard box.
The pieces themselves are nice... I had ordered some of the terrain pieces beforehand, so I knew this much was good. Just playing around with it, I was able to make valleys, caves, hills, mountains, etc.
The boards are a little disappointing, but only because I foolishly assumed the base boards would be made of a stronger material. Checking the website, it does say that all pieces are made of polystyrene foam, so the misunderstanding was all on my part. Still, the boards being made of polystyrene means you have to be very careful not to lean on them/rest your elbows on them/etc.
Everything is flocked, so it looks very nice set up. You do get little green pieces of flocking all over your table after you're done, though I suspect the more you use the set, the less this will be a problem.
The pieces do *not* seem to be cut exact. What I mean by this is, if you take two pieces of the same shape and put one of top of the other, you'll find slight differences in the cut. It's nothing to worry about, as it surely doesn't affect setting up the board... but I did expect a bit more precision with pieces that are "computer heat cut."
The hexes painted on the gaming board are *really* big. This is good, because it complies easily with the "close assault" rules of CAV. Furthermore, it also complies with the Battletech rules (for those of us who still play it) for hexes (i.e. the mech does not fill the area of the hex, it merely has tactical control over it).
The terrain itself, which you can order seperately on the website, is a great deal for those of us that are impatient or creatively inept ot lacking the tools necessary for terrain building. I would go so far to say that the Battlehex terrain pieces are probably the best deal in terrain out there.
The base boards aren't that bad a deal. If you stop and think about it though, you're paying $17 for a length of polystyrene that would cost at the most $6 in a hardware store. The $11 apparently covers flocking and painting hexes on the board.
I have had the chance to play several games of CAV on the set, and I am happy to report that everything was perfect. I was easily able to make very nice structures to game on, such as large caves and canyons. My opponent made a small ridge connected to my canyon with a land bridge. For those of us used to playing Battletech for hours on FASA's 2D map sheets, 3D terrain is a real blast. As mentioned above, the hexes are rather large; if you are playing on a small table, you may want to halve CAV movement, as fast CAVs have movement scores in the mid 20s!
Unlike the more natural Geo-Hex, Battlehex is made specifically for ease of play. Terrain pieces are not sloped, so you won't get any rolling hills with Battlehex. Instead, everything has a jagged stairstep look. Although not as nice looking as Geo-Hex, you won't have to worry about propping your models up when they land on slopes. Overall, a very nice looking and playable system.
Please note that I have the price listed as $89. The set itself costs $79... but since the only way to get the set is directly through Talon games, there's no getting around the $10 shipping charge. Overall, at $79 $10 shipping, I was expecting a much heavier set of playing boards *and* the promised "protective storage box." Had I known that the storage box was a cheap cardboard shipping box, I would have ordered less boards and terrain, and kept the price to a reasonable level. At ~$90 (9 boards, 24 pieces; i.e. the set), Battlehex is *not* a good deal. At ~$60 (6 boards, 24 pieces; i.e. making seperate orders) Battlehex is a great set.
For those of you interested in the product, the website is "under construction." The ordering process is a bit scary, as you basically send them an email with your order and credit card # (alternately, you can fax a form to them). You get no reply or thanks for the order; instead you get an automated reply telling you someone will get back to you. No one does. Then one day, the stuff arrives at your place. If you check your credit card statement, you will see a charge for ~$90 worth of towing service... when I first saw this I ran outside to make sure my car was still there! And then I almost called my credit card company to tell them someone had made an unauthorized charge on my card, until I realized that Talon Games is located at the same address as this towing shop is. It's all a bit confusing and strange.
Finally, for those of us who are somewhat disappointed or are looking for answers, the Battlehex website is not the place to look as every page but the gallery and ordering pages is "under construction." Jon does reply to email sent to his sales address, however, and there is a very small forum on the site devoted to Battlehex. My question on the "storage box" constitutes half of the forum, as of the writing of this review.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)