Topic: How do you handle movement on hex grids?

[calmacil]

Hello All,

Our group prefers using hex or square grids for combat orientated movement. In different systems we've used the PC/NPC would move about 4 or 5 hexes on his turn, which is perfect.

Ideally i'd like a hex to represent 5ft. Any less than this and projectile weapons would never have a range increment.


I do like the BMR based on height and Qu, but I'm struggling to see how that works on a hex grid. Do you round up? divide by 2?
How do other people handle close combat movement?


PS. Apologies if this is already in a book, i couldn't find it in the core HARP rulebook 

[GMLovlie]

Check out Harp Battlemaster, its a supplement to harp that enables and tweaks the existing system to work with miniatures on a hex-grid battle map.

As far as I remember from reading it a hex is 3 ft, there are some suggestions on how to round up or down the BMR. I don’t remember what the supplement says about this, but basically I would say that a bmr of 8 to 10 would be three 3ft hexes, whilst 14 to 16 is five, and so on...

Usually you don’t walk around in combat, I guess its more akin to a hustle, so this would increase the speed slightly...

I’d recommend checking out the battlemaster supplement.

[Erik Sharma]

We run combat with 5' hexes.
I just keep it simple and we just divide BMR with 5 and round it down to get the number of hexes a person can move.
But most importantly we do the dividing after you have multiplied BMR for pace so, those extra 1' of movement a person cannot use at a lower pace might come into effect at higher pace.
For example a person with 10' in BMR would get 2 hexes at each pace. For a maximum of 10 hexes at Dash pace.
While a person with 11' in BMR would follow the same progression through all paces but at Dash pace he would get an extra hex for a maximum of 11 hexes.

So far this has worked very well for us.

[calmacil]

I really like that idea Chorpa, i never thought of using a pace higher than walking in combat.

Do you make lots of maneuver rolls for running at a higher pace?


I think i will use the same method. Thanks, you've just solved my problem 
Have an idea point.

[Erik Sharma]

Normally I try to avoid maneuver rolls for moving over regular flat terrain without obstacles. But that is just to keep it simple. But for example running in uneven terrain like in a forest, or snow I would probably require a Maneuver roll and let the percentage result determine the BMR. Just like in RM.

[GMLovlie]

Nice idea chorpa.

I have one question though, what sort of manoeuvre roll do you require? what I mean is, what skill is used for this roll? I have always had trouble with these manoeuvre rolls for running, especially in harp, but in rmss also. They make sense, its not that... anywho... enough of my rambling.

[calmacil]

I'm not sure i like having no rolls for different paces Chorpa.

An example why i'm not keen on it.... If you have two characters; one has BMR 10 feet, the second has BMR 20 feet (that's a huge difference in the game. One is average, the other is lightning fast and very tall) Most of my hex-grid combats take place on an area no bigger than 50 foot square (10 hexes by 10 hexes) The problem i have is both characters can reach the other end of the map by dashing, without making any rolls. (max of 50ft for average PC, max of 100ft for lightning fast PC)


But i do like your idea of 5 ft hexes and divide by 5.

I think what i'll do is keep the rolls for rough terrain as you suggested (snow, woodlands etc)
But for open terrain i'm going to use these maneuver difficulties:

Walk (x1) ..... no roll required
Jog (x2) ...... routine
Run (x3) ...... easy
Sprint (x4) .... light
Dash (x5) ..... medium

That way it's still fairly easy, but there is a chance of failure

I have one question though, what sort of manoeuvre roll do you require? what I mean is, what skill is used for this roll?

I'm guessing it's your armour skill?

[Erik Sharma]

I normally use 2xAg as a basic mod. The table on p.26 in the HARP core book gives suggested difficulties based on pace that atleast give a starting reference to begin with.

Example. A character with a BMR of 11' and a Ag bonus of +5 is gonna move 20' through the thick vegetation of a forest in one round. That would require him to move at Run pace. The suggested difficulty is Hard and I decide to go with that. The roll is 92 +10(2xAg) -20(Hard) for a total result of 82. That would mean that he would move at most 80% of his Run speed. He would get 17' that round. So he would just fall short. Ofcourse he should be able to finish the last 3' the next round without problem though.

As you can see with maneuver rolls you rarely move your full BMR and that is why my players only have to roll when moving through difficult terrain. If you wanna roll more often I would suggest reducing the difficulties on the table on p.26 four steps. (I noticed that you already did that while I was posting!)

In RMSS/FRP I would do the same but there a character would use the better of 3xAg, Running- or Sprinting skill (depending on Pace) for the roll.

[Cormac Doyle]

I can't really add to this because I don't use Hexes/squares or the like.

Even when using detailed maps, I prefer the "ruler/string" movement mechanisms ... because these allow you to move exact distances, rather than being limited to multiples of a "hex" (however large that is judged to be), and thus cause a blurring of speed/distance/terrain difficulty mods.

Someone with a BMR of 10', running, but only getting a net roll of 82 should move exactly 17' ... not "3 5' hexes" - same distance as a Jog (1.5x pace) that was 100% successful ... because a 100% successful Jog should be 15' !!!

[calmacil]

I prefer the "ruler/string" movement mechanisms ... because these allow you to move exact distances

That's a good idea, i've never done that. The only problem i can think of is when to allow flank or rear attacks. It's easy on a hex grid, do you find it easy with no grids?
One solution could be to mark on 4 points onto your PC marker

Also do you use miniatures, or markers? to represent the N/PC's.

I personally have used coins with white sticky paper on them. I colour the coins, number them, and add an arrow to show which direction they are facing. The PC's have their name written on their counts.
That allows me to have lots of different races for the NPC's

[Marc R]

The easiest way to deal with that without a grid is to put it on the token/miniature.

i.e. use a hex shaped token with an arrow indicating direction they are facing, then the flanks/rear are all clearly laid out.

With figures, stand them on a hex grid so the lines poke out from under the base (you will either need a hex grid around the same size as a figure base or do some fiddling around to line it up. Turn the figure until you are happy that "front" falls into the right arc of the miniature, then just mark around the base where the hex lines emerge with a marker, or carefully with an exacto knife. . .this will mark 60 degree increments around the edge of the figure. (A friend of mine simply prints an asterisk like shape with six 60 degree angles radiating outward so he could similarly mark any size/shape figure.)

Assume all those points extend off to infinity, and you have front/flank/rear allocated regardless of if you are using squares, hexes or an ungridded map.

[Erik Sharma]

Someone with a BMR of 10', running, but only getting a net roll of 82 should move exactly 17' ... not "3 5' hexes" - same distance as a Jog (1.5x pace) that was 100% successful ... because a 100% successful Jog should be 15' !!!

I don't really see what you are getting at here. The example BMR was 11', Jog is a thing of RM not HARP and would fall under Run pace since it's between x1 and x2 BMR. But I yes a person would loose the 2' on a hex grid but two feet are such a short distance I don't feel it's worth arguing about. I would describe the example above as the person is jogging through the forest since the terrain prevents him from running though.
As you suggested using a no grid and just ruler or string to determine distances would solve that problem and fine by me. Have used it myself on several occasions when I had forgotten or just didn't wanna use the battlemap. But the easiest way to solve this problem is to just chuck the Battlemap & Miniatures out the window and just wing it.

My players seem to like playing with the battlemap though so I have just set down some groundrules that applies to all to make the gameplay as smooth as possible. The rounding down to nearest whole 5' works for us, not saying it's the right thing for the next group. But so many other things in HARP are based around 5' like the modifications for the Move & Attack maneuver. The reason for rounding the BMR down is the same they reason the modifications are -10 for each 5' and not -2 for each 1'. That doesn't mean I don't see anything wrong with using -2 for each 1' if you want too.

[Marc R]

I personally have used coins with white sticky paper on them. I colour the coins, number them, and add an arrow to show which direction they are facing. The PC's have their name written on their counts.
That allows me to have lots of different races for the NPC's

Amusing about the coins with paper stuck to them, since our default "We need a horde of marked miniatures" was to use pennies, and paint one face with "White Out" (type correction fluid, essentially white paint in a nail polish bottle), then draw on them with felt tips and/or write a name on them. . .with an arrow for facing. Great minds think alike and all that.

[Erik Sharma]

Amusing about the coins with paper stuck to them, since our default "We need a horde of marked miniatures" was to use pennies, and paint one face with "White Out" (type correction fluid, essentially white paint in a nail polish bottle), then draw on them with felt tips and/or write a name on them. . .with an arrow for facing. Great minds think alike and all that.

The idea with correction fluid I have used myself but on flat blue glass marbles my girlfriend bought very cheap to fill out the bottom of a plant pot. She only used a small handful so I could use the rest. A bag of 100 flat glass marbles was about 1.50 USD and they where perfect to just white out the surface so you could use a felt tip pen to write or draw on them. Was gonna get another bag of those marbles but so far the onces I got have been enough.