Hexton Hills Standard Size Hex Tokens

 

Before I jumped into the deep end with two feet I originally downloaded the sample pack from Hexton Hills website and gave it a test run. I had some real concerns about the ability to print on an FDM 3D printer versus a resin 3D printer. 

The first two hex tokens I printed were the fort and the river/lake/sea pieces. I was impressed how well they turned out but I could tell some of the detail was mottled a bit. The forest piece I printed after changing my Bambu Labs A1mini's printhead from .4 nozzle to .2 nozzle. The .2 nozzle is a $12 add on for better detail. I was absolutely amazed and blown away with the detail of the print - sure, it took 3-4x longer than the .4 nozzle to print but the detail is amazing. I then tried shrinking the hex token 50% in the software and using the .2 nozzle the results are my campaign map for our family game. One of the pics has a water hex token printed at 50% for size reference.

The cool thing about the standard size hex tokens is that they'll take tiny 3mm x 2mm magnets which make the hexes snap together and hold well - you just need to make sure you put your north/south polarity in the right spots. The clicking of the hexes together is very ASMR.

Originally I wasn't going to paint these samples as I have no real use for them other than they were tests, but they look so dang good! The standard size was so much easier to airbrush as well in comparison to the half size hex tokens.

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - The Maelstrom

 

Part of the Calhay Sea where it is rumored that the maelstrom will suck you in and spit you out in other realms and dimensions of space-time. This was a pretty simple set of hex tokens to represent the open sea and helps to provide stability to the overall map.

If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit southeast of Onadbyr and its coastline like so...

A couple of interesting details to note...

1. I added a water based scroll token and I learned how to go into the 3D software and add lettering - so that's pretty cool and as Onadbyr sits on the coast and is the primary central point of not only the map but the entire campaign, I thought it was good to give it a named token representation on the map.

2. The picture isn't of these hex tokens sitting on my desk as previously posted photos - it's on a magnetic white board! I picked up a 2' x 3' whiteboard which should give me enough room for the entire first half of the map and easy enough to carry around to/from the gaming table.

3. Magnets - supergluing magnets is a pain! I'm using 5mm x 2mm magnets (the original size hex tokens use 10mm x 2mm) and I think there was more glue on my fingers than the tokens to magnets - but I did manage and it works great - so awesome to hear that resounding thunk as the magnetized token snaps to the whiteboard.

NextLevel Miniatures - Callous Troll

 

This is a new miniature company for me - I found them on sale at Miniature Market awhile back and thought they looked pretty good - they have an old school feel - so I thought I'd pick up a few and give 'em a try. The first one I painted up is titled Callous Troll. It's a pretty good looking miniature with some nice detail but not overly so to make painting tiresome.

I did some digging - NextLevel Miniatures is a US company based in St. Louis and it looks like they formed in 2020 and ran some Kickstarters. It's a shame I didn't know of them before because there's a lot of value in those Kickstarters although the current online retail pricing really isn't bad - particularly through Miniature Market (which is also a St. Louis company so there might be a connection there).

They ran four Kickstarters and the first two were built around miniatures featuring the mega dungeon Rappan Athuk which I recently ran through as a player during a multi-year campaign. They then completed two additional Kickstarters to expand their miniature offering and it looks like they're soon going to launch a dice campaign. NextLevel Miniatures Kickstarter profile page.

As to the miniatures - they say that they are cast in a thermoplastic resin - they appear to me to be similar to Reaper Miniature's Bones Black line. The details are pretty good, the models I have appear to have enough rigidity that they won't fall over or have bendy parts yet flexible enough to take a tumble off the tabletop and not break. The casting comes in a light grey, much like the Wizkids unpainted line - and while they don't come pre-primed, they claim that their "resin naturally takes acrylic paint exceptionally well" and this first model I did airbrush without a primer. Finally, they note the miniatures are sculpted by Punga Miniatures which is a Russian company that provides 3D models for wargames. I like to give sculptor credit but it appears that like Wizkids, the sculpting is going to a "studio" vs individual credit like you see with Reaper Miniatures.

One final note, talking about feeling old school, my miniatures came from Miniature Market in plastic sandwich baggies instead of fancy blister packs to tear open. If that's what it takes to keep miniature prices down then keep sending the baggies! Most of their small/medium sized minis are a $1-$2 and this large model is currently $4.49 online.

Painting this miniature was a lot of fun and I painted him primarily as a discard of paint left in the airbrush pot and the details were done when I had paint on the wet palette leftover from other models I was painting (particularly from the Hexton Hills hex tokens). Also, as this model was painted as a paint discard the following are my best guesses...

Unless noted the paint was Vallejo Air/Game. The base is Sick Green and then highlights with Light Livery Green. I then went back and did some airbrush shading with Dark Green and then another light airbrushing of Light Livery Green. Then I moved him onto the workbench and filled in some details. Scarlet Red for finger and toe nails. I think I used Reaper's Dirty Grey as highlights on top of Black hair and then on the loincloth with a Black Wash. The axe was Reaper's Nightsky Blue with Reaper's Concrete Grey highlights. The spots I believe were done with Sun Yellow. The bits of leather here and there was Reaper's Rich Leather. The base was my standard Black with a drybrush of Neutral Grey and Fortress Grey.

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - Coastline of the Calhay Sea

 

This hex isn't very exciting on its own, but it fits a crucial structure of the eastern coastline for the Calhay Sea and it solidifies the game map a bit. I might see if I can find a 3D wooden ship marker that can be scaled down so I at least have something interesting visibly on one of the water tokens. There is a land hex token that fits neatly on the coastline between the windmills and the ziggurat.

If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit southeast of the windmills, northeast of the ziggurat and south of Onadbyr like so...

Reaper Miniatures Tiik Baron - 77212

 

This was a bit of a fun experiment of layering a completely different color over another using an airbrush. I had a thought that it would be really cool to layer this four armed sea creature with a blue and green to give it this underwater sea look.

All paints are Vallejo - Game Air and Game Color.

Using the airbrush I started off with prime layer of ultramarine. Then switched to electric blue and gave it all a heavy highlight from all angles and then did a final highlight using light livery green from a 12 o'clock angle with extra focus on the scales. It's interesting because the light livery green gives a completely different end result on top of the blue base than over a darker green base. I think it gives the model a very out of the sea look to it.

I then touched up the model with a brush using scarlet blood on the claws, dark gunmetal on the weapon, a mix of tentacle pink and bonewhite for the seashell armor which I washed with a drop of the electric blue from the airbrush paint. Foul green was used for the clothes and straps which was washed with black wash.

I have quite a few of these tiik models from the bones kickstarters so I'll be using a similar paint scheme on them as well.

Kickstarter paint total 212 + 1 Tiik Baron = 213

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - Ziggurat of the New Moon

So many great Hexton Hills hex tokens built so far - the castle for Onadbyr, the monster fish, the windmills representing the Old Grinder, and the dungeon mountain but this one is my favorite hex tile so far because I scaled down a 3D print and used a flat tile to create a token Hexton Hills doesn't have - that of a ziggurat. 

I've added Dark Green to my land paint schema in order to provide a bit more depth in the grasslands and to distinguish the evergreen trees in the forest tiles.The ziggurat was airbrushed black, hexed lichen, and then just a fine highlight of warlord purple.

If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit south of the windmills like so...

Also, to give a sense of scale - here's a quarter next to some of the hex tokens.

Reaper Miniatures Dungeon Decor: Stalagmites - 77398

 

This was some extra terrain pieces from the bones pile I had hanging around on the bones kickstarter shelf - I did a few pieces back when I created the multi-level dungeon - this item was the remaining item from the set.

Started with a black prime coat and then sprayed Light Livery Green followed by Reaper's Gilded Yellow as a highlight.

Kickstarter paint total 212 + 1 Stalagmites = 213

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - Tomb of the Constructor

 

What a great ominous mountain for a dungeon hex token. This hex represents the Tomb of the Constructor which is a fantastic dungeon location the party travels to north of Onadbyr to find a key. I thought it was a brilliantly written dungeon with amazing npc's and the group appeared to really enjoy the game session. Most of the beginning of the campaign is very much a city campaign and this offers the second opportunity to go explore the surroundings.

The paint schema is the same land and water established in the Onadbyr hex tile except that I have added Dark Green and airbrush just a touch here and there to give the pine trees a pop and the cliff sides a bit of depth. I thought about airbrushing some snow on the mountain but I think leaving it black is more menacing and there's lots of tall snowy peaks way up north so I'll leave the snow for later.

If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit north of Onadbyr like so...

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - The Old Windmills

 

Oh my goodness - tiny freakin' windmills! This hex represents the Old Windmills section and was the first place the party went outside of Onadbyr to find a Noble's farm, the Royal Stables, and the Old Grinder windmill. 

These Hexton Hills hex tokens are amazing. The paint schema is the same land and water established in the Onadbyr hex tile. The additional colors were:

* Farm barns, shed, stables, etc. - Scarlet Blood
* Farm fields - Gold Yellow
* Farm fences and city dock - Beasty Brown
* Windmill buildings and city road - Stonewall Grey
* Windmill blades - Dead White
* Houses and building - Neutral Grey

If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit southwest of Onadbyr like so...

Thieves' Cant Cipher Wheels

 

An actual interactive prop in the form of two large bracelets make up this 3D printed Thieves' Cant Cipher. On one bracelet are a bunch of symbols and on the second bracelet is the translation alphabet. Match up a symbol with a letter and write or decipher a message.

The best part is that enterprising user generated a DnD Cipher website to easily generate a string of text for your Dungeons and Dragons game. Maneuver the top and bottom rows representing the rings starting point and give your characters a clue such as B-DOT.

Using the cipher wheels generates the message - "meet me at the old oak tonight when the moon rises."

note: the website only works with lowercase letters in the message

I will definitely be incorporating this into my game. Probably be one of those deals where they find a message - maybe another clue like B-DOT - then maybe on a low level bad guy they see these cipher rings on the bad guy's wrist and they'll need to figure out how to procure them one way or another.

These were airbrushed with Glorious Gold.

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - The Calhay Sea

Every Sea needs a fish monster! Or at least rumors have it that if you travel too far out at see you'll fall off the edge or be eaten by a sea monster - and therefore all good sea maps must have a sea monster.

If you're following along on my Hexton Hills printing of the Kingdom of Aglarion, then this hex is going to sit southeast of Onadbyr like so...

Reaper Miniatures Shoggoth - 77115

 

Supposed to be Shoggoth which is a monster from the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft

It was a terrible, indescribable thing vaster than any subway train—a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the tunnel-filling front that bore down upon us, crushing the frantic penguins and slithering over the glistening floor that it and its kind had swept so evilly free of all litter.

— H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness

Hmmm... I see this as the Loc-Nar from the Heavy Metal film. The green ball of pure evil seeping its tentacles to infest and control.

Do not try to escape. You are in my control. Look at me: I am the sum of all evils. Look carefully. My power infests all times, all galaxies, all dimensions. But many still seek me out; a green jewel they must possess. But see how I destroy their lives.

 —The Loc-Nar, Heavy Metal

This is a bones mini and Tre Manor is a new sculptor for me to paint - I see that he's done lots of bugbear, orc, and gnoll minis for Reaper - many of which are on the to be painted shelf so we'll see more of Tre's sculpts in the future. When I was airbrushing the Hexton Hills terrain I would end up with extra paint in the airbrush cup - so I found a good use for it!

Kickstarter paint total 211 + 1 Shoggoth = 212

Hexton Hills - Onadbyr from Map to 3D

I was going to publish this yesterday, but that post was getting a bit long - so here's the process of interpreting the map as designed by Elderbrain to 3D hex tokens. First to think about is that we're being representative - not exact - the map in the book is representative with tokens for cities, farms, dungeons, mountains, swamps, etc. Additionally, each hex on the map needs to be segmented into 7 hex tokens in a 2-3-2 pattern.

So we start with the map from the book for the city of Onadbyr...

Then we use the Hexton Hills Map Planner software which is a free online tool to plan out your hex token build. All the tokens are in menus on the right and it's a fairly easy and fun way to build together your map. The software will also calculate and generate a build list documenting which pieces and the total number need for the build.

For this hex - the 2-3-2 hex tokens are going to be...

What's great about the software is that it allows the building of regions. Naming a region and then selecting the hexes which belong to the region shows up on the map like this which replicates the hex on the map from the book...

Finally, after printing and painting the final result is...

Hexton Hills - Kingdom of Aglarion - Onadbyr

 

I'm starting something new - it's 3D printed terrain from Hexton Hills. I received the hex terrain files as a Christmas gift from my son, I'm converting the mapping of our current family Dungeons and Dragons campaign to a 3d visual feast. We are currently playing the Crown of the Oathbreaker campaign from Elderbrain. It's an amazing campaign book and has a main city of Onadbyr where the initial primary story takes place but then opens up to classic hexcrawl with various spots of interest.

The hexcrawl map is huge - and there's a players version but there is also a DM's version with many more interesting places. Each hex on the map is 25 miles or a typical days travel in D&D. In order to map this into 3d terrain, I've taken the scale of 7 hex tokens = 1 hex map which makes each hex token about 8 miles. Which means the party can go three hexes in any direction. 

Each hex as printed using the files direct from Hexton Hills is about 2" on the short side of the hex and 2.5" on the long side of the hex. That means I'd need a board about 6' high and 8' long - way to big. So I've scaled them down 50% as I can put a board on the table that's 3'x4'. Now, according to Hexton Hills you can't print that small on a printer using filament (called FDM printing) and have to use the complicated and potentially toxic resin printing. Well that's where Bambu Labs and their .2 nozzle comes into play with the settings set using the factory best configurations of high quality at .06.

Red filament is printed at standard size and the grey filament is half size.

The really cool thing is that you can print with or without the locking tabs - I figured that at the 50% reduction the locking tabs weren't going to work as there has to be a high level of precision - I can't say enough about Bambu Labs printers - they lock! Here's a sampling...

It does it so well that the entire grouping can be picked up...

I tack the hex grouping to a coaster and then off to the spray booth. I'm keeping the rules simple as I'm going to have hundreds of hex tiles when it's all said and done. From a campaign perspective I simply need to keep ahead of the current adventure by a map hex (7 hex tokens) or two. I'm spraying Vallejo Game Air and I've placed the .35 needle/nozzle on my Badger Patriot 105 airbrush (that's the black ball - what Badger calls Super Detail).

Water

=====

* Ultramarine Blue

* Electric Blue

Land

=====

* Earth

* Sick Green

* Light Livery Green

Castle

=====

* Black

* hand drybrush Cold Grey

* hand drybrush Stonewall Grey