Re: [FT] New way of moving ships

That is so simple!
It has me thinking:  Why didn't I think of that!

Donald Hosford

"Grogan, Paul" wrote:

> After coming back from Gencon UK, I thought I'd share my new and
improved
> way of moving ships that one of my players spotted a while ago and
it's made
> life a lot, lot easier since I started using it.
>
> I assumed that many other people also did this, but I find that people
are
> not aware of it.
>
> Here it is:
> As long as your miniature is based on a hex base, you will no longer
need to
> use the turning circle thing.  Over the whole weekend of Gencon, I
didn't
> use mine once, except for fire arcs.
>
> Quite simply, each of the ships at all times must be facing one of the
12
> vectors, there are no in-betweens.  On my movement sheets, I have
players
> log their speed and vector.  That way, if a figure gets knocked over,
it's
> easy to put it back in the same orientation that it was.
> Because the hex base it 6 sided, it also is true that at any one time,
one
> of the flat sides of the hex must be lined up exactly with one edge of
the
> board, be it the top/bottom or left/right.
>
> Now, when your ship does a 1-point turn, you simpy rotate the base
through
> 30 degrees.  This is really easy to do, but maybe difficult to explain
> without pictures.  If, for example, the hex base is lined up with the
top of
> the map (one of the flat sides is perpendicular to it), then rotating
it 30
> degrees to the left means that one of the points of the hex is then
pointing
> towards the top of the map (and thus the flat sides are now lined up
with
> the sides of the map).
>
> Doing a 2-point turn is even easier, simply rotate the figure 1
complete
> hexside, so the hex base lines up with the same side of the board as
it did
> previously.
>
> For big ships, which I base on 2mm MDF with 2 stands, I still have to
use
> the turning circle.
>
> Give it a go next time you play.  I think it really speeds up play and
it's
> really easy to do.  We also do a check at the end of the turn to make
sure
> all ships are facing the way that has been plotted on the movement
chart.
>
> Any comments welcome
>
> Paul Grogan
> Runestone Games
> www.runestonegames.freeserve.co.uk