The Conquest of the New World summer event is on its way along with an entire season of Warhammer gaming and campaigning! This article can help you prepare for all this gaming goodness.

Materials and Tools You will need the following items: • Hexagonal Template (you pick the size) – I used the top of a 4" wooden hexagon-shaped jewellery box that I found at a craft store. • Craft knife (with a supply of spare blades). • Pen. • Wood glue (Citadel PVA Glue works just fine). • 1/2"-1" thick insulation foam. • Metal ruler. • Self-healing cutting mat (11” x 17” provides a good work space). • Fine sand, loose medium rocks, flock. • Duct Tape. • Medium sandpaper. • Citadel Jungle plants or aquarium plants. • Green Stuff. • 2-part resin (optional for the water effect). • Lots of paint!

Click the photo to the left for a larger version.

If you haven't heard yet, The Conquest of the New World (COTNW) is a campaign booklet that uses the node-based campaign system that can be found in the Warhammer Realms: Lustria book. The COTNW campaign booklet will be made available to fans through White Dwarf and the Conquest of the New World campaign website that will make its first appearance in late April 2005.

This trio of campaign hexes represent three territories.The terrain for games here would be standard, as the areas are largely plains.

Even though the COTNW and Warhammer Realms: Lustria use a node-based campaign system (for more information on this system, pick up both of these books), the summer event is all about gaming and campaigning, so anything goes when it comes to playing Warhammer. Whether you are using the node system found in COTNW, the map-based or game-mastered systems found in The General's Compendium, or a hex-based system like the one from Mighty Empires, the summer is all about getting together with your club or group of friends and playing lots of Warhammer.

CAMPAIGN HEXES

A hex representing mountainous terrain.

For my own fun in the Lustria sun, I am working on a set of three-dimensional campaign hex tiles and a small set of rules to guide the campaign that I hope to host and play in here at GW headquarters. While I only have some rough ideas on rules to share with you at this point, I have constructed a significant number of prototype hex tiles that I will share with those that are interested. The tiles are like Mighty Empire tiles in many ways: they have six sides; contain mountains, forests, and rivers; and are used to track the campaign (not to play games on). The big difference is that the hex tiles I am building actually have 3D mountains, rivers, and jungles on them that were modeled just like a piece of Warhammer terrain.

"WHY?"

Some of you might be asking, "Why would anyone want to go to the trouble of constructing these crazy hex tiles?"

Well, first of all, you should only attempt this project if you think the hex terrain looks cool! Playing on an awesome 3D map will make your campaigns even more exciting than they are now. If you play a lot of campaigns or intend to, you might want to invest the time to make a versatile set of hex tiles like these.

A river runs through these three hexes.

Secondly, this project will bring your club together. This activity should probably only be undertaken by a group or club that has at least four people willing to help with the project – having more people makes it go even faster! I'm going to find my four to eight players and then get all of them to contribute. Sounds fair to me!

Once finished, you can use the tiles for any gaming system, not just Warhammer! You can augment the tiles with modelled campaign objectives and army markers. Want to play Warhammer? Make villages, castles, and wizard towers. Want to play Warhammer 40,000? Make bunkers, hives, and spaceports.

Another reason you might want to make hex terrain is that you want to play a hex-campaign but don't have a good map, and you don't have an artist around to draw one. If you've got even basic hobby skills (like me), you and your friends can make these useful campaign tiles.

Even if you do have an artist available, they are going to get pretty angry if they have to draw a new map every time your club wants to run a campaign! With the hex tiles, you can have a new map every time with no additional effort.

A magnetic board used to store your hexes in between games.

Finally (I could keep going, but I'll spare you), with the right set of rules and these tiles, you can play campaigns like you never have before. I plan to put together a set of charts to generate the terrain of the map as players move into it. Players will not actually see the entire map until someone explores it. It is like the "Fog of War" that many video games use (see the image to the right).

"I DONT HAVE ROOM FOR A HUGE CAMPAIGN MAP!"

Guess what – neither do I. If you are in the same boat as me with a tiny game room (if you have one at all) or limited storage space, have I got the solution for you: magnets. Yeah, that's what I said, magnets.

By magnetizing the bottoms of all of your hex tiles, you can mount your campaign on a chalk board or magnetic white board. In the step-by-step instructions on the next few pages, I show you how to add metal washers to the bases of your tiles so that magnetized campaign accessories (objectives, army markers, ownership tokens) will stick to them. Now all you need is a free wall! If you do have room for a 4'x4' or 6'x6' hex map on a table, then please ignore all of the steps on the next pages in red.

Next: Making Campaign Hexes.