Hex Combat
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Hex Combat is a hex-based strategy wargame system by Sabertooth Games (not a typo) and its associated collectible miniatures game (CMG) themed on The Lord of the Rings. Like the popular CMG HeroClix, Hex Combat miniatures are cast in soft plastic and sold pre-painted. They also have stats printed directly on the base as well as sliders (older versions) or dials (newer versions) that allow players to keep track of the state of each individual game unit without the need for pencil and paper.
[edit] Game Structure
The basic set of rules for Hex Combat is simple and employs concepts that should be familiar to most casual wargamers (and certainly those who would call themselves grognards.) Each turn begins with an initiative roll from each player, followed by a movement phase in which each player moves his units (units with ranged attacks may opt to shoot instead of moving on a given turn), and finally a combat phase in which combats are resolved. Combat between units is automatic and mandatory, meaning that if any unit is engaged in melee combat with any other unit (simply by being adjacent to that unit in its "attack zone"), that combat resolution necessarily occurs during the combat phase and neither play may opt out of it.
During combat resolution, separate rolls are made for "hits" and "wounds." The number of attacks contributed by all of the units involved in one side of a particular combat chain is totalled, and that number of six-sided dice are thrown. That throw determines the total number of hits that occurs, and another throw (the number of dice equal to the number of hits that were made) determines how many wounds are inflicted. Once the number of wounds for both sides is calculated, each player assigns wounds to the units on the opposing side of the combat, and any units whose number of available wounds (other wargames would call these "hit points" or "steps") drops to zero is removed from play.
Although the basic rules are quite straightforward for a strategy wargame, the presence of special abilities mixes things up a great deal. Most units have some form of special ability, even if that ability is as simple as the Spearman ability, and some units have fairly elaborate special abilities, such as Frodo's ability "The One Ring." Although tactical knowledge such as effectively maneuvering units and using the terrain effectively is important, understanding the abilities of various units and how best to employ them is essential to the game.
In addition to the number of wounds that are available to each unit in Hex Combat, units also each have a number of action points. Action points are spent to activate abilities (some abilities have action point costs) and also during combat to improve the results of certain die rolls.
Unlike some strategy wargames, such as HeroClix, the attribute and ability stats for units in Hex Combat are not affected by how many wounds they have remaining. A unit on the brink of death still contributes as many attacks to a combat and still has as high a toughness attribute as when that unit was fully healthy.
