Well, it took almost a year, but I finally received my hexels in the mail last week!
Hexels is a versatile tool for the graphic artist working with multiple applications, at a print-ready resolution. Assemble your canvas out of existing images and animations. Keep organized with layers, masks and groups. Add a pinch of procedural with a library of real-time post effects and shaders. A community gallery of artwork made with Marmoset Hexels, celebrating the geometric / isometric / pixelated / animated / vectorized / noterized works of wonder made by artists over the years. If you have Hexels.
What are hexels, you ask? Do you play Settlers of Catan? If so, you know that the hexagonal-shaped board pieces don’t really stay together that well. The game comes with a cardboard frame, which kind of keeps the pieces together, but my frame has warped over time.
I like my tabletop play sessions neat and orderly: cards stacked, my little pieces arranged in rows, all the number tokens oriented in the same direction. No matter how much I fuss about keeping the hexagons fit together perfectly, inevitably fissures appear in the island.
Somebody rolls the dice across the board.
Somebody bumps the table.
Somebody slams a new settlement down too hard.
Somebody drops their beer bottle on the board (empty, fortunately!).
Hexels solve that problem!
Hexels are black plastic frames with magnets in the sides. The board pieces fit inside perfectly, and the hexels attach themselves via the magnets. The seal is not strong, but strong enough to keep the board together. If your table is smooth, you can even slide the “board” around if needed!
The board pieces sit casually inside. You don’t have to force them in, and they pop right out.
Hexels started as a Kickstarter project in early 2013. I was one of the backers, and for $50 I received 30 hexels: enough for the 5-6 player extension of the original Catan.
The project ran into a lot of problems on the manufacturing end. They were manufactured in China, and it took the organizers a long time to find the right kind of plastic. Late 2013, the pieces finally shipped to America. The creator, Tim Walsh, had to forgo assembly costs to keep the project on budget. That meant that backers had to insert the magnets and glue the covers in place themselves. It wasn’t too much of a bother, though: after about an hour and a half of work, my pieces were ready to go.
The back of a hexel. A little magnet sits in each of those six wells. The magnet is about the size of those little ball sprinkles you put on ice cream. The covers are held in place with super glue.
How well do they work?
Nearly perfect, I’d say. The game pieces sit on top: no need to have the game pieces touching the board pieces anymore!
Hexels
Any flaws with the hexels?
Only a few. First, the project didn’t raise enough money to create hexels for the harbor pieces. Thankfully your Catan game comes with harbor pieces separate from the main board frame, so these can be set every few spaces around the board. It doesn’t look as nice; maybe someday he’ll create frames for the harbor pieces.
Second, the magnets hold the pieces together very well. But sometimes, the pieces get just slightly off. If you fuss with it, you can get the sides to match together perfectly. But even if you are off slightly, the board will still hold together properly.
Notice how these edges don’t line up perfectly.
Do the hexels fit in the box?
Hexels Import Image
Yes! Even with the 5-6 player extension (11 extra hexels) everything fits in my original Catan box. I had to remove the black plastic tray that comes with the box, but a minor inconvenience. The original board pieces fit in with the hexels, should I ever want to use those again. I even have extra room!
Now, if you are OCD about keeping things organized, I must mention that it can be difficult to get the hexels to stack perfectly on each other. This is based on the magnets wanting to attach to the hexels nearest them. You can get the stacks completely straight, but even if they are off slightly, they’ll still fit in the box (and once you transport the game, the stacks will probably get a little disordered anyway).
A full set for the 5-6 player extension contains 30 hexels. Three stacks of 10 will just fit in the box.
Okay, where do I get these?
Hexels Catan
Good question. The official website doesn’t have a lot of information, and no detail about ordering more. This is an officially licensed product of Catan and Mayfair Games, so I’m guessing they will be available commercially in the next few months once Tim fulfills all of the Kickstarter rewards.
If you want a different solution for your Catan game, there are Catan boards available from a different company (also officially licensed). You can buy plastic boards for $30 and bamboo boards for $120 (the wooden ones do look nice). These boards offer a similar solution to keeping your pieces together. They aren’t as portable as the hexels. Plus, the wooden boards are quite pricey: the board for 5-6 players is $180!
Settle on,
~Dennis