Hex grid paper
Hexagonal grid paper for map making, board game prototypes, chemistry structures, and any layout where six neighbours are more useful than four. Pick the hex size and which way up they sit, then download a PDF drawn at that exact measurement.
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It tiles the page with regular hexagons at a measurement you choose, either with a vertex at the top or a flat side at the top. Only hexagons that fit completely inside the margins are drawn, so the sheet ends on whole shapes instead of clipped ones. The size is set across the flats, which is what a ruler reads between two opposite straight sides, and that number stays the same in both orientations.
The grid is drawn at the stated size for the paper you picked, so print at actual size. Fit to page may rescale the sheet to clear the printer's hardware margin, and a rescaled hex no longer matches a ruler or a set of counters. If you are pairing the sheet with physical tokens, print one page and measure across the flats before running a batch.
Every interior hexagon has six equidistant neighbours, which is why the lattice is used for tabletop and role-playing maps, board game prototypes, and movement rules where diagonal steps on a square grid are awkward. Outside games, the same lattice is used for drawing organic chemistry structures, for quilting and applique layouts, and for tiling and paving plans.
Two settings, and both change the feel
Size decides how much fits and whether counters sit inside a cell. Orientation decides which way movement reads. Neither has a universally right answer, so pick from what the sheet is for.
If tokens, miniature bases, or written labels go inside the cells, measure them first and pick the size that clears them. One inch across the flats is the largest option and leaves the most room inside a cell; 0.5 inches suits a working sketch grid where nothing physical sits on the page.
With a vertex at the top, the cells form clean vertical columns and a straight horizontal run steps in a zigzag. With a flat side at the top the lattice is turned by ninety degrees, so the rows are the straight axis instead. Neither is better in itself, but coordinates written for one orientation do not carry over to the other, so it is worth fixing the choice before a set of sheets.
The grid is scaffolding for a map or a structure, so a light weight in grey or blue stays under pencil and pen. Bold weight suits a sheet that will be photocopied repeatedly or used at arm's length, where the lattice itself has to stay readable.
Because only complete hexagons are drawn, a wider margin drops whole cells rather than shaving a fraction off the edge, so the count can fall by a full row or column at once. Choose the margin first, then read the preview for how many rows and columns survive.
Using hex paper
A hex sheet is a coordinate system as much as a drawing surface. These notes are about keeping that system usable once the page is full.
Write what one hex represents somewhere on the page: a mile, a room, a turn of movement. A map drawn without that decision usually gets redrawn once the edges are reached and the distances stop agreeing.
Hex coordinates are easier to add before the map fills up than after. Numbering the columns along the top and the rows down one side turns the sheet into something you can write notes against without pointing at it.
A river drawn along hex edges reads as a boundary between two cells; a road drawn through the centres reads as something you travel along. Both conventions are used. What causes trouble later is mixing them on one map without deciding which is which.
For a rules test where a value is written or a counter placed in each cell, the largest size leaves the most room. Once the layout settles, the smaller sizes fit more of the board on one sheet.
Fused ring structures line up naturally on a hex lattice. At 0.5 inches across the flats a page holds more than four times as many cells as at 1 inch, so more of a structure fits before you reach for a second sheet.
Because the settings live in the page address, the link is the template. Bookmark the configured URL and the next sheet in the set comes out at the same size and orientation as the first.
FAQ
Across the flats: the distance between two opposite straight sides, which is what you get by laying a ruler across the middle of a hexagon. The three options are 0.5, 0.75, and 1 inch. That measurement is deliberate because it does not change when you switch orientation, unlike the vertex-to-vertex width.
Which part of the hexagon faces up. Pointy top puts a vertex at the top and lines the cells up into clean columns; flat top puts a straight side at the top and lines them up into rows. The hexagons are the same size in both, the lattice is simply turned by ninety degrees.
The generator only draws hexagons that fit completely inside the margins. A sheet of whole cells is easier to count and to use as a coordinate grid, and it avoids partial cells that cannot hold a token or a label.
Yes. The geometry is generated for whichever paper size you select rather than scaled from the other one, so the hexes measure the same on both. A4 is slightly narrower and taller, so the number of columns and rows differs even though the cell size does not.
One inch across the flats is the largest of the three options and a common size for hex wargames. Base sizes vary between games and manufacturers, so measure the base you actually use and print one test page before producing a whole map.
It is free, needs no account, and adds no watermark. Settings travel in the page address, so you can bookmark a configured sheet and print an identical one later.