Hello, again, boys and gulls. It's been a few weeks since old Papa-'Scape has had a chance to sit down and share his amazing wisdom with the wonderful world of HeroScapers.com. We've had a national election and many local ones, some of which are still counting. You can count on them to be counting and recounting for another month, at least, and that brings us to our first question.

Dear Papa-'Scapeman,
Our game group is arguing about how many starting hexes you have to have in a game. So, dude, how many?

(signed) Counting on you

Dear Counting,
There was that old flag, back during the American Revolution (I remember it like it was yesterday) with the motto "Don't Tread on Me." Well, I say, "Don't Count on Me." Don't call me "dude," either.

As to your question, though, how many starting hexes do you have to have in a game, the answer depends on several factors. First, it depends on what game you're...