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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6294480" data-attributes="member: 1465">I really think that they actually started from numbers of units, and then figured out a reasonably occupied space.Because when setting up a battle, you obviously start from the question "how many pikemen make up this group?", and 10 is a common unit of measurement (who would design an army by multiples of 16?). You don't start from how much space is occupied, that is an afterthought.My guess is that the designers followed this train of thoughts:- the best unit number is 10, so almost everything is a nice multiple of 10- should we use squares or hexes? let's go with squares*- how much square space do 10 medium creatures occupy? the closer values are 15x15 if you squeeze them a bit, and 20x20 if you loose them a bit, so let's go with the second on the rationale that mass battles are more open-quarters than typical D&D combat***I actually think it's likely there is also an option for hexes, but IMO they chose squares because it might be easier to adjudicate front/back/flanking**that's of course debatable, but typical D&D combat happens more often in closed spaces such as a dungeon, a forest, a tavern or a marketplace; mass battles occur mostly on open fields I guess... IMHO those armies might start off as densely packed, but they as soon as actual fighting erupts, they are destined to spread around</blockquote>