Cropping images for tokens/maps

Apologies if this is in the wrong place, but ... More of an issue with apps/programs, but I am having issues creating tokens and map counters for my BattleTech game. I have been given a load of map tokens (hexed) and want to crop some of the images from them to use on different map tiles. I am using Paint to try and crop some of the hex shaped images (buildings, fortifications etc) but even if I select the 'manual' selection and cut a hex shaped selection from the map, when I try and save it as a separate image it comes out with a square shaped white border around it making it useless for my hex maps.  THis is an example of what I'm trying to cut from: And this is what I end up with:   Anyone got any suggestions on cheap/free software to use to edit so I can crop a hex shaped image?

What format are you saving your images as? Unless it is a .png file it won't preserve the transparency around it.

Hmm, jpeg actually... I'll try as png later this morning. Cheers.

Try Gimp, it's basically a free version of Photoshop. You should be able to easily cut away outside of the hex.

Gimp has a big learning curve. You can do what you want with Paint with no more effort than with Gimp. Just use PNG format for transparency.

I second David T.'s suggestion. Paint.net is much easier to learn than Gimp. just clean out the parts you don't want and save as a PNG.