X = number of tiles with black side face up

seswneswswsenwwnwse
wsweesenenewnwwnwsenewsenwwsesesenwne
wseweeenwnesenwwwswnew
...

This Regular Expression:
/e|se|sw|w|nw|ne/g

For this line:
wseweeenwnesenwwwswnew

Generates this list:
w,se,w,e,e,e,nw,ne,se,nw,w,w,sw,ne,w

  3 2 
 4 0 1
  5 6

Nope.
------

 ne  e  se
 +1 +1 +1
[ 0, 0, 0 ]
 -1 -1 -1
 sw  w  nw

Nope.
------

   -1    -1
   up    left
[   0,    0   ]
   down  right
   +1    +1

Closer!
------

   nw  ne  
  w  00  e
   sw  se

e  [ 0, 2]   
se [ 1, 1]   
sw [ 1,-1]   
w  [ 0,-2]   
nw [-1,-1]   
ne [-1, 1]

BINGO!

Create a dictionary mapping coordinates to boolean values that represent whether white or black is face-up
Create a legend mapping the six directional strings to a relative coordinate system matching what is written above
For each tile path - starting from the coordinate [0,0]
  For each extracted direction within the tile path
    Update each of the accumulating coordinate's values to reflect the sum of that value and the value at the same index in the looked-up direction's coordinates (e.g. [0,0] on sw becomes [1,-1]; then on nw becomes [0,-2])
  Look for a key in the dictionary matching the final coordinate
    If it exists, flip the boolean of the coordinate (e.g. 0 to 1 or vice versa)
    If it doesn't exist, set it to 0 - signifying that it started as white and is now turned upside down to black

Generate a list containing only the values from the now-filled dictionary of coordinate-boolean mappings
Filter the list to include only values of 0 - representing black-side face-up tiles
Return the length of the filtered list

Create a unique list of coordinates of each target tile from the processed input list of tiles
Determine four values from the unique list of coordinates:
  1. Smallest value in first location:  minY
  2. Largest value in first location:   maxY
  3. Smallest value in second location: minX
  4. Largest value in second location:  maxX
Create an array of arrays - with space characters for values - with the following sizes:
  The outer array has a length one larger than maxY - minY
  Each nested array has a length one larger than maxX - minX
For each tile in the processed object storing tile locations and boolean values
  If the tile is black-side face-up - has a value of 0 - then update two locations in the 2D array:
    1. The location whose row equals the sum of the middle row index and the coordinate in the first location of the tile's coordinate, and whose column equals the sum of the middle index and the coordinate in the second location of the tile's coordinate: Update it to '<'
    2. The location one index to the right: Update it to '>'
Display the grid by joining each value in the nested arrays into a string, then join each nested array into a string, separating with a new line character

       <>

 <><>    
<>  <>  <>
 <>      
<>    <> 
 <>      

-----
Legend:
<> = tiles with black side face up

Do Part 1
Do 100 times
  Check all six tiles adjacent to every tile - some were identified in Part 1, but not all
  Only if the values of the adjacent tiles match the rule corresponding to the face-up color of the center tile:
    Add the center tile to a list of tiles to be flipped
  Flip all tiles added to the list
  Count the number of tiles that now have their black side face-up

For each of the six directional coordinates
  Find the coordinates of the tile in the corresponding direction from a source tile
  If the adjacent tile's coordinates are not one of the keys in our growing object of tile locations and boolean values
    Return 1, since 1 represents a never-flipped, white-side face-up tile
  Else
    Return the boolean value associated with the key: 0 or 1
Filter the list of six numbers to only include 0s
  Store the count of black-side face-up tiles
If the originating tile is black-side face-up and the count of black-side face-up adjacent tiles is one of 0,3,4,5,6
  Add the tile to the list of ones to be flipped
If the originating tile is white-side face-up and the count of black-side face-up adjacent tiles is 2
  Add the tile to the list of ones to be flipped

Call initially with times = 0
*If times is 2, end here
For each of the six directional coordinates
  Find the coordinates of the tile in the corresponding direction from a source tile
  Go to * with times + 1
  If the adjacent tile's coordinates are not one of the keys in our growing object of tile locations and boolean values
    Return 1, since 1 represents a never-flipped, white-side face-up tile
  Else
    Return the boolean value associated with the key: 0 or 1
Filter the list of six numbers to only include 0s
  Store the count of black-side face-up tiles
If the originating tile is black-side face-up and the count of black-side face-up adjacent tiles is one of 0,3,4,5,6
  Add the tile to the list of ones to be flipped
If the originating tile is white-side face-up and the count of black-side face-up adjacent tiles is 2
  Add the tile to the list of ones to be flipped