tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829Thu, 24 Oct 2024 22:54:31 +0000vassalcountermapsprototypetraitDunnNaval ThunderimperialismshipwargamingImperialism records my experience of designing and playing a quasi-WW2 wargmes campaign that utilises the VASSAL Engine. Imperialism is a game system I have designed in the hope that other people will find it interesting enough to take up and play themselves.http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Limey6)Blogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-6499349748211047822Tue, 17 May 2011 21:35:00 +00002011-05-17T14:35:33.083-07:00imperialismWargaming can be a very lonely hobby especially if, like me, you don't like to commit yourself to large blocks of time (which is invariably the case when playing a wargame) or else you have few opportunities to play face-to-face against a human opponent. Besides, my boredom thresh-hold is quite low and I find it very difficult to remain playing at a table for more than a couple of hours. This http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/lets-get-back-to-imperialism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-4134747725317319308Sat, 14 May 2011 07:35:00 +00002011-05-14T00:35:01.875-07:00counterprototypetraitWhat are Traits and what have they to do with counters? The simple answer is that they bring the counter to life and change it from being a simple image to being something interactive. A Trait is like a behaviour and by assigning traits to a counter the counter can 'do' a lot of things that you would normally do with a counter if you were playing against a real opponent face-to-face. Probably http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/traits-for-counters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-7195627148711995864Sat, 14 May 2011 07:32:00 +00002011-05-14T00:32:57.607-07:00prototypetraitvassalAs far as counters of a similar type are concerned many of them will have a certain number of characteristics that are the same under all circumstances. For instance, taking the ship counter, it would not matter what type of ship we were talking about when it comes to turning to port or turning to starboard since ALL ships that I know of have this feature. Similarly, nearly all ships move http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/vassal-prototypes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-3410916706179722060Tue, 10 May 2011 22:06:00 +00002011-05-11T02:02:59.616-07:00countershipvassalHaving found a simple way to create a Tactical map for Naval engagements it was necessary to start giving thought to the counters that would be needed in order to 'play' the game. I wanted to get some information on the counter as well as a top-down image of a ship. The problem here was that the ship types I needed to be represented ranged in size from huge Battleships to tiny Corvettes, so I http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/creating-ship-counters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-4508634229033193211Mon, 09 May 2011 21:16:00 +00002011-05-09T14:35:02.812-07:00mapsNaval ThundervassalIn my last post I referred to the fact that to play a game using VASSAL required images of the playing area over which a hex-grid was superimposed and that these images will, of necessity, be very large and demanding on computer resources. Well, this is not quite totally true in the case of a map that represents the open ocean which is exactly where our Naval combat will generally take place. http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/naval-tactical-map.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-7401090576333242047Mon, 09 May 2011 07:54:00 +00002011-05-09T13:33:58.281-07:00mapsvassalDunn's book, 'Sea Battle Games', was written for the table-top Naval wargamer. Using the popular 1:1200 scale for Naval engagements demands a very large playing area and for the most part precludes using a table-top in favour of a floor - a large floor! With 18" gunnery ranges reaching out to 92-inches (2.3-meters) one can understand why the average dining table was not suitable for a game http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/task-ahead.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3554665653748784829.post-7704364382474534598Sun, 08 May 2011 19:37:00 +00002011-05-09T13:47:53.894-07:00DunnvassalwargamingI have been working hard this last two weeks working on a game system that I hope will allow me to play on-line against a friend of mine. The game has borrowed heavily from an old wargames book from my youth that I recently rediscovered in the cellar , 'Sea Battle Games', by P. Dunn and published by Model & Allied Publications Ltd., 1970. Yes, it is a first edition and probably bought by me http://imperial-conquest.blogspot.com/2011/05/welcome-to-imperialism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Limey6)0