Playing while evolving my old rules

[josta59]

Hi, all, I've been quiet but busy. I'm slowly but surely evolving my old "Quik Frik" rules (yes, those again--I still love them!) into something that can be used for a massive game using 6mm miniatures or a hex map such as those used for Advanced Squad Leader or Lock 'n Load games. This new version is being built for solo play, with an enemy AI system I'm working hard on. The new version of the rules has a long way to go, but I've made a lot of progress. Playing a game as I go helps me think of things that need to be built into the rules, and the game I have going on right now has me excited.

This game is designed to allow the player to bring out all their toys. This urban scenario on an ASL board began with three enemy "blind" units on the west end. I had my Humvee scout out far west to hex L5, which generated two new blinds via card draw. Then I had my Black Hawk helicopter take off and move to L7, which revealed all the blinds at once. One of them happened to have a 9K38 Igla rocket launcher, and my opportunity fire rules allowed them to fire immediately, which disrupted the chopper! And it's only turn 1! Had to share.

[Whiterook]

OOOOOOohhhh… “Quik Frik Redux!!!” LOVE it!!!   Bravo, good buddy! I’m really excited to see this next gen version…I too love the system you developed and you have tons of potential here.

So my first and perhaps obvious question is, I note the ASL map, which I am assuming was generated from VASL?

…which leads me to my second bigger questions:

1. Did you use the VASL engine to build up this game start map? …are you importing counter images into the game build engine within VASL or VASSAL? I ask because of the tiling on counter on counter such as F5, as well as the graphics (like FIRE).

2. …or are you using something else, like PowerPoint.?

I’d love to hear as much detail as possible in how you are building all this and systems used…not only for myself, but our readers. 

As an aside, I’ve been wanting to learn how to build games within VAsSAL, but it’s such a steep learning curve for me.


 

[josta59]

Hi, Em!

Not VASL. There's a treasure trove of digital ASL maps stored here: asl-players.net/mmp-geo-boards/

This is all home-built using PowerPoint, as usual. I used the ASL map as the slide background, and I make the counters using shapes, text boxes, and illustrations found around the internet.

I'm at a place in my life where I'd prefer using real counters on a map on my desk, but no existing game satisfies me enough!

Happy to answer specific questions!

[Whiterook]

May 13, 2024 12:47:17 GMT -5 josta59 said:

Hi, Em!

Not VASL. There's a treasure trove of digital ASL maps stored here: asl-players.net/mmp-geo-boards/

This is all home-built using PowerPoint, as usual. I used the ASL map as the slide background, and I make the counters using shapes, text boxes, and illustrations found around the internet.

I'm at a place in my life where I'd prefer using real counters on a map on my desk, but no existing game satisfies me enough!

Happy to answer specific questions!

Excellent!!! What fooled me were the tiled counters, which look exactly like how they stack (blown out) in VASSAL. You know, since MultiMan Publishing switched to the new ASL Starter Kit style cardstock maps, a lot of players with the older ASL modules bought map bundles of the new style maps and sell off (and sometimes give away!) their old mounted maps. It might be worth a post in the Facebook “Wargerm Pay it Foprward” or “Advanced Squad Leader” groups asking if anyone would like to donate their old maps…it wouldn’t surprise me that someone would be glad to help out. You could build your own counters then and play on the table!

[josta59]

My inspiration for these counters was Lock 'n Load's Heroes of the Gap. It's the game I never bought but never stopped being fascinated by. These new rules are my attempt to finally provide myself with a game at that scale that I can play solo in a way that can provide surprises for me. So I'm looking at the HotG components a lot for things like movement, range, stacking, and how the counters look.

[Whiterook]

May 13, 2024 17:59:30 GMT -5 josta59 said:

My inspiration for these counters was Lock 'n Load's Heroes of the Gap. It's the game I never bought but never stopped being fascinated by. These new rules are my attempt to finally provide myself with a game at that scale that I can play solo in a way that can provide surprises for me. So I'm looking at the HotG components a lot for things like movement, range, stacking, and how the counters look.

I do remember now, how much you liked LNLP’s Heroes of the Gap (HotG)! Great game.

What I find interesting, now that some puzzle pieces are placed on inspiration is choice of maps!!! I think it’s an incredibly heads-up move to use Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) and Starter Kit maps, as you have a vast majority of terrain options and mapboard combinations… as opposed to HotG. You are dealing with close to (and, arguably the same) hex terrain distances/sizes. HotG is 50 meters wide and ASL/SK is 40 meters; it’s argued all the time that the rules in so many wargames say this is an abstract concept anyway so, tomato/tomaughto! The point is, pretty much most Squad-Level games are in 50 meter hexes. The terrain graphics are similar, too. Now to really blow your mind, you could even create your own maps with HexDraw! …see this link

[josta59]

After losing my Black Hawk and my Humvee on the west end of the board (talk about failed recon!), I got to add a Saab Gripen to the table! Three enemy blinds on the east end were revealed as a machine gun unit and a sniper. The sniper entered a large building, and then I had my Gripen attack the MG unit with its own MG, disrupting it.

[josta59]

I updated some of my "action" boxes to look more like small counters. This gives the board a nicer look.

I'm trying to sneak a squad in the south past the sniper that the Gripen revealed for me. The sniper is running between buildings. The Gripen used opportunity fire to fire its cannon at the sniper, but he evaded it, taking only 4 friktion points (5 would have disrupted him).

[Whiterook]

WOW, super nice! I do like the new “action” boxes! (…the yellow counter, right?). Are all the images SVG? (… Scalable Vector Graphics, being the web-friendly vector file format, as opposed to pixel-based raster files like JPEGs I’m used to using)

[josta59]

May 18, 2024 12:31:18 GMT -5 Whiterook said:

WOW, super nice! I do like the new “action” boxes! (…the yellow counter, right?). Are all the images SVG? (… Scalable Vector Graphics, being the web-friendly vector file format, as opposed to pixel-based raster files like JPEGs I’m used to using)

Most are JPGs, and a few are WebP files. None are SVG. I think there are website available to convert image files to SVG if desired.

[josta59]

A squad with an anti-air Igla showed up on the south edge, out of my ground units' line of sight. Now there were two Igla teams on the board, which meant there was nowhere my Gripen could go without high risk of getting shot down. My ground units couldn't get to the new Igla team in this turn, so my only option was to fly the Gripen directly over it and drop a bomb! Fortunately, I had the initiative in turn 6.



It's a lot of counters in one hex, I know!

Boom! The Igla team was disrupted but not destroyed, despite them being in the open and me rolling a 6. To get to 7 and kill them, I would need a leader unit on the board to direct the attack. The Igla team needs to roll a 6 to rally, so they might not be a threat again for a long time.

That puts my Gripen in dangerous range of the other Igla team, so I'll have to do this again next turn if I still have my Gripen.

Update: On the enemy's next activation, the other Igla team shot down my Gripen! At least I was able to hurt the enemy before I lost my plane. But I'm doing pretty badly here!

Update 2: And at the end of the turn, the team I bombed rallied on a one-in-six chance! Now that's some rotten luck! Do my rules need an adjustment?

On further reflection: I think my rules might be ok. It makes sense that the Gripen pilot could only do so much to that Igla team without someone on the ground helping him out. And it makes sense that the Igla team was disrupted but not destroyed, and then they rallied when they saw the plane shot down. It also makes sense that the other Igla team was ready and had the tools and experience needed to take the plane out of the sky as it was conducting a bombing run.

[Whiterook]

Sounds like great rationale on that and I agree, for what it’s worth… all makes sense to me. And no worried on counter clutter… I see it out there in games, both on table and online