Hey folks!

We are in the end stages of our first tournament, and I took the opportunity to spectate the 2nd Semi Final with 2 of my co-hosts and do some analysis and play by play commentary. I just publihed the recording of the twitch stream on youtube:

Are you interested in more of this? What could we do better next time (probably next week for the finals)?

I'm watching right now. NIce job!

All that Scrolling up and down as well as zooming in and out is way too much. The sounds from eating crisps and talking with a full mouth are not good either. (Echt mega nervig.)

Too much off-topic talk, too.

Apart from that: Great!

Me eating chips was part me just wanting to eat them and part trying to foster a more relaxed atmosphere. I will strive for more ... professionalism in the next cast

About zooming in and out: It's hard to strike a blance some time with that. Vassal currently doesn't have the best interface, so finding a way to show all the relevant information can be a bit tricky. I will try to improve that in the next cast, but aside from me trying to zoom and scroll less there isn't something structual I think I can improve. If you have thoughts, please let me know.

Me eating chips was part me just wanting to eat them and part trying to foster a more relaxed atmosphere. I will strive for more ... professionalism in the next cast

About zooming in and out: It's hard to strike a blance some time with that. Vassal currently doesn't have the best interface, so finding a way to show all the relevant information can be a bit tricky. I will try to improve that in the next cast, but aside from me trying to zoom and scroll less there isn't something structual I think I can improve. If you have thoughts, please let me know.

Do you have any suggestions to improve the Vassal interface? I'm the one who designed the module and I'm always looking for new ways to improve it or make it easier to use.

I liked the analysis during the game. I liked the little talk with JayCop after the game.

I just watched "Boardwars.eu Vassal Tournament Semi-Finals #1 - Landoro vs. Xpytrov". That was a great game to watch, too.

An introduction of both players would have been cool. There were some long breaks without any talk or onboard action. It would have been great, if these were cut for YouTube.

Listening to the players had a very casual but still intense atmosphere. Liked that.

Please upload more games!

@thereisnotry: In Germany we still play older maps in tournaments, because the newer ones are not released yet. It would be great, if these were still available. (Kuat and Ord Mantell)

@thereisnotry: In Germany we still play older maps in tournaments, because the newer ones are not released yet. It would be great, if these were still available. (Kuat and Ord Mantell)

I do believe that they are available, just have to dig a bit further than the shortcut at the top of the menu.

I liked the analysis during the game. I liked the little talk with JayCop after the game.

Glad you liked it!

@thereisnotry: In Germany we still play older maps in tournaments, because the newer ones are not released yet. It would be great, if these were still available. (Kuat and Ord Mantell)

I do believe that they are available, just have to dig a bit further than the shortcut at the top of the menu.

Yes, they are available. They just aren't pre-loaded. You have to choose the File > "Choose a Map" option.

Is it just Kuat and Ord Mantell in Germany? For how long will it be them? How about in Spain or France or UK? I'd be more than happy to accommodate my European friends, as long as I know which maps you want to have pre-loaded. Please let me know and I'll make sure to include them in the next update.

At the Moment, it is Ord Mantell, Kuat and the Cantina. For how long? Nobody knows.

UK is the same as US. Don't know about the rest of the world.

Do you have any suggestions to improve the Vassal interface? I'm the one who designed the module and I'm always looking for new ways to improve it or make it easier to use.

Only very basic ones I am afraid. Since you have seen the video, my suggestions would be:

* Have different hands for command cards and deployment cards. Having the deployment cards in the hand was a good thing, but merging them with the command card hand is a problem since the window either doesn't fit on screen or just flat out doesn't show both things. But there is space enough if both hands would be in their own window.

* If there is a deployment card hand, make it 2x5 cards (I don't think you can get more than 8 activations and 2 upgrades) so they can be slotted to the right/left of the map window

* Make command cards visible to spectators. I know this can be used for cheating, but for a tournament cast it would be very good to have an idea of which options are available to the players. We spent quite a lot of time arguing about Locu having or not having a grenade in his hand.

The first 2 changes would really improve watching games and also improve the experience for players I think. The 3rd isn't as pressing but more of a nice to have. Note that I am not sure if these are even possible in VASSAL. Never have looked into how modules work.

At the Moment, it is Ord Mantell, Kuat and the Cantina. For how long? Nobody knows.

UK is the same as US. Don't know about the rest of the world.

I will call to our listeners to send us their Skrmish situation in the different European countries. Maybe some can shed some light on what's going on.

Do you have any suggestions to improve the Vassal interface? I'm the one who designed the module and I'm always looking for new ways to improve it or make it easier to use.

Only very basic ones I am afraid. Since you have seen the video, my suggestions would be:

* Have different hands for command cards and deployment cards. Having the deployment cards in the hand was a good thing, but merging them with the command card hand is a problem since the window either doesn't fit on screen or just flat out doesn't show both things. But there is space enough if both hands would be in their own window.

* If there is a deployment card hand, make it 2x5 cards (I don't think you can get more than 8 activations and 2 upgrades) so they can be slotted to the right/left of the map window

* Make command cards visible to spectators. I know this can be used for cheating, but for a tournament cast it would be very good to have an idea of which options are available to the players. We spent quite a lot of time arguing about Locu having or not having a grenade in his hand.

The first 2 changes would really improve watching games and also improve the experience for players I think. The 3rd isn't as pressing but more of a nice to have. Note that I am not sure if these are even possible in VASSAL. Never have looked into how modules work.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've only seen a portion of the video...around 45-60 minutes or so, I think.

1. Different hands for CCs and DCs. This is the first time I've heard this request. Have you tried zooming out in the Player Hand window so that the window shows all of the information (CCs and DCs) in a smaller area? Then you can mouse-over any card or piece and it will show a full-size image for you. You don't have to keep the Player Hand at 100%. I often put mine at 75%. Try this and see how it works for you.

2. See #1 above. Unless someone can show a strong reason to separate the CCs from the DCs then this won't be happening, especially since I've heard from a lot of people that they like having all of this information together.

3. This cannot happen. Anything that allows even a possibility for cheating makes the module inherently unreliable for any sort of structured or tournament play. [As it is right now, I am not aware of any loophole in the module that would make cheating possible.] As for knowing what cards a player has in his hand, that's part of the experience of watching a game unfold: you don't know what's going to happen. The main purpose of the mod is to enable the player experience; if spectators can enjoy it too then that's a bonus.

At the Moment, it is Ord Mantell, Kuat and the Cantina. For how long? Nobody knows.

UK is the same as US. Don't know about the rest of the world.

Okay, thanks. Do you have a link that always has the most up-to-date map list for Europe? If would be handy to refer to that when making the updates. Either that or I could make myself a note to Message you each time I do an update. My main concern here is that I stay current from here on out, so that I don't inadvertently leave you guys behind again.

Regardless, I really want to support the European game and so I'm grateful for your input here. I'll see if I can upload a new update soon, just because I do want to make things as easy as possible for my EU friends.

Do you have any suggestions to improve the Vassal interface? I'm the one who designed the module and I'm always looking for new ways to improve it or make it easier to use.

Only very basic ones I am afraid. Since you have seen the video, my suggestions would be:

* Have different hands for command cards and deployment cards. Having the deployment cards in the hand was a good thing, but merging them with the command card hand is a problem since the window either doesn't fit on screen or just flat out doesn't show both things. But there is space enough if both hands would be in their own window.

* If there is a deployment card hand, make it 2x5 cards (I don't think you can get more than 8 activations and 2 upgrades) so they can be slotted to the right/left of the map window

* Make command cards visible to spectators. I know this can be used for cheating, but for a tournament cast it would be very good to have an idea of which options are available to the players. We spent quite a lot of time arguing about Locu having or not having a grenade in his hand.

The first 2 changes would really improve watching games and also improve the experience for players I think. The 3rd isn't as pressing but more of a nice to have. Note that I am not sure if these are even possible in VASSAL. Never have looked into how modules work.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've only seen a portion of the video...around 45-60 minutes or so, I think.

1. Different hands for CCs and DCs. This is the first time I've heard this request. Have you tried zooming out in the Player Hand window so that the window shows all of the information (CCs and DCs) in a smaller area? Then you can mouse-over any card or piece and it will show a full-size image for you. You don't have to keep the Player Hand at 100%. I often put mine at 75%. Try this and see how it works for you.

2. See #1 above. Unless someone can show a strong reason to separate the CCs from the DCs then this won't be happening, especially since I've heard from a lot of people that they like having all of this information together.

3. This cannot happen. Anything that allows even a possibility for cheating makes the module inherently unreliable for any sort of structured or tournament play. [As it is right now, I am not aware of any loophole in the module that would make cheating possible.] As for knowing what cards a player has in his hand, that's part of the experience of watching a game unfold: you don't know what's going to happen. The main purpose of the mod is to enable the player experience; if spectators can enjoy it too then that's a bonus.

As you can see in the video, there isn't a good way to position the hand window so that it shows both card types and doesn't take away space from the map window. I am fully aware that I can zoom out and I do in the video. However, this really doesn't help in having everything on a 16:9 screen at once. I was actually fully zoomed out on both hands for that reason. It's okay for DCs, but as soon as someone draws a CC, the window scrolls up automatically, promting me having to scroll down.

To illustrate my point:

You can see how the space for the hands for player 3 and 4 are essentially wasted. Distinct windows for CCs and DCs would enable a cast to display all cards neatly (although just the amount of CCs for each player of course).

Eeven bettwe would be to use the unused space left and right of the map. However, trying to fit the DCs to the left and the right of the map is essentially foiled as the spaces for the DQs grow horizontally, not vertically.

If you have a good Idea how to display the full gamestate on a 16:9 screen while spectating in another fashion, please tell me. I tried a few other configurations but this right now is the best I could find where I don't have to scroll and zoom too much.

/edit: a very easy hack for this would also be to be able to display each hand window twice. So I could use it once for CCs and once for DCs. Again, as you saw from the other feedback from viewers, having to zoom and scroll is bad in the video.

There is a lot of empty space left and right to the map. Could that be used?

There is a lot of empty space left and right to the map. Could that be used?

This is a good point, and I think it might be the best solution. Thanks!

I originally provided that empty space on the sides of the map so that people could place their Deployment Cards there. But now that we've got a place for them on the Player Hands, I think I can remove the extra space from the map, which should allow enough room for the Player Hands to be beside the map, rather than above it. And if that's the case then there won't be a need to separate the CC and DC windows.

Part of the problem is that I have dual-monitors, and I designed the mod with that in mind. This is very inconvenient for those who have a single monitor, and also for those who want to provide a cast. I'm sorry for the difficulty that this oversight by me has caused. I think I'll be able to fix it with the next update (hopefully released within the next week). I'll update in this thread when it's uploaded.

I really want to try vassal how easy is it to use

I really want to try vassal how easy is it to use

It's actually pretty easy. Here's a link to everything you'll need to get started:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1308588/vassal-imperial-assault-skirmish

Watch the video, which will show you how to download the file and play the game. Just recognize that the video shows version 1.0, and we're now at 5.1, which means that there have been a few changes since the video was made.

I really want to try vassal how easy is it to use

It's actually pretty easy.

Thanks to your effort!

Two thumbs up!