A friend of mine was in a car accident back in September. As a result he has a severe lack of mobility from a high spinal cord injury. Single arm, no wrist or finger movement.

Placing templates and moving figures can be done by his opponent. But setting movements is more problematic.

My first thought was a set of cards with the movements on them and he can play the card he wants face down. Have any of you seen other solutions?

First off, that's rough. I hope things are alright. I've had my own accident related issues and I sympathize.

I think cards or even poker chips with the move on one side of them can work. I think it's a brilliant idea, actually. I can't think of anything else, but I'll keep it in the back of my mind.

I've printed out the movement chart for a ship, taped it to a metal canister lid and then placed a magnet on the move I choose and then placed that face down when I was proxying a ship that hadn't been released. That seems like it might be easier than a dial but I'm not sure it would work better than cards.

Maybe laminate a movement chart that is printed fairly large and use dry erase marker?

I think the easiest would be a set of cards that have one maneuver on each of them. Maybe set them on a side table or a table under the table? Pick the card and put it face down. I think that might be the easiest to do it. Fiddling with the magnets and such might be just as hard as the dial.

Thanks for the ideas. Another friend who mentioned it has the link and is likely lurking at this point.

Easiest and IMO the best option would be to use some custom app to select maneuvers and show them on screen. Thats not much work to create sucha simple application for Android.

Somewhere someone keeps a running thread of all the ship maneuver templates. You can print those out and laminate them. Then he can place a token or just mark them with a dry erase on the maneuver he wants to chose. Probably would need a screen or something so they remain hidden.

4 hours ago, Vitalis said:

Easiest and IMO the best option would be to use some custom app to select maneuvers and show them on screen. Thats not much work to create sucha simple application for Android.

I've thought about this, but it would have to be some sort of app that could show more than one ship dial at a time or you would need as many phones as you have ships.

1 hour ago, Jo Jo said:

Somewhere someone keeps a running thread of all the ship maneuver templates. You can print those out and laminate them. Then he can place a token or just mark them with a dry erase on the maneuver he wants to chose. Probably would need a screen or something so they remain hidden.

I still think cards where each maneuver is on one card to be easier than trying to mark one of the maneuvers. I could be wrong, though.

There's a blind fellow that plays tournaments (and quite well) in our area. From all accounts a nice guy and quite knowledgeable about the game. I haven't had the pleasure to fly against him yet, but he was playing a couple of tables over from me. I believe he gets people to move the ships for him based on his planned maneuvers... He gets some help from his opponent (asks specific questions) and at the big events he has somebody else on hand to help out. Can't give you exact specifics though, there's somebody who just played him having posted in the event reporting area who probably could tell you more.

It just might be helpful to know that there are others still going strong in X-Wing, and having fun with it. Wish your friend the best!

2 hours ago, heychadwick said:

I've thought about this, but it would have to be some sort of app that could show more than one ship dial at a time or you would need as many phones as you have ships.

Yes, exacly that. If you have no fellow coder PM me, i don't know how my time will allow me but i could try to help.

1 hour ago, LagJanson said:

There's a blind fellow that plays tournaments (and quite well) in our area. From all accounts a nice guy and quite knowledgeable about the game. I haven't had the pleasure to fly against him yet, but he was playing a couple of tables over from me. I believe he gets people to move the ships for him based on his planned maneuvers... He gets some help from his opponent (asks specific questions) and at the big events he has somebody else on hand to help out. Can't give you exact specifics though, there's somebody who just played him having posted in the event reporting area who probably could tell you more.

It just might be helpful to know that there are others still going strong in X-Wing, and having fun with it. Wish your friend the best!

Wow this guy really has to have epic graphic imagination

Can your friend write or type? From your description, I couldn't tell if only one arm had limited function.

As long as he has the ship movements printed for each of his ships so he could review them, he could simply write out the movements: "Left, Hard 3," "3 K," etc.

Or if writing isn't going to work, how big of a difference would there be if after his opponent has set all his dials down, he asks the guy to write it down for him? It's not like the other guy is going to be a jerk and change his dials after your friend selects his moves.

Just trying to think of the simplest solution.

Hopefully he can regain more function in time. Please forward good vibes out to him from me.

First off awesome ways to make the game more accessible. Secondly, does FFG have any rules for tournaments to accommodate issues like this? Just because you can't set a dial or move a template doesn't mean you don't have the skill to be the next World's winner.

Perhaps a tablet? It should be easier to draw 3┐, 2\, 1┌ than holding a pen if the gripping strength isn't what it was.

Instead of coding an entirely new app, you could bring a laptop or tablet with Vassal loaded. (Coding already done for you.) The dials in the Vassal X-wing module can be rotated with mouse clicking or hotkeys. I think Tabletop Simulator (on Steam) would also work.

First of all... Blessed the man whose friends are real friends and invest their time helping him after something like this.

I got hit by a drunken SoaB back in 1999. Long and painful way to recovery. And playing games in a friendly environment gives you energy to face tomorow's rehab. So well done helping him.

So no idea about how to solve this but I am certain you will find a solution. Perhaps voice notes in the smartphone. Watch the table, think, and in a few seconds he can note the moves while the other player leaves the room.

If this is still a problem, the easiest way to make him play without struggling with hand movement too much is team epic. His teammate will set up everything for him and he will be the brain. And 3 people for moving all his stuff, rolling etc is better than 1=

Kudos on trying to help a friend.

If he can write with one hand, maybe just have a piece of paper to write his maneuvers on.

If he can't write, but can still hold a marker, print out maneuver charts, laminate them, and use a dry erase marker.

Link to some great maneuver charts:

Lastly, yeah, you might have to set your dials, then set his for him.

Best of luck with this!

Hey, what solution have you guys come to, if any?

There hasn't been any action that I am aware of. My friend had a birthday party and I had an abundance of life. I'll follow up.

Hey, congrats!

Mount a metal clip board to his chair. The kind that estimators use that hold estimate sheets. Use that to carry laminated movement sheets. Small magnets can be used to hold the ones he's using to the top of the clip board. A dry erase marker to check off movements.

To mount to the chair bend a piece of EMT, aka conduit, drilled and pop riveted to hold the clip board at an angle for him. Most of the stuff can be gotten off the shelf from a hardware store like Lowe's or Home Depot.

You might have to modify the magnets holding the movement sheets. Epoxy wooden or plastic dowels to them to provide a handle.

Wish your friend a full and speedy recovery for me.

Possibly use the movement reference cards that come with each ship. Also available online for free.

Laminate it and he should be able to mark the move with a dry erase then wipe it after.

It feels maybe easier than sorting chips?

Laminated maneuver sheet with a dry erase marker seems great! Actually you can probably cut out the ones that come in each blister to fit in a standard card sleeve and just marker it. Then you have one for each ship owned too. The large ships might need an additional print out.