In a few weeks I'll be starting up a Rogue Trader game at a venue that has a bit of a problem: The only table is a small one. Too small for the current method I use to display ship combat.

So I need some ideas about how to represent combat on such a small table. The table is big enough for my laptop, so I could use that. Problem is I don't know any programs that will work. All the program needs to do is handle what people do with models/tokens/etc (object name, location, facing and distance to other objects. ). Does anyone know of a program I could use ?

VASSAL could certainly do the job -- it's a java program used to simulate a tabletop boardgame environment. It shouldn't be too hard to find some sci-fi ship counters to use with it.

One or more of the RPG virtual tabletops out there may also suit your needs, although I don't have any personal experience with any of them.

I believe VASSAL actually has counters/support for not only spaceships, but 40k spaceships: there was a lot of talk on Port Maw a while back about the latest Battlefleet Gothic mod/version on VASSAL. So, if need be you can actually run starship combat using that directly (although it may well mean switching to the less detailed ruleset BfG provides, and it sucks at differentiating smaller escorts and transports).

If there's a BFG module for VASSAL, then there should be no problem whatsoever running battles using the Rogue Trader rules -- just nab the counter set, drop down a square grid and away you go.

Bilateralrope said:

Another method to using the laptop is just to reduce the scale to fit to table. So instead of 1 inch being 1AU, it could be 5AU or even 10AU, just adjust to give the range needed for the battle. It takes a little getting used to (and you have to measure from the middle of the bases rather than the edge otherwise ships end up taking up a lot of the map) but it works really well and allows for massive battles. I've used this system in DH and DW as well.