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Factory Flash : News from Vassal Universe

Vassal Factory sur twitter

08/09/2010, VassalFactory: Vassal Factory sera présent au Monde du jeu ... Vendredi ... http://fb.me/x7eC2YFI »»

03/09/2010, VassalFactory: Utopia Engine de Nick Hayes est en construction ... http://fb.me/vCzmJf9g »»

02/09/2010, VassalFactory: [D-Day Dice] Les Dés du Débarquement d'Emmanuel Aquin ... Le scénario Sword Beach est maintenant inclus dans la... http://fb.me/GaV2sW2z »»

Vassal Engine : Forums

30/06/2010, Module Design :: RE: module ownership »»

30/06/2010, Opponents Wanted :: RE: Hannibal? »»

30/06/2010, Module Design :: RE: module ownership »»

30/06/2010, Opponents Wanted :: RE: Hannibal? »»

30/06/2010, Opponents Wanted :: RE: Republic of Rome »»

Vassal Engine : News

20/06/2010, red_storm_over_the_reich »»

18/06/2010, italia - created »»

11/06/2010, faq_modules - Added new technique for top/bottom of stack »»

Vassal Factory Youtube Tutorials

19/07/2010, Vassal - Le Larcin du Siècle »»

26/06/2010, Vassal - Gosu »»

21/06/2010, Vassal - Dorix »»

GMT Games

07/09/2010, Updates »»

06/09/2010, Review of Dominant Species »»

02/09/2010, Germantown VASSAL Mod »»

Commands and Colors Ancients

08/09/2010, 2010-09-08 New Forum Moderator »»

06/09/2010, 2010-09-06 Published 4 new maps (C3i Magazines 23 and 24) »»

29/07/2010, 2010-07-29 CCA Scenario Statistics »»

Wargamers Notebook

09/09/2010, Twilight Struggle on VASSAL Is No Struggle »»

09/09/2010, Weight Losing Sabatical »»

09/09/2010, Developing Young Gamers... and Playing VASSAL While I Wait »»

It's been a great summer, so far. I have enjoyed a variety of activities - especially gaming. I'm happy to report that my seven-year-old boy is enthusiastic about RISK... albiet of the Clone Wars variety. Today he was teaching his four-year-old brother to play ... sort of. All I could really see was that there was a lot of dice rolling and that the young one was getting owned.

The idea that I'll get to play wargames with my boys is a pleasant thought. However, at this point, a most of my gaming is via VASSAL with somewhat more mature opponents, and I there are two module features that I discovered recently which I want to add to my blog list of module design excellence.

The first is a feature in the module for 1805: Sea of Glory, a game of operational naval warfare during the Napoleonic era. The module is a nice design overall, with lots of nice extras added in, such as sending a chit to the appropriate location on the map using a simple right click command. My favorite though, is illustrated below (see the green circles).

When you move your ship counters to the battle board, the game counts up your Firepower. Same with your opponent. This, to me, is an excellent use of computer automation for a board game as it simply lifts the burden of administration. I still need to know the rules and have to use strategy and tactics to win the game. It's just nice to have things counted correctly for me and my opponent.

Another favorite is a feature in the module for A Victory Denied. This is a chit pull game, where you activate divisional units by pulling their command chit from a cup (or a virtual cup in the case of this module). Each chit activates an HQ, which in turn activates its fighting unit chits if they are within command range. Additionally, the primary HQ can activate another HQ and its subordinate units if they are in range. It's not tough to count all these hexes, really, but I can miss the obvious occasionally.

In the module, as pictured below, all units that can possibly be activated after a chit-pull are immediately and automatically highlighted in yellow. It's killer.

These are two really great features that allow VASSAL to outshine the physical box, map and counters experience. And while I cannot argue with those that say there is nothing that comes close to playing face to face, it's not really much of an option for me so I may as well appreciate the blessings I get in VASSAL's virtual environment.

Gaming News : JedisJeux

08/09/2010, Le Japon s'étend... »»

08/09/2010, Dur dur le métier d'aiguilleur du ciel... »»

08/09/2010, Les mousquetaires du roy : les règles du jeu en ligne ! »»

Vassal Competitor s Directory

Computer Based Board Gaming

05/09/2010, Thread: Computer Based Board Gaming:: BGG's Undead Child, Zombie in my iPhone : Now Available at iTunes »»

04/09/2010, Thread: Computer Based Board Gaming:: Student Project: Java version of Hansa (with AI) »»

03/09/2010, Thread: Computer Based Board Gaming:: Tablets that can run Vassal (or anything really) available in October. »»

Play By Email (PBEM / Jouer par Email)

06/09/2010, Thread: PBEM:: Black Vienna Online »»

05/09/2010, Thread: PBEM:: UFC FN 22 / UFC 119 Pick em Contest »»

by mdp4828

UFC Fight Night 22 is on September 15th and UFC 119 is on September 25th. This is a pick em contest combinging those two UFC events for anyone who's interested.

How to Enter

First, tip this post with 1 geekgold

Second, send me a geekmail with your pick for the winner of each of the 4 televised fights from UFN 22 (on Spike TV) by Sept. 14th. then send me your pick for the winner of each of the 7 televised bouts from UFC 119 (5 fights on the main card on PPV and 2 preliminary fights on Spike) by Sept. 24th.

Rules

For each of your picks that wins a three round fight you will be awarded points according to the following table:



If your fighter wins by  |  You will earn

split decision           |     1 point

Majority/Unanimous Dec.  |     2 points

Third round stoppage     |     3 points

Second round stoppage    |     4 points

First round stoppage     |     5 points

For each of your picks that wins a Championship fight you will be awarded points according to the following table:



If your fighter wins by  |  You will earn

split decision           |     1 point

Majority/Unanimous Dec.  |     2 points

Fifth round stoppage     |     3 points

Fourth round stoppage    |     4 points

Third round stoppage     |     5 points

Second round stoppage    |     6 points

First round stoppage     |     7 points

Draws and no contests earn 0 points

I'll post all the picks in this thread before the main cards starts.

Special Bonus Picks

Making special bonus picks is totally optional. If you would like to keep things simple and just pick winners then skip this section, you won't be penalized because I will assign you the default bonus picks which will award the average expected value for all types of bonus picks (so long as your picks win in the default fights).

However, if you would like to make some more complex picks, then you may select some fights and try to predict how they will end.

Because of the large number of fights on this combined contest you may make THREE special bonus picks. To make a special bonus pick select a fight, pick the winner of that fight, then pick the method of that win from the table below.



Method of Fight End       Abbreviation   Bonus Points

Submission                    SUB              4

Technical Knock Out           TKO              3

Decision                      DEC              2.5

Any stoppage (SUB, TKO)     ANY STOP           1.5

Any end (SUB, TKO, DEC)     ANY END            1

For example, in UFC 118 Couture defeated Toney by submission. Had you submitted the pick Couture by SUB, then you would have earned an extra 4 points for that fight. Had you picked Couture by ANY STOP, then you would have earned an extra 1.5 points. Similarly, Couture by ANY END would have been worth 1 point. COUTURE by TKO or COUTRE by DEC would have been worth zero bonus points (of course you would still get the normal points for correctly picking the winner). Had you picked Toney by any bonus method, then you would not have gotten any bonus points (because Toney lost).

For this contest the default bonus picks are as follows:

Your pick for Marquardt vs. Palhares by ANY END
Your pick for Nogueira vs. Bader by ANY END
Your pick for Mir vs. Filipovic by ANY END

Each bonus pick you submit will replace on of the default bonus picks starting from the top of the default list.

In all cases the type of end will be determined by the official results posted on UFC.com

Let me know if you have any questions on how bonus picks work.

Awards

Players will be awarded GG according to the following table



Points  |  Award

First   |  50% of the pot

Second  |  25% of the pot

Third   |  15% of the pot

Fourth  |  10% of the pot

The Fights!

UFC Ultimate Fight Night 22, September 15th.

Ross Pearson (11-3)
Wins by: TKO - 2, SUB - 5
Style: Black Belt Taekwondo, Brown Belt Judo, Boxing
Age: 25

VS.

Cole Miller (16-4)
Wins by: TKO - 3, SUB - 11
Style: Brown Belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Age: 26
____________________________________________________

Jim Miller (17-2)
Wins by: TKO - 2, SUB - 10
Style: Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wresting
Age: 27

VS.

Gleison Tibau (21-6)
Wins by: TKO - 3, SUB - 9
Style: Wrestling, Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Age: 27
____________________________________________________

Efrain Escudero (13-1)
Wins by: TKO - 1, SUB - 9
Style: Wresting, Kickboxing, Grappling
Age: 24

VS.

Charles Oliveira (13-0)
Wins by: TKO - 6, SUB - 6
Style: Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Age: ??
____________________________________________________

Nate Marquardt (29-9)
Wins by: TKO - 7, SUB - 15
Style: 2nd degree Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Gaidojitsu, Boxing, Kickboxing
Age: 31

VS.

Rousimar Palhares (11-2)
Wins by: TKO - 1, SUB - 8
Style: Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Age: 30
____________________________________________________

UFC 119 Preliminaries, September 25th

Matt Mitrione (2-0)
Wins by: TKO - 2
Style: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing
Age: 32

VS.

Joey Beltran (12-3)
Wins by: TKO - 10, SUB - 1
Style: Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling
Age: 28
____________________________________________________

C.B. Dollaway (10-2)
Wins by: TKO - 5, SUB - 2
Style: Wrestling
Age: 27

VS.

Joe Doerksen (46 - 12)
Wins by: TKO - 6, SUB - 33
Sytle: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Age: 32
_____________________________________________________

UFC 119 Main Card, September 25th

Melvin Guillard (24-8)
Wins by: TKO - 14, SUB - 3
Style: Blue belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Brown belt Judo, Kickboxing, Wrestling
Age: 27

VS.

Jeremy Stephens (18-5)
Wins by: TKO - 13, SUB - 3
Style: Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing
Age: 24
_____________________________________________________

Sean Sherk (33-4)
Wins by: TKO - 10, SUB - 12
Style: Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing
Age: 37

VS.

Evan Dunham (11-0)
Wins by: TKO - 2, SUB - 6
Style: Black belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling
Age: 28
_____________________________________________________

Matt Serra (11-6)
Wins by: TKO - 2, SUB - 4
Style: 2nd degree black belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing
Age: 36

VS.

Chris Lytle (29-17)
Wins by: TKO - 4, SUB - 19
Style: black belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling
Age: 36
_____________________________________________________

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3)
Wins by: TKO - 5, SUB - 6
Style: black belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing
Age: 34

VS.

Ryan Bader (11-0)
Wins by: TKO - 5, SUB - 3
Style: Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing
Age: 27
_____________________________________________________

Frank Mir (13-5)
Wins by: TKO - 2, SUB - 8
Style: black belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, black belt Kenop Karate, Muay Thai, Boxing
Age: 31

VS.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (27-7)
Wins by: TKO - 20, SUB - 4
Style: Taekwondo, Boxing
Age: 35

Good luck!

29/08/2010, Thread: PBEM:: Desperate to start an ACTS wargame »»

26/08/2010, Thread: PBEM:: Olympia game 3 (open source) (pbem) »»

25/08/2010, Thread: PBEM:: OCS Small scenario »»

Victory Point Games

23/08/2010, 22 August Update »»

That Was the Fortnight That Was

Retailers Wanted!

As Alan Emrich has so eloquently described in various articles, from its inception, Victory Point Games has operated on extremely tight financial margins. One of the consequences of this was that VPG was unable to offer any sort of significant discounts to retailers and thus our games stayed away from store shelves and retailer catalog listings. A few retailers have carried our products despite this, and we will be eternally grateful to them.

Enter yours truly, Joshua Gottesman, and his cost cutting business manager’s sword. We have revisited a number of things around the office, and found some ways to (hopefully) make things more efficient (for Alan and Vince DeNardo, hitherto, “business efficiency” here at The Little Game Company That Could has not exactly been a first priority). We have also decided to take the leaps of faith to look for a formal office space and hiring an honest-to-goodness employee. As a result of these ripening plans, we are now able to offer to retailers and etailers a discount on our products sufficient for most of them to stock our games and sell them for enough of a profit to justify the miniscule amount of shelf space they consume.

Of course, a business paradigm shift like this is bound to hit more snags than a burlap sack in a cat catching contest, and we’ve had our share. Negotiating the lease, business insurance (where they keep trying to classify us as Satan’s Toy Company selling big boxes of spiked choking hazards to toddlers and base our rate costs accordingly), computer networking, telecommunications, alarms and security, furnishings, supplies… the list is endless. But we have patience, good people on our team, a sense of humor, and your many emails and phone calls of support and encouragement. Together, we’re soldiering on!