VASL 4.0 User's Guide
- Playing Tools

All Playing Tools for VASL are accessible either from the top of the VASL Controls window, or from the top of the VASL Map window.

Scenario Info Window

The Scenario Info window allows you to keep track of the what turn it is, who moves first, SAN numbers, and ELR ratings. There is also a notes area that allows you to keep track of information such as Victory Conditions, Play Balance used, etc. The Private Note area is a a way to keep private notes for yourself during the course of the game.

OBA Draw Piles

Click the OBA button at the top of the VASL Controls window. The OBA Modules window will appear. Push the Add Module button to create a new (empty) deck for making OBA draws. When your opponent creates a module, you will simply see a deck of cards which you can not modify. Otherwise, you may type in the number of red and black cards in the areas provided (and hit enter). Click the mouse on the deck to turn up a random card from the pile. Click on an exposed card to shuffle it back into the deck. The OBA draw pile information is shared between users just like counter positions, and is retained when the scenario is saved. To delete a module, set the number of red and black cards both to zero.

Die Rollers

Click dr at the top of the VASL Controls window (or press F1) to roll one die; click DR (or press F2) to roll two. The results of the roll will appear in the VASL Controls window with the name of the rolling player. The first number of a DR is considered to be the colored die (e.g., on a result of ***DR=1,3***, the 1 is the colored die).

QRDC

VASL also contains a computerized version of the QRDC to aid your play. Select the QRDC button at the top of the VASL Controls window to launch the QRDC. Both IFT and IIFT are present on the table. Simply click on the corresponding tab to switch from one to the other, or to the Close Combat, Ordnance To Hit and Vehicle To Kill charts.

Checking LOS

VASL 4.0 features automatic LOS checking, courtesy of David Sullivan. LOS checking works on single boards, cropped boards, or across multiple boards. However, LOS does not account for overlays or terrain transformations (e.g. Grain out of season) at this time. You may enable or disable LOS checking in the "LOS" tab of the preferences.

After pressing the LOS button, left click the mouse in any hex (the "source" hex) and drag the mouse to any other hex (the "target" hex) to check the LOS. You may select the highest location in a hex by holding the control key (Ctrl) down when clicking or dragging the mouse. If the mouse pointer is not in the center of a hex, the LOS
will be checked to/from the nearest hex spine (The 'Snap thread to grid' preference is ignored when LOS checking is enabled). The last LOS checked remains displayed on the screen as long as VASL is in LOS mode. Note that if the 'Retain LOS-hindrance counters' preference is "yes" (checked), the hindrance counters that remain on the screen during the LOS check WILL affect the results.

The LOS thread uses three different colors: a basic thread color, a hindrance color, and a blocked color, all of which are customizable in the Edit Properties dialog. The LOS thread starts with the basic color, indicating a clear LOS, changes to the hindrance color at the point of the first hindrance, and then changes to the blocked color at the point where the LOS is blocked.

If the "Verbose LOS Mode" preference box is checked, text messages closest to the source and target locations will display the name and elevation of the locations. A second text message, near the target location, will display the range and the result of the LOS check. If the LOS is clear, but hindrances were detected, the number of hindrances will be given. If the LOS is blocked, the hex where it is blocked and the reason will be shown.

While the LOS is visible, you may move the source and target locations up and down within the hex using these keystrokes:

If no locations exist above or below the current one, the keystroke is ignored.

Mark All Unmoved  

If you have checked Mark Moved Units in the Preferences, click Mark unmoved at the top of the VASL map window to delete the "Moved" notation of all stacks.

Save Map as GIF File  

This will save the image of the map and counters into a GIF file. It is the same as a screen capture except that the entire map need not be showing on your screen. The file is written in PPM format (sorry). The files will be large (~ 3 MB for a single board), but you should be able to load them into any graphics program and convert them to GIF format, which will reduce the size by a factor of 10. If you don't have such a program, there's a web site that can do it for you.

Save Map as Text  

This will write an ASCII file giving a hex-by-hex summary of the contents of the map. You will be prompted to choose whether or not to output the locations and content of your hidden and concealed units.

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