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Game Forge => DIY => Topic started by: DicedT on September 22, 2013, 12:44:45 AM

Title: Counter Scans
Post by: DicedT on September 22, 2013, 12:44:45 AM
I've decided to scan the counter sheets of all games before I punch, because I know I'm going to lose pieces or later.

And I'm looking for a few scans for my older games. Many are on BGG, but some are not. Does anyone have a scan of AH's War at Sea counters?

Michael
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: bayonetbrant on September 22, 2013, 06:24:31 AM
there are a lot to be found here, too

http://www.isimulacrum.com/GamesDB.html

but not that one - sorry!
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: DicedT on September 22, 2013, 10:54:02 PM
I wonder if I can find counters scans on Vassal. But how do you find the counter graphics file in the module?

Michael
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: GJK on September 23, 2013, 05:54:15 AM
Quote from: DicedT on September 22, 2013, 10:54:02 PM
I wonder if I can find counters scans on Vassal. But how do you find the counter graphics file in the module?

Michael

VASSAL won't have them as counter sheets but instead as individual pieces.  Also, it will have only one copy of each because VASSAL can reuse the same image graphic.  So VASSAL isn't a good choice for use as a parts manifest.  It *may* work for recreating any lost or damaged pieces though.

ZunTzu would be your better choice because it does use scans of the countersheets and not individual pieces.  The good news too is that there was a gamebox made for War at Sea (2nd edition).  The bad news is, the link to the file is broken.  I've gone ahead and posted a request asking if anybody has this gamebox that they wouldn't mind sharing in the ZunTzu forum area.

Both VASSAL and ZunTzu extract exacly the same way - they are both just .zip archives renamed with an extension name unique to that program.  So with VASSAL, download the module and rename the extension from .vmod (may be just .mod if it's an older module) to .zip and then extract. You will find an "images" folder with all of the graphics.

For ZunZtu, rename the .zts or .ztb to .zip and extract.
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: GJK on September 23, 2013, 06:01:48 AM
Oh, and you did say that you looked at BGG for the scans, right?  Are these not them?

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/443421/war-at-sea-second-edition?size=original

Or is that only a single sheet of them?

In the files section, there are some "deluxe" counters (user made I guess) that could be used as a counter manifest I suppose:

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/7793/was-deluxe-counters-zip
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: DicedT on September 23, 2013, 08:09:27 AM
Oh, I was looking in the Files section, GJK. Didn't think to check Images. Good catch!

Michael
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: DicedT on September 23, 2013, 05:09:11 PM
Just realized the problem with the isimulacrum and BGG sites. People are nice enough to scan the front of the counter sheets. But it looks almost no one scans the back side. Which means they're useless for most post-1975 games.

Michael
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: GJK on September 23, 2013, 05:54:41 PM
I'll usually see both sides scanned for most games.  Note that War at Sea only had single sided counters it appears:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/851578/two-sided-counters
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: DicedT on September 23, 2013, 06:02:25 PM
Not from what I'm seeing. Another game I'm looking for is Fall of Tobruk from GDW, which has double-sided counters. But you'll only see the front side here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/175995/the-fall-of-tobruk?size=large   The same for Road to the Rhine: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/129956/road-to-the-rhine

Michael
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: bayonetbrant on September 23, 2013, 06:05:27 PM
most folks are using them as manifests to make sure they have everything when they buy a used copy.  They aren't using them to make extra print-and-plays.
Title: Re: Counter Scans
Post by: DicedT on September 23, 2013, 06:52:15 PM
Yeah, but when you buy a used game, often there are pieces missing. It seems like a lot of the scans won't work for backprinted counters. Unfortunately, a lot of my older games - especially my GDW games (my favorite '70s and '80s publisher) - are backprinted.

I am definitely going to scan all new game counter sheets front and back.

Michael