Been working on Grav Armor Module for Vassal

[Pinetree]

Just thought I'd share on something I've been working on for about 3 years now, it's faced delays by having 3 children and also a PC dying on me.

I once had an old issue of Space Gamer that  had a couple of scenarios for a game called Grav Armor, it looked like an interesting game but I didn't have the internet back then so I couldn't find out anything more about it. About 8 years ago, Grav Armor was made freeware and I downloaded it. It's a pretty cool game, someone called it Panzerblitz of the future, with some nifty mechanics. Each scenario has a unique terrain chart that makes them feel like different games due to visibility and/or adverse terrain. One scenario takes a place on a volcanic planet where infantry can die if they stop in lava fields, for example.

There's been 2 Vassal modules for it so far but none have taken advantage of Vassal's power and the graphics used have been pretty average. It doesn't help that the scans available for the maps aren't square so the maps have looked off. I decided to try and make the best module for the game there is, and in all modesty, I think I've succeeded. I'm really happy with the counter graphics and I managed to square up the maps nicely, as well as getting rid of the really thick hex-grid. All that needs done now is the user guide for the module and the scenarios set-up and also converted into HTML. It's taking a while but there's no deadline and the hard stuff is over so I'm taking my time doing it and trying to get it right.

Some of the things I did were:

- Re-worked counters and maps.
- Automated casualty and exited units tracker.
- Fire-support tab for ortillery (orbital artillery)and forts' weaponry.
- Setup boards for starting units, reinforcements, and units in orbit.
- Editable terrain chart for creating new scenarios.
- Grav Armor rules in HTML format with new images taken from the module.
- Scenario setups for most available scenarios.

Here's some screenshots:

Imperial forces defend the city of Ekud in Relief of the 42nd:



Setup boards and fire support tab:



Terrain chart from Death from Above:



Destroyed and Exited units tracker:

[Staggerwing]

Nice! Is the module available at the VASSAL site?

[Pinetree]

Not yet, still got the help files and scenarios to go. I'm really just posting these as self-motivation, now that I've shown what I've done so far, it gives me impetus to finish the bloody thing.  ;D Hopefully have it finished by the end of the month, kids and work permitting..

[bayonetbrant]

very very cool.  I used to LOVE that game but haven't played it in 20 years or so.  I tacked it down based on a review in a Dragon magazine and played the hell out of it for about 6 months, but it disappeared in one of our moves in Germany (I think someone borrowed it from me and I didn't notice I didn't have it back 'til we moved and I was unpacking).

This might finally be the motivation I need to get VASSAL working on the Mac.

[LongBlade]

Great post. Looks very cool.

[mirth]

Very cool indeed! Thanks for positing the screenshots.

Brant, Vassal is pretty straightforward to set up on Mac. I don't recall any troubles when I installed it. Admittedly, I've only used it with a couple of modules.

[TriNGuy]

Have you finished this module?

[Boggit]

Nice. :)

[Pinetree]

Have you finished this module?

no, sorry. It had to go on the backburner with a new job an other things (Damn RL!) I'm really not sure when I'll get round to finishing it. I really want to get it out there though, a lot hours have gone into it.