If you’re looking for a way to play Chain of Command, What a Tanker!, Battlegroup, Nuts! etc., look no further. This module for the popular VASSAL program will allow you and a friend to play games online. Here’s a link to the module:

Installation instructions

  1. Install VASSAL from here. There are versions for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.
  2. Download the Better Lucky than Good module (.zip) archive from the link above.
  3. Unzip the archive to a location you’ll remember.
  4. Launch VASSAL.
  5. ‘Open’ the BLtGv1.0.vmod file in VASSAL from the location you unzipped it to. It’ll take a little while to load the assets. This may take a couple of minutes the first time.

Note: you may be asked to give your name and give a password the first time you launch the module. When playing online your name will appear as whatever you enter, but just enter anything you like (it’s not important; I’ve never been asked for the password again)!

Setting up a game

  1. Launch Better Lucky than Good from the Module Library in VASSAL by double-clicking on it.
  2. Choose ‘Start new game offline’.
  3. Choose ‘Map 1 (Western Europe)’ and then ‘Player 1’.

You should end up with something like this:

You’ll find models and counters are in the Models section. Just drag them to the Map. Right-click on a model to see what options there are for moving it, etc. There are keyboard shortcuts for most things!

Bringing your game online

Click the double-arrow button on the top left. This will open the online games dialog on the top right. Click the other double-arrow button in that dialog. Create a new game/room by entering a name and hitting the Enter key.

If your opponent selects the ‘Look for new game online’ option (instead of Step 2 above) they can double-click the name of the game/room you’ve created and the map (and all model movements, dice rolls etc.) should automatically synchronised. VASSAL has a basic text chat built in, but I usually have a voice chat running with my opponent.

I hope that’s all clear! I’ll do a video about these features and some of the more advanced features soon…

Until next time,

Owen

* Big thanks all of the other asset creators that allow their images to be reused. Specifically I’d like to thank Suki. I used some of the vehicles he/she created. Check out their other historics modules here.