January 19, 2025, 05:07:52 AM

Author Topic: Vassal Warmaster  (Read 45551 times)

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #45 on: May 07, 2015, 02:59:43 AM »
I've been a bit busy, and probably will continue to be for a while, but here's some stuff I've prepared earlier...

Orc Characters on Foot-
General, 3x Heroes and a Shaman (I'll probably make an alternative Shaman at some point too)


Goblin Characters on Foot-
3x Heroes and a Shaman (again, alternate shaman to come)


Orc Characters on Chariots
General, Hero, Shaman


Goblin Character on Chariots
Hero, Shaman


Shapeshifter- the zoom in/zoom out shortcut is a good idea. I don't have a numberpad on my current computer though- I'll try a copy/paste of a + and -, but don't know if it'll work.
I played another game recently against my usual friend- this time Orcs vs Kislev. It was an extremely close game, with some moments of pretty crazy luck. We had 22 units each, and the game handled it pretty well. I'll try to post some pics.

Some odd things/issues:
-The command radius was working again. I hadn't touched it since last game- I don't know what the issue was.
-On table dice were popular (and seemed to love the Kislev side), but a sound effect is vital for them, as sometimes the numbers don't change and you can't tell if the program failed to make a roll or if the dice simply came up with the same numbers. I'll use the one you linked to earlier, Shapeshifter.
-Delete should probably be changed from 'Ctrl D', as adding a stand to the right is 'Shift D' (a slip-up happened during the game). I'm thinking 'Del', or maybe 'Shift Del' should work if Vassal allows it.

I think I'll focus on some terrain once the Orcs are done (5 Wyverns and 2 Shamans to go).

Offline Shapeshifter878

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #46 on: May 08, 2015, 09:23:13 AM »
Yeah, I'm a bit busy here too, but I've done some stats for the High Elves.

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=12531504993331542166

The character stands look good. Are you using some special function in Gimp to get that smooth shading of the colours?

Edit:
The HE units with stats are Archers(white), Spearmen(white), Great Eagles, Dragon Riders & Bolt Thrower.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2015, 09:30:59 AM by Shapeshifter878 »

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #47 on: May 08, 2015, 12:58:33 PM »
Thanks!

Quote
Are you using some special function in Gimp to get that smooth shading of the colours?
Lol, I wish!
There is a gradient feature in GIMP (the button is a box shaded from black to white), but the only places I've used it are on the bases (the edge shading), terrain (excellent for this, as it has all sorts of common shapes to 'shade' by), and some of the woodwork of the 'Warmaster' style rock lobber. Everything else I've done by hand, pixel by pixel- and yes, I am crazy (I've found I can do it while watching movies now, so that's something). GIMP has an 'opacity' feature for the colours, so if things are too jarring it's easy to go over things with one colour at 70/50/20/10 percent opacity, or something like that. There's a lot of sneaky (and sometimes not so sneaky) cut and paste to speed things up.

It may be a while before I can give any serious update. I'll try to get the Wyvern characters done, but uni is hitting me pretty hard at the moment.

Offline Shapeshifter878

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #48 on: May 09, 2015, 12:17:42 PM »
Don't worry about the updates. I kind of like the ongoing and slower nature of this project  :)

I use Paintshop Pro for the sprites and I usually don't have the patience to smooth the colours the way you do, but I'm still a bit more meticulous now about the colours than when I did my first stand.

I'm thinking about starting on the unit stats for the Empire/Dwarfs. Is that ok, or have they been done?

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #49 on: May 09, 2015, 01:24:44 PM »
I haven't got around to doing any stats myself yet, feel free!
Thanks

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #50 on: May 10, 2015, 05:56:22 AM »
The last of the Orcs and Goblins-

Two more shaman variants on foot- Orc (left) and Goblin (right)


Wyvern Swarm!
Orc General, Orc Hero and Orc Shaman


Goblin Hero and Goblin Shaman


Feedback has been that the Wyverns and characters are a bit too dark and hard to distinguish from each other. I agree with that- there's a lot of green, so I had to make it very dark to have distinction between the wyvern and rider (but GW wyverns have always been green). My friend has suggested that I make some sand-coloured wyverns, which is probably a good idea, but right now I feel a need to call these done and focus on other things.

Updates will probably be few, if any, for the next ~month.

Offline Shapeshifter878

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #51 on: May 17, 2015, 06:35:02 AM »
Wyverns look great.

I've been thinking about the different charts in the rulebook. Are you planning to have buttons for each one? 

There are those that require a roll like:
Command Blunder
Giant Goes Wild
Steam Tank Malfunction

And other ones that do not require a roll like:
Flame Cannon Misfire
Helblaster Misfire

Perhaps it could be a good idea to have two different buttons for those groups, with sub-menus for each individual chart? I'm not really sure how to do that though.

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #52 on: May 17, 2015, 11:23:17 AM »
I've got a command blunder roll as an option in the main window- it automatically reads out a random result from the table (with the appropriate chance for each one).
I've been meaning to make one for the giant, and had completely forgotten about the steam tank. My plan had been to have it as a menu option- eg. right click on the giant, select a 'Giant goes wild!' option, then a text readout would say what to do. I think I need to make a direction randomiser for the giant too? I'll need to recheck the table.
I would assume that's the easiest way to do it, but haven't got around to trying yet.

I hadn't considered the helblaster or flame cannon chart either. I guess the easiest option may be an option to display the table as part of the right-click drop down menu?

The menu/sub menu idea could work as well, though may be unnecessary clutter as not all armies are affected by it. I'll need to look at how much free space there is next time I can get back to this.

Offline Shapeshifter878

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #53 on: May 25, 2015, 05:07:09 PM »
The idea of having some charts in the unit menu sounds like a good idea. Those for the Flame Cannon and Helblaster just need text anyway.

Here is the first version of the stats for all Empire units. They all now have mouse-over info, as well as a property sheet with special rules, etc. I've also made some minor changes to the Chaos/High Elf stats I posted earlier.

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=11576832736714060466

I have not made additional stats for those units with variants on the sprites(like the Steam Tank), but it should be easy just to copy those that have and then change the unit image.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2015, 05:15:40 PM by Shapeshifter878 »

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #54 on: May 28, 2015, 12:36:14 PM »
Thanks for the stats Shapeshifter. I haven't got around to adding them to the game yet- I've been quite busy with studies. I have one main exam coming up in a week or two (I really hope two...), then two weeks until a minor exam. I'll probably be working on this a fair bit in those last two weeks.

During my study breaks I've been trying to improve the current terrain (it's very easy to do terrain, as you can use all of the pre-programed shapes and shadings).

This is an overview, showing the scale. Also note the board has now been textured, so it's no longer quite such a hideous, glaring green.


There's a few more buildings, including one pre-made block (a Wizard's compound, based on the Forgeworld model)


A castle. This shows one of each piece, arranged a bit randomly (see the overview for each piece by itself). Pieces are, in order from the left, a Large Tower (interior of top 6cmx6cm), Gateway (12cm long, and 4cm deep at the towers), a Wall Buttress (2cmx4cm), a short Wall Piece (4cm long), a 90 degree Buttress (~4cmx4cm), a Small Tower (interior of top 4cmx4cm), a 45 degree wall Buttress, and a long Wall Piece (12cm)


A river. Like the castle this is made of pieces. From the left- a 30cm section, 90 degree curve (~30cm), a 12cm section and a 45 degree curve (~30cm). Straight sections are fairly seamless in colouring, unfortunately the curved sections always seem a little off.


Miscellaneous- some crops (wheat and fruit), stone walls (4cm and 12cm) and fences (4cm and 12cm)


The forest and lakes. Same outline as last time, but hopefully looking much better.


A pile of rocks. I need to make more rocks, incorporate it into hills, etc. These rocks are modified from a pattern already found in the program GIMP.


Hills. Same as last time, only cleaned up a little (no fuzzy edges, sides more similar in colouring). The top has also been textured like the rest of the board (though it is slightly lighter).


Other things to come will be some bridges and more buildings. I also need to make alternate shapes and sizes of the forests, lakes and hills.

Offline Shapeshifter878

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #55 on: May 29, 2015, 02:46:51 PM »
Great work on the terrain! The castle looks nice.

Good luck with the exams!

Offline marell le fou

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #56 on: May 31, 2015, 09:10:25 PM »
Yep, everything is nice here. I like the project.

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #57 on: June 09, 2015, 02:19:05 PM »
Thanks Marell and Shapeshifter.

I've made some more changes-

More buildings:

The windmill would have 4 blades, but I can think of no neat way to show the other two. The village has a 2cm gap at the south, 4cm at the west and north, and 2cm gaps joining all openings. Depending on how people choose to play it that may be useful to cavalry and monsters.

Bridges:

A 4cm wide stone bridge and 2cm wide wooden bridge. I think I need to reduce the whiteness around the poles of the wood bridge- this image is the first time I've compared the bridges.

As should be known to anyone who reads this, Shapeshifter has done a lot of work adding convenient little stat bars to the models. I've now had the chance to add these to my version, though I've made a few little tweaks. Here's an example of how they work:

The model standing on the board normally is just that- a simple model


If you place the mouse over the model, the name and stats appear, as well as a larger view of the model (very handy when zoomed right out)


You can also right click on the model and select 'statistics', to give you a more complete stat and rules list that includes some area for notes


Some big creatures (like the Giant here) can be wounded- so now if you right click on the model (or use the keyboard command) you can choose to make him wounded. I've changed this so that it now adds damage to the model, and also changes the mouse over to say the giant is wounded, and it halves his stats


@Shapeshifter- my main change is that I've re-worded some of the statistics descriptions for brevity (I think quick reminders are better than expanded rules in those boxes- after all, people should have the rulebook if they're still unsure about something).

I've also added a magic quick-reference.


If you right click on a magic user and go to the 'magic' submenu, there's a list of their spell names and casting values. In hindsight I now also want to add ranges, but that'll be a while. It's a surprising amount of work for a small change.


If you click on a spell (or more than one, as I've done here) you get a box with the spell name and details. This isn't word for word from the book, but I've tried to keep it as clear as possible while abbreviating. It's intended more as a reminder than full rules.

To make things more simple in the future, all of the 6 main armies now have assigned models. Any pieces that lacked an army specific model have a generic piece for now, easy to replace later. The benefit is that the stat blocks, magic spells, etc. are all in place right now.

Offline marell le fou

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #58 on: June 09, 2015, 08:49:41 PM »
Really good addition. Will surely help for gameplay.

Offline Geep

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Re: Vassal Warmaster
« Reply #59 on: June 15, 2015, 08:49:07 AM »
I've been looking through the scenarios in the rulebook, and there's a lot of scenario specific terrain, models and possible terrain interaction. I've been working on adding a few of these options to the game.

Roads:

These are 4cm wide, and most are about 12" long. There should be enough connectors for pretty much any possible set-up.

Buildings now have more options:

Standard


On fire


Ruined


Ruined and on fire (this was never really an intended option- some of the flames look a bit funny, coming from now non-existent windows.

All options can be chosen by right clicking on the piece, or by a key combination. I like the idea of having normal and ruined versions of the same buildings, as it kills two birds with one stone (ruins being a good thing to have, and also allowing consistency if gaming over a location repeatedly).

Bridges:

The bridges can now also be destroyed (and the wooden one also has an 'on fire' option).

Many scenarios also have wagons, which can be looted. I've made an Empire one for now (both rulebook scenarios with carts are for Empire defending the carts):


There's many more things to be made for scenarios- marshes, chasms, ruined castle walls and towers... I'm going to try and stop for a few weeks though- I'm doing way too much study procrastination  :P