Have you ever used VASL?

Have you ever used VASL (pick any that apply)?

  • Yes, to play a game

  • Yes, to watch others play

  • Yes, for other purposes (i.e. using the map and counter art)

  • No, I've never used VASL


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Robin Reeve

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The "big picture" view is better when playing with real components compared to VASL for bigger scenarios in which the playing area exceeds your screen size while using the normal zoom level of 100%.
Under the "ASL silhouette" icon, there is a button where you can make appear the whole battlefield.
But the view is very small.
I don't understand how some players like VASL for large scenarios.
I understand that it allows to save them mid-term (which is an advantage compared with a table that you must immobilize between sessions).
But I don't like to have only a partial view of the map - and I usually play with two screens...
 

Gordon

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Well put, indeed.

They also demanded that this year - in which GRENADIER has been cancelled due to Corona for the first time since 1998 - I should bring a fire-place.

Only, because last year I spread out a carpet - which they demanded a year before last - beneath the playing table next to the bookshelf I brought for my kit.

Where will these demands end? If would finally decide to invade, I reckon people would not be happy and complain about the Germans.

von Marwitz
You just need to set up a go fund me drive.
 

von Marwitz

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Under the "ASL silhouette" icon, there is a button where you can make appear the whole battlefield.
But the view is very small.
Indeed. I totally forgot about that function. But as you say, the view is very small.

I don't understand how some players like VASL for large scenarios.
I understand that it allows to save them mid-term (which is an advantage compared with a table that you must immobilize between sessions).
But I don't like to have only a partial view of the map - and I usually play with two screens...
VASL is just superior in scenarios with high counter density and high stacks. Imagine 'Festung Budapest' or some other large scale city fights with multi-level buildings all around. Inspecting stacks or stringing LOS there is a tiresome affair with cardboard and time consuming on top.

In large scenarios, the VASL functions that remove certain counters with one mouse-click excels, for example all First/Final Fire counters at the end of the DFPh.

When you have to pause in large scenarios, VASL allows for making some 'notes' about concealed enemy units that you remember now - just having stopped playing - but that you will have forgotten about after a week or two before you resume.

Of course, as you mentioned, if your large scenario requires multiple sessions, it will save the time of reserving a table/space for the game or to note down positions of units, to take all the stuff down and to set it up again before resuming. Let alone driving to/from your opponent.

Generally speaking, VASL is unsurpassed for reducing all sorts of 'overhead' and frees this for more actual game time. This, in turn, might be a prime factor as an enabler to tackling large scenarios in the first place.

von Marwitz
 

Robin Reeve

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Good arguments.
VASL remains limited when you need to have an overall view of a large area - which was the context that I was thinking of principally.
Of course, when the challenge is counter density and high stacks, VASL helps a lot.
 

Juzek

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View attachment 14330

You are aware that with the marked button you can switch between blending out counters, blending out counters AND draggable overlays, and showing everything?

View attachment 14331

Besides on a 'mouse over' the terrain of the hex will be displayed along with the units stacked within.

von Marwitz
Yes, I know all that. In VASL the counters cover more of the hex, while IRL you can still see the edges of terrain and buildings in most hexes at a glance. There are times when the mouse-over could be problematic, like allowing you to see what's in an opponent's stack that is out of LOS.

None of that takes away my appreciation for the application and the work that is done to maintain and improve it. Its just a minor thing.
 
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