Standard Protocols for Vassal Tournaments

With so many tournaments being played on Vassal, I figure that it would be helpful to have a single go-to source for people to look at when preparing to play in a Vassal tournament. I've written these things primarily with one-day Vassal tournaments in mind, but many of these things will also be helpful for those who play in the multi-day league-style events. While most of these things are probably understood by most SWM people who regularly play on Vassal, I think they could be especially helpful for newer players or players who've been away from SWM or Vassal for a while.

1. Download the latest version of the SWM Vassal mod. Obviously, you'll need to have the most current version of the SWM Vassal mod downloaded and functional on your computer. Go to SWM Vassal Mod thread for instructions on how to do that (send me a BM if you encounter any difficulties getting it set up). In the first post of that thread you'll also find 3 tutorial videos which explain how certain features work on the SWM Vassal module. It's important to ensure that you have installed the most current version of the mod (this is kept updated in the Vassal Mod thread).

2. Save your squads in Vassal before the event starts. It only takes a moment to do this and it will save you a lot of time and hassle. The 2nd tutorial video in the Vassal thread shows you how. [#3, below, is closely connected to this step.]

3. Adjust the Costs to account for Rapport, if applicable. If you have any Rapport or other printed Cost-changing abilities (via CE, etc), please change the Cost on the piece itself in your saved squad. You do this by highlighting the piece in Vassal and pressing ALT-P (or right clicking on the piece clicking "Set Cost") and then adjusting the Cost to accurately reflect the piece's Cost in this squad. (The 2nd tutorial video in the Vassal thread goes over this.) When you have your squad in the Squad Box (I,II,III,IV) it should accurately reflect the built total; it should not say 208 or any other total above the build limit. This will matter during the match because it affects how the Scoreboard does its calculations.
[Sometimes you don't know ahead of time how much a character's Cost will be adjusted (for example, Lobot, who has Reinforcements 20), because you make those decisions during the game; no problem, just be prepared to adjust things once you've made those decisions.]

4. Make the color of your squad consistent. This helps to prevent confusion during the game ("Whose Ugnaught was that?"). For example, if you're playing Rebels and have a few Fringe pieces in the squad, then your pieces will have both red- and brown-colored stripes; simply highlight all of your Fringe pieces and press CTRL-P (or r-click and select the Choose Player Color option) several times to turn those pieces red so that they match the rest of your squad.

[An exception to this is if you have a squad where it's important to distinguish the factions of various pieces in your squad; in that case, you might need to keep them with different colors. You'll need to decide for yourself what makes the most sense for your squad.]

If you end up facing a squad from the same faction as your squad, one player or the other will need to change the color of their entire squad for ease of differentiation. To do this, simply highlight the whole squad (hold down left mouse button while dragging a highlight square around your whole squad), and change all their colors at once.

5. Be in a Voice channel on the SWM Discord server at least 5 minutes before the event starts. Gone are the days of typing our communications into the Vassal chat window! (lol, remember that?) Instead, we use voice chat via Discord.
--Download Discord: https://discord.com/
--Link to join the SWM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/qCsqUP6Agn

6. Register beforehand and on-time in the appropriate thread on Bloomilk. Please read the event description carefully and, at least 30 minutes before the event, send a Bloomail to the T.O.; that Bloomail should contain the following information:
--- The event that you’re registering for (if this is part of a multi-tournament event such as Vassal Con).
--- Your screenname.
--- Your first name.
--- A link to your squad (you can keep it Private until we start the first round of the tournament, at which point you’ll need to make it Public).
--- A copied list of your squad, with Costs adjusted to account for Rapport (so no 224pt squads that probably have Rapport in there somewhere…please adjust it yourself so that this list is accurate and nobody has to guess).
--- Your map choice (ensure that it's from the list of maps allowed for your event).
--- Reinforcements/Reserves (if applicable). (Here is a link to the Balance Committee Rulings 2023 thread. In the first post, look under the heading that says, "*Limited (sideboard) Reinforcement/added characters.")

For ease of use, I recommend you use the following template that when registering for an event; simply copy-and-paste the following into the Bloomail you send to the T.O.:


7. Have fun! This is the most important thing. We're all friends here, and we're all in it for the fun, the horrible Vassal dice, the exciting game-changing moves, and the irreplacable Star Wars flavor.






These suggestions are not required, but they will make things easier and more enjoyable for you as you play SWM on Vassal:

A. Pre-Save your maps. Do this once per map and you won't have to bother doing it again.
(Step 1): Start a New Game, select your player number, and select the map. Standard procedure here.
(Step 2): Pull out the "Gambit Zone" marker (press the "Units/Markers" button and select the "Markers" tab) and place it in its proper location at the center of the map (i.e., at the intersection between the 11-12 and R-S squares).
(Step 3): Pull out the "Round Counter" (from the same "Markers" tab) and place it in an unobtrusive location. Since it's only 2x1 squares in size, it's usually pretty easy to find a spot on most maps (I often place it on a part of the map where there are thick walls (i.e., with black space)...there is plenty of space for this on the Rancor Pen map, for example.
(Step 4): If you'd like to use them, also pull out the "Lightsabers!" and "Blasters!" tokens (from the same "Markers" tab).
(Step 5): Then go to "File" > "Save Game As"...and find a place to save your maps, then give the map a name. Personally, I've used this pattern: "Map_Rancor Pen"...it will save as "Map_Rancor Pen.vsav" in your folder. (By the way, I keep my maps in the same folder that also stores my saved squads...it's very easy to use this way.)
(Step 6): Now, when you've had the map roll and need to set up a map, you go to "File" > "Load Game or Log" and select the map that you've saved. You will automatically be signed in as the Player # that you chose back in (Step 1), above, and your gambit zone and markers will already be pulled out onto the map for you.

B. Learn the most commonly-used shortcut keys. There are several ease-of-use features on Vassal which I often notice players not using, but which would make things significantly smoother if used:

Keyboard Movement: If you have a Numpad, you can press the numbers to move in that direction. For example, pressing 7 will move the highlighted piece once square up and to the left, while pressing 2 will move the piece one square downward on the map. It seems that most people are familiar with this. If you lack a Numpad, then you can do the same thing with the Left, Right, Up and Down arrowkeys.

Adjusting HP: Yes, you can r-click on the mini and type in its new HP total. But it's easier to use the SHIFT- commands.
------Press SHIFT+UP arrow (or SHIFT+RIGHT arrow) to increase the hightlighted piece's HP by 10.
------Press SHIFT+DOWN arrow (or SHIFT+LEFT arrow) to decrease the hightlighted piece's HP by 10.

Adjusting FP: Similarly, you can r-click on the mini and type in its new Force Point total. But it's easier to use the CTRL- commands. ("How do I keep from getting confused about SHIFT- or CTRL-?" Just remember that "The Force allows you to control things around you.")
------Press CTRL+UP arrow (or CTRL+RIGHT arrow) to increase the hightlighted piece's FP by 10.
------Press CTRL+DOWN arrow (or CTRL+LEFT arrow) to decrease the hightlighted piece's FP by 10.