Athens & Sparta

This game is the property of Columbia Games, and I present the vassal module with their permission and cooperation. Stan Hilinski, May 2008

1. After you start a module, choose a vassal password. See File/Edit Preferences/Personal. I use my phone number. Do not set it blank. Do not change it once you start a game.
2. If you are playing by email, you might find setting the flag "Opponents can unmask my pieces" to speed up play. It lets your opponent to reveal your blocks. See File/Edit Preferences/General.
3. After you start a new game and choose a side, use your "flip" button on the buttonbar. When the window first opens, all blocks are laying flat and face up on the board. "Flip" turns them up so they face you. You should never have to use that button again. Remember that a siege is ongoing in Potidaea, so the Athens player must go there and lay his blocks down again. Right click on each blue block. Select the "Reveal/Hide" menu item (it toggles) to hide the block.
4. The flip buttons do not work if you selected the Solo side. You do not need them if you play solitaire. The "S" buttons do work in solo mode (and only in solo mode), so use them instead.
5. Important Rule of Thumb. Whenever you want to do something to a piece or marker, right click it for its command menu.

The cards are in the Cards window. Open the window by pressing the Cards icon on the buttonbar. Drag cards to your Athens or Sparta window. (The card deck shuffles itself automatically.) If you see a miniature card back in the corner, it means it is facedown to your opponent, but you can see its face with your Superman X-Ray vision. When you play a card, drop it below the deck in the Cards window. If will be facedown. You will need to flip it up (right click command) to use it. If you are playing by email, you can reveal them by dropping each on the discard pile, which is in the Cards window. You can also flip both cards if your opponent allowed you to unmask his pieces. When the hand is over, right click the discard pile to shuffle it into the deck.

Your blocks will be upright facing you when they have a 3-D border and a red ball in the center of the block, and they are revealed when they don't. It's easy to forget. You must remember to right click and hide/reveal each block when you need to do it. Note that you can "draw" a box around a bunch of blocks and do commands for all of them at one time.

If you have trouble remembering which units you moved, there is an option (File/Edit Preferences/ Mark Moved Piece) when enabled that will label all piece you move. You can clear all the flags at once by pressing the right-most button on the buttonbar.

The time track on the right has a marker that flips to a blue side if you need to remember who goes first. Right click it.

There is a scoreboard window on the buttonbar, and I suggest you might want to keep a running total. You can also use it to keep track of your build point expenditures. Use the colored beads in the Markers window as markers.

There are 4 battleboards on the buttonbar. You can drag blocks there to resolve battles, and you can put the battle marker on the hex to remember where the battle was fought. Use the red numbers (clonable and deletable) to mark hits. Use the target marker to indicate which unit is shooting and get another from the Markers to indicate who is the target. It's easier than writing it all out in the Chat window. You can use the Siege marker however you like. It flips over to a blue side.

The units window holds all blocks not in play, and killed units go there when killed with the right-click command. When you take control of neutrals, you can right click them to change their allegiance. This is helpful in solo play but not absolutely necessary.

There are markers in the Markers window (buttonbar) that are meant to be helpful.

1. The target and numbers can be used to point to things and to mark hits.
2. Put the siege markers (castles) next to hexes that are besieged. The color shows who is hiding behind the walls. See below for marking individual blocks.
3. Put the blockade and patrol markers next to hexes to indicate this. You can flip them over.
4. You can drop the Persian Support marker near Persia to help remember that.

There is a scoreboard window on the buttonbar. You mind find it really convenient if you update the score track as you go. Extra units and dead units are in the common tray window.

You can mark each block with two colored marks. It's a right click command. Why? For whatever you want. Think of these markers as marking pennies. You might use them to mark besieged blocks who are besieged if it gets confusing.

If you have not played before, I urge you to play a few turns solitaire. When you start a game, choose Solo as the side. This lets you see both player windows, and you can use the two "S" buttons to hide the blue or red blocks. You can change the ownership of a green block by right-clicking and changing its side. If you don't do this when they change sides, they won't hide when you use the solitaire button.