Rommel in the Desert

Introduction

Rommel in the Desert is a game of the North African campaign of World War II. It was designed by Craig Besinque, and it was published in 1984 by Columbia Games. Rommel in the Desert is owned and copyrighted by Columbia Games, and we present it as a Vassal mod with their permission. Please visit the Columbia website at http://www.columbia.games.com/. You can find there the latest rules and a forum to answer your questions. They sell a whole line of block games, and if you enjoy this one, you owe it to them to buy a real copy! This Vassal mod was created by Stan and Carl Hilinski in May, 2005.

Vassal Notes

If you right-click on any unit or marker, you will get a menu just for that piece. Some markers can be flipped over to a reverse side. Most military blocks have a properties item that tells you important things about that unit.

In most block games, your blocks are standing on edge, and only you can see their faces. In a Vassal module, they are facedown when on edge and faceup when they are exposed. When you start a game, Vassal does not automatically assign units to you or your opponent. Instead, you take ownership when you turn blocks facedown. Ownership is linked to your Vassal password, so choose a password (file/edit_preferences) before you begin. Then turn all your blocks facedown by pressing a button either on the buttonbar or an order of battle window depending on the game. You will always be able to see the faces of blocks you own even when facedown. Do not turn down your opponent's pieces because you will then own them too.

By default, when you flip a piece facedown, your opponent will be able to still move it, but he will not be able to turn it faceup because you own it. This is fine in real-time play, but it can be a burden in email play. You may allow your opponent to turn your blocks faceup by selecting File/Edit_Preferences/General and checking the box "Opponents can unmask my pieces." Both players should do this. It does compromise security, but it is very convenient when playing by email.

If you play by email, each turn you create a log, which is a snapshot of the current game plus each move you make that turn. You email your log to your opponent as an attachment. When you receive a log, you load into into Vassal (File/Load Game), and then you step through your opponent's moves. You then turn on your log (File/Begin Logfile) and do your turn. When finished, you save your log to email to your opponent (File/End Logfile).

When you move a block, it will show a yellow border to remind you that you moved it. You can turn the border off or on (a toggle switch) by choosing the appropriate right-click command. Press the right-most button on the toolbar to clear all yellow borders. You may enable the "mark moved" feature in File / Edit_Preferences / General.

Rommel in the Desert Notes

When you start a new game, the first thing you must do is to choose a password. Then choose a scenario and the gameboard will open. Your starting forces and reinforcements will be located in your side's order of battle (OOB) window. The button for it is on the toolbar. Open your OOB window, and immediately press the "flip" button to turn all your blocks facedown.

You will see the supply deck and a discard space in the top center of the board. The "tray" is above the board, and it is divided into a half for each player. Players should put their cards and BPs on their half of the tray.

When you draw supply cards, they are face down, but you will be able to see your cards "through the backs." When you see a palm tree icon in the corner, it means the card is face down, and only you can see its face. A card automatically turns face up when you put it on the discard pile, or you can turn it face up via the right-click menu. When you play supply cards, you should place them in the "sea" beneath the deck. The supply deck automatically shuffles itself. Right-click on the discard pile to shuffle it back into the deck.

The dice buttons roll dice, the "tombstone" button shows killed units, and the "Charts" button shows player aids such as the combat table.

The "Markers" window shows markers that you should find useful in the game. Some have a flip side.
You may use the green and tan dots to mark hexside control. Drop a dot of the appropriate color on a hexside to mark ownership.
Use the red numbered dots to record hits.
Use the green circles to record BPs during the buildup phase. You can store them on your half of the gameboard tray.

To create a minefield, select "Notes" on the toolbar, and then select the "Delayed" tab. Press "New", choose a name ("Axis Minefield 1"), and type the location ("Tobruk") under text. Click "Save." Your opponent will not be able to read the text until you reveal it. To reveal a minefield, highlight the line and click "Reveal."

When you right-click a unit, you will see commands to mark the unit with red and blue markers. There are generic markers to mark raiders, fortress supply, or whatever you wish. The commands are toggles.

The turn marker on the gameboard has a flip side that shows a British flag. Flip the marker to indicate who is going first that month.

Starting a Scenario

When you first start the Rommel mod, you must choose a scenario. Select File/Scenario and choose one of eight. This action loads starting blocks and reinforcements onto the OOB windows. The notes button lists how blocks should be positioned for the scenario and other specific scenario-related information.

Once a scenario is chosen, the first thing you must do is to turn your blocks face down. Open the OOB, and turn them over using the appropriate button. Do not turn over your opponent's blocks! In Vassal, you control any block you turn face down, so you want to flip over your blocks only.

Read the notes for the scenario and position your starting blocks onto the map. You should do this before you turn on the log to keep your blocks secret.

Draw your starting hand of supply cards and put them on your tray. Remember that you may discard your starting hand and draw again.

If you are playing by email, save the game or log and send it to your opponent. If you just received the saved game (you are the opponent), load it and play the log if there is one. Deploy your blocks and draw your cards just as your opponent.

This game supports solitaire play. You must start a scenario as the "solo" player. Then you can use the "hide" buttons on the buttonbar to hide either side's units. The buttons will not operate unless you choose the "solo" side.

Battles

There are four battleboards, so you may run more than one battle at a time. To run a battle, put a battle marker on the battle hex and move all units to the battle board. Each battleboard has markers to track battle progress. If you need more, right-click and clone them, or drag more from the markers window.
The four red dots may be used to temporarily mark hits.
Use the target markers to indicate the current firing unit and the target class.

Each player must flip his units faceup unless each player enables the masking option in the File/Preferences menu. Remember that your units are facedown if they has a dark border around them. It's easy to forget! As always, do not turn enemy units facedown.

Use a right-click command on a unit to take casualties or to kill it.

When combat is done, move the units back to the board or to the tombstone window. Store the battle marker in the battleboard window.