Nevsky 2.0 Nevsky 2.0
This new Nevsky module was created by Brian
Reynolds.
Special thanks to Game Designer Volko Ruhnke who
answered numerous esoteric rules questions during development and invited me
to his house for a hands-on Levy & Campaign learning session and Stephen Stone who
created the beautiful "wooden pieces" and drop shadows. Thanks also to Joel Toppen who created
the Nevsky 1.0 module, the art assets from which were used to create this new version, and to Gabriele
Callari who has helped with maintenance and fixes.
The module is presently maintained by Brian
Reynolds - please report any problems to
brian@brianreynolds.net.
Under the "Help" menu you will find a link to the latest version of the Nevsky rulebook, in case you are
still learning how to play the game itself, or just need to "look up a rule".
This Nevsky module was developed to take advantage of new features introduced in
VASSAL 3.6--for example, support for easily moving/dragging/sending Lord Mats along
with all the pieces on the mats was added to VASSAL in order to support the
Levy & Campaign series. The module therefore uses a quite different interface paradigm
from the previous Nevsky module (and perhaps other VASSAL modules you've used), so
please take a few moments to get familiar with it -- although somewhat novel, it is
designed to be very intuitive and easy-to-use, and to replicate as closely as possible
"the over-the-board experience". We hope you enjoy it!
Beside the map on each side are "lord mat positions" -- Teuton Lords on the left,
and Russian Lords on the right. Clicking or Right-Clicking a mat position produce a menu of possible lord mats
to muster into that space. You can muster any lord into any slot. Lord mats muster with all of their appropriate
troops, assets, and vassal markers. A Hidden Lords window is also provided for each side on the module's toolbar.
Whenever a Lord Mat is clicked/dragged or otherwise moved, all of his attached troops, vassals, assets, and Arts of War cards
will automatically become selected as well, and so will accompany the mat, remaining in their proper positions. If the
Lord Mat is rotated (e.g. when constructing a Battle Array), his Mat's "cargo" will be rotated as well. Lord Mats can be
freely dragged around the map screen -- from slot to slot, or to lower region to create a Battle Array. They can also be
dragged onto their side's "Hidden Lords" screen if playing with that variant.
Right+Clicking a Lord Mat will produce a menu of options for the convenient addition of additional counters, as
well as the ability to "teleport" the Lord Mat directly between e.g. the main area and the Hidden Lords area, as
well as to-and-from the Battle Array down at the very bottom of the main display. Lord Mats will automatically be
rotated/unrotated when teleporting to and from the Battle Array. At all times Lord Mats can also be manually dragged,
rotated, etc -- using the "send to" functions is entirely optional.
Individual counters and cards on/under a Lord's Mat can be individually clicked in order to adjust their position on
the mat, move them from mat to mat, or to move them elsewhere. They can also be right-clicked to produce a menu of
additional actions.
Before the game begins, all of the cards can be found on the main screen, just
below the map. The module is designed so that most of the time you will be drawing & using cards right on
the main map screen--minimizing the amount of subwindows needed.
Just below the main decks are the Arts of War "hands" for each player. Clicking one
of the "Draw" buttons will draw a card -- note that it will remain masked/hidden from your opponent until you
either play it (or manually "flip it over" e.g. with Ctrl+F). These buttons can be used for randomly drawing
events, and the card slots can also be used to retain held events.
Right+Clicking on an Arts of War deck will bring up the "Draw Specific Cards" menu when you need to sort through
the deck to find a particular capability. Select the card(s) you want from the menu, click Okay, and then drag from
the top of the deck to pick the card you want.
Discarded Events can be reshuffled into the Arts of War deck by right+clicking the discard pile. Dragging a card
directly into the Arts of War draw pile also automatically "shuffles it in" -- the next time you draw a card it
will be a random one.
By dragging them to the appropriate position, Arts of War cards can be tucked underneath a Lord's Mat (e.g. to
give him a Capability). They can also be tucked under the bottom edge of the map board in the case of All Lords
capabilities.
Although all of the Command Cards also begin the game in their respective decks below the
map, you will of course need to organize them into a plan each turn. To make your plan, first open the Planning screen
for your side by clicking the appropriate button on the toolbar. Next, click the "Click to Start a New Plan" button--this
will summon all of your side's Command Cards to this window and organize them into appropriate piles by Lord. Then, drag
a Command Card into each of the planning slots -- six if a summer turn, five in Rasputitsa, or four otherwise. While
planning you can freely drag the cards around the screen.
Once you are satisfied with your plan, click the "Click To Send Plan to Deck" button. The cards you selected by placing
them in the planning slots will now be sent to your side's deck on the main screen, all the the proper order (the card
you put in the "1st Card" slot will be the top card of the deck, the "2nd Card" will be the next card, etc). You may now
close the planning window, as you will not need it again until next turn.
Back on the main map screen, you can right+click the Command Card deck when you are ready to draw your next Command Card;
or alternatively you can manually drag it off yourself: either way will reveal and announce it.
When the turn is over and it is time to construct a new plan for the next turn, simply repeat these steps--when you again
click the "Click to Start a New Plan" button on your planning screen, all of your Command Cards will be returned to the
planning screen and reorganized, etc.
When you start a scenario, the Lord Cylinders will be distributed appropriately around
the map and on the Calendar. Right+clicking a Lord's Cylinder will bring up a context menu for relevant Lord actions.
In particular, a Lord can be mustered from this menu (or pressing Ctrl+M with the cylinder selected)--this will
automatically add the Lord's Mat to his side's main area (the Mat can then optionally be sent to the Hidden Lords screen
if playing with those rules). Likewise, a Lord can be disbanded from his cylinder's right+click context menu.
Disbanding a Lord will automatically remove his Lord Mat (and its contents), and will send his Lord Cylinder to the
appropriate space on the Calendar.
Note: It is presently up to the players to determine if a Lord is being disbanded past his Service limit
and therefore should be removed from play. The option to remove a Lord from the game is also present on his Cylinder's
context menu--or the Cylinder can be dragged manually to the Removed From Game window.
When a Lord is mustered, his Service Marker is automatically placed on the Calendar. The
Service Marker can then be dragged from space to space on the Calendar as shifts are called for during play. Right+clicking
a Service Marker will open a context menu which provides an alternate way to disband or remove a Lord and
his Lord Mat.
Service Markers for Vassals appear on their Lord's Mat when the Lord is mustered.
Right+Clicking a Vassal's Service Marker will provide the option to muster that Vassal (or Ctrl+M with the
Service Marker selected), which will place the appropriate troops on the Lord's Mat. If playing with the advanced
Vassal rules, you can instead select the advanced mustering option (or Alt+M with the Service Marker selected) to
both place the troops and send the Vassal's Service Marker to the appropriate space on the Calendar. Once on the
Calendar, the Service Marker's menu will now include the option to disband the Vassal (returning the marker to
the Lord's Mat) or to remove that Vassal from the game if he is past his Service limit.
Note: Disbanding a Vassal (e.g. from his Service Marker's context menu) does not automatically remove
any forces from the Lord's Mat--that is up to players to determine. Likewise it is presently up to the players to
determine if the Vassal is past his Service limit and must therefore be removed from the game.
The Levy/Campaign marker can be freely dragged around the Calendar to adjust the current turn. Right+Click
the Levy/Campaign marker (or press Ctrl+F with the marker selected) to flip it between the Levy and Campaign sides. Dragging the marker
to a new turn will automatically flip it back to Levy.
The two Victory markers will automatically move whenever their side's score changes due to the
addition or removal of a Conquered, Ravaged, or Castle marker. Players may also at their discretion drag and/or flip a Victory
marker to make manual VP adjustments.
Right+clicking a map location will produce a context menu useful for adding additional markers
to that location during play. When you add a marker in this way, it will appear at the location you originally right+clicked.
If you have the map zoomed out, hovering over a location with the mouse will produce a tooltip window showing the details
of the space--this can be useful for decoding the smalls symbols on the map while zoomed out. Note that the map Legend can
also be hovered over in this way.
Just like the actual Nevsky boardgame, this module offers the option to resolve battles
either by making a full-size Battle Array out of the relevant Lord Mats, or to use the Lord Cylinders on the smaller
Battle Mat.
The full-size Battle Array can be found at the very bottom of the main map screen, down below
the Arts of War card slots. Lord Mats can either be teleported there via the "Send To" submenu on their Mats' right+click
context menus, or they can be dragged there manually. Shortcut keys are also available--Ctrl+L to send a Lord to the left
of the array, Ctrl+C for Center, Ctrl+R for Right, and Ctrl+V for Reserve. If the "Send To" option is used, the Lord Mat
will be automatically rotated into an appropriate facing; rotation can also be applied manually, either from the right+click menu or by pressing
Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] with the Lord Mat selected. The "Send To" menu can likewise be used to send Lords back to either the
main area (Ctrl+A) or the Hidden Lords area (Ctrl+H); again, using "Send To" will automatically restore the Lord Mat's
default rotation.
Right+Clicking near the "Battle Array" label will produce a context menu to allow the easy addition of a Pursuit Marker,
additional troops, and so forth.
The Battle Mat can be opened from the module's toolbar or by pressing Alt+Shift+B. Once open,
Lord Cylinders can be dragged directly into the window during resolution of the battle.
Right+Clicking anywhere on the Battle Mat window will produce a context menu to allow the easy addition of a Pursuit Marker,
additional troops, and so forth.
A traditional VASSAL Piece Palette is provided as an alternative way of adding forces,
assets, VP markers, and other sundry markers. There is no difference in game effect between markers dragged into the
game from the palette and those added from e.g. context menus--use of one or the other is simply a matter of player
convenience.
Note that certain esoteric markers can only be added from context menus--these include the Pursuit Marker (add by
right+clicking Battle Array label, or anywhere on the Battle Mat). Likewise Service Markers appear automatically, and only
when the appropriate Lord is mustered.
When the rules call for a piece to be removed from the game, you can drag it to the
Removed From Game screen, which can be opened from the module's toolbar or by pressing Alt+R. Individual Lords and
Service Markers can also be sent directly to the Removed From Game screen by using their context menus. Accidentally-removed pieces
can be returned to the game either by dragging them back manually or in most cases by right+clicking them.
The various player aids are available from the module's main toolbar.
Alt+Clicking on any part of the map will
briefly place a circular "flare" symbol on the map in that location to call
attention to that location. This symbol will appear on the opponent's map in
both server and logfile/PBEM play.
Movement Trails can be turned on and off for all units with the buttons near the far right of toolbar or toggled by pressing Alt+O. The movement histories for all units can be cleared with the adjacent button.