Hammer of the Scots is a game of the Scottish Wars of Independence. It was designed by Jerry Taylor and Tom Dalgliesh, and it was published in 2004 by Columbia Games. Hammer of the Scots 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 Hilinski in May, 2005.
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 start a new game, the first thing you must do is to choose a password and then press the Flip English or Flip Scots button on the right side of the toolbar. This turns your units face down, and you will see them with a "hidden" label, but your opponent will see solid-color squares. Your button will only flip down your faceup blocks, so you can use it at any time on the main map.
The draw deck and discard piles are in a separate window. The game automatically shuffles the deck. Each player has a private window (English or Scots buttons) to store his hand. To draw cards, press the button in your window. Your cards will appear to you with a card back icon in the upper right corner, which means they are facedown. If you cannot read a special card because the text is too small, right-click to show the card text.
When you play a card, drag and drop it to some free location on the map. To reveal cards, either flip them over or drop to the discard pile. At the end of a year, right click the discard pile to shuffle it into the draw pile. If you are playing by email, your should place a colored dot (of your color) on your card to remember which one is yours. The dots are in the Markers window.
The replacement pools for both sides are on the gameboard. The game automatically shuffles the pools. An easy way to draw the English Feudal Levy is to deal two piles of units as if you were dealing two hands of cards. Take the first pile as the levy and return the second one to the draw pool. Note that in the Bruce scenario, the Scots draw pile contains the French Knights. Remove it if you like as noted in the original rules.
Hold your cursor over any button on the buttonbar for a brief explanation of its use. Briefly, some of the buttons are:
The world button temporarily removes units off the board so you can see the terrain beneath.
The dice buttons roll dice.
The tombstone button opens a window that contains eliminated blocks.
The flip buttons turn blocks facedown.
If you disband a unit, it goes to its appropriate draw pool. When you kill a block, the game will send it to the appropriate place. Some will return to the draw pool; others will appear in the "tombstone" window. When a noble changes sides, right-click it and select "change sides."
The markers window contains various markers you may find useful.
Some have a reverse side, which you can expose with a right mouse click.
Use the numbered battle markers to mark battle areas.
Use the red 1-4 markers to temporarily mark hits.
Use the red and blue dots to mark border control. Just drag one onto a border.
There are two scenarios. One player chooses one to begin the game by selecting File/Scenarios. Choose the Braveheart scenario to play the campaign game.
There are 3 battleboards, so you may run more than one battle at a time. To run a battle, put a battle marker on the battle area and move all units to the battle board. Each battleboard has markers to track battle progress. If you need more, drag them from the Markers window.
Rotate the rounds marker to note the current round.
The four red dots may be used to temporarily mark hits. You can clone each one to make more.
Use the target to indicate the current firing unit.
You can use the red dot to note who the attacker is. Flip it over to get the blue dot.
You can drag the yellow battle marker to the gameboard area to mark where the battle is fought.
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! 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. You may store the battle marker in the battleboard window.