A PDF of the rules is available through the Help menu. Please note that it may take a little while for your PDF viewer to launch.
The module has a number of user-settable preferences in the First Blood: The Gaudalcanal Campaign of the File-Preferences dialog. These options are all boolean (enable/disable) options, and are
Before the IJ Strategic phase
Before the US Air phase
At the start of a new game, the starting units are already placed in staging areas, if the option Automatically stage reinforcements is enabled.
If the option is not enabled, then the starting units must be
set-up by opening the Order-Of-Battle (OOB) window
(Alt-B
or button), and
dragging them from there onto the map.
The US faction must set-up first. All ground units must be on land and within the blue boundary drawn on the map. USAF units may either be placed in the USAF CAP (fighters) or USAF Ground Support (bombers) pools.
Then the IJ faction sets up. Ground units must be in either off-board movement box A or D. The IJ faction has no initial IJN or IJAAF units.
Use the Turn tracker in the menu bar (short cuts
Alt-T
to move forward, Alt-Shift-T
to
move backward), to keep track of the turn and phases. The
module will take some appropriate actions (see above).
Note that game turn marker cannot be moved by hand. Only the
turn track interface will allow movement of the game turn
marker.
Be carefull with moving backward in phases and
turns. The automatic actions above are agnostic to the direction
of "time".
If the Automatically stage reinforcements option is enabled, then reinforcement units are automatically placed in a staging area on the map.
If the option is not enabled, then reinforcements are taken by
opening the Order-Of-Battle (OOB) window (Alt-B
or button), and dragging them from
there onto the map.
The module can automatically calculate odds, if the option Calculate Odds on battle declaration is enabled, and resolve combats, if Resolve battle results automatically is enabled, via the use of battle markers .
To place a battle marker, select the attacking and
defending units and press the battle marker button
() or
Ctrl-X
. This will place markers on the involved
units that identifiy the battle uniquely.
Artillery units providing remote fire support should also be selected.
Ground support units (IJN destroyers or USAF bombers) should also be selected when declaring the combat.
If the option Calculate Odds on battle declaration is enabled, then the combat odds and Die Roll Modifiers (DRM) are automatically calculated.
An example of the result is shown below
A battle marker is added to all units participating in the battle, and an odds marker is placed on one defending unit. The odds marker also shows any DRM.
If the option Calculate Odds on battle declaration is not enabled, then the faction in turn can add an odds marker by right-clicking a battle marker and selecting the odds.
If you regret a declaration, simple right-click (Mouse-2) the
combat markers and select Cancel from the pop-up menu, or
press Ctrl-C
Odds and DRM can be recalculated via the context menu of the odds marker.
If the option Resolve battle results automatically is enabled. then the module can automatically calculate combat results.
Select and odds marker and press Ctrl-Y
, press
the
button, or select Resolve form the context menu.
This will roll a die, add any DRMs, and cross reference the odds with the modified die roll in the appropriate Combat Resolution Table (CRT) to find the combat result.
A result marker then replaced the odds marker, indicating the result of the combat.
The players must then implement the combat outcome (e.g.,
defender must retreat on ).
Note that the dice windows may steal the mouse focus. In that case, simply click the main window (or any element in it), to put focus back there.
An example is shown below
If the option Resolve battle results automatically is not enabled, then players may still show the combat result by selecting the appropriate entry in the context menu of the odds marker.
If you want, you can now clear the combat by right clicking the result marker and selecting Clear. Alternatively, you can leave the markers - they will be cleared at the end of the combat phase.
When stepping throught the tutorial, there are a number of
steps being taken in the background. If it seems that the
tutorial is "stuck", try pressing Page-Down
a few
more times - the module is doing stuff in the background.
Pay attention to messages in the chat. Messages in green are fully automatic actions taken by the module. Messages in red are semi-automatic actions taken by the module, but which requires the some user actions too.
The specific automatic actions are summarised Above.
Note, if the module determines that the IJ faction must loose a unit in the Supply face, then that message will be displayed in red.
Likewise, if the module determines that the US faction has too many USAF units in action, then a message in red will direct the faction what to do.
The module does not keep track of engineering work or damaged or destroyed air fields. The factions must flip counters as needed, according to the rules obviously.
Add a tutorial
This VASSAL module was created from LATEX sources of a Print'n'Play version of the First Blood game. That (a PDF) can be found at
https://gitlab.com/wargames_tex/firstblood_tex
where this module, and the sources, can also be found. The PDF can also be found as the rules of this game, available in the Help menu.
The original game was release by Avalon Hill International Kriegspiel Society, and is available
https://grognard.com/fb/
This work is 🄯 2022 Christian Holm Christensen, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
or send a letter to