Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea (ACIS) received an overall warm welcome from the gaming public. For many of our fellow hobbyists the game hits a sweet spot with its epic theme served in the frame of quick and simple gameplay. A second game in the series, Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East, was recently announced on GMT‘s P500 list: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-836-ancient-civilizations-of-the-middle-east.aspx .

During the game’s development, I had the pleasure of assisting designers Mark and Chris, as well as developer Fred, by crafting a functional VASSAL Module for internal team use during playtesting. After the game’s publication, the opportunity arose to polish the Module for a public release.  That release was accomplished 9/21/19.

But wait, what is VASSAL?

VASSAL is a freeware computer software provided on voluntary basis by a community of enthusiasts. VASSAL offers a virtual game table upon which to play your favorite games electronically. A virtual table is referred to as a Module and can be downloaded, viewed and manipulated upon your computer screen. GMT Games enthusiastically embraced this software, so much so that nearly every published GMT title has a VASSAL Module.

For me personally, VASSAL has been and continues to be an indispensable tool for both game design and playtesting. Practically all the multiplayer playtesting of my All Bridges Burning was done via VASSAL. The software may not be as glossy and polished as its more recent commercial counterpart, the Table Top Simulator, but it is free, readily available, and does its job very well… very well indeed.

The gaming community sports a fairly sizable VASSAL-literate group who knows how to string together a VASSAL Module. Some prime examples of really well-made VASSAL Modules in war and conflict simulation gaming include (in no particular order) Francisco Colmenares‘ Empire of the Sun Module, Judd Vance’s wide-ranging output, and the dozens of Modules made by the talented Joel Toppen for the COIN Series among many many others.

You will understand I had trepidation about sticking my neck out with a first published VASSAL Module. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to produce a Module that could parallel the wonderful work of the aforementioned masters; but hopefully we, the ACIS VASSAL Team and I, have managed to produce something more than serviceable to let ACIS players enjoy this fun and exciting game via an electronic medium.

Inside the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea VASSAL Module

How to use this Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Module? First, head over to http://www.vassalengine.org/download.php and download the software. This is a free download. Install the software on your computer as instructed by the website. Also download the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea module here.

Next, run the VASSAL program and in the screen that appears, load the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Module to be viewed by the program. In the window that appears, navigate to the File menu in the top left corner to select one of the pre-defined set ups as detailed in the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Rule Book.

Next, the Module will ask you to pick a side to play. Now you are ready to go!

VASSAL offers an intuitive interface for doing just those things that you do at a regular, analog game table: grab a card, draw it into your hand window, grab a disk and place it on the map, and so forth. You may wish to use the zoom buttons to adjust your view of the game board to your liking.

As a little hint, feel free to experiment with the module. Right-clicking a game element ―or pressing Control and a mouse click, if using an iOS system, such as a game piece or a card, will reveal a menu of useful commands.

In the Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Module, for example, right-clicking a disk will open up a menu that allows you to automatically send the piece back to the available disks pile (supply). This saves you the time and trouble of dragging and dropping the piece. Or try right-clicking a Fate card for commands such as discarding the card.

Try it!

Solitaire gaming is said to be becoming increasingly popular. The reasons are many, but one surely is the lack of time people typically have to regularly sit down with friends for some good gaming fun. Well, VASSAL is a system that can mitigate that impediment by creating the gaming arena you need. A gaming environment that can be readily and conveniently saved for your convenience… not framed by the strictures imposed by your busy schedule!

VASSAL also offers the fantastic ability to play ACIS with multiple players who aren’t in the same physical location.  Distances become meaningless (alas, not Time Zones). If you haven‘t tried it already, I suggest you get together with friends at the virtual VASSAL table, get your favorite internet voice chat application going for the purposes of all that wonderful table talk ―and play. Remember not to be too mean to one another and that a game of less than four Epochs can be agreed to in advance (see ACIS for several short game play options). 

VASSAL works!  It now works for Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea.  Enjoy!

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This article was written by V.P.J. Arponen and edited by Fred Schachter.