In the nearly thirty years, (twenty-eight to be exact), since GMT Games published the 1st and only edition of the IVth Volume of Richard H. Berg’s and Mark Herman’s, Great Battles of History series, other series entries have received reprints and major updates. SPQR for instance, is on the 2nd Printing of the its Deluxe Edition, encompassing four Rule Change editions over several reprints and edition publications. Caesar: The Civil Wars, interestingly, long out of print has seen its sister volume, Conquest of Gaul receive a reprinting but it took a little while longer for the original Caesar title to get there. So, when GMT announced a new deluxe treatment of both The Civil Wars and Conquest of Gaul together in a new dual package, I immediately contacted them to volunteer to build the official GMT Vassal module and was thrilled when Alan Ray contacted me back to let me know it was going to happen. For me, it represents a dream project that I hoped to see come about ever since building my first basic module, after viewing Joel Toppen’s helpful video series on how to build a Vassal module several years ago now. 

There are some obvious “why’s” that popped up concerning building a new Great Battles of Julius Caesar Deluxe Edition. Why build a new module at all? There are already modules out there for both of the linear warfare Caesar volumes along with all the other available GBoH volumes. Those modules present all of the scenarios to be included in the deluxe edition. Why limit a new module to just the packaged box? What could a new module offer the virtual gamer that the current modules do not? 

Having already developed some ideas for what a new module would contain, the new module needed to a receive fresh approach. But after receiving the artwork, maps, player aids and booklets, it was instantly apparent that this new version would be a stunner visually, benefitting in every way from the deluxe updates. The artwork on the maps is glorious, something not always achievable on tactical maps, especially ancient era maps. The counters generally, do not vary from the style of the original Volumes, but of course that is a plus as the GBoH counters represent some of the best designs of the hobby. So, once the design of the module began to take place, the beauty of the products served as an inspiration to push the technology, while maintaining the simple ease of the tactical cardboard experience as much as possible. 

The Approach 

One of the benefits of building a new Vassal module is building upon what has been learned and created before. In the case of Vassal, because it is all open source, it is possible to look “under the hood” of any module available to find the best approaches and always add techniques to my bag of Vassal tricks. Many of these are incorporated into the GBoJCDE module. Well, the first rule of Vassal module building in terms of automated design is the “first, do no harm” rule. That is to say, wherever automation is added, permit traditionalists to play the game without the automations. Fortunately, automations are an afterthought in the Vassal build process, so generally, all pieces may be manually moved, cards flipped and manipulated by the users as though they were physically handling the pieces. That said, some of the improvements envisioned for the GBoJCDE module include automatic scoring, adding the setup maps for reference, and providing a way to list the leaders and their initiative ratings within the module to assist in leader activation. On the way, other niceties were added to the module that should enhance those new to the series as well as GBoH aficionado’s overall enjoyment of working through the scenarios to include pre-built scenario files, examples of play and new counter options. 

Keeping Score 

For the most part, determining victory conditions for the GBoH series is relatively simple. You convince enough guys on the other side that tending sheep is a better way to spend the day instead of being on the wrong end of a gladius jab, and you Veni Vidi Vici the day. This is measured in gaining enough rout points against your enemy that they must (Per scenario rule levels) withdraw. That said, the game designers gave a few twists in some of the scenarios as to how victory is won. At Dyrrachium for example, rout points are used, but not to determine victory exactly, instead they are used to determine when the game ends. Then, Pompey must penetrate as deeply or through Caesar’s lines of circumvallation, receiving Victory Points as a component of the deepest penetrated hex digits (Hex 2125 for example, 21+24=45). A really visual way to measure success and a clear goal for the Pompey player, but a problem for Vassal as every variation in theme has a cost, either in memory or in speed on the Vassal Engine. Plus, in all, there are six such unique exceptions to the rout point/withdrawal method for achieving victory (Bibracte, Biscay, Dyrrachium, Gergovia, Medway, Sabis). Each one provides its own challenge within Vassal to bend the calculator to follow the rule variants. 

Dealing first with the rulebook automated Rout Point scoring system. The method was simple enough. Simply add the trait to each counter for how many Rout Points that unit is worth. While shortcuts could have been taken, it was decided early in the module design process to ensure that every counter is represented. That is to say for the IXth Legion, there are 10 unique Cohorts. Numbered 1-10. It wasn’t necessary per se, to go this extra mile, but it seemed the added detail would be appreciated, and afford players an experience more like playing the boxed version of the game. Since all of the scenarios have pre-placed counters for you to begin right away, there is less minutia for players to worry about during setup. That is unless you have a specific preference for the 1st Cohort to be on the left or right side of your triplex acies.

The other advantage was that each counter receives its exact rout point total when sent to the Rout Pool. So, for every counter, each has the option to send the unit to its exact location on the Withdrawal Board to be scored properly. Once the counter has been sent to the Rout Pool, the player has two ways to count the score, manually or automatically. To score manually, you would simply move the Rout Point trackers to the appropriate numbers on the 100, 10, and 1 rows to illustrate the Rout Point Total. 

To take advantage of the automated scoring, send the routed/eliminated counters to the Rout Pool the same way you would for manual scoring. Note, some counters have more than one “Send to…” option (depending on the scenario). Once the counter is on the Withdrawal Board, click on the appropriate Caesarian/Roman or Pompeian/Non-Roman Calculate button at the top of the board. Once clicked, a few things will happen. Most notably, the Rout Point score tiles will jump to the appropriate score totals. Likewise, you will see the rout point total in numerical form on the Withdrawal side of the Board along with the Withdrawal Level for each side and the remaining Rout Points after the routed units have been subtracted from the Withdrawal Level. There is one exception to the basic rule version of scoring to the send and click method just described. Captured and re-captured Aquilae require manual incrementing to account for Aquilae counters that need to be counted, but remain on the map. 

For the non-standard scenario victory conditions, there are overlays to the Withdrawal Board that present the unique scoring requirements for each. For Dyrrachium for instance, the Senatorial side is altered to account for the two, two-digit numbers that represent the deepest penetrated hex by Pompey’s forces. The Victory Conditions are announced towards the bottom of the board automatically, based on the conditions set aside in the scenario. The calculator already knows when the end of game Rout Point totals are met for each side. 

The Leader Board 

One thing common to most of the GBoH Volumes is the need to track Leader Initiative levels to assist in tracking activation opportunities. For this, an editable board has been added that lists the leaders for each scenario including their initiative level and a short note as to their command responsibilities. These are pre-filled for you with the available leaders when you choose one of the scenarios upon starting your Vassal game. The board is available through a menu option from the main menu. While it does not tell the speocific activation order of the leaders, it does define the Initiative Level groups that each leader falls into. To edit, simply right click on the text that you want to modify or add (There are invisible text boxes that can be turned on) and type the desired text. For this, the entire board could be repurposed for any text uses you preferred, however there is a Notes application that is included with the module as well if you needed to take more in depth notes, store hidden information, or just communicate to your opponent via message outside of the Vassal Chat system. 

Setup Maps 

As a convient way to compare your scenario with the scenario book instructions, the setup maps for each scenario are included. Originally setup maps were intended to be available as direct overlays over the game maps that could be toggled on/off as an aid to visualize the command areas/wings for each leader and verify originating positions. This method proved to be too memory costly to the Vassal module so I included the scenario maps as charts, available from a main menu button. 

Also included with the charts is the Sequence of Play to aid players through the sequence of the game. While on the topic of game turns, the game turn counter on the Rout Point Tracking Card is not automated. As noted in the Rulebook, turn counting is not a requirement for GBoJCDE, instead relying on the withdrawal levels to be the more important factor relating to the passage of time. 

Finally, for fun, a simulated GMT plastic Counter Tray is included as a menu option in the module for those who live on the “must maintain order” side. Vassal doesn’t always present the best way to manage counters that are neither in play, nor eliminated. For this purpose, the Counter Tray offers a place for counters to exist when they don’t yet in terms of gameplay. For example, this is where you will find your reinforcement counters at the beginning of the scenario to reduce clutter on the board while you are moving your units across the map. The Counter tray begins the game with the lid closed. This is only a gimmick for fun and only has to be opened once and will stay open forever unless you choose to close it. There is an invisible hex layer below it, so pieces can be placed pretty much anywhere on the counter tray, but may snap to the closest hex when placed there. Note: do not place withdrawn units here unless you are using manual scoring as the Rout Point Calculator will not recognize the counters as withdrawn unless they are located in the correct zone on the Withdrawal board. 

 I’ve really enjoyed building this module from the ground up. Having already played the Britannia scenario for the first time ever (I proved I am no sailor, nor Caesar for that matter), the game shines through. Like I assume many GBoH players do, I like to mirror my play on the physical board while recording my moves on Vassal. I can’t wait to get my hands on the box game and start punching those counters out. Nothing will ever replace that part of the hobby for me, but the convenience of being able to pull up a scenario in Vassal and start within minutes has its own enjoyment factor. I’m hoping that GBoH loyalists will enjoy re-playing their favorite Great Battles of Julius Caesar and Conquest of Gaul scenarios with this module as much as I hope new fans embrace it. It was written with the full ruleset in mind, but those who favor the Simple GBoH rules will find it just as playable. 

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.VMOD File Download

User Manual for GBoJCDE VASSAL Module