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Because I concentrate more of my effort on the P&M aspect of 40K, I have not been able to get many games under my belt. I started 40k when 5th Edition first came out, and have only played about 10 games in total since then.
But, I still am interested in getting into the gaming aspect of the hobby and I decided to try my luck in a program called Vassal, a program where you can play online board games with other people in real time. And one of those games happened to be 40K... http://vassal40k.wordpress.com/

So that got me really excited and I created an army on Vassal, one that I thought I would test virtually before making a purchase. Just out of curiosity how often can you get a game of 40K in? It all looks so complicated...

It takes a bit to get used to the Vassal 40k, but once you play a game or two it gets pretty easy and quick too, since it does all the math for you on vehicle damage rolls etc.

The biggest trick is the movement of the models, and facing of the models when moving them. It is not as intuitive as just moving them like in real life, but it is more accurate.

Goodluck, I haven't been playing on there in some time, since I play more in real life now.

I haven't ever played a "pick up game" on vassal. I've only played prearranged games with a friend of mine. My best advice to get a game in on vassal if you don't know anyone who would want to, is to try to find an online community with active vassal players and join them. When you log into vassal, sometimes you will see people that have tags on their username which usually indicates some kind of gaming group and often they are online groups. Join up with some of them. A free VOIP program (skype, teamspeak, ventrilo) to use alongside vassal is really helpful also, and imo basically mandatory.

Anyone care to make a tutorial on vassal and how to get your own game of 40k going?

I dont have half a life time just to make sense of that stuff.

Vassal 40k is one of those things that you really learn by experience. There is no way that I'm going to write a tutorial, but thankfully there are plenty already made on youtube. I'll try to put you on the right track though. I'm going to lead off with a big disclaimer and I can't emphasize this enough:

Unless you have an opponent in mind who you think would like to play Vassal 40k with you, you are probably wasting your time. Vassal 40k has an incredibly small number of users. The subset of users who are looking for a pickup game is even smaller. I only used vassal for a short period of time with a friend when we were just learning the rules and experimenting with lists before we spent tons of money. I'm a slow player on the table but I'm an even slower player on Vassal. It is a great resource, but it is no substitute to playing live if you ask me, and in many ways vassal is a headache. I won't deny that it has its uses though.

You still want to try Vassal 40k?

First you need to download and install The Vassal Engine which isn't 40k, it is just the engine to support the 40k module.
Once you have the vassal engine installed, you need to download The Warhammer 40,000 Module and unzip it into the previously installed vassal engine folder.

After you have the software I suggest you dive into the program. Start messing with it and just experiment (that is how I learn). If that doesn't work for you, then I suggest you watch some Vassal 40k tutorial videos on youtube.

Pyriel- wrote:Anyone care to make a tutorial on vassal and how to get your own game of 40k going?

I dont have half a life time just to make sense of that stuff.

To be honest I found it to not be worth the effort and a rather subpar way to experience 40k and abandoned it.

I think it would be better for boardgames like Space Hulk...

well, I played one game and have the general feel for it, so if anyone wants to play a game (prefer others that know it, could try teaching what I know though) pm me and we could set something up

Vassal is a great substitute for 40k if you find yourself away from your regular gaming group (assuming some of them know how to use it).

For example, I'm quite far from home right now, in a community with few-to-no dedicated gamers. I use Vassal to play games with friends in other cities.

That said, I wouldn't necessarily use it for pick-up games, for the same reason as I don't like just going into new stores and asking for games. I don't know my opponent, which dramatically increases the chances that a dispute could arise. It's easier to work these things out in person than over the internet, and even then, you might be facing TFG. (Or at the very least, someone who treats the game very differently from yourself, e.g. a "gamer" vs. a "hobbyist").

Though I must say, the one thing vassal has going for it are the scatter die with blast radii, accurate templates, accurate movement, and the ability to move whole squads at once. Sometimes I wish I could do that IRL

I find pick up games all the time on V40k.