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Just like the title says.. Is there? I mean a way where you basically play the game from a point down view? I'm new to the game, I was wanting a way to try out the various armies without making a major investment into one I don't like the playstyle of. Plus it seems like itd be a easy way to get lots of battles in, to try new tactics and such. Thanks people.

Just the computer game. not the actual use minis

As far as I know, you cannot do this. You can watch battle reports though, which will let you see other playstyles of other armies.

That would be a pretty good idea, really. I know that a similar program has done wonders for Magic: The Gathering's fanbase, helping to bring in new players and show them the ropes before they make the investment in the physical game.

The Dawn of War series is pretty close, but it doesn't have the same game engine at all. As far as I know, any licensed computer game is going to give you a feel for the universe, but not teach you how to play the core game.

I hear that Vassel 40k is a good way to go about.


Except its a pain in the to use.

There is sort of a way. There is a program called Vassal, if you google search it, it should come up. The movement is a little clunky and the proportions feel weird but if you really want to play a game of Warhammer online, it is usually worth it.

Sky57 wrote:There is sort of a way. There is a program called Vassal, if you google search it, it should come up. The movement is a little clunky and the proportions feel weird but if you really want to play a game of Warhammer online, it is usually worth it.

This.
Its a good program, but damn it is a pain in the ass to use. The games take a couple of hours for one thing, and you can't use TLOS.

I've tried several times to use Vassal and just can't get past the horribly unfriendly user interface. It's like it was made to torment the user.

I was thinking of a wh40k by email, like chess by mail. Sadly it would take forever and come up with a 4x6 foot grid.

Vassal 40k is pretty much the only option. I don't find the interface that bad. It certainly could be a lot worse.

That said, it's certainly not suitable for any sort of hardcore, tournament style gaming.

Vassal is actually quite enjoyable with friends. Jump in vent or skype so you can both talk instead of typing. The only issue is the 2d top down view making it hard to justifiably say things like "you can't see me behind this rhino!" or "those trees block LoS!"

so make sure if you are playing with someone you declare what constitutes blocked LoS. When I play with out of state friends, we set it up so that if you are behind the ruins then infantry is out of sight and vehicles are obscured, but if you are in the terrain then its just a cover save for infantry and vehicles/MC aren't obscured.

I am not sure what everyone means by terrible UI. I love the UI. Press ctrl + up arrow and the model moves 1 inch in the direction it is facing. Press shift+ up arrow and it moves 6 inches. Need to turn your tank and you just press ctrl+ left/right arrow to rotate in the direction pressed.

I know before I figured out the hotkey shortcuts and was having to click range ruler, measure 6 inches, click the board, click the model that needs to move drag it to "about" where I measured. It was clunky. But if you are on vent, have a pre set up board with terrain labeled (you can put stickies on the terrain to avoid confusion) and use the hotkeys games actually are faster than real ones due to the seconds shaved off of having to measure and move everything.

Thanks for all the info. I looked into VASSAL, and Games workshop made them remove it from the site.. Im sure you could google it and find a copy, but... Not really safe. Besides, you obviously have to know other people already into the game to use it- I was looking for a system already set up. Something like battle.net for warcraft and such, where players could be in a lobby arranging battles, and maybe even computer controlled training battles- check out Poxnora, actually, for a neat system. I reeeeeeeeeally wish theyd do something like Pox has, they have random battles, story battles, even campaign battles. Itd be a neat way to expand the lore, and open up new revenue for them.. Can you say "microtransactions"?

Something nice for ya

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/419601.page#3727582

Thank you!!!

Yeah vassal is completely fine and running and updates are still being done for it. They still haven't gotten the new necron sprites out due to the guy making the sprites having a death in the family (my condolences). But they also came up with their own match making system for it if you don't feel like texting people on there if they want to play a game.

Sky57 wrote:There is sort of a way. There is a program called Vassal, if you google search it, it should come up. The movement is a little clunky and the proportions feel weird but if you really want to play a game of Warhammer online, it is usually worth it.

Correct.

Im sort of daydreaming here but if you had a laptop with a webcam and a table setup and your friend had the same (i.e two armies, terrain setup the same etc) you could play a game that way.
You show him via the webcam your table and he copies it exactly and then you move youre models and he duplicates it whilst rolling some dice, sure theres an element of trust with the die rolls and stuff but it could work.

Here is the link again:

http://vassal40k.wordpress.com/

Take a look at this http://www.reddit.com/r/Vassal40k/