The Vassal Engine is a game engine for building and playing online adaptations of

board games Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

tabletop games Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop game ...

and

card games A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

. It allows users to play in real time over a live Internet connection, and also by email ( PbeM). It runs on all platforms, and is free, open-source software. For example, there is a Star Wars Miniatures module, where players can play with up to three others in a digital replica of the table-top game. It is written in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

and the source code is available from

GitHub GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continu ...

under the LGPL

open source license An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compa ...

History

Vassal began as VASL (Virtual Advanced Squad Leader), an application for playing ''

Advanced Squad Leader ''Advanced Squad Leader'' (ASL) is a tactical-level board wargame, originally marketed by Avalon Hill Games, that simulates actions of squad sized units in World War II. It is a detailed game system for two or more players (with solitary play ...

''.

Available modules

Vassal modules exist for over 1000 games, some of which are listed here. A more comprehensive, but not exhaustive, list of modules exists on th
Vassal module site list

Tabletops

* '' Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game'' Presently the most commonly played Vassal module, with over 30% of total traffic. * V40k, a ''

Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...

'' module. * '' Star Wars: Armada'' * ''

Warmachine ''Warmachine'' is a tabletop steampunk wargame produced by Privateer Press. The game is played with white metal and plastic miniatures manufactured by Privateer Press representing military characters from the Iron Kingdoms setting. Battles ...

'' and '' Hordes'' * ''

Malifaux Malifaux is a skirmish-level miniatures wargame manufactured by Wyrd Miniatures involving gang warfare in the ruins of a city. The setting of the game is centered around the city Malifaux, which can be discovered through a breach opening into an ...

'' * '' Battlefleet Gothic'' * '' Star Wars Miniatures''

Boardgames

* ''

'' (VASL) * ''

Twilight Struggle ''Twilight Struggle: The Cold War, 1945–1989'' is a board game for two players, published by GMT Games in 2005. Players are the United States and Soviet Union contesting each other's influence on the world map by using cards that correspond to ...

'' * ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

'' * ''

Diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

'' * '' HeroQuest'' * '' Pandemic'' * '' Space Hulk'' * '' Shadows over Camelot'' * '' Memoir 44'' * '' Victory in the Pacific'' * ''

World in Flames ''World in Flames'' is a board wargame designed by Harry Rowland and released in 1985 in games, 1985 by the Australian Design Group. It is currently in its 8th edition, ''World in Flames - Collector's Edition'', each new edition featuring changes ...

'' * ''

Gloomhaven ''Gloomhaven'' is a cooperative board game for one to four players designed by Isaac Childres and published by Cephalofair Games in 2017. It is a campaign-based dungeon crawl game including a narrative campaign, 95 unique playable scenarios, an ...

Card games

Playing Cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

/ Hearts * '' Up Front''

Copyright and licensing

In September 2008, Games Workshop issued a cease-and-desist order regarding V40k to Tim Davis, the V40k module maintainer at that time. The module is still played. Games Workshop has also issued a cease-and-desist order regarding '' Space Hulk''.

Similar projects

Similar engines for making board games include ZunTzu and Boardgame.io.

References

External links

Official Vassal website

GitHub page for the engine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassal Engine 2002 software Free game engines Free software projects Free software programmed in Java (programming language)