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BGE v1.0 User Manual - Battlegrounds Games

1. What the unit owner sees What everyone else sees With multi token units you can easily and quickly change the currently displayed token by selecting the unit and pressing the lt or gt hotkeys These hotkeys allow you to cycle through all the available token states Note that the hotkeys will also work on a multi unit selection so that you can change the currently displayed token on many units with a single keystroke Pressing a token swapping hotkey while holding down the SHIFT and CONTROL keys will swap both the current token and the current portrait of a selected unit simultaneously potentially useful for things like were creatures Portrait available for both minis and components The Portrait submenu in a unit s contextual popup menu lets you attach a portrait image or additional portrait images to a unit select which portrait to display and delete a portrait s from a unit which has one or more portraits assigned to it TARGET RANGE ala en cae Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Label Status Base Sideboard Hide H Token Use Current Token Audio Add Portrait Flip Image Arrange Hicks Healthy Owner an Wounded v Include in Turn Sequence Clear All Portraits Edit in Turn Sequencer Team k Keep Only Current Portrait Chat Color je Remove Current Portrait Edit Mini Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Select the Use Current Token command to use the
2. Automatic Media Syncing with Connected Clients The host s client automatically sends media to connected clients when it detects that the connected client does not already have the media locally This media syncing includes unit tokens audio clips portrait art and visual aids but does not include game boards A placeholder game board will be displayed on connected clients screens if the game board is not available locally game boards are never transmitted by the host Unit tokens and portraits will be displayed with a placeholder graphic until the necessary artwork is received This player has not yet received the token artwork for this mini so a placeholder graphic is displayed Media over 2 MBs in uncompressed size will fail to transfer due to a limitation in BGE s networking protocol Token art portrait art visual aids and audio clips are sent without a progress bar Media that is over 2 MB in size e g game boards background music large visual aids etc should be sent to the players using an external media bundle see Game Media Bundles below Game Media Bundles BGE supports external media bundles which make it possible for the host to send media assets to his her players long before they are needed in the game session Such assets will not be revealed to the players until the host calls for them at which point they will be presented immediately Game Media Bundles sometimes called external
3. Open the Library panel by pressing the L hotkey or by clicking the Library button in the Commands panel Category Unfiled Ee Selection Grenade Spread Diagram GRENADE SPREAD DIAGRAM 7 Cancel Select s Once you ve selected the reference material you want to consult click on the Select button The selected item will open in a new window atop the game table window The content of the Library window is draggable to allow viewing of media that is larger than the Library window When you are done consulting the reference material double click anywhere on it to make it go away or click on the Close box on the window s title bar Sending Audio host only In multiplayer games you can send your players audio files Audio files can be music clips voice recordings or sound effects They can be set to play once or to loop continuously useful for mood music or ambient sounds Open the Send Audio panel by pressing the A hotkey or by clicking the Send Audio button in the Commands panel Only the host may send audio Category Sound Effects KH Selection Grenade Explosion i Volume _ Loop Continuously Auto Preview ie i fh Click to preview Send To Host HH Send Cancel 4 Use the tools on the panel to select the audio clip that you would like to send You can either listen to each file you select by clicking on the Preview icon
4. This artpack is good for both GM s who like to improvise on the fly and those who like to create elaborate layouts well ahead of game time The trees also happen to look great on many of the maps in Base Map Pack 1 if you happen to already own that artpack DevilDan s Monster Tokens Contains 435 high resolution figure tokens including some which are color mods for additional variety They are suitable for use with fantasy or horror games that use a scale of 5 feet per square or 3 feet per hex Component Sewer Pack A set of modular components that you place on the background of your choice to create a sewer system layout In addition to sewer tunnels in a variety of configurations the artpack also contains stand alone elements to further customize your layout audio clips to set the mood and creep your players out and even figure tokens for commonly encountered vermin i e bats and rats The artpack contains 104 graphics and 19 audio clips most of which can be set to loop continuously This is a convenient set both for GM s who like to improvise on the fly and those who like to create elaborate layouts well ahead of game time Vry s PC amp NPC Tokens Contains 105 high resolution figure tokens 100 original tokens plus 5 color mods for additional variety They are suitable for use with fantasy games that use a scale of 5 feet per square or 3 feet per hex An excellent starter set of PC amp NPC tokens for BRP
5. Depending on your Preferences settings and whether or not you are currently hosting a game session you may notice that the mini on the game table is now transparent This is because by default units are automatically hidden from the players This allows the host the opportunity to further tweak the mini such as adjust which way it is facing or perhaps attach a text label or notes to it When it s all ready the host can choose to reveal the mini to the players by pressing the Y H hotkey Units placed on the game table while the host is offline are not automatically hidden All minis are placed on the game table with a default orientation facing to the right but once on the game table you can rotate them as needed In addition to placing minis directly on the game table minis can also be initially placed on top of other units even on top of components set to Tile or Lock either via a double click as for a standard deployment or via Copy amp Paste operation Placing a Component on the Game Table The procedure for placing a component on the game table is the same as for placing a mini Only the host may place a component Move your mouse cursor on the game table to the cell where you want the component placed then double click to get a contextual popup menu Select Place Component If the snap to grid feature is enabled the cell highlight graphic will mark the cell where the component will appear
6. Y You will be automatically taken to a second screen where you can specify the mini s name although not required it s usually best if each mini and component is assigned a unique name its owner the host or one of the connected players which allows that person to move and control his own mini and its base type and base size You can also dictate how BGE should use the selected artwork by defining scale rotation and offset values for changing the centerpoint of the graphic When placing minis on the game table if the unit does not have a default Scale Adjustment factor defined for it Scale Adjustment will default to 50 so that the artwork will not pixelate even at full zoom 200 Unit Settings Character Name Owner GM 4 Base Type Clear Base Size S x S D Scale Adjustment 50 5 M Rotation Adjustment 0 Horizontal Offset 17 Vertical Offset 2 Portrait style token _ Figure shown from front Figure shown from above Number to deploy 1 Hide this unit after deploying it vi Save these settings as the default Apply these settings to existing units SS a 9S F Cancel 4 OK s J Note that you can apply different scale and rotation settings to different units which use the same artwork but the offsets for any given artwork must be the same If you need to use different offsets you will have to duplicate the artwork in BGE s Minis folde
7. Help button on the Commands panel If the Commands panel is closed or has been disabled you can also select the Help command from the BG button s popup menu The Help screen also comes up automatically the first time the program is launched on any given computer Basic Instructions Click on the B button to access commands from a po up menu Double click on the game table to place a unit host onl or to select other board related commands Click and drag a unit to move it hast or unit owner only Right click and drag the game table to scroll the view Right click on a unit to access a contextual pup menu host or unit owner only Place the cursor over a unit to read its notes and or see its portrait Hold down the Shift key while clicking a unit to add the unit to the current selection or to remove it trom the current selection To use a hotkey first click on the game table window or close the chat window Hotkeys Host amp Players Host amp Players continued Arrow Keys Scroll the game table Help shows hides the Help screens 1 2 3 6 7 8 9 Move selection on square d P Preferences 1 3 6 7 9 Move selection on hex aay Q Quit the program Rotate selection clockwise Rotate selection counter clockwise Host Only H Hide show selection S Save Game File R Roll dice E Load Game File T Turn Sequencer u Unit Manager N Notepad V Send Visual Aid L Consult lib
8. If on occasion you actually want to simulate a teleporting effect simply hide the unit then move it then unhide the unit Note that a player may only move a unit s that he she controls while the host can move any unit It is also possible to nudge units on the game table one pixel at a time This is primarily useful when laying out units that require precise alignment with each other such as elements on a form or record sheet Simply select one or more units hold down the SPACEBAR then press any arrow aka cursor key Rotating a Unit Select a unit then press the plus key to rotate the selection 90 degrees clockwise or the minus key to rotate the selection 90 degrees counter clockwise If you are using a hex grid instead of a square grid the selection is rotated only 60 degrees You will see the unit rotate gradually to its new facing Holding down the SHIFT key while pressing a rotation key rotates a selected unit by only 15 degrees regardless of the current grid type Holding down the CONTROL key while rotating a component not a mini rotates the component in 180 degree increments If you have a mouse with a scrollwheel you can also rotate a unit with the scrollwheel Note that the scrollwheel will change the zoom level if no unit is selected If a unit is selected it will rotate in 90 degree increments 60 degree increments on a hex grid if no modifier keys are held down Holding down the CONTROL
9. If you have a projector you can use BGE in your face to face game sessions to great effect BGE s full screen game table high resolution graphics and hidden until you need it interface are ideal for this sort of setup Projecting downward onto a table wy Using BGE with Real Minis Groups using BGE as a digital game board in face to face games can choose to use real minis rather than digital tokens in their games if they can project the game table window onto a flat table surface Running Non Live Games Battlegrounds like most virtual tabletop programs is usually used for live games where the host and the players are all logged in at the same time However some users may prefer to play non live games particularly if the players live in widely varying time zones Here s how it works the host hosts a game session which he leaves running continually Players log in whenever they have a chance and take their move if it is their turn then they log off In this sense it is like a play by post game on a gaming forum except that with Battlegrounds you have the visual game board that is constantly updating component and mini positions and you have convenient tools like the Dice Roller built right in Of course in nor live games some features won t be used such as audio there s probably no one around to hear it at the moment it s played For non live games be sure to enable automatic granting of pl
10. The more familiar you are with your game s rules the better but if needed BGE s Library feature can provide you instant access to important reference materials like charts and tables due to copyright limitations you must scan these in yourself If playing online all participants also need an internet connection broadband is highly recommended especially if you are the host of the game session How It Works Whether playing on the internet or on a LAN the process is the same one person hosts a game session BGE s peer to peer networking system effectively turns the host s computer into a game server Other players then join the session by logging into the host s game using either a Gamer Client or the free Demo The number of clients that can connect at one time is 16 15 players plus the host However note that large groups over 8 10 players can easily become unwieldy and depending on the game being played some players may get bored waiting for their turn to come around again Once everyone is logged in the participants communicate with each other via text chat which is built into the application Optionally they can also communicate via a voice chat VOIP application running in the background see the Links amp Resources page on the Battlegrounds Games web site for various free third party VOIP software options Generally speaking games that use voice chat tend to move a lot faster than games that do not BGE
11. Turn 1 or higher and only if the player owns the currently active unit the top most unit listed in the Turn Sequencer On the host s screen the button s text reads Step the Sequence rather than End My Turn You can also end your turn with a hotkey Pressing SHIFT RETURN while the End My Turn or Step the Sequence button is showing will end your turn as long as the Chat window does not currently have focus wy It is recommended that you size and position the Chat window in such a way as to not obscure the End My Turn button since easy access to this button will Save you time when you need to use it The host may use the SHIFT RETURN hotkey at any time even if there are no units listed in the Turn Sequencer and the Step the Sequence button is not currently being displayed Examples of Turn Sequencer Configurations To help understand the various ways the Turn Sequencer can be configured to best support particular games here are some illustrative examples turn 3 Damage Damage Attack Defense Token Name Token Points Taken Factor Factor Notes 8 3 ZIO O O m L gD T Load Settings Configure Close WO Stee A Here the Turn Sequencer has been configured for playing Asteroid Zero Four by Task Force Games The Notes column is especially useful for tracking disparate data that isnt shared by all the unit types This game uses the Turn Sequencer only for tracking unit data
12. and not for actual turn sequencing Turn 6 Token Name Token Wounds Move Load Gold Armor Spell Points Notes Load Settings Configure f Close JK Step A Here the Turn Sequencer has been configured for playing Valkenburg Castle by Task Force Games The units are sorted by Team and by Token Name to make it easy to find any given unit quickly This is particularly important in a game involving several dozen units on the game table at once Turn Sequencer Turn 2 Current Max Token Name Speed Reflexes HC HC Notes PHASE 2 Station Wagon Emergency PHASE 3 aa 20 mph D M Silver Van 40 mph Rear MG on automatic PHASE 4 Silver Van 40 mph 2 oh 1 Rear MG on automatic 25 mph 6 0 3 U Compact 7 Station Wagon Emergency PHASE 5 20 mph Compact 7 PHASE 1 next turn Silver Van Weegee Rear MG on automatic PHASE 2 next turn Silver Van j 40 mph Rear MG on automatic 3 l Load Settings l Configure 4 Here the Turn Sequencer has been configured for playing Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games The Speed value of the vehicles automatically determines which phase s of the game turn each vehicle gets to move on by using a Phase Chart Any ties in Speed are resolved according to the Reflexes score of each driver with the higher Reflexes acting first In the event of a tie in both Speed and Reflexes the acting order would be
13. another Gamer Client in order to connect with the Gamer Client that is hosting To use a second instance of the program on a single computer you will need to duplicate the entire BGE folder not just the executable You also need to rename one of the executables so that they don t both have the same name and share the same preference files Note that games with information that must be hidden from the other players may only be playable in a LAN environment where each player has their own computer Learning to Use this Software Battlegrounds Gaming Engine is designed to be easy to use and equally easy to learn to use There isn t a steep learning curve and there are no arcane indecipherable icons in the user interface All controls are intuitive consistent logically laid out and clearly labeled If you know how to push a button use a popup menu and press a hotkey you can learn how to use this program and can probably be playing within an hour of installing the application If you ve ever bought gaming software aids that were so hard to use that you never did use them you ll realize just how important this is The various panels in BGE use a fairly consistent interface This was done to make the program easy to learn and use Some users may prefer to dive right in and start experimenting that s OK you won t break anything Others might prefer to give this manual a quick read first in order to become familiar with the sof
14. cack ecdinisnsacivaiucneian ida aden wakdacras secusidtviajeiliaicaadtieieaniagaemnsoct 142 SUPPON TO Fiach ISTE incianetersscsnieusaie nite iesarepeeebieieniiaisearnleranienieetaGeneesiaasnons 143 ATED Tech AR NUM serue 143 P blic and Private Unit NaMe Secere 143 AUSS E e A A E E E A A AE AE gate nian E E A E E E E 144 Updating from an Older Version of BGE ccccccceeeceeeceeeceeeceeeeeeseeeseeeseeees 144 Using BOE wii a PToeClo sesini stinna 145 Using BGE with Real Minis cane ares rae cn aan rer ran taitpnaatdete dane debra dfncbitt dt antdnld 146 Running THON LIV Gamos isis Gece toes roe ces eete crpnunie cern deeb giuodueranus coun ious lelnicinntoenin 146 T ee Geo wroscety seer cicere gwsaee E anewacien EEA EE 147 Siae e ete ee ee T ET E 148 Contact E Mail FS SES a raasdadaannnivanstsnni dniinnbanteaanieasrinunnsaimidraaiptceilaieasreduciaenarsaaeniainiduiaaasians 148 pige Tel esi 2 Gaerne A AA AA A anette een arene A 148 Potential Conflicts with Third Party Software cccccccceeeceeeseeeeeeseeeeeeeseeens 150 Know sues and LIMIalONS sieririrerirrrarrin rinrinda nET Nr ET ii 150 Riek eo E e EAE A E A EEA Mean ee A T AA TAAN A A E 151 How You Can Help Support Battlegrounds Games cccccseceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 151 E E a E E E A A EEE ee E ae eT are 152 PRODUCT CATALOG ira z a oea S E E SE A E TAE EEE EEN ae E NA A AAA 153 Game Boxes and Game Conversions for BGE ccccccccecccceccececcececeacee
15. ccccssseeececcseeeeccseceeseeeecessseceeessseeseesanas 67 Owner available to host or unit owner only ciececcrthed martes tects paniaceaceeocearie eae 67 Antialias available for components only ssccsvescesniassircteacursenvovindndatcccndn bin suieinacsandiadwuedeeeeaiadadeesneas 68 Include in Turn Sequence available for both minis and components cccccccceeeeeceeeeeeeeeeees 68 Edit in Turn Sequencer available for both minis and components cccceeeceeeeeeeeeaseeeeeees 69 Lock available to host only for components only o cccccccccccccceecccceeseecueceeesaueeeeessaeeseeessuaneeeness 69 Tile available to host only for components only ccccccccccccseeeceeccceuseececcesseceecsauseseesasemasees 69 Free Floating available to host only for components ONLY cccscecccceseeesceeceeeuneeeeeesaaeeeeeeeaaees 70 Use as a Screen available for components ONY ccccssseceeccssseseecssesacessessaesesecessausescessaaemesses 71 Team available for both MINIS and components ccccccscssscccecccccemsseseeceeceeseesseeeeeeceseasemesses 72 ace as ges crcats eect id pcs atta A esa neg em ae 73 Delete available to host only for both MINIS ANA COMPONENHS cccceecccceeecceceesueceeeaeeceeeees T3 Set Action Phases available for both minis and components 1 cccccceeeeceeceeeueeeeeeseaeeeeees 74 Contextual Popup Menu for Multi Unit Selections c cc cceececceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 75 Ee e EEN O
16. it can be toggled on or off with the X hotkey or via the Snap to Grid command in the game table s popup menu When snap to grid is on a cell highlight graphic snaps from cell to cell as you move your mouse cursor across the game table This happens even if the Grid Overlay is hidden The highlighted cell marks where a unit would be placed see Placing a Mini on the Game Table and Placing a Component on the Game Table below The cell highlight graphic disappears when you select one or more units on the game board so if you can see the cell highlight graphic it s a visual cue that no unit is currently selected If snap to grid is enabled units will snap to the center of each cell as you drag them even if the Grid Overlay is hidden exception Free Floating components never snap to grid Units will only snap to grid if they are moved at least one pixel in any direction This makes it possible to select units that are not aligned with the grid e g doors without having them snap to grid If snap to grid is disabled from the game table s popup menu or with the X hotkey the cell highlight graphic does not appear and units may be dragged around freely on the game table without snapping to the center of each cell The host can dictate whether snap to grid is available or not on a per Game File basis see Board Settings above Snap to grid also affects the Draw Tools and can be of great assistan
17. track separate totals for the primary dice and the secondary dice Just to the left of the secondary die graphic is a grey button that you can click to specify whether the secondary dice should be added to subtracted from or used to multiply or divide the results of the primary die dice Each time you click on the button the wy arithmetic function changes After the Divide button there is a blank button This will allow you to keep the secondary dice results separate from the primary dice results and will cause the totals for each die type to be tracked separately Dice Set 2 8 Alien Appearance Acid Spray Chart f croose clear gt fo gt Roll Dice Macro Attach macro C Reset Close P Rolt 4 You can use up to two different die types and or die colors in a single roll Set your die rolling options as desired then click on the Roll button The Dice Macro configuration screen will be replaced by the Dice Roll Results screen Dice Macro Dice Roll Results for the Host zee Roll Dice Macon Browse Roll History NEN MC ESD reroll The Dice Roll Results window shows the results of every roll This window is dynamically sized according to how many dice were rolled to keep the window from being overly large if only a few dice were rolled Any re rolls e g additional dice rolls that were spawned by an operrended roll will be reported in yell
18. A A E P E E A A E TEN EE A E T E 75 TOJO AM MAD erea eaaa EEES A AEEA aE Eaa 75 1E E PEIE NEEE E MINTEA AEEA N ENEE TE OONA EA E EE OA AE NE E TA O E Y 76 EE L EATON IEE AI N A ES EE I T N AN PI I E A E T 76 Fl sientan ONEEN AEAEE eas seis tagendeeias ee ee aii 76 BGI AEE E vo a E cantata da aaa oe on mtn ee pe 76 I ack EEA E AEE EEEE EE ag oss vate E A as tee ee a ee eee 77 Adjusting the Stagger ONS GT wissecestniacsattstn niacin senteica cs edn cce tice dainasidniyetidasnsnian vnielaioucieduindaioateyasdm donceiensidadeedian 77 ULC og oh We Sean EEEN een eee AA Rat as E N AEAEE A AA AE SON een en ree Emer A Oe at Mate een A en 78 OED OM 1611161 See een nnn econ ey Mie heat eeOe OmmT aT trte nt eee amen MrT enema Tener eee etree mer meet enter ret er ere 78 Bg SSS 5 Ener nee en ee ee ee Cement ert een err Teen eee ae ene eer ore er ee eee er eee 78 HOLES 60 Ge 0 Seaman meneame ete me net ie eRe EE err en ne oe See ene AE ee eT Rae 78 ROE sacar ghee oceans iene cabs on cei mncen gn hp nnn a 78 BO sare dices ack ns esp wat et E A acc kg wk desea tee 79 9 9 10 18 9 9 Ml gee 0 gt Reece cr en te a ne eA a ene ee cna te ete yee ene vr ae a 19 De NOST resin E scr poring rh eens ede erie eres 80 I a a E verano NE E gence sh wees ep E A 81 Automatic Media Syncing with Connected Clients cccecceeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 82 Game Media 21 9 6 A ee ae ee ener ree are en 83 The Chal WINGOW seeren test anaes
19. JPG format When creating your game boards be sure to leave off any elements that you want to be moveable and just insert them later in BGE You should also export your game board without a grid since BGE gives you the option of showing or hiding the grid as needed Game boards larger than 40 cells in either direction will need to be broken up into several pieces and laid out as components set to Tile exception game boards that use a hex grid may be up to 46 cells high Free and Commercial Digital Game Conversions for BGE As of this writing there are close to 20 digital game conversions available for download and or purchase on the Battlegrounds Games website and links to them are available at the end of this User Manual These game conversions should provide an ideal way for a host and his her players to learn how to use the software together and get a glimpse of what it is capable of They should also serve as examples for users wishing to create their own digital game conversions Free and Commercial Artpacks for BGE Artpacks are collections of media generally based around a central theme Artpacks can contain any mixture of maps for BRPG or game boards for BGE Fog of War Overlays these are only used in BRPG Mini tokens Component tokens Visual Aids Audio clips and even reference material for use with the Library feature There are both free and commercial artpacks available for BGE and a list of all the
20. Media Export Game Media Preferences P Purge Media Purge Refresh Artpacks Help User Manual License Check for Updates About Quit Q The BG button s popup menu when the Commands panel is closed The BG button s popup menu when the Commands panel is open Note that there are some commands in this popup menu that are only accessible from the BG button Generally they are the ones that don t have a Hotkey equivalent assigned to them because they are used infrequently wy The Commands Panel The Commands panel contains buttons for the most common commands in Battlegrounds The buttons that appear on the Commands panel will vary depending on whether you are the host or a player Am Commands 7 Chat Window TAB 5 Commands Chat Window TAB Roll Dice R Dice Roll History Turn Sequencer T Card Table Notepad N Library L Roll Dice R Dice Roll History Turn Sequencer T Unit Manager U View Manager Load Game Board Board Settings Draw Tools D Send Audio A Send Visual Aid V Load Game File E Save Game File 5 Load Deployment Save Deployment Card Table Notepad N wavu Connection C Connection C Preferences P Preferences P Help 7 ep Ul a a l The Commands panel on a player s client The Commands panel on the host s client Clicking on any of the command buttons will open the appropriate panel or dialog
21. Palettes The Keep Only Current Token command will also be automatically invoked when you set a multi token component s to Tile The Remove Current Token command will remove the token that is currently being displayed indicated by a checkmark beside it from the selected unit but will retain all other tokens This command is not available if the selected unit only has a single token assigned to it Secret Token is a toggle setting and is available only for multi token units The Secret Token setting is enabled if there is a checkmark beside the command and disabled if there isn t When enabled it allows only the unit s owner to see the token that is selected for display i e the active token and everyone else including the host in the case of a player owned unit will see an alternate token The alternate token that will be shown is the second token listed for the unit The Secret Token feature is primarily intended for use in boardgames and wargames to conceal the true nature of a unit e g a letter tile in Scrabble an unplaced domino a flipped counter in a wargame z St ee Dice Macros a 2 ee Measure Range Edit Notes Status ie RE cele TE Net EN E E NS ee ne Add Token Audis yY Shaman Flip Image Unknown Evil Unit Light Source Keep Only Current Token Area of Effect Remove Current Token Arrange v Secret Token Owner Include in Turn Sequence Disposition to Party
22. Vista while using the Windows Aero or Windows Vista Basic appearance settings e Hosting over a wireless connection may not work on Mac OS X unless you disable other network protocols e g Ethernet Firewire Bluetooth etc This generally means disabling all network protocols except for Airport e At this time a maximum of 12 simultaneous Free Floating components are supported Using more than that will cause errors This limit may be increased in a future version e A Game File can hold up to 600 components if there are less than 20 minis present This reallocation of game sprites was implemented primarily to support digital versions of boardgames and wargames that require a lot of components tokens cards etc but do not make extensive use of minis e Using a filename that is over 27 characters long when saving a Game File will produce a blank invalid Game File e Avoid using a filename that is over 27 characters long on any game board or media asset wy e When moving the next to last item in the Unit Manager list down making it the last item on the list it loses its highlight This is purely a cosmetic issue e Media assets and saved Dice Macros should not contain parenthesis in their filename or they will be unselectable from the popup menus in BGE e The popup menus in BGE only support up to 255 entries so be sure not to throw more than 255 media assets into any single folder Using different folders to further cate
23. Zoom Level View v Snap to Grid X Board Settings Choose Board Color Place Component Create Multi Token Component Place Mini Load Deployment Here Dragging a marquee selects e Create Card Deck A component browser panel appears allowing you to choose a suitable illustration to depict the component on the game table Y Category Aliens H Selection _ Facehugger KH Cancel Once you ve selected suitable artwork click on the Select button at the bottom of the panel The component appears on the game table in the cell you specified Unit Settings Object Name Facehugger Scale Adjustment 40 a gt 4 gt Horizontal Offset Vertical Offset 0 Number to deploy 1 Hide this unit after deploying it vi Save these settings as the default _ Apply these settings to existing units Cancel_ You will be automatically taken to a second screen where you can specify the component s name and define how BGE should use the artwork by defining scale Y rotation and alignment values A real time preview of your chosen settings is shown on the game table When placing component on the game table if the unit does not have a default Scale Adjustment factor defined for it Scale Adjustment will default to 50 so that the artwork will not pixelate even at full zoom 200 There are checkboxes at the bottom of the panel that al
24. active unit shown at the top of the list On the game table the active mini is highlighted with a blue halo The blue halo overrides the Status halo if one is being used for the mini The Turn Sequencer lists only the minis or components e g vehicle tokens or Spaceship tokens on the game table that you have explicitly specified that you want listed by using the Include in Turn Sequence command This allows for non combatant minis to be deployed on the game table without cluttering up the Turn Sequencer Each row on the Turn Sequencer is color coded according to the unit s Team green red or grey for Neutral units Sideboarded units are not listed in the Turn Sequencer but hidden units are The host or the owner of a unit can easily edit the data values for any unit by double clicking on the unit s row This puts the row into edit mode After making any changes click on the unit s name or click on another unit to exit edit mode The updated data will be automatically transmitted to other connected users The scroll wheel on the mouse can be used to scroll the Turn Sequencer when the mouse cursor is positioned over the Turn Sequencer list Hold down a modifier key the CONTROL key on Windows or the COMMAND key on Macs to scroll the Turn Sequencer horizontally instead of vertically wy By pressing the Step button short for Step the Sequence at the bottom right of the Turn Sequencer the host advance
25. allows a log of the entire text chat to be saved for those who like to keep a record of what happens in a game The participants move their virtual miniatures or other game components around on the game board and or on the virtual game table in accordance with the game s rules The host may move any item in the game but each player may only move the minis and or other game components that have been assigned to them Design Philosophy BGE s interface may seem a little unusual when compared to standard programs There s no menu bar along the top no ever present toolbar and some functions differ from the normal way of doing things This is because BGE is at its heart a collaborative presentation tool BGE s interface is designed to remain hidden and out of the way until you need it in order to avoid distractions and to promote immersion Because of this most of the program s functionality is controlled by hotkeys and popup menus Traditional user interface guidelines haven t been eschewed just for the sake of doing things differently There s a reason behind any changes from the norm If you keep that in mind you will understand why certain features were designed the way they were To cite just one example in BGE you close a visual aid by double clicking on it Normally you would expect a visual aid a graphic to appear in a traditional window and you would simply click the Close box on the window s title
26. and the Fudge dice are only available in blue black red and white By checking the Tally Successes checkbox each die in a dice roll can be evaluated for success or failure according to conditions you specify Clicking on the Mod short for Modifier button in the top right corner of the panel will add a modifier to the overall dice roll You can then specify whether it should add to subtract from multiply or divide the result of the dice roll and by how much Up to two modifiers can be applied to a dice roll The Apply Roll Result To checkbox and pulldown menu near the bottom of the Dice Macro Configuration screen can be used to apply a dice roll result to any custom value listed in the Turn Sequencer The most common use of this feature will be to roll for initiative at the start of every turn but the feature could aso be used for other things such as randomly determining a creature s Hit Points Clicking on the Reset button at the bottom of the panel will clear any settings you have entered in case you wish to start over in configuring your dice roll In multiplayer games you can use the Send To popup menu to select who should receive the die roll You can choose to send it to everyone to just the host or to a single player If you wish to make a die roll without anyone else seeing it just send the die roll to yourself When more than one die type or color has been assigned to a dice roll BGE can
27. any units touched by the selection marquee will be selected For players only units owned by the player or owned by Everyone can be selected with the marquee On Windows PCs either the SHIFT key OR the CONTROL key can be used to make or adjust multi unit selections On Mac OS X only the SHIFT key can be used to make or adjust multi unit selections Note that a marquee selection can start and or end over a component s set to Tile useful if you are using modular mapboards or a game board composed of tiles A marquee selection can also start and or end over the black background layer the non board portion of the game table window You can choose whether the selection marquee selects minis only components only or both minis and components To do so double click on the game table and a menu will pop up Zoom Level View v Snap to Grid X Board Settings Choose Board Color Place Component Create Multi Token Component Place Mini Load Deployment Here Dragging a marquee selects a v Minis amp Components Create Card Deck Minis Only pcom ponents Only Select the submenu that says Dragging a marquee selects and choose one of the three options given Cloning an Existing Unit host only Units on the game table can be duplicated easily using the standard Copy and Paste commands on Windows CONTROL C to Copy and CONTROL V to Paste on Mac OS X COMMAND C to Copy and COMMA
28. bar when you were done viewing the graphic But a visual aid in BGE has no window by design in order to allow for PNG transparency effects and a clean presentation of the visual aid Y Using Battlegrounds Can Save You Time and Money Battlegrounds can potentially offer significant cost savings compared to physical gaming It can save you time as well and for many people free time is even more precious than money Ask yourself these questions How much time and money will BGE save me on gasoline from not having to physically commute to game sessions How much money do I save on print and play costs printer ink craft tools and materials etc if I use digital game components instead How much money and time will I save by not having to paint physical miniatures and or from not having to print out large game boards in full color How much money will I save on babysitters if I can keep an eye on my kids myself while I m gaming from home System Requirements Minimum Windows 98 ME 2000 XP NT Vista 7 e Pentium III or equivalent Macintosh OS X e Power Macintosh G3 running OS 10 1 5 or better e Rosetta must be installed on Intel based Macs All Platforms RAM 256 MB Hard drive space 200 MB Display 24 bit color Resolution 1024 x 768 note that most netbooks do not meet this requirement Recommended Processor 800 MHz or higher RAM 512 MB or better Display 32 bit color Hard drive space 500 MB or m
29. blue active mini halo as well as all the Status halos Components Components represent everything else such as blocks money tokens game cards or moveable terrain features like doors Components do not have a base or a halo associated with them Components may have a Status designated but the Status is not depicted graphically in the game table window only in the Turn Sequencer Controlling Units Placing a Minion the Game Table Move your mouse cursor on the game table to the spot where you want the mini placed then double click to get a contextual popup menu Select Place Mini Only the host may place a mini If the snap to grid feature is enabled the cell highlight graphic will mark the cell where the mini will appear Zoom Level View v Snap to Grid X Board Settings Choose Board Color Place Component Create Multi Token Component Load Deployment Here Dragging a marquee selects Create Card Deck A Mini browser panel appears allowing you to choose an illustration to depict the character animal or monster on the game board Category Colonial Marines H Selection Vasquez Smart Gun KH Cancel Once you ve selected suitable artwork click on the Select button at the bottom of the panel The mini appears on the game table on the spot you specified If Snap to grid was enabled the unit will be automatically centered in the corresponding cell
30. fact that you can do everything without having to do any scripting or learn any sort of dierolling syntax It helps to keep in mind that the options in the top half of the panel determine how each individual die in the dice roll is processed and the bottom half of the panel determines how the overall dice roll is processed v The Dice Roller can be used for one off die rolls or it can be used to create Dice Macros pre configured dice roll settings that you will use often This section deals with the general operation of the Dice Roller but also see Creating and Using Dice Macros below There are a total of 11 dice colors available including red green brown yellow orange turquoise purple magenta grey black and white Fudge dice are available in 4 colors red blue white and black A dX x sided die is available only in the blue dice set Use the Dice Set menu to select the die color you wish to use for your dice roll Clicking on a die icon at the top of the screen will pull up a menu from which you can choose how many dice to roll You can have up to two die types or die colors in a single roll Up to 30 dice may be rolled at once exception only 9 percentile rolls at once The die types included in BGE are d2 d3 d4 d6 dF Fudge dice d8 d10 di2 d20 d100 percentile and dX x sided die Note that not all the dice are available in all colors For example the blue dice set is the only one with a dX
31. game scale units and text labels that you want to use in your games Complete instructions for editing the contents of the files can be found in the files themselves Content in the Labels Menu file can be indented with the TAB character to make a submenu BGE will accept up to two TAB characters per line Y Expanding BGE Adding new game boards digital minis and game components to BGE is very easy Just drag a JPG or PNG graphic into the appropriate folder This can even be done in the middle of a game without re launching the application New sounds can be added to the game in the same manner A wealth of free quality artwork is available on the internet see the Links amp Resources page on the Battlegrounds Games web site and more is posted every day Of course the graphically inclined can make their own custom artwork using any graphics application Adding Custom Artwork Sound Effects Reference Material and Grids to BGE Users wishing to add their own artwork or sound effects into the program may do so by simply placing the asset file in its corresponding folder at the system level Game Boards Minis Components Audio Visual Aids Portraits Library or Grids The Minis folder and Components folder accept graphics in JPG BMP and PNG format The Game Boards folder accepts graphics in JPG format only The Visual Aids folder the Portraits f
32. game table will automatically pan when you move the mouse cursor close to the edge of the game table window as long as BGE is the front most application Autosave BGE has an autosave feature that can help avoid disaster in the event of a power outage a program crash or a computer lock up other problems can often be resolved with the Undo feature The controls on this panel allow you to wy specify how often and under what conditions the current Game File is autosaved Autosaves are stored in a folder called Autosaves which is located inside the Game Files folder Your settings are saved when you click on the OK button or on the Even More Preferences button and are automatically reloaded the next time you launch the program Preferences vi Animate die rolls vi Show incoming die rolls vi Disable Commands panel vi Round up range measurements Auto hide new units vi Display text labels on minis vi Auto hide the BG Button Revert to Select mode When Draw panel is closed Default game scale settings One cell equals lalf Default Turn Sequencer settings No settings available L Cancel OK The third Preferences screen The settings that can be controlled from the third Preferences screen are shown above and should be self explanatory Purging Obsolete Media All media assets imported into or received by BGE are stored in the file User
33. have some Turn Sequencer Settings that you wish to disable temporarily move them into the Disabled Turn Sequencer Settings folder which is located in BGE s Preferences folder inside a folder called Turn Sequencer Settings wy Unit Manager host only Press the U key to bring up the Unit Manager or click the Unit Manager button in the Commands panel Only the host may access the Unit Manager Unit Manager 6 as This panel is used for controlling which units are visible hidden locked or tiled which are on the Sideboard and what the stacking order of the units should be this is useful because you may want a unit to be shown over another unit but under a third unit Your chosen settings will be updated in real time on the game table The arrow buttons on the right side of the Unit Manager are used to change the stacking order of the unit you select in the list The button with an eye symbol on it controls whether a unit is hidden or visible The button with an S symbol on it controls whether a unit is Sideboarded or not The button with a Lock on it controls whether a unit is locked in place or not The button with a T symbol on it controls whether a component is a Tile or not Lastly the button with an icon of a screen functions as a toggle for the Use as Screen setting These buttons will highlight or dim as appropriate when you select a unit in the list to reflect the current sett
34. if any should be displayed with each unit The current token HH What should be the maximum width of the artwork pixels What should be the maximum height of the artwork pixels Should each unit s halo color be displayed in the Turn Sequencer Yes No Should each unit s text labels be displayed in the Turn Sequencer Yes No New Settings revert to defaults Continue The Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard lets you define what data should be tracked for each unit listed in the Turn Sequencer who has permission to edit said data and what the defaults should be for each value if any You can assign two values that you define to be used as sequencing traits for determining sequencing for each turn automatic sorting to determine who gets to go first second etc In addition there are three sorting options for the Turn Sequencer Token Name Alphabetical Team and Status that are particularly useful if you wish to use the Turn Sequencer just for tracking unit data and not for actual turn sequencing If the host has opted to use hidden columns in the Turn Sequencer values set to be visible to the host only the hidden column will appear on the Players Turn Sequencer but it won t show any data The settings specified using this Wizard may be saved and loaded by the host much like dice macros When you save a Game File the Turn Sequencer settings currently in use will be included in the Game File If you
35. it s prior location use the Unit Manager Units that come off the Sideboard are automatically hidden to allow the host to make any last minute adjustments before revealing the unit to the players Hide Select this command to hide a unit on the game table If the host owns the unit it will disappear from the players screens and show as transparent on the host s screen If a player owns the unit in question it shows up transparent on his her screen and does not appear at all for the host or other players Select this command again to show the unit For players this command works only on individual units not on multFunit selections Token available for both minis and components BGE allows you to attach more than one token graphic to each unit so it s possible to have multiple poses e g fighting standing idle prone mounted etc or token states e g a chest that is closed a chest that is open and full of treasure and a chest that is open but empty A unit with more than one token assigned to it is referred to as a multi token unit Dice Macros p Measure Range Add Token Edit Notes Amazon Token Status gt MASE Sideboard RBard Token Hide H Brawler Token Dwarf Token Portrait Elf Token Audio Gladiator Token Flip Image Hobbit Token Arrange Knight Token Lock Merchant Token Tile l Miner Token Free Floating Monk Token Act as a Screen Ninja Token v Antialias Priest Token Owner P Ranger Token Include
36. labels are already hidden select the Show Text Labels command to show them again wy Screenshots Select the Screenshot command from the BG button s popup menu to save the currently showing portion of the game table window to a JPG file on your hard drive Screenshots are useful for posting game state updates for a play by forum game or if you wish to capture a particular moment in the game for posterity Be sure to set the zoom level grid visibility and other settings that affect what is shown in the game table window prior to invoking the screenshot command Screenshots containing highly detailed game boards may take a short while to encode into JPG format but screenshots of simple game boards are pretty much instantaneous Toggle Fullscreen Mode Select this command from the BG button s popup menu to enter Fullscreen Mode For best results prior to launching BGE you should edit BGE s INI file Battlegrounds Gaming Engine INI in a word processor such as NotePad or TextEdit Edit the line which reads FullScreen 0 to read FullScreen 1 This manual tweaking is necessary due to a technical limitation of BGE s authoring environment Reverse the above edit to the INI file when you no longer wish to run BGE in Fullscreen Mode Lobby BGE has a Lobby an online chat room which can be accessed either by selecting the Lobby command from the BG button s popup menu or by pressing the SH
37. may be tweaked or edited prior to actually sending the message with the RETURN ENTER key Chat Macros should be prepared prior to a game session and saved in a plain text file using a tab delimited format If you have some Text Macro files that you don t wish to use in the current game session but don t want to throw them away place them in the Disabled Text Macros folder which is located in BGE s Text Macros folder To re enable those Text Macros simply move the files back into the Text Macros folder v Dice Roller Open the Dice Roller panel by pressing the R hotkey or by clicking the Roll Dice button in the Commands panel This window shown below is called the Dice Macro Configuration panel Dice Set Gana N AMAA A lt aed _ o A tey fo EVERYONE O This panel can be opened independently of other panels but it is not resizable Within a given BGE session the Dice Macro Configuration panel remembers where on your screen it was last placed so that it always opens there instead of centered on the main screen The Dice Macro Configuration panel supports many common dice mechanics making it suitable for use with practically any game system which uses dice It might seem a little intimidating at first because there are so many controls and options to chose from but you will hopefully quickly come to appreciate the power and control that BGE s Dice Roller offers and the
38. on a licensed Gamer Client and only if a game is not currently being hosted Clear All Units host only Select the Clear All Units command from the BG button s menu to delete all the units including Sideboarded units Only the game board will remain Issuing this command will also stop any audio that is currently playing even looping audio Undo host only Press the Undo hotkey Control Z on Windows Command Z on Mac to undo the previous action Press it again to Redo the undone action You can even Undo if you just loaded a new Game File to revert to the previous Game File Note that there is only one level of Undo Redo and that some actions such as scrolling the game table or changing the zoom level cannot be undone Actions that are strictly toggles such as showing hiding the grid or turning snap to grid on off do not have an Undo Undo also works with actions performed on multi unit selections i e it will Undo all the actions not just the one on the last unit processed For example invoking Undo immediately after a multi unit deletion works as you would expect by restoring all the units deleted not just the very last one Hide Show Text Labels Select the Hide Text Labels command from the BG button s popup menu to hide all the text labels on the minis Even when labels are hidden if you position the mouse cursor over a mini that has text labels the labels for that mini will appear If text
39. on the BG button s popup menu or by pressing the Save Deployment button on the Commands panel Only a licensed Gamer Client may save a Deployment A dialog box opens prompting you for a file name and destination Unless you specified a different location Deployments are saved logically enough in BGE s Deployments folder A bgd extension short for Battlegrounds Deployment will be automatically appended to your file name Deployments may be saved by the host prior to a game session as part of the host s preparation They may also be saved during a game if necessary Loading a Deployment host only Load a Deployment by selecting the Load Deployment command on the BG button s popup menu or by clicking the Load Deployment button on the Commands panel Only the host may load a Deployment A dialog box opens prompting you to select the Deployment you wish to load You may only select a file ending with bgd Select one then click the Open button or simply press the RETURN ENTER key The units that were saved in the Deployment file will appear on the game table with all their prior settings intact The host can also load a Deployment onto a particular spot on the game board ignoring the location s specified in the Deployment file To do so select the Load Deployment here command from the game table s popup menu All units from the chosen Deployment will appear hidden and
40. player s Hand or in play will be spread out more also to avoid overlap Note that overly large cards are drawn at a reduced size in a player s hand so as not to exceed the size of the Hand pane at the top of the Card Table window For consistency cards in the Play Area in the Card Deck and in the Discard Pile are also drawn at this reduced size wy Manipulating Cards and Card Decks in the Game Table Window In addition to the Card Table feature BGE also provides functionality which should prove very useful for any game that requires using cards in the game table window rather than in the Card Table window What Constitutes a Card A card is defined by BGE as any component except a tile or a free floating component in the game table window containing exactly two tokens and whose Portrait is set to Use Current Token Cards set to be owned by Everyone will not have the Token submenu show up when the contextual popup menu is accessed as this would allow anyone to cheat by seeing what a card was without flipping it over Draw Card This command is available on the contextual popup menu of any component on the game table that might be a card see above which is owned by Everyone and whose current token is set to the second token the card back Selecting this command will play a card flipping sound effect remote clients will also hear the sound effect then shift the card one cell to the right set the Owner of th
41. prompting you to select the Game File you wish to load You may only select a file ending with bge Select one then click the Open button or simply press the RETURN ENTER key The Game File and all its corresponding game related settings will load The Turn Sequencer settings that were in use when the Game File was last saved will also load if they are still available When a Game File is loaded it will automatically show View 0 In a multiplayer game a lot happens when you load a Game File The game board and all unit graphics including Sideboarded units are sent to all the players that don t have those assets preloaded Until those graphics are received the game board and units are displayed on the client screens using a placeholder graphic s Hosts should wait until all the players report that they ve received everything when there are no more placeholder graphics visible before proceeding with the game session If BGE finds a game media bundle in the Game Media Bundles folder that corresponds to a Game File that was just loaded all of the necessary media will be automatically imported wy Saving a Deployment host only A Deployment is a group of saved units It may contain minis only components only or a mix of minis and components A deployment may contain just a single unit or many Save a Deployment by selecting one or more units on the game table then selecting the Save Deployment command
42. properly configured the result of the roll will be automatically applied to the Initiative column on the Turn Sequencer and the units will be automatically resorted in their proper acting order Units that do not have an Initiative dice macro attached to them will retain their prior initiative value if any on the Turn Sequencer Dice rolls for initiative that have been initiated from the Turn Sequencer are not displayed in the traditional manner i e they are not shown in the Dice Roll Results screen or reported in the Chat window although players will hear the die rolls being made unless they ve opted not to hear die roll sound effects However the initiative rolls are added to everyone s Dice Roll History should they wish to inspect the rolls The Turn Sequencer s Undo Button There is an Undo button on the Turn Sequencer it has an icon on it that looks like a circular arrow which allows the host to go back one step in the sequence useful in case you stepped the sequence by accident or if two users accidentally stepped the sequence simultaneously Note that loading a Game File will clear the Turn Sequencer s Undo buffer The End my Turn Button The End My Turn button appears centered along the bottom edge of the game table window and is a convenient way for players to step the sequence if they don t have the Turn Sequencer open This button appears only if the game is in combat time i e
43. randomly determined at the beginning of each phase This is a great example of how BGE with its built in support for game turns with discrete phases segments impulses or ticks can greatly speed up play Every player can clearly see when their turn to act is coming up and be ready for it when it does Turn Sequencer Turn 1 Token Name Token Actions Melee ALIENS MOVE ALIENS APPEAR ALIENS ATTACK MARINES MOVE FIRE Drake Dietrich Hudson Wierzbowski Vasquez PVD Bie lt 9 Load Settings f Roll Initiative Here the Turn Sequencer has been configured to play the Aliens Boardgame by Leading Edge Games The Marines only get to act during the Marines Move Fire phase of each game turn The Sequence value is used to set their acting order which never changes The Aliens have intentionally been left off the Turn Sequencer in order to speed up play but the phase names still help keep the action moving quickly Y The Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard host only Clicking on the Configure button on the Turn Sequencer opens this panel which guides the host through a number of steps required to configure and customize the Turn Sequencer to best support the specific game being played Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard Use this Wizard to customize the Turn Sequencer to best support your game system and personal preferences What should a game turn be called e g Turn Round etc What artwork
44. stacked on top of each other and the host will probably wish to manually reposition them in the general vicinity before unhiding the newly placed units Units that were not hidden when saved to a Deployment will not be hidden when that Deployment is loaded unless they are loaded using the Load Deployment Here command When a Deployment is loaded units from the Deployment are automatically selected replacing your previous selection if any so that the newly loaded unit s can easily be moved or otherwise acted on by Export Game Media Select this command to create a Game Media bundle see Game Media Bundles above Export Game Media This will export all the media assets used in the current Game File to a self contained external Game Media bundle file The name of the Game File will be used in name of the bundle so you should save the Game File to disk before exporting media If you not save ame File first exported bundle will be called untitled cxt Password protection for the bundle is optional but using one will prevent players from accessing the stored media until the host wishes them to Password optional Deena f Cancel Export The contents of a Game Media bundle can be password protected so that players cannot sneak a peek at the content before game day To create an auto importing media bundle the host should lay out his Game File save it and as the very last ste
45. table is 122 pixels across at 200 zoom The above limits are for a single large game board graphic and for using the Grid Overlay feature with the game board However the game table window itself is boundless so you can create very large layout using modular board sections component tiles if you wish There is a Roll Dice Macro button in the bottom left of the game table window which allows you to auto roll a dice macro which you will choose from a popup menu If you hold down the SHIFT key before clicking on the button the text on the button will change to read Load Dice Macro This will allow you to load but not automatically roll a dice macro in preparation for lastminute adjustments to the roll The Game Table Menu Double click on the game board or on the game table window s black background to bring up the game table s popup menu View Force View Force Full Update Board Settings Choose Board Color 7 Place Component La a ee j eMn o nrg ee z7 aR oad Deploymen i Nek Zoom Level i ie p View Toggle Grid G hg v Snap to Grid X a Dragging a marquee selects Create Card Deck Fae See E nu on the host s client For a player this menu will contain only a few commands but for the host it will also list commands for placing minis components and Deployments on the game table for accessing the Board Settings panel for copying and pasting units and for forcing
46. the card is in the deck in the discard pile in your hand or in the play area All of the commands should be self explanatory but one of them is described in further detail below Selecting Draw Specific Card from Deck from the Deck s popup menu produces a submenu listing all the cards remaining in the deck in alphabetical order If the deck is very large hundreds of cards the individual cards will instead be listed in two submenus Automatic system messages are displayed in the Chat window every time an action is taken with the cards to make it easier for everyone to follow along with what s occurring during a card game even for users who have closed the Card Table window Pressing the Save Game button allows the host to save the current state of the cards which can be loaded back in later by pressing the Load Game button Clicking on the Load Game button on the Card Table produces a popup menu listing all the saved games to make it quick and easy to load a saved game This should be particularly useful for games that use multiple card decks and you have to frequently switch between them Just be sure to save your current game prior to switching to another card game file Note that the Card Table window is not modal If it is open you can still cick on the game table window or the Turn Sequencer to interact with units there If the Card Table window has been closed pressing the SHIFT C hotkey or using a
47. the map 5 Exploding barrels 6 A turn counter that tracks how long you have until the nuclear reactor explodes Aliens This Time It s War Card Game The Colonial Marines face off against the deadly alien xenomorphs in this asymmetrical card game spanning five different battlefields Can the Marines survive the Alien hordes long enough to nuke the entire site from orbit Fans of the Aliens movie should find this game very enjoyable Zombie Plague Boardgame In this cooperative game of humans vs zombies the humans must race to barricade all the doors and windows of a house search the house for helpful items and weapons to defend themselves with and they must do all this while fighting off an ever growing horde of shambling zombies The zombies of course just want to eat the humans Zombies are slower than humans but they make up for that shortcoming through sheer numbers The humans can also try to escape using the car in the driveway if they happen to find the car keys but they ll have to make it to the car Or perhaps they can find the hidden cellar and take refuge in there until help arrives Zombie Plague is simple fast fun easy to learn and very strongly themed it is very reminiscent of the classic George Romero zombie movie Night of the Living Dead Every game of Zombie Plague tells a story almost as if you were in an interactive zombie movie It s even fun if you get killed since you come back as a zombi
48. unit s depending on whether one or more units are selected The host can SHIFT double click on the chat output pane to make it editable SHIFT double clicking it again takes you out of edit mode Note that all editing done in this manner is not transmitted to other connected users Double clicking on the chat output pane will copy the contents of the chat output pane into the clipboard i e into RAM so that you can paste the content into a word processing app like NotePad TextEdit or MS Word in order to keep a Chat Log of the game session Y The contents of the chat have been copied to the clipboard You may now paste it into a text document to keep a log of the session Issuing Commands from the Chat Window Commands can be issued from the Chat window to set the zoom level to load a server based game board to remotely launch a web page on the players screens to resize units or to rename units The specific commands and how they work are discussed below Set the Zoom Level Anyone can set the zoom level from the chat window by typing in a specially formatted command For example typing zoom 43 7 sans quotes into the chat input field and hitting RETURN ENTER will set the zoom level to 43 7 This allows for a greater degree of control than other methods of setting the zoom level The valid range for the command is any numerical value between 20 and 200 floating point numbers are allowed Note that
49. Battlegrounds Gaming Engine User Manual Updated for BGE v1 0 June 2011 Table of Contents Overview of Battlegrounds Gaming ENngIine ccccccccsccceeeeeeceeeceeeceeeseeeeeesaees 6 gi cage dels ste asec le meta Pata oo enc ban ae betas ete done anette a guaesenen A 6 HE E i EEA A EIA poss ba resis oasis sa Wo os heat ard sm en dn alata eae ee T AFON a 0 S a a E E ere ener ere T EOE E 0128 O ITAN EAEN VENAE ESEA EE E OE A T E EA ee E ec E A T H e E E N E cues capt ENE ENA T EENE PAETA TIE E EAE TEE O E aease T PONT E a ca cise eh eas ds T E ocd ees A 8 Bicep Mae ol216 ae ean nee ne eC a ee ee ae cee eee 8 Using Battlegrounds Can Save You Time and Money cccsecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 9 System Requirements eer ae ere eee ae er 10 POT EE PEET A RA P A N osrea asda oe ngs eel pn eras ces ese ET 10 FT ra bagi ce sep a i i 10 QS clipe hs EE A oer en Tener nn rere re tte te ee er ee 11 Te i a E E A E E wl aNaan nen 11 A R DE E EAE A RETE E A EE E E E EET an tase A E A E A E A A E AE 11 For Access to the User Manual from within BGE ccccccccccccssseeccccessnseeeeecaeseeeesseseeeesssnmaseess 12 Using BGE in a Face to Face Game SeSSION ccccecceeceeeceeeceeeceeeeeeeeeesaues 12 Learning 10 Use RS SOIWATG arcus 13 e T E S E A A 13 e T a E EEE om Marre neers 14 Terms and Abbreviations Used in this Manual cccccceeseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 16 Terminology Differences in BGE and B
50. Battlegrounds Gaming Engine Application C Artpacks Folder C Audio Folder ie be gt 2 be gt b p fj a k p fe be E p gt pe gt LJ Card Decks aa Components asal Deployments Ld Dice Macros Lil Dice Sets J Game Boards Game Files anal Game Media Bundles Lil Grids aanl Library E Minis Portraits C Preferences Support Files I Text Macros visual Aids E Xtras Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Folder Addendum to BGE User Manual doc Microsoft Word 97 2004 document BGE User Manual pdf Portable Document Format PDF Installation Instructions rtf Rich Text Format RTF ReadMe rtf Rich Text Format RTF Battlegrounds Gaming Engine INI Unix Executable File This is what BGE s root folder looks like after a proper installation For access to the User Manual from within BGE Microsoft Windows users must place an alias to their preferred PDF viewing program in the BGE folder and name the alias PDF Viewer Doing this will enable accessing the User Manual from within BGE Mac OS X users do not need to do this Using BGE in a Face to Face Game Session If you are using BGE in a face to face game you can either use two computers one for the host and one to drive the players view or you can run two instances of BGE on a single computer You will either need the free Demo or
51. Chat Window Move to Top This submenu allows you to choose a particular unit from among the units selected Doing so moves the chosen unit to the top of the stacking order Move to Bottom This submenu allows you to choose a particular unit from among the units selected Doing so moves the chosen unit to the bottom of the stacking order Draw Card The Draw Card command is also available for multi unit selections but it works slightly differently than it does for single unit selections since it is intended for multiple card draws The Draw Card submenu allows you to choose how many cards to draw from 2 to 10 Selecting this command will draw the topmost x cards from a selected card deck Discard Card This command allows you to Discard all the selected units at once Anchor Select this command to bind all the selected units to the selected unit that is lowest in the stacking order For example if you select a group of characters and the boat that they are traveling in the characters will be anchored to the boat assuming the boat is the lowest unit selected Moving or rotating a unit that has other units anchored to it will also move the anchored units and keep them in the same relative positions anchored units can still be moved or rotated independently of the anchoring unit in the above example the characters could move around on the boat To break this link right click on the anchor unit and select the Cl
52. G Vry s Monster Tokens Contains 102 high resolution figure tokens 100 original tokens plus 2 color mods for additional variety They are suitable for use with fantasy or horror games that use a scale of 5 feet per square or 3 feet per hex An excellent starter set of monster tokens for BRPG Cyberdrake s Indoor Map Tiles Pack Contains 99 unique indoor map tiles 8x8 squares each for creating cave and dungeon layouts This is a convenient set both for GM s who like to improvise on the fly and those who like to create elaborate layouts well ahead of game time Cyberdrake s Outdoor Map Tiles Pack Contains 86 unique outdoor map tiles 8x8 squares each for creating layouts of villages forts castles towers and the general outdoors FREE This is a convenient set both for GM s who like to improvise on the fly and those who like to create elaborate layouts well ahead of game time Mapping Tiles Pack 1 A set of 216 modular tiles and other graphics that you place on the background of your choice to 8 00 create a custom indoor or outdoor map layout SC s Mines Pack A set of mine themed graphics that you place on the background of your choice or use one of the 9 00 three background textures provided to create a custom mine layout Devin Night s Token Collection An entire collection of themed artpacks currently 12 packs with over 700 tokens depicting guards amp nobles dwarves pirates orcs amp goblins cha
53. Game File by pressing the S hotkey or by clicking on the Save Game File button in the Commands panel If the Commands panel is closed or disabled the Save Game File command will instead be available from the BG button s popup menu Only the host may save a Game File A dialog box opens prompting you for a file name and destination If aGame File already has a name it will be pre filled in for you so you can just press the Save button file or press the RETURN ENTER key to overwrite the pre existing Game File If it is a new Game File or if you wish to do a Save As provide a unique name for the Game File first Unless you specified a different location Game Files are saved logically enough in BGE s Game Files folder A bge extension short for Battlegrounds Gaming Engine will be automatically appended to your file name unless you type it yourself Game Files may be saved by the host prior to a game session as part of the host s preparation They may also be saved during play as a backup in case of a computer crash or an ISP disconnect Loading a Game File host only Load a Game File by pressing the E hotkey or by clicking on the Load Game File button in the Commands panel If the Commands panel is closed or disabled the Load Game File command will instead be available from the BG button s popup menu Only the host may load a Game File A dialog box opens
54. IFT L hotkey or by pressing the Lobby button on the Connection panel Lobby username goes here Connect Close Once the Lobby window is open type in your desired username and press the Connect button The Lobby is still very rudimentary as it only allows for basic chatting but it should prove useful for finding a game gathering prior to a scheduled game session or getting a quick pick up game or demo going with whoever happens to be logged in at the time It has also been used to provide live technical support on occasion BGE and BRPG share the same Lobby so when looking for a game or opponent you should be sure to specify which program you plan to use Welcome to the Battlegrounds Games Lobby Connected Users Chat Heruca Heruca Why is no one gaming at 4 30 in the morning Note This lobby is a brand new feature for BGE and very much a work in progress Atthe moment itis a bare bones chat client with a minimalist user interface hosted on a temporary server which may not always be available Eventually there will be a means of hosting game rooms with private chats and hopefully even a way to start games automatically from a game room without the need for the host to give the players the IP address and manually join a game Please submit additional feature requests for the Lobby on the Battlegrounds Games forums The Lobby window will in time be enhanced with a significantly nicer user interface I
55. Media cxt which is essentially a multimedia library Over time this file may become bloated in size and much of that may be due to media assets that you no longer need A bloated media library may also cause sluggish performance when importing or receiving new media If you encounter sluggish performance during unit deployment or when importing new game boards it may be a sign that your media library has grown too large and needs to be purged To clear out undesired media select the Purge Media command from the BG button s menu The Purge Media panel will open It defaults to previewing the last media asset in the multimedia library Purge Media gaoi Purge Fire Note Compression of the multimedia database is only applied after hitting the Done button It may take up to 30 seconds or so to complete depending on the number of assets in your database and the speed of your hard drive Please wait for the process to complete before trying to perform other actions _ Purge All ae Done Use the navigation buttons on this panel to cycle through the stored media assets The name of each asset is presented below the thumbnail preview and for audio cast members you can click on the Audio Preview button that appears Click on the Purge button to delete each asset you no longer need Purging media does not delete any files from your hard drive only from the User Media cxt file Once you ve
56. ND V to Paste Simply select one or more units copy it them to the clipboard i e into RAM using the Copy command then position the mouse cursor to the place on the game table where you want the copied unit s to appear and use the Paste command If snap to grid is enabled the cloned unit s will be centered in the cell you selected It is also possible to copy a unit using the Copy Unit s to Clipboard command in the unit s contextual popup menu and to paste units onto the game table using the Paste Unit s from Clipboard command on the game table s popup menu The name of a cloned unit is based on the original unit s name not on the name of the original unit s token artwork The cloned unit will be visible or hidden from the players depending on the state of the original source units Select All host only The Select All command will select all units that are not set to Locked Tile or Free Floating and which are not in the Sideboard This command can be invoked with the CONTROL A hotkey on Windows or the COMMAND A hotkey on Mac OS X Only the host can use this command Cut host only The Cut feature used in conjunction with the Paste feature and the Views feature allows the host to easily and quickly move units from one View to another View This command will only affect the currently selected unit s This command can be invoked with the CONTROL X hotkey on Windows or the COMMAND X hotk
57. RPG ccccccccccceccceeeeeeseeeseeeseeeaeeeees 16 Boll ile gl gle f oe ee Cre eee eet eet ence ter eee oe eee ee teeter te ety ere er eer ere re renee ert 17 OO ee ne ee none eer men remeron e E ent erent vee tier eer ere et err ee Te tree 18 POTAE es yeas sta cst prem tay ee ea ges ca tv bp Sen dese da emcee eens 18 Pe AE A EEE isa ce neces oe nec AEEA E cies alee occ cece esa eae 19 TE E go lU gio E q Meennentenet tienen ae eer ont ene te ene tar eter at eee Se ee ne eM a reret 20 The COMMS Parne Emer me nee te an ee nee Ber rec ere ere ers eer re ee ere oe ee eee ee 21 le Game Tapie NGG anemone nome ae enue 22 The came Table MENU eee ene re ne nnn ae ee ene en nen en ee eee ene 22 Pe a Shea sa a nscmudteeerw wean eae tna cag naan neste ees ee 23 Create Multi TOKEN COMPOne nte cccccccccccesecccesscescceauecesceeseeeceueceeneuecessnseaecesaeuecetaeeeessaeeeesaaanss 23 Be AD e EIE ET T KEERA PEE EET EEA E E E EEE T 23 Changing the Game Board host Only cccceccceeceeeceseceeeseeeceeeseeseeeseeseeens 24 Server based Game da 0 2 6 ean ene ener eee meen aie enn ee ee ee eee ene ener ee eee een eee ee 24 Choose Game Board Color host only coseiceusveriscuerosscuncembsomecosdusmedasiwarnrerhannnies 25 oa O O a ANEA 26 ocrolling the Game NP aac santeecpciendastapsadsemenandermenweiedersedestaansdent sande NE EESE ERN 27 Zooming the Game Table I cs nettncetenserecarn cen c snes ceusediascuninceunnsncem
58. Reference Table If a dice roll has both the Show total rolled and Show total modified roll options disabled on the Dice Macro Configuration panel the actual die rolls will be included in the Chat window s dice roll report Otherwise the roll total and or the modified roll total will be included in the dice roll report in the Chat window but not the actual die rolls which often aren t important Dice Plug in System Dice are handled as plug ins in BGE This allows you to disable any dice that you don t want to appear in the Dice Macro Configuration panel so that they don t clutter up the interface for example if the game you are playing uses only d6s and or to add additional dice beyond the ones that are included with BGE To disable a particular die type just move the die file from BGE s Dice Sets folder into the Disabled Dice Sets folder To reenable a particular die move the die file back to its original location The only dice that you should never disable are the blue dice because in the event that another player rolls using dice that you have disabled the dice will be re mapped to be blue dice on your screen The d6s with digits are enabled by default when you first install BGE but d6s with pips are included with BGE if you prefer to use them instead BGE comes with four sets of d6s with pips instead of digits in white blue red and black To enable the d6s with pips first disable the d6s with di
59. Refresh Artpacks command from the BG button s popup menu if during launch BGE asks you to locate an artpack that you ve disabled User Manual Selecting the User Manual command from the BG button s popup menu will launch your default PDF viewing application and open the User Manual If this command doesn t work as expected and you are running Windows OS you probably forgot to follow the instructions in the Installing BGE section above Check for Updates Selecting this command will inform you if there are any new official versions and or beta versions of BGE available for download An internet connection is required for this command to work The latest official version of BGE is v1 0 No newer beta version is available at this time You are currently running v1 0 Purchase BGE Select this command to launch your default web browser and be taken to the Store page of the Battlegrounds Games website This command only appears on an unlicensed BGE Demo Licensing BGE The free Demo of BGE has two important limitations The first is a 45 minute timeout period the application will automatically quit after 45 minutes of use The second is that the host is limited to a maximum of 12 units when saving or loading Game Files Aside from those limitations the free Demo is nearly as full featured as a licensed Gamer Client There are a couple of other minor limitations to be aware of e You cannot save a Deployment f
60. The same is true for the Stack and Stagger commands see below The Stack amp Shuffle command can be invoked by a hotkey SHIFT S Stack This command is similar to the Stack amp Shuffle command except that the stacking order z order of the selected units is not changed the selected units will simply be co located The Stack command is only available for multi unit selections Y The Stack command uses the lowest unit in the stacking order as the location where the selected units will be stacked The RETURN hotkey can be used to invoke the Stack command on a multi unit selection that is not already stacked The same hotkey will invoke the Stagger command on the selected units if they are not already stacked i e co located In effect this hotkey functions as a Stack Stagger toggle The hotkey has no effect if multiple units are not selected Stagger This command which is only available for multi unit selections will spread the selected units out by a user specified distance The Stagger command uses the lowest unit in the stacking order as the location where the selected units will be placed i e the lowest unit will determine the Origin point of the staggered units The RETURN hotkey can be used to invoke the Stagger command on a multi unit selection that is already stacked The same hotkey will invoke the Stack command on the selected units if they are not already stacked i e co loc
61. a different port to connect Select your chat text color from the list of 10 colors listed in the Chat Color pulldown menu Once a host attempt succeeds the Connection panel automatically closes and the Chat window opens The BG button will appear to be glowing or lit from within to visually indicate your hosting status If your attempt to host a game session fails see the Troubleshooting section below A message in the Chat window will tell the host his her internal IP address which if not behind a router is also the external IP address If the host is behind a router he she can press the IP button on the Chat window and his her external IP address will be shown in the chat output pane a few moments later The host must inform the players that will be joining the game session via the Battlegrounds Lobby e mail a third party chat client by voice chat or by telephone of his her IP address which they will need in order to join the game Y Username Jonatha _ _ Host s IP Address 192 168 2 4 Chat Color Brown Cancel Join If you are a Player Type in your username and the IP address of the game s host Select your chat text color from the list of 10 colors listed in the Chat Color pulldown menu When you successfully connect to a game session the Connection panel automatically closes and the Chat window opens The BG button will appear to be glowing or lit from within t
62. ach of the commands Simply select a menu item to trigger that command The available commands in the popup menu will vary depending on whether you are the host or a player and depending on whether you have the Commands panel open or not Clear All Units Export Screenshot Toggle Fullscreen Mode Hide Text Labels Hide Commands Panel Disable Roll Dice Macro Button Disable Views Palette Lobby Shift L Dice Macro Create Custom Card Deck Import Game Media Export Game Media Purge Media Purge Refresh Artpacks User Manual License Check for Updates About Quit Q Commands Chat Window TAB Roll Dice R Dice Roll History Turn Sequencer T Unit Manager U View Manager Load Game Board Board Settings Draw Tools D Send Audio A a Send Visual Aid v EA Load Game File E E Save Game File S Load Deployment Card Table Notepad N Library L Connection C Preferences P Help Export Screenshot Toggle Fullscreen Mode Hide Text Labels Show Commands Panel Disable Roll Dice Macro Button Disable Views Palette Lobby Shift L Connection Panel C Show Chat Window TAB Dice Macro Turn Sequencer T Unit Manager U Load Game Board View Manager Draw Tools D Send Visual Aid V Send Audio A Consult Library L Notepad N Card Table Shift C Create Custom Card Deck Save Game File S Load Game File E Load Deployment Import Game
63. acro button on the Dice Roll Results screen is used to return to the Dice Macro configuration screen and automatically re load the settings that were used to perform a given dice roll The Inspect Macro button is extremely helpful when creating complex dice macros We recommend that you perform test rolls with your initial dice macro settings then use the Inspect Macro button to reload your last settings make tweaks and adjustments to your dice macro until you get the settings just right and only then save the dice macro To load a global dice macro access the Dice Macros submenu from the BG button s popup menu then select the global dice macro you wish to load To load a dice macro that is attached to a unit select Dice Macros from the unit s contextual popup menu You can load any dice macro including those attached to units by clicking on the Roll Dice button in the Chat window and selecting the dice macro you want from the menu that pops up The Roll Dice Macro button in the bottom left of the game table window allows you to either auto roll a dice macro which you will choose from a popup menu or to load it in preparation for last minute adjustments to the roll by holding down the SHIFT key while clicking the button the text on the button will change to read Load Dice Macro If the Dice Macro Configuration panel or the Dice Roll Results panel are already open you can click o
64. amp intersections stairways pits columns caved in hallway sections and other goodies to flesh out your dungeons Even standalone floor and wall sections are included so that you can lay out oddly shaped rooms The 1 1 00 artpack contains an astounding 234 pieces This is a must have set for both GM s who like to improvise on the fly and those who like to create elaborate layouts well ahead of game time Medieval Armies Assorted troops footsoldiers cavalry units leaders corpses etc all rendered in 5 unique homogenous styles allowing you to depict five different armies or warring factions Contains 98 unique figures 10 00 Even when you don t need an army many of these figures can be used to represent dty guards local lords or even PCs so they should be useful in a number of games Elven Armies Assorted troops footsoldiers cavalry units leaders corpses etc all rendered in 4 unique homogenous styles allowing you to depict four different Elven armies or Elven subraces Kepli s Tree Pack Contains 154 trees in autumn winter amp spring summer versions Includes a PDF that serves as a handy visual reference for all the trees in the artpack In addition to the incredibly detailed tree graphics this artpack also comes with 13 sound effects 10 of which are loopable You can use these sound effects to help create a more immersive environment They include ambient sounds for both day and night encounters
65. anges to a hand while dragging until the right mouse button is released Mac OS X users with a single button mouse will need to hold down the CONTROL key to simulate a right click in order to initiate the dragging action You can also scroll the game table by right clicking on a component that has been set to Tile or Lock and then dragging the mouse in the direction you wish to slide the game table Lastly if you enable the Automatic Board Scrolling option in Preferences you can scroll the game table by moving the mouse cursor to an edge of the game table window This even works if you are in the middle of dragging a unit to move it Scrolling the game table with the mouse cursor is disabled while certain panels are open It is strongly advised that you run BGE in the highest screen resolution you are comfortable with so that you can see more of the game table at one time and therefore don t need to scroll around as much wy Zooming the Game Table In amp Out You can zoom in or out on the game table window by pressing a hotkey or if no units are selected or alternatively SHIFT Up Arrow or SHIFT Down Arrow even if units are selected Each press of the hotkey changes the zoom level by 10 For quicker zooming holding down the CONTROL key while pressing the corresponding hotkey to zoom will change the zoom level by 50 per key press A zoom level indicator appears briefly beside the BG but
66. artpacks currently available is presented at the end of this User Manual For commercial artpacks only the host needs to purchase the artpack Players can use artpacks for free On the host s screen if a unit attempts to display a token or portrait art from a commercial artpack that is not registered a placeholder token will be shown instead Installing an artpack is as simple as downloading a Zip file from the Battlegrounds Games website unzipping the archive placing the artpack file in BGE s Artpacks folder and if BGE is already running selecting the Purge Refresh Artpacks command from the BG button s popup menu How to Register a Commercial Artpack Shortly after purchasing a commercial artpack you will receive your artpack registration code via email You will need to input your registration code s into BGE in order to unlock the artpack s Open the License panel in BGE and click on the Register Artpack button The Artpack Registration panel opens Artpack Registration T in your artpack registration code in the field below then click on the Register button Po Register Follow the instructions on the screen to register your artpack When you are done registering all your artpacks if you purchased more than one click on the Done button to close the panel The content of your artpack s that you just registered will be available for use the next time you launch BGE Free a
67. arts among other things Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Status Sideboard Hide H Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Lock lt S v Free Floating Act as a Screen Antialias Owner Include in Turn Sequence Team p Edit Component Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Free floating components never snap to grid and may not be moved with the keypad or number keys only by dragging them with the mouse Up to 12 simultaneous free floating components can be on the screen at one time The host should be careful not to place free floating components in an area of the screen that would be off screen for a player that is running BGE at a lower resolution than the host For example if the host is running BGE at 1280 x 768 resolution and one of his players is running BGE at 1024 x 768 resolution the host should avoid placing a free floating component on the right edge of his screen since it will not be visible by the player or at the very least it will be cropped off W Use as a Screen available for components only The Use as a Screen command is available for components in their contextual popup menu The command functions as a toggle to turn the setting on or off When this setting is enabled the component will be drawn on other players displays above other components and minis effectively screening them from view For the player owning the component the component is not drawn
68. at all so the component owner s view is not obscured by the screen This setting can also be controlled by the host using the Unit Manager For GALE _ f PLAYER 1 PLAYER c Player 1 does not see his own Screen at all so it does not affect his ability to see what is underneath it but Player 2 s Screen covers that player s wealth tokens obscuring them from Player 1 s view Team available for both minis and components By default new units placed on the game table are Neutral Grey The host can use the commands in this submenu to set the unit s Team to Green or Red Dice Macros Draw Card Measure Range Edit Notes Status Sideboard Hide H Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Lock Tile Free Floating Act as a Screen v Antialias Owner Include in Turn Sequence Edit Component Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Units that are listed in the Turn Sequencer will have the background of the unit s row match their Team color and Neutral units will have a grey background This setting has no effect if the unit is not listed in the Turn Sequencer See the Base command above if you wish to graphically indicate a unit s Team or faction in the game table window Edit Mini or Component Selecting this command opens the Unit Settings panel The panel s appearance will vary depending on whether you are editing a mini or a component but in bot
69. ated In effect this hotkey functions as a Stack Stagger toggle The hotkey has no effect if multiple units are not selected This command should be useful for finding a particular unit in a stack for example in a stack of counters in a wargame Adjusting the Stagger Offset The default offset for the Stagger command is 5 pixels to the right and 5 pixels down of the lowest selected unit but you can change the stagger offset to any amount you want Press CAPS LOCK Right Arrow to increase the horizontal stagger offset and press CAPS LOCK Left Arrow to decrease the horizontal stagger offset if you go into the negative range the stagger command will shift stacked units to the left instead of to the right Press CAPS LOCK Down Arrow to increase the vertical stagger offset and press CAPS LOCK Up Arrow to decrease the vertical stagger offset if you go into the negative range the stagger command will shift stacked units up instead of down Whichever hotkey combo you press in addition to changing the vertical or horizontal offset the Stagger command will automatically be invoked so that you can visually see the result of your new offset amount Y Hold down the SHIFT key while invoking one of the above mentioned hotkeys to change the offset amount by 10 pixels instead of 1 pixel The host can also specify a specific stagger offset by issuing a command in the Chat window see Issuing Commands from the
70. ayer slots if any players will be connecting using just the free Demo Tips amp Tricks e Battlegrounds comes with an assortment of push pins and generic tokens Placing these on a game board and adding Notes to them is a handy method of placing information on the game board that is accessed by placing the mouse cursor over the unit e Place the audio token included with BGE on the game table attach all the sound effects and music tracks you want to it then set it to be a free floating component in an unobtrusive corner of the game table window This will provide for a convenient audio library in your Game File If the audio collection is generic enough for use in many Game Files save the audio token as a Deployment so that it can easily be added again to any Game File without having to recreate it from scratch e Place a suitable token on the game table and attach a bunch of common reference charts and tables to it using the Portrait feature Set the unit to be a free floating component in a convenient corner of the game table window Now you can reference any given chart or table quickly and easily by selecting the unit and choosing which portrait you wish displayed in the top right corner Alternatively rather than attach the charts and tables as portraits attach them as additional tokens and use the token swapping hotkeys to easily change the chart to be displayed This has the added benefit of connected players seeing exac
71. b site Clicking anywhere else on the About panel closes the panel but this should not be done while BGE is still launching wy Hotkeys Hotkeys are simple keyboard shortcuts for activating a command or changing a game setting Most hotkeys do not require holding down a modifier key when pressing the hotkey The following is a list of most of the hotkeys in BGE Host and Player Arrow Keys Scroll the game table one cell Control amp Arrow Key Scroll the game table one screen Shift amp Up Arrow Zoom the game table in by 10 Shift amp Down Arrow Zoom the game table out by 10 Control Shift amp Up Arrow Zoom the game table in by 50 Control Shift amp Down Arrow Zoom the game table out by 50 Any Number Go to a View 1 4 6 9 Move Selection on square grid 1 3 4 6 7 9 Move Selection on hex grid Rotate Selection Clockwise minus sign Rotate Selection Counter clockwise lt Previous token if a selected unit has multiple tokens assigned to it gt Next token if a selected unit has multiple tokens assigned to it Shift amp lt Previous portrait if a selected unit has multiple portraits assigned to it Shift amp gt Next portrait if a selected unit has multiple portraits assigned to it TAB Open or close the Chat window only works when hosting or logged in R Dice Roller window Control amp R Roll a selected die in the game table window T Turn Sequenc
72. battlegroundsgames com Troubleshooting e Port forwarding If the host uses a router and in some cases a cable modem he she will need to set up port forwarding in order to allow players to connect to their game session The host should be able to successfully host a game session even if they haven t set up port forwarding but if they haven t set up port forwarding correctly players outside of their local network will not be able to connect Port forwarding should only affect whether other computers can connect to your host or not Players need not concern themselves with port forwarding If you can t control port forwarding e g if you are hosting from a hotel or a college dorm you can use Hamachi or other VPN virtual private network software to get around port forwarding e Firewalls If you are hosting a game session and your operating system s built in firewall or third party security software warns you about Battlegrounds you will need to grant access otherwise players outside of your local network will be unable to connect e Hosting wirelessly on Mac OS X If you cannot seem to host a game and instead see the Connection Failed message it is probably because BGE is attempting to host on the wrong network interface Disable any network protocols that you don t need e g Firewire networking dial up modem Bluetooth etc and or make sure that the wireless protocol has priority by Network Sho
73. ce a mini using a piece of artwork called Meeple the Character Name field will be automatically filled in with the text Meeple You can change the name to something else if you want but in many cases this won t be necessary Suppose you now decide to clone this mini using the Copy and Paste commands so that you ll have several identical meeple tokens on the game table The first token you placed will be renamed Meeple 1 and the cloned copies will be automatically named Meeple 2 Meeple 3 etc Sequential auto naming of units in BGE works for up to 162 similarly named units The host can temporarily disable unit auto naming while loading a Deployment by holding down the SHIFT key while he she presses the Load button Public and Private Unit Names Battlegrounds supports both public and private unit names If the host puts part of a unit s name in square brackets for example Goblin 4 the bracketed portion of the name will not be seen by the players This applies to the Character Name text label on units in the game table window to the Token Name column of the Turn Sequencer and to automatic turn sequence announcements made in the chat window and game table window Players can also use private names for units they control The host cannot see the private name of any player controlled units by Updates Updates to this User Manual and the BGE software will be periodically posted on th
74. ce in drawing straight lines rectangles and other shapes that are aligned perfectly with the Grid Overlay Views Every Game File can have up to 10 host defined Views A View is like a bookmark to a particular spot on the game table window and it can optionally have a pre defined zoom level that it will be viewed at The primary purpose of Views is to let you quickly and easily jump around in the game table window to points of interest that the host has defined e g Character dossiers or vehicle record sheets located off board Battlegrounds Gaming Engine TURN ORDER Purchase new units and pla start of turn Influence Erd 2i Move units 3 Reveal exploration tiles 4i Conduct battles iy Gain wealth for the settlements 5 you control gt Draw 1 Secret Mission card q control the King s Hall 64 fy 2 Influence ap A Views palette appears at the bottom of the game table window when your mouse cursor is in the lower portion of the game table window The View palette will not appear if the game table window has been resized so as to be too narrow to display the entire palette so as to avoid cropping the View palette The Views palette has a thin black frame around it to help set it off from the background if a white or light colored game board is being used The host can define a View by holding down the ALT key the OPTION key on Mac OS X and clicking on a View button in the View palette Alternative
75. ck button to select and load a card deck When a deck loads it is automatically shuffled An Invert Deck checkbox in the lower left of the Card Table window provides the option of playing with an inverted face up card deck This option can only be set by the host Card Table wt a 1 yo n rollover m neon S Manage Players Select Card Deck Load Game Save Game Close BGE comes with two sample card decks One is a 54 card standard deck of playing cards The other is identical except it has had the jokers removed so it has only 52 cards The Card Table in BGE supports decks of up to 450 cards The Card Deck and the Discard Pile to the left of the card deck are not drawn in an offset fashion so it is not possible to tell how many cards remain in the stack just by looking at the stacks of cards i If you are the host pressing the Manage Players button takes you to a screen that provides the means to establish who the card players are i e who is eligible to hold cards in their hand and or put cards into play Card Table Manage Card Players Card Player Name Controlling Player Zombie Player Host Player 1 Tim Player 2 Andy Player 3 John Player 4 Daniel Delete All es H The cards in the Card Table window can be manipulated via drag and drop Drop a card to the right of the draw pile to flip the card over and place it in the draw discard pile Hold d
76. close automatically and allow the program to fully finish launching prior to attempting to use it Potential Conflicts with Third Party Software e On some Windows systems ZoneAlarm from Zone Labs can cause BGE to crash or fail to connect when hosting or joining an online game If this happens ZoneAlarm should be turned off for the duration of the game session e Windows Software Firewall may block access when hosting or joining an online game if not properly configured On some systems it may even have to be disabled for the duration of the game session e On Mac OS X Smith Micro s StuffIt version 9 or less does not extract the BGE zip file properly although it may ook like it did Upgrade to StuffIt v10 0 or better or use Mac OS X s default unzipping tool BOMArchiveHelper which is accessed by CONTROL clicking on the BGE zip file and selecting Open With from the contextual popup menu On Mac OS X v10 5 Leopard or higher the unzipping utility is now called Archive Utility not BOMArchiveHelper e On Mac OS X right clicking does not work with certain models or brands of Bluetooth mouse Use CONTROL click instead to simulate a right click e On Mac OS X Unsanity s Application Enhancer APE and or WindowShade X may be incompatible with BGE If you experience problems disable these programs and try again Known Issues and Limitations e BGE popup menus do not display correctly in Windows
77. cratch in a graphics application or made them using any third party mapping program Using the Board Settings panel you can resize a game board within BGE so that it is scaled and aligned properly with BGE s grid overlay But if you follow these instructions and size your game board properly using a graphics editing program beforehand you won t need to do any tweaking in BGE at all If you don t already own a graphics editing program there are many free applications for both Macs and Windows PCs available for download on the internet that will allow you to do this To get your game boards properly sized count the number of cells across that it should be then multiply that number by 122 That s how many pixels wide your game board needs to be for use in BGE exception neither the height nor the width of the game board should exceed 4000 pixels If your graphics software allows you to maintain the aspect ratio you don t need to calculate the game board height separately Here is a handy chart for figuring out what your game board s dimensions need to be sp 2 po 6 BD 2928 8 26 O Ona O a a E r a Game boards made with Dundjinni map creation software are perfectly compatible with BGE although you must still resize them If you are making a wy game board in Dundjinni exclusively for use in BGE it is recommended that you output the Dundjinni map as a BMP at 122 pixels per inch and then convert it to
78. cted clients will see a Downloading Game Board placeholder graphic in lieu of an actual game board until the game board is fully downloaded Units will not be drawn on the game board while this is happening nor will the Grid Overlay be shown Y To load a server based game board from an artpack simply select it using the game board browser panel as shown above Instructions for using server based game boards that are not from an artpack are covered later under Issuing Commands from the Chat Window Choose Game Board Color host only The host also has the option to set the game board to be any flat background color in other words no actual game board just a field of the chosen color To do so double click on the game table window and select the Choose Game Board Color command from the contextual popup menu that appears A color picker will appear in the center of your screen Use it to specify the color you would like to use in lieu of a game board Note that the color you select is not transmitted to connected clients until the color picker is closed so you can preview many colors before making your final selection The selected game board color is retained when a Game File is saved Board Settings host only This panel appears automatically anytime a new game board is loaded after using the Load Game Board command The host can also open this panel at any time by selecting the Board Setting
79. ctory that contains the custom card graphics that you wish to use and to specify which image will be used to represent the back of each card Once you have selected the Card Back image clicking on the Choose button on the bottom of the media browser panel will create a custom card deck containing one card per graphic image located in the selected folder The deck will be automatically shuffled and selected when the operation is complete Changing the Game Board host only Select the Load Game Board command from the BG button s popup menu or click on the Load Game Board button on the Commands panel Only the host may change the current game board Category Zombie Plague H Selection ZP Island Map H Cancel Select Select the game board you want to swap in then click on the Select button In multiplayer games if the host has selected a game board that has been used before on the connected clients the game board switch will be instantaneous on the players screens BGE does not support peer to peer transfers of game boards Note that when swapping in a new game board units on the game table retain their relative positions In most cases the units will need to be repositioned on the new game board Server based Game Boards Assuming you have a working internet connection BGE can load game boards that reside on a server While downloading a server based game board the conne
80. current active token image as a portrait Portraits always display at 100 scale so this can be a useful feature for viewing units clearly even when zoomed way out effectively serving as an auto magnify feature for units that would otherwise be hard to discern Select this command again to disable it it functions as an on off toggle If a component has its Portrait set to Use Current Token another command will appear in the Portrait submenu called Match Component s Rotation Selecting this will rotate the portrait graphic in accordance with the component s current rotation on the game table For example a card component that is upside down on the game table will show it s portrait upside down as well if this option is selected The command functions as a toggle and is only available to the host when the host is not hosting a game session the setting is only intended to be set during the creation of a digital game conversion v Select the Add Portrait command to add a Portrait image to the selected unit This can be done by either the host or by the owning player More than one portrait can be attached to a unit A unit s portrait if one is attached appears in the upper right corner of the game table window when the mouse cursor is held over the unit or when the unit is selected but not if the unit is part of a multi unit selection Clicking on a selected unit s portrait will auto center the game table on that u
81. e Game File BGE s principal file format A digital game conversion consists of one or more Game Files each scenario in a wargame will probably exist as a separate Game File A game that has a different setup according to how many players are in the game will also probably have a Game File for each possible number of players Host The person hosting and moderating a BGE game session Sometimes this term is also used to signify the person creating a digital game conversion Hotkey A keyboard activated shortcut for issuing a command or toggling a setting Hotkeys only work in BGE if the Chat Window is closed or if the Chat window does not have focus Mint A digital miniature or token generally used to represent an individual soldier tank ship or whatever Modifier key A key that must be held down while performing another action Modifier keys include SHIFT CONTROL OPTION Maconly ALT Windows only and COMMAND Mac only On occasion BGE will use the Spacebar or the CAPS LOCK key as a modifier key Right clicking Pressing the right mouse button On a Mac with a one button mouse you must Control click instead hold down the CONTROL key while clicking BGE makes extensive use of right clicking so a multi button mouse is recommended preferably one with a scroll wheel Unit A generic term used to refer to any mini or component on the game table Terminology Differences in BGE and BRPG Singe BRPG i
82. e which can be opened or closed using the D hotkey or by pressing the Draw Tools button in the Commands panel Only the host has access to the Draw Tools Draw There are tools for drawing filled and unfilled rectangles circles polygons ala freeform shapes lines and even a text label tool Controls on the Draw oll Tools palette allow you to specify settings like line width line color and fill color Each shape drawn with these tools creates a new component which can then be moved rotated or otherwise manipulated by the host just like any other component A checkbox on the Draw Tools palette allows you to specify whether drawn items and text labels should be automatically hidden or not after placement Most of the Draw Tools display a custom cursor while they are selected and most of the Draw Tools can be used with snap to grid enabled in order to assist you in drawing straight lines and creating uniformly sized shapes You can even disable or enable snap to grid during a draw operation by By default a Draw tool deselects itself after a draw operation However holding down the CONTROL key while selecting a Draw tool will put that tool into sticky mode meaning it will remain selected after use so that you can perform repeated draw operations with that tool You can turn off this sticky mode by clicking on that draw tool again Text Labels Text labels created with the text label Draw to
83. e Battlegrounds Games website where you ll be able to download them for free If you are registered on the forums you will receive email notification every time a new Official i e non beta version of BGE becomes available unless you have opted out of the Battlegrounds mailing list Updating from an Older Version of BGE Game Files and Deployment files that were created in an older version of BGE will be automatically updated to the latest format when you load the file Updating to a new version of BGE sometimes involves installing to a new directory and then copying over any needed files from your old installation to the respective folders of your new installation If the host has used the Export Game Media command to make Game Media bundles for all of his her Game Files he she can easily import all of that media into the a new installation of BGE by using the Import Game Media command It may be worthwhile for the host to make a Game Media bundle containing all of the media assets from his her Deployments as well Depending on what version of BGE you are updating from it may be possible to simply copy over your old User Media cxt file and have instant access to all of your prior media Every new release of BGE will indicate whether or not the User Media cxt file has changed or not If it hasn t you can safely copy over your User Media cxt file from an earlier installation Using BGE with a Projector
84. e Roll Results for the GM O Missile Scatter Table 10 81 MISSILE SCATTER TABLE DIE ROLL HEXES FROM INTENDED TARGET Table result The missile impacts 2 hexes from its intended target el View Reference ed Rall Dice Macro Browse Roll History ZNIE ME EE reroll Browsing the Dice Roll History BGE keeps track of every dice roll in a given game session You can browse the Dice Roll History by clicking the Browse Roll History button in the Commands panel or by selecting the Browse Roll History command which is available from the Dice Macro submenu of the BG button s popup menu By default the Dice Roll History always shows the last roll made Navigation buttons at the bottom of the Dice Macro window can be used to look up a particular roll Alternate Die Rolling Method Game Table Dice BGE also allows you to place dice components and coin components directly in the game table window and interact with them there instead of in the Dice Roller window For some boardgames wargames and dice games this style of dice rolling could provide for significantly faster gameplay particularly in games that use simple mechanics and don t require a lot of modifiers in which using dice macros would be overkill A secondary purpose of this feature is to make certain boardgames wargames and dice games playable in BGE which would be unplayable if the dice were always confined to the Dice Roller
85. e and can continue playing now intent on killing your former teammates Zombie Plague Expansion Pack An expansion pack that takes the Zombie Plague game to a whole new level and greatly increases the game s replayability Includes three new maps gameboards five Rules Expansions PDFs ten new tokens an updated Zombie Plague card deck two new custom die types seven sound effects to liven up any Zombie Plague game and much more Dead of Night Boardgame Two to six players must survive a zombie onslaught until dawn The game can be played cooperatively or competitively Can also be played solo using automatic zombie movement rules Chunky Fighters Dice Game A dice game where humorous characters fight it out in an all or nothing brawl Each fighter is made of four dice a head a body some legs and a weapon Players choose their fighters and roll them to determine hit points and weapons Combat involves rolling damage and hit location dice As fighters take damage their body parts are adjusted to show the remaining hit points until they are finally destroyed D Day Dice Game Set against a backdrop of American troops landing in Normandy the players are soldiers trying to organize improvised units for an attack against a machine gun nest Each player starts the game with a unit of a few soldiers and nothing else As the game progresses he will collect resources and advance on the beach sector by sector as his unit grows str
86. e card to the current user s login name or to Host the current token to the first token and will enable the Secret Token state for the unit The end result is that the card s new owner sees the front of the card while others continue to see the back of the card The hotkey for the Draw Card command SHIFT D can also be used to activate the Discard command see below essentially functioning as a toggle for drawing and discarding cards Discard Card This command is available on the contextual popup menu of any component on the game table that might be a card see above that is held owned by someone i e not Everyone Selecting this command will play a card flipping sound effect remote clients will also hear the sound effect then set the Owner of the card to Everyone and will disable the Secret Token state for the unit The end result is that everyone can see the card side that is actually showing i e the active token By default the current active token will be set to the first token i e the discard is face up but if the SHIFT key is held down while this command is selected the discard will be face down the current active token will be set to the second token The hotkey for the Discard Card command SHIFT D can also be used to activate the Draw Card command see above essentially functioning as a toggle for drawing and discarding cards wy Saving a Game File host only Save a
87. e grid type and the use of facing indicators can only be set by the host and affect everyone connected to that host Other options can be set locally by each player without affecting anyone else Certain Preference settings can not be set by a player client while it is logged into a host client and are automatically disabled This is because players should not be allowed to enable certain settings Preferences Default Mini Base Clear i H Preferred Panel Location Center HH Automatic Game Table Scrolling vi Emulate right click for Macs only vi Deleting minis requires confirmation 1 Enable display of portraits vi Players can see opponent s portraits M Clicking portrait centers unit Autosave l When advancing turn sequence M At start of each new Turn Every 5 HH minutes Max number of autosaves 15 Even More Preferences Cancel OK j The second Preferences screen The settings that can be controlled from the second Preferences screen are shown above and should be self explanatory Preferred Panel Location affects where on your screen most panels in BGE will open An exception to this are the panels that appear when you place a unit on the game table These will always open on the left side of your screen if you are placing a unit on the right side of the screen and vice versa so as not to get in your way Automatic Game Table Scrolling If this is enabled the
88. e selected units CAPS LOCK Arrow Key Increase or decrease the stagger distance by 1 pixel in the chosen direction also hold down Shift key to change the stagger distance ie 10 pixels lt or gt Swap the current token ona selected multi token unit Shift lt or Shift gt Swap the current portrait ona selected multi portrait unit hold down the Control key to swap cat the current token and the current portrait simultaneously Spacebar Arrow Key Nudge slected unit s one pixel in the chosen direction Control D Command D on a Mac Duplicate the selected unit s Control R Command R on a Mac Roll a die or flip a coin on the game table window Control Z Command Z on a Mac Undo Redo host only Click anywhere on the second Help screen to make it go away Pressing the hotkey or pressing the Help button on the Commands panel are alternate ways of viewing navigating and dismissing the Help screens Terms and Abbreviations Used in this Manual BGE Battlegrounds Gaming Engine BRPG Battlegrounds RPG Edition A virtual tabletop program that is very similar to BGE but is specifically tailored for playing RPGs BGE was derived from BRPG and is essentially a subset of BRPG s features Cell A generic term used to define a single grid square or hex on the game board or game table Component Any token used to represent a game component such as a meeple pawn card coin or a modular board til
89. eacs 156 Overview of Battlegrounds Gaming Engine What It Is Battlegrounds Gaming Engine or BGE for short is cross platform virtual tabletop software for playing virtually any boardgame wargame card game or dice game our flagship product Battlegrounds RPG Edition aka BRPG is specifically tailored for use with RPG games There are a number of free digital game conversions and commercial Game Boxes already available for BGE but the real value of BGE comes from the fact that it is also a toolbox for creating your own digital game conversions either of physical games that you already own or of games of your own design BGE is an excellent tool for game designers who wish to use a digital prototype during the game s development and is also ideal for playtesting their designs and any game system tweaks BGE provides you with all the tools you need to conduct a gaming session a game board with an optional hexagonal or square grid on which to place and move your digital miniatures and game components a virtual dice roller with both standard and polyhedral dice text chat functions drawing tools and much more Battlegrounds can be used offline in face to face game sessions essentially serving as a digital game board The program s fullscreen game table and its hidden until you need it interface make it ideal for this purpose To use BGE in face to face game sessions you will need either a projector a
90. ear anchored units command from the contextual popup menu Group Select this command to bind all the selected units to each other Moving or rotating any unit that has been grouped with other units will also move or rotate the other units in the group and keep them in the same relative postions This feature should be particularly useful when moving or pivoting formations of soldiers TO ungroup one or more units select a grouped unit s and choose the Remove from Group command from the contextual popup menu Connection Panel Press the C hotkey to open the Connection panel or click on the Connection button on the Commands panel If the Commands panel is hidden or disabled you can access the Connection panel from the BG button s popup menu instead Connection Peer to Peer F Host Game Cer rere cme Join Game TT Cancel If you are the host and wish to host a game session click on the Host Game button If you are a player and wish to join a game session click on the Join Game button The Disconnect button will be dimmed disabled unless you are hosting a game session or have joined a game session Y Username Daniel Port to Use Port Verification Timeout 5000 Chat Color Dark Blue Cancel Host If you are the Host Type in your username For port number use 1626 unless your firewall router and or ISP requires you to use
91. eco taoie oat 83 ISSUING Commands from the Chat WING OW ec scasducccicuscnsev sand heoncnemiamundacuohdencezerneancbnannamiasushesactdien 86 Sel he Loom Level eee ee ae a ee me ee ene on aai eR ee oe ee ee ee 86 Load a Server based Game BOard cccccccssssssccccccssccsceeseeeeeeceeaeesseeeeeseseensnsauseeeeeeesseasess 86 Be A e E E 86 EE LAE OON peers epee doco as tegen need ea N ANA SOA I AEA A eee 87 eels weiss OE NAS AAAA ATE EAE EA E AEI A tea en AAE TE 87 Define the Stagger OLS GT cists sinwnacascecinaiediiscincduibsiepssinduissinennaaunsaceblelanwdabcdiesu duiacdoncusdadetaliieberstsbomdeads 87 OF 82g oy E a a E E Roe 87 TO TOAN a e NO a ee 88 Eede 0 i A ET P AR E E P EAP ee A AA P A ee 89 Deshat ea ec c 1 E IEA A NEA A AE ere 94 Creating and Using Dice MAC OSiicssccrssevssessrenstecatacenereteniaetsbansarehaeeeieeeenmenemetanios 94 ECU eUlel ale ot Ta 2 s n eater ere a aa aia eaa seer a em Tera a ahaaa a torre ere 96 Be a ese ceed a nec EA E esc tgs eens ER E TA E TA acdc bac EE E A A E E T ess 97 Browsing the Dice Roll History concave ciscnivexasintnnararoun snus sinrmasins detmasicinceniedsinn deameiingieencscmesios 98 Alternate Die Rolling Method Game Table Dice cccccececeeeeeeeeeeeeeesaees 99 TA ee SCS avian cae EE A IE EEP E A E T A A A A TPT 101 The ee BUTO aasin ea e ai 103 The Tum Sequencers Undo BUG ia issesiirrsrsinirooniin nna aaa 103 Ine Ena My LUrm BUNOT see rerccanescesent
92. en you ve made your selection press the Send button When the file is done transferring to the specified clients the visual aid will appear on the recipient s screen atop the game board and units It can be dragged with the mouse to reposition it if necessary When a player is done looking at the visual aid he she can double click anywhere on the picture to make it go away by Library The Library feature provides you with quick and easy access to reference materials for your game system If you have access to a scanner you can scan in reference material from your game s rulebooks such as charts tables lists and other printed game aids Due to copyright restrictions we cannot provide these for you If you don t have a scanner but have the reference material in PDF format you can also extract the images you need from the PDF with the proper PDF software or even with a simple screen capture These reference material scans can be accessed in BGE simply by placing them in BGE s Library folder You can even organize these reference materials by putting them into subfolders only one level deep or BGE won t have access to them Be Sure to save your scans in JPG or BMP format Note that nothing in the Library folder is transmitted to anyone so you needn t worry about breaking copyright laws as this is considered personal use and is therefore perfectly legal Just don t share such scans with others
93. equencer has been configured to show the Status column the host can change the status of a unit by clicking on its Status color chip in the Turn Sequencer A menu will appear that allows you to select the new Status Players may only change the Status of units they own The Load Settings and the Configure buttons do not appear on the players view of the Turn Sequencer CONTROL click on a unit in the Turn Sequencer to auto center the game table on that unit exception players cannot auto center on hidden or host controlled units Clicking on the portrait or token in the Turn Sequencer will also auto center the game table on that unit This auto centering feature can be useful for finding lost units on the game table wy The token names shown in the Turn Sequencer are governed by permissions so as not to reveal too much information Enemy controlled units will be listed merely as an enemy unit rather than with a name Other unit data shown on the Turn Sequencer can also be obfuscated for non Owners depending on how the host has configured the Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard The Roll Initiative Button There is a Roll Initiative button on the Turn Sequencer which only appears for the host Pressing this button will automatically roll initiative for all combatants i e every unit listed in the Turn Sequencer by auto rolling an attached Dice Macro called Initiative If the dice macro has been
94. er L Library panel Shift amp L Lobby window G Toggle the Grid Overlay On Off C Connection panel also use to log off Shift amp C Card Table window N Notepad X Toggle Snap to Grid On Off Toggle the Commands panel unless it has been disabled in Preferences Help screen press to show or hide it or to advance to the next Help screen P Preferences panel Shift amp Make the game table window fill the screen RETURN Stack or Stagger if multiple units are selected Shift amp RETURN Step the Sequence if you control the active unit Q Quit BGE confirmation required wy Host Only DELETE BACKSPACE Delete Selected Unit s confirmation required for minis H Hide or Show the Selected Unit s S Save Game File E Load Game File U Unit Manager V Send Visual Aid A Send Audio D Drawing Tools Shift Hold down while clicking a unit to add the unit to the current selection or to remove it from the current selection Shift amp V View Manager Note that in multiplayer games hotkeys only work when the Chat Window is closed or if you first click on the game table window to ensure it has focus The Battlegrounds Button To make BGE even easier to use you can select most of the Hotkey commands by clicking on the Battlegrounds button hereafter referred to as the BG button A popup menu will list all of the commands available including the Hotkey that will trigger e
95. er eee er ed mr ene er eee ee me 48 r TO ia ds bia ergy pitnan E Ph en ea A 48 ee Sas ernest cee eee 49 Measure RANGE seara aE a aeiaai 91 ET le a E E A E E E sts 92 Attack available for minis only and only if it is that MINI S turn to ACt ccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeemeees 53 Target available for minis only and only if it is not that mini s turn tO act cccccceecceeeeeeeeees 54 DS avallable for MINS ONIY testi heecnsnasecucntanchsenoesaiapcanensacennsbasassneouselesitiek Stenasencurbhssaenssabcwestatsl 55 Status available for both MINIS ANA components cccccsecccccccseeeccecssecaeeeeeeseaeeeeeesauaeeeeeseemanes 56 Base Type available for minis only ersesceisrcaracinrecssancosamsdsssaondotintamensismend scelauedaahomeonenconmsuogunaiesesd 58 Sideboard available to host only for both minis and components ccccseeceeeeeeceeemeseeens 60 ypc ETE AEEA EA EEN A ENA IOA EE E AE A EA A EE E A EE E EA E 60 Token available for both minis and COMPONENES 100cccccceeeececccseuseeccecseesseeeeceaueeeeesasemeeees 61 Portrait available for both minis and COMPONENAS ccseccccceeeeccecesesnseeeceeeseeeeeeseaueeeeeesaaeuess 63 Audio available for both MINIS and components cccccsesccccccceseccecsccsusceecsaeuseeeesauaeeeessamanees 65 Flip Image available to host only for both minis and components cccccccceeeseeeeeeeeaseaeeeees 66 Arrange available for both minis and COMPONENAS
96. erence table included with BGE as a guide At the beginning of each line of the text file specify a number or range of numbers e g 1 3 then press TAB then type in the text that corresponds with that dice roll result Press RETURN ENTER at the end of each line of text except after the last line of your table When you re done inputting your table data save your text file and place it in BGE Folder Dice Macros Reference Tables It will be available to select as a reference table the next time you open BGE s Dice Macro Configuration panel You can also make a reference table open ended on either end of the scale If you end the range portion of a line with a or a lt symbol it will accept open ended results on the low end of the table s range and if you end the range portion of a line with a or a gt symbol it will accept open ended results on the high end of the table s range For example if I want a result to come up on a roll of O or less I would type 0 lt as the number range on the first line of the table If I want a result to come up on a roll of 10 or higher I would type 10 gt as the number range on the last line of the table It s worth noting that a reference table does not need to be distributed to the other players unless they need to create a dice macro of their own that references that table Reference A visual reference generally a chart or table possibly a diagram can be a
97. erson s name in the Participants List The name will be highlighted in red to indicate that they are the target of a private message Type your message in the Chat Input field and press RETURN ENTER to send the message Only the intended recipient will receive the text message Private messages always appear in red in the Chat Output pane After sending a private message the red highlight in the Participants List automa tically disappears and your next message will not be private If you intend to send more than one private message in a row to the same individual or group you can lock the chat target by holding down the SHIFT key when selecting your chat target To unlock the chat target and revert to public messaging click on a blank line in the Participants List wy The Text Macro Panel Text macros are snippets of commonly repeated dialogue or text Press the button on the Chat window to pull up a menu listing all your available Text Macro files Choosing a Text Macro file opens the Text Macro panel and loads the text macros contained in the file Player turn OK l m done with my turn complete Hold on a minute need to look up a rule in the manual Looking up rule Pass the Doritos Hungry Hi everyone Sorry I m late Wont happen again No really Joined Session Late Double clicking a text entry a row in this window will paste the text from the right hand column into the Chat Input field where it
98. es the host and all the players who are currently logged into the game ID E x POES Pe LI Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Label Status Base Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Owner Host v Include in Turn Sequence Everyone Edit in Turn Sequencer Tim Set Action Phases Steve Team Chat Color Edit Mini Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE The host can designate anyone on this list to be the owner of the unit The owner of a unit may also be set to Everyone in which case any connected user can move the unit and view or edit the unit s data in the Turn Sequencer For a unit to be assigned to a specific player that player must be currently logged into the game session so that his her name can appear in the Owner submenu A unit cannot be selected nor can its contextual popup menu be accessed unless you are the host or the unit s owner Antialias available for components only This command setting should be used for units whose graphics contain text to make the text more readable when zoomed out Note that when this setting is enabled rollovers will no longer take transparency into account instead a rollover will be detected or not based on the graphic s bounding box This setting has no effect on rotated units Text labels created with the Text Draw Tool are antialiased by default This command will have a c
99. esintioes 28 Placeholder Game BoardS ix ccrcavenagesannraiescipannpacaysnavasiwanuunntpseupanuyaxaumusenynnnpeaunees 29 ELE E E EAE EE E E E EE E O E E E aes 30 T a a I ee ete eee eer ce nest 31 NP e E T Benen its AE P EA A E A E E A A E EE A EE AE 32 View Manager host ONIY scctransnsatniasvensevetstenssetyieiiaeiassiaavenrstenytenersieniaietawinictes 34 Unit Types Minis and Components anonnennnnennnnsnnensrrenrrerrnrsrrnrsrrrrsrrrrrrrerrne 35 a ETE AAI hace cing OE EETA A E A AA TEENE EA ETE E TE SE oon EA E A TEE ees ETET oo Bie 5 0 610 6c 6 lt a ee eee eee cee A eee re ane eee ee ee eee ee eee eee ee 35 Daela I EP A A snc me sig tes ems naps een ap A A EE EAA 35 Placing a Mini on the Game Table cmcatcweiadmnienmiannam ee eaNR 35 Placing a Component on the Game TAI vi csdacupexeceerecccaesoxcarss tive deeantacarcrerern inetd 39 Selecting and Deselecting a CAIN unicsusissuetidccaseutsast bundcresdedmedatncadusserevenasemonacemaahundecushdeneozaerteandduead 42 FT E e E EEEE EEEE EAEE 43 A E ENEE E E E EAEE EE T 44 PI a Un S SOT serisinin ninrin aaaea fah Euan Da o kaakaa Saharei 45 D EEEE EEEE EEEE EET 46 SoECUNO MUNE UNU S sarei Seeesinstctcinc anE scat endive neces cate we gaa ok a teas anand bageevessqades 46 Cloning an Existing Unit host OI siiwensscawsstaitnivniegs atcaibavvinuniaisinisidiies sane canpiantaancseania tere biiaasnieas eres peaaniers 48 SCOTA TOS 2 0 6 Bee ante ete ee nO ces Nee eaten Reo ee re ate
100. ews feature a Disable Views Palette command is available on the BG button s popup menu for now this command must be selected every session but eventually this will probably become a Preferences setting instead Note that even if the Views Palette is disabled hotkey navigation for the various Views will still function View Manager host only The View Manager panel accessible only to the host allows the host to assign a custom name and optionally to specify a custom zoom level for each View To bring up the View Manager press the SHIFT V hotkey or click the View Manager button on the Commands panel You can also select the View Manager command from the BG button s popup menu if the Commands panel is closed or disabled Note that the View Manager is not available to players Views View Name Zoom 0 1 2 3 4 victory Points 5 6 7 8 Yellow Home Base 9 rcentage must be a number between Zoom Pe 20 and 200 or 0 Entering a 0 for Zoom will allow each client to maintain its current zoom level when switching to this View Clear All Views i ay y Cancel 4 OK Holding down the SHIFT key while setting a View with the Views palette will automatically open the View Manager panel after recording the View location to enable you to immediately name the View and or assign it a custom zoom level Any View named with just a space in the View Manager will have its corresponding b
101. ey on Mac OS X or by selecting the Cut Unit command in the unit s contextual popup menu Only the host can use this command Contextual Popup Menus If you are the host or the owner of a unit right clicking on the unit pulls up a contextual menu with a number of commands and options to chose from which are described below The number of commands listed in a mini s contextual popup menu can vary depending on who s turn it is to act whether you are a player or the host and other factors Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Attack Label Status Base Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Owner Include in Turn Sequence Edit in Turn Sequencer Set Action Phases Team Chat Color Edit Mini Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Oo E ae Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Attack Label Status Base Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Owner Include in Turn Sequence Edit in Turn Sequencer Set Action Phases Team Chat Color YYYY YV YV VY V V z i i o Host s Contextual Popup Menu Options Player s Contextual Popup Menu Options Right clicking on a component also pulls up a contextual menu but with a few less options than are available for minis Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Status Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Lock Tile Free Floating Act as a Screen d v Antialias Ow
102. g this command from the BG button s popup menu Import Game Media This will import all the Game Media assets from a self contained external Game Media bundle file If the bundle you ve selected to import is password protected you will be prompted to supply the proper password and will not be able to import the bundle s media assets without it Number of assets to import 78 Password required Cancel Import Depending on how the host created the Game Media bundle a password may be required Generally however it s easier if the host sets up his Game File s so that Game Media bundles are automatically imported the moment the Game File is loaded Game Media bundles can also provide an effective method of preserving your media when updating to a new version of BGE see Updating from an Older Version of BGE below wy Batch Import host only Hosts can use this submenu on the BG button s popup menu to import an entire folder s worth of media at once The Batch Import submenu contains 6 entries Minis Components Portraits Visual Aids Audio and Library Selecting an item from the Batch Import submenu will open the appropriate file browser Select a folder category and press the Import All button to batch import all the media present in that folder A progress bar will provide visual feedback while the operation is taking place This feature is only available
103. ge in the Chat window Y The Roll Dice button in the Chat window allows you to either load a dice macro or to auto roll it by holding down the SHIFT key while clicking the button The first time the Roll Dice button on the Chat window is pressed in a game session it will simply open the Dice Roller window After that clicking on the Roll Dice button in the Chat window will show a popup menu allowing you to load or auto roll any of your dice macros om _ Chat Window _ Participants 7i Host gt IP The Host rolls for Alien Appearance goena ES Die Rolls 0 3 fe Players S Bonus Bug lt none gt fo For details see Roll 3 in the Dice Roll History T The Host rolls Alien Appearance 1010 Acid Spray Se Alien Appearance Roll History Alien Attack vs Melee 0 Alien Attack vs Melee 1 E Facehugger Attack vs Melee 0 Facehugger Attack vs Melee 1 Need a 0 Need a 1 or less Need a 2 or less Need a 3 or less Need a 4 or less Need a 5 or less Need a 6 or less Need a 7 or less Need an 8 or less S s ba ea F Af The Roll Dice button gives you quick and easy access to all of your dice macros The scrollwheel can be used to scroll the contents of the chat output pane up or down when the mouse cursor is over that pane if the mouse cursor is not positioned over the chat output pane the scrollwheel will instead perform its standard action of zooming the game table in or out or of rotating a
104. gits then move the d6s with pips into the corresponding subfolders Additional custom dice e g Bloodbowl block dice and HeroQuest dice are available for download from the Battlegrounds Games forums Creating and Using Dice Macros Once you ve configured a dice roll that you plan on using again in the future you can save it by clicking on the Save Macro button A saved roll is called a dice macro and the name of the dice macro will be whatever text you entered in the Roll description field at the top of the Dice Macro Configuration panel There are two types of dice macros in BGE global dice macros and dice macros that are attached to units To create a global dice macro simply open the Dice Roller configure your dice macro and save it To attach a dice macro to a unit you need to open the Dice Macro Configuration panel by using the Add Dice Macro command which is available from the Dice Macros submenu in a unit s contextual popup menu Existing global dice macros may be attached to a unit by first selecting the unit s that you want to attach the dice macro to then loading the global dice macro you want to attach to the unit s Hold down the SHIFT key in the Dice Macro Configuration screen and the Save macro button s text will change to say Attach macro With the SHIFT key still pressed click on the button and the global dice macro will be attached to the selected unit s Y The Inspect M
105. gone though your entire media library press the Done button to save your changes into a compacted User Media cxt file The old User Media cxt file is automatically deleted by If you know you won t be needing any of your old media anymore press the Purge All button and then the Done button This command is not available to players during multiplayer games to prevent players from peeking at as yet unused media and to prevent accidentally purging media that may be in use like Sideboarded units so this command should be used prior to logging into the game session It is worth noting that unit defaults a graphic s scaling and rotation info etc are retained even after the media it pertains to is deleted If you should need to re import that media at a later date your default settings should still work It may also be necessary to purge a media asset if you have made changes to the media and want those changes brought into BGE For example if you ve edited a game board or token in a graphics application those changes won t appear in BGE until you ve purged the old media and re imported the version with the changes Purge Refresh Artpacks Artpacks can be enabled or disabled while BGE is running but this command must be activated after moving any artpack files into or out of the Disabled Artpacks folder Any units on the game table are redrawn after using this command Select the Purge
106. gorize your media is a good idea anyway since it will help you find specific items faster e If you are using Ventrilo dice rolls will not be received in BGE if Ventrilo s text chat window is open yes that s a very weird bug e The unit selection marquee and the Draw tools do not provide proper visual feedback when Fullscreen Mode is enabled e Selecting a dice macro from the Roll Dice Macro button on the Chat window will fail to load the selected macro if the Dice Roller has never been opened during that BGE session Free Use Promos Occasionally a Free Use Promo is held during which period the BGE software is free for anyone to use without a license Be sure to take advantage of these promo periods to introduce new players to the software since they ll be able to experience the fully unlocked software as if they had a Gamer Client license An internet connection is required to take advantage of a Free Use Promo How You Can Help Support Battlegrounds Games If you enjoy BGE you can help by spreading the word There are still many people who have never tried or even considered the possibility of gaming online via a virtual tabletop program and many people have tried other virtual tabletop programs but have not heard of BGE Another way you can help is to purchase one or more commercial artpacks or Game Boxes for BGE A complete list of these products is included at the end of this User Manual but you should visit the Battlegr
107. h cases it is very similar to the layout of the Unit Settings panel when you are first deploying a unit Unit Settings Character Name Vasquez Owner l Host KH Base Type Clear H Base Size Mes HH Scale Adjustment 50 Unit Settings Object Name Facehugger fa Scale Adjustment 40 Rotation Adjustment 0 8 Horizontal Offset 0 Horizontal Offset Vertical Offset 0 Vertical Offset 2 _ Portrait style token _ Figure shown from front Figure shown from above Save these settings as the default Apply these settings to existing units Save these settings as the default f Apply these settings to existing units OK b Cancal EE Ohl ee a OK Cancel T The Unit Settings panel for minis The Unit Settings panel for components Delete available to host only for both minis and components Selecting this command deletes the unit from the game table This is an alternate method of deleting a unit particularly useful for Tablet PC users The more common method is to simply press the Backspace key Windows or the Delete key Mac Set Action Phases available for both minis and components This command only appears on a unit s contextual popup menu if the host has configured the Turn Sequencer to use Turn Phases and furthermore that Action Phases the turn phases during which a given unit gets to act are to be managed manually i e the host
108. has elected not to use a Phase Chart for automating the assignment of Action Phases Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Label Status Base Stealth Invisible Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Light Source Enhanced Night Vision Area of Effect Arrange Owner v Include in Turn Sequence Edit in Turn Sequencer Set Action Phases Aliens Move Disposition to Party Aliens Appear Chat Color Aliens Attack Edit Figure v Marines Move Fire Cut Unit i Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE YYYY YV YV YV VY V The Set Action Phases submenu will list all the Action Phases as specified by the host in the Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard If the Action Phases were not explicitly named they will be numbered instead The host or the player owning the unit should select from the submenu each phase that the unit should act on Thereafter that phase will appear in this submenu with a checkmark preceding it In the Turn Sequencer the unit will only be listed on the phases it gets to act on W Contextual Popup Menu for Multi unit Selections You can issue commands to multiple units at once by selecting them and then right clicking on any of the selected units Draw Cards Label Status Base Sideboard Show Hide H Keep Only Current Token Keep Only Current Portrait Flip Image Antialias Owner Include in Turn Sequence Set Action Phases Team Select Arrange Duplicate amp Select A
109. hat input field and a chat output pane The Participants List is explained in its own section see The Participants List below It is used to send private messages to groups or individuals To the right of the Participants List are three grey buttons four if you are the host If you position the mouse cursor over any of the buttons a ToolTip will appear to tell you what the button does wy The chat input field is where you type text messages to communicate with other participants After typing your text press RETURN ENTER to send the message You can use the standard Cut Copy Paste and Select All commands in the chat input field These work via the standard keyboard shortcuts for the platform The chat input field also accepts multi line text snippets that are pasted into it or inserted via a chat macro The tilde key right below the ESC key is reserved for use with VOIP programs like Ventrilo that have a push to talk feature You can use the tilde key for this purpose even with the chat window open and the tilde won t get typed into the chat input field The chat output pane is where everyone s sent messages appear Each entry is specially formatted and color coded to make it easy to pick out the information you re looking for Many messages that appear in the chat output pane will also appear briefly n the top left corner of the game table window where the Zoom Level Indicator is This should be useful for u
110. heckmark next to it in the component s contextual popup menu if the unit has antialiasing enabled Selecting this command again will disable antialiasing on that unit For performance reasons antialiasing is temporarily disabled during panning of the game table and is automatically re enabled when panning is complete Include in Turn Sequence available for both minis and components Units placed on the game table are not listed in the Turn Sequencer by default You must select this command if you want the unit listed This feature can help streamline play in situations where you have large crowds of non combatants since the non combatants won t clutter up the Turn Sequence amp g a O C S Bd WRAITH S a Qs nA Dice Macros be Measure Range Edit Notes Status Sideboard Hide H Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Lock Tile Free Floating Act as a Screen v Antialias q Owner gt F cdit in Turn Sequencer Team b Edit Component Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE This command will have a checkmark next to it in the unit s contextual popup menu if the unit is already included in the Turn Sequence Selecting this command if a unit is already included in the Turn Sequencer will remove the unit from the Turn Sequencer Edit in Turn Sequencer available for both minis and components This command only appears if the unit is already included in the Turn Sequencer Selecting
111. ile without a Gamer Client license e You cannot export a Game Media Bundle without a Gamer Client license e You cannot create a custom card deck for the Card Table without a Gamer Client license A white text label located above the BG button indicates when BGE is being run in Demo Mode Purchasing and installing a Gamer Client license unlocks the software and removes these limitations Another way to avoid the timeout limit if you are using just the free Demo is to log into a game that is hosted by a Gamer Client with one or more player slots available If you have purchased a license for BGE open the License panel by selecting the License command from the BG button s popup menu ty License Current License Type Gamer Client Challenge Code 994121QRP560 aM Claim Purchased License Response Code Gamer 8 v1 0 123456 License Type Gamer Client 8 players p Unlock Player Slots Installed Player Slots Available 7 Register Artpack The Challenge Code field will be pre filled for you E mail your Challenge Code to activation battlegroundsgames com We will e mail you back with a Response Code that will allow you to install your BGE license on that computer Please do not submit the serial number shown in the screenshot above That is just there as an example Once you ve received your Response Code via e mail launch BGE open the License panel and paste your Response Code i
112. in Turn Sequence Scholar Token Team Thief Token Edit Component Wrestler Token Cut Unit Copy Unit Keep Only Current Token Duplicate amp Select Remove Current Token Delete BACKSPACE Secret Token The Token submenu in a unit s contextual popup menu lets you attach additional tokens to a unit select which token to display and delete tokens from a multi token unit Select the Add Token command to add a token to the selected unit This can be done by either the host or by the owning player Each token added to a unit can have its own unique settings so it s possible to have for example alarge base size for a mounted mini and a small base size for a dismounted mini Below the Add Token command is a list of all the tokens that are attached to the selected unit The one currently selected for display i e the active token is marked by a checkmark beside it You can select which token should be displayed by selecting the name of the token from this list Below that is the Keep Only Current Token command which if selected will remove all the tokens from the selected unit except for the token currently being displayed indicated by a checkmark beside it This command is not available if the selected unit is not a multi token unit Selecting this command if the selected unit is a component will cause the unit to be renamed according to the name of the remaining token this is very handy when used with Unit
113. in conjunction with the Target command see below is to make it clear to everyone in the game who is attacking who without having to type detailed explanations in the chat window This command should be used just prior to designating the target of the attack and rolling to hit Stepping the Turn Sequence will automatically remove the attacking status of a mini Placing an attacking mini on the Sideboard or deleting the attacking mini will also cancel the attack Target available for minis only and only if it is not that mini s turn to act Selecting this command designates the mini as the target of an attack A blue Target text label is superimposed on the mini If the attack is canceled for some reason the Target label automatically disappears The purpose of this command when used in conjunction with the Attack command is to make it clear to everyone in the game who is attacking who without having to type detailed explanations in the chat window This command should be used just prior to the attacker rolling to hit If you are the host and you wish to cancel a Target you must use the Cancel Target command in the target unit s contextual popup menu Stepping the Turn Sequence will automatically remove the Attacker or Target status of a mini Label available for minis only Text labels can be assigned to any mini to help the host and players remember important facts such as postures or whethe
114. ings for the unit Units at the top of the Unit Manager list will be drawn on the game table above lower listed units Tile components are one exception to this rule but are best placed low on the list to keep things organized Free Floating components are also an exception to this rule but are best placed high on the list to keep things organized If you select a single unit you can use the up and down arrow buttons to move that unit higher or lower on the list You can also use the Top or Bottom buttons to move the selected unit to the top or bottom of the list with a single click If there are more units on the game table than can be displayed at once in the Unit Manager list you can scroll the list up or down using the buttons alongside the unit list Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on either of those buttons to scroll to the very top or bottom of the list with just one click You may also select several units at once in a contiguous or non contiguous selection for adjusting Sideboard and Hidden status Hold down the SHIFT key while clicking to make contiguous selections and hold down the COMMAND key on Mac or the CONTROL key on Windows while clicking to make non contiguous selections The Unit Manager can also be used to quickly locate a unit on the game table Just double click on a unit in the Unit Manager list to auto center the game table on that unit Draw Tools host only BGE has a Draw Tools palett
115. its by issuing a command in the Chat window For example typing resize 35 sans quotes in the Chat window and the hitting RETURN ENTER will edit all of the selected units so that they currently displayed token is scaled to 35 The host can also resize a l the tokens at once on a selected multi token unit or units by issuing a command in the Chat window For example typing resizeall 35 sans quotes in the Chat window and then hitting RETURN ENTER will edit all of the tokens on all of the selected units so that they are scaled to 35 Define the Stagger Offset The host can also specify a specific stagger offset by issuing a command in the Chat window For example typing stagger 61 0 sans quotes in the chat window and the hitting RETURN ENTER will set the horizontal stagger amount to 61 pixels 1 cell and the vertical stagger amount to 0 none The Participants List The Participants List located on the left side of the Chat window lists all the participants in the game session and it also shows which of the two groups each participant belongs to The two possible groups are Host and Players The Host group can only ever contain one person and it must be the host of the game session It is not possible to leave or to join this group In addition to managing groups the Participants List is also used to send private text messages To send a private message to a particular person simply click on the p
116. key the COMMAND key on a Mac will cause the scrollwheel to rotate a unit in 15 degree increments regardless of the current grid type Holding down the CONTROL and ALT keys the COMMAND key and the OPTION key on a Mac while rotating a unit s with the scrollwheel will rotate the unit in 5 degree increments The artwork for Portrait style and Front View minis never rotates only the facing indicator on the mini s base rotates Adjusting a Unit s Offsets Sometimes you don t want units to be perfectly centered in a cell An example of this is a mini wielding a long pole weapon You would want the body of the mini centered in the cell allowing the polearm to protrude into an adjacent cell s You can use the controls on the Unit Settings panel to adjust the centerpoint offsets Unit Settings Unit Settings Character Name Character Name Vasquez ws Vasquez Owner Owner Host B Host HH Base Type Base Type Clear H Clear H Base Size A h Base Size ELEI HA T _ S ELSI A fa i fa Scale Adjustment 50 cee Scale Adjustment 50 Rotation Adjustment 0 g Rotation Adjustment v Horizontal Offset 17 jar a gt jar 4 Horizontal Offset 0 aw n Vertical Offset 0 Vertical Offset 2 _ Portrait style token _ Portrait style token _ Figure shown from front _ Figure shown from front Figure shown from above Q Figure sh
117. king content In many cases the content is exclusively available for BRPG and BGE users The following list contains brief descriptions of each artpack If one peaks your interest click on its name to see preview images contact sheets and or to get additional information about the product Note that most of the artpacks currently available are more suitable for use with BRPG than with BGE The artpacks that are most suitable for use with BGE given the proper game conversion have been shaded in green below Please check the BG Store for current pricing on any commercial products Dice Pack Contains 128 dice objects that you can use to roll dice right in BGE s game table window Base Map Pack 1 A collection of 35 maps broken down into six categories Grass Forest Floors Scrublands Swamps amp Thickets Earth Sand amp Mud and Cavern 11 00 Like the grass map that comes with BRPG the maps contained in this artpack all use the same texture throughout The idea is that you will customize these generic maps with object overlays as needed to suit your Encounters e g by adding trees boulders roads paths ponds etc rather than use them as ready to go maps although some of these maps can certainly be used as is Component Dungeon Pack 1 A set of modular room and hallway components that you place on the background of your choice to create a dungeon layout The artpack also contains doorway overlays hallway bends
118. l Uses You could also use BGE to generate stunning visuals for play by post or play by email games With a little imagination BGE could also be used for other types of online collaboration Advantages While online gaming is not a replacement for playing in person with your friends using BGE in your game sessions does offer some significant advantages over traditional face to face gaming For starters the visuals can be greatly enhanced Even if the original game had sub par game components you can always create nicer looking digital components to spruce up the game or even completely re theme the game if you want Audio clips both music and special effects can also be used to set the tone enhance the mood or even provide the players subtle clues Some game mechanics such as complex turn sequencing can be automated and simplified using BGE leading to faster more streamlined gameplay It may also be possible to play large games that might require more than one copy of the physical game since digital game components are easily cloned to make as many copies as you need What You Need To play a game using BGE you need your game s rulebooks and any charts and tables just as you would in a face to face game session You will also need digital game components to represent the physical game components These can come from downloaded files from your own scans or from original artwork that you create using a graphics program
119. l if you have an image of a right handed character and would like to depict a left handed one Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Label Status Base Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Audio iS ifem lar te 3 Horizontal Arrange v Vertical Owner 5 Include in Turn Sequence Edit in Turn Sequencer Team gt Chat Color P Edit Mini Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Flipping a unit both horizontally and vertically is not recommended as this just has the same effect as rotating a unit 180 degrees This feature should obviously not be used on any artwork that indudes legible numbers or letters e g a police car with a unit number painted on its roof This command is not available when Learning Mode is enabled Arrange available for both minis and components This submenu contains two commands Move to Top and Move to Bottom Select the Move to Top command or press the hotkey to move the selected unit up in the stacking order so that it is above all other units of it s type normal tile or free floating Select the Move to Bottom command or press the hotkey to move the selected unit down in the stacking order so that it is below all other units of it s type normal tile or free floating Owner available to the host or unit owner only Selecting the Owner submenu from the contextual popup menu produces a list that includ
120. l location to its new location Diagonal movement is possible if your game rules allow it If you are in the middle of moving and need to scroll the game table to see further in that direction you can do so with the arrow keys or with the mouse without interrupting the movement The game table window is boundless so it is possible to move a unit beyond the edges of the game board This should probably only be done with units that the host wants to be temporarily out of play or if the host has decided to expand the playing area by placing modular board tiles beyond the game board edge Note that in a multiplayer game the movement keys only function if the Chat window is closed or if you first click on the game table to ensure that it has focus If the keypad numbers are not moving units as expected activate the Num Lock function on your keyboard and try again Another way of moving units is to drag them with the mouse to where you want them If snap to grid is on the unit will snap to each cell s centerpoint as the mouse is dragged While someone is dragging a unit with the mouse the unit s position is updated in real time on connected clients screens Releasing the mouse button will send the final unit position to connected clients Remote players will see the unit glide smoothly animate from point to point on the game table This is to prevent units seeming to teleport from one place to another and to make moves less jarring
121. lable or not on a perGame File basis see Board Settings above Note that if the host has set the grid visibility for a Game File to Client Chooses grid visibility becomes strictly a local option that does not affect other connected users For example the host may chose to show the grid on his screen while another player chooses to have it hidden on his Depending on the game being played some people may prefer the added visual realism achieved by keeping the grid hidden during play at least until the need arises to count the range to a target Grid visibility has no effect on the snap to grid feature which is independent From the Preferences screen the host can decide what type of grid to use square or hex the color of the grid overlay black white grey yellow red blue green cyan magenta or brown and the opacity of the grid overlay 10 100 in 10 increments The host s choice of grid type square or hex is forced on any connected players but the players are free to set their own grid color and grid opacity Users may also add their own custom Grid Overlays in case they wish to add more grid colors or even additional grid information such as centerpoints for Line of Sight calculations or a grid numbering system see Expanding BGE below Custom grids should be created at a resolution of 100 pixels per cell Snap to Grid Snap to grid is on by default when you first launch BGE Thereafter
122. large high definition TV or a large secondary display for the players to view Alternatively BGE games can be played over a local area network LAN with each player sitting in front of his her own computer Battlegrounds can also be used online Many gaming groups have found then selves in the unfortunate situation of losing one or more members because they had to move far away but BGE breaks down those geographical barriers by letting you continue to play your favorite games online BGE also enables you to play more games than you might otherwise be able to For example if your oca friends aren t interested in a particular game you want to play BGE enables you to play that game with online buddies even if they happen to live halfway around the world Because it s generic BGE supports playing nearly any game including those using house rules BGE provides the game engine and you provide the game rules and virtual game components We think you ll find that BGE is a user friendly and incredibly flexible gaming environment and also a very accessible and empowering game building toolbox Y What It Isn t BGE is not a game itself but rather a tool for playing a game that you already own It doesn t have any game specific artificial intelligence to implement your game s rules In fact one of BGE s greatest advantages is that it isn t game specific it s generic enough to use with any game rules Other Potentia
123. low the host to save the current settings as the default for anytime that particular artwork is used again in the future and one for applying the current settings retroactively to units that are already on the game table and use that same artwork Note that you can apply different scale and rotation settings to different units which use the same artwork but the offsets for any given artwork must be the same If you need to use different offsets you will have to duplicate the artwork in BGE s Components folder BGE allows you to place many copies of a unit on the game table at once all using the exact same settings Use the popup menu labeled Number to Deploy to select how many identical units to place on the game table When you are finished adjusting the settings click the OK button at the bottom of the panel Depending on your Preferences settings and whether or not you are currently hosting a game session you may notice that the component on the game table is now transparent This is because by default units are automatically hidden from the players This allows the host the opportunity to further tweak the component such as rotating it or perhaps attaching descriptive notes to it When it s all ready the host can choose to reveal the component to the players by pressing the H hotkey Units placed on the game table while the host is offline are not automatically hidden All components are placed on the game
124. ly the host can define a View by pressing a number key while holding down the CONTROL and SHIFT keys this method will also cause the View Manager see below to open ready for further input by the host Players cannot set Views Navigate to a View by clicking on a View button in the View palette Alternatively you can jump a View by pressing a number key while holding down the ALT key OPTION key on Mac OS X While the View palette is the primary way of switching from one View to another you may find that using hotkeys to switch Views is significantly faster Lastly you can switch Views by double clicking on the game table window to bring up a popup menu and then selecting a particular View from the View submenu Zoom Level Game Board Snap to Grid X War Chests Dice Box Cards X Victory Points Board Settings Current Battle Choose Board Color Red Home Base Blue Home Base Yellow Home Base Green Home Base Place Component Create Multi Token Component Place Mini Load Deployment Here Points Dragging a marquee selects Create Card Deck When a Game File is loaded it will automatically show View 0 When a Game File is saved it will store the Views settings that have been defined by the host Hint If you ever lose the game board by scrolling too far away from it pressing a View button is probably a quick and easy way to find the game board again For those who do not wish to use the Vi
125. mM gm Ere ila Med ce eee eee eee eer ee Renee eee eee 125 ye elem tag 8 pte o1 are 9 lenmenen erate ene titer neeten terrier een ee Scene etree nar ely rier ene aeee 126 Clear AIl Unis NOST ONIY ceectconacentagescentcaraasedorcasadevecauedaresaesdaerenssdeennacdeneseasenes 126 OTOOTO O era E E E E 126 Hide Show Text Labels cacccsccvecscssanenuncansnanencinenunexcyneunasainneinsisencssanepsecemenseassnanths 126 S eao oi Ei E E E A E E E E E E E E E E E E OE 127 TOS rU OO OUE e 127 LODD e A E 128 P O e E E E E E E E E E EER 130 Purging ODSolete Medid ersi E EEES 133 Purge Refresh Artpacks cic cites cnerocisa cetansiganisinnasintaisiecanianseiedm sien saiimeeenieacininaeenssensiencenct 134 Joer Manual eeren een en ea ne ene ee ee ee ee eee ee ee 134 Re Fe serpit renier ie ER iE avansvanaranasayeunsasaneumeabavepnissanenniasavarnaeauapn 135 A E ood 5 E A A A E AE EA AA A AA A ey ea 135 o E E a E A eee ern ee Nene ee mere 135 C E F T EEE EEEE EEEE EE AE 137 Gs oming D IE aa 137 Eo E E E E E E A 138 Adding Custom Artwork Sound Effects Reference Material and Grids to BGE 138 Using Third Party Game Boards with BE vic soamadwscnccscagearcsssaanseredatndunesdtandesiednesetiouesceaaneuece 139 Free and Commercial Digital Game Conversions for BGE cceceeeeeeees 141 Free and Commercial Artpacks for BGE siseiuirerssnerradenmntneanvnndindsveotvetivendvnisunedves 141 How to Register a Commercial Artpack aust
126. media bundles are a convenient means for the host to distribute all the media necessary for a Game File prior to the game session itself Game Media Bundles offer a great alternative to having to rely on peer to peer media transfers which can sometimes be slow depending on the host s upload bandwidth and which can be furthered hampered if you are using voice chat software in conjunction with BGE For instructions on creating a Game Media Bundle see the Export Game Media command below The Chat Window Press TAB or press the Chat Window button in the Commands panel to open or close the Chat window The Chat window is only available if you are hosting a game session or if you have joined a game session Chat Window It is now Player 1 s turn to act Overview Now hosting at IP address 192 168 2 3 E If your computer is behind a router this is your internal IP address Press the IP button to see your external IP address Waiting for players to connect gt Tim has logged on and joined the group Players W Steve has logged on and joined the group Players Steve Hi guys ____ Host Hey Steve Tim Game on You can resize the Chat window and position it anywhere you want even on a second display if you have one The Chat window remembers its size and location between game sessions The Chat window is comprised of the following elements a Participants List three grey buttons four if you are the host a c
127. n the Load Dice Macro button in the lower left of the panel and a menu will pop up from which you can select any dice macro to load Holding down the SHIFT key while selecting a dice macro will automatically roll that macro This is useful for times when you know you don t wish to make any last minute adjustments to the dice roll Auto rolling works whether the roll is initiated from the Roll Dice Macro button on the Dice Roller window or from the Roll Dice button on the Chat window or even when you select a dice macro attached to a unit To store global dice macros that you don t want to be available in the current game session but which you don t want to throw away place the dice macro file in the Disabled Dice Macros folder which is located in the Dice Macros folder To re enable those dice macros just move them back into the Dice Macros folder v Reference Tables Reference tables can be used in a dice macro to essentially convert a dice roll into a text entry This is done by looking up the dice roll on a table and outputting the text that corresponds to that dice roll result This feature can be a huge time saver when playing games that use a lot of charts amp tables e g Phoenix Command Creating a reference table is very simple You can use a program like Microsoft Word or Excel or even TextEdit or Notepad to make a tab delimited text file You can use the Random Weather ref
128. n the meantime even in its current rudimentary form this Lobby should prove useful for hosts and players to see who is online at any given time to help players find available games and to help hosts find new players for their games In addition this lobby could prove to be a useful venue for offering live technical support s t et oe Logging into the Lobby is completely independent of whether or not you are hosting or connected to a peer to peer game The Lobby window can be closed at any time and you will remain logged onto the Lobby unless you expressly exit disconnect from the Lobby first To communicate with other users who are currently logged into the Lobby type a message in the chat input field and press the RETURN ENTER key to send the message It is possible to cut copy and paste text into or from the Lobby s text input field Note to Mac OS X users I could not get the standard shortcuts for these commands to work you must use the CONTROL key instead of the COMMAND key Messages typed in the Lobby are public by default but it is possible to send a private message to a particular user in the Lobby Right click on a user s name to send the contents of the chat input field in a private message Development Note While this is not the most intuitive way to handle private messaging it was a quick and easy way to get the feature implemented without worrying about a graphical user interface since the c
129. nchor to lowest unit in stack Group selected units Remove from Group Cut Units Copy Units Delete BACKSPACE Duplicate amp Select This command duplicates the currently selected unit s and then selects them so that they can be easily moved elsewhere on the game table without affecting the originally selected unit s Although this command is somewhat similar to the standard copy amp paste functionality there will be times when you wish to preserve the relative positions of the duplicated units The CONTROL D hotkey on Windows or the COMMAND D hotkey on Mac OS X can also be used to invoke this command Toggle Antialias This command is available only for the host Selecting this command will toggle the setting for antialiasing on any selected components The command has no effect on any minis that happen to also be selected Y Select The Select submenu lets you chose a particular unit from among all the units selected This command is useful for pulling a particular unit out of a stack e g a certain card from a discard pile or the bottom most card in a deck of cards Units are listed in the Select submenu according to their stacking order the highest unit is listed first and the lowest unit is listed last When you are finished using the Select command you will no longer have multiple units selected you will have only a single unit selected The very next thing you will usually want to do after using
130. ncrceaecdeerascaresarenesmonmeonnaansenressasnerniekaesons 103 Examples of Turn Sequencer Configurations ccccecccccceeececeesusecceeaeeceeeaueceeeeeceeeaseeuessneeees 104 The Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard host Only c ccccsscseeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeseees 108 Unt Manager INOSU ONY cc isctrrercrnisntoustst ncn ateisenlsselieeiiariieGiietsheusausensaniienisenins 109 By fo gal ole oa also 2 Seen ane eae oN eee eee cee 110 E eg UES el cena eter ine treet A A ene OW men Ace EA en eee ates ere cee OT a 111 sending Visual Aids host Oniy meee eee nema ttr nent Crmrtstr enna ant nnurent merent te 112 Be capa chy ss E E ee pened EA EAE A A E O AE E AOE A AS 113 tI II MOSTONIY Jessiina AEs 114 T aa E S ERE E E EAE A 116 Creating Custom Card Decks Mee meen meee te ene pea eg Meee oer ete em nen nee eo ene AAE E ne aera ere 120 Manipulating Cards and Card Decks in the Game Table Window 121 a seinni i i e ai T E a a aia 121 BAE hata EE O A A AA A A O ee O A EA A E E 121 e 0 Gc e E E E ere ee eee 121 Saving a Game File host only pene eee eel ne ee 122 Loading an Game File host only cosicvicennsinicsnacinansnsuasarieinaerroeiuneiuananntaueenseeaeeeas 122 Saving a Deployment host only eicsneasnsermecinreeadanatannsuncasenthengmeagtenamokenauaneaihetns 123 Loading a Deployment NOSUONIY j asinssisriuoiirsnnsieine annin nr ttn eee 123 Export Game Media Seeker eee ore ee eee ee eee ee ene ee eee EE NRAN 124
131. ner Include in Turn Sequence Team Edit Component Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Host s Contextual Popup Menu Options gt gt Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Status Hide H Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Owner Include in Turn Sequence Team Player s Contextual Popup Menu Options Measure Range Selecting this command will draw a thin blue line from the selected unit s centerpoint to wherever you place the mouse cursor The length of the line is calculated and displayed alongside the cursor according to the current game board s scale settings see Board Settings above Range 4iSquares dd be oo N Measuring can be done with snap to grid on or off Snap to grid can even be toggled during the measure operation and there is a Preferences setting to ensure that fractional results are rounded up to the nearest whole number rather than displayed as a floating point number if that is what you prefer When you are done measuring just click anywhere to get out of measuring mode Edit Notes Any unit may be assigned notes either by the host or by a unit s owner that will appear in a ToolTip when a user places the mouse cursor over that unit Unit Notes Weight 100 coins a Weight 100 coins easy E eS You may enter in any sort of notes that you want The most common use of this feature is for displaying a b
132. ni The shape of the halo depends on whether you are using a square grid or a hex grid The halos are available in the following colors green yellow green yellow orange red dark red and black Blue halos are reserved for indicating the mini whose turn it currently is and white halos are reserved for indicating which mini s are selected w i When Status is used to denote the approximate health level of the mini it simulates the sort of information someone might be able to glean from a quick glance at another mini in a combat situation By default every unit s status is set to None when the unit is first deployed for minis this means no halo is shown To set a unit s Status select a color from the Status submenu in the unit s contextual popup menu Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Label Base Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Audio Flip Image Arrange Owner v Include in Turn Sequence Edit in Turn Sequencer Team Chat Color Edit Mini Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE None Green Yellow Green Yellow Orange Status halos may be disabled for a mini by selecting None from the Status submenu for example when the host does not wish the players to know how close a creature is to dying If the Turn Sequencer has been configured to show the Status column the host can change the Status of a unit by clicking on its Status color chip in
133. nit unless that option has been disabled in Preferences Below the Add Portrait command is a list of all the portrait images that are attached to the selected unit The one currently selected for display i e the active portrait is marked by a checkmark beside it You can select which portrait should be displayed by selecting the name of the portrait image from this list Below that is the Keep Only Current Portrait command which if selected will remove all the portraits from the selected unit s except for the portrait currently being displayed indicated by a checkmark beside it This command is not available if the selected unit does not more than one Portrait The Remove Current Portrait command will remove the portrait that is currently being displayed indicated by a checkmark beside it from the selected unit but will retain all other portraits This command is not available if the selected unit only has a single portrait assigned to it You can easily and quickly change the current portrait by selecting the unit and pressing the lt or gt hotkeys while holding down the SHIFT key These hotkeys allow you to cycle through all the available portraits Note that the hotkeys will also work on a multi unit selection so that you can change the currently displayed portrait on many units at once with a single keystroke Pressing a portrait swapping hotkey while holding down the SHIFT and CONTROL keys will swap b
134. nto the Response Code field in BGE Select the License Type a Gamer Client with support for the correct number of players from the pulldown menu and click the Unlock button Your BGE software is now licensed and all of the Demo s limitations have been lifted Quitting the Program You may exit the application at any time by pressing the Q hotkey or by pressing COMMAND Q on the Mac or ALT F4 on Windows You can also quit BGE by clicking on the Close box in the game table window s title bar On Mac OS X you can also select the Quit command from the Battlegrounds Gaming Engine menu i e the application menu No matter which method of quitting you use you will be asked for confirmation to prevent quitting accidentally and losing an unsaved Game File Please Confirm A Are you sure you want to quit k b No If a player quits BGE while still connected to the host he she will be automatically logged off If the host quits BGE while one or more players are still connected the player s will be informed then their game table window will revert to its default state when the program is first launched exception there will be no notification to the players if the host force quits BGE Customizing BGE You can customize BGE by editing any of the plain text files stored in BGE s Preferences folder Labels Menu txt Game Scale Units txt The information in these files allows you to define
135. ny of the other methods of opening the Card Table will re open it Creating Custom Card Decks BGE comes with standard playing cards but with a licensed Gamer Client you can create custom card decks very easily Once you ve made or scanned in your custom card graphics and placed them in a folder just select the Create Custom Card Deck command from the BG button s popup menu Create Custom Deck Use this feature to compile a folderful of art into a self contained external custom card deck file The folder selected can contain up to 200 card images and MUST contain one image named Back of Card The card images may be in JPG BMP or PNG format The name of the folder selected will be used as the name ofthe card deck file anda cxt suffix will be added to the file name The resulting card deck file will be saved to your Card Decks folder You will need to send this file to your players and have them place it in the same folder in order to use the custom card deck during play A dialogue box opens asking you for the location of your custom card graphics folder Select the folder containing your cards and press the OK button Custom card decks can be either in portrait or landscape orientation If the cards are over 200 pixels wide the card deck will be considered to be in landscape orientation i e the Deck and the Discard Pile will be spread out further to avoid them overlapping and cards in a
136. o visually indicate your connected status If your attempt to join a game session fails see the Troubleshooting section below Every player must have a unique username If a player logs in with a username that is already in use by another player he or she will be automatically booted from the game or may not be able to join the game session at all A player will also be automatically booted if they log in using a different version of BGE than the host is using Version parity is required for multiplayer games If you are already logged into a game and wish to disconnect open the Connection panel and press the Disconnect button to log off Logging off will automatically close the chat window if it is open exception if you are the host the Chat window will not close so that you have a chance to save the Chat log wy If you have lost your connection to the host disconnecting normally will not work and you will need to force a disconnect by holding down the SHIFT key while clicking on the Disconnect button If the host logs off before the players the players will be notified that the host has logged off exception the players won t be notified if the host force quits BGE or if he has crashed out of the program Whenever you successfully host or join a game session your login settings are saved to your hard drive The next time you want to join or host a game those settings will be pre filled in for you
137. ol can be edited at a later date by selecting the Edit label text command from the label s contextual popup menu Text labels store their settings color font font size etc when a Game File or Deployment is saved and the settings are transmitted to connected clients during multiplayer games so that the text appears identically on all clients The rendered text image itself i e the bitmap is not transmitted to other clients When creating a new text label the last used text label settings font size alignment etc are automatically applied to the new text label This makes it much faster to create a lot of text labels in the same style Sending Visual Aids host only In multiplayer games you can send your players visual aids Visual aids are anything that can be shown in a picture or diagram a cheat sheet rules summary card a CRT an image of the game s box cover etc Open the Send Visual Aid panel by pressing the V hotkey or by clicking the Send Visual Aid button in the Commands panel Only the host may send visual aids Category _ Unfiled H Selection Aliens Firefight H4 EVERYONE W Cancel Send Use the controls on the panel to select the image that you would like to send In multiplayer games you can use the Send To popup menu to select who should receive the visual aid You can choose to send it to everyone to a single player or to a group of players Wh
138. older and the Library folder accept graphics in JPG BMP and PNG format only The Audio folder accepts sound files in WAV MP3 SWA AU and AIFF format The Grid folder accepts graphics in PNG format only For graphics without a transparency layer alpha channel JPG is the recommended format in order to keep file sizes down and hence speed up transmission times in multiplayer games For graphics with a transparency layer use PNG format For audio files MP3 or compressed AIFF format is preferred in order to keep file sizes down and hence speed up transmission times in multiplayer games Custom grid graphics should ideally be named according to what color they are since the file name is what appears in the Preferences screen when you access the Color pulldown menu Other than free space on your hard drive there is no limit to the number of custom assets that can be added to BGE but make sure not to place more than 255 assets in a single folder You can organize your media assets by placing them in folders but do not use nested folders folders within folders or BGE will not be able to access them Frequently accessed materials can be placed at the root aka Unfiled level as this will allow you quicker access to them within the program by Using Third Party Game Boards with BGE BGE will accept game boards from any source that can create JPG output whether you ve created them yourself from s
139. onger and deadlier He will succeed or die trying Although built around dice rolling this game is about resource management soldiers specialists items and courage and knowing when to move your unit Feudal Ops Boardgame Feudal Ops is a BGE digital boardgame conversion and complete re theme of the Nexus Ops boardgame Players assume the role of medieval Lords that battle each other for control of the region s wealth and compete with each other for the King s favor By winning battles and fulfilling Secret Missions the players can obtain victory points The first person to reach the required number of victory points wins the game For Sale Star Wars Edition A complete re theme of the original For Sale card game For Sale Star Wars Edition is a simple fast playing auction bidding game The original For Sale is considered one of the finest auction bidding games around and has a devoted following of fans Players are continually forced to make a multitude of difficult decisions during play The auctions allow for tactics and bluffing and require careful assessment of your opponents Pioneer in Peril Boardgame This fast playing game of gunfights and brawls in the Old West is an introductory version of the full Outlaws Adventures in the Old West boardgame The Dungeon of D Card Game A solitaire dungeon crawling card game with no bookkeeping and no dice Just you the cards a token and a dungeon to ex
140. or set sounds to auto preview using the checkbox provided You can also choose at what volume the sound should be played relative to the recipient s system wide volume setting In multiplayer games you can use the Send To popup menu to select who should receive the audio You can choose to send it to everyone to a single player or to a group of players When you ve made your selection press the Send button The audio is played on the recipient s speakers or headphones A player can choose to mute their audio output useful for when they don t want to disturb someone else in the room There are two sound channels in BGE One is reserved for looping audio and the other for non looping sound effects This means you can play a non looping sound effect e g a car crash even while a looping sound effect e g background music is playing To stop a looping sound from playing open the Send Audio panel and press the Cancel button Loading a new Game File will also stop any audio that is currently playing as will selecting the Clear All Units command from the BG button s menu Card Table BGE has built in support for card decks Open the Card Table window by selecting the Card Table command from the BG button s popup menu or by pressing SHIFT C or by clicking on the Card Table button in the Commands panel The card table will be empty at first Click on the Select Card De
141. ore to store media for many digital game conversions Mac Users A mouse with a scroll wheel and a right button are strongly recommended Note The higher the display resolution the better the graphics look and the more game board you can see at any one time Higher resolutions greatly reduce the amount of scrolling required in a typical game You should set your display s resolution prior to launching BGE but if you do change it while BGE is running you can manually resize the window to better accommodate the new settings Note that BGE does not specifically support multiple monitors displays at this time although it can be used with more than one display Installing BGE Windows OS Right click on the Zip file you downloaded and select Extract All Complete the extraction Wizard to expand the program onto whichever hard drive you prefer There is no further installation procedure and the software is ready to use Do not make the mistake of trying to run BGE directly from the Zip file without extracting it first Mac OS X If you downloaded the Zip version of BGE simply double click the zip file to expand it Move the expanded folder to wherever you want it on your hard drive The software is now ready to use If you downloaded the DMG version of BGE mount the disk image by double clicking on it then drag its contents to wherever you want on your hard drive _ Battlegrounds Gaming Engine v1_0 Mac Name B
142. oth the current token and the current portrait of a selected unit simultaneously potentially useful for things like were creatures Audio available for both minis and components Units may have audio clips attached to them This can be done either by the host or by the owning player The Audio submenu in a unit s contextual popup menu lets you attach an audio clip to a unit select which attached audio clip to play and delete all audio clips attached to a unit Once an audio clip has been attached to a unit it can thereafter be played by selecting that audio clip from the Audio submenu Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Status Sideboard Hide H Token Portrait Add Audio Flip Image Light Source APC Pulls Up Area of Effect Friendly Flamer Frag Arrange Huge Explosion Lock Low Industrial Hum Tile Music Ripley s Rescue Free Floating Music Futile Escape Act as a Screen Clear All Audio Antialias Owner e Include in Turn Sequence Disposition to Party 2 Edit Object Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE If the host holds down the SHIFT key while triggering an audio clip attached to a unit that audio clip will play with looping enabled Flip Image available to host only for both minis and components Select this command to flip a unit s artwork either horizontally or vertically This can be useful for creating the illusion of more unique tokens It s also usefu
143. ounds Games website to keep abreast of any new products that were released after this User Manual was published Credits Lead Developer amp Programmer Hernan Ruiz Camauer aka Heruca Webhosting amp Server Support Daryl Hildebrand aka Omnidon User Manual amp Website Hernan Ruiz Camauer aka Heruca Graphics Support Mark Manders aka Kepli Dice scans David Bellot http david bellot free fr svg cards Playing cards Jason Sandeman aka Kalmarjan Generic Tokens Battlegrounds Gaming Engine is authored in Adobe Director MX 2004 v10 1 Special Thanks to e The Dundjinni user community and rpgmapshare com for creating such a wealth of free high quality art that can significantly enhance our enjoyment of the Battlegrounds software e To boardgamegeek com for helping to connect gamers and game designers and for providing a ready source of print and play games that are easily converted into digital games in BGE e Everyone who provided feedback on the Battlegrounds Games forums for helping to improve our products and to everyone who has supported Battlegrounds Games e You for downloading Battlegrounds Gaming Engine and giving it a try Artpacks for BGE The ever growing collection of artpacks are a major strength of BRPG and to a lesser extent of BGE and can save GMs and game designers a lot of preparation time while simultaneously providing them and their players with visually rich and professional loo
144. ow text below the die that spawned the re roll Consecutive re rolls when a re roll spawns another re roll are separated by a minus sign or a plus sign aS appropriate exception reroll results are separated by a comma instead of a sign if the dice are not being totaled A summary of the dice roll appears near the bottom of the Dice Roll Results window in white text The contents of the dice roll summary are determined by the settings and options that were selected in the Dice Roll Configuration panel Dice roll summaries automatically appear in a smaller font size and with smaller line spacing if the dice roll summary is over a certain length This allows for longer table results when using Reference Tables see Reference Tables below You can click on any of the rolled die graphics to remove that die from the result and have the dice re totaled re evaluated Note that removing dice from a roll is a local event only it is not transmitted to other connected users In multiplayer games the results of the dice roll are reported in blue text in the chat output pane of the Chat window which keeps a log of all die rolls for future reference The name of the dice macro which is usually also the reason for the roll is included in this report for clarity unless the dice macro is un named All die roll reports that appear in the Chat window will also appear briefly in the game table window providing useful notification for u
145. own from above l Save these settings as the default Save these settings as the default Apply these settings to existing units Apply these settings to existing units zm Before adjusting the horizontal After adjusting the horizontal and vertical offsets and vertical offsets When adjusting horizontal or vertical offsets for a token the offset amount is adjusted by 1 pixel per click but you can hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the adjustment control in order to change the offset by 61 pixels half a cell with a single click Keep in mind that units are rotated based on the centerpoint that is established with the horizontal and vertical offsets so for example a door graphic should have its offsets adjusted such that the door rotates on its hinges Y Deleting a Unit host only Select a unit then press the Backspace key Windows or the Delete key Mac Only the host may delete units If deleting a mini you will be asked for confirmation to avoid accidental deletion Deletion confirmation can be disabled in Preferences When deleting a component you will not be asked for confirmation Please Confirm A Are you sure you want to delete this figure Units may also be deleted by selecting the Delete command from their contextual popup menu Selecting Multiple Units If you left click on the game table and drag the mouse a red bordered unit selection marquee will appear and
146. own the SHIFT key while doing so to place the card face down in the draw discard pile Manipulating the cards on the Card Table will automatically trigger appropriate sound effects you will hear the card deck being shuffled and cards being drawn flipped or played Click on a card and hold down the mouse button to see a magnified version of the card in the upper right corner of the Card Table window An Auto magnify checkbox in the lower left of the Card Table window provides the option of showing you the magnified view of any card that you roll the mouse over without having to click and hold on the card Each user in a multiplayer game can enable or disable this checkbox at will without affecting anyone else Double click on a card to access a contextual popup menu with useful commands by Card Table Deal a Card to Each Player Deal 5 Cards to Each Player Deal a Card to Jarred iS Draw Card face up Draw Card face down Draw Specific Card from Deck Shuffle Deck Shuffle All Cards Full Reset Manage Players Select Card Deck Load Game Save Game Card Table Durnik Discard This Card Face Down Discard This Card Face Up Discard Entire Hand Face Up Play This Card Play This Card Face Down Play Entire Hand Place This Card in Bottom of Deck Shuffle This Card Into Deck Manage Players Select Card Deck Load Game The content of a card s contextual popup menu varies depending on whether
147. p select the Export Game Media command from the BG button s popup menu This will re save the Game File after inserting the information that s necessary for the media bundle to be automatically imported when it is loaded The current game board all tokens and portraits attached to units on the game table and all audio clips that are attached to a unit on the game table will be included in a media bundle The default Dun game board that comes with BGE is never included in a media bundle since every user already has this asset pre imported and it is not purge able Visual aids are not included in media bundles unless you have attached the artwork to a unit as a portrait or token Media from artpacks is also never included in a media bundle the players are expected to have the necessary artpack s installed BGE comes with an example Game Media bundle download the various digital game conversions for additional examples of Game Media bundles by Hosts who create media bundles will need to deliver the bundle s to their players prior to the game session where they will be needed This can be done via email attachments file transfers via a chat client uploading the files to a web server via a file sharing solution such as Dropbox etc Players should place any media bundles received into the Game Media Bundles folder of their BGE installation Import Game Media Game Media bundles may be manually imported usin
148. plore Your mission Get out of the dungeon alive as rich as you can And if you are able to find and bring back the Amulet of D eugor The Island of D 2 Card Game A solitaire fantasy adventure card game with no bookkeeping and no dice Just you the cards a token and an adventure Your mission Save the Village of Dawn from an impending bandit invasion Oh and by the way you only have 8 days to do it Up Front In this card game which is loosely based on Avalon Hill s Squad Leader series of wargames each player directs a squad of men in various World War II scenarios with cards driving the action there is no gameboard Each card and counter represents an individual soldier weapon vehicle or piece of equipment This digital conversion includes not only the basic Up Front game but also the components from the Banzai and Desert War expansions so you will be able to play any of the seven nationalities Germans Americans Russians Japanese British French and Italians covered in these games Zombinion Zombinion is a complete re theme of the Dominion boardgame In this game of zombie killing in a post apocalyptic world each player starts with an identical very small deck of cards From then on the players construct their deck on the fly striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points zombie kills by game end This digital conversion covers supports not only the original Zombinion game b
149. quencer Team fe Chat Color gt Friendly Edit Mini Cut Unit Copy Unit Duplicate amp Select Delete BACKSPACE Fin You may also select the size of the base to use for each mini This is usually chosen when you first deploy a mini but you can change the base size by selecting the Edit Mini command see below There are 6 base sizes to choose from when playing on a hex grid and 5 base sizes to choose from when playing on a square grid Bases are drawn underneath the Grid Overlay so that large opaque bases will not obscure the grid Nearly all of the bases have a yellow line on them to indicate the mini s facing which can often be ambiguous based on the mini s artwork If your game system does not require unit facings to be specified you can use a mini base that doesn t include a facing indicator Users who prefer the most visual realism can opt to hide unit bases altogether select None and turn off the Grid Overlay and the Status halos If a particular mini is hard to see on a given game board try using one of the colored bases to help the mini stand out from the background Colored bases can also be used to indicate teams or factions if necessary Y Sideboard available to host only for both minis and components Select this command to place a unit in the Sideboard which is an off board virtual holding area To remove a unit from the Sideboard thus placing it back on the game table at
150. r A real time preview of your chosen settings is shown on the game table In order to match the orientation of a mini s graphic to the facing indicator on the mini s wy base you should use the rotation slider on this screen to make the mini face due right Specify whether your selected artwork displays the mini from above default from the front or whether it is portrait style artwork If you select Portrait style token or Mini shown from front the artwork will not be rotated to match the mini s facing on the game board If you select Mini shown from front the mini will be vertically offset for you to properly align it in a cell although you may further tweak the vertical and horizontal offsets to get the exact placement you want BGE supports top do wn front view and portrait style tokens There are checkboxes at the bottom of the panel that allow the host to save the current settings as the default for anytime that particular artwork is used again in the future and one for applying the current settings retroactively to units that are already on the game table and use that same artwork BGE allows you to place many copies of a unit on the game table at once all using the exact same settings Use the popup menu labeled Number to Deploy to select how many identical units to place on the game table When you are finished adjusting the settings click the OK button at the bottom of the panel
151. r a mini is surprised stunned etc BGE comes with a number of pre defined text labels but you can easily define your own see Customizing BGE below Selecting Label from the contextual popup menu produces a submenu from which you can chose the exact label you want or select None to remove all labels on that mini You can also choose to have a label that shows the character s name or a label that shows the unit owner s name T VASQUEZ TARGET RANGE 4 AIM 4 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes None Status Base sideboard Player Name Hide H Token Stunned Portrait v Wounded Audio Incapacitated Flip Image Dead Arrange Grabbed Owner In Combat v Include in Turn Sequence Carrying Body Cpl Hicks Edit in Turn Sequencer Carrying Body Sgt Apone Team gt Carrying Body PFC Vasquez Chat Color P Carrying Body Pvt Drake Edit Mini Carrying Body PFC Hudson Cut Unit Carrying Body Pvt Crowe Copy Unit Carrying Body Pvt Dietrich Duplicate amp Select Carrying Body Pvt Frost Delete BACKSPACE ea y Mini Name Status Status halos are usually used to help the host and players remember who is wounded and how badly and who isn t but you can use Status to indicate whatever you want e g to show shield strength on a spacecraft token or for marking different teams or factions A mini s Status is indicated on the game table by a glowing color coded halo around the mi
152. racters townsfolk etc All of the content is hand drawn 18 00 and many of the tokens have color mods for additional variety The price of this collection will gradually increase over time as more artpacks are released throughout 2011 Devin Night s Sci Fi Tokens Contains 160 high resolution figure tokens for sci fi games Roads amp Vehicles Contains 157 graphics suitable for depicting vehicular combat and or car chases Game Boxes and Game Conversions for BGE The following list contains brief descriptions of each game currently available If a particular game listed below peaks your interest click on its name to see preview images and or to get additional information about the game Please check the BG Store for current pricing on any commercial products Valkenburg Castle Game Box A fantasy game of adventure and combat in the depths of an ancient dungeon Players may use heroic leaders clever burglars staunch dwarves mysterious magic users and squads of fighting men to explore and eventually to capture the castle from evil orcs sorcerers trolls ogres and other monsters including a dragon Two or more players maneuver their units on a game map which 17 00 depicts the five levels of the dungeon beneath the castle the game is played in three dimensions A solitaire scenario is included and there s even a game variant which lets you assault the dungeon with modern combat squads equipped with rifles s
153. rary A Send Audio G Grid Overlay toggle on off D Drawing Tools X Toggle Snap to Grid on off Backspace Windows Delete selection C Connection panel also use to log off Delete Mac Delete selection TAB Togsies the Chat window must be ogged in Toggles the Commands panel The Help screen gives some basic operating instructions and provides a handy reference of most of the hotkeys used by both the host and the players If you need additional help consult this User Manual or the BGE forums Click anywhere on the Help screen to advance to a second Help screen Additional Hotkeys Shift Up Arrow Zoom n 10 Shift Down Arrow Zoom Out 10 add Control key to zoom in 50 increments add Control and ALT keys to zoom in I increments plus Zoom In 10 if no units are selected minus Zoom Out 10 if no units are selected Arrow Pan the game table by 1 cell in the chosen direction Control Arrow Pan the game table a lot in the chosen direction Any Number Go to a View only if no unit is selected Shift C Open close the Card Table window Shift T Issue the Tile command to the selected component s Shift RETURN End your turn i e step the turn sequence Shift L Lobby window Shift V View Manager host only Move to Top a nae selected unit Move to Bottom a single selected unit RETURN Stack or Stagger multiple selected units Shift S Stack amp Shufle multipl
154. rief description of the unit in question or for displaying statistics about the unit e g Out of ammo or Skip next turn The program will automatically size the displayed note as needed depending on the amount of information entered ToolTip notes have a maximum width of 3 cells to avoid screen clutter Clicking on a ToolTip note will make it go away until the next time the mouse moves over the unit s graphic If you edit a unit s notes and clear the text entry field completely no ToolTip will be shown for that unit Attack available for minis only and only if it is that mini s turn to act Selecting this command designates the mini as the attacker A red Attacking text label is superimposed on the mini If a user changes his mind and wishes to cancel the attack altogether he or she can simply select this command again which will now be called Cancel Attack Once a player has declared that his mini is attacking he she can specify a Target mini simply by clicking on it If the player changes their mind about which mini to target they can just click on another mini and it becomes the new target If you are the host and have specified an Attacker you must specify a Target using the Target command in the target unit s contextual popup menu and to cancel a Target you must use the Cancel Target command in the target unit s contextual popup menu The purpose of this command when used
155. rtpacks e g the free adventure modules don t require registration in order to work Regardless of whether an artpack is free or commercial in nature if BGE was already running when you installed the artpack you must select the Purge Refresh Artpacks command from the BG button s popup menu in order to access the artpack s content You only need to select this command once even if you just installed many artpacks wy Support for Flash Content Battlegrounds supports Adobe Flash content Some examples of Flash content are things like animated tokens mini apps such as calculators and 3D dice rollers and even third party utilities that can add new features to Battlegrounds or provide an alternate interface e g a custom toolbar Flash developers wishing to create content for BGE should keep in mind that interactive Flash content for BGE must use ActionScript 2 not AS3 Flash apps may communicate with BGE and some form of API will likely be published in the not too distant future Because a Flash file is programmable and could potentially contain malicious code Battlegrounds users should only use Flash content from sources they trust Auto Naming Battlegrounds will automatically name units for you when you place several identical units on the game table either by mass deploying a unit cloning or duplicating existing units or loading additional copies of a unit by loading a Deployment file For example if you pla
156. s command from the game table s popup menu or by clicking on the Board Settings button on the Commands panel Board Settings Grid Cells Wide 24 5 Fractional Cells Wide M 1 vi Maintain Aspect Ratio Grid Cells High 20 Fractional Cells High 5 Horizontal Offset Vertical Offset 0 Grid Force Gridless Snap to Grid Client Chooses H One cell equals QC R PEE O O Cancel OK Controls on this panel allow the host to specify the game board s exact dimensions so that it matches the grid overlay This is particularly useful when using a game board with a grid already printed on it The Grid Overlay see below is automatically cropped to the game board s dimensions The Maintain Aspect Ratio checkbox can be enabled to maintain the game board graphic s original aspect ratio so that it is not stretched or squashed in either dimension This can greatly speed up the time it takes to resize a game board Controls on this panel also allow the host to set Game Board Offsets which ensure that the snap to grid feature works well when a particular game board has an embedded grid on it that does not begin exactly in the top left corner of the game board When adjusting horizontal or vertical offsets the offset amount is Y adjusted by 1 pixel per click but you can hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on the adjustment control in order to change the offset by 61 pixel
157. s half a cell with a single click There are also controls on the Board Settings panel that allow the host to set the game board s scale which is used for measuring distances Measurement units are defined in an external text file Game Scale Units txt located in BGE s Preferences folder so users can easily add their own measurement units if needed The scale settings for a given game board are saved in each Game File From the Board Settings panel the host can also specify whether the Grid Overlay and the snap to grid functions should be forced on forced off or be left up to the discretion of each connected client These settings are also saved in each Game File Scrolling the Game Table Use the arrow keys to scroll the game table by pressing the arrow key indicating the direction that you would like to reveal Each press of an arrow key scrolls the game table by one cell For quicker scrolling holding down the CONTROL key while pressing an arrow key will scroll the game table nearly one screen s worth per key press similar to how the Page Up and Page Down keys work in other programs Note that in multiplayer games the arrow keys only work when the Chat Window is closed or if you first click on the game table window to ensure it has focus You can also scroll the game table by right clicking anywhere on the game table i e not on a unit and dragging in the direction you wish to slide the game table The cursor ch
158. s primarily used for playing roleplaying games aka RPGs it uses different terminology than BGE but the functionality is identical Components in BGE are called Objects in BRPG Minis in BGE are called Figures in BRPG Game Boards in BGE are called Maps in BRPG The Game Table window in BGE is called the Map window in BRPG Game Files in BGE are called Encounters in BRPG The Host in BGE is called the GM in BRPG A Game Media Bundle in BGE is called a Media Asset Bundle in BRPG Team in BGE is called Disposition to Party in BRPG A free Player Slot in BGE is called a Floating License in BRPG Y Launching BGE Double click the BGE application which is easily identified by its custom icon a black capital B on a reddish orange hex shape as shown below The default game board is displayed and the About panel i e the splash screen is briefly shown while the program initializes Depending on your Preferences settings a Commands panel may also open The Turn Sequencer will open very briefly while it initializes and will automatically close Once the About window closes and the zoom level is briefly displayed in the upper left corner of the game table window BGE is ready for use Clicking on the URL in the About panel launches your default web browser and takes you to the Battlegrounds Games we
159. s to the next mini on the list making it their turn to act For players the Step button on the Turn Sequencer is only enabled visible when the player controls the active unit The Chat window reports who s turn it is to act any time the active unit or the Turn number has changed This same information will also be shown briefly in the top left of the game table window where the Zoom Level Indicator is If the Turn Sequencer has been configured to use phases the phase name or number will also be shown briefly anytime the turn sequence is stepped After the last unit on the list has taken their turn the Turn Counter at the top of the panel increments by one and the process begins all over again until the game ends The host can click on the Turn label on the Turn Sequencer to reset the Turn Counter to 1 In addition the Turn Counter at the top is editable by the host Click on it to make it editable type in the desired turn number then click on it again to make it non editable and update all connected players with the new Turn number Setting the Turn Number to zero takes the game out of combat time The End My Turn button or Step the Sequence button for the host is not shown when the Turn Number is set to zero With the Turn Sequencer open players are able to see when their turn is coming up so that they can be ready to act This should help games with many players move a bit faster If the Turn S
160. sers who happen to have their Chat window closed If another player or the host rolls the dice a Dice Roll Results panel will open on your screen exception incoming die rolls will not open the Dice Results window if you are busy creating a dice macro at the time the roll is received or if you are the host and are in the middle of using a Drawing Tool Be sure to space out your die rolls to give everyone a chance to see what you rolled before rolling again If you are typing in the Chat window when a dice roll is received the Chat window will retain focus even though the Dice Results panel opens it opens behind the Chat window This allows you to continue typing uninterrupted In Preferences you can set the Dice Results panel to never open when incoming dice rolls are received Another Preferences setting determines whether dice rolls are animated or not Yet another Preferences setting determines the length of the die rolling sound or if no die rolling sound should be played Dice Macro Dice Roll Results CER 4 5 for the Host Total Successes 2 success is on a 5 or higher f Roll Dice Macro Browse Roll History g Em bjn BGE s Dice Roller can evaluate individual dice including re rolls for success or failure Dice Roll Results for the GM Table result The Pirate Lair Rott Dice Macro Browse Roll History KIRE mE ME A dice macro can be configured to look up the results of the roll on a
161. sers who keep the Chat window closed e g in face to face games or during solo games Dialogue is presented with the speaker s name preceding it and in the chat color chosen by the user when he she logged into the game session Private chat messages are always shown in red and in italics System generated chat messages will appear in the chat output pane when certain actions occur such as a card being drawn the dice being rolled the Turn Sequence being stepped etc If you are the host an IP button will appear in the Chat window Press this button to have BGE report your external IP address in the chat output pane Your external IP address is what the players will need in order to join the host s game session if they are logging in from outside the host s local network and the host s computer is behind a router The button labeled with a is for Text Macros The use of this button is explained in its own section see Text Macros below The Bell button is for calling someone s attention particularly useful if it is that person s turn and they are not responding and you suspect they may have gone AFK short for away from keyboard The Bell can be used to ping everyone at once or you can use the Participants List to select a group or individual to ping Whoever is the target of a bell ping will hear a bell chime sound effect and even if their audio has been muted they will see a messa
162. ssigned to a dice macro as a Reference not to be confused with a Reference Table This makes it easy to consult a chart table or other bitmap before or after rolling the dice Clicking on the Choose button in the Reference section of the Dice Macro Configuration screen lets you browse all the charts and tables in the Library folder including those in artpacks SHIFT clicking on the Choose button in the Reference section of the Dice Macro Configuration screen lets you browse all the images in the Visual Aids folder including those in artpacks Clicking on the name of the Reference file chosen opens the referenced item in the Library window it can be useful for deciding what modifiers to apply to a die roll A Clear button in the Reference section of the Dice Macro Configuration screen lets you remove the Reference from a dice macro If a dice macro is rolled that has a reference item attached to it the Die Roll Results screen will have a View Reference button on it just above the buttons for navigating the Dice Roll History Clicking on the View Reference button opens the referenced item in the Library window which appears above the die roller window and is useful for large charts that need panning SHIFT clicking on the View Reference button opens the referenced item as a Visual Aid instead which appears under the Dice Roller window but is useful for charts that you want to stick around Dice Macro Dic
163. t be found a placeholder game board will be shown instead While a placeholder game board is showing units will not be drawn on the screen and the Grid Overlay will be hidden GAME DoARD UNAVAILABLE You have loaded a Game File that requires a game board graphic which has not yet been imported into the program Please import the game board graphic using the Load Game Board command If a server based game board is called for by a Game File a Board Downloading placeholder is shown while the server based game board is downloading DOWNLOADING GAME DOARD Please wait while the game board is downloaded This may take up toa minute or two depending on the size of the image and your download speed Grid Overlay A square grid or hex grid may be overlaid on top of the game board The Grid Overlay will be automatically cropped to fit the size of your current game board Anything placed on the game board goes on top of the Grid Overlay except for mini bases and tile components The grid may be shown or hidden at any time with the press of the G hotkey The Grid Overlay will fade out or fade in as appropriate exception if the host has specified that a particular Game File must be used without a grid it will not be possible to show the grid and if the host has specified that a particular Game File must only used with a grid it will not be possible to hide the grid The host can dictate whether the Grid Overlay is avai
164. table with a default orientation but once on the game table you can rotate them as needed In addition to placing components directly on the game table components can also be initially placed on top of other units even on top of components set to Tile or Lock either via a double click as for a standard deployment or via Copy amp Paste operation w Selecting and Deselecting a Unit Simply click on a unit to select it By default a Movement Guide is displayed around a unit when a unit is selected showing which number key to press to move the unit in a particular direction the number correlate to the layout of a keyboard s numberpad The Movement Guide always appears above other units so that it is never obscured The Movement Guide feature can be disabled in Preferences If the unit is a mini it will also be highlighted with a white halo when it is selected To deselect a unit simply click on any empty spot on the game table or on a component that is set to Tile or Lock The host may select any unit on the game table but players may only select units that have been assigned to them by the host or units that have been set to be owned by Everyone see the Owner command below Moving a Unit Select a unit then press one of the movement keys preferably on the keypad to move the selected unit in the direction specified by the Movement Guide The unit will glide smoothly from its origina
165. the Select command is to press a movement hotkey to separate the selected unit from a stack of probably similar units or perhaps utilize the Move to Top hotkey Arrange The Arrange submenu contains the commands Stack Stack amp Shuffle Stagger and two submenus Move to Top and Move to Bottom These commands are explained below Stack amp Shuffle This command is only available for multi unit selections Selecting this command will co locate the selected units and shuffle their stacking order aka z order A card shuffling sound effect is played when you use the Stack amp Shuffle command The primary purpose of this command is to allow card decks to be used in the game table window It is also useful for boardgames or wargames which use a chit pull mechanic e g pull a random counter from a cup in which case the top most unit after shuffling is to be considered the random unit pulled Shuffling a stack automatically discards any cards in the stack that were being held by a player and flips them over if needed so that the back of the card is showing It will also reset any card s rotation to 0 degrees This makes it easy to shuffle a discard pile back into a deck without first having to manually straighten out any rotated cards and or flip them over to be face down The Stack amp Shuffle command uses the lowest unit in the stacking order as the location where the selected units will be stacked
166. the Turn Sequencer A popup menu will appear that allows you to select the new Status Players may only change the Status of a unit they own Components also have a Status setting but there is no visible halo on the game table to indicate a component s Status However the Turn Sequencer will display the Status color if that option has been enabled by the host Base Type available for minis only Minis can have a base displayed underneath them not unlike traditional tabletop miniatures The shape of a mini s base square or hexagonal will automatically match the current grid type BGE offers 12 base styles to choose from for each mini s base or you may choose to not use a base at all There are two base styles available that can be used to indicate a mini s Team a green tinted clear base and a red tinted clear base Neutral minis can use the untinted clear base The default base type is Clear which lets you see the underlying terrain that the mini is standing on but you can change that default from the second Preferences screen To select a different base simply select one from the Base submenu on the mini s contextual popup menu Dice Macros Measure Range Edit Notes Label Status None Sideboard Hide H Clear Takoi Clear Facingless Portrait v Black D Kudo Dark Grey Light Grey Dark Blue Light Blue Green Maroon Brown Flip Image Arrange Owner v Include in Turn Sequence Edit in Turn Se
167. the players to view the particular area of the game table that the host is currently viewing Most of these commands are self explanatory but a few are detailed further below Y Force Full Update If the host has one or more players logged into his her game session the host will have a Force Full Update command available in the game table menu This command while not normally needed can help troubleshoot any problems that may arise with the player clients being out of sync with the host Create Multi Token Component The Create Multi Token Component command is only available when a game session is not currently being hosted it is intended to be used during the game creation process not in actual play Selecting this command will bring up a media browsing panel prompting you to select a Category either from a local folder or from an artpack The Create button at the bottom of the media browsing panel will be dimmed until a Category with more than one token is selected Clicking on the Create button when it is enabled will create a component on the game table and assign it every token in the selected Category at a default scale of 50 Any media assets needed will be automatically imported Create Deck The Create Deck command is only available on a licensed Gamer Client and only if a game is not currently being hosted Activating this command will open the Components browser prompting you to choose the folder dire
168. the table once the current token has been randomly set and the unit redrawn on the game table window If a component unit contains only two tokens and the component s name includes the word coin BGE will play a coin flipping sound instead of a die rolling sound The sound s for rolling dice on the game table window are determined by the Preference setting for dice sounds Note that this feature works only with components not with minis Turn Sequencer Open the Turn Sequencer window by pressing the T hotkey or by clicking the Turn Sequencer button in the Commands panel The Turn Sequencer is a highly configurable self sorting table based list which can be opened independently of other panels It supports both turn based e g Monopoly Dominion and phase based e g Car Wars sequencing mechanics as well as systems that use a perpetually increasing tick impulse sequencing mechanic e g Phoenix Command The host can configure the Turn Sequencer to display the information he needs for the game system being played see The Turn Sequencer Setup Wizard below The Turn Sequencer can be resized and the window remembers its size and location between game sessions In the top left corner the Turn Sequencer keeps track of the current game turn often called a Round The table based portion of the Turn Sequencer automatically sorts the units in the order in which they are to act each game turn with the currently
169. this command only sets the zoom level on the local client not on remote clients Load a Server Based Game Board The host can load a server based game board by typing in a specially formatted command Typing board theURLto TheGameBoard sans quotes into the chat input field and hitting RETURN ENTER will cause every connected client including the host to load the specified game board from a server The URL you provide could be to your own game board that you ve uploaded to your personal webspace or it might be a game board you saw elsewhere on the internet Launch a Web Page The host can launch a web page on connected players screens by typing in a specially formatted command in the chat window and pressing RETURN ENTER The format for this command is url sans quotes followed by the complete URL The web page will load using the default web browser on each computer A sample Web Links file in the Text Macros folder is provided to help illustrate the feature s usefulness Feel free to replace the file s content with your own favorite websites Y Rename Units Hosts can rename the selected unit or units by issuing a command in the Chat window For example typing rename Fate Card sans quotes in the Chat window and then hitting RETURN ENTER will edit all of the selected units so that they are called Fate Card Resize Units The host can resize the currently displayed token on the selected unit or un
170. this command will make the unit s row editable in the Turn Sequencer This command is particularly useful when many units share the same name as it would be difficult to identify the correct unit in the Turn Sequencer Selecting this command opens the Turn Sequencer if it s not already open selects the unit in question and puts that row of the Turn Sequencer into Edit Mode ready to accept new data Lock available to host only for components only Components may be locked down so that the host does not accidentally select or move them during play A locked component is drawn above the Grid Overlay Tile available to host only for components only Components may be declared Tiles so that the host does not accidentally select or move them during play Tiles are similar to locked components except that tile components are drawn under the grid overlay and under mini bases Tiles are useful when constructing a game board out of component parts e g in a tile laying game or a game with geomorphic game boards The hotkey Shift T can be used to activate the Tile command It works with both single unit and multiple unit selections Free Floating available to host only for components only Components may be declared as free floating which means they are always on the screen because they are unaffected by scrolling or zooming of the game table This is useful for things like map legends compass roses scale bars and game ch
171. tly what you re seeing since with the other method they will only see the portrait art if they select the unit or position the mouse cursor over it With either method it may be useful to save this Charts amp Tables token as a Deployment so that it can be easily added to any Game File e Consider using the game table window for other things besides game components Use the game table window as a virtual corkboard and put whatever you want on it taking advantage of the fact that you can move individual components on it as needed Want to hold a vote on what game to play next Use the text tool to write up multiple choices and have the players move their tokens onto the choice they prefer There are many ways to use the software s existing features in ways other than their intended purpose Your imagination is the limit Support If you have a question about BGE would like to report a bug or submit a feature request it is usually best to do so in the Battlegrounds Forums so that others can benefit from the answers posted or join in on the discussion If possible try reading the content already posted to see if your issue has already been brought up Technical support and customer service can either be handled via the forums or via email whichever you deem most appropriate for the issue at hand Contact E Mail Addresses For technical support and customer service support battlegroundsgames com For all other issues admin
172. ton whenever you change the zoom level letting you know your current setting Possible zoom settings range from 20 to 200 Battlegrounds Gaming Engine BGE allows you to select the desired zoom level and fine tune it before the zoomed game table re renders This makes zooming to a particular zoom level faster You can also use the scroll wheel on your mouse to change the zoom level Each notch on the scrollwheel adjusts the zoom level by 10 Hold down the CONTROL key while turning the scrollwheel to adjust the zoom level by 50 for each notch of the scrollwheel For finer control of the zoom level hold down the CONTROL key and the ALT key OPTION key on a Mac while turning the scrollwheel and each notch on the scrollwheel will adjust the zoom level by 1 instead Double clicking on the game table will also pop up a menu that allows you to set the zoom level directly without having to navigate through intermediate zoom levels More precise zooming in 1 and 5 increments is also possible using the Zoom command on the game table s popup menu Precise zooming is primarily intended for projector users who are playing with real miniatures while projecting the game board onto a table Lastly the Zoom Level can be set via a command typed into the Chat window This will be covered later under Issuing Commands from the Chat Window wy Placeholder Game Boards When a Game File calls for a game board that canno
173. tware We recommend a mix Print out this manual for easy reference and use it as a guided walk through of the software reading each section as you follow along on your computer Remember that you don t need to learn every single feature of the program at once Start with the basics then teach yourself the more advanced features gradually as you need them There are also some tutorial videos available on the Battlegrounds Games forums and additional tutorial videos will eventually be posted there If you are brand new to this software we recommend that you start small perhaps with just 2 to 4 players until the host is comfortable enough with the software to handle larger groups A practice session is also recommended prior to running a real game in order to work out any technical issues and to allow users to learn the software s basic features Learning Mode BGE has a feature that lets users learn the software more easily by keeping advanced features hidden until the user feels ready for them and by providing occasional instructions the first time you use a given feature in a particular BGE session By default BGE has Learning Mode turned on It can be turned off or back on from the Preferences panel The following commands are not available when Learning Mode is enabled Flip Image Free Floating Screen Antialias and Cursor Mode wy Help Screen Press the key to bring up the Help screen or press the
174. ubmachine guns hand grenades and demolition charges The game features 5 scenarios and a campaign game Asteroid Zero Four Game Box A two player science fiction game portraying a nuclear war between two mining bases in the asteroid belt of our solar system Each player commands an asteroid base equipped with laser turrets command bunkers ore 17 00 processing plants landing pads and defensive missile launchers Each player also has spacecraft missiles and an arsenal of nuclear ordinance at their disposal to attack the enemy asteroid base with To win you must destroy or disable the enemy mining operations in a fixed number of turns while trying to keep your opponent from doing the same to you Search for the Emperor s Treasure In this charming tongue in cheek fantasy boardgame often considered a boardgame version of classic Dungeons amp Dragons two to eight players take the role of a fighter elf cleric or magician then wander around the board collecting arms treasure and resolving encounters which can be good or bad 8 00 The game ends when a certain number of Imperial Treasures has been found depending on how many players are playing at which point the player with the most treasures wins Gameplay is competitive half the fun is throwing nasty encounters on the other players Close Assault Basic Game A game of man to man combat in WWII Soldiers can be standing crouching or prone and each post
175. ue box If a given panel is already open it will be closed instead The only buttons on the Commands panel that are not toggles are Load Game File Save Game File Load Deployment Save Deployment and Notepad The Commands panel can be positioned anywhere on the screen or even on a second monitor by dragging its title bar Its location is stored between sessions The Commands panel is entirely optional since it can be toggled on or off with a hotkey or permanently disabled in Preferences New users may prefer to use the Commands panel initially until they learn the various commands and their respective hotkeys and then they can disable it to keep the program s interface out of the way particularly projector users Users who don t feel comfortable using a program without a visible interface or who dislike accessing the BG button s popup menu too frequently can leave the Commands panel enabled all the time wy The Game Table Window BGE s primary window is the game table window Most users will want to keep it large covering most of or the entire screen Windows users can resize the game table window by dragging on any of the window s edges Mac users can resize the window by dragging the handle in the lower right corner Game boards in BGE can be up to 40 x 40 squares or 40 x 46 hexes The game board graphic can measure up to 4000 pixels wide by 4000 pixels high Each cell on the game
176. ure affects their vulnerability and lines of sight Random sequencing mechanics a chit pull system simulate simultaneous movement the fog of war and combat friction without the bother of written orders Close Assault Advanced Game A game of man to man combat in WWII Soldiers can be standing crouching or prone and each posture affects their vulnerability and lines of sight Random sequencing mechanics a chit pull system simulate simultaneous movement the fog of war and combat friction without the bother of written orders Each unit represents an individual soldier weapon vehicle or piece of equipment Requires Close Assault Basic Game which is a free download Aliens Boardgame 9 Colonial Marines with limited armament must fight their way through the alien infested reactor room to the APC that will evacuate them to safety Fans of the Aliens movie should find this game very enjoyable and fans of the boardgame will be pleasantly surprised by how much the gameplay and atmosphere are enhanced by the software Aliens Boardgame Variant A mini expansion for the Aliens Boardgame conversion required for play This variant adds a few new elements to the game including 1 An awesome new map by Joshua Oram 2 A mandatory search for cocooned colonists before you can exit the map 3 New unit type Facehugger aliens 4 An on screen Motion Tracker that lets you know when the aliens will begin arriving on
177. urrent Lobby interface will likely be changed once the Lobby becomes more widely used Preferences Open the Preferences panel by pressing a hotkey P or by clicking on the Preferences button in the Commands panel BGE s Preferences panel lets you tailor the program s functions and interface to best suit your particular needs There are many user adjustable preference settings arranged on three separate Preference panel screens Preferences Grid Type Square H Grid Color Black H Grid Opacity 70 HH Movement Guide On HH Dice Roll Sound Effect Short B v Use Chat Sound Effects __ Learning Mode More Preferences t Cancel OK The first Preferences screen The settings that can be controlled from the first Preferences screen include choosing your grid type hexes or squares grid color and grid opacity enabling or disabling the Movement Guide changing the sound effects used for die rolls or turning them off completely whether or not to use sound effects during chat and enabling or disabling Learning Mode You will be able to preview your grid settings as you select them If you change your mind and press the Cancel button everything will revert to your prior settings Your settings are saved when you click on the OK button or on the More Preferences button and are automatically reloaded the next time you launch the program ty Some options lik
178. ut also the follow on expansions Zombinion Entrails the re theme of Dominion Intrigue and Zombinion Genocide the re theme of Dominion Seaside
179. utton hidden in the Views palette If the 5 Views on the second row of the Views palette i e Views 5 6 7 8 and 9 are named with just a space in the View Manager the background of the Views palette will be displayed at half height If all 10 Views are named with just a space in the View Manager the Views palette will be entirely hidden disabled for that Game File although hotkeys for switching Views will still function normally Y Unit Types Minis and Components There are two main categories of things that can be deployed on the game table minis and components These are collectively known as units Only the host may place units on the game table and only the host may delete them Minis Minis are used to represent the characters troops animals and monsters on the game board basically anything that can move attack and be killed Minis differ from Components because all minis have a base and a color coded Status halo unless these features have been manually turned off Minis also have a contextual popup menu accessed by right clicking on a Mini that offers many more options than the contextual popup menu does for Components The mini whose turn it is to act according to the Turn Sequencer is highlighted with a blue halo This visual cue is useful for players to know when they are expected to act A currently selected mini is highlighted with a white halo The white selection halo supercedes the
180. w All Q Location Belkin Router HH Show Network Port Configurations HH Check a configuration to make it active Drag configurations into the order you want to try them when connecting to a network On Port Configurations Internal Modem New Built in Ethernet Rename Built in FireWire i 4 Delete Duplicate i SSS rr Click the lock to prevent further changes Assist me Apply Now Enabling only Airport and disabling other network protocols should ensure that you can host games in BGE under Mac OS X Note For Leopard users the Network preferences screen is somewhat different 0 O0 Network CO show Location Automatic HH Status Connected Turn AirPort Off AirPort is connected to belkin54g and has the IP address 192 168 2 3 Network Name belkinS4g FH M Ask to join new networks Known networks will be joined automatically If no known networks are available you will be asked before joining a new network M Show AirPort status in menu bar Advanced 2 f T Click the lock to prevent further changes Assist me For everything except AirPort you have to highlight the item click on the cog button at the bottom of the window and choose Make Service Inactive e A serious error has occurred Clicking the splash screen during launch can cause this error to occur particularly on Windows PCs Let the splash screen
181. window For example some game systems require opposed rolls where an attacker and defender must line up their dice after rolling them such that certain dice cancel out the opponent s dice Another example would be games with Yahtzee like dice rolling mechanics where you want to keep some dice from your first roll but re roll the rest Another use for this die rolling method is any game which requires you to roll more than 2 die types or die colors in a single roll since BGE s dice macros only Support two die types or die colors Most users will want to make use of this feature using the free Dice artpack but the feature will work with your own custom images as well Y fi 8 P nY abs Y n 3 se z G a P g d fY go 8 B gt amp G 0 y 9 P R Vv V hea a ar 3 8 4 d A sample of the dice images components from the free Dice artpack Here s how it works If one or more components with multiple tokens are selected the CONTROL R hotkey COMMAND R on a Mac will roll the die or dice the program will temporarily remove the dice component s from the game table window randomly select one of the component s tokens and assign it as the current token and then place the dice component s back on the game table window Rolling dice in this manner will play a sound effect while the dice are being shaken only if multiple dice are being rolled and will play a sound of dice landing on

BGE v1.0 User Manual - Battlegrounds Games

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