Want to try out PBEM

I am interested in playing some games by email, I have never tried it before, but seems to be something I would enjoy.

How exactly does it work? Does one player simply email the other and say I move piece a and b to square 7 and piece c to square 8 and so forth? How does dice rolling work?

I received a copy of hammer of the scots for yule and with my gaming buddies I think it will collect dust, so I would like to try that on PBEM, but would be happy to try others,as I have way too many games collectiong dust.

Thanks

Most PBEM uses a moderation and/or automation service of some sort. There are all sorts of moderation services, some of them web-based and others are applications you can download.

In the latter category the most popular is a Java app called Vassal ( www.vassalengine.org ). Vassal is gives you a basic software package for which you can then download modules for the games you want to play. Each module is basically a user interface for that game: so, a board, dice to roll, pieces and cards you can drag around, and "private" windows that the other players can't see for you to stash private stuff.

The starter player loads his module and then starts a log file and makes his moves. He then sends all the other players a copy of the log file. They can load this into their copy of the module and play back the moves he's made. So the next player in line then has the game state at the end of the first player's move and he picks up from there, making his own log and sending it out from there and so on.

Clear? As mud, probably. Best suck it and see. If you want to play by email, it's worth learning how to use vassal.

The various PBEM websites track the game state for you but they all have their own interfaces you need to learn, often a different ones for different games and of course each site only offers a very limited selection of games. That's another reason why Vassal is so cool. But vassal is very wargame-orientated and if you want to play Euros PBEM, you'll probably have to use a website.

The bad news is that AT-style games are quite uncommonly offered as PBEM - unlike wargame publishers, AT publishers tend to discourage modules being made for their games. There are some: we've run PBEM games of Arkham Horror and Dune using Vassal, and there's probably a few more, but choice is limited.

I do quite a bit of PBEM. I'd be glad to give you a game of something that interests you if we can find some sort of moderation service for it, and talk you through the details.

Thanks MATTDP. I will take a look at Vassel tonight and see if I can figure it out.

Hey and welcome to the site. I'm a bit of a nosey bugger when it comes to Vassal and new starters - anyway, click on this LINK and it will download the folder (for Windows) for HotS with the latest module in plus some rules doc and other stuff. Save the folder where ever, Vassal doesn't care - I usually have a folder structure under the Vassal install directory for modules and log files.

Thanks guys- I got vassel to work and the Hamemr of the scots module... so who wants to teach me how it all works together in a game. I have only played HotS once...