Matrix Games Forums

Round Air / Rectangle Naval / Square Ground Units (v3.0)

For players:
Zip File - round air (Hairog inspired) / rectangle naval / square ground
Also make sure to check out PanzerMike's excellent derivative of this mod.

For modders:
units.xcf (27MByte, layered GIMP source file for units.png)
Counters.pptx (22MByte, master counter layout and silhouettes
Symbols.pptx (0.3MByte, unit symbols (e.g., INF, ARM etc...)

Note: Permission granted to use these files in any way you choose so long as you have fun doing it!

(the following images are still from v2 - I will try to update them soon)

1940 image
1941 image
1944 image


All Square Units (v2.0)

units.png - All Square Units (Zov's "Traditional")

1940 image
1941 image
1944 image


Change Description
=============================
v3.0
=============================
I put all the .png files into a single .zip file for ease of upload/download management.
Pick-n-choose which files you like (you don't have to use them all, just the ones you like!)

Units.png
Better aligned counter image and unit type symbol with game-engine generated text for a bunch of minors (e.g., Yugoslavia, Turkey, etc...)
moved FTMS air unit letters above combat value to upper right so it doesn't conflict with reinforcement priority plus sign
Air unit drop-shadow spills slightly over to top of next air unit - reduce to drop-shadow to 3 offset/5 blur (instead of 6/8)

terrain.png (file added in v3)
Saturated the colors a bit

weather.png
Removed snow/heavy snow spill-over into rain/heavy rain
Fiddled with rain/heavy rain (PanzerMike's rain weather.png is similar and may end up being better. Check it out.)

supply.png (file added in v3)
Supply numbers to upper left of hex so they conflict with units less

tiles.png (file added in v3)
made green a little "greener" (i.e., more saturated)

tileFill.png (file added in v3)
saturated colors a bit more makes them more distinctive on the map (imo)
Make woods more pronounced
Mountains/Depression symbol updated to look more distinctive and "craggy" (not sure I like this change yet, opinions?)

ocean.png (file added in v3)
Much darker ocean (maybe too dark - still deciding whether I like this one or not)

control.png
no changes to this file


=============================
v2.0
=============================
units.png - round air/rect navy
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Air unit category letters changed to FTMS (to match Hairog mod letters)
All minors have round air unit counters now
All European minors have with colorized air/naval silhouettes

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units.png - traditional all-square
-----------------------------
no changes

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weather.png
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Changed rain to more easily differentiate from heavy rain

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control.png (new)
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Darkens territorial control colors compared to the original
(purely a matter of taste, but on some monitors the darker colors is more easily seen)

And here's Tunisia in the rain.

Nice. I like the counter 3D effect. I would only change the triangle HQ counter to hexagon, the former will be almost covered by units stacking over and has limited space for the unit flag simbols etc.

triangle HQ counter to hexagon

ooh... I like it - I'm going to try hexagons to see how it looks. I wanted something so it stands out, but as you point out, the XXXX actually falls off the triangle peak.

-Mark R.

I think for some the German counters may be difficult to read.
Black on Dark Gray / Green is not the best of combination.

Otherwise excellent job.

ORIGINAL: Black on Dark Gray / Green is not the best of combination.

Yeah, that's the German feldgrau uniform color - I've used it in the past very effectively for counter sets. But WarPlan uses a flat-black for the unit value numbers with no highlighting, outlining or ability to have other number colors. So that might drive me to lighter counter backgrounds. The French fleets are even worse.

-Mark R.

I like your counters Mark. Please post when done.

Could you also make a slight mod for yours wherein all the units use "traditional" counters using your counters scheme?

(I am an old board war gamer, and not into the triangle look or the way the ships look currently, the round air units are okay, maybe the ships could look more like those larger ones like Avalon Hill did back in the 60s and 70s, sort of like the game Bismark, but also kind of like Avalanche Press did with Great War at Sea)

Wow that looks amazing.

Please post when done.

Sure will - no promises on when, though. There are a lot of minors to get through [X(]

Could you also make a slight mod for yours wherein all the units use "traditional" counters using your counters scheme?

Most likely. Once I have the basic template fully in place, that may be fairly easy to do. We'll see.

(I am an old board war gamer, and not into the triangle look or the way the ships look currently, the round air units are okay, maybe the ships could look more like those larger ones like Avalon Hill did back in the 60s and 70s, sort of like the game Bismark, but also kind of like Avalanche Press did with Great War at Sea)

Yea, I'm not so thrilled with the triangle either. I liked the circle air units so much, I thought it might be a useful eye-contact to have HQ and Navy different too. I think the Navy might work fine as is and maybe apec's hexagon HQ will work better too. But in any event, I expect it will be easy to make things "traditional" square counters as an alternative.

-Mark R.

Thanks Mark!

Appreciate your efforts for this old board war gamer

ORIGINAL: Zovs

Thanks Mark!

Appreciate your efforts for this old board war gamer

I'm right there with 'ya Zovs, my first wargame was a Christmas gift from my mom in the early 1970s, AH's Third Reich (1st edition if I recall correctly). I quickly progressed from there to GDW's Europa series.

-Mark R.

Wow, looks great! The drop shadow is a -little- dark for my taste, though.

3D effect is a brilliant idea. Good work!

ORIGINAL: mroyer

ORIGINAL: Zovs

Thanks Mark!

Appreciate your efforts for this old board war gamer

I'm right there with 'ya Zovs, my first wargame was a Christmas gift from my mom in the early 1970s, AH's Third Reich (1st edition if I recall correctly). I quickly progressed from there to GDW's Europa series.

-Mark R.

Mark,

Similar here, my mom bought me D-Day, Afrkia Korps, Battle of the Bulge, and Waterloo for Christmas in the 70s, my birthday is in June and I got Third Reich, Anzio, PanzerBlitz and PanzerLeader that was my introduction into board war games back then. lol

Mark,
not sure if it is doable but, since Warplan has three infantry units (divisions, small and large Corps) on map, would it be possible to make the large corps counters appear thicker than small corps and divisions? That will make easier to differentiate at glance the various infantry units.

Looking forward to see your completed unit mod.
Regads,

apec, I was wondering the same thing - indeed there are three infantry images in the units.png template implying that they might be for that purpose. If so, then yes it's possible/easy to do.

-Mark R.

ORIGINAL: mroyer

apec, I was wondering the same thing - indeed there are three infantry images in the units.png template implying that they might be for that purpose. If so, then yes it's possible/easy to do.

-Mark R.

Thanks Mark, great news.
Regards,

apec: Hexagon HQ instead of triangle.
Tried hexagon, was okay - better than triangle, but in the end I think perhaps simply square is the best.

Cohen_slith: lighter German Wehrmacht
Done.

Fintilgin: Lighten the drop shadow
Done

apec: thicken large corps vs small corps and divisions
Tried this, but all three infantry sizes apparently use the same template symbol. I'm not sure what the other two inf symbols are for - perhaps Alvaro can clarify.

TODO:
All aircraft/naval silhouettes are the same - need to differentiate by nation.
Minor nations need to be done.

Zovs: Alternative for "traditional" square counters

Alternate counters with all squares just for Don Lazov.

Very nice !