Vassal
VASSAL is a free, open-source engine for playing board games by computer. VASSAL supports many types of games, including war games, hobby games, card games, miniatures games, and even board-based role-playing games. You can play live on the VASSAL Server or a peer-to-peer connection, play by email, or play offline in hotseat or solitaire modes. There are currently over two thousend VASSAL game modules available for free, and more are being created all the time.

System requirements
  • Minimum JRE version 1.6.0 Build 27 GA5 (2013-02-17)


Vassal on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Installing Vassal
Download the zip file VASSAL-3.2.17-other.zip. Open the zip file en copy the directory/map "VASSAL-3.2.17" to a drive of your choice. Mind that you have enough space on that drive, because all downloaded modules are stored there too. And some of those modules creates lots of pictures which needs in term enough space. Go to the directory/map and delete the files "VASSAL.bat", VASSAL.sh and VASSAL.exe. That's it! In the subdirectory/map "doc" you can find some information and manuals. If you want more information you can go to the Documentation page. You can find the modules list and modules on the Modules page.

The used vassal.cmd file
Vassal works with Open JDK in OS/2-eCS. I have made a "vassal.cmd" file with the following contents; 
@echo off
set CLASSPATH=
set BEGINLIBPATH=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
set path=[drive: java]\JAVA160ga5\bin
[drive: vassal]
cd [drive: vassal]\VASSAL-3.2.17
javaw -Duser.home=[drive: vassal]\VASSAL-3.2.17 -Duser.dir=[drive: vassal]\VASSAL-3.2.17 -classpath
 ./lib/Vengine.jar VASSAL.launch.ModuleManager %1 2>vassalbugs.txt
The line beginning with "javaw ...." is broken into two lines for the sole purpose of this page. The lines "javaw..." and "./lib/Vengine.jar..." are one line. Mind the spaces between the commands. I use 2 separate folders (directories), one for Java and one for Vassal with the files created by this program. The references used in the cmd file;

  • [drive: java] = drive with Java
  • [drive: vassal] = drive with Vassal

should be replaced by real drive letters. Adjust the file from the distribution below, ie. different drive and directories. Save "vassal.cmd" and copy it to the "VASSAL-3.2.17" folder(directory) if you didn't do that already.

Create a new program object. Specify the path and file name: "[drive: vassal]\VASSAL-3.2.17\vassal.cmd". In the tabpage Session check the boxes "OS/2 window", "Running as an icon" and "Close Window to end program". In the tabpage General you can enter the name "Vassal". The download also has an OS/2 icon.

I want to point out that you need to download a module for playing a game. Vassal is only the engine. Also mind that loading a module will start with some kind of internal batch. In this batch memory can be specified as much as 512Mb or may be even more.


Vassal on an eComStation machine with Open JDK


Parameters / options explained
  • The specification "-Duser.home=[drive: vassal]\VASSAL-3.2.17" will ensure that Vassal will save all necessary files in own directory instead of saving them in the home directory.
  • The specification "-Duser.dir=[drive: vassal]\VASSAL-3.2.17" is from the given batches and are for the program to find its program parts.
  • The addition "2>vassalbugs.txt" ensures that errors are saved in the file "vassalbugs.txt". The 2 in "2>" is not a typo! The file stays empty on my machine. The program has its own errorlog which won't stay empty because all startup lines are specified as well.

Download
In the file you can find all necessary files, all drive letters in the command file are on set to C:. You can download it here: vassal-os2.zip.

revision September 16, 2018