A 3D/VR Virtual Table Top/Wargames Room

As mentioned in the last post my physical space for gaming has taken a dive for a month or so, and that proved to be the kick I needed to look at a 3D/VR virtual table top or virtual wargaming room. It's a project that's been in the offing for ages, ever since my Second Life days. I've used on-line 2D tools to do tabletop map movement (but not graduated yet to Roll20), but I want something that really feels like I'm using a physical tabletop.

Now it just so happens that in the day job we've created something called Fieldscapes - www.fieldscapesvr.com, a 3D/VR authoring tool for learning and training, so I decided to see if I could press this into service as a 3D/VR VTT.

Initially I made a virtual, modular, Hexon table in Unity, along with some suitably sized (10 & 20cm frontage) blocks, brought them into Fieldscapes, laid them out and dropped in. And yes, I could pick up a block with the hand controller and move it on the table!

So I next made/bought/rescaled some simple terrain pieces (woods, hills, bridge, houses), and found a nice simple 3D "quality street" type soldier and cavalry man that I could shrink down to about 20mm and base up. In these came, and not only could I move them but just as in real life I could crouch down by the table top to look at them more closely.

On the next iteration I added some shelves to put example soldiers on (so no need to crouch), added separate tables for Horse & Musket and WW2 (found something to use as ~ 1/32nd tanks and men), and also created two map tables (using Google Maps images), and one table with a 3D sculpted terrain. I also put in a web browser screen so you can bring rules up in world!

In theory all these bits are multi-user, so someone else should be able to come in world and play with them with me - that's the next test! Then after that we see if we can scale up to a reasonable force on the table.

There is no doubt it seems a very real experience (right down to now having a floor littered with discarded soldier - and some just hanging in space!), but there is also no doubt that I wouldn't want to wear the current generation of VR headsets for a 1 hr+ gaming session. But things will evolve.

Finally, here's a current long shot of the room. I'm currently camped out in our Daden Campus building, but may get something a bit grander in due course!

Rommel Test Game - STARTEX

Been a bit quiet here of late what with work, a book deadline on 30 April and various domestic issues which have seen my physical space for wargaming shrink a bit (hence smaller table above!)

But I have now got the Rommel introductory adventure of Op Brevity underway. Allies attacking from bottom, with objectives being the two oases and the port. The Axis have low grade Italians deployed forward, a German Kampfgruppe on the back line, and another due to come on at Turn 8.

In the first "turn" (i.e Allied then Axis turn) the Brits pushed an armoured thrust into the desert on the R flank, the Germans came out to meet them, but the Brits came off the better and the German's bounced off with the higher casualties.

In right-centre there was a British infantry assault against the Italians on the hills. It failed but at lest one Italian unit only has 1 HP left.

On the right the coastal force engaged the Italians forward of the port. Again Italians damaged but not eliminated.

End of Turn 2

Impressions so far ... not wonderful I'm afraid. The use of the Ops Dice and the range of Events and Tactics make it quite Saga like, you seem to spend more time worrying about dice allocation decisions and choosing a tactic to use than you do actually playing a "real" tactic on the table. Also the fact that tactics should be simultaneously revealed makes it not ideal for solo play.

In terms of game tactics you really need overwhelming force so you can eliminate a unit in one go, and that needs a combination of multiple units, ideally a flank attack, and the deployment of some good Ops Dice tactics. So it may become a case of orchestrating a set-piece or two each turn - which in some way may not be too unrealistic. We'll see.

Ops boards at the end of Turn 2. Whether to reset and draw 3, or just draw 6 but have filled tactics I can see being a big decision.