inconsequential ruminations

I had one of my best gaming experiences for a long time on Friday. I played Battle Cry with Andy Daglish (aforandy) on VASSAL, using Skype to communicate. It was a revelation.

I have never enjoyed textual chat. It is far too slow and makes my fingers hurt. Similarly, online board gaming has always felt frustratingly slow, impersonal and clumsy. In general, I would rather play-by-email or web or not at all. Yesterday was a major step forward.

I had never played Battle Cry before, only Memoir ‘44, but using Skype, we were able to fix rules questions, and other confusions really quickly. Andy was even able to give me a genuinely interesting little history lesson about the First Battle of Bull Run. The whole game experience was so much more enjoyable. Hearing Andy’s voice change as my cavalry crushed his artillery or when I stupidly moved my infantry outside my trenches was great.

This will definitely be the first game of many with the VASSAL/Skype combination. Andy said he enjoyed it too and even mentioned that he would like to try Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage,when we get burned out on Battle Cry. That could take a while, as there is no doubt it is a classic.

If anyone wants to try Skype/VASSAL with me, my username for both is icheyne.

I hope Skype supports more than three people and webcams soon.

Update
It turns out that Skype now supports full conference calling.