As someone currently playing with the Simplest Campaign Rules right now, (see Blacklancer99's thread), I have to agree with Nomad. The terrain chart should be shifted to create more empty space... although, if you prefer terrain, then it should be shifted only slightly.    But we have found terrain playing a huge role in the outcome, especially with some scenarios.

Maybe the squad leader unit images aren't as distinctive as I remember... see here (Germans are on top, Americans on the bottom. They are distinctive silhouettes but maybe not distinctive enough at a glance.)

Panzer Grenadier games go one step better. The unit icons for infantry are distinct but they also have national or unit badges above the icon, again in addition to different colors. They even have unit type symbols crammed on those counters.  An Italian unit. An Australian unit. German naval infantry.

Combat Commander relies a little too much on color, IMO. The infantry depictions are distinctive but not dramatically so (similar to Squad Leader). See here. They do have national ID icons over which the infantry are superimposed (from left to right: American Star, Soviet Star, German Cross). But are they visible enough? Not sure...

Panzer Leader relied entirely on color... which is no good.

I understand you are sensitive to the issue but if you go back and look at what I said and meant I think you will see that I did think carefully about what I wrote. All I was saying was that color should be one of the ways in which counters are distinguished -- and then I highlighted this by pointing out examples that effectively combine color with differentiating symbols/icons so that those who are colorblind are not left out. I clearly was not saying that we should ignore your demographic or the challenges it poses.

I don't think they should be made publicly available as it would greatly, IMO, cut into the sales of the products.

For use in Vassal, one needs to use one of the excel sheets to build ships from the settings and then cut and paste the drake notation into the Vassal properties box. Time-consuming, I know, but preserves the rights of MJ12.

Agreed. I like the look, just not quite as much blending as there is now.

Also, as I said earlier and as Blacklancer suggests, I think having 3 or 4 different maps would be nice. Earthy, moon, ice, desert, volcanic, etc. Domed cities would be cool, too.

I concur! The old Starship Troopers and Ogre look.

With the right unit graphics, that could work. I *prefer* a little less brightness but I am on board with iconic terrain hexes.

I am a little confused by your element/unit distinction but if the maneuver elements (i.e., counters) on the board will be squads and individual vehicles, then I think the terrain should be more "realistic" to allow for LOS that corresponds to terrain rather than hexes. Although, to simplify the game, having whole hex terrain would make LOS easier.

Game design is never easy, is it, Dan? 

What kind of throwback terrain are you thinking of? Squad Leader? Panzer Leader? Or a slightly updated look to the old style, like in Eisenbach Gap?

A better word might be "Operational Starmada". I have worked on some rules for that kind of thing but I did not think to include land operations.

1, 3, 4 and 7 are already sold here.

You rocketh! Happy Holidays!  :geek:

I'm modifying the Vassal module for Starmada (see here) to use with Dreadnoughts and, eventually, Grand Fleets. I haven't gotten very far. In fact, every ship in the module so far is on display in this one battle.