制作自己的兵棋

CreatingYourOwnCountersAguidebyGaryChristiansenThemostdauntingtaskincreatingyourDTPgameisgoingtobethecreationofthecounters.It'snotsimplyamatterofglueandcut,evenwhenallyouhaveisthesheetofcountergraphicsandacardboardbackingtoattachitto.It'samazinghowhardtheprocesscanbecomeifyougetpickyabouttheappearanceandquality.1.

Creatingcountergraphics

2.

ScanningDTPcountersheets

3.

Printingcountersformounting

4.

Preparingthecounterspriortomounting

5.

Gluingthecounterstothebacking

6.

DoubleSidedcounters

7.

Cuttingcountersapart

(

cuttingbyhand

)&(

cuttingusing12rotarycutter

)MakingthoseprettypicturesAssumingyou'rejustcreatingreplacementcountersorcreatinganewsettoreplaceyourwornoutcounters...orperhapsgeneratingyourowncountersforagameyouaredesigningforyourself,there'salotofefforttobedonetocreatetheimageyoustartwith.Therearesomechallengestodoingthissmoothlywithoutmakingamessofthecounters.WhatIusetocreateentirelynewcountersheetsisaprogramcalledVisio2000fromMicrosoft.Aquicksearchoftheweb(on1/26/2005at



)turnedupcopiesforsalerunninganywherefrom$35to$55.ThecurrentversionisVisio2003andrunsinthe$200-500range...soI'llcontinuetouseanoldcopyratherthanshelloutbigbucks.ThereasonIusethistoolspecificallyisitpermitsmeprettyprecisemeasurementsincenteringthenumbers,thegraphicimages,andawiderangeoffontoptions.Ifoundit'sveryeasytopickupandusewithoutanyexperience.Butthisisnottheonlytoolthatcanbeused.Visio2000PaintShopProwilldothegridsandpermitmeasurementsalso,doingalignmentwithoutproblemsandothergeneralpurposeartisticwork.Availablefrom

JascSoftware

forabout$100-120,ithasawiderrangeofmoreartisticfeatures.JascPaintShopProversion7CorelDrawisprettypriceyatthecurrentedition,butIcanfindaversion9onthewebforsalefor$35.CorelDrawisalsoaJascSoftwareproduct.AdobeIllustratorisprettypricey,butshouldalsoprovidethesamefunctions.AsIunderstandit,Illustratorhassomeverynicefeatures.Ijustcan'taffordit.Thepointisyoushouldusethegraphicsprogramyouaremostcomfortablewiththatwillallowyoutosetupgridlinestoworkwith,willdoobjectalignment,canscalethegraphicstothesizeyouwishtoworkwith,andpermitsyouthedegreeofgraphicqualityyouwantwhenyou'reproducingthegraphics.Mostofthesetoolswillsnaptogridanddoobjectalignment,andlayersinoneformoranother.Theseareallveryusefultoolsbecauseyoudon'twantyourgridtooverlaythetopofthecountersafteryou'vecompletedalltheartwork.AGridtoworkwithNomatterwhichoftheaboveyouuse,you'llneedagridtoworkwithinthegraphicstomeasurethecorrectsizeofthecounterswhenyou'reworkingtocreatethem.ReplacementcountersforSeelowe(SPI1974)-GridontopTheabovepicturehasagridlineforthesizeofthecounters.Thesecountersare1/2insize.Ideally,youalsowanta

gutter

areaaroundtheedgeofthecounterthatnoprintwillgointo.Irarelyactuallydefineagutterarea,butstriveinsteadtokeeptheprintedareawellawayfromtheedges.That'snottosayyoucan'tmakeacounterwithgraphicsfromedgetoedge,butwhenyoucutthecountersout,anythingintheareaclosetotheedgecouldbeslicedontobothsidesofthecut.Itrytomakesurethere'snothinginthatareabecausecuttingisnotaprecisionactivitynomatterhowcarefulyouare.ReplacementcountersforSeelowe(SPI1974)-GridshiftedtothebackAfterthecountersarealllaidout,Imovethegridtotheback.Thegridwillbeusedforguidesafterprintingforcuttingthecountersout.Soit'susefultohavelateranyway.ThereasonIdon'tleavethegridonthetopisthatwhenIcutthecountersout,nomatterhowcarefulIam,thatverythinlittlelinecanstillendupontheedgeofoneofthecountersortheotherandgivesalopsidedappearancetothecounter.Anothercriticalreasontohavethatgridaroundtheedgesisthatifyou'regoingtobematchingupfrontandbackprintjobsonthecounters,thosemarksgiveyouusefulregistrationpointsofreferencetousewhenattachingthesheetstothebacking.NatovsSilhouettesEachofthosecountersinthepicturesaboverepresentsthemixof4objects.There'salargerectangleinthebackgroundthathasthecolor.Itdoesn'thavetoworkthatway,andtheobjectwiththeunittypesymbolcouldhavetheunitcolorembeddedinit.There'stheunitdesignationontheleft,andthecombatvaluesatthebottom.Eachofthemarecenteredtogetherasnecessary.TheNATOsymbolsinthesecounterscomefromoneofthereallycoolfontsTomMouatcreatedthatIdownloadedfromhiswebpage().I'vehadtodosometweakingoffontstogetsomeofthepsuedo-NATOsymbolsthatSPIusedintheirheyday,butonewayoranother,youcangetmostofthefontsyouneedtodoNATOsymbolsthatway.UsingTomMouat'sMapsymbolsRegimentfont,theinitialsquarefortheunitiscreated,displayingaNATOarmorregimentsymbol.Theunitdesignationwasaddedontheside.Thenumbercanberotatedtofaceanydirection.Finally,thecombatvalueandmovementisaddedtothebottomofthecounter.Makingtheboxforthenumbersrunedgetoedgeensurescentering.Thefinalproductinthiscasewithalltheassociatedobjectsintheirplace.Allthatismissingisthebackgroundcoloroftheunit.Butwhenyou'redoingyourcounters,yougetsomechoices.ReplacingmissingunitsfromoldgamesusingtheNATOtypeofofmilitarysymbolsisn'ttoohard.Perhapsyouwouldratherhavesilhouettes.SomeofMouat'sfontsincludesilhouettes,butyoucanalsobringothergraphics