masterboard manager

What is it?

The masterboard manager is designed to help players of Avalon Hill's board game TITAN, in situations where tracking the game on a physical board is not convenient. Specifically, it was designed to aid people who play via email or the web.

While players in face-to-face games must rely on their memory of opponents' recruits, it is difficult to do the same in games that last weeks, especially if you play in more than one at a time. This program will assist players by allowing them to keep track of what they know, or think they know, about their opponents' legions, as well as remember exactly what's in their own, without using a Titan set or paper.

This software is a work-in-progress. The eventual goal is to have it play the game in its entirety over the internet, but that functionality will come much later. For now it simply serves the same purpose as a masterboard and set of character counters, allowing tracking of the current game position.

Legal note: This project does not attempt to replace the board game, just to assist those who already own it. If you're using this program, you should own a hard copy of Titan. But since the game is currently out of print anyway, I seriously doubt I'm cutting into AH/Hasbro's revenue stream. I will also never charge for this software, only distrbute it for free. See License.txt for more info.

What does it do?

It tracks legion markers, contents, and positions on the masterboard, as well as the number of each type of creature remaining in the recruitment stacks. Users can do everything necessary to move, muster, split, and clean up after battles. In addition, there are features that allow you to make notes about the games and when you are unsure how an opponent split. Finally, it allows games to be saved, generating a simple text file that can be loaded later, or on a different computer.

What doesn't it do (yet)?

It doesn't enforce any of the rules of Titan, including movement, what can be recruited on a given land type, or by certain creatures, size of splits, etc. It also knows nothing about battle or battleboards.

System Requirements

This program was written to run on Windows 95/98, and also runs on ME, 2000, and NT. As far as I know, Win 3.1 is out, and I do not forsee a UNIX or Mac flavor ever being written. Neither disk space nor RAM (memory) is much of an issue, as it uses about 2 MB of each, and any 486 or Pentium processor will run it. (Who has a 386 anymore, anyway?? :) The primary requirement is display. It will run in 640x480 and 16 colors, but it won't be pretty. I recommend at least 800x600 and 256 colors, and the app is capable of utilizing up to 1280x1024 at 24-bit color.