Generic wargame counters -- instructions

Instructions

Note: You may want to download the HTML files of counters so you will have clean copies to modify.

Generic wargame counters — instructions

AA	Ả	10
1-4

AA	Ả	11
1-4

AA	Ả	12
1-4

AA	Ả	13
1-4

AA	Ả	14
1-4

AA	Ả	15
1-4

AA	Ả	16
1-4

AA	Ả	17
1-4

AA	Ả	18
1-4

AA	Ả	19
1-4

The sheet of 120 counters has six groups of twenty counters (two color combinations to a group), and the sheet of 240 counters has twelve groups of twenty counters (one combination to a group). You won’t need this many of the colors for an actual set of counters for a game, and you can define other colors instead, especially if you don’t have a color printer: you’ll want to define several shades of gray in that case.

Changing the Colors

Each nationality has a group of lines in the <head> section of the HTML code. Here is the definition of the nataa nationality:

TABLE.nataa-top {border-top:    3 solid #bb9; border-left: 3 solid #cca; border-right: 3 solid #eec; }
TABLE.botaa-bot {border-bottom: 3 solid #ffd; border-left: 3 solid #cca; border-right: 3 solid #eec; }
TABLE.nataa {color: #553; }
TD.nataa {font-weight: bold; text-align: center; font-size: 7pt;
  border-top:    3 solid #ffd; 
  border-left:   3 solid #eec; 
  background:            #ddb; 
  border-right:  3 solid #cca; 
  border-bottom: 3 solid #bb9; }

You will probably want to change the names of the nationality sections to something appropriate to the nationalities of the counters, so you might want to do a global search-and-replace, changing nataa to fren for French counters and natbb to russ for Russian ones.

The other highlighted fields are the specifications of the various shades of color used by this nationality.

The basic color is the background color, in this example, #ddb;. Add 111 and 222 (hexadecimal) to this to get the border-left and border-top colors, and subtract 111 and 222 to this to get the border-right and border-bottom colors. Add or subtract 666, 777, or 888 to get the TABLE.nataa color, or use #000; (black) or #fff; (white).

Note how various colors from the TD.nataa lines are copied to the TABLE.nataa-top and TABLE.botaa lines. These relationships should remain constant.

In the <body> section of the HTML code are the descriptions of the counters themselves. They come in lines of ten counters, each beginning with the lines

<table class=nataa-top border=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr>                                                                                 <!-- AA 1 -->

and ending with the lines

  </tr>
</table>

for as many lines as it takes to define all the required counters ten counters to a line.

The even-numered lines of counters have a class=nataa-bot specification instead of the class=nataa-top specification of the odd-numbered lines.

Each individual counter is defined by a group of lines like this:

  <td class=nataa><table border=0 class=nataa cellspacing=0 width=66>  <!-- 10 -->
    <tr>
      <td class=idw valign=bottom>AA</td>
      <td class=sym>A&#x309;</td>
      <td class=idw valign=bottom>10</td>
      </tr>
    <tr>
      <td colspan=3 class=csw>1-4</td>
      </tr></table></td>

The two nataa specifications are the nationality code for specifying the colors on the counter. The AA is the text to appear to the left of the unit-type symbol, and the second 10 is the text to appear to the right. (The first 10 is an index to this counter’s location in the HTML code, and shouldn’t be changed.)

The unit-type symbol is defined by Ả, with the A specifying an infantry symbol, and the ̉ specifying that there is to be a corps size-symbol over it.

Here is a modified line of counters:

Res	Ȧ	WI
2-4

Res	Ȧ	OR
2-4

Res	Ȧ	TX
2-4

Res	Ȧ	AL
2-4

Res	Ȧ	AZ
2-4

Res	Ȧ	AK
1-4

Res	Ȧ	ME
2-4

Res	Ȧ	FL
2-4

Res	Ȧ	CA
2-4

Res	Ḃ	OK
2-5

Too	Ả	Long
1-4

There’s a limited amount of room to the sides of the unit-type symbol, and it’s possible to put so much text there that it messes up the width of the counter, as in this one:

      <td class=idw valign=bottom>Too</td>
      <td class=sym>A&#x309;</td>
      <td class=idw valign=bottom>Long</td>

There are two built-in solutions to this problem.

Too	Ả	Long
1-4

First, you can change the class in the specifications of one or both groups of text from class=idw (id wide) to class=idn (id narrow), as has been done here, to specifiy a narrower characters.

      <td class=idn valign=bottom>Too</td>
      <td class=sym>A&#x309;</td>
      <td class=idn valign=bottom>Long</td>

LVI	Ả	24/277
1-4

There may be a two-part designation on one side.

<td class=idw valign=bottom>24/277</td>

LXI	Ả	24 277
1-4

Change the slash / to a line-break <br>:

<td class=idw valign=bottom>24<br>277</td>

LXI	Ả	24 277
1-4

Even spiffier, underline the top part. The line in question now reads like this:

<td class=idw valign=bottom><u>24</u><br>277</td>

US	J̉̎	3 1
2-2-8

Br	X	1
(1)-40

It’s also possible for the combat-strength and movement allowance to be too wide, giving an unwanted automatic line-break, as in this arimoble unit from SPI’s NATO or this truck (transportation) unit from PanzerArmee Afrika:

      <td colspan=3 class=csw>2-2-8</td>

      <td colspan=3 class=csw>(1)-40</td>

US	J̉̎	3 1
2-2-8

Br	X	1
(1)-40

Again, this is fixed with a change of class. This time, from csw (combat strength wide) to csn (combat strength narrow):

      <td colspan=3 class=csn>2-2-8</td>

      <td colspan=3 class=csn>(1)-40</td>

Sample modified counters:

I	Ả	1
4-4

I	Ả	2
4-4

I	Ả	3
4-4

Ge	V	7
0-0

US	Ủ	1
0-1-3

VIII	Y
0-6

VII	Ȧ̍	6 8
6-4

US	J̇	3 2
4-3-8

US	J̇̎	3 1
2-2-8

VII	Ȧ̍	6 9
5-4

Ru	B̈	Cos 1
1-6

IV	B̈	14 2
3-5

V	Ä̏	25 418
8-4

VII	G̈	7
7-3

NL	Ė	Hg
3-3-8

De	L̇	Wz
3-3-9

It	Ȧ	GG FF
1-4

Br	X	1
(1)-40

VI	H̆	5
7-6

VI	I̅	7c
2-7

Here’s a table of the basic symbols and modifiers:

Basic Symbol Size modifier Type modifier

@ @ I I R R ̀ `̀ ̉ `̉ ̍ `̍

A A J J ́ `́ ̊ `̊ ̎ `̎

B B K K ̂ `̂ ̋ `̋ ̏ `̏

C C L L U U ̃ `̃ ̌ `̌ ̐ `̐

D D M M V V ̄ `̄ ̑ `̑

E E N N W W ̅ `̅

F F O O X X ̆ `̆

G G P P Y Y ̇ `̇

H H Q Q Z Z ̈ `̈

The basic unit symbols (except for V=supply, X=transportation, Y=headquarters, and Z=radiation) are designed so that a size-modifier can be placed above them.

Examples:

Take the basic symbol for infantry: A=A.

You can add the size indicator for a division, ̈=`̈, giving an infantry division: Ä.

Then, add the modifier for paratroop, ̍=`̍, and this gives a paratroup division: Ä̍.

Or instead, add the modifier for weapon-system-equipped, ̏=`̏, and this gives a weapon-system-equipped infantry division: Ä̏.

The smaller supply (U) and transportation (W) symbols are intended for when you want them with size-modifiers: U̇, W̅.

Although it’s possible to add a size-modifier to a leader symbol, this does not create a standard symbol. You might get away with it on a wargame counter, though: Ỳ, Ỹ, Y̅, Y̋.

Other counters and markers

Sometimes there is a need for counters other than unit counters on the game map. There are twelve classes defined for this purpose, with three-character names: first character is x, second is 1, 2, or 3, for the number of lines of text on the counter, and the third is a for the largest typeface, b for a smaller one, c for even smaller, or d for the smallest one.

Grounded

One
Two

Game
Turn

Points
lost

Redoubt
destroyed

Testing
Testing
Testing

Enemy
points
destroyed

Beyond
command
control

More testing
More testing
More testing

In the first row, the first seven counters are class x1a, and the last three are class x1b. In the second row, the ten classes are x1c, x1d, x2a, x2b, x2c, x2d, x3a, x3b, x3c, and x3d.

The code for these counters is simpler, of course. Here is an example: the code for the eighth counter in the second row above.

  <td class=natll width=10%><table border=0 class=natll cellspacing=0 width=100%>  <!-- 27 -->
    <tr>
      <td class=x3b valign=bottom>Enemy<br>points<br>destroyed</td>
      </tr></table></td>

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(Updated 18 March 2008)

Basic Symbol						Size modifier				Type modifier
@	@	I	I	R	R	̀	`̀	̉	`̉	̍	`̍
A	A	J	J			́	`́	̊	`̊	̎	`̎
B	B	K	K			̂	`̂	̋	`̋	̏	`̏
C	C	L	L	U	U	̃	`̃	̌	`̌	̐	`̐
D	D	M	M	V	V	̄	`̄			̑	`̑
E	E	N	N	W	W	̅	`̅
F	F	O	O	X	X	̆	`̆
G	G	P	P	Y	Y	̇	`̇
H	H	Q	Q	Z	Z	̈	`̈

Basic Symbol						Size modifier				Type modifier
@	@	I	I	R	R	̀	`̀	̉	`̉	̍	`̍
A	A	J	J			́	`́	̊	`̊	̎	`̎
B	B	K	K			̂	`̂	̋	`̋	̏	`̏
C	C	L	L	U	U	̃	`̃	̌	`̌	̐	`̐
D	D	M	M	V	V	̄	`̄			̑	`̑
E	E	N	N	W	W	̅	`̅
F	F	O	O	X	X	̆	`̆
G	G	P	P	Y	Y	̇	`̇
H	H	Q	Q	Z	Z	̈	`̈

Basic Symbol						Size modifier				Type modifier
@	@	I	I	R	R	̀	`̀	̉	`̉	̍	`̍
A	A	J	J			́	`́	̊	`̊	̎	`̎
B	B	K	K			̂	`̂	̋	`̋	̏	`̏
C	C	L	L	U	U	̃	`̃	̌	`̌	̐	`̐
D	D	M	M	V	V	̄	`̄			̑	`̑
E	E	N	N	W	W	̅	`̅
F	F	O	O	X	X	̆	`̆
G	G	P	P	Y	Y	̇	`̇
H	H	Q	Q	Z	Z	̈	`̈