Before making any concrete suggestions, I want to know if everyone else feels as lost as me when it comes to the multiple board viewers. There's the in game one, and then there's the one you get to from a game page by clicking on the board name (better for artillery and fortify-only borders).  Then there's the designer, which I assume is the ultimate source of board information.

From what I can tell, if subtle details are changed in a scenario, you may not be able to get it without going to the designer. For example, one scenario of octagons uses a limit of 1 attack and not 2. From my favorite board viewer, I can only see the default of 2 attacks. (Sorry about the second account I created - I didn't know for sure whether it had been changed to 1 attack or not.)

Anyway, am I crazy? Since the board info is stored in XML, board viewers/queryers could be created independent of tom, but I was wondering if there is a plan regarding all of this. (perhaps one that I could have found by searching, say, the forums!)

I wouldn't say I am lost with the multiple board views because I have figured out that each viewer has it's strengths, but I think it would be better if the information was presented cleaner and consistently - especially now with the scenarios.  There is also some information (like some modifiers) that I have a tough time finding anywhere.

How do you access the board designer?  The only two viewers I know of are the in-game viewer (from Board tab) and the viewer from clicking the board name and then the Board tab...

You use: http://www.wargear.net/boards/designer/boardid, but you need to know the board id and I cannot seem to find this anywhere anymore.

For example Five is 1628.

It's actually easier than that now. If you go to the Board Page, About tab, there is a link next to Board Settings that takes you to the board designer.

There's also a link next to the board name on the Info page of a game that has started.

The board ID used to be easier to find...

CK66 wrote:

It's actually easier than that now. If you go to the Board Page, About tab, there is a link next to Board Settings that takes you to the board designer.

There's also a link next to the board name on the Info page of a game that has started.

Cool! I did not know that  & that is really useful!   Now we just need some way to better disseminate information like this to newbies.

CK66 wrote:

It's actually easier than that now. If you go to the Board Page, About tab, there is a link next to Board Settings that takes you to the board designer.

Maybe it's just me, but I think this is about the last place I'd look for this link.  The About tab? Really?

There's also a link next to the board name on the Info page of a game that has started.

This makes a little more sense, but the link is an icon that looks no different from the icon that opens the flash player from the My Games page.  Maybe being able to find the designer page is just not that big a deal, ..but then perhaps I'm biased because I've designed a few ..so it's one of the first places I think of to go when I want to check out the mechanics of a board.

M57 wrote:

CK66 wrote:

It's actually easier than that now. If you go to the Board Page, About tab, there is a link next to Board Settings that takes you to the board designer.

Maybe it's just me, but I think this is about the last place I'd look for this link.  The About tab? Really?

There's also a link next to the board name on the Info page of a game that has started.

This makes a little more sense, but the link is an icon that looks no different from the icon that opens the flash player from the My Games page.  Maybe being able to find the designer page is just not that big a deal, ..but then perhaps I'm biased because I've designed a few ..so it's one of the first places I think of to go when I want to check out the mechanics of a board.

I see it now! The icon also says, "Launch Designer" when you hover over it.  Thanks all.

Ideally the scenario information would be incorporated into the Board image view which displays all the border and continent information - this will take a little work to update.

tom wrote:

Ideally the scenario information would be incorporated into the Board image view which displays all the border and continent information - this will take a little work to update.

I agree; from the player's perspective there is too much redundancy, which is confusing.

tom wrote:

Ideally the scenario information would be incorporated into the Board image view which displays all the border and continent information - this will take a little work to update.

Naturally, and I want you to know I don't have expectations or anything like that. The real killer for me was how to find scenario specific stuff. But, it does appear the designer launch link from the board page changes the board id link as you click each scenario. So, I'm good for now. 

Of course any improvements in the ease of access to the information (for us and newbies) goes a long way. Thanks tom.