# Is there a way to offset a piece placed within a rectangular grid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Module Design\ **Tags:** v3\_5\ **Created:** [September 13, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-offset-a-piece-placed-within-a-rectangular-grid/72346 "2021-09-13T15:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![redapplesonly](https://forum.vassalengine.org/user_avatar/forum.vassalengine.org/redapplesonly/32/7038_2.png) [@redapplesonly](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/redapplesonly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-offset-a-piece-placed-within-a-rectangular-grid/72346/1 "2021-09-13T15:21:11Z")
Hi Vassal Jedi Masters, I’m a VASSAL beginner who is already in love with this tool. Why didn’t I discover it years ago? Gah! Technical question: In my game, my main board is a Rectangular Grid. Its a conquest game, so players battle to control key rectangles. I’ve noticed that when I put game pieces on the board, the pieces are automatically placed in the center of their respective rectangle. That’s great for most of my pieces. But I also have a small Control Marker piece to indicate which player controls which rectangle. When I drop the Control Marker onto a grid rectangle, its so much smaller than the other units, and looks funny. Is there a way to specify that this Control Marker piece should always be placed to the upper left or lower right of a rectangle (not placed in the center by default) ? Or - going for broke here - can someone advise on a better way to indicate which player controls a rectangle? Like, each player could have a signature color (Red/Blue/Green/Orange/etc.) When a player captures a rectangle, could they click on that rectangle and toggle it to a hue that matches their color? I’m open to any advice. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![JoelCFC25](https://forum.vassalengine.org/user_avatar/forum.vassalengine.org/joelcfc25/32/2687_2.png) [@JoelCFC25](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/JoelCFC25)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-offset-a-piece-placed-within-a-rectangular-grid/72346/2 "2021-09-13T15:42:25Z")
> [@redapplesonly](#): > > Is there a way to specify that this Control Marker piece should always be placed to the upper left or lower right of a rectangle (not placed in the center by default) ? You could design your Control Marker piece image so that the actual piece occupies the upper left corner of an otherwise transparent image matching the dimensions of your grid rectangles. ---
**Author:** ![redapplesonly](https://forum.vassalengine.org/user_avatar/forum.vassalengine.org/redapplesonly/32/7038_2.png) [@redapplesonly](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/redapplesonly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-offset-a-piece-placed-within-a-rectangular-grid/72346/3 "2021-09-13T15:52:22Z")
@JoelCFC25 Ahhhhhhhhh… You are wise, sensei. I will try immediately… ---
**Author:** ![jrwatts](https://forum.vassalengine.org/user_avatar/forum.vassalengine.org/jrwatts/32/6972_2.png) [@jrwatts](https://forum.vassalengine.org/u/jrwatts)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://forum.vassalengine.org/t/is-there-a-way-to-offset-a-piece-placed-within-a-rectangular-grid/72346/4 "2021-09-13T19:49:27Z")
Note that you will also need the Non-rectangular trait if you don’t want the transparent portion of the Control Marker piece to be clickable (which would interfere with manipulating any pieces that fall below it). Also/instead, you can use Game Piece Layers to ensure the Marker is always below other pieces.