"Augustus ot Aurelian -reviews sought" Topic

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My thoughts on the fact it is only available on PDF are on my blog

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They look good don't they

I must admit I do strongly prefer a hard copy rule book, but can understand why it's not always an option (ie. the great big wadge of up front cash needed for a print run….). Pricing on PDFs is a tricky one – to be honest £12.00 GBP is at the top end of what I'll pay for a PDF; £5.00 GBP-£8 is more comfortable for me, but they look good, so I will be taking the plunge.

I agree – I'd rather pay £20.00 GBP for a printed book than £12.00 GBP for a pdf.

And when you see the prices that some very well produced rules are available for, it makes something like this look very expensive.
E.g :

Dux Bellorum – £9.00 GBP on Amazon
Hail Caesar – £19.50 GBP on Amazon.

The trouble with that is that printing has serious economies of scale, thus distorting the comparison, especially when you then factor in Amazon's hardball approach to the discounts it gets, and associated sub-rrp pricing. A small publisher is simply not going to be in a position to knock out similar products at a similar price, so they're not really a fair comparison.

It looks like a good game but I already have WAB and I don't want to shell out the extra cash for a PDF.

If his rules writing is half as good as his painting, this should be an outstanding set of rules. I wonder if He's giving away free painted figures with every book? Just a thought.

I certainly would prefer a book. There are a number of "print on demand" options they could have gone with.

And how would you send a free figure electronically? :-)
The whole point of PDFs are that they can be had instantly for the gamer and have so physical costs to the publisher (other than the domain costs to store and transact the sale).

Not defending the cost of the PDF but I would assume this is the full retail cost. You have to have margin built in should you allow others to also sell your rules eventually. Also, please don't compare a discounted Amazon price to a retail price; it doesn't compare apples to apples.

Something I try and tell my friends when they jump off to Amazon to buy something that a local merchant has. You save money in the short run, the retailer goes out of business in the long run and then everyone laments the demise of another local hobby store. A hobby store is not only a place to buy for our hobby but is a local magnet to keep the hobby growing. While many gripe about Games Workshop, it is one of the bastions of keeping miniature gaming going.

Don't forget to add in the price of shipping into the cost of the printed rules, something no needed for the PDF.

Another nice thing about PDFs is that if pages get damaged or you lose them all you have to do is print out a new copy instead of buying a whole new set.

It's actually very good value as it includes separate PDFs with army lists, charts, cards, QRS, markers etc. I've just had a quick scan of the sixty odd pages but it is well illustrated with Phil's beautiful miniatures and looks like a lot of of fun! TFL with elements of Hail Caesar….

How is the file named, I wonder. Many PDFs have odd file names that aren't recognizable for what they are. So if you have lots of files you could be opening this one, then that one until you find it. Is it "A2A.pdf" – that might make sense if I use the rules a bit.

Usually what happens with PDFs is they get squirreled away somewhere and can't always be found later. Or the computer crashes and you can't find the disk you burned it on.

PDFs also download the printing costs onto the consumer – paper and a new print cartridge (possibly) and then the binding cost.

Printed books are much preferred.

Usually, when you save a PDF to your computer, you change the file name. In addition to that, I save all my wargaming related files in one aptly titled folder on my desktop so that I can easily find them.

Sorry for the digression. Personally, I will wait for some in-depth reviews before dropping nearly $20 USD on a PDF.

I'd like to point out that I do not publish Augustus to Aurelian, Phil the author does that, I merely stock them and receive a totally nominal sum for doing so. Phil sets the price. To assist him I am carrying the product on our web site to save him having to go to the not inconsiderable expense of setting up and hosting his own web store.

I think A2A is an interesting product. You get the rules, army lists and writable cards as PDFs along with a full QRS, so I don't personally see this as overly expensive. I have to say that I think the tablet version is excellent and there are no print costs involved with that.

To give some indication of costs involved, producing IABSM in hard copy cost me £17,000.00 GBP To expect an individual to throw money like that at a project like this would severely restrict gamers wanting to publish rules. You can get print on demand but you are very restricted to content and, frankly, they do not make for nice books.

I've downloaded many PDFs and have never not been able to find it on my computer. Even if for some reason you don't download it to a specific folder you can always use the search function to find it. Not being able to find a PDF on your computer has to be one of the oddest reasons for not purchasing one I've ever heard.

Personally I would always prefer to have a hard copy option. But as Richard says that is a big commitment for the publisher and it makes perfect sense to produce a pdf rather than nothing at all.

As to price. Well you are paying for someones creative ideas and time. I have no problem with the price of the pdf. It is unrealistic to compare the print run and pricing that you can generate with the marketing power of say a Warlord Games and Dr Phil doing this in his spare time.

I bought the pdf and tablet bundle as I had previously done with IABSM.

The layout of the pdf is highly professional and looks very handsome. The tablet version looks great on my iPad. However, I still printed it out because hard copy is still easier to navigate and use. That's where the cost issue really bites on the buyer because ink cartridges are so expensive and it adds a big chunk onto the overall price. Nonetheless hard copy print runs are a big risk and I don't blame anyone for taking the prudent option.

I haven't had a chance to play with my copy yet so I can't really comment on how they play. My first impression on a quick skim through was they are a blend of Hail Caesar and the Lardies card activation system. Which will suit me as I like both. My apologies to Phil and Richard if I am misrepresenting the rules there with such a simplistic statement.

Both author and publisher are nice chaps and I am sure you will get any support that you need with the rules. I am happy to have bought a copy.

Anybody actually played it yet?

Lots of comments for & against the PDF issue on TMP and my blog

They are probably the future but quite a number of wargamers prefer the past!

If anyone us interested these are on 20% reduction at the Lardies site.

I was temped again, but decided against.

The PDF thing puts me off and I haven't seen any debate about the pros and cons of the rules at all.

I've read the rules through but not played them yet.
I found the scales and mechanisms a bit of a mish-mash. A bit like a mix of Warhammer Ancients and Hail Caesar.
The missile ranges seem way too long for the stated unit scale, and some of the mechanics seem clunky; that may be unfair, as I've not played a game with them yet.
So, some interesting ideas, but reading the rules simply hasn't given me enough motivation to want to play a game using them.

You can get pdfs printed in bw on high quality paper and spiral bound – which is much nicer than hardbound – at any office supply store for a very reasonable price – usually quite a bit less than the cost of a print version plus shipping.