"Rules, are they just recycled ideas repackaged?" Topic

IT actually started with "Kriegsspiel", 1823, dice, combat tables, measuring sticks and turns with phases…

It shouldn't be any surprise that many games are simply re-packaged. Look at the military history produced. Six books on Albuera in the last six years, and only one really had anything new to say. The rest were simply re-packaged same-old, same-old.

I agree that there has been far more innovation in boardgames than in wargames over the last 10-12 years.

But how do you apply the roundel innovation from a board game to a tabletop game.

I think there is certainly room for new ideas and if I look in the fantasy sector games like Malifaux stand out as a dice-less system which was bold and has taken some time to grow a fan base.

I'm going to do it again. Malifaux was preceded by SAGA (the original, not the current game), which was an RPG system TSR released back in 1997.

But how do you apply the roundel innovation from a board game to a tabletop game.

I've never heard of anything described that way. Explain, please.

Perhaps though the standing around is more realsitic? Who was it who said war is 95% sheer boredom and 5% unadulterated terror?

Yeah, but when was the last time you heard the point of a game was to be bored?

Kl. has the thought right — a game is a balance between fun and "realism".

a game is a balance between fun and "realism".

And here I thought that the "realism" was part of the fun…