"should wargaming porn in rule books be shunned." Topic

I prefer nicely put together, well written, glossy rulebooks filled with as much eye candy as can be crammed into it.If someone else likes the opposite, that is their choice.
Having said this, my favorite pre-dread navy rules are B&W, stapled together, no illustrations at all except for the cover and very simple top down hull forms to illustrate damage from 1990.
They do what I want my pre-dread navy rules to do.
Though it would be sweet if there were a bright and shiny version of the same.
Thanks,
Pat

I guess i'm the diametric opposite. I don't buy books without pictures in them.

For me the whole visual aspect of the hobby is one of the most important things. Its why I do miniature gaming not board gaming.

And you mentioned "inspiring" too.
My table now looks better, my terrain looks better, and I have gone the extra mile painting my toys too.

I'm with Edward Tufte on this. A set of rules is designed to convey information -- that is, how to play the game. Any ink on the page that does not help to convey that information is not merely wasted, it gets in the way.

I also consider almost all of the photos in wargaming magazines to be a complete waste of space, and I stopped buying them years ago.

Miniature wargaming has yet to find its Redmond Simonsen.

All the best,

John.

I think I just found the worst offender for rulebook bloat: Wild West Exodus.

It starts with 207 pages of fluff and ends with 90 pages of actual rules.

They need to make a mini rulebook without all the crap.

Each month, when this topic arises, I try in vain to explain a bit about the realities of page layout, design, and printing.

" the photos are included merely for extra flash or to add to the page count and cost of the book."

It would be refreshingly nice if people would actually think about this for a minute.

For example:

Muskets and Tomahawks -- black-and-white, 62 pages, price $40. USD

Field of Glory: Napoleonics -- full color and full of pictures, 148 pages: price $25.50 USD

Now what do we make of that?

And by the way: what publisher in his right mind would want to drive up the cost of producing his product?

Cost is the single most important thing that you want to reduce. And it has little to do with the retail price. Every book you buy has been marked up, because most of that profit goes to the retailer, not the publisher.

That black-and-white book might have cost only $3 USD to make, while the color one cost $5 USD to make. Now look at those prices again, and tell me:

How much did * You the Customer * save by getting rid of the pretty pictures?

John D Salt has the right of it regarding a set of rules. All one requires is what is necessary to play the game. Pictures of beautifully painted troops are surely unnecessary, because one has one's own forces on the tabletop to look at. And a large format, heavy hardback book is not easy to consult quickly in the middle of a game.

Many of today's 'rulebooks' also contain information about painting figures, making terrain and other matters which one does not require during a game, though it may well be useful beforehand, and pictures help to explain the desired effect, construction methods &c.

The latter are, as PiersBrand put it, 'books about gaming with toy soldiers' not simply books of rules.

Personally, I don't want or need to read what is largely the same advice about figure-painting, terrain-modelling in every rulebook. Those additional pages do increase the cost and the bulk of the book. One of my favourite books is Paddy Griffith's Napoleonic Wargaming For Fun: different sets of concise rules for skirmish, brigade, division, army level, siege and map kriegsspiels in one book, with only occasional b/w diagrams and illustrations to explain points in the text, and absolutely nothing about uniforms, painting or modelling.

These days I tend to use free rules published on blogs and write my own; that way I can experiment with different game structures, rules and mechanisms without spending a fortune on rulebooks I may discard after only a few games.

Your publications set the example, Sam: logically and attractively laid out with minimal visual fluff. The vast majority of images are explanatory diagrams designed to directly support the text.

Other rules publishers should take a leaf out of your book, or rather, pay close attention to the leaves in your books.

Methinks perhaps that 100 pages of anything is too much for a gamer to keep track of

We have a winner!
Our club uses mostly home brewed rules that can be picked up by an absolute novice and run to a conclusion in a three hour time slot on club night. On the other hand, one member who is fortunate enough to have his own wargaming room is running a historical ACW at the moment (Kernstown 1862) using a well known commercial set. They started right after Thanksgiving and are just on the third turn…..