"FOW 3rd Ed. vs. 2nd Ed. vs. 1st Ed." Topic

Was the 3rd edition an improvement over the 2nd edition or not? Nobody in my area seems to be playing FOW at all now. It seemed to be really popular when the 1st edition came out, less popular when the 2nd edition was published and completely died when the 3rd edition was released. What happened to make FOW's popularity nosedive with each successive edition of the rules? I am not posting this to start any sort of flame war, just looking for some answers. Thanks for any replies.

IMHO it was the ten year itch. Folks just burnt out. Lots picked up Flames in 2001 to 2004, and over ten years (often less) they played the heck out of it. BF didn't have any product to migrate us to either, nor any supplementary game to offer (think Space Hulk to 40k) which would have kept folks engaged.

Vietnam wasn't a huge hit, nor Fate of a Nation. Team Yankee has the potential, but depending on how folks react to the rules it may not work out either. BTW my observations are coming from a point of genuine love for the game, not a hater in any way at all.

I loved 1st ed. Stopped playing just after 2nd Ed. It went from a straight forward simple game to one of greater complexities. Basically, it stopped being fun for me and the guys I game with.

Played all three and still play 3rd edition. I agree that with each successive edition the layers of gimmick rules became deeper and frankly more annoying. So much stuff to keep track of that they can do or you could do if one just remembers it.

Still, for a quick and dirty game, it is hard to beat.

Michael

Actually if I think about it, BF have done a good job at still getting my money. I've spent a fair bit on their terrain, and if they continue to release quality pre painted terrain will still do so. Haven't bought a book in years though.

Played since 2004 so seen all three versions on the tabletop. Loved Ver 1.0 for the basic simple game it was. Lots of scenarios, .pdfs, player involvement etc. Ver 2.0 was played a bit, still lots of scenarios and non-tournament stuff on the BF web site, but seem Ver 3.0 came out quicker than expected. BF tends to think tournament gaming is the only thing. Now with the move to "buy the list pricing", incomplete books for lists, exclusive digital only lists, the bloom is off the game. It has affected the player group with some using digital, other changing to other game rules or formats. My group just refusing anything involving a tablet or computer near the tabletop. Its a miniature game, terrain, and dice, not a video game with miniatures placed near or on the tablet. So the game is losing players overall viewpoint.

As for tournament scene…. no intention of joining… has no effect on me or my historical WWII scenario type of gaming… even point matchup draws no interest.

No BF $$ spent so far this year… compared to $700 USD-800 per quarter in previous years. That "wallet" valuation says a lot in my mind for a player with almost every printed BF book on his shelves. Played one of the old Normandy scenarios last month… St Algnan de Cramesnil 1944. Most new FOW gamers have no knowledge of the BF scenarios of former years and the rule book / supplement versions.

Give it a few more editions and people will be climbing back on board again!

I hear they are junking it after this edition for a new, skirmish game with round bases. Age of Metal or something like that.

We took a break. A little bit of that burn out. We have come back with the third edition to try again.

So 1st edition is fun, easy, and still a good game to play if not doing tournaments?

I'd go second, and probably add the revised assault rules from 3rd as it cleaned the daisy chain effect many folks were using to max their defensive fire.

I suspect a lot of grief with 3rd comes from the plethora of special rules that came out with all the books.

I just took up 3rd Edition last year because I wanted a game that added more distinction between the different military doctrines. It may be more fiddly & complicated then the earlier editions (I don't know because I never embraced them), but this is what I was looking for to add a little more "plausible realism" to my games.

Prior to last year we were playing Spearhead, which is a much simpler, fast-playing rule set.

After a long break, I've just started to get back into it via the simplified Open Fire rules – free to download incl some starter lists in the free Forces book download.

It feels like the fun I originally had with v1 wthout the complexity of the other editions :)

link

Version 3 is cleaner and simpler than v2. Special rules mostly come from the all the late war "codex's"that have been released. Between 2 and 3, I think 3 is the obvious choice. Never played v1, though I heard a lot of stories of weirdness, though mostly from my friends I played in tourney's with, etc. So if there was no risk of you opponent "gaming" the holes, it was probably fine.

Also, I don't think that 6 years between editions is too quick, especially when BF upped their game significantly in how the presented the rules in the book, with a ton of well done pics, examples, and index. v3 is one of the best rulebooks I've ever seen.

All that said, I rarely play anymore, burning out after playing for 4 years almost weekly. Would rather play all the cool, clever indie systems or playtest my own.

I miss a couple rules from v1, especially when gaming Vietnam.

The v1 air strike rules included the possibility of flubbing a die roll which gave your opponent control of your air strike.

The other thing I miss is the transport capacity rules, but those have been added back in for the helos.

It's (3rd Ed) undergoing something of a renaissance in my local group with at least a half dozen of us dusting off the old armies and getting stuck in to some new ones. While AoS was okay, it didn't hold anyone's attention and 40K is just a mess. Even allowing for all the silly special rules in the BF army books it's still just a fun game if played with the right people – not one of us has the slightest interest in tournaments and the one guy that used to be a pure treadhead has had to expand his lists after getting his ass handed to him multiple times by various combined arms forces used by the rest of us (plus our random scenario selection meaning it's hard to tailor a list ahead of time).