"Checking Out Rulesets" Topic

Do you enjoy "checking out new rulesets" as part of the miniature wargaming hobby?

yes I have more time to read then I have to play or paint

Oh, yes, it's a big part of the hobby for me. Always interested to see what others do in their rules, and there is always that hope that this or that new rule set could be "the one" that ticks all the boxes for what you want in rules.

Yes

Yes, If they are free or cheap pdf versions. Otherwise absolutely not. I won't pay out $20 USD-$30 or more for an untried, unseen rulebook.

I don't need all the bells and whistles of the rules just enough to playtest command and control, movement and combat.

Yes. Read them and collect them.

It may partially be a reflection of game wants. At one end of the scale are those who enjoy a game based upon the visual spectacle. Therefore the rules don't matter much. The umpire will control the game and can always make something up. At the other end of the scale are gamers for whom the figures can be unpainted because the important thing are the game mechanisms. They have no umpire to master the rules or make stuff up. As with many distributions I suspect that most gamers (myself included) are in the middle somewhere.
The further to the first "type" ,the less you need rules. The further to the second "type" the more you need the rules. This might imply that the second set of folk will pay more for rules, as they are more important to their game style.

A basic set of rules, with no scenario generator, victory criteria or other guidance, might "crumble" if not many games are played.

I play about 250 full games a year, so would need rules that have replay value and can be used in a variety of social situations. Thus I would be happy to pay $45 USD for a rule set. Albeit I would need to know a little about the mechanisms before hand.

Having said all this I appreciate that I make many generalisations which might be utter rubbish, but think all contributions to the conversation are appreciated (possibly not)??

martin

Yes. I enjoy reading and learning from others' designs.

I will check them out by playing them. I will not buy them just to check them out unless something about them really grabs me.

Yep.

Absolutely!

my rules collection would say yes to that 😆

I used to but not so much anymore.

No, I have a difficult enough time reading the ones I use for actual gaming. The group I belong to plays so many different rules that we get them mixed up during games.

I'm in Martin Goddard's middle. Rules are interesting to me, but not more interesting than the other aspects of the hobby.

Much lLike Figuresales and 79thPA, I'll check out free and cheap rules, but I won't buy more expensive rules until I've played the game a few times and decided that I like it well enough to learn the rules and run games.

No. I've got a couple favorites with which I stay.

I collect rules, a hobby all it's own.

Definitely. I like to collect rules sets for periods that I enjoy.

I used to buy all the rules for one of my favorite periods then I got a set that was poorly edited and that slowed my enthusiasm for blindly buying rules.

Now if there's a PDF and it's reasonably priced I will get it but I'm much more selective.

No, I wait to see a review that shows that the state of the art has moved forward. Current rules to me are moving more and more to the "first type" which are of absolutely no interest to me. Bring back the days when simulation was the key and keenly debated. When that comes back there may be better rules than mine and once again I may buy rules.

Love to buy rules and read through them. It's a major part of the wargaming hobby to me.

Yes

For the curious: here is a list of my rules collection. The column labeled HC? indicates (with an X) if I own a copy or not. PDF means I have a PDF.

link