"Surprisingly Good?" Topic

What miniature wargaming ruleset did you not expect much from, yet it was surprisingly good when put to the tabletop?

Full Thrust. When I got a copy, it was being offered for free, so expectations were low. Little did I know how much fun it was.

I bought Black Powder, Pike & Shotte, and Hail Caesar. I read them and really didn't get them.

I sold them all then saw some fun AARs on YouTube and re-acquired them all. Hail Caesar is kinda my go to game right now. I love designing historical scenarios for it.

I'm looking forward to trying the others.

King of the Battlefield. It just works, and gives a good game. But I had to play a game or two to 'get' them. After that I went through the cycle of "Let's just change/add this…" then reverting to the original game.

Starship Troopers (Mongoose Publishing).
I read the rulebook and didn't think it sounded very good. But then some years later, after the game had folded of course, I finally gave the game a shot. It was incredible fun, It became my go to set of sci-fi rules for a very long time. With the extras added in from Signs & Portents and house rulings we played all kinds of backgrounds and genres with it.

Tribal. $10 USD pdf with no dice rolling focused on pre-gunpowder conflict by indigenous cultures. Super slick mechanics, combat that is actually interesting, morale system system that affects decisions on table. Adaptable toothed periods.

Neil Thomas Napoleonic Wargaming. It was my last ditch attempt at this period and converted me fully to his philosophy. The online reviews were mixed so I expected yet another set that would not survive a second showing.

"The Sword And The Flame!"

Bought it new in '79, read it, and thought "What kind of game draws cards and rolls dice to determine movement distance?" I liked the possibility of Native Torture to get information, but just put the book on the shelf with the other titles.

I'd been playing the flavorful-but-archaic "Rules For Colonial Miniatures Wargames" from the UK and kept to it.

Then, in early '80 or '81, I read a game account in "The Courier" and was hooked on the idea of it. Finally ran the first game in my shop in '82--and from that moment never looked back.

Sublime…

TVAG

Pig Wars

Tactica

Basic Impetus. I downloaded and read the free basic version and thought them a slightly modified DBA..the precise geometry of which I strongly dislike.

However when talked into playing it what had seemed another version of something familiar became a dramatically improved game that allowed for all the things that fill historical accounts…much to my surprise (and joy obviously).

Battlemasters, released by Milton Bradley in 1992 (and designed in cooperation with Games Workshop, like HeroQuest and Space Crusade).

Somewhere in the late 90's a bunch of these had found their way to my local friendly game store, at a reasonable price, so I ended up picking a box just for the sake of the models – there being over a hundred figures inside, plus an impressive tower.

I didn't expect much from the actual rules, but since I had bought them as part of the lot, I ended up giving them a quick read. They were brief and easy to read, though perhaps not the most exciting – though at the back of the book there was a mini-campaign of five quite different scenarios, making good use of the components contained.

So I ended up spreading the colourful battle mat, placing the terrain and models and giving the first scenario a go, and it proved to be surprisingly fun. In the end I ended up playing through the whole five scenario campaign. The basic rules themselves are a bit on the simple side, and the card activation mechanism introduces quite a strong element of chance (and drama) to the play, but the different scenarios were quite fun, the large battle mat provides room for manoeuvre, and the two sides were sufficiently different to provide different playstyles.

Somewhat ironically, during the years to come I ended up selling most of the figures that came with the set, while keeping the rules, battlemat and other essential components. However, I kept, assembled and painted the tower, which is quite impressive considering that it only came in five pieces originally – though there were quite some gaps at the seams that needed to be filled in. However, as regards the models, I have recently again picked up some of the Empire ones from the second hand market – in the end, they are not too bad for single piece plastic figures from 1992.