"Best Ruleset That Never Caught On?" Topic

Do you have a favorite ruleset that never became popular in the hobby?

Battles Lines (ACW) – Glen Brierley – Suncoast Skirmishers – published in late 80s was a nice set of rules with some interesting concepts

Have used a few of the concepts in house rules when I play Fire and Fury

Rezolution by Aberrant Games

Great question!

Knights and Magic

Heavy Gear/Gear Krieg/Lightning Strike

War Rocket.

Knights and Magic is tough to beat! I remember when that boxed set came out and there was a lot of hype for it, but for some reason it never caught on, even though it was pretty well done.

I would go with The Complete Brigadier. The system had some unique concepts and maybe, just maybe, too much command & control. I think the diceless combat system left gamers cold and then there was no follow on booklet with scenarios, ideas, etc.

Knights & Magick – love it!

Oak and Iron. Such a logical and fun set of sailing ship rules. I really connected with it but I just never saw it catch on.

Rebels & Patriots, an AWI set.
Warmaster Ancients.
Reaper's CAV for combined arms mech action.

There are others, but I have to think a bit when not distracted.

Man o' War by Games Workshop is an interesting set of fantasy naval rules that burned brightly for a few years in the early 1990s, but was dropped by Games Workshop. It still has a small but loyal following to this day, but never became popular in the hobby -- although it is the only GW game I, and my sons, still play to this day

Knights and Magick can still be found as a set online

+1 for "It Came from Beyond the Still". I thought it was a clever idea & I ran a couple of convention games of it.

A kind word for Complete Brigadier, but not as a rules set. I had some of the best and clearest illustrations of what a stand represents and how a historical map is converted into a tabletop that I have ever seen anywhere. It's the sort of thing you should keep around to explain the hobby to beginners.

Combat Zone, from EM4 Miniatures. Simple and straightforward. Not sure why they didn't get more attention.

Agree on War Rocket, Loved the miniatures and the games seemed easy. Another is Tactica. It was a very clear set of rules. Well written and organized.

Hmm, so this poll will be for the most popular of the bubbling under rules.

+1 Man O'War

Roman Seas

Maximillian 1934

Rivets

Donnybrook

(Tactica was a very pretty book and the rules seemed decent, but the size of the armies was a complete non-starter here, so never tried it. And it only covered a limited number of armies. Seems like it was pitched at folks who already had very large armies of a particular sort but yet didn't like the rules for which they had acquired and painted very large armies. I can see how that didn't attract a broad following.)

Shattered Lances, a favorite of mine.

Mean Streets (painting up another gang for it now)

Wish more folks were running games of this besides the ones I run (and my other nominees too) that I could jump in on!

Fields of Honor

This poll had me look into War Rocket and I just ordered a copy.

Mean Streets is fairly new. Might it not still "catch on"?

Mine of course :-).

Warmaster
Man O' War
Battlefleet Gothic

And an obscure RPG:
Crimefighters

I'm not giving up on my own rule systems yet…