"How Long to Wait Before Revising the Rules?" Topic

When they need to be

DW +1

Never. Let him get it right the first time.

It depends.

I agree with "it depends" – sometimes you need it next year, sometimes never

Revise when needed. If something is broken, you fix it.

Revise when/if needed, other than that it's a marketing ploy.

+1 Winston Smith. If properly play-tested, rules should not ever require revising. Errata? Sure. We all make mistakes.

DW +2

'Properly play tested'? I was part of a play test group that played collectively, hundreds if not thousands of games across a three year period.

There were still questions being raised after release.

You are dealing with people,some of whom, perversely, have an incentive to misinterpret the text to aid their chance of winning. In other writing, readers will simply infer meaning from context and move on. Not so with wargames rules.

For my ¢ 2 d all the answers would seem to be better if phrased as "when needed, but not sooner than X."

Beyond that I'd say that anything under 2 years should (in most cases) see the publisher offer the updates as a free download.