Diminishing the amount of different rules i use

[petercooman]

So, with me ordering Ancient & medieval wargaming by Neil Thomas today, i got another set of rules in the same style/writing as others that i am using.

A while ago, i was getting fed up with using an entirely different ruleset for each period/genre i play. When i go to play something i always ended up looking up rules instead of just playing, and i wanted to change that.

Fast forward a year or two, and i have "standardized" my gaming a bit.

I know use these rules:

'small' Skirmish,about 5 to 15 models per game,almost entirely ganesha games:

-flashing steel for pirates
-flying lead for wwII/modern/sci fi
-song of blades and heroes for fantasy
-song of drums and shako for napoleonics
-fear and faith for zombie/ horror games
-deadzone v1 for mantic minis

This was a pretty easy one to get sorted, the SOBH engine just works for me! Deadzone is a special one, more of a boardgame so left that as it was.


'big' skirmish, 25+ single models, still using rules all over the place:

-USE ME WWII for 10mm WWII
-USE ME zombie dawn for zombie games
-bolt action 2 for 28mm WWII
-LOTR SBG for lord of the rings games
-40K 5th edition for sci fi

Some of these i just don't want to change, like LOTR (i love that game), other ones i only play every now and then (like 40k), and i really don't need a replacement. honestly, each of these could be changed over to the corresponding USE ME title, but for the moment that is not a priority.

big battle games,usually units with multiple figures per base or multiple bases per unit, getting closer to getting these sorted:

rules by Neil Thomas:
-napoleonic wargaming for waterloo (28mm) and peninsula (2mm)
-wargaming:an introduction for ACW (and possibly in the future for ecw)
-Ancient and medieval wargaming for, you guessed it, ancients and medieval (guessing hastings or ancient greeks will be my next project  )

others:
-BKC II for WWII
-kings of war for fantasy
-epic 40 000 for sci fi
-war at sea for naval battles

pretty solid list here, with Neil Thomas his rules taking over gradually. Epic is a piece of nostalgia i am not ready to let go, and BKC II is just too good to drop!!
Fantasy has kings of war (because that is just a very good fit for my armies). I could have gone the other way and changed some over to kings of war historical, but i dislike the use of larger than life heroes outside of fantasy games. Sure some would be great warriors, but some just inspiring leaders.


So overall i think this is a big improvement for me.

Rules i have dropped/retired:

-severed union for acw games (very nice but too slow)
-warhammer fantasy (special rules upon special rules and sprinkled some special rules on top of that  )
- 2 by 2 napoleonics (nice little set)
-dropzone commander (not my type of game, still have to repurpose the minis)
-swordplay and chain reaction (never got past reading, just didn't "work" for me)
-necromunda and mordheim (both nice games but too many stats when compared to SOBH)
-5 men at kursk (again a nice game, can see me using this one sometime for campaign play)
- bacis impetus (again, nice game, but goes a little slow for me when played only once in a while)



Now, i made this post for self reflection, but also to ask this: what games did you guys like, but dropped because it wa getting "too much"?

[Norm]

I play a lot of boardgames, which have an even greater potential than figure sets for multiple variations and rule reading and prep become a big issue.

Late last year, I started to re-organise my collection, so that I kept some solid fave's but also went for series type games, so that one core set of rules would service all the releases in that system - that has been a most worthwhile exercise.

For figure sets ... I have rules for periods that I don't even have armies for!, I would like to do trim down, so these are next in the great reorganisation of 2018 :-)

[petercooman]

Luckily, i saw that problem coming, and only buy hex and counter games from one source 

The mini/folio series from decision games scratches that itch for me. Only have a few, but enough to play when i want to. (Saalfeld is one i like, and have played a few times, salem church another one)
my other boardgames are usually command and colours games, or dungeon crawlers. So pretty rules-lite.

For figure sets ... I have rules for periods that I don’t even have armies for!, I would like to do trim down, so these are next in the great reorganisation of 2018 :-)

The ancient and medieval rules i just bought still need armies too 

[paulr]

A really interesting post

[Ithoriel]

I have a core set of rules I play with friends but for solo games I use a huge range of rules.

I don't see a wide range of rules as too much of a problem for solo gaming. Perhaps because a) I seem to find learning rules reasonably easy compared with others I play with and b) playing solo I don't give a f-f-f-f-lip whether I get the rules exactly right.

I buy some rules I know I'll never play just to read through and see if they have mechanisms I can filch for my own home grown sets.  

[FierceKitty]

About twenty-five years ago...we grow old, Master Shallow...I tried standardising my rules into a set covering Sumeria to Sudan. Disaster, as you may well guess; great tome resembling the complete works of Charles Dickens, packed with special rules and exceptions....

I now happily use about eight sets for different eras; a fairly large number (not amount, btw). They share features, of course, but with the different versions I don't have to worry about chariots in rough going while trying to fight Pannipat.

[Leman]

I would be fascinated to know how much you are intending to reduce the amount by. Something like 4 kilos to 2.5 kilos? I must admit I find I now have a number of rule sets sitting around doing nothing. To give the SYW as an example, I now use Honours of War and Tin Soldiers in Action, the first being grid based and the second not, but both being compatible with my armies. No longer being used are Black Powder and it's C18th supplement (although it may re-emerge for Marlburian), Konig Krieg and its supplements, Warfare in the Age of Reason, Maurice and Minden Rose. However they are all still consulted for scenarios and other information. In a similar vein both Johnny Reb and Fire and Fury (in all its forms) have bitten the dust. I will probably use Black Powder again with my 15s, but my preference now in that scale is Longstreet as it provides a personal campaign setting for the player as a rising brigadier from 1861 to 1865. For historical ACW battles I now only use Altar of Freedom and BBB, mostly with my Peter Pig (and some additional OO figures) in 3mm, thus producing the real sweep of a historical battle.

However, I am glad I have not routinely binned or given away most of my rulesets, having rediscovered the fun of the smaller FPW scenario with They Died for Glory (I use my 10s for this), again following the sweep of the C19th historical conflicts with BBB in 6mm and 2mm.

[sunjester]

An interesting post and one that got me thinking about my own rule collection. I do seem to have consolidated a bit, some rules have gone by the wayside, but then new ones come along.

Looking at what I am currently using myself, there is a tendency towards consolidation by using the same basic rules for different era, but with "period tweaks" either form official supplements or home-brewed rules. So I'm using:

Black Powder: WSS, ACW and the various mid-19th century Franco-Austro-Prussian squabbles.
Chain of Command: WW1 and WW2 platoon level games.
Blitzkrieg Commander: 1930s-Korean War larger scale games.
The Men Who Would Be Kings: Anything from late 18th century to 1912/3 Balkan Wars and early 20th century Pulp games (I play this both as standard and using the skirmish option).
Sword and Spear: Classical ancients to Wars of the Roses (and investigating the fantasy options for mass battles)

I also seem to go for rules in the same "Stable", such as:
Warmaster "inspired" systems, BKC and Black Powder
Dan Mersey's system, Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, The Pikeman's Lament and The Men Who Would Be Kings

That said I still have a bunch of rules I use for s specific genre/eras like En Garde, Sellswords and Spellslingers and Soldiers of God.

One problem I face (and it is a good problem to have), is belonging to an active club we have a lot of rulesets in circulation as most people have different preferences in the style of rules they like. As I am less fussy, I'm happy to mix and match a bit, depending on who I happen to be playing that time (or rather who has organised the game). So, for example, I prefer Black Powder with the Glory Hallelujah! supplement for ACW, but as we have quite a few Fire and Fury fans I am happy to play that as well (the "proper" F&F that is, not the over fussy Regimental nonsense).

[petercooman]

One problem I face (and it is a good problem to have), is belonging to an active club we have a lot of rulesets in circulation as most people have different preferences in the style of rules they like. As I am less fussy, I'm happy to mix and match a bit, depending on who I happen to be playing that time (or rather who has organised the game). So, for example, I prefer Black Powder with the Glory Hallelujah! supplement for ACW, but as we have quite a few Fire and Fury fans I am happy to play that as well (the "proper" F&F that is, not the over fussy Regimental nonsense).

I don't mind playing something else as well, IF there is someone to lead me through it. Problem is, most of the time it's the other way round and i have to drag a few guys through a new set, and it's always easier if you know what you're doing then. We have a few guys in the group that haven't played a lot of wargames, so simple and standard rules get them going, and keep them onboard. Sometimes, when the group is not complete, or the 'newer' guys are missing, we pull out a more heavy game to play with the "regulars" to have a go at something new. Must admit that those games always take slower as well, but they are a lot of fun.

[stecal]

I know this feeling.  I have several shelves in my bookcase filled with rules sets. Most have been read and never played.

I have a theory that I can keep about 3 rules sets in my head at one time, otherwise I have to go back and reread the rulesbook as a refresher.  More and more we are tending towards simple, generic rules sets like Black Powder due to burn out from constantly changing/teaching new rules sets.  Everyone can just start right into playing BP with no explanation.

[steve_holmes_11]

Fascinating thread:

I'm starting to struggle with the little grey cells, especially when sets of rules are similar, but different.
I'm certain I am not the only one here who has searched a rulebook for the "I'm sure there's a rule about support in melee" section.
Then discovering that there isn't such a rule, at least not in the rules we are playing today.

Back in the days of being a carefree new gamer the buying process went rather like.
1. Fall in love ith a historical period / campaign.
2. Order up a set of rules (or several).
3. Select favourite rules, based on a read through.
4. Order some troops if I had not lost interest.

If new rules came along later, I would probably buy these, and consider using them.


Now I have a few armies, and an unpainted lead pile.
I also have several boxes of rules.

My next objective is to rationalise each period's holdings, so I have the troops stored alongside the favourite ruleset.

This will involve considerable paring down of the rules collection.
Many years ago, this might have involved considerable heartache.
I think I am a much more discerning critic of rules now - am I along in finding it incredible what migraines we endured to finish a battle of WRG 6th?

Like the original poster, I do see some virtue in sticking with families of rules.

Mine will probably include:

Warmaster and spin offs (Black Powder and Hail Caesar for 6mm Napoleonics and Chariot age Ancients).

Daniel Mersey's Osprey "Rampant" Family (Dark Age and Fantasy warband size battles)

Song of Blades Family (Smaller Skirmishes)

Tribal (Interesting "Honour based" big skirmish).