ECW rules recommendation

[Radar]

I concur with Orcs. Save your money

Sam Mustafa's rules are now print on demand via Amazon. Only seen poor reviews for the quality of the prints. The consensus appears to be buying on pdf and get it printed yourself. Which will make them rather pricey.

As for the rules, not played them yet, but he is one of the few rules writers who doesn't need to post videos explaining how to play the game, or requires you to learn the game from one of the rules writer's gaming circle.

[Gwydion]

No problem with the print quality on my copy from Amazon UK.
I haven't played them yet.
He may not need to post videos explaining them but he has posted three of them about this set. They look all right for the Italian Wars - probably. My main thought is they look a bit bland, aiming to deal with very different types of warfare in the 1490s and the 1640s. Playing is the only fair test of course.

[Last Hussar]

Rereading this thread made me think to post this; in FK&P units have so many hits. I make my unit sizes 1 base per hit, making it easy to track if the unit is destroyed.

[Radar]

That's good to hear about your copy - must confess I have been put off by the large number of negative comments (and photos) concerning Amazon's POD service (not just with these rules)

[Gwydion]

I had exactly the same concerns over the comments online. (Don't remember seeing any photos of copies). I decided to risk it after I had an exchange on another forum with someone I trust who had bought them and he said his copy was fine. I don't think I've bought any other Amazon POD products to judge against. Mine has none of the 'bleed through' or 'smearing' I've seen mentioned. Maybe I've just been lucky. Doesn't happen with my dice rolling!

[Raider4]

I have one set of POD rules - Space Station Zero via Wargames Vault. The printing is fine, no problems. The cover's not great mind, curves away from the paper inside, both front & back.

[fred.]

I've had several ospreys that I am sure are POD from Amazon - all have been fine.

And some of the rules from the Irregular Wars stable too

[O Dinas Powys]

I've had several ospreys that I am sure are POD from Amazon - all have been fine.

And some of the rules from the Irregular Wars stable too

Osprey do their own PoD books: I bought a replacement Dux Belorum from them when I mislaid my original copy.  I then found the original and you can see the differences side-by-side.

I also have a few PoD books (both hard and softback) from DriveThruRPG - Wargames Vault's sister company - and they're all fine.

[pierre the shy]

The local DBMM players here have recently been quite willing to shell out A$40 per volume to get the four new revised DBMM army list books from an Australian based PoD outlet.

From what I gather the lists have been reformatted and use slightly larger font size to make them easier to read. The print quality is very good, which I would expect for that price.   

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Had one PoD from Wargames Vault - no problem with quality at all.

[Gwydion]

Yes, I think the problem in this instance was supposedly Amazon's own POD system rather than POD more generally. As I say mine is excellent - just like a good quality rule book should be - the paper is not glossy but it isn't flimsy, colour is strong but no bleed through or smearing. Everything is set correctly, no weird page angles or cropping of page edges. I would expect good quality at £37.00 for 118 pages and got it. My copy was printed at Dunstable. I am not sure if Amazon uses different printers for different orders or whether the 'problem' copies were 'teething troubles'. Or imaginary (obviously not relevant to any genuine photos of genuine products). Any problems, in UK at least, just send it back and get a refund or a replacement.