The best of rules; the worst of rules.

[Chad]

1. Vive L'Empereur by Ned Zuparko. (1980s set)
2. Large scale game and first rules I can remember that introduced some fog of war
3. Volley and Bayonet 2nd edition
4. Only because I found the overall presentation within the rules confusing and in some areas lacking clarity. Spent half the time going backwards and forwards from section to section trying to understand parts of them.

[Genom]

Best games have to be one the ones that I have enjoyed our campaigns of and provide a good game.

Mordhiem: It's a game we just keep coming back to play.
Blitzkrieg commander/Warmaster (Ancients and Fantasy): Love or hate the mechanics, it works for us.
In her Majesties Name/Daisho: This has provided several wonderful story driven campaigns for our group.

Worst games, there are just some games I've never been able to get my head around.

Flames of War: The core mechanics seemed okay, but I really hate rules where everything on the table has it's own special rules, it's just too much to remember.

To be fair a bad game tends to be ones where the power gamers (I won't lump all tournament players in that grouping as some are really nice and don't go out to just win when they're teaching a game). on the flip side good games are enjoyable ones and I think the Falkirk club are very good at this, they are such a diverse bunch of players but universally are there to enjoy themselves and are very accommodating when showcasing their favourite games to others, so I consider myself lucky in that regard as I've played several games of things that I don't particularly like the period of but still enjoyed the game overall.

[Zippee]

Best - Impetus; Baroque; LFS; IABSM; Q13 & GQIII

Worst - The Warmaster series; Regiment of Foot; The Polemos series & Poseidon's Warriors

Lots of other stuff falls into a large middle ground, some narrowly missing the 'best', others narrowly missing the 'worst' category, some just 'meh'.

At the end of the day I'll play just about anything someone brings to the table but I will need copious anaesthetisation for any in the 'worst ' category

[Nosher]

1.  Which are the best rules you've ever played.

a) BKC, CWC, FWC which I currently play
b) Forlorn Hope
c) Wings of War

2.  WHY are they the best?

a) Just because of their simplicity, and the fact that the rules don't take too long to learn - however the subtleties of the command system take quite a while to master to get the best out of your chosen army.  Having army lists in the same book does it for me too - no need for supplement after supplement. Apart from FWC there are no 'super-armies' either!

b) Just because it brings back fond memories of games with good friends. Its not a particularly good set of rules.

c) Fast and Furious and good fun the more players you can get involved!

3.  Which are the worst rules you've ever played.

a) F.O.W

b) DBR,M etc

c) Polemos

4.  WHY are they the worst?

a) Any rule set where the Italian's are an 'uber-armee' is utter nonsense. I have seen grown men 'get-off' on loop-holing their own siblings lack of understanding of the rules and have seen Allied players completely bemoan defeat after defeat at the hands of Tiger Aces who appear all too frequently for my liking.

b) You need a Law Degree to understand the rules

c) I simply cannot get to grips with these rules at all. Played once and immediately ebayed.

Review of my original quote.

Best rules:
I've gone off BKC. CWC and FWC - just cant get anyone to play them. Still have a very large WW2 collection in 6mm but all of my Cold War stuff has been offloaded as has most of my Sci-fi stuff.

Haven't played Forlorn Hope in years. Must dig them out but terrified that my youthful memories will be shattered, plus the good friend who I used to play this with lives in Germany, so again it just wouldn't be the same

Wings of War - still play very occasionally

LATEST Best Rules
Chain of Command and Sharpe Practice 2. Sublime games, lots of fun to play and just the right level of historical accuracy without gameplay become bogged down

Bolt Action - started off hating this, but now I enjoy it simply because it gives a quick game when time is tight

Others - Baroque, renewed my interest in the renaissance. Blucher - good fun to play if a tad time consuming

Worst rules
Hasn't really changed, but I would add the Battlegroup WW2 series. Far too gamey - games ground down to both sides shooting the sh*t out of each other from distance to reach break points rather than trying to achieve the scenario conditions.

[Luddite]

I've been using GW rules for longer than some of you guys have been alive haha

[paulr]

I have played games where the figures were older than my opponent 

And that was a couple of decades ago the figures still get on the table occasionally 

[toxicpixie]

Second time in a couple of weeks that piccy has come up!

I have those dice, they came with the Basic D&D set Well, I have most of them, a couple suffered a permanent loss due to my sister seeing if they float in the toilet!

[Westmarcher]

I enjoy playing FoB2 (Field of Battle), a rule set that also uses different types of dice, one of which is a D4. At first, I had all of the other types of dice (D20, D12, D10, D8 & D6) but didn't have a D4 so used an Average Dice instead, deducting one from the score. Getting fed up deducting one from the score of the Average Dice, I decided one day I needed a real D4 & found these for sale on the Irregular Miniatures website. I thought, "I can't just order D4s. I'll order a few other things. 10mm 18th Century supply carts and so on." I got everything except for the D4. In the accompanying note they said, "Don't have any D4s in stock. Here's D8s instead. Just half the score."      

Back to square one. 

p.s. Happy ending. Eventually, got D4s from Pendraken.

[Luddite]

Games Workshop will shortly be releasing a d16 for use with their revamped Blood Bowl game.

The mind boggles.

[toxicpixie]

Good grief. It'll be a tenner a throw as well!

*boom~tisch*

[Wulf]

I already have D16 - I believe they were originally created for a Lottery in, possibly, the Netherlands or Belgium (or was that the D24...)

Now you can get D5, D7, etc...

I want a D11 !

[O Dinas Powys]

I already have D16 - I believe they were originally created for a Lottery in, possibly, the Netherlands or Belgium (or was that the D24...)

Now you can get D5, D7, etc...

I want a D11 !

Here you go:


Cheers!

Meirion

[O Dinas Powys]

Games Workshop will shortly be releasing a d16 for use with their revamped Blood Bowl game.

The mind boggles.

d16s are available in traditional 'cone':


*and* new-fangled polyhedron:


Cheers!

Meirion

[d_Guy]

Don't forget the humble d2 which has settled many an argument:

[toxicpixie]

Or the humble D1 - that's solved quite a few, and it's newer descendants probably more!

[Ithoriel]

[d_Guy]

Or the humble D1 - that's solved quite a few, and it's newer descendants probably more!

+1

There is also the imaginary d(sqrt -1) 

Do you have a set with just ones? I could use them to give me the results I usually get with d6's

[Chris Pringle]

As far as "The Worst" is concerned, I won't name names, but I will say:

- any game that allows only one player to act at a time (card activation, funky initiative system, whatever) should never be played with more than 4 players. I have experienced 6- or 7-player games where the inevitable arithmetic means each person spends 80+% of the game just watching and twitching impatiently until their turn finally comes round (at least, if that person's me they do);

- and a special dishonourable mention for a computer-moderated game which had essentially the same vice as above, compounded by the fact that we didn't even get to roll dice, just watch someone else busily clicking a mouse and eventually informing us of whatever trivial result the computer had calculated.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.fr/

[jchaos79]

Tbe best: Warmaster and variants (ancient, medieval, fantasy)

Because they are fun for me to play with.

[DaveH]

The Best (Current version October 2016)

Sharp Practice 2

Clearly written, give a fast moving game that will allow players to be involved with plenty of command choices in their game.

Honourable Mentions

Two Hour Wargames reaction system games - great for solo play as they have lots of ways of simulating the behaviour of opposing units and what happens when you encounter them.

Worst

WRG 6th Edition ancients - too complex, too much emphasis on kit and points values. Obtuse wording.