As I add new rules (mostly home bound and printed PDFs) I must needs move on old rules (at least to a plastic box at the back of my shed).
Here are some of my discoveries who are heading to the "out tray."
Category: What the Hell was I thinking?
I have never got into rank and flank games. And a rank and flank set in ancient mythical Japan? With monsters, ninja and geisha? Circa Legend of Five Rings? Actually sounds kinda cool when I put it that way...
...Anyhow it's a proper hardback rulebook circa 2000 by Wizards of the Coast. Huh. Who knew. I'm not inclined to delve deep into its 300+ pages (has paint guides and everything) as I know I will never play it (heck having looked at how fiddly samurai armour is I'm procrastinating painting a skirmish warband) and I also doubt there is any innovative game design ideas I'm missing.
Anima Tactics
In my defense this was a friend's idea. The anime tropes of androgynous, edgy emo guys with giant swords and distastefully barely-pubescent girls are not my thing - I associate them with teenagers doodling in their textbooks - and that's about the art quality of this book.
The minis were high quality though - finely detailed in a way that only Infinity at the time rivalled, and a nice change from the potato-headed giant-fisted GW designs of the time.
The game itself was one of those overcomplicated wannabe CCGs where managing mana, hitpoints and triggering the powers of your 3-4 mins was the gameplay focus. Bonus points for using symbols instead of words where possible to necessitate flicking back through the book.
There are plenty who do like this sort of thing; so I am surprised it has vanished without a trace.
Futurama rockets vs flying saucers must've sounded good at the time. Movement was asymmetrical - each had a different means to travel a bit like Eldar vs Imperials in BFG. But each race only had 3 designs - big medium and small - and the damage system was weird. You placed handfuls of hit counters on the target THEN looked at a table THEN rolled a dice to see if the target was stunned or killed. It just seemed like terrible design - lot of hit counters cluttering the board to then use a table to just get a simple stunned/killed result. A convoluted and messy way to get something simple. After a test play I decided not to order the minis.
Category: Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time...
AE: WW2 - Weird War II with mutant gorillas, zombies and rocket troops - even had a sci fi spinoff which I played. It had alternate activation (in an era it was rare) and units had more actions the better they were - i.e. rookie 2 actions, a veteran 3 and a hero 4 - instead of being human tanks which was also common in that era. They had 180d facing. There was the odd multi-wound monster but no HP. For its time, it was quite progressive.
So why did I drop it? Well the minis were weird. Some good, some really bad. I occasionally still find them in my bitz box. You know that weird health food your wife bought back in COVID but you somehow still find in the pantry? Yeah like that. Second reason is: I shortly after discovered Secrets of the Third Reich - which played skirmish AND platoon level with a style like 40K - so easy to remember - but better. I got use out of it - but it's time to move it on - and what made it 'good' is merely average now.
Random Thought: There was no 'good old days' of wargaming. We're in the golden age NOW. Rules, minis, etc - all amazingly accessible and improved on the 1990s and early 2000s stuff I remember.
Rezolution
Before Cyberpunk 2077 there was... Rezolution.
Ninja, vampires, gangers, zombies, hackers - with alternate activation and even opposed rolls - a 'modern for the time' feel. The patchy model quality killed it for me. It was like a better Necromunda gameplay wise, but with much worse models and no campaign system - so there wasn't enough reason to get people to swap to it, and no reason to collect models for their own sake. It might have done better today if launched with 3D print support etc. Like AE:WW2 I still find random mis-proportioned models in my bitz box.
Helldorado
The concept was epic. In the devastation of the Thirty Years War the literal mouth of Hell opens and conquistadors descend into the underworld to do battle with demons with pike and musket, to find saracens and Chinese already there. Various mercenaries and demon factions round out the roster. Hmm, I wonder if we could do a WW1 vs underworld version. I reckon we could call it Trench War.
The models were good (except the lizard demons which ironically are the minis I still use most). It was a bit too much special rules-and-hitpoints for me to enjoy it and I was busy making my own home rules when the rug was pulled and the game just.. vanished?
A cool concept that did not commercially survive for whatever reason.
Dark Age: Genesis
Another alternate-activation skirmish (I always hated IGOUGO) which I bought because of the Dragyari -a caste of cool flea-like warriors who have something to do with slaves and ice? I liked the models. Unfortunately I disliked all the other models which seemed mostly in the leather S&M vein. I mean, what is it about the post-apocalyptic type worlds that attracts this? So many spikes, whips and unpleasantly phallic clubs with armour that looks like you ran a big magnet through a junkyard. I'm pretty sure there has been a few attempts to re-launch this game as I've seen lonely box sets online in random clearance locations - even relatively recently.
Tomorrow's War
Along with Infinity, this launched my interest in activation/initiative and reaction systems and was one of my most-played games for years. So why is it on the discard pile?
It's basically Stargrunt with reactions - roll d6s, 8s or 10s (depending on your troop quality). Opposed rolls to see if you can react/who goes first; then for combat attacker rolls and keeps any 4+ rolls; defender could fire back/use armour (roll saves) and could cancel hits by equalling or beating dice. Simple yet innovative and interactive mechanics. The game deliberately aligned to many metal 15mm minis which were cheap and great (GZG, Rebel, Khurasan). For $50-100 you could have the equivalent of a giant 40K army with lots of tanks and mechs.
Besides a horrible rulebook that was almost impossible to use (the example page above is RULES not fluff!) the clever concept bogged down a lot in practice. There was convoluted reaction chains (reacting to reactions - ugh!) and a surprising amount of tokens/recording. For example, casualties were not as simple as removing models - at the start of each turn each mini hit has to roll on a casualty table (serious, light wounds) which again have various effects and have to be tracked. Fine for skirmish but not platoon level rules. Units ability to return fire could degrade throughout the turn, etc.
The game was a great concept that got bogged down by confusing rules and a terrible rulebook. Each turn had a lot going on - three turns of TW might have more action and back-and-forth than six turns of say Bolt Action or FoW. However each turn took so long to resolve you may as well play six turns of the other games and have a usable rule book to boot, and (perhaps it was just my games) once the bullets started flying the units took cover/ground to a halt. There wasn't much fun maneuvering and tactics. Realistic perhaps, but not fun. And in sci fi, 'realistic' is relative.
A fallen favourite - great in concept, but I just don't have the time for this sort of game any more, nor the patience to fight with the rulebook.
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