I enjoy football, and find the debate around VAR interesting. Is it worth it? Is the accuracy worth the delays? VAR seems to dominate the headlines a lot. Which generates clicks, probably. But whenever refereeing is the most discussed part of the game, not the players, tactics or goals - I think we'd agree that's pretty bad.
A good referee is barely noticed, but keeps the game running fairly and smoothly with few VAR-esque stoppages and interruptions.
I'd like to make an analogy. In wargames, the rulebook is the referee. And when the referee (aka rulebook) is at the forefront of the gaming experience, it's a bad game.
A good rulebook is barely noticed, but keeps the game running fairly and smoothly with few VAR-esque stoppages and interruptions.
PART A: A good rulebook should seldom be needed or noticed
So a few things flow from this. We can make some generalizations based on the above statement.
Lots of modifiers are bad.
Take Battletech. Here is a "cheat sheet" to make it easy to play the game. I reckon the cheat sheet needs it own cheat sheet....
Too many modifiers can get forgotten or just require you to look at the rulebook or quickplay sheet too often (interrupting play). Modifiers should be few, obvious, logical. Easy to remember. I reckon 2-4 maximum?
A corollary is insignificant modifiers. If the modifier doesn't do much in the scheme of things... why have it? A -1 on a d20 roll is 5%. Not worth. Modifiers are there to steer player choices. They should be few, significant, and be key factors for the type of combat the wargame is replicating. Do you really need a modifier for every last detail? "-1 to a shot because the sniper's wife was up last night nagging him."
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Lots of range bands are bad.
Each Infinity weapon has it's own stats. There is 12? kinds of ammo.
Even if the range bands are somewhat standardized (like the newer edition) - many smaller increments guarantee you will have to measure often, and can't just eyeball the range.
This is just a small sample of rifles. (There's 150+ weapons... I feel 5 types of HMG is a bit excessive!)
Lots of range bands are (a) extra mental effort to remember and (b) means more mandatory measuring on the tabletop. This measuring and checking means more times the referee rules are interrupting the play.
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Tables are bad.
I mean, you are being forced to use a rulebook (or at least a quick play aid). I like Battlefleet Gothic, but is there another way to do this?
Tables force you out of the game. They make the referee(rules) more visible - compulsory, even. Remember those old 1980s-1990s games with 101 tables?
Having to consult a table (even worse, several!) often means interruptions to the game that the rulebook itself has dictated. Bonus bad design points if the referee tables need to be consulted every turn.
The 90s are gone. They can take their tables (and music) with them.
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Lots of special rules are bad.
Especially if they are unique to a faction and not in general use. About 10 years ago there was a shift away from "stats". Lots of wargames were advertised as "only one stat to remember!" - but they neglected to mention, that to differentiate armies, they replaced those universal, commonly understood stats with special rules - each special rule/trait/ability/keyword often a paragraph long.
These Infinity N5 rules are - ironically - vastly improved and cleaned up from earlier editions. But I still couldn't fit them into my single screenshot. If your 'special rules' go for 51 pages - you guarantee you'll need the referee rulebook. Often.
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Lots of different dice resolution mechanics are bad.
There should be 2-3 ways to roll your dice, maximum. One universal mechanic would be even better. Two Fat Lardies make games that have a good 'feel' but they use 101 different mechanics. In Bag that Hun, there are 10 ways to resolve actions. You can:
#1. Roll 2d6 and compare to a Target Number. Ah, the same as Warmachine. (Spotting)
#2. Roll one d6 and compare to a Target Number. +/- Modifiers. (Maneuvers, tailing, crash landings.)
#3. Roll "buckets" of d6, 5+ hit. +/- Dice. Defender does the same. Compare total successes. (Shooting)
#4. Roll a d10 on a chart (Damage) Huh? We're using d10 now? This is the only time we need this dice.
#5. Opposed d6 roll. +/- Modifiers. (Shooting at parachutes) Because shooting at parachutes is so important, it needs its own special mechanic.
#6. Roll 3 d6, count doubles and triples. (Air to air rockets). Again, such a common occurence in-game, and this is the ONLY mechanic that would work.... right?
#7. Roll buckets of d6, +/- dice AND use different target numbers (Bombing). Just to vary method #3 enough to keep you guessing.
Cripes, I can't even remember all the dice rolling methods they used without looking at the rulebook. Having many ways to roll dice is needless complication that speaks of erratic game design.
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Recording is bad.
It is forcing you out of the game to do math, or tick off a chart. It's accounting, not cool pew-pew. It's actually an unpleasantly increasing trend in wargaming. Why do all the skirmish games recently have hitpoints? (longtime readers will be expecting this one...)
(a) It's stupid... ...not even realistic - a person can lose 9 of 10 hitpoints from an war-axe, survive fine, then die the next turn when a rabbit bites their last 1hp
(b) It can be a lot of recording. If each "Whatever-grave" peasant or "Youtuber-made-a-game" grunt has 10 hitpoints... and there are just 12 peasants.. that's 120 boxes to be tracked/ticked off each game. Per side.
Sometimes recording is unavoidable. Big complex spaceships or 74-gun ships of line probably need hitpoints or some other way to show slow, incremental damage to many systems and subsystems as vast vessels of 100s, 1000s of tons slowly succumb. But not human hitpoints ffs.
But adding needless or avoidable recording takes you out the game. It's like bad VAR.
Corollary: Recording is bad... but tokens aren't great either.
I can't even remember what all of Infinity's tokens stand for. So you'd have to consult the referee rules... but my actual point is if your table is being cluttered by tokens you're constantly tracking/adding/removing.... it's also an unsightly form of recording...
Here are a few of the 'states' (aka things that need tokens) in Infinity. Not only do they need tokens, but you'll probably need to look them up.... consulting the rulebook... again.
Novelty for it's own sake is bad.
Familiar mechanics, tropes and stereotypes are easy to digest. If I tell you of a game where your units roll to hit on a d6 with 3+, 4+ or 5+ ; have similar defence and cover saves - also on a d6 - to cancel hits... you'll go "ah, sounds a bit like 40K." It's familiar. It's a frame of reference.
It also means players don't have to refer to the rules because they are already familiar with them.
I always find it interesting when folk obsess over mechanics and dice methods in the blog comments. I mean - the dice are just RNG. It's a way to generate results. Whether you use handfuls of d6s, or single d20s. Or if you shut your eyes and toss dice over your shoulder. Or combine them with cards.. or whatever.
People like novelty, I get it. No, I'm not that excited to play the next 40K clone either (I'd class Flames of Bolt Action in this category) buuuuut...
....Familiar mechanics and rules means less consulting the referee rules. And that's a good thing.
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