Reply To: Why do all our wargames rules have to cost the bomb?

[jamescutts 6924xp 1]

Been following this topic and it is interesting to seeing the various responses. I’d sort of agree with the initial topic that the costs of rules at first glance do seem expensive. There are some cases of this out there where you see rules costing £40 or up, (I’m excluding special editions bound in reindeer bollocks as there a special case for collectors). Equally, there are some very good free rulesets available and as mentioned the Osprey blue book series are excellent value-wise at £10-15 (even if sometimes the rules are patchy).

I think as hinted context is important, personally, I don’t like the “you can buy X Big Mac’s for £30” as an argument, in those cases, you mostly know what you are getting and I also dismisses those that may not have as much disposable income to treat £30 trivially. That £30 on rules might get you something that lasts years of enjoyment or it might be something that is garbage and ends in the proverbial bin. Some people being in the hobby long enough for inflation to affect that £5 – £15 isn’t that bad, it’s mostly perception. Equally the depth of the game impacts the size of the books, and ultimately the cost.

Sadly I can’t comment on any of the books from The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare as I don’t own them, though I would like to check them out someday, maybe at one of these show things we used to have.

What I would say is if I was looking for a new ruleset in a genre I don’t have the price of £30 for a rulebook puts me off somewhat compared to other offerings. I recently picked up Dead Mans Hand from Great Escape Games, All the metal minis you need (literally you only need 7 a side) for two gangs, dice cards, a piece of terrain from 4Ground, and a rulebook, which is the same soft cover A4 version all for £40. Admittedly that rulebook is under 50 pages but the games no less fun for it. Similarly, I picked up the starter set for Victory at Sea for £32.

If your buying at that price makes a big impact, you don’t just need a book you need miniatures (in most cases) and you also need an active community to pay the game with.

In no way am I devaluing those books in that £30 range, but the market is competitive particularly from companies with miniatures to sell too. I also like to see rules authors justly compensated (but not take the piss) for their efforts. I wouldn’t class £30 in the context of an independent hardback rulebook with fluff as expensive, (would I prefer it at £20 direct, yes) but there are just potentially more attractive offerings for somebody casually shopping around for new rules/games.

There’s also tradeoffs when creating a rulebook, personally, I’d find one of those booklets all black and white and walls of text a bit boring even it was cheap unless the rule were good and demoed well. Equally, I think having a hardback isn’t that necessary and sometimes production values on these books can possibly be their own enemy and some rules authors can be a bit snobby about why their rules are costing so much because of X and Y etc. while its reasonable to justify costs lets not forget we should also keep the hobby accessiable to those without as much disposable income and sometimes rulesbook do just have extra stuff that increases the cost. As for fluff alongside rules I’m divided, sometimes it really draws me in, in other cases, you don’t need it, particularly historicals. As for PDF’s their a mixed bag, personally, I like a searchable digital copy (I hate PDFs that are just images, make the text text!), £10 I class as very reasonable and worth a punt, get to £20 and I then start questioning its value more, over that I’d probably avoid it. I wouldn’t normally say that digital goods shouldn’t be undervalued but i think in this hobby that so physically an actual book does have more practical value in most cases.

A good community and a well-supported game are also valuable as are playthroughs, reviews, etc., and reduce the risk of buying into an unknown.

Outside of the Ospreys, I’d class The Barons’ War Rulebook as an example of what I think is an attractive offering, A5, softbound, solid set of fun rules, great illustrations, clear depictions of the rules, a reasonable amount of fluff in terms of fancy images but not walls of text either. All for just £15 or £10 for the PDF.

In summary, I don’t think rules have to cost the bomb, you’ve possibly just seen the impact of inflation and cost of production. You’ve also got the choice of game systems from manufacturers which will tend to (mostly) be cheaper, blue book style compact rules, or larger hardbound books usually from independents. The cost varies depending on what you want and are looking for.