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Other Stuff => General Wargames and Hobby Discussion => Topic started by: Pijlie on 14 March 2015, 05:59:29 PM

Title: Three Osprey rulesets reviewed.
Post by: Pijlie on 14 March 2015, 05:59:29 PM

In the past year I bought three of Osprey's new rulesets. Osprey rulesets have a lot going for them: a good professional publisher backs hem, they are nicely priced and presented even nicer. Eye candy abounds within as the artwork is of a high standard, photographs are professionally made (or at least definitely look that way) and tables and reference sheets are clean and crisp and usually can be downloaded together with a lot of bonus content from the Osprey site. So it's a "Yummie!" so far. But how do they stand up to the test of playing them? By now I have played all three of them and wish to share my opinion about them with you.

A general observation beforehand. Perhaps because of the similarities in presentation people often assume these rulesets are variations on the same engine, themed by the period they are set in. This is not the case. The three sets reviewed here are written by different people and the game mechanics are quite dissimilar. They really are very separate games, only sharing the fact that they are all skirmish rulesets that aim for a specific period.

Another sidenote is that I could have included Tomorrow's War in this review but chose not to. This is because TW is a ruleset with a much wider scope than the three reviewed here and isn't a skirmish ruleset either. So those hoping for a TW review must turn elsewhere for now, I am afraid.

So here we go. http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl/2015/03/triple-osprey-review.html (http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl/2015/03/triple-osprey-review.html)

Title: Re: Three Osprey rulesets reviewed.
Post by: Vermis on 14 March 2015, 08:26:08 PM

Quote

FFOKF is definitely recommended. For fans of Big Trouble in Little China it really is a mandatory purchase!

Noted. :D

Nice set of reviews. Not too dense. ;) I already have Ronin though haven't had a game of it yet. (Maybe get some gaming buddies to try their Bushido minis with it) I've been meaning to get IHMN sometime, but I have to agree with your opinions about loads of tables and modifiers.

Title: Re: Three Osprey rulesets reviewed.
Post by: eilif on 14 March 2015, 09:12:32 PM

Nice Review.  I've got IHMN and FoKF and look forward to trying them out.

Title: Re: Three Osprey rulesets reviewed.
Post by: Driscoles on 15 March 2015, 03:34:48 PM

Thanks for your review

I have two of the three reviewed rules.
I think you get nice skirmish rules for a fair Price.

What dissapoints me is the poor layout. I expected better from Osprey.