Mixing Wargame Rules

[manchesterreg]

I have never really found the perfect Rulebook, for my Aztec-Conquistador games. I have used Lion Rampant Aztec rules, The Sword Cross and Gold, Chris Peers The Land of Eldorado, and Feudal Patrol. All have great ideas, and I have now started to mix all the sets. Am i the only one, never satisfied with what Cleverer people have spent time developing? 

[Dentatus]

Go for it. If you're not participating in official competitions/tournaments, why wouldn't you mix and match elements from different rule sets? You're hammering out a system that works for you, your group, your collection, expectations, etc. Not like the Hobby Police are going to kick in your door.

I revise, adjust, update my own rules as I learn, as the need arises, as the genre and campaigns change, as new facets come to light during games. The notion of 'proper' wargaming, the 'one, true game', or the 'perfect' set of rules is illusory.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

I have never really found the perfect Rulebook, for my Aztec-Conquistador games. I have used Lion Rampant Aztec rules, The Sword Cross and Gold, Chris Peers The Land of Eldorado, and Feudal Patrol. All have great ideas, and I have now started to mix all the sets. Am i the only one, never satisfied with what Cleverer people have spent time developing? 

Your most important tool for wargaming is a pencil and an eraser, and the knowledge and confidence to  use them. Leave rigid orthodoxy to the too easily contented fanboys.

[Elbows]

If we're being pedantic that's how all wargames are written.  Very rarely will you run into a genuinely unique/bespoke game mechanic.  Most are a conglomeration of existing or tried and true mechanics which have been in various games for decades - just...picked, plucked, and put together.

When I run my games for people, often people will say "Oh, so this is like ________?" and list some game I've never heard of.  The answer is always "Probably?"

It's often a good way to create a game or 'fix' one. 

[fred]

I think many wargamers like to tinker with rules - sometimes it’s just a small addition or variant - other times its wholesale bolting on of mechanisms - and sometimes a whole new thing made from many parts.

Lots of games are variants or variations on one another. In many games you can see their heritage in the way core concepts work, and knowing this can help with getting to know the new rules. Truly different games often struggle as gamers have few reference points to refer back to.

Some mechanisms are very portable - for example the Bolt Action dice in a bag activation mechanism - when this came out we bolted (sorry) this onto many different sets of rules to break up the IGOUGO rigid turn structure.

[Cat]

They wouldn't give us pencils and margins if we didn't need them.
: 3

[Dubar]

Right now I'm only game WW1 and WW2, both sets of rules are homemade, taking bits and pieces of existing rules and adding my own twist on things.  It's not that the store-bought rules are bad, but there are some things in one set of rules I like better and feel the need to combine the best parts.

[jon_1066]

Your most important tool for wargaming is a pencil and an eraser, and the knowledge and confidence to  use them. Leave rigid orthodoxy to the too easily contented fanboys.

Until you try to play a game against a new opponent and you realise you are both playing different versions of the same game.  There is a lot to be said for playing a game straight.  You then have a universal experience against anyone you play it with. 

The dreaded Monopoly house rules are also a good illustration of the pitfalls, they make the game longer and more boring then everyone complains that Monopoly is long and boring!

Tinkering with rules can also be akin to putting lipstick on a pig.  In an effort to get something "more realistic" you end up with piles of chrome on a creaking under structure.

Having said all that - I'm guilty as charged.  For WW2 I've mashed up my favourite bits of Bloody Big Battles (itself "inspired" by other rules) and O Group by Dave Brown.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

That’s why you have the eraser.  Not every tinkering works.  Perfection is a direction not a destination. Even chess and backgammon rules evolved over time. 

As for enjoying the common experience, if you have played the game straight RAW and found it really needed tinkering in the first place, i can’t see where one might desire to go back to the problematic RAW.  You just indicate the house rule changes (and arguments as to why the changes are made) before you start.  If your opponent is not convinced (which with a lot of players anything novel or heterodox is totally verboten) you are probably not going to enjoy playing it that much and might be better served playing something else, like Acey-Duecy.  Too I think it was James Dunnagin  (of SPI games)who said he never encountered once a player who played his game the way he visualized it being played even with standardized rules. 

[has.been]

Many years ago the club I was in did a Conquistador campaign.
New at the time was the Fantasy version of DBA, i.e. Hordes of the Things.
We liked some of the ideas, especially the 'Horde' (You could bring the 'dead'
back on as 2nd, 3rd, etc waves.) Ideal to represent the massive Aztec, or other
Amer-indian, armies.
To represent the Aztec desire to take captives (to sacrifice) rather than to just kill,
Spanish bases were not removed, but the Aztec player kept a tally of captives.
This was his way to victory.
My claim to fame was the way to record this on table & avoid more paperwork.
We turned the Aztec skull rack into an abacus.

[carlos marighela]

I've long thought there's a market niche for a game combining the maddening minutiae of Tractics, with the mind numbing extended sequence of play and accompanying flow diagrams of Empire, the requirement for a scientific calculator and infinite patience of Harpoon, the buckets of dice of anything GW, all written in a prose style cribbed from Phil Barker via AI.

I'm convinced there is a market for this Frankengame. It's convicted child murderers.

[Easy E]

I typically get wargame rules mixed up between games all the time.  Therefore, I am always playing a mix of games.  Oh.... that isn't what you meant.

Mixing up rules and mechanics is how new games get made!  Once you purchase a game, it is yours to do with as you please.  Make it your own.

[dickiegranthum]

I've long thought there's a market niche for a game combining the maddening minutiae of Tractics, with the mind numbing extended sequence of play and accompanying flow diagrams of Empire, the requirement for a scientific calculator and infinite patience of Harpoon, the buckets of dice of anything GW, all written in a prose style cribbed from Phil Barker via AI.

I'm convinced there is a market for this Frankengame.

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