More on Digital

There was another wargaming development over the weekend.

In the beginning there was Wargames Research Group (WRG). WRG controlled historical wargaming particularly Ancient and Medieval. From the mid-60s to the early 90s there were seven editions of their Ancient rules and 95%+ of all wargamers playing Ancients used them. In the early 90s they shelved the rules and produced DBM. Some people kept playing the original rules (rebranded “Warrior” in the USA) but again a total of less than 5%.

DBM were great rules. Horribly presented, walls of text, few diagrams but the most subtle set of rules that you can imagine. These were the set through two editions until 2008. I played Ancients using these rules from 1998-2002 and along with WHFB 8th and 40k 4th they are my favourite rules. However in the modern world presentation is paramount and the DBM set were a total turn-off. The original author, Phil Barker, refused to lift his production values out of the 60s and so a schism was born.

Phil had written a new set, DBMM which as a rulebook had all the visual appeal of an accounting textbook. His co-author Richard Bodley-Scott joined with others and Osprey and produced Field of Glory. These rules were full colour, included illustrations and written in plain English – in look they were very similar to Battlefront’s FOW offering.

And the Ancient world schismed. You now had DBMM, DBM, FOG, Warrior, plus other sets such as Amarti and Impetus. By my reckoning no set could command a majority of players and so the great advantage of Ancients – a single worldwide ruleset – was gone.

Fast forward four years and FOG v2 is on the verge of release. On Friday the authors, Slitherine drop a bombshell – the rules will only be offered in digital format (via iPad, Mac,PC) with no capacity for physical printout.

Now you have to remember for most Ancient wargamers that tablets are something Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai or that their GP prescribes for incontinence not some whiz-bang handheld computer thingie. Most would struggle using their mobile phone (I expect take up of this fad is less than 20% btw). So you get some idea of the magnitude of the fear and loathing that greeted this announcement.

Apparently this production/distribution models is the only means by which the ruleswriters can make money. The first edition with 12-14 list books has sold but not well enough to not leave rooms full of physical books. This stockpile is sufficient that updated re-writes of the rules/lists are likely to occur. So the only way forward is as a digital product – electronic rules and lists – downloadable from App store with regular electronic updates as necessary for errata and FAQs.

The Slitherine forums are awash with both angst and bile – some see it as the future others as the end times. It is interesting watching cultures clash. For mine, I think that the delivery model has to make sense to the originators – or they won’t originate. However it must also make sense to the target market and here there is a major disconnect. There will always be a transition from one technology to another. GW have the benefit of economies of scale on their side which allows dual delivery. However that luxury is not always available to niche players.

If there was still a single set of Ancient Rules the market might be able to bear dual delivery or be large enough to withstand the fallout. Here we are seeing the payback for schism that occurred in Ancients over the past decade.

The Scourge of God

For those of you who don’t know, I started my wargaming as a historical wargammer. From the beginning my love was Ancients. The rules in use when I started were Wargames Research Group (WRG) 6th Edition.

When I started in the mid-70s my gaming interest was driven by my historical interests and I was fascinated by Genghis Khan and the Mongol army. They created an empire that covered most of the known world in under half a century. Gaming wise they were pretty crap….but it was the army I wanted to play. New Zealand in the 1970s had draconian foreign exchange regulations and you had to line up at the Post Office to buy a postal order. The most you could buy was two pounds per day. There were very few Mongol models on the market so I decided to make my own models from Airfix US Cavalry based on an article on creating the Mongol army in “Battle” magazine – I still have the article. It involved using plasticine and hardening it with Banana Oil (no Green Stuff then). They were horrific.

My folks went on a trip to the UK and I managed to talk them into picking me up a 15mm Mongol Army from Mike’s Models. I painted it up and thought they were the dog’s bollocks. It was the only army I keep when I left the hobby for 15+ years.

When I got back the WRG rules had gone through a 7th Edition and moved onto DBM. I pulled my 15mm Mongols out and they were crap – but I loved the DBM rules. For two years I played enormous numbers of DBM games, painted and used 10+ 15mm armies which culminated with me taking my Early Samurai to the New Zealand Nationals in 2000. I managed to win that competition and straight after I started playing 40k.

In the intervening years I’ve had very few games of Ancients but I have never lost the love. Over the ten years I’ve bought two new 25mm armies, Early Vikings (which I had painted) and Mongol Conquest (which I painted myself). Neither had seen the table top. DBM has now gone and the Ancient world has splintered in Field of Glory and DBMM. I was a beta-tester for FOG but very quickly I learned it was very much a game of points denial and that unless I was very foolish I could almost guarantee myself no worse than a small loss – Dominate Romans 19 BGs for those who wish to know.

Locally the 25mm gamers are an “older” bunch but they were playing DBMM rather than FOG. Not surprisingly these rules are based on DBM and are newly into their second edition. I was downstairs last week and saw my three 25mm armies, I also have Patrician Romans (effectively end of the Empire) and decided that I wanted to give them a run on the table.

I located a set of the rules and lists and set about making up my army. The first thing that struck me was how appalling the presentation is. I’ve been spoiled by GW. Secondly, they are written in “legalese”. If you know WRG then you know Phil Barker. He really is the Godfather of historical rules, but a sentence isn’t a sentence unless it has at least five clauses in it. The bullet point certainly past him by! I tried reading them but…well I just can’t. I’ve decided to learn by osmosis……however you can bet the term “rules lawyer” was invented with this in mind.

The other big difference is that there is no Composition. There are lists with minima and maxima in it based on historical sources. You make the best list you can from within those constraints.

So over the weekend the Mongols came upstairs and were re-touched and highlighted ready for their debut. I’m hoping to get them on the table in little under two weeks when once again the Steppes will thunder with the sound of Mongol ponies.