Too much for you?

[Calandale]

Any games that you tackled and just said you didn't want to be bothered with the level of work
required to play them? Either in terms of hugely burdensome rules, or mechanical complexity. Where
you think the game itself might be fine, but you couldn't enjoy because of the extra effort required.


For me, I can think of a few recent cases. Chosin - which had too many large stacks filled with
fire-capable units with fairly long ranges (3-4 hexes) clustered together. Trying to decide how to
allocate all that firepower was just beyond me. On top of that, there were a lot of finicky rules that
amounted to bookkeeping.

Battles of the Age of Reason - Damned die rolls for every hex moved (artillery op fire) was just ridiculous.
The rest of the game was pretty decent.

Stretching further back - Flashpoint Golan - I really respect this design, but the ECM/ECCM rules and a
number of other system were just too much effort. A lot of the modern conflict VG designs actually were
pushing my tolerance for so much detail in a subject matter that I'm less interested in though.

[Rockhopper]

Fields of Fire. I like solitaire games, and this seems so cool, but I just can't get through the rules. I just don't have the chunks of time I need to sit down and plow through it properly. So I've set it up, then promptly packed it back up and picked something else that I knew how to play.

[Calandale]

The High Frontier second expansion is feeling that way to me (though no wargame).

I'm going to play an HF scenario to catch back up on the core rules to get to where I can tackle it though.

[usrlocal]

Kevin: There are some good FoF tutorial vids on YouTube that help to explain the game:








The second two links above are the first two vids in a series - you'll easily find the rest on YouTube.

[Rockhopper]

Thanks man, but I've indeed downloaded the 10-part youtube series, but honestly... its like taking an unfun game, then watching a youtube video at the same time.

Unfun game + youtube = unfunner game. 

I'm still a Ben Hull fanboy though, so no worries. And I still have great hope to pick this up eventually. I even P500'd FoF2, maybe the USMC subject matter will give me a nudge.

[usrlocal]

The High Frontier second expansion is feeling that way to me (though no wargame).

I'm going to play an HF scenario to catch back up on the core rules to get to where I can tackle it though.

I picked up the new expansion a while back too, but haven't had time to look at it very closely yet. Isn't it supposed to streamline some parts? Like not linking political events to the movement track?

[Calandale]

The High Frontier second expansion is feeling that way to me (though no wargame).

I'm going to play an HF scenario to catch back up on the core rules to get to where I can tackle it though.

I picked up the new expansion a while back too, but haven't had time to look at it very closely yet. Isn't it supposed to streamline some parts? Like not linking political events to the movement track?

I don't know if that's streamlining. There are a few little fixes - some for incongruities like that,
and some for gameplay/balance. Most of it is these modules though - each supposedly stand-alone,
and I'm finding them impossible to grasp without moving pieces around first.

Phil's rules just keep getting worse and worse.

[kira1y]

Battles of the Age of Reason - Damned die rolls for every hex moved (artillery op fire) was just ridiculous.

I thought artillery op fire was restricted to short range (2-3 hexes) in BAR?

Anyway, one game that comes to mind with this topic are the Fighting Wings Series games from Clash of Arms. While they do look like they'd be interesting, there seems to be a whole hell of a lot more work than I am interested in messing with.

[Calandale]

Battles of the Age of Reason - Damned die rolls for every hex moved (artillery op fire) was just ridiculous.

I thought artillery op fire was restricted to short range (2-3 hexes) in BAR?

I wouldn't put it past me to have fucked it up.

It was pretty ridiculous, because it didn't do a damned thing anyhow.

[usrlocal]

I really want to try BAR. It looks so juicily...difficult.

[Calandale]

Rules didn't feel any worse than a lot of minis systems.

Less emphasis on graphical presentation, and more on clarity,
and there just wouldn't be much terrible difficulty with them.

[kira1y]

I really want to try BAR. It looks so juicily...difficult.

It's easier to pick up than La Bataille.

[usrlocal]

I really want to try BAR. It looks so juicily...difficult.

It's easier to pick up than La Bataille.

Interesting. Maybe I'll start with BAR before LaBat then.

[anarchy]

ASL kicked my ass. Multiple times. I joined the SoCal ASL group and tried for a year to learn the game, but it was just too much.

But ASLSK is perfect, so there's that.

[Robin Hoodlum]

Soldiers... the magazine game by Decision.
It just seemed like too much effort for too little return.
Too many counters on the map, all of which can fire at range.
Hard to keep track of who fired at what without using some kind of counter to denote it.
*shrug*
I just didn't enjoy the game at all.