Seven Days of BLB2 - Take Two!

Feedback and questions from the magnificent 7 Play test groups in Edinburgh, Dumfries, Sweden, Cheltenham, Arizona, Georgia and Florida.
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Seven Days of BLB2 - Take Two!

Post by quindia » Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:22 am

Image
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Post by quindia » Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:23 am

Image
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Post by quindia » Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:24 am

Image
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Post by quindia » Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:22 am

Image
Scruff
Sergeant First Class
Sergeant First Class
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:14 am
Location: Townsville, Australia

Post by Scruff » Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:02 pm

As I mentioned before the crash, outstanding :)

One question comes to mind on the Artillery rules page. Range is measured from the guns axle to the nearest model in the target unit. Why did you decide to do it that way as opposed to the more usual base to base measure?

As wouldn't that encourage people to base guns as far forward onto a base as in axle on the edge, and foot squashed as far back on a base to min/max ranges?
That would look awful.

cheers
User avatar
flick40
Major General
Major General
Posts: 553
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:24 pm
Location: Kansas City , Mo
Contact:

Post by flick40 » Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:11 pm

Why did you decide to do it that way as opposed to the more usual base to base measure?

I can't really speak to Barry's thought process on this but I can guess. It does keep people with those internal measuring tapes and calibrated eyes on their toes. Maybe even make them second guess a range causing them to fire too soon or not at all.

Joe
User avatar
barr7430
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 5905
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:22 pm
Location: EK,Scotland
Contact:

Post by barr7430 » Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:39 pm

It was a convention I picked up over 20 years ago when gaming with my very gentlemanly friends who often did not base their guns. Gun models with particularly long barrels were always nearer the target and so the convention of measuring from the axle became the norm. I always liked it. I would honestly say that if there are players out there who would even for one second consider basing the guns as far forward on a base as possible to gain a playing advantage they would be the kind of chaps I would cross the road to avoid! Wouldn't be found at my table.. and that's for sure :wink:
"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are probably right"

Henry Ford
Churchill
General
General
Posts: 1519
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:49 pm

BLB2 Previews

Post by Churchill » Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:02 am

Ray.
Last edited by Churchill on Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Post by quindia » Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:17 am

Limited ammunition is in the optional rules, as are the rues for mortars. There is a whole chapter, inspired by the rules in R2E, on fighting in built up areas, including the risk of fire.
User avatar
Atheling
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Posts: 905
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 8:04 pm
Contact:

Post by Atheling » Fri Nov 12, 2010 10:27 am

From a graphics perspective this looks great- kudos to Clarence.

Darrell.
Just Add Water High Quality Painting Service:
http://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.co.uk/
Gawalthaufen Blog (Late 15C Warfare):
http://gewalthaufen.blogspot.co.uk/
La Journee Blog (Early 15thC Warfare):
http://lajourney-bedford.blogspot.co.uk/
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Post by quindia » Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:29 am

Image
wellington
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri May 06, 2005 11:34 am
Location: Dublin Ireland

Post by wellington » Fri Nov 12, 2010 9:38 pm

Gentlemen, I about to be unpleasant. I do not like the layout of the sample pages. You are about to have the same problem with Lilly Banners as you have with Republic to Empire, an excellent set of rules buried in a heap of words.
A set of wargames rules should be as clear and consise as possible. Ideas simply expressed and easily found. Entertaining writing is an added bonus and wargames pornography(pretty pictures) the icing on the cake.
The 1st edition Lilly Banners is a nicely set out clearly setting out the ideas and limits of the game. there are - and poorly expressed sections but queries about the running of a game can be answered from the book in no time.
Republic to Empire had some very new and original ideas but the small font, the justified text and the scattering of rules amid discorse on the reasoning made reading and absorbing the rules a hard task.
I am a rules junky and own and have read hundreds if not thousands of rule sets. The best ones seperate rules from discorse from examples. General Quarters 3, a naval set is a good example. The rules are set out clearly, grouping related items good size font and no extrainious content. Explanation and history are in side bars, examples clearly seperated in italics.
Looking at the page on charging We start with a nonsense fancy T. It looks like a piece of intro text but states a fundimental rule. Bullet pointed sentances are pushed out of line to make way for this T.
The bullet points stop and a new title line leads us to expect more rules for charging units. But these rules are not bullet pointed they are lumped together in a block of boiler plate style text. The example is in italics and clear.
I am a long time lurker on this forum and offer my thought now as I have enjoyed Lilly Banners for many years, back to the old downloaded versions.
Republic to Empire is one of the hardest to read rulesets I own don't let this version of Lilly Banners go the same way. loose some of the Arty-Farty stuff increase the font size and layout the rules coherently. Put the explanations reasoning and opinions on seperate pages or sections, I still want to read them but not when I want to find the rule about Platoon firing infantry charging.
I shall now return to my dark corner

Kevin
Churchill
General
General
Posts: 1519
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 11:49 pm

BLB2 Previews.

Post by Churchill » Sat Nov 13, 2010 1:31 am

Ray.
Last edited by Churchill on Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
quindia
General
General
Posts: 1259
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Chesapeake, VA USA
Contact:

Post by quindia » Sat Nov 13, 2010 3:33 am

Text size is the same as the previous two books... don't think anyone complained about it before. Unfortunately it's waaaaaay to late to change the text size. Apologies...
User avatar
Redmist1122
Major General
Major General
Posts: 549
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 6:43 pm
Location: United States
Contact:

Post by Redmist1122 » Sat Nov 13, 2010 5:31 am

If I have to put on the reading glasses...yup too small...but in this case...no reading glasses...I personnaly like it. I like the Artsy stuff and look forward to BLB version 2...not a sock puppet...just easy to please!
Greg P.
Tucson, AZ, USA
Post Reply