"Are you a rules magpie?" Topic

Are you always dashing off after the latest "shiny" ruleset?

No.

Not unless published in 1982 is considered "latest "shiny"" rules.

Nah, not me.

Meh.

I am not. My brother is a rules collector, but he does not chase the new and shiny, he simply likes to read and collect rules, the majority of which he has never played.

A little bit. I enjoy new rule sets to read if nothing else.

I used to be.
For 30 years I searched for the "perfect" AWI rules set.
The problem was that if you play maybe twice a year, you never learn the subtleties and what makes those rules good.
So, instead of being frustrated while messing up a new rules set and the players said "No, John. We had a really good time!" and then re-reading the rules to see what I got wrong, I went back to rules we already knew backwards.
Age of Reason and TSATF.

Don't get me started about Ancients. I bought a lot of rules and sold them all.

I will say that Army Lists are very relaxing books to skim while sitting in the smallest room in the house…

No. I like the old stuff.

I like to read rules but have so far been very successful in resisting buying. Mainly because the few that I have bought have not met my needs.

Heck, I am still waffling over buying The Sword and the Flame.

Not a magpie, but a rules junkie. I am trying to stop…

Like Winston Smith I used to buy every ACW set I could find. Have now resold most of them without ever having played them.

I prefer to think of myself as a rules "collector"

Junkie for me too. I've slowed over the past few years. I've found simple sets are the best for me. I can write those myself!

I used to collect anything relative to the Napoleonic era, but not I am very discriminating given the high gloss/high cost formatting.

Yes. I'm also a magpie when it comes to ice cream.

Besides being a rules collector, I like trying new rules. Tho there's really very little new under the sun…

Not any more. I used to collect everything in sight.

Not "new and shiny" but I do collect old naval rules

No, but I do like to collect and read rules for the ideas therein.

Not all new or shiny rules, but I do try a lot of rules out for my preferredp periods

Are you kidding?
I'm still playing the West End Star Wars Minitaures Battles and using it for World War Two! 😊

I used to be but now I'll only buy when I am convinced I'll actually play them. I am afraid higher production values have had the opposite effect on me to what they intended- higher costs = fewer sales.

Somewhat. I avoid high priced games from the big companies (e.g. I never got into Warhammer) but I like to collect inexpensive, indie games (especially rpgs.

I buy books for shiny pretty pictures…

Some rules get used, some don't.

All provide some degree of inspiration and enjoyment from seeing nice toy soldiers.

No

Waste of money, waste of time, and they are all he same, a bunch of pretentious writing and entirely derivative. "Latest shiny" have a life of about 6 months and from what I can see never get used.

I buy, read, evaluate, try those that seem to reflect what I see as a sense of reality in the genre/era specific factors and then play those.

Generic = weak and inevitability being filed/sold/trashed, complicated = no play, complex = possibly being tested but seldom played, but eventually I find a rules set that works for me.

I will play other rules if I can stomach them, other provide the miniatures and terrain, and the company is good.

No.

No. Rules are way too expensive to "collect" and honestly I don't get to play enough games to try them out.

I'm an adict. I can not stop buying rules for the game eras I play. I do like to read how the author has handled various situations.

And some Joker has added to my rules collection a few times as well. :-)

No. That said, I've bought many, read most, played some & sold others. Still play TSATF, OTR & Crossfire. The latest rules I've bought & play: Bolt Action, Through the Mud & Blood & Jump or Burn. Good sets all!
Peter
board2deathterrain.com

No

Yes. New ideas are always fun.
It's a lot quicker to try new rules than to paint up new figures.
New rules can refresh a period which has become jaded.
Even when I have a set I'm happy with for a period, I enjoy trying new things from time to time.

No, and I get particularly hacked of if I do buy a shiny set and three years later there is "a new improved edition", which is not as good as the original but has even more shiny pages of pictures.
(and why do so many rule set publishers insist on printing coloured print on coloured backgrounds so that anyone over 40 cannot see the damn writing? What is wrong with black print on white paper? And why is there never an index in these new fanglef sets? And why do they scatter information about a particular mechanism through the whole book? Grumpy? Not me!!!!)

No, more like a rules packrat. I tend to pick up old rulesets at flea markets.

No – but I like to try anything new …

Phil

Is a 'magpie' like a 'wind sock' – the latter being those who are constantly chasing the 'in' game/period/whatsit?

No.

So, you are saying that a 'magpie' and a 'wind sock' are not analogous? Meaning no disrespect, but I think they are very much so.

A magpie collects stuff which it likes the look of.
A windsock collects the latest new thing.