Many of us, at one time or another, decide that we would like to have a go at writing our own miniature wargame rules. There are many motivations for this, not least of which is the thought that "I want to play my own rules This desire to write your own rules often lasts little more than a month or so as you suddenly come up against the formidable obstacles of research and development.
Now, if you truly love the subject you are writing your rules about and for (i.e. the Medieval period or the American Civil War), research is an obstacle that can be laboriously, but joyfully overcome. Personally speaking, Dave Armer and I attempted to write a set of Ancients rules over fifteen years ago. Stymied by our lack of knowledge, I returned to grad school to "learn" how to write and do research. There is no better training than this. After receiving my M.A. in European Studies, I got together with Dave Otmey and we tried our hand at a period specific set of rules of Crusading warfare. This time, the problem was not with research, we both had no problems with that, but the development phase proved our undoing. We both found that we wanted different things fro the rules. Thus ended this project.
In 1993, 1 had tired of playing the popularly used ancients rules. After interminable misunderstandings and rules arguments, I dropped out of ancients gaming and began to work on a set of tactical American Civil War rules that later evolved into Mister Lincoln's War. Through the experience of working on these rules I learned two valuable lessons.
- 1. Do not let yourself lose control over the final editing of your rules and
2. Make certain that any changes to your rules are in synch with your overall rules philosophy.
While working on MLW, Bruce Taylor and I sat down and began to re-work some of the game mechanics into a Medieval wargame. We both had armies that we wanted to dust off and use, but in order to do so, we would need some rules. In essence, I took all of the ten years of research from my book, Neglected Heroes: Leadership and War in the Early Medieval Period (Praeger, 1995), and began to formulate all that I had learned in researching that book into our game. I knew that leadership quality and the psychology of the fighting men would have to be of paramount importance for my rules. Also, being a tactical simulation, weaponry and armor would also be significant. I desired a game in which the miniature figures represented the actual troops they were meant to portray. Also, I had always enjoyed the 'hands-on' feel of tactical level wargames. My rules would incorporate as many interesting, mentally stimulating and 'fun' aspects as I could include.
From my own gaming experiences, I know that most wargamers like to roll dice. There is something about willing the cubits to come up with the desired numbers that is an essential part to the games I liked to play. What I do not like about dice driven games is leaving your entire strategy up to chance. How could we incorporate large numbers of dice in a game and not have the 'sixes win' syndrome? For starters, I included a rule allowing a re-roll option. In essence, you 'buy' a priest/holy man figure for your army when building your forces form the army lists (more research, but an essential part of my games). This figure allows you to re-roll one bad die roll each turn (you call on the Gods!). Then, we made the missile, morale and close combat systems results based upon a multi-layered percentage basis (using 10 sided die as well as 6 sided) to allow more options and a greater range of probabilities. Casualty determination thus would not be directed by a single die roll, but would be reliant on two or more.
We made hits dependent on stand strength. The more figures you had on a stand, the more punishment you could absorb and dish out. Skirmishers (2 per stand), would obviously not last as long as loose order (3 per stand) or close order (4 per stand). Once you exceeded (in casualties, again percentage based) the strength of one of your stands in your unit, you lost a stand and the unit had to test it's morale.
Early on, we had a problem with missile fire results. Initially, we elected to have each stand get to roll a die (ten sided) for shooting. The problem was, a 2 figure skirmisher stand did as much damage as a 4 figure close order archer stand. After trying various idea, I finally came up with an easy, simple missile fire modifier to make it easier for a 4 figure stand to hit and harder for the 2 figure stand. A 3 figure stand was not modified. Problem solved.
Command was easily dealt with. All of my research pointed to the importance of command control and strength of personality in Medieval battles. Unhappy with the DBX variance of order allowance each turn, I opted to have the gamers roll for each of their generals before the game to determine their leadership quality (order giving ability). You know how good or bad your commanders are and cal deal with them as such. Depending on his quality, he could give up to five orders per turn to a low of two orders, if that poor a leader. Once a general becomes involved in a close combat or is killed or routed, he loses his order giving ability. By limiting the number of orders you can have, you must decide which of your units will get them each turn and which will not. Units with no orders may fire, but may not move, unless induced to do so by morale results.
I dislike paperwork. There would be none in our rules. Order markers and status chits
would be used to designate losses and morale condition. Everything would be above board and on
the table, with nothing left to player confusion or argument. The game has to move smoothly and
quickly and the less referencing a player has to do the better.
We playtested the rules for a year. Don't be afraid to ask your friends to come over and
play. Only by bringing in people who know nothing of your mind-set can you find and correct
the inevitable bugs in your rules. We brought over people in pairs and had them play. In this
way, each individual can show you his or her problems with certain rules. They will find things
you never thought of'. Keep a notebook and write down everything that is confusing or unclear.
After each playtest game, sit down with the players and have a de-briefing, getting into
the nitty-gritty of what they actually felt about the flow of play, mechanisms, results, etc. Ask them bluntly what they think. Be prepared for criticism. Make sure you develop a thick skin for
you will have plenty. Some of them will dislike your system. "Too complicated" or "Too many
orders" or "But why can't I do this? In such-and-such rules I can" may be some responses. If the criticisms are valid, work to correct them. Ask for suggestions on how to make the system better, easier and cleaner.
Other players will love your rules. They will want to play more and will become your
enthusiastic backers. The toughest part of playtesting is taking the criticism and fine-tuning the rules to make them more acceptable. Perhaps that fantastic morale rule you like is just too
complicated to work in a gaming situation. Look at the rules people do not like and don't be
fearful of changing or eliminating those that cause problems. It may be hard to do, but if it makes your rules better, change them. That's what playtesting is all about.
After a year of this, it was time to take our new Medieval Warfare rules (they
started out with the ambiguous title of For God Wealth and Honor) to Historicon for
demonstration gaming. If you thought playtesting with your friends was nerve-wracking, just
wait until you put on your first demo game. One thing that I can tell you is to make certain that
you have developed a workable scenario for the demo game. Playtest the demo at your local club
before daring to put it on at a major convention. Make sure that both sides have an equal chance
of winning. Do not have the table cluttered up with too much terrain. A simple forest, some
hills and a bit of brush will do for a 10- 12 foot table.
Another word of advice. For tactical level games the best scale for demonstrating your
rules is 25mm. It is much more visual and leaves a deeper impression on the participants. If you do not have the needed number of figures, ask for help. Many of your friends and club members will be kind enough to loan you figures. They may even help you run the game!
If you are confident that your rules are what the wargaming world has been waiting for,
perhaps you should have a number of them printed up at your local Kinko's or print shop. Make
sure that you have an interesting, eye-catching cover and back. Many potential buyers will not
even pick up a rules set if it doesn't have an attractive look. Price-wise, use the rule of thumb that you charge enough to cover all of your printing costs and make enough profit after mailing costs to cover your next print run as well as 'lost' copies. Lost copies? Yes, You will 'lose' a few. Some people assume since it's there, it must be free and walk off with it, never mind that there is a price sticker on it! You will have to make enough of a profit to cover any losses and still compensate yourself for all of your hard work. With luck, you can sell enough copies to pay for your trips and pick up a few things in the dealer's area as well. I use the rule of thumb of charging four times the printing costs.
Conventions
Do not forget to let the convention organizers know that you plan on putting on a demo
game! Make sure that your event is put into the Preliminary Events Listing (PEL) as you may
find yourself with no participants if no one knows about your game. Also plan in advance to have at least one other person help you set up, answer participants questions and pick up afterwards. If you can't find anyone to help you with this, I suggest you wait until you do before going to a convention to put on your game.
When you are ready to leave for the convention, make sure you have enough Quick
Reference Sheets (QRS or 'cheat sheets'), rulers and dice for each player. Don't expect them to
bring their own, they rarely do. Pack your figures in their commands. It's frustrating trying to set up your game in an hour if you have to sort through boxes of figures to find the right ones. And remember to bring your figures and terrain! I forgot half my army one year and had to scramble to borrow enough troops to play the game.
Once your demo game is set up, be sure to make the participants feel comfortable. Ask
them what side they would like to play on and give them a brief run-down on the scenario. Our
rules are pretty straight forward, so we really only run through orders and casualties. Then we let them go at it. I am a strong believer in learning by doing. Let them learn the game by playing it Nothing is more boring than listening to a game's master intone on for an hour (or more) about every nuance of his rules.
Be prepared for rejection! In our first ever demo game, a player who I knew didn't like
what had happened to his command (and he was right, we made a mistaken ruling). He got up, and
left the game in anger. You can't stop the game because of this. Carry on and don't let it get to you. Remember, there are eight to ten other guys playing too.
After the game, not during, ask for opinions and criticisms. Most players will be happy to
talk to you. You can always tell how well a game has gone by how many players stick around to
help you pick up. It's at this point that you will make your sales of the rules. Make sure to thank each and every purchaser and give him or her your email address where they can send you any questions they might have.
Once your rules have experienced (and survived) the demonstration game phase, you are
ready for the next step, finding a publisher for you rules. Sure, you can continue to self publish, many rules writers do, but you will be able to reach only a very small segment of your potential players this way. As individuals, we cannot afford to advertise in the major wargaming
publications to any extent. Besides, self publishing is risky and can be expensive if you opt for color, glossy photos throughout. As you will soon find, rules revisions and changes will very quickly outdate any rules you self publish. You will end up discarding copies of your earlier versions in order to offer the latest edition. No rules come out of the chute perfect. By linking up with a major publisher, all of the little glitches and anomalies you
have so far missed will be caught by a professional editorial staff.
Rules Publishing
Approaching a rules publisher is tricky. From my own experience, you will be better
off not simply sending your rules out to publishers by mail or email. This 'cold-calling' often
will find your rules decorating the circular file in a secretary's office. Better to go to the
conventions and meet each potential publisher face to face. Don't be afraid to approach figure
manufacturers. Lately, they have been taking a more active part in the publishing end of the
hobby. Introduce yourself and give them a set of your rules. Let them know that you are
interested in their input and let it go from there.
We were fortunate in that Bryan Ansell was in the market for rules when I talked to
him. We have contracted for two rules sets through the Foundry; both our Medieval Warfare
as well as our Ancient Warfare rules. We are also working on two more sets that have
been accepted for publication at a later date.
There are several types of arrangements publishers may make with you. If you want
your money up front, they will buy your rules outright for a negotiated amount, the funds
being dependent on their perceived selling potential. The other type of publishing is on a
royalty basis, like the book publishing business. In this instance, you sell them for an agreed
percentage of the sales price per copy. How much of the percentage is dependent on the rules
potential as well as your salesmanship and negotiating skill.
So you have spent years working on your rules. You've successfully sold them. Now
what? Be prepared o demonstrate them any chance you get. The rewards of seeing others
playing and enjoying the fruits of your labor cannot be expressed enough. Besides that, there
is a peripheral business in scenario booklets, army lists and ... writing more rules sets! Once
you have had some success with rules writing there is no reason not to continue
As a last word of advice, believe in yourself and what you are doing. Do not be
discouraged and quit because of a few negative remarks. Keep at it and if you really feel that
what you have is worth all the work and trouble that you are putting into it, then I wish you
the success you deserve.
Back to MWAN #108 Table of Contents
Back to MWAN List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com