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Spartan Games has announced this (copied from their forum):

"In the mobile age that we now live in, even wargaming hasn't escaped change - the increasing use of electronic versions of rulebooks is something we see at almost every show and gaming club we go to. Rulebooks are often reviewed by new players before they decide whether to invest in a game, and Spartan Games in consistently asked to make rulebooks available to download so new players can assess our games without cost.

We have decided to make all our core rulebooks available to download FREE from our website as follows:

December 8th - Firestorm Armada

December 17th - Dystopian Wars

January 12th - Dystopian Legions and Firestorm Planetfall

The downloads do not in any way invalidate the current rulebooks, they are NOT a new version of any rules."

More info: http://www.spartangames.co.uk/

Yay.

Still worth buying the rule books for fluff though.

Not really surprised. I don't think it's so much a marketplace thing as the fact they they burned up a lot of goodwill across the marketplace with the prior 2 rulebooks.

This is the only way to start atoning.

Means I can try before I buy in.

Good on Spartan

Awesome! I have the Firestorm Armada rulebook already, but it should make it easier to get my friends in now!

Very interesting.

I think it is a good idea since they are a company that makes the miniatures for their game (kind of a loss leader to promote miniature sales).

My gaming group hasn't played Uncharted Seas or Firestorm Armada in well over a year. This marketing idea may actually get us to take another look at it. It may even prompt some of us to buy some of the newer miniatures.

Personally, I will still buy the hard cover of the rule book if I like it since I collect rule books for miniature games.

 Vertrucio wrote:
Not really surprised. I don't think it's so much a marketplace thing as the fact they they burned up a lot of goodwill across the marketplace with the prior 2 rulebooks.

This is the only way to start atoning.

Spartan has done this since their first edition.

Its not because they lost goodwill, its just something they do. If anything, the current editions have regained anything they've lost, and this is the expected cherry on top.

Its a good move anyways, though it was largely expected to happen.

Thinks

While I think there's no substitute for a book in my hand, I love that I will also have a document I can search in a second for a relevant rule, read on the go and ponder at a given notice.

Actually they lost a lot of goodwill with their steady stream of corrected rules. Only DW and FA 2.0 are now more or less good versions. But while FA really turned out for the better DW still needs a touch-up (printing nearly half the book with fattened sentences is not a brilliant idea) and I expect 2.1 being around the corner quite soon.

Dystopian Legions got way worse with the new rules and I don`t really understand why they had to replace rules that worked quite fine with rules that make no sense.

Planetfall can be considered being in a second beta-test, considering how the version number of the OBATS goes up by the week and how the rules in the book get updated and extended.

So, the books as DL are quite necessary to get people back that are loathe to buy new books every year.

Getting electronic versions of these rules is great! It will allow me to run demo games for other players a lot more easily, as the new player can now have the hard copy while I use the electronic, etc.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:


So, the books as DL are quite necessary to get people back that are loathe to buy new books every year.

TBH, I have never understood why so many people seem to get upset about this. My impression is that it originates from a jaded consumer sketpicism that drives folks to automatically assume any attempt by a game company to change a game is nothing more than a bald cash-grab. To be fair, our world kind of conditions us to think this way; look at the annual revisions to things like Apple products, for one example. However, in the case of Spartan, I've never really felt the company's actions have merited all of the anger it seems to attract. This is just the latest in a series of good-faith attempts they have made to be attentive to their community and treat their customers with respect. Other examples:

-Not invalidating or obsoleting older models with rules revision changes (DW and FA both)
-Offering free errata booklets for major rules changes when reprinting rulebooks (DW 1.0 to DW 1.1)
-Maintaining rule book costs relatively low (The hard-back FA rule book can be had for $40 US, the DW softcover for $35)

I know that this is a good move, especially for people interested in their games. I saw Firestorm Armada being played today in the club and will definitely flip through the e-book after watching a little of the game.

It helps that they are nice people - all the contact I had with them was very positive.

Believe the dates when I see it happen so far planet fall was late after near 2 months of preorders
The orbates (downloadable stats) where a month and a half late and have already had to be updated to version 1.5 so that's 6 times they have had to change in a week or two
Spartan rules should be free because no matter what game you pick up the rules are almost the same no imagination in them.

They have good models and that unfortunately is where it ends have amassed a few large dystopian war fleets and a few starter fleets for armada and own the rule book for these games and planet fall I say this use there models forget there rules.

Even there rule books being free is to high a price for them especially the very badly formated dystopian wars 2.0 the armada one was not to bad

For every ones bad words against gw some rightly so this company is worse don't believe me check out there history of there game and you will hear the excuse small company a lot

Good luck all

My biggest issue with Spartan is their continual releasing of unfinished rules that they expect people to pay for, play and report back the problems with. Then they make a revised book and expect everyone to buy it again.

A move to free rules will help get rid of this problem.

It won't, however, get rid of the core problem with their systems. That you go through a long and convoluted process of building and allocating dice pools and doing exploding and comparison and applying all the various modifiers and special rules and when you boil it all down you are just basically figuring out if the end result is a miss, a hit or a crit. There's this huge rules process and it all boils down to a very simplistic result. Miss, hit or crit.

If you enjoy the process of getting to the end result, you'll enjoy the game. If you don't and just want the rules to tell you what happened as a result of your attack, then it'll seem like a lot of needless time wasting to just get one of three results.

Planetfall is actually very light on that side when it comes to the process that you speak of, at least compared to FSA it definately plays a lot faster and it has no linked dice mechanic just simply combining.

@10penceman, ORBATs were released as v1.3, not v1.0 and the 2 changes/updates they've made since then, with exception of a few minor tweaks, was just to correct typos. Secondly they were a month and a half late according to what official release dates..? The Proteus Prime box came with rules for models in it and the allies they could take, and the ORBATs for everyone else aren't launched yet even, they're being launched on 8th so that's just entitled thinking to wanting rules for models before they're even out, which eventually you got, so how early do you want to know rules for something before you can get your hands on it..? Also.. you're saying the fact they correct/adjust/update errors for their free online rules is a BAD THING..? I'll take that over GW and waiting to see if something every gets errata'd/FAQ'd any day.

I s Uncharted Seas def dead then ?

 frozenwastes wrote:
My biggest issue with Spartan is their continual releasing of unfinished rules that they expect people to pay for, play and report back the problems with. Then they make a revised book and expect everyone to buy it again.

A move to free rules will help get rid of this problem.

It won't, however, get rid of the core problem with their systems. That you go through a long and convoluted process of building and allocating dice pools and doing exploding and comparison and applying all the various modifiers and special rules and when you boil it all down you are just basically figuring out if the end result is a miss, a hit or a crit. There's this huge rules process and it all boils down to a very simplistic result. Miss, hit or crit.

If you enjoy the process of getting to the end result, you'll enjoy the game. If you don't and just want the rules to tell you what happened as a result of your attack, then it'll seem like a lot of needless time wasting to just get one of three results.

The same process could be said against many games though. 40k and 5th Ed wound allocation shenanigans or the 6th Ed flow chart to resolve a wound are prime examples. The end result of hit, wound and armor save is no less complex and yields no greater difference in results. You could even compare to historicals where modifiers tend to abound and again, the end result is not much different.

 Surtur wrote:

The same process could be said against many games though. 40k and 5th Ed wound allocation shenanigans or the 6th Ed flow chart to resolve a wound are prime examples. The end result of hit, wound and armor save is no less complex and yields no greater difference in results. You could even compare to historicals where modifiers tend to abound and again, the end result is not much different.

Yes. Though I would argue that Spartan's approach is more convoluted. As much as I dislike 40k, the core mechanic produces a wider variety of results because as you get more wounds through the system, more models are removed. A particularly good roll for a unit's firing in 40k could theoretically kill way more models than an average roll, but in many of Spartan's designs, a particularly good roll might not even be enough to get to a double crit. Both games have you figure out handfuls of dice and target numbers, but in Spartan's designs, the process is far, far more likely to produce very similar results. <-- I actually think this is largely a good thing as you can make more meaningful decisions with less variance. However, I consider it only a good thing if you actually enjoy the process itself. I don't.

I consider it a good thing that Spartan is going to give their rules away for free. Hopefully more people who would enjoy them will try them out. After dealing with the DW 1.1 rulebook, I don't consider Spartan's rules worth paying for, so free is about right.

 frozenwastes wrote:

I consider it a good thing that Spartan is going to give their rules away for free. Hopefully more people who would enjoy them will try them out. After dealing with the DW 1.1 rulebook, I don't consider Spartan's rules worth paying for, so free is about right.

All works deserve a salary. Nothing is "free" in this world. Better put that in our heads once and for all.

I will not speak about the other games, but the rules of Firestorm Armada 2.0 aren't what I would call "something not worth paying for". That it doesn't suit you, I can understand. I, on the other hand, appreciate the tactical possibilities these rules offer to the players. It looks simple, but there is much more behind the mechanics.

These news are a good thing to bring new players to these games. Books aren't especially done for...sometimes, it's much more practical to have some old good paper. At least, we can play when all of this technology fails us at the worst time. And making a durable book isn't especially free.

Spartan Games made a lot of mistakes before, but we have to say when something is nice for the players when it happens. This is one opportunity, here.

I can see your point. You want to see models go away from the table and firestorm armadas system definitely heads towards longer lasting models. I do wish to point out that models can disappear pretty quick in planetfall in my brief experience with it and the dice pool is easier to figure out than armada. However it is definitely not the fastest in terms of model removal, I would probably give that to bolt action.

I'm glad the rules are free. I love SG models but I've been burned by too many badly edited, balanced, put together or ridiculously convoluted rulebooks. Plus SG likes to update regularly so the free rules will help in that regard.

The problem with the Spartan printed books was the frequency.
A year may sound like a lot of time.
But in my group we found Firestorm Armada about 3-4 months after it came out.
So a month later we had fleets and played for a while.
Then about 6 months later there was a new $30+ rulebook with significant changes, and the ship cards that came with the models no longer were correct and the only replacements were pdfs.

We also got into Dystopian Wars late, and the group had 2 different rulebooks right off the bat. When one guy looks up a rule and reads it out, and the other guy is reading a different rule in his book, that is bad times.

The other players in my group all moved on to different games with more stable rules.

I kept buying models from them, because they were nice, but I haven't bought any rulebooks.
I especially liked the Dystopian Legions models.

 Mr Morden wrote:
I s Uncharted Seas def dead then ?

Has been for a while. But all the rules are up online for free if you need 'em and the minis are still available in the store. Probably more accurate to say it is finished and they aren't looking to expand it further. But since not getting new releases tends to mean dead to most folks, it is basically that. But everything you need to play is still up online.

I'm glad they're finally embracing the living rulebook/online model for things. They have almost always had online rulebooks (Dystopian Wars being the big exception and the one that suffered the most from botched print books) but it looks like they have finally settled on doing it for all of their properties.

So good on them, hard to complain about free stuff.

-Not invalidating or obsoleting older models with rules revision changes (DW and FA both)

Well with some changes some units became outright worthless (even units that were a staple before). So, the models did not became modelwise, but rulewise.

-Offering free errata booklets for major rules changes when reprinting rulebooks (DW 1.0 to DW 1.1)

Better forget the booklets instantly. All of them were a headache to figure out. It really was easier to get the new booklet than comparing the older book with the booklet all the time. And don`t get me started about the booklet erratas.

-Maintaining rule book costs relatively low (The hard-back FA rule book can be had for $40 US, the DW softcover for $35)

Well, it piles up over the years so in the end it is not that cheap and Soartan has the highest rulebook-update frequency I know. Also they not always change the version number when updating books. With DW there was 1.0, 1.05 (only found out when comparing them), 1.1 and 2.0. That is a lot for such a short time and from what I hear 2.1 is already in the pipeline.

US is more or less dead since you can get it only from Spartan these days and most FLGS are loath to to order stuff that only gets them a small earning.

And selling everything now in boxes and not providing all of the older models from their shop as single-buy models while changing the unit size numbers for those models really pissed of quite some folks.

I will play DW, but with regard to Planetfall they lost me, DZC is a much better and more stable game, so why bother.

And there was a Planetfall 1.1 and 1.2 but that was over a year ago.

The real problem Spartan has is: Get a damn editor. The books would be so much better. Oh, and abstain from messing up rules that were quite good, Dystopian Legions I am looking at you.

I can see how that could be frustrating. My own outlook is that our group takes responsibility with the rules, and we tend to tell a company to screw itself when they change good rules, and house rule it. Tournament settings would be an issue if we cared. We look for narrative game experiences, so that doesn't bother us for the most part.

 Sarouan wrote:
All works deserve a salary. Nothing is "free" in this world. Better put that in our heads once and for all.

The amount paid to the game design is between Spartan and the game designer. The amount paid between a customer and Spartan on the other hand is not subject to ideas about fair salaries. Just because a company spends time on something doesn't mean you or I are obligated to pay for it.

So many great things are free in this world. And a lot of mediocre stuff as well.

Spartan Games made a lot of mistakes before, but we have to say when something is nice for the players when it happens. This is one opportunity, here.

Yes, it's nice. After the convoluted mess than was 1.1, there was no way I was going to give Spartan one cent for another rulebook. Ever. Now I don't have to. I'll give DW2.0 a try when it comes out for free and if I like it, I'll play it, if I don't, I'll be selling my miniatures. Prior to this announcement, the fact they were being sold was a foregone conclusion. They got themselves a second chance from me with this.

...After the convoluted mess than was 1.1, there was no way I was going to give Spartan one cent for another rulebook. Ever. Now I don't have to. I'll give DW2.0 a try when it comes out for free and if I like it, I'll play it, if I don't, I'll be selling my miniatures. Prior to this announcement, the fact they were being sold was a foregone conclusion. They got themselves a second chance from me with this.

I'm a little confused by this. If you like DW as it plays now, and they release new rules that you don't like, why not play the way you want? Why does their decision to release a new rulebook make you have to play by their rules?

Other players, and there are quite few.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:

The real problem Spartan has is: Get a damn editor. The books would be so much better. Oh, and abstain from messing up rules that were quite good, Dystopian Legions I am looking at you.

On that point, I think we can agree! It seems Spartan has noticed this themselves; from what I have seen, the 2.0 rule books have been significant improvements over their predecessors in layout, clarity, and proof-reading. Not perfect, of course, but better. I can't speak to the DL rules; TBH, the game just never interested me that much. It's unfortunate that it seems to have been a regression.

 Jlav wrote:
I'm a little confused by this. If you like DW as it plays now, and they release new rules that you don't like, why not play the way you want? Why does their decision to release a new rulebook make you have to play by their rules?

I do not like 1.1. The rulebook was bad, and the game play wasn't good enough to hold my interest.

If I were to run steampunk naval battles, I'd probably cobble together my own rules. Or maybe adapt something like Alpha Strike or Gruntz15mm. Or maybe Mekton RPG rules.

There are local players of DW2.0. They won't exactly be interested in either my own rules or a houseruled 1.1. When the free PDF of DW2.0 comes out, I'll give the game another chance and check it out. As it stands, I'm going to sell my miniatures.