Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was wondering what are the games with best current rule sets?

I wanted to make this a 'rule set' question, as asking for 'best games' would mean considering a ton of things like quality of miniatures, depth of fluff, amount of players etc. Instead, I'm hoping to examine just the rules, on the basis of how fun, balanced and well written they are. I suppose if the rules are good, they also allow balanced competitive play, have depth but aren't too complicated, and allow player skill to show through.

So, what are your favourite rule sets and why?

Deadzone has to be up there, it's a very fast, very engaging set of rules that is great fun to play and rather balanced. The asymmetrical missions and card mechanics also make it a very interesting system.

I've heard nothing but good things about Malifaux, and from what I've read of it, those claims are founded.

40k (braces himself) is very good, for what it is. As a fun, casual, Saturday afternoon game, it's absolutely fine. It's the Action Blockbuster equivalent of games, good for a laugh and a couple of hours' fun with some friends.

Infinity and Warmahordes have the tightest rulesets that I've played lately.

Wild West Exodus is pretty tight, but has some refinements still to make.

Malifaux 2E is pretty tight, but there are a lot of 'rule breakers' which make things a bit more complicated and bit more loose.

Dark Age has a solid rules set, but some people might be put off by the aesthetic.

A group of us have been playing 5th edition Car Wars recently, and we really love that rule set, though some might find it kind of intensely meticulous.

Star Wars X-Wing and Star Trek Attack Wing both have a huge following around here, and everyone claims to love the rules for their simplicity.

 Paradigm wrote:
40k (braces himself) is very good, for what it is. As a fun, casual, Saturday afternoon game, it's absolutely fine. It's the Action Blockbuster equivalent of games, good for a laugh and a couple of hours' fun with some friends.

Just because you personally enjoy playing it doesn't mean that it is an objectively "good" system. Most any rule set on the market could be described in exactly those terms.

Fun, casual, Saturday afternoon game. In other words, don't take it too seriously because the system doesn't really work very well. If you ignore the problems it has and only play with friends it's entertaining.

But what actually makes a game "casual?"

Personally, I don't think 40K is very "casual" at all. The rule set is byzantine and clunky. You would be hard pressed to teach the system to someone over a game and have them walking away from the table proficient in it's use. Many games slow down or grind to a halt because a rules issue comes up, even among die-hard veterans. Most games at the recommended point values take far more than an hour to play. Reference materials for the game are spread across multiple different formats, are difficult to access, and are filled with typos and ambiguous language.

None of that says casual to me.

Dreadball is an example of a casual game. Whether or not one 'likes' the system, it is very simple, easy to learn, doesn't require much, and plays quickly.

If you can walk up to a table with a beer in your hand in the middle of a game you've never played before and jump right into the middle of it, that's a casual game.

Take board games, for example. Eclipse is a great game. But it is the antithesis of casual. On the other hand, Firefly: The Game is very casual. BANG! is very casual. Cards Against Humanity is the epitome of casual. Your eighty year old grandmother can roll up to a game of Cards Against Humanity, get dealt in, and be laughing about Obama eating gak out of a bucket in ten minutes.

That's casual.

It's casual mostly because the rules aren't just simple; they work. There's no confusion. The system functions without a hitch. That isn't any game that GW produces.

In 40K, players mostly have fun despite the rules, not because of them.

Easy and casual are zombicide, Deadzone, Dreadball, and X-Wing for me. The learning curve is very shallow, but getting good at the game, ah, now there's the fun. Each game is simple to pick up, quick to learn the basics, and a lifetime to master. Yes, I know there are two Mantic games on there, and I'll admit I'm a fanboi of their solid rules. I will agree, too, that CAH is the ultimate casual game. There is nothing more casual than that.

Warmachine/Hordes has been the best average to competitive ruleset since 2003, Though I also find Bolt Action to be simple and balanced, so it's better for casual play than the former.

I've also played a little bit of the new 40k Editions. I thinks it looks good so far.

Jumping in on Deadzone, as well. I love me some Deadzone.

I also lol'd at Firefly being casual.

I'd list 40k as well, just because despite the problems it is really one of the best out there. I will not go hide to avoid the backlash.

Warmachine/Hordes is pretty solid as a rule set. It has its faults in small places, but in general it's very well done.

Infinity is about to go through an edition change, but I like the mechanics of it.

X-wing is stupid easy to learn, difficult to master. Definitely a marker of an excellent game/ruleset.

 pretre wrote:
Jumping in on Deadzone, as well. I love me some Deadzone.

I also lol'd at Firefly being casual.

I'd list 40k as well, just because despite the problems it is really one of the best out there. I will not go hide to avoid the backlash.

Why isn't Firefly casual?

To me the game seems like a very casual game. The rules can be picked up in the midst of playing and consist of the same basic mechanic being repeated over and over and over again. the turn sequence is flexible and overlapping. The system easily handles a missed turn here and there without much adverse impact.

There's lots of cards and things, and the game takes an inordinate amount of table space to play comfortably, but in terms of the rules, it's a pretty casual game.

Table space, time and emotional investment. The last game we played took quite some time to complete.

Take a look at Freeblades, OP. It's a very solid rule set.

 sing your life wrote:
Warmachine/Hordes has been the best average to competitive ruleset since 2003, Though I also find Bolt Action to be simple and balanced, so it's better for casual play than the former.

I've also played a little bit of the new 40k Editions. I thinks it looks good so far.

It would be if everything did not boil down to meeting in the center dishing it out to see who get to kill the enemy "king" first.

 pretre wrote:
Table space, time and emotional investment. The last game we played took quite some time to complete.

Lol, yea. Ours just kinda go until somebody wonders what the mission was supposed to be and then does it. It's got a Heores of Might and Magic sort of feel to the game play.

xxvaderxx wrote:
It would be if everything did not boil down to meeting in the center dishing it out to see who get to kill the enemy "king" first.

You know they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Steamroller 2014. Look it up.

Even if the strategy to win was so simple, it wouldn't have any bearing on the rules quality, which is the topic.

Pimp: The Backhanding is still going strong.

Battletech. The rules haven't changed much in the past twenty years, and the only confusing aspects are among old grognards who remember certain things being in the main rulebook that have been split off in the current edition.

It's been ages since I got many games in, but I've always been partial to Malifaux, and Hell Dorado.

Brushfire 2nd ed is my top wargameinh rule set. So fun, and amazing for its campaign rules.

I've got to say chess has the tightest ruleset out there. Checkers is a close second.

SH, I would argue the reverse of that.

Checkers is far more simple than Chess as the pieces all move in the same way. Chess pieces on the other hand move according to their kind.

Sorry I thought you said lightest not tightest.

I really must slow down my reading.

xraytango wrote:
SH, I would argue the reverse of that.

Checkers is far more simple than Chess as the pieces all move in the same way. Chess pieces on the other hand move according to their kind.

Sorry I thought you said lightest not tightest.

I really must slow down my reading.

Yeah, checkers can have some odd house rules depending on where you play. Chess doesn't have much variance in the rules until you get to 3D boards and such.

Standard checkers, only. House rules should stay at home.
No jumping over one's own man, no auto-loss of a piece for not jumping it, and no stopping at the back of the board to become a king if you can reverse and jump another piece, take your crown at the end of the turn.

What we call Checkers, Brits call Draughts. There are probably significant differences as there are with cricket and baseball.

xraytango wrote:
Standard checkers, only. House rules should stay at home.
No jumping over one's own man, no auto-loss of a piece for not jumping it, and no stopping at the back of the board to become a king if you can reverse and jump another piece, take your crown at the end of the turn.

What we call Checkers, Brits call Draughts. There are probably significant differences as there are with cricket and baseball.

Whoa whoa whoa, I don't know how you play where you're from, but there ain't no reversing around these parts unless you're already a king. There's only moving towards the opponent's board edge, and you don't have to jump a piece if you don't want to. Unless you play at their house of course.

Dreadball
Dropzone Commander
X-Wing
Deadzone
Warmahordes

Roughly in that order for me. Disclaimer: I only actively play Dreadball, but I have watched the others. It's worth mentioning they're all really good and I'm very tempted to buy into X-Wing and DZC, and have already bought into Deadzone, just have to get off my ass and paint my stuff. Sadly 40k is still the best setting by far, though Mantics Warpath universe (Deadzone and Dreadball are also set in it) is getting a lot deeper.

Infinity - the game mechanics and balance within the game are outstanding, I would go as far (without getting wrapped up in hyperbole ) as to say it is something beautiful.

X-Wing; incredibly fast to pick up and play, you can have a great laugh with it within 30mins of picking up the rulebook.

Dreadball; not without its faults and frustrating at times, but a fine, fast paced (and very fun) sports board game for the modern age.

 pretre wrote:

I'd list 40k as well, just because despite the problems it is really one of the best out there. I will not go hide to avoid the backlash.

No need to defend yourself! If it's something you enjoy, then it's something you enjoy. Don't think anyone should criticise anyone else for their own choice!

Malifaux 2E is the tightest rule set I've looked at for a while. I managed to pick it up in a turn, and it's taking a while to master. Out of all the games I've played all of the rules questions have been answered based on the rules and not interpretations.

That stat cards makes things a lot easier, and the clear wording avoids any ambiguity about when/if something has an effect.

The only problem I've seen so far is that on some cards the same rule can be written differently but will still be semantically the same.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 pretre wrote:
I'd list 40k as well, just because despite the problems it is really one of the best out there. I will not go hide to avoid the backlash.

What makes the 40K rules one of the best out there?

Warmahordes is the tightest and best written rules set that I've ever seen.

X-Wing is very close behind and has a beautiful easy to learn / hard to master simplicity to it.

Infinity and 2nd Ed Malifaux come after those two and if you really wan't to try a truly narrative rules set you simply need to look at the Force on Force / Tomorrow's War rules because they really are a thing of beauty.

Anyone claiming that 40k is the best rules set, at anything, can only make that claim if they've never experienced any other miniature game... ever...

X wing
Dropzone commander
Mercs

PhantomViper wrote:

Anyone claiming that 40k is the best rules set, at anything, can only make that claim if they've never experienced any other miniature game... ever...

Same for X-Wing.

The game's balance is so horribly out of whack, it makes 40K look like chess.

But it's popularity proves that "internet-good-will" is more important than actual objective review of the rules.