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Thought this might be of interest to many here.

"Tabletop Wargames: A Designers' and Writers' Handbook" by Rick Priestley and John Lambshead

Unlike chess or backgammon, tabletop wargames have no single, accepted set of rules. Most wargamers at some point have had a go at writing their own rules and virtually all have modified commercially available sets to better suit their idea of the ideal game or to adapt favorite rules to a different historical period or setting. But many who try soon find that writing a coherent set of rules is harder than they thought, while tweaking one part of an existing set can often have unforeseen consequences for the game as a whole. Now, at last, help is at hand.

Veteran gamer and rules writer John Lambshead has teamed up with the legendary Rick Priestley, creator of Games Workshop’s phenomenally successful Warhammer system, to create this essential guide for any would-be wargame designer or tinkerer. Rick and John give excellent advice on deciding what you want from a wargame and balancing ‘realism’ (be it in a historical or a fantasy/sci-fi context) with playability. They discuss the relative merits of various mechanisms (cards, dice, tables) then discuss how to select and combine these to handle the various essential game elements of turn sequences, combat resolution, morale etc to create a rewarding and playable game that suits your tastes and requirements

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1783831480/ref=pe_11480_171445740_emwa_email_title_1



About the Author
Rick Priestley is the world’s most successful and best known wargame designer. He has created many professional wargames including Warhammer and Warhammer 40K, which together have outsold all other wargames by a huge margin. He is also the author of successful sets of historical wargame rules for several periods, including Black Powder and Hail Caesar. Dr John Lambshead designed the award-winning computer game, Frederick Forsythe’s Fourth Protocol, which was the first icon driven game, was editor of Games & Puzzles and Wargames News, and has written a number of wargames for Games Workshop. He is now a novelist writing SF&F and is published by Bane Books. He is now working on the officially licensed Dr Who gaming rules.

Interesting... and subscribed. The price is a bit steep at $25 on amazon for a <200 page paperback but they've got until Nov 2016 when it is released to change that. I suppose the ultraniche topic doesn't help the margins so they have to make it up somehow.

Thanks for mentioning it, JudgeDoug, will get me a copy.

yeah,
Interesting topic.. but I'm not sure if £20 interesting.

Panic...

Awesome, added to the wishlist! Thanks JD!

Who's up for chipping in a £ each to get a copy sent to GW HQ. Maybe they can learn a thing of two?

Lol..

Can definitely see this being a useful read for anyone thinking of writing their own rules, plus probably an interesting read in its own right. There aren't many people who have done more (or at least had such a readership)

Warhammer's claim to fame has never been the quality of the rules. Still, might be fun to read for all would be rules creators.

Who's up for chipping in a £ each to get a copy sent to GW HQ. Maybe they can learn a thing of two?

 kestral wrote:
Warhammer's claim to fame has never been the quality of the rules. Still, might be fun to read for all would be rules creators.

There's a strong argument that from 2000-2006 that Warhammer Fantasy (6th) was the best mass battles ruleset on the market (and Warhammer Ancients for ancient battles)

Writing a game from scratch is simpler task in they all (ha ha) you have to do is produce the best game you can within the design choices you've made

the art of updating a game is something different

you'll need to look to please your existing player base by keeping what they're happy with (good or bad) and remove what they dislike (again good or bad),
can you add the latest gaming trend ?,
can you eliminate that which has gone out of gaming fashion, is there an existing fan base for another game you can try and poach whole sale? what do they like and dislike, does that fit with your existing player base.
If your selling the rules

Interesting. Might make a nice gift for that guy in my gaming group who keep tinkering (poorly) with RPG rules. We’ll see who I draw in the secret santa pool. It’s a nice release date for the holidays.

 kestral wrote:
Warhammer's claim to fame has never been the quality of the rules. Still, might be fun to read for all would be rules creators.

I think that some of the rule sets have been pretty dammed good!

Read John Lambshead's blog for some time and it was always entertaining, believe he did some of the Warlord campaign books also, so if he has done the actual text no doubt it will be well written.

Interesting. Amazon in Germany has no price and no release date yet.

Oh this looks cool. I love rules tinkering so I will certainly pick up a copy.

Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

What's he worked on? (Not confronting or anything, but I just don't know other than "one of those (at one point) GW guys")

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

What's he worked on? (Not confronting or anything, but I just don't know other than "one of those (at one point) GW guys")

40k.

I would hardly credit Priestly with the mess that is current 40k.

However, he helped create the core of a miniatures ruleset that has lasted 30 years. Not exactly a small feat.

 DarknessEternal wrote:

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

What's he worked on? (Not confronting or anything, but I just don't know other than "one of those (at one point) GW guys")

40k.

That and much more besides, not as sole credit but he was involved in a lot of games.

WHFB, Warhammer Ancients, LoTR, Necromunda, Warmaster. Also the Hail Caesar/Black Powder, Bolt Action, Gates of Antares.

Likes the guys rules or no (and for some incomprehensible reason it seems to become personal for some people) he's had a massive impact on the wargaming industry. You'd probably struggle to think of anyone who has had more in the past 30 years.

I'll be getting this. While it's probably quite naive of me, I'd like to get into professional development, design and writing for gaming. I admire Rick Priestly for a lot of his work despite how some people feel about the quality of certain rule sets.

 DarknessEternal wrote:

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

What's he worked on? (Not confronting or anything, but I just don't know other than "one of those (at one point) GW guys")

40k.

If you want a real example of Rick Priestley's work (i.e. his sole work, not a new edition or constrained by other people's design goals), Warmaster was pretty much his baby; written to fulfil an idea he had, pretty much the only outside help he got was miniature design and publication.

As for 40k being his… Andy Chambers might have something to say about that. Not that 7th edition represents either of them except in the most basic rudiments.

Rick actually owned most of the rights to 40K, until he and GW parted and he got a nice compensation for it.

 DarknessEternal wrote:

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

What's he worked on? (Not confronting or anything, but I just don't know other than "one of those (at one point) GW guys")

40k.

Rogue Trader? It's a bit messy but was pretty damn amazing in 1987!

Sounds like an interesting read! I'll probably put it on my Christmas list. :-)

I will wait for others to review before buying

This is fascinating... I'll probably give it a read when it comes out. Besides, considering what I pay for textbooks these days, $25 isn't gonna break the bank.

 Pacific wrote:

 DarknessEternal wrote:

 spiralingcadaver wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Given my opinion of Rick Priestleys rules, Im inclined to think the value of this book might be as a guide of what *not* to do.

What's he worked on? (Not confronting or anything, but I just don't know other than "one of those (at one point) GW guys")

40k.

That and much more besides, not as sole credit but he was involved in a lot of games.

WHFB, Warhammer Ancients, LoTR, Necromunda, Warmaster. Also the Hail Caesar/Black Powder, Bolt Action, Gates of Antares.

Likes the guys rules or no (and for some incomprehensible reason it seems to become personal for some people) he's had a massive impact on the wargaming industry. You'd probably struggle to think of anyone who has had more in the past 30 years.

Priestley's rules have sold huge amounts, but they have never been noted for advanced sophistication of design. There are cleverer, more innovative rules by a number of other writers. Priestley's success and fame comes from having worked on the rules published by GW.

I still think the book will be an interesting and useful item.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Priestley's rules have sold huge amounts, but they have never been noted for advanced sophistication of design. There are cleverer, more innovative rules by a number of other writers. Priestley's success and fame comes from having worked on the rules published by GW.

I still think the book will be an interesting and useful item.

Hmm, where do you get that from? The two rulesets he was allowed to develop from the ground up during his last fifteen years at GW are nearly universally loved - Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game and Warmaster. Warmaster still has a huge following despite being out of production for almost a decade. His first non-GW fully developed and published ruleset, Gates of Antares, is also appearing to have overwhelmingly glowing reviews.

http://johnstoysoldiers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/author-copies-arrived-tabletop-wargames.html?spref=fb

on sale next week !