Slitherine

FIELD OF GLORY ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL TABLETOP WARGAMES RULES GOES 2.0

Release of new version continues Slitherine’s Wargames Revolution
Epsom, 12th July 2012
Firstly our apologies for the delay in getting this long anticipated upgrade to you, but we hope you will be pleasantly surprised and will now see the reasons why. Our work on the various new tablet platforms has convinced us that this is the perfect format for tabletop wargames rules. The nature of table top gaming has proven to us that the more games played the more popular it becomes and this in turn generates the need for constant updates and innovation. This is why Slitherine is today announcing the release of Field of Glory Ancients & Medieval v2.0 rules as an iPad, PC and MAC app. The app is powered by abannan; the UK software developer who have launched a new publishing platform, designed to transform the way people read publications on screen.

We anticipate that in the future players will want to have the entire game system with all of the key points, instantly accessible on touch screen. This is the next step in the Revolution.
This is in every aspect version 2.0 of the rules, with multiple tweaks and changes to the current system, but more importantly, it is also a great new way of providing future updated and evolving the rule system. In the past Wargamers have had to wait far too long for updates, often dependent on print stocks diminishing and even then, as wargamers know, compromises were made to avoid changes to Army Lists. The move to digital will completely obliterate these constraints. Field of Glory Ancients & Medieval v2.0 rules for the digital platforms is the next step in the Revolution. Updates and changes will in future be downloadable so that the system will always be up-to-date with the latest feedback and improvements.
The same concept will be added to the Army Lists allowing deeper rule changes and balancing to enhance game play. Through the digital system it will be possible to update any unit values by simply modifying the main data base.
JD McNeil, Chairman of Slitherine, said: "We are proud to again be leading the charge and continuing the Wargames Revolution. We launched the Field of Glory tabletop rules series in 2008, raising the bar and introducing the highest standards of quality and presentation which has now been largely emulated across the board, but all that is now history. We are continually encouraged to see how Wargamers embrace change to the hobby, so we listened to your feedback and the Revolution continues. The digital release of Field of Glory Ancients & Medieval v2.0 rules is testament to your opinions and needs. This is a community based market and we are proud to be at the forefront, providing the community with new and exciting ways to Wargame. For this initial version and to start the ball rolling we have been fairly conservative with the changes, but the new system will allow us to create and publish updates at predetermined times to suit the hobby”.
Colin Bennett MD of abannan, says “Our partnership with Slitherine is a natural one as both organisations have user experience at top of mind at all times. The project has been both refreshing and challenging as the team at Slitherine were determined to release nothing but the best possible product for their Wargamers. We are proud to put our name to this product and the association with Slitherine.”
The digital version of Field of Glory Ancients & Medieval v2.0 rules will release for iPad with full touch screen support and simultaneously we will release a version for PC and MAC
A Summary of changes to Field of Glory Ancients and Medieval v2.0 rules include:
• Areas of potential confusion clarified to make the rules even more user-friendly.

• Skirmishers less slippery, with reduced ability to slow enemy movement and less ability to concentrate shooting without risk.

• Drilled troops less maneuverable and undrilled troops less unmaneuverable.

• Very large (“swarm”) armies easier to break.

• Low grade commanders limited in how many battle groups they can command as a battle line, making middle grade commanders more worthwhile.

• Interpenetration anomalies prevented.

• Elephants improved at impact.

• Vulnerability of unarmoured cavalry to shooting reduced.

• Crossbows improved.

• Support shooting improved.

• Close combat effects of superior armour reduced.

• Barbarians no longer a walkover for Romans.

• Changes to rules for rear support and routing make historical multi-line formations more viable.

• Ability of high quality troops to keep fighting despite heavy losses reduced.

• Set-up rules tweaked to improve balance.

• Many other minor changes to improve game play.

• Improvements to selected army lists included in rulebook as a starter.
For more information and a full list of modifications, check out the official site (www.fieldofglory.com) 

Some questions :

When will it be released ?

How much will it cost ?

Will we be able to print a hard copy ?

admin wrote: JD McNeil, Chairman of Slitherine, said: "We are continually encouraged to see how Wargamers embrace change to the hobby, so we listened to your feedback and the Revolution continues. The digital release of Field of Glory Ancients & Medieval v2.0 rules is testament to your opinions and needs.  

What feedback and opinions ?

I don't remember anyone on any V2.0 thread on here saying they would prefer the rules to be released as a PC app.

Is this "Revolution" really wanted ?

Edit : I've just seen a thread that I'd missed previously about the potential release of FOG2 as an e-book, where about 3 people supported the idea.

There's also been some threads asking for a Kindle version.

electronic publishing could be quicker, cheaper and more flexible than physical. However, I'd need to print it out to use it at the club or in competition. Will be a shame to lose the nice printing of v1.

However, I recall the latter years of DBM, where version 3.0 was printed but 3.1 was softcopy amendments. We coped with that!

Of course the 'meat' is the rule changes!

grahambriggs wrote:There's also been some threads asking for a Kindle version.

I assume such requests were meaning in addition to a physical book.

grahambriggs wrote:However, I recall the latter years of DBM, where version 3.0 was printed but 3.1 was softcopy amendments. We coped with that!

Yes, but that was replacing a b/w softback with a b/w printed word document (which could be printed cheaply). Not much of a change.

This is replacing a very well produced colour hardback with .....well we don't know what, but I'm sure it's not going to be as nice as the V1 rulebook.

Also, you say we coped, but that refers to existing players of DBM. How many new players took up the game after that ?

I imagine the format changes have more to do with business practicalities than player requests.

Having looked on the main www.fieldofglory.com site I can't see the further detail promised. So I'm unclear whether this announcement is "we've done a deal" or "here's the new product"

I am disgusted.

Releasing a set of rules such as these as a digital only copy could be enough to convince me never to play these rules again.

I do not own a portable electronic reading device (including a laptop). Therefore I have no way to have the rules with me when I play a game.
I am certainly not spending hundreds of pounds to buy one so that I can spend more money on an electronic set of rules.

Assuming I can print them out then that is a solution for me. However I will have to pay for the printing and binding to create a useable set of rules, and if they are updated regularly I will have this extra expense and more importantly hassle regularly.

If this is done with army lists as well I may as well give up now.

SLITHERINE, DON'T BE SO STUPID. PRINT A SET OF RULES.

I suggest tornaments stick to V1.

While I think that the decision to release the rules as an electronic version makes some sense business wise, the decision to release it as an app with the limited platform support they have listed sounds like a poor decision. As an app rather than as an ebook, the implementation is much more likely to have platform dependencies than it would as an ebook for Kindle (or Nook, etc). With the current list of supported platforms, it sounds like it will require a minimum investment of $400 or more in order to just use the rules. I know I'm not interested in carting a laptop to a tournament in addition to troops and terrain to a tournament and I'm not going to buy an iPad just to play FoG 2.0. Without support for relatively inexpensive tablets/ereaders/smart phones, I think this idea sounds like the end of FoG as a viable set of tournament rules.

Chris

I like the idea of rules in App format, and I would buy it. However, solely in App format sounds like the death knell for these rules.

The standard wargames crowd are just not a technical savvy as you may think!

I've downloaded the PC version of the Abannan reader (from www.abannan.com) and their sample City Construction magazine. It looks like there is no provision for being able to print any of the content or to export anything as a PDF, etc. Looks to me like FoG is due to go the route of DBM as a set of tournament rules. FOG R.I.P.

Chris

I can understand Slitherine's decision of taking FoG to the digital realm, as every day more and more people has access to some form of "digital reading platform", in the form of netbooks, e-readers, tablets, smartphones... you name it. What I can't get my head around on is why making a platform-dependent app instead of a simple protected PDF, as Osprey has been doing lately. It would still be possible to easily release downloadable updates to the rules and army lists, and it would enable those who don't have an e-reader or tablet to make a hard copy of the book to take to tournaments. Plus, with this decision, they're alienating all of us who chose Android over Apple (i'm still deciding which tablet to buy, but it will definitely be an Android one, just like my phone).

BTW, I don't play in any tournaments, as there are none in my area (in fact, I haven't had a flesh & blood opponent since 2005, so every one of my FoG games have been solo affairs) but this announcement still bugs me. You see, I was hoping to try to introduce some people to tabletop wargames in general, and to the FoG rules in particular, but this was hard enough with the 1st ed. printed rules (no one likes to be told that they would need to buy a US$80 rulebook -yes, that's how much the book goes for here with S&H and customs added-) so I was hoping that with an e-book version, things would be easier to promote here, but this announcement just left me flat-footed, this will only complicate things for me and many more players I'm sure. I'm even considering going back to the old DBM 3.0 rules, and maybe give 3.2 a shot, now that they're both available for free.

So please, I beg you, guys, come to your senses, and don't restrict yourselves to only a portion of an already very reduced target audience.

Also the PC support requires Vista or newer. No Win XP.

Chris

"We anticipate that in the future players will want to have the entire game system with all of the key points, instantly accessible on touch screen. This is the next step in the Revolution."

What future are we talking about? 20 , 30 years when everyone might then have an ipad or similar device to use the rules. Also I love how they announce this as a Revolution. (should the R be capitalized.) So does this mean instead of proofreading a printed copy of the rules they just really don't have to now and will just update it digitally whenever they get around to it? I can see frequent updates that will have to be downloaded, and with people with slightly different versions. With Ospreys printing ability and I think there print on demand capability it should not matter about size of print runs. Hopefully some of our concerns with the digital version will be answered or rectified soon so that this limits that amount of people who will be turned off by this announcement. Also why no release date?

Justin

Also, from a quick look at their web site, it looks like Abannan currently has exactly two magazines that are available for their reader. Given what is presumably a new and small company, I strongly doubt their ability to support additional platforms in the immediate future and wonder what their long term viability will be. In web searches so far, I haven't found any business reports or reviews of the company or their product so who knows how long they'll even be around.

Chris

"We launched the Field of Glory tabletop rules series in 2008, raising the bar and introducing the highest standards of quality and presentation which has now been largely emulated across the board, but all that is now history."

So something that was very successful for your company is now history, and you are trying something new that you hope will be profitable? I don't this your standard and quality of presentation has really been emulated across the board nor where you the first to do this. I love this.

The GCC will continue with FOG V1 for the remainder of this campaign season (ending in June 2013) most likley as I do not see a mad rush by gamers on the Gulf Coast to buy Ipads. Others have spoken of the pros and cons of this new format but I am afraid this will do more to hurt FOG's future.

Additionally, there are a few things noted in the new "improvements/refinements" for FOG 2 that were not in any of the Beta versions that I read and I question how they will help the game. I definetely do not see the game speeding up nor do I see heavy foot (especially undrilled) seeing more use on the table.

The possibillity of updating the army books sounds great if the cost can be kept reasonable and if the list writers listen.

Minimum screen resolution for the PC reader version is 1024x768. So you can forget using most netbooks with it since the standard resolution for a 10.1" netbook is 1024x600.

Chris

berthier wrote:The GCC will continue with FOG V1 for the remainder of this campaign season (ending in June 2013) most likley as I do not see a mad rush by gamers on the Gulf Coast to buy Ipads. Others have spoken of the pros and cons of this new format but I am afraid this will do more to hurt FOG's future.

I think you are wise to stick with the plan you oulined until we know more.

This seems almost unbelievable. Are they seriously saying it will only be available in digital format? A rule book tucked in my bag is much more attractive to me than reading off a screen. Print on demand would seem the way to go but I fear the proposed format will be unprintable. Also if you do go to the expense of getting it printed, how long before your hard copy is out of date? A potential nightmare for list checkers I would think. Are Osprey ending their connection with FOG? Why on earth make the announcement without a release date?

I don't mind the idea of publishing v2.0 in digital format. There are a number of potential advantages, as the press release points out. So fair enough on that. Especially attractive is the idea of regular (or even semi-regular) army list updates.

But . . . if I can't read the rules on my Kindle Touch, I can't read the rules. I'd love to have an iPad, but I'd rather spend the money on going to another tournament and actually playing games. Let's hope that Abannan can do multiple platforms.

Marc