Slitherine

In recent discussions I have said things that I firmly believed, based on a particular understanding of the text and diagrams. That is to say, a selective understanding, based on how I felt the text should read.
I have made several remarks implying that those who disagreed with me were less than honorable men.
I sincerely apologize to Dave, Graham, Phil and any others who have been offended by my remarks.

Much of the discussion has swirled around the question of primacy of text vs illustrations. I believe that I have solved the question to my satisfaction. I hope others are satisfied as well.

In the Introduction, the authors state:

This book is designed to both explain the game and be a reference guide when playing. To make the rules easier to follow we have added examples, detailed descriptions and explanations of unusual cases in an appendix at the end of the book.......

Therefore, the illustrations are an integral part of the rules, there to inform the reader of the proper application of the text. They do not contradict the text, but complement it. If there is an apparent disagreement between the text and the illustrations, the illustrations show the correct way to interpret the text.

Gregory Boeser

PS: Happy New Year

Has somebody hijacked your account

Don't think you had much to say sorry for, what many people fail to understand about a forum away from the game is that we can take time to discuss things in great detail, whilst in a game, you'd either just get round the problem or call an umpire. It's why things get more heated online as opposed to face to face gaming.

So the rules state that the illustrations take primacy over the text?

I'd prefer to think of it as a picture is worth a 1000 words. That way they don't have to add 50 pages to explain everything. But we still have honest differences of opinion. I applaud gozerius's comments. It shows he is considering what others are saying.

zoltan wrote:So the rules state that the illustrations take primacy over the text?

I'm saying that if you argue that the text takes primacy, then you are bound by the text that the examples are there to make the rules easier to understand. You cannot dismiss the illustrations without violating the RAW!

gozerius wrote:I have made several remarks implying that those who disagreed with me were less than honorable men.
I sincerely apologize to Dave, Graham, Phil and any others who have been offended by my remarks.

Gregory Boeser

PS: Happy New Year

I haven't been offended Gregory - this is just one of those areas where you could play things either way. Fortunately it's rarely an issue in games.

regards

Graham