Re: Full Thrust vs Starmada

McCarthy, Tom wrote:
> Well, the arguments that FT has a slow publication schedule, rules
> spread over multiple books, and a broken points system are all true to
> one degree or another.  For better or worse, GW has conditioned the
> market to expect some new product every 3 months max.  And new FT
stuff
> is seen far less frequently than that in North America.

I don't think that it's a GW-fostered expectation of myriad rapid-fire
releases that's given FT a rep as having slow releases.  I've been into
FT for years and I haven't seen a new release rules-wise in all that
time in spite of a seemingly obvious need for it.  Sure, beta rules for
the UN have come out on the web, and awesome new models have come out of
the FT line.  Personally, I'd rather see the new figs than a FB3.  Even
so, I would rather see a new release/compilation of all the rules in one
volume (FT, 3rd Ed.) than the new figs, hopefully with some updates to
the rules to settle down the fighter debate.

To characterise complaints about a slow release schedule of GZG's rules
as a result of GW conditioning or some other MTV-attention-span related
cause seems dismissive and possibly offensive.	(I'll assume it wasn't
intended to be, just becuase it probably wasn't.)  I'm also a historical
wargamer, so I hardly require new releases for a game to hold my
interest.  I also despise GW, yet I would still like to see FT updated
sometime sooner than later.

There is something to be said for the fact that GZG.com is primarily a
miniatures company that's produced some excellent rules, while MJ12Games
(Starmada's publisher) is a rules publisher that produces no figures of
their own.

That means that GZG's bread and butter (and lunch money) comes from the
figs...  Rules are back-burnered, though I imagine those in the inner
circle of GZG's playtesters might disagree with that statement.

--Tim