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Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 10:01 am
by Daeron
Greetings,

In this topic of the week, I'd like to explore the value of physical rulebooks. I was looking at my closet full for rulebooks for WFB, from 5th edition and up, the campaign books, the army books. It also reminded me of the lack of a physical book for T9A and the brief lifetime of AoS books. Well some of them anyway.

It made me wonder, how important are these books for us?

Personally, I really enjoy to hold a physical book and flip through the pages. Everytime I hold that 6th or 8th ed army book in my hands, which are the books I used the most, I can't resist reading a few pages then go to the point cost section and dream of an army built around a certain theme. It's a known human behaviour to be (somewhat unreasonably) attached to physical objects. But in this hobby, this behaviour goes that extra step. For me, the physical book isn't just carrying the memories of the games I've played. It also keeps drawing me in... in the story, the rules, the game. It always invigorates my passion for the hobby and I love having that book with me during a game.
I do like online resources. I've wasted more time on 40K wikia than I care to admitt.. Pictures of models and epic artwork can lure me into learning more about a game or an army. But once I'm into the hobby, or I wish to be, then there's little more charming for me than a physical book.
It's why I can't remove the old rulebooks, and won't exclude the option of playing an old edition.

Is this physical presence of a rulebook as important to you? Do you enjoy the feel of a big rulebook, and can it draw you into the hobby as well?

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 10:48 am
by cultofkhaine
Yep - love my old rule books, especially looking at them for inspiration.

I find the main rule book a bit clunky - to many things to jump back and forward through while playing a game.

The army books are great I have used them to theme my city armies. To bad the old fluff is dead it would be great to see a new evolution.

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 5:11 pm
by Calisson
It is nice to keep old books for future references.
I brought with me overseas WH BRB 6th, 7th, 8th, DE AB 6th, 7th and 8th, plus End Time: Khaine.

-=-=-
For T9A, the intention is to have printable books, but they are not fully ready, as the rules were not stable enough so far (nobody wants to reprint every 6 months).
V2.0, due before end of 2017, will be designed with the goal to make it printable - and stable for years.

Two options are envisioned:
People could send the printable version to professional printers.
There may be some model makers who would consider to print the BRB, adding their own model collection at the end, and sell it in stores.

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2017 6:40 pm
by Lord Drakon
Daeron wrote:Greetings,

In this topic of the week, I'd like to explore the value of physical rulebooks. I was looking at my closet full for rulebooks for WFB, from 5th edition and up, the campaign books, the army books. It also reminded me of the lack of a physical book for T9A and the brief lifetime of AoS books. Well some of them anyway.

It made me wonder, how important are these books for us?

Personally, I really enjoy to hold a physical book and flip through the pages. Everytime I hold that 6th or 8th ed army book in my hands, which are the books I used the most, I can't resist reading a few pages then go to the point cost section and dream of an army built around a certain theme. It's a known human behaviour to be (somewhat unreasonably) attached to physical objects. But in this hobby, this behaviour goes that extra step. For me, the physical book isn't just carrying the memories of the games I've played. It also keeps drawing me in... in the story, the rules, the game. It always invigorates my passion for the hobby and I love having that book with me during a game.
I do like online resources. I've wasted more time on 40K wikia than I care to admitt.. Pictures of models and epic artwork can lure me into learning more about a game or an army. But once I'm into the hobby, or I wish to be, then there's little more charming for me than a physical book.
It's why I can't remove the old rulebooks, and won't exclude the option of playing an old edition.

Is this physical presence of a rulebook as important to you? Do you enjoy the feel of a big rulebook, and can it draw you into the hobby as well?

I feel you here! The sensation of buying a new army book has not been matched by even the coolest miniature box. The combination of fluff, artwork, model showcases and rules were perfect and Games Workshop has always made truly epic army books. I also bought the other Elven books and when second hand loved to collect from all races to study them. Actually I learned english as a child through the 6th AB and that book has remained my favourite since then, reading it over and over.

I hope the T9A will eventually evolve into the new Games Workshop, now it is still an online community with its forum as central information point. Maybe GW will one day decide to support Fantasy Battles again for its market share or something. I really looking forward to the creation of Calisson & Co for T9A. It might become the bait for many old-time Druchii uniting us again.

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 10:17 am
by Rork
I prefer electronic rulebooks these days, even if I still have paper copies. Rules are far more likely to get updated or changed when problems are identified, so really a paper rulebook can just become irrelevant over time. The big PP books tend to have a large chunk of story and flavour in them, so there is some level of value in them even if the rules aren't so important (and are even free these days).

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:05 pm
by Duckman5
I have a .pdf of the core rule book that I have added bookmarks to which is very helpful for a new player like me. If a charge happens and I need to know the rules, I can just click "Charge" and get right to that page. I think I'd be able to accomplish the same thing with a physical rulebook, though, and I wish I had a copy.
I particularly wish army books weren't so damn expensive. It is hard to justify shelling out what could be another unit of CoK, or some Doomfire Warlocks, or what have you, just for the book, but I definitely feel inferior when my opponents have their tomes to page through and I am scrolling away on a laptop...

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:36 pm
by Darkprincess
Well I have PDFs of pretty much all the books (more than I have time to read if I'm honest), but nothing matches the feeling of holding a real book in your hands. It's all so much more tangiable than flipping through a digital file. Both have their pros and cons - digital is cheaper (or free if you know where to look ;) ) and are much easier to store, but I've always loved real books and in the end you just can't beat them. Hence I have real books for all the armies I play (yep I've even printed out those I've invented myself) and PDFs for reference of all the other stuff - even 40K which I don't play but which is good for inspiration.

And I've stopped buying White Dwarf now - since it's been very hard to get hold of for years and is just a catalogue of stuff I can look at online anyway :)

But yeah - real books are awesome

Re: Topic of the Week - Physical rulebooks and you!

Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 7:09 pm
by Duckman5
Happy to report that after 5 months and being outbid several times, I finally secured a copy of the 8th Edition Dark Elves book for about $24 USD! Excited to FINALLY have my hands on one.