Andy Hauge well…okay. So at first I was horrified at the nuFFG methodology, which is to have a Learn to Play book and then a Rules Reference. Learn to Play is intentionally streamlined i.e. incomplete, and Rules Reference is super-complete but presented alphabetically by topic. Yeah that’s right, it’s a nonlinear rulebook.

If you happen to correctly guess the game term they use, or if you scour the fucking book (handling time is ridiculous), you can get a very thorough, albeit context-free explanation of a set of rules. Then they will refer to to other related topics — i.e. the context necessary to understand the fucking rules you just read.

I say “at first” because we got kind of lucky learning Armada this way. I think it’s because Armada is a pretty simple, straightforward game. So I thought, hey, not bad!

But between IA and FS, I absolutely hate hate hate this new method (again). It is terrible, especially if there are little rules exceptions that rely on one another to understand. If Fantasy Flight Games ever reads their Plus feed, I honestly hope they read this feedback. I’m just one small voice in the wilderness, but still.