@harold: you cannot copyright a procedure. a generic version of wab in your own words is a doable concept. just avoid using the list of copyrighted words.
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From: Harold H <haroldlhildebrand@yahoo.com>
To: WABlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 3:22 PM
Subject: [WABlist] My thoughts
We'll I'm sad that WH gave up. I put on the Pied Piper hat over the last couple of years to keep people playing the system in Southern California by running various events and trying to generate interest. In February at the local gaming convention, I had 13 players show up for an AoA 2.0 tournament, which I considered respectable. This weekend I ran a Chariot Wars event and I had 6 players, but it did overlap with a WAB event up north, so I was reasonably satisfied.
But the truth is that there just isn't enough interest to keep it going without some semblance of support from GW, even if it's mostly illusion. So I have to think hard on what the future might be. I'm going to throw out a few options that I'm thinking about to see what comments people might make.
Ignore it; just keep playing and running events. There are more lists than I'll ever possibly build armies for, and house rules can fix any problems that are too terrible to live with. Start trying to "collect" WAB 2.0 and supplements and then resell them to potential players hopefully at reasonable prices. The torrent route is always there but does have a bit of a moral taint for me.
Switch to one of the other three most likely rulesets. There is already a bit of a following for COE in Southern California, and to a lesser degree HC.
Create a generic rewrite of WAB 2.0. I've often thought I could write a more concise, maybe twenty five page version of WAB 2.0, in my own words. I don't think you can copy write the rules mechanisms, and I'm pretty sure they're not patented, so as long as I stayed away from directly stealing their format and wording I might be within the law. As we all know, GW seems to have more lawyers than creative people, so it would probably have to be a bit of an underground thing. Still I would love to be able to give away a smallish PDF file that has what everybody needs. In my professional world there's Linux that has some remarkable similarities to what I'm talking about. I'm particularly attached to the idea of it being owned by nobody but a community created endeavor.
I've also considered writing some kind of "bridge" that would let you play the current Fantasy Battles system with the WAB lists. This would be quite a feat, but there are some strong motivations. The main recruiting ground for WAB players for me, has always been FB players. I think that anybody who is already an historical gamer has tried WAB or will never try WAB, so that isn't a pool that has much viability. I actually like some of the things about 8th edition, although I know that's not universal. But still the idea of a supplement that a FB player could use and build and play historical armies seems like a really good idea. To use another IT metaphor, I wouldn't want to "fork" the current FB, like was done with the original WAB. (in software development a "fork" is when you copy an original set of source code and then modify it so you are no longer linked to the original code, ie changes to the base code can't be integrated into your new forked
project) It would be best as a living extension that could be upgraded as FB is constantly changed. One of the things that I think really needs being done is to have a clearly defined point system, that would encourage people to create their own Army lists. I know there was a "methodology for this in WAB, but it's always been somewhat arcane and shrouded. I'd like it to be open and part of the rules. Now once again I think it's hard to handle situations where there are "meta" balancing issues beyond the equation to determine the cost of an individual troop type, but still it would be nice to have. All in all I think that creating a FB supplelment would be the absolute best, but it is probably fraught with compromises and danger.
Stop playing ancients. An emotionally charged decision. I consider WAB my main game, but I probably play less than a dozen games a year, where I play a like number of other miniatures games in a single month. I guess I could add a wait and see clause to this statement, to see if there is another discernable current or swell that I could than follow. "follow the gourd,,,no the shoe,,follow the shoe!"
Well anyway, I may not be playing WAB in the future, but my single based inch tall friends aren't going anywhere. Oh as a bit of bravado, the Chariot Wars event I organized was entirely with my own figures, since it's not a period that everybody has an army for. I broke up my Biblical forces into eight roughly 1200 point armies. It was pretty cool to see them all out on the table at once. The feeling it generated is what makes me not want to give up.
Harold Hildebrand
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