Pocket Rulebook Experience at ASLOK

Pitman

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man you can be condescending.....

I have unbound and spiral bound rule books, far from silly it was a great decision. Far better functionality when I want a book to lay flat to a certain pages (not even getting into when pages are falling out to begin with).

To judge otherwise, is, well, just silly....... but that is what you do.

Peace

Roger
I'll bet you dollars to donuts that you do not have a spiral-bound pocket rulebook. My criticism was not of spiral-bound rulebooks, it was specifically about taking the bound pocket rulebook and spiralizing it.
 

bprobst

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Please do not try to compare the vulnerability of a bound book to a spiral bound book in this regard.
Too late, I already did. I put in enough caveats that I thought even you wouldn't immediately get defensive about it. Guess I was wrong (about you, I mean, not what I wrote about spiral binding.)

One day, Mark, you will gradually come to the realisation that just because you have an opinion about something (for perfectly valid reasons), that other people won't have differing opinions (for reasons that are perfectly valid to them) -- and both of you can be right! It might take another 50 years, but I'm sure it will happen.
 

hongkongwargamer

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I for one know that a spiral bound rule book works better. Sturdy, lies flat. easier to be held with one hand in the subway. Why can't I read my pASLRB at the gym? It can't lay flat on the bike panel.

I think it's a great idea. Spiral bound pASLRB with the acetate covers gets an approval from me. I think it's a terrific idea.

Regards,
Jack
 

Sparafucil3

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I for one know that a spiral bound rule book works better. Sturdy, lies flat. easier to be held with one hand in the subway. Why can't I read my pASLRB at the gym? It can't lay flat on the bike panel.

I think it's a great idea. Spiral bound pASLRB with the acetate covers gets an approval from me. I think it's a terrific idea.

Regards,
Jack
My tablet lays flat, my eASLRB is cross-linked for easy reference, and text searchable. Bounding issues, other than Bounding First Fire, are NA. ;) -- jim
 

olli

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Too late, I already did. I put in enough caveats that I thought even you wouldn't immediately get defensive about it. Guess I was wrong (about you, I mean, not what I wrote about spiral binding.)

One day, Mark, you will gradually come to the realisation that just because you have an opinion about something (for perfectly valid reasons), that other people won't have differing opinions (for reasons that are perfectly valid to them) -- and both of you can be right! It might take another 50 years, but I'm sure it will happen.
Well said Bruce.
 

Paul M. Weir

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This whole question has the air of an experiment.

While there will be opinions about the desirability or not of having the pRB spiral (or 2/3/4 ring binder) bound, only time will determine the durability of either the original format or subsequent user re-bindings. So while some, like me, don't want the hassle of re-binding it, others really like the idea of it laying flat, until all have had and used the pRB for 6 months to a few years, nobody can really say which format lasts or is sufficiently durable.

Await the experimental data!
 

rdw5150

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My tablet lays flat, my eASLRB is cross-linked for easy reference, and text searchable. Bounding issues, other than Bounding First Fire, are NA. ;) -- jim
My eASLRB runs crappy on my tablet (though great on laptop). I do not want my laptop around me when gaming (using physical gear). I do use it all the time when VASLing.

Plus I admit, I like books.

Peace

Roger
 
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Sparafucil3

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My eASLRB runs crappy on my tablet (though great on laptop).
You might need a more powerful laptop (better processor) or a better designed eASLRB. Mine run's flawlessly on my tablet, laptop, Chromebook, table top PC, even my Andriod phone runs it (although the font is so small I can barely read it these days). -- jim
 

BattleSchool

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I for one know that a spiral bound rule book works better. Sturdy, lies flat. easier to be held with one hand in the subway. Why can't I read my pASLRB at the gym? It can't lay flat on the bike panel.
While I find the eASLRB on my iPad extremely useful, I find it ill-suited for reading on a stationary bike. Maybe my mountain bike moves too much in the trainer, but I find it easier to read print media than mobile devices when spinning. Once the weather improves, ASL (and mobile devices) can wait until after I return from rides in the country.

Spiral bound pASLRB with the acetate covers gets an approval from me. I think it's a terrific idea.

Regards,
Jack
Thanks.

I can claim neither credit for the idea, nor the acetate covers. But I suspect that these particular spiral-bound versions will outlast their softback cousins.
 

Tuomo

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I have been marking with yellow highlighter the rules that have errata. This has allowed me for the first time ever to actually read the errata.
Just got the Pocket Rulebook and am wondering if this is the common way to handle it. People put a mark next to the rules that have errata so they can flip to the Errata section?

I'm really surprised they didn't fully incorporate the available errata. Yes, it would have been more work, but *that* much more? IMO, the result is just not as clean as it could have been. Frustratingly so.
 

veron

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I'm really surprised they didn't fully incorporate the available errata.
+1

I think I saw somewhere mentioned that then there would have been yet another version of the ASLRB and that would have been the reason for not doing it.
 

Robin Reeve

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I'm really surprised they didn't fully incorporate the available errata.
The common guesswork answer to that very frequent remark is that MMP didn't want to publish a 3rd edition rulebook (or a 2+ edition), so that players who don't choose the pocket version don't feel "cheated" (or strongly enticed to purchase the pocket version).
Does that mean that there is a 3rd edition project in the works (which could included more changes than simply incorporating the errata)? Nobody knows, but I find the speculation interesting if revealed true.
 

mooreshawnm

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That's crap. Look at all the online live rules. Do you complain about OCS games coming with version 3 or 4 of the system rules? Of course not you go online and print the latest. (4.1? 4.2?) No one would complain if the errata was added. No one. It should have been. There really isn't any excuse for not including it.
 

Michael R

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That's crap. Look at all the online live rules. Do you complain about OCS games coming with version 3 or 4 of the system rules? Of course not you go online and print the latest. (4.1? 4.2?) No one would complain if the errata was added. No one. It should have been. There really isn't any excuse for not including it.
I believe that EVERYONE would have complained unless MMP had put up replacement pages with the incorporated errata for download.
 

mooreshawnm

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I believe that EVERYONE would have complained unless MMP had put up replacement pages with the incorporated errata for download.
What does that have to do with the decision to go ahead and print without the errata included?
 

Philippe D.

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Printing without including the errata (or, more precisely, without updating the chapter rules with the errata; the Pocket RB does include some errata, before the main rules) is most likely a decision to keep the process simple - at the expense of making the product as current as it could be.

What this game really needs is a true, official electronic rulebook. Something official, available online or for download, and continually kept up to date. I'd pay good money for this - and I already have bought three paper copies of the rulebook.
 

Michael Dorosh

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What does that have to do with the decision to go ahead and print without the errata included?
The real decision - wait two years for a new ASLRB to be laid out, or have a very handy pocket guide printed up with existing layout on hand.

Laying out the ASLRB with errata would I expect have put off work on YANKS, FORGOTTEN WAR, Kursk CG, Croix de Guerre rework, etc. etc.
 

mooreshawnm

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It wouldn't take two years. Insert the errata. Reformat so pics fit right. Update the page numbers and page number references. Print.
 
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