Thoughts on the Rulebooks

I know this has been hashed out several times before, but I don't know if the Studio Tomahawk folks realize how off-putting the rulebooks are to people. 

I know, I know, their value is in the rules themselves, not the actual book, and I'm genuinely impressed by the rules.  So there's that.

But $40 for a slim paperback is all sorts of ridiculous.  Twenty for the pamphlets that are the expansions seems downright reasonable.  Battle boards be damned, it still feels like a bum deal.  People have compared them to the cost of GW rulebooks, which is patently ridiculous.  First, GW pricing shouldn't be your frame of reference.  Ever.  Second, GW rulebooks are giant glossy art books.  They're monstrosities of shiny, over-designed eye candy. 

I caught a podcast with one of the publishers who talked about how the price was based on the initial assumption that they wouldn't sell very many copies.  Same thing with the $20 dice sets.  The success of the game surprised them and that's why were constantly out of stock of books and dice in the first year.  

That makes sense, but why not publish a shiny new updated version?  

The German version of the rulebook and expansion just recently came out from Stronghold Terrain and it's everything the original should have been.  It's hardcover with  additional pages being filled out by errata, the mercenaries, and new pictures.  Oh, and it's under 33 Euro.  Ouch.

German SAGA fans have it even better when it comes to the expansions.  All the factions, Skraelings and Steppe Nomads included, are in this hardbound book.  Granted, it's just under 40 Euro for the book, but that's still cheaper than the $60US one would pay for the less complete, flimsy English version.

Sure, there's the Crescent and Cross rulebook, which is hardbound and $50, but to twist the knife further, the German version is under 38 Euro.  Go figure.  

Yes, the books are on my shopping list, even if my German sucks.  

So that's my little rant.  As far as rule sets go, SAGA is still great and I recommend it all the time, especially to my gamer colleagues who insist on complaining to me about the cost of GW products and yet continue to spend hundreds on them.