iPads again

The (weekly?) discussion of the merits of PDFs and whether people love them or hate them is happening on TMP.  My own personal opinion (which may not be worth much - I'm probably much more of a geek than most wargamers), is that the days of professionally printed wargames rules are probably numbered.

How so?

Well, to start with, books are expensive to produce and ship in comparison to 'digital media'.  One of the main arguments by those disliking rules distributed as, say, PDF, has been the hassle and cost of printing them out - which is, seemingly, what most people do with them these days.  What if that perceived 'need' (to print PDF rules) could be shown to be unnecessary?  Devices for displaying 'digibooks' are improving all the time.  To my continuing amazement, I prefer to read the bible on my iPod Touch (even with with its tiny, 3.5", screen) over reading the printed version.  

It, most assuredly, isn't like reading from a real book - with a screen that size, you don't see much of the 'page' at a time - but you do see enough to read fluently and easily (and it's a lot lighter, and easier to carry about, than a real bible).  And 'scrolling' is so easy - it being a 'multi-touch' device.  But where it really wins is the ability to search for words, phrases, etc., and its 'history' function which allows you to go straight back to where you started if you've been following a cross-reference.  It's that sort of functionality which I think, ultimately, points towards the demise of the printed page for books you need to 'use' for reference rather than just reading for pleasure.

And now, with the advent of 'tablet' computers, such as the iPad and others, devices which are truly 'useable' as vehicles for wargames rules are here.  The disadvantage of the likes of the iPod Touch for our purpose is the too-small screen - for instance you can't display enough of the quick reference sheet for AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN on the screen at once, in a type size big enough to actually read, for it to be useable.  The iPad though, with it's 9.7" screen, is (I hope!) big enough to achieve that aim.  I'll be able to let you know whether that's true, in 20 days time, when I get one for my birthday.  

At the moment tablets are mostly the province of geeks daft enough to pay premium prices, but the volumes that are selling pretty much guarantee that prices will drop rapidly, to a point where the typical, notoriously price-conscious, wargamer is willing to buy.  And then he'll find that, not only is reading the rules just as easy as with a paper book, but he also has things like an easy-to-use search function at his fingertips - no more flicking madly through the rule-book to find that elusive rule when you're sure your opponent is trying to 'pull a fast one' - just type in a keyword or two, tap the screen, and you're there.  At that point, I believe, the 'word will get around' and we'll be seeing tablet computers on the edges of lots of wargames tables, taking the place of printed rule-books and quick reference sheets.

I guess my only worry would be when doing a demo game at a show - by their very nature tablets are easy to pick up and carry, and there are definitely some 'light-fingered' individuals associated with our hobby.

I'm working on AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN at the moment, tweaking a few bits here and there, writing a glossary, thinking about a table of contents, and stuff like that, whilst waiting for both Warlord Games and Aventine Miniatures to send me some figures to paint.  Warlord have a new Roman product coming out fairly soon, so I'm going to be painting it - and I'm rather looking forward to it, it's going to look a little bit 'different'.  The next 'unit' for my Rome versus Pyrrhus project (I do wish I could come up with a snappy title!) is an allied 'legion' for the Romans.

Copyright © Dr. P.C. Hendry, 2010