Harsh Rules: Let's Learn to Play - Liberty or Death - Part 1

[@TyphoidBryan]

I love your approach toward teaching game mechanisms and rules. GMT should be happy to add your videos to their website for reference. Your examination of Combat Commander was incredibly helpful to me.

[@harsh-rules]

Thank you for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed this one and the Combat Commander tutorial as well.

[@jamesvaughan9471]

Outstanding. Without your tutorials, I wouldn't play some of my games. These videos are invaluable. Thanks for all the work here.

[@nahkubnah]

Love your tutorials. Best on youtube probably Consider more COIN games, please. A Distant Plain, Fire in the Lake would be great!

[@gp4141]

Well planned and concise. Your summary: a) gain control of territory to earn resources b) to spend on actions to generate influence to c) win the game. Thank you

[@CptRoboto]

God Bless you Ben! Just pulled off the shelf after a couple years and was dreading going through the rules again. These videos saved me! Thanks for putting in all the work. We will all get play this great game much more because of you.

[@jamescupelli6902]

your videos set an unreachable bar for those attempting to teach games... AMAZING! Would love to see you do one "For the People"

[@caomhan84]

God I wish more channels did this. And I wish more *companies* produced rulebooks with an entire section dedicated to guided explanations. For example, I just got "Next War India Pakistan." That game comes with two rulebooks - standard/advanced game rules, and game specific rules. Nowhere in those 60 pages is a guided example of play, and as such, the rulebook is precisely clear as mud. Even if a game is not an introductory wargame, if you produce 2 rulebooks and 7 player aid cards, you can dedicate some of that space to show new players what the heck they are supposed to do to start the game.

[@AlexNguyen]

Lovely first video for this series! Looking forward to watching the rest. My only note has no bearing on gameplay… I believe those are hex cylinders (6 sided) not octa- (8). 😀

[@thgenral]

This is really well done. Thank you for the effort put forth, it is not insignificant! The charts and such are very well done. The rules for this game which I am wading through are really badly done in my opinion. It is complex, much more so than GMT’s rating. There is subtly here and hard to represent in the rules which are subsequently difficult to wade through when trying to determine what a bot faction is going to do. Thanks so much for the time you have dedicated to this effort. It is really helping me!!

[@eddydelrio1303]

As others may have said, there are no "octo"-cylinders :) They are six-sided so perhaps "hexagonal" cylinders. The visuals you develop for these tutorials are great - and work-intensive! Thank you.

[@RiccardoMasiniWLOG]

The entire series i s just amazing! An outstanding resource for us who are learning the COIN rules and principles. Just one thing, as others have already pointed out: it would be great to have the main Powerpoint slides as references during the game! Maybe converting them to PDF and publishing in BGG would do the trick. However, really thank you!

[@harsh-rules]

Thanks, Riccardo! I just converted the first tutorial slides to PDF and submitted to BGG. Hopefully, they'll be available by tomorrow. I'll work on the other episodes next.

[@RiccardoMasiniWLOG]

Harsh Rules: Board Game Tutorials That’s great news! Thanks!

[@WilliamBrothers]

Thanks for the great breakdown. I play a lot of GMT games and some are easier to learn than others. I picked up Next War Korea and that is going to take a good while to figure out.

[@BogWraith1]

I love what you do Ben & how you do it. Your Combat Commander tutorial was excellent and I'm very glad to see you tackle this outstanding COIN game. If you like this, you might consider doing another COIN game that is simply awesome, that being Fire in the Lake. One game I would love to see you give the Harsh treatment to is one that is similar to Combat Commander and is considered one of the greatest games of all time, but has a reputation for a confusing and difficult to learn set of rules, that game being Up Front. The way you present the information and game flow would definitely be welcomed by many who have tried to learn this fascinating game. Thanks for doing these and I look forward to the rest of this series and any other games you have coming in the future!

[@harsh-rules]

Thanks, Bog Wraith. Appreciate It! Both of your recommendations have been on my mind. Fire in the Lake would be a good choice once I have the COIN teaching style nailed down with LOD. I have a copy of Up Front on my book shelf and keep thinking about it as well. Good choices!

[@BogWraith1]

Thanks Ben, you know what they say about "Great Minds..."

[@yuginoty65]

Well done! Looking forward to the next video in this, and other, series.

[@harsh-rules]

Thank you! Glad you found other tutorials useful as well.

[@Demy1970]

Great video and thinking of buying the new version, before searching, I will look for a video of Cuba Libre

[@TecmoChmpnshpSeries]

Hey, loved watching through this series. It's a great set. One comment: I think you have the Victory Condition wrong for the Expansion (Indian vs Patriot forts) portion. The Patriots get 3 added to their numbers of Forts and then that is compared to Indian villages.

[@kensevara3289]

Love your videos Ben. Here is a request for Europe in Turmoil by Compass Games.

[@bwort007]

Great work man!

[@wmcole5099]

The music you use in your video opening. I know it. However, I can't place it. What movie is it from? Edit - It was Excalibur. Funeral of Arthur at the end. Original composed by Wagner. Drove me nuts trying to remember where I knew it from. I'll add to the praise people are giving for your efforts. Well done and keep up the great videos.

[@harsh-rules]

Correct!

[@colincampbell2418]

Please do Clash of Monarchs by GMT . A monster game of the Seven Years War .

[@davedogge2280]

I just played Falling Sky another COIN the other day and I tell ya, you have to be on the ball with the rules.

[@harsh-rules]

Yeah, this was my "stretch game tutorial" during the Christmas Break and several months later I'm still wrestling with the rules that I thought I understood! I'll either finish this tutorial or have a complete psychological collapse and be trucked off the nearest mental institution. We'll see.

[@Jerry_Woodfield]

As someone who has played this game a number of times, you're doing a great job. Having said that, the rules don't stick until you actually sit down and play.....and with a game like a COIN game, it probably takes a handful of games played.

[@harsh-rules]

Thanks, Jerry! The rules make me a little nervous at times because In re-reading the rules I'll find text that makes me question whether I fully understood certain mechanics. Multiple sessions are definitely a must.

[@kaiax33]

Great explanation. Any chance you can share those Powerpoint slides?

[@harsh-rules]

The file is really big. Maybe I can do something with the file this weekend. Convert to PDF for reference or something.

[@guilhermebelmonte1]

Thank you

[@harsh-rules]

You're welcome!

[@duncanharrell5009]

Is Fire in the Lake the exact same as this or are there differences?

[@yview7315]

Fire in the Lake is more complicated. But deeper. Both LoD and FitL are among the best COINs imo.

[@hardesteasymoney754]

Please do one for twilight struggle and path of glory pretty please

[@harsh-rules]

I've actually done Twilight Struggle. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnqui2afaax3d7M I've been working on Paths of Glory, but it's not ready yet.