I'm proud to be a rules lawyer. I try not to be one of "those guys," but I do try to know all the rules of a game so that my opponent and I can play a fair game based on skill, not a poor understanding of the rules. And despite any good game having a fair amount of rules, my means of learning them is actually a pretty simple process.
It really started back in my days of Magic. Up to that point I'd played games like most people - I get a tenuous grasp of the rules so that I can play a functional game, but when it comes to the more advanced rules I'd either leave it up to my opponent to know, or just play wrong. I found myself getting very frustrated because someone could tell me I was playing a rule wrong and I wouldn't really have any way of knowing if they were right.
Magic was the first game I learned through hands-on experience, rather than sitting down with a rulebook first. I found myself getting very confused because the information I was receiving didn't flow very well, and I was still confused about the most basic rules of the game. My buddy suggested I sit down and read over the rules several times.
So I did. On a whim I grabbed some cards and used them as visual aids as I read through the rules several times. After that I played a few games by myself, referencing the rulebook for each move to make sure I didn't do something wrong and start bad habits.
It worked. In about three days I completely understood the rules, including how the special rules of each of my cards. My strategy was still pretty terrible, but I at least lost according to the rules!
After that I treated most games the same way. I'd do a few days of research and learning before playing with someone, and things would always go smooth. Whether I was playing someone who already knew the game, or teaching them myself, rules were rarely an issue and things didn't have to slow down so we could reference the rulebook every few minutes.
The big test to this method came when I wanted to learn Warmachine. Up to this point I never needed to learn a really thick manual. But Warmachine is huge, and there was a lot to get through. I didn't quite have my 3 day mastery, but by following my usual pattern I was able to get a firm grasp o the rules relatively quickly.
- My first step was to just read the rulebook. I accepted that I wouldn't really understand everything, and that I'd be lucky if 50% of my reading even stuck. The point of this was to familiarize myself with the rules, learn some terms, and figure out what I understood immediately vs. what concepts barely made sense.
- The next day I'd read through it again, and any time a different page was mentioned I'd bookmark my current page, read the rule or term on the referenced page, and then get back to my reading. For example, if I was reading about the rules of charging, and it said "A model cannot charge over a linear obstacle (p. 50)" I'd turn to page 50, read about linear obstacles, then go back to the rest of the rules on charging. This helped me start tying all the rules together, putting all the information together rather than having it be fragmented throughout the rulebook.
- After that I grabbed some models and moved them around the table, following step-by-step to make sure I understood everything I was doing. This started making the rules less abstract by letting me actually interact with them. I'd basically just have a mirror-match, proxying pSorscha and pretending my Juggernaut was a Destroyer so that I could learn warcaster/warjack mechanics, as well as melee/ranged combat.
- I'd then go back and reread the rulebook, reading the highlights of rules I understood and rereading areas that still gave me trouble. After a decent time investment over 4 or 5 days, I probably knew 90% of the rules. Cavalry and situational rules weren't concrete, but I could easily play a game without much of an issue.
- Once every week or so, I'd quickly go through the rulebook to refresh myself and see if I could pick up on a rule nuance I hadn't noticed before. The more I saw the game in action, the more the rules made sense and stuck with me as I read them. Rather than understanding them in theory, I could read a rule, remember how I saw it in action, and let it stick. This was also a great way to make sure I was playing the game correctly, because there are a lot of subtle wording that can lead to a lot of confusion in game.
One key aspect of my learning-while-playing was to check any rule that I or my opponent questioned. Whether in game or when I went home, I made to check any rule that was disagreed on. Doing that helped me better understand things like flight or incorporeal, and asking on the rules forum gave a bit more authority to a rules decision that someone else wasn't clear on. The big thing was to make sure that no rules were left unclear - that led to me making several posts in our Facebook group either explaining a rule, or apologizing for giving a bad ruling.
And that's how I became my group's rules lawyer. It's a lot of information to absorb at once, but I've found it to be the best way to learn a game. And of course this probably isn't relevant to some people - I'm a hands-on learner, so putting those rules to work is where everything coalesces for me.
While everyone's learning method may be different, I think it's critical for everyone to do their best to learn a game they play consistently. Some people may wait until they're fully committed before learning, and I think that's fine. But when someone has been playing a game for a year and their only learning has come from a few demos, it's very frustrating and keeps them from ever improving.
Knowing the rules lets you know how to exploit them, and that leads to some of the most interesting game moments out there. Remembering that knocked-down models don't block line of sight gives you a completely new strategy to work with. Understanding the difference between "advance" "push" and "place" effects can be the only thing that lets you keep a model alive. Tabletop games have so much depth to them, but that depth can't be explored until the basics have been mastered.
I hope you guys enjoyed the mini history lesson. I never really realized I had a method until I got the Malifaux rulebook and found myself reliving my days of learning Warmachine. Reading, rereading, doing solo games against myself, pestering experienced players with loads of questions... it feels good, and I feel ready to teach the game before I've even played against someone!
See you tomorrow!
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