TheOneTrueZeke wrote:
carbon_dragon wrote:
TheOneTrueZeke wrote:
I personally don't know anyone who can teach the rules better than a decently written rule book.
I can help with that. Try High Frontier, Myth, Banner Saga Warbands, and maybe Bios Genesis. Note that I like 3 of these very much, but the manuals are tough to learn from. For extra credit, try High Frontier 2nd edition rather than the better written (but still tough) 3rd edition.
I expect after that you'll appreciate YouTube videos and a good teacher a bit more. I know I did.:p
Seriously, yes a well written rule book is great, but I seldom see them.
It may take effort to learn from the rule book but you're only ever going to get a cross section of a very complicated game from someone teaching you the rules. At best you'll get a reasonably complete approximation of the rules with exceptions and one offs missing.
For actually learning the rules to a game and internalizing them there's no substitute for reading the rule book.
In my experience someone who has never read the rule book, even if they've played the game several times, always screws up when they try to teach that game.
That's partially true. It depends on the teacher and the student. However, that first game, even if it doesn't include everything will prepare you when you DO read the instruction manual because you'll understand the basic concepts and you'll be able to absorb the subtleties. I'm not saying don't read the manual. I'm saying the manual will be more useful AFTER you get a feel for what's happening in the game, especially if it is a complex one.
And yes, High Frontier will take a LOT of games to learn everything.
I personally am teaching the game 80% of the time. To prepare, I read the manual, watch all the videos I can find, go on the BGG rules forum, play a game, go back to the rules forum and videos, and play again a couple of times. For Bios Genesis I needed to watch videos first, the manual was just sanskrit without a knowledge of Biology. I ended up reading the manual 4 times before I managed to understand most of the subtleties.
But a decent teacher can give you a heck of a start on the game. You can understand the basic principles from the start. Then you can go read the manual (if you're interested) or watch videos to get up to speed on the more subtle issues. I find this a little more useful than videos personally because it takes me playing the game to absorb even a basic understanding. I watch a video and it helps but not quite as much.
The worst experiences are trying to play a game cold at a con with no-one to teach. Few games can manage that. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Occasionally playing a "Watch it played" video can work at a con if you're not going to disturb anyone else (usually this only works in early morning or late at night).